More real time BSG blogging
Jan. 13th, 2006 07:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ebonlockMmmm wet Lee Adama, not a bad way to start an episode, not a bad way at all. Oh man that was a helluva beginning, we get to see Lee floating shipless in space during the battle, now we're backtracking 48 hours earlier. Oh this battle's going to suck on so many levels.
Kara and Lee share a special moment and a hug while they bond over the upcoming murder of Admiral Cain. It's surprisingly sweet.
Oh shit, looks like some of the boys are down to lynch Helo and the Chief, but both Helo and the Chief are all cocky and like "Yeah come face us in here". Meanwhile I'm screaming "No! No you frakking idiots they've got guns and there are lots of them and two of you!" Apparently Helo and the chief have never seen a lynch mob before. *sigh* The dangers of testosterone poisoning abound.
Ah the teasery bits answer a few of my questions in the affirmative, showing Gina/Six escaping from her cell and a little blurry but definitely her holding the gun on Cain.
Oh shit, we've got us some serious torture goin' on here, somebody on the writing crew has read some transcripts from Abu Ghraib methinks. The Colonel on the Pegasus comes in and saves the day, telling his officers that if he wanted he could have them up on charges serious enough to warrant execution. But no punishments. The colonel's got a soul, can he go through with the murder of Adama?
Mmm, Ron Moore co-wrote this one, yeah that explains a lot.
Cain attempts to bond with Kara over a little ambrosia and mutual dislike of Tigh. But Starbuck ain't buyin' what she's selling because she doesn't like the idea of murdering Helo and Tyrol. Nope, she doesn't. And Cain inadvertantly talks Kara into shooting her in the head later on. Not that she's going to have to, of course, but Kara is definitely thinking, "Yeah I can shoot her. No flinching, right."
Aww, a Lee and Adama moment so that Lee can give the old man a little hell about ordering Kara to shoot Cain. Adama, however, is not in the mood for a lecture from Lee just now. Oh he masterfully dropped the fact that it was originally the President's idea. Lee wasn't expecting that one, not one little bit.
Now we've got the run up to battle with all appropriate preparations. The Marines are boarding the Galactica and Starbuck is getting ready to do what she has to. She passes the Colonel and marines in the corridor and seeing them tightens her resolve.
Is Tigh totally clueless about what's to come? Hmmm, I wonder if Adama's kept him out of the loop.
Adama's talking to Sharon alone, very odd. He's also treating her rather better than one would expect. He asks her a simple question "I've asked you here to find out why the Cylons hate us so much." He just wants to know why, so do we. She responds that it's not hate, it's that humanity is flawed and has never asked itself why it deserves to survive. "Maybe you don't." she responds simply.
Now we're in the battle and Lee is taking on the resurrection ship, crippling it for destruction. Uh-oh, catastrophic failure in the Blackbird...or did somebody do that intentionally to get rid of Lee Adama? The Commander's cool as ice, pretending not to notice as the Pegasus colonel moves into position to assasinate him.
Back in space Lee is floating around still attached to his chair and oh...oh shit his suit's got a leak. Oh shit he's almost out of air. And right now he mostly looks...annoyed. He's got a great view of the battle, though. the effects are fucking stunning, I have to say, I mean completely fucking stunning.
Gaius sits with Gina, listening both to Gina and the Six in his mind. I think he'd rather listen to Gina right now, though. He then starts telling her the sports story that Six told him last week, I think he's trying to spur something in Gina...he takes her hand, his eyes filled with tears...she responds. Oh my.
The Galactica tries to reach Apollo but he's too low on air to respond, all he can do is float there. Then he does something rather unexpected, he consciously takes his hand away from the leak, he chooses to die. "I'm sorry, Kara." is the last thing he says before drifting off.
We see the destruction of the resurrection ship in all its gory detail, particularly well handled was the close ups of the vipers blasting out the cells full of cylon bodies, and those helpless, naked bodies floating into the vacuum. Jesus. Thank you BSG for not making this a clean, antiseptic series of explosions, for showing the ugliness of war. I'm actually sitting here in tears...
The rescue raptor finds Apollo just in time and brings him back to life just as the announcement comes that the battle is over. And now is when the real story begins.
"I'm ready to die, send my soul to god, please." Gina asks Baltar, and he looks ready to do it.
Starbuck walks the corridors of the Pegasus, towards what she knows must happen. "I wish you were here, Lee, but what the hell." Yes, she's going to do it right in front of everyone. Cain tells her she's proud of Kara, then calls the Galactica. Here it comes. Adama asks for Starbuck, she's ready to do it, Adama tells her "it's not enough to survive, one has to be worthy of surviving". "I think that's very wise, sir, thank you." she replies and turns away to have a mini breakdown. Adama then passes the phone to the Colonel who looks like he'd rather run screaming from the phone. Now he looks like he's going to shit himself as Cain does not give him the command to kill Adama. Tigh invites him for a drink and Jack just laughs and laughs.
Gaius distracts the guard and Gina disarms him then hands him the gun and points it under her chin. Gaius refuses, Gina says "Suicide is a sin, but I need to die." Gaius replies, "What you need...is justice." He hands her the gun and she asks, "Why won't you do this?" "Because I love you," he replies and Gina takes the gun to go get Cain.
Cain returns to her quarters, takes off her gun...turns around...and there's Gina. "Tell me, Admiral, can you roll over? Can you beg?"
"Frak you." Cain replies.
"You're not my type." Gina says and pulls the trigger.
Oh fuck yeah. Sorry, but just 'cause Cain did one good thing doesn't make her a character I want to see more of. Her CO gives her eulogy and he seems profoundly relieved. Kara steps up to speak, "She faced things, she looked them right in the eye and she didn't flinch." She respected her, no question, "I think that we were sfer with her than without." Oh Kara...
Kara checks in on Lee, he's not looking too good. He apologizes for not being there for her, but will he admit what he did? Yep, he did, he admits he didn't want to make it back alive, Didi overhears him and looks crushed. Kara just looks confused.
Helo and Tyrol return to the Galactica. Helo immediately heads for Sharon and they have a tearful moment. "So, where do we go from here?" Sharon asks.
Adama goes to see Laura who's not looking too good. She gives Adama a "new job", and a promotion to admiral, handing him the insignia. Yep, it's Admiral Adama now. "Just goes to show you Bill, never give up hope." "Same goes for you, Laura." he replies, then helps her to her feet, tenderly cups her cheek in his hand, and kisses her. Oh. Fuck. Yeah. I think my heart actually skipped a beat or two there. One little kiss, but I swear to god it was the most romantic thing I've seen in years.
Please don't let Laura die...oh please Mr. Moore...
Hmm, looks like Sharon's baby may hold the cure to save Laura's life. If so I will happily embrace this cure, oh yes I will!
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Date: 2006-01-14 04:18 am (UTC)I believe the Blackbird literally ran into a flight of Cylons while Apollo wasn't watching his forward trajectory. No sabotage.
No, Tigh has no frakking idea what Bill and Laura cooked up. Need To Know basis only, and Bill knows damn well that nearly anything he tells Tigh is subject to leakage to his wife Psycho!Bitch!. He's sure as fuck not going to give her that kind of blackmail material.
This show's got lots of folks treading the sharp narrow edges of their mortality, and determining if life is worth living. I thought the scene where Adama examines his scar was an extremely well-done little wordless vignette - "Why am I still here?" he seemed to be thinking. Laura's on the edge, Lee's just back from it, CapBoomer is on the edge, Helo & Tyrol were both facing execution - it's very existentialist in some respects. But mostly just darn good.
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Date: 2006-01-14 07:20 am (UTC)Hey my YIM is listed on my profile, ping me, dude ;)
I believe the Blackbird literally ran into a flight of Cylons while Apollo wasn't watching his forward trajectory. No sabotage.
Clearly I need to watch that bit again as it looked to me like the ship all but disintegrated around him.
No, Tigh has no frakking idea what Bill and Laura cooked up. Need To Know basis only, and Bill knows damn well that nearly anything he tells Tigh is subject to leakage to his wife Psycho!Bitch!. He's sure as fuck not going to give her that kind of blackmail material.
Well I'd be concerned about how much came out of Tigh while under the influence to be sure (especially considering how much they got out of Jack that way), but Adama does usually play things pretty close to the vest so I easily could see him doing so here. And Ellen is such a wonderfully awful character, I do hope we get to see her again soon.
This show's got lots of folks treading the sharp narrow edges of their mortality, and determining if life is worth living. I thought the scene where Adama examines his scar was an extremely well-done little wordless vignette - "Why am I still here?" he seemed to be thinking. Laura's on the edge, Lee's just back from it, CapBoomer is on the edge, Helo & Tyrol were both facing execution - it's very existentialist in some respects. But mostly just darn good.
Definitely agreed. And yeah I did like his examination of the scar just before talking to Sharon, that scene was so simple, so subtle, and at the same time, so powerful. You don't get this long drawn out explanation for why the cylons are doing what they're doing, and you don't need it. The simplicity of it is far more horrifying. How do you convince someone that you deserve to live? Particularly when you're not entirely convinced of it yourself.
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Date: 2006-01-14 03:38 pm (UTC)Now that you've given me a reason to actually care about YIM, I've downloaded a client and configured my profile to reflect the fact. You just might get an extra message within the next week or two. /B-]
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Date: 2006-01-14 09:01 am (UTC)I LOVED the kiss between Adama and Laura...it really was the sweetest kiss I've see on TV in years.
A few thoughts as I rewatch the show...
Date: 2006-01-14 08:39 pm (UTC)Anyway... I loved the announcements on the ships as they were getting ready for the battle. I mean that really amped you up for what was about to happen. Starbuck, who I've never had a huge crush on, looks oh-so-sexy with a pony tail. But I'm such a sucker for pony tails, it's ridiculous. :) And also when she's sweaty later.... Mmm.
What was I saying? Oh! You must try watching with the captioning. There's a whole bunch of stuff that didn't make it onto the audio track. Especially in the scenes where the marines are being prepped, the end of the scene with Apollo in the water and... uh, somewhere in the battle.
In Starbuck's locker there is some weird object that looks like a soft 6-sided die with numbers on the faces. I could read 09 (or 60?) and 12.... Weird.
Watching Bill carress his scar was a really nice thematic touch, I thought. He's examining what it is to be alive, to be human, to be mortal, to be vulnerable just as they are about to destroy the cylons ability to defy death. Nicely done, Ron. (Can one of us please find the correct font to make the Ron Moore is My Master Now t-shirts? One of us who is not me, really, as I seem to have little talent in the graphics department).
I have a sick love for Sharon's neck restraint thingee. Ahem. I just adored the scene between Adama and Sharon. The fact that she referred back to something prior to the Cylon attack was so brilliant. It really got to Adama, clearly, and I think partly because she's referring to something he said prior to his "loss of innocence." Another brilliant bit of writing. Someday when I grow up, I want to write like Mr. Moore. :)
The music as Apollo is drifting was my favorite, I think. So classy.
The bit of Gaius reciting the lines about Pyramid games is genius as well, and James' almost-deadpan reading of the lines was perfect, I think. The more I think about it, I think he has one of the juciest roles on BSG and plays the entire spectrum of that character very well. He ought to be up for an award or three, IMO. Of course, I also think Tricia is pretty fucking amazing too. Damn. Best cast ever.
So I'm wondering if this is Gaius "killing off" the Six in his head. When she begs him not to continue, I got that impression. And when he says "one for you," she disappears. Because he's not in love with the one in his head anymore, perhaps?
The naked Cylons flying out... yeah, you nailed it about them not showing an antiseptic battle, but damn if I didn't flash back to 9/11. I didn't have tears in my eyes so much as my heart sank and my stomach lurched. Wow.
The doors into the Pegasus CIC were interesting. Don't seem like they're all that functional, but cool. And oh, Kara's mommy issues! She needs a good mother figure, and just as she might find one, BLAM. Even though we knew that Starbuck wasn't going to do it, this scene was INTENSE. Damn.
I really am loving Jack. Sort of Tigh Chunky Style. It will be interesting to see what kind of commander he is.
Is it just me, or does it seem like Gaius was not fully cognizant of exactly what Gina wanted to do? Did she just talk him into distracting the guard without discussing the plan any further? That seems unlikely. Hmm. Can't wait to see where they are and what they are doing next week. Also, some explanation of how Gina can move about the ship without detection would be nice.
Okay and "you're not my type" is my new favorite line.
I am hereby an out-of-the-closet Laura/Bill shipper. :) *squee*!
Alright, I'm done filling your LJ with my blathering. :) Hope the henna experiment went well.
Re: A few thoughts as I rewatch the show...
Date: 2006-01-14 09:44 pm (UTC)That was my impression, yeah, he goes from being obsessed with a memory to being in love with a semi-real woman...or at least a mostly flesh and blood one.
The naked Cylons flying out... yeah, you nailed it about them not showing an antiseptic battle, but damn if I didn't flash back to 9/11. I didn't have tears in my eyes so much as my heart sank and my stomach lurched. Wow.
That was exactly what hit me, the bodies floating reminded me way too much of the people leaping from the towers. It was very much like being hit in the gut, and the brutality of it was just the most horrifying thing.
Is it just me, or does it seem like Gaius was not fully cognizant of exactly what Gina wanted to do? Did she just talk him into distracting the guard without discussing the plan any further? That seems unlikely. Hmm. Can't wait to see where they are and what they are doing next week. Also, some explanation of how Gina can move about the ship without detection would be nice.
I think he just had to get her out of that cell and wasn't thinking about anything else, but then Gaius isn't really big on plans in general. And maybe he thought he might be able to do it when he holds the gun under her chin, but quickly realizes he can't. And yeah I'm dying to know where she got off to and where he's going to stow her.
Okay and "you're not my type" is my new favorite line.
It just kicked ass, didn't it?
I am hereby an out-of-the-closet Laura/Bill shipper. :) *squee*!
That was the bit that had me texting Aelf with OMGOMGOMG!!!!
Re: A few thoughts as I rewatch the show...
Date: 2006-01-16 04:54 am (UTC)I was just waiting for THE LINE. Edward James Olmos delivering "Sooner or later the day comes when you can't hide from the things you've done" is just about the best line I've seen on TV since West Wing went pear-shaped.
I am surprised and impressed that they're going to keep the Pegasus around. I suppose with Caine (Cain? Kain? Canonical spellcheck please?) out of the way, Adama naturally is the senior guy, and New Colonel seems to be enough of a by-the-book type that he's going to defer to the Old Man (witness the almost-an-afterthought clemency for our boys in the brig). I'm sure they'll go back to the well with the tension between the crews more than once in future, but for now, Ron has nicely squared the circle of making them get along by pinching the Admiral without implicating anyone from BSG75. (So does this make them an actual Battlestar Group again now that they have multiple warships?)
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Date: 2006-01-17 02:45 am (UTC)This week we didn't get to watch it until late late cuz we weren't home.
I am going to be VERY sad if/when Laura dies.
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Date: 2006-01-17 06:24 am (UTC)I will be crushed. I just hope that Gaius can pull off a miracle this week. A freaky, messed up miracle, but I'll take it if it saves Laura.