Battlestar Galactica – Episode 4-16 Review

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I suspect that in any other time in Battlestar Galactica‘s history, “Deadlock” would have considered an important episode. But when contrasted to everything else we’ve gotten in the back half of season four, it really felt like a filler episode.

That’s not to say that “Deadlocked” didn’t have a number of intriguing developments and revelations though, because it certainly did.

I was quite curious as to what would happen when Ellen was reunited with Saul. Everything we saw last week in “No Exit” suggested that Ellen with her memories restored was a very different person from the Ellen we all grew to know and tolerate over the first three seasons of the show. But it turns out that the difference in personality had less to do with her memories and more to do with whether or not Saul is within a few light years of her. You put Ellen Tigh anywhere near Saul Tigh and she becomes a very different, and very ugly, person.

Ellen and Saul obviously still love each other, but they are terrible together. It seems that it’s physically impossible for the two of them to stop hurting each other. They are much better off apart.

I can understand why the Cylons would want to go off on their own and try to rebuild, but their desire had some flaws. First, one of the main reasons they have wanted to stay with the fleet is for protection from Cavil and his lot. And that threat is still posed over their heads. Sure, they aren’t entirely welcome among the fleet, but it offers them a good deal more protection than they would get if they were alone when Cavil and his ships showed up.

The other problem is related to genetics. The twelve known and active Cylon models make for an awfully small gene pool. That pool is further reduced by the fact that the Ones, Fours, and Fives aren’t around to contribute. That leaves only the Twos, Colonel Tigh, Sam, and Chief Tyrol to propagate the species with the Sixes, Eights, Tory, and Ellen. And since love apparently has to be involved, they can’t even make the most efficient use of the the numbers they do have. The vast majority of the children would have to come from pairings of Twos with Sixes or Eights. That’s not exactly a diverse gene pool to work with.

Of course, in the end this is a moot point as the Cylons ultimately opted to stay (particularly after Caprica Six lost her baby).

I really liked the moment at the end with the memory wall. It serves to illustrate just how much the Cylons have become a part of the fleet, and just how human they have become.

The episode’s other main plot thread had to do with Baltar retaking control of his flock. For me, the most interesting thing about this part was the return of Chip Six. It’s been a while since we’ve seen her. Baltar did not seem the least bit surprised by her presence in this episode though, suggesting that even though we haven’t seen her for a while, Chip Six has kept up with advising Gauis.

The other stuff, with Gauis ultimately making a vague and unspecified deal with Adama where he gets guns in exchange for helping with unknown services (though presumably at least part of that is related to food distribution) is something that will be important later, but there’s not a lot of information to speculate with right now.

Ultimately, “Deadlocked” was a bit of a step-down. There was still a lot going on, and a lot worth talking about, but it still couldn’t shake the feeling of a filler episode when compared to the awesome (and packed full of development) e have been getting lately.

Prediction for Next Week:

Last week, I predicted that there would be no leaving the fleet. And, of course, there wasn’t. Though really, it wasn’t exactly something that was tough to guess.

The trailer for “Someone to Watch Over Me” seems to deal primarily with Starbuck obsessing over her previously found corpse, and the rebel Cylons wanted to try Boomer for treason (while Galen seems to be rediscovering his feelings for her). There’s not a lot of “guess what’s happening” moments in the trailer, but I’ll go with Hot Dog’s yelling for someone to not do something with a raptor is directed at Starbuck (though really, given the plots established in the trailer, there’s nobody else it could be).

Trevor MacKay is the sci-fi/horror/fantasy/cheesy/random geeky stuff guy. If something is geeky and/or unbelievably cheesy, he’s there.