Last week Galatica returned and reminded us how awesome it could be. “Sometimes a Great Notion” left some rather big shoes to fill. Would “The Disquiet that Fills My Soul” be able to live up to the expectations set for it?
The big story this week was the growing discontent amongst the populace. The problem comes from not only random extras, but from prominent political and military people, namely Tom Zarek and Felix Gaeta. Both spent much of the episode fermenting discontent amongst their respective circles before forming an alliance aimed at bringing down the Roslin/Adama administration.
Is it just me or is it hard to find Gaeta intimidating? He’s been such a relatively wimpy character for the entire series. It’s hard to suddenly see him as much of a threat. Sure, he’s bitter and angry (and has good reason to be), but so far he’s not very scary. Tom Zarek can be scary; Felix Gaeta, not so much.
When Zarek and Gaeta made their alliance, I was actually expecting something worse to happen. Zarek gave up the location of the tillium ship so quickly, and just before he started talking about starting a revolution, we saw Athena docking with the tillium ship. I was actually expecting Zarek had given orders that the captain of the tillium ship do the self-destruct thing. So it was a relief when it became clear that he was just talking to someone in the room (on a side note, was there really any point in hiding who it was for a bit to build suspense. It was pretty clear that it had to be Gaeta, and not like, Admiral Adama or something).
Speaking of the VP, even though I disagree with Zarek’s position, he really should be the president by now. Laura Roslin has more or less abandoned her post, and yet she’s still president. Look, any President would have a hard time keeping motivated and on task after the disappointment of Earth, and Roslin has to deal with her beloved prophecies letting her down AND cancer on top of all that crap. She clearly has no interest in being president right now so she really ought to resign from office. Presidents don’t get to abandon their posts; certainly not while everything is falling apart around them. If she won’t resign, she should be removed from office.
Battlestar Galatica has an unusual relationship with democracy. They frequently bring up the importance of defending democracy, but the supposed good guys often actively work to undermine it. And just about anytime that the democratic wishes of the populace are obeyed, disaster follows (like the decision to settle on New Caprica).
On the prediction front, I was pretty on the money last week when I predicted that Doc Cottle was telling the Chief that the baby wasn’t his. I had been fairly confident of my guess when I made it, but as soon as the previously featured Cally holding her baby, I just knew I was right. Nikki not being a hybrid also explains why, unlike with Hera, there was never any suggestion that Nikki was important, even after we learned that Tyrol was a cylon.
I must say, I had no idea who the father would be. Season two was quite a while ago, but I couldn’t remember any suggestion of a connection between Cally and anyone other than the Chief. And it’s been a while since we’ve seen Hotdog so his name didn’t even enter into my mind.
It wasn’t made clear one way or the other, but I’m guessing that Hotdog and Cally slept together before she and the Chief got together. Cally was so clearly in love with the Chief in season two that it seems unlikely she would have cheated on him.
I find myself wondering as to the point of this revelation. One possibility is that it leaves the Chief with nothing really tying him to his old life. His wife is dead, and his son isn’t really even his son. The other possibilities involve Hotdog. Perhaps he is to have a prominent role in stopping (or starting) the mutiny indicated in the previews. Or perhaps he’s going to die soon and the writers figured it would be a good way to give his death a little more of an emotional impact. It’s tough to say.
The setting for the Chief’s confrontation with Hotdog itself is likely to be important in coming weeks. Baltar seems to have taken up a new position. No longer is he championing God. His new sermon seemed to be actively urging listeners to challenge God. You can bet this new development will become important later in the season.
While “The Disquiet That Follows My Soul” episode didn’t have quite the same level of impact as “Sometimes a Great Notion” had last week, it was still an excellent episode. And it set up lots of stuff that should pay-off in the next episode or episodes.
Long-Shot Prediction for Next Week:
I was mostly, but not entirely, correct with my prediction last week (The Chief isn’t Nikki’s father, but it seems likely that Cally just slept with Hotdog before she started dating the Chief, no cheating was involved).
For this week, I watched the trailer a couple times and there wasn’t really a whole lot to guess at. It’s clear there’s going to be a mutiny, lead by Gaeta and Zarek, but most moments in the trailer speak for themselves, without requiring much in the way of guesswork. I guess I’ll go with Starbuck’s shooting at someone, while Adama tries to stop her. Starbuck seems to be WITH Adama, so she’s presumably trying to stop the mutiny. So she’s probably shooting at one of the mutineers. The fact Adama tries to stop her is the vital clue, but it’s still really hard to guess who she might be shooting at. I’ll say, oh, I don’t know, Gaeta. I don’t feel even remotely confident on that one though.
Trevor MacKay is the sci-fi/horror/fantasy/cheesy/random geeky stuff guy. If something is geeky and/or unbelievably cheesy, he’s there.
