BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: The Final 10 - Page 8

Gaeta has no one to blame for all the shit that's happened to him but himself. If he had just let Roslin's crew fix the election then he'd still have a leg.

Is it just me or does Adama look like he's going to be the victim of a stroke or heart attack or some other ailment before this show is over? And I've always disliked Roslin before but after this episode, I really loathe her.

Edited to add: Holy shit, could Adama be the dying leader? I know they found /a/ earth. Could there be another one?

I'm in the "I love BG when it gets political" camp. I love the social commentaries and the such... this is what's kept me around and loving this show.

Is it Moore's intention for me to loath the entire human race (with a few exceptions) and just wish the Cylons would put them out of their misery?

I'd be more than happy to see humanity die in space and the rebel Cylons make it to a new planet at this point.

I look forward to seeing Tigh smash Gaeta's head against the frakkin' walls.

Jesus Gaeta is a whiny bastard. And did we really need him hidden at the end? Pretty obvious he was going to be the traitor.

I only wish that he would've had a chair to swirl around in for the reveal.

edit: swivel chair that is...

Is anybody ever really punished for shitty decisions or poor judgement on this show? Baltar got a sex cruise on a Basestar and then his own cult of personality (with more sex!) after he was acquitted for treason!

I'd throw Gaeta out the nearest airlock and frame his peg leg above the door to the C and C. Giving him a trial and or "punishing" him will probably result in a twink party with him, Helo and Adama.

Or at least let's hope Bill kicks Gaeta upside the head with his severed leg. I'm sure it's in the trash somewhere, if it hasn't been recycled for food.

And of course...

"That's a lot of smoking around a pregnant lady!"
"She'll live."

Gotta love Cottle.

I thought this episode was better than last weeks.

The music factory would not approve.

I want Adama to show he is a military leader and grow some balls. Then kick Gaeta out an airlock.

For me this show is approaching a sort of accidental meta-genius.

An enormous buildup to a heap of bullshit and now everyone is asking "Why should we follow you anymore? You clearly have no idea what you're doing or where the hell you're going. You're flying blind. Fuck you."

That has always been my theory. I struggled to find anyone to identify with in this BEFORE half of them turned out to be machines. None of them seem to have any passion for life. I don't care what happens, even in the worst of situations, people will seek out joy in some form (check out GENERATION KILL for an example). But not on this show. These people are just miserable, and all indications are that the majority of them were before the bombs fell as well.

I did think this episode was better than the previous one. On its own, it was a pretty entertaining character piece. it's only when I pondered that they spent one of their last nine outings on it that my opinion soured a bit.

Roslin is just another take on the same tired suicidal character plot they've trotted out about 6 too many times in 4 seasons. I can't take it seriously any more. Are we supposed to want this self-pitying selfish wreck to be President again? She just abandoned her entire species at its time of greatest need. And she could have at least worn the wig for sex. (And the glasses! The glasses!)

The actor who plays Baltar must be super-pissed... he's now reduced to being on-the-nose-monologue-guy. They could be shooting his scenes in a different country for all we can tell. I wonder if the other actors still let him eat at their table.

Is it wrong that I'm rooting for the mutiny to succeed? Gaeta and Zarak at least seem to give a crap, aren't cylons, and haven't tried to kill themselves in at least a few days. Unless Gaeta wants to sing a victory song - then I say space his ass.

This was a necessary episode. There has to be some kind of reaction to Earth being a huge letdown -- ignoring that just to plow on with the "mystery" would go against how this show has unfolded over the last four seasons. It's been as much about how these people react to events as it has been about the events themselves.

There's some fascinating Civil War parallels being drawn, with Adama/Roslin in the Lincoln role and Zarek and the fleet as the secessionist states.

And I don't think Roslin is being played as suicidal. She may be giving up on being the leader, but it's more out of a sense of "I've done my part, I'm living for me now" than "Fuck it, I want to die." Seems it's more about accepting your fate than about rushing to meet it.

No. If it wasn't obvious to you from around season 3 that The X-Files never had anything remotely resembling an ongoing storyline, let alone a plan for the big reveal, you were not paying attention.

Season 4 of BSG has sucked, but as with Lost, comparing it to the X-Files is just wrong. That was a show that was floundering almost from the start, and was clearly getting by on the quality of its standalone episodes. No matter how terribly the writers botch the endings of BSG or Lost, they've at least shown that they understand the concept of "setup => payoff".

That's the only thing I'm clinging to for BSG--the fact that no matter how much Moore flails around in interviews, it's been clear in the past that they have had storylines and plot points planned out. The nuclear warhead business, for instance, was set up in the early episodes of season one and didn't pay off until the end of season two. And it is, in fact, possible to make stuff up as you go along to a degree and still end up with something satisfying. The big problem here is how incredibly, bafflingly shitty and illogical the writing has become this season, which leaves me with a lot of doubt that they can get their act together.

But who knows. Taken as an individual episode, last week's was actually pretty well done, as was pointed out. And it sounds like we're still getting over the strike-influenced episodes, so...here's hoping they pull it together for the remaining episodes.

Am I the only person rooting for the insurrectionists? I am in Zarek's camp in thinking that unless the system goes in favor of promoting an Adama and Roslin agenda, they start tightening their iron grip on the fleet. I think Gaeta, Zarek and the rest of the fleet have every right to want to rebel against the leash that they've been lead by for so long.

Ever since Tigh took control of Galactica after Adama was shot those seeds have been sown, but we could at least relate to Adama and there was a higher cause for everyone to work toward. Now that the cause has gone up in a cloud of dust, why do the Commander and President fight against the will of the people within the fleet?

Pretty good episode overall. I like the political intrigue, but the program wasn't without some major flaws.

1. I think Zarek is too smart to fall for the "false papers ruse" that Adama pulled on him. But I guess it was needed to drive the plot.

2. The Cally Tyrol/ Gwen Stacy whore retcon was completely unnecessary and negated one of the interesting aspect of the new cylon/human dynamic, the half breeds. I was really looking forward to seeing what Hera and Nicky added to the overall mythology. Ah well.

I liked this episode quite a bit. Count me into the camp that is into the politics of the fleet stuff. Good to see that the humans of the fleet don´t just go back to daily buisness after seeing the truce with their alleged enemies. But on the same token I am having total grasp for the urge to revolt. It is not like Adama and Rosslin have ever been great democrats in the first place. As we have seen in prior reasons these two only play along with the quorum as long they are following their lead.

One thing that I wondered about though was the fact that Tigh apparently revealed the identity of the fifth at least to the Adamas. Though there don´t seem to be any repercussions of that. Yet obviously. And since when is Tyrol the speaker of the Cylons? Did Xena really stay back on earth? Seems like they really put their final five storyline on the sidetrack for the time being.

I don't know if Tyrol is a speaker for the Cylons. I kinda figured he was just Galactica's representative for talking to them, he seems to still be living on Galactica after all.

They were real quick to abandon the search for Earth, elect Baltar as their leader and get into that whole New Caprica fiasco. Which, if I'm not mistaken, was Zarek's idea to begin with. How the people soon forget about that whole mess.

I find myself relating more and more to the rebel Cylons because between them and the Colonials they're the only ones to have shown any growth in this series. The Colonials just keep walking the same stale ground over and over again: Power struggles, fear of change and the unknown, paranoia and just plain old arrogance despite the circumstances of their situation.

Two things stand out in my mind about the Colonials: Repeating the same actions and expecting a different result and things that don't change or evolve over time...they die. Electing a new leadership or espousing the virtues of the "Colonial Dream" doesn't mean jack if you just continue to perpetuate the things that got you into this mess in the first place.

Moore (I think) said on his blog (or somebody's blog) that basically she's done. She stayed and lived out the rest of her days on Earth.

Actors who have to play bald should shave their heads for real. That bald wig in the final scene was a catastrophe, and I don't even watch the show in HD.

Other than that, and wishing someone would sneak a "this is Seti Aplpha Five" joke in there, I have to say I loved this episode.

Yeah, Roslin kinda looked like a fucking Conehead.

For a moment I thought it was James Caan's partner from Alien Nation.

I, for one, am most worried about Tigh and his quasi-rape victim living happily ever after with their child.

I just took Roslin as being selfish. If she want to live for her, that's fine, but then she should resign. Instead, she's just making life more difficult for everyone else.

I love how this show can make otherwise liberal people side with the religiously motivated/utterly wrong leader and her military lapdog.

If I were on the fleet and privy to only what an average person was privy to, I'd sure as hell side with the insurrection.

She tossed out her medication and skipped her treatment. She talked about how meaningless and crappy her future looked, then banged The Olmos. One episode after Dee had her 'perfect moment' and shot herself in the head, I'd say there's some similarity.

I liked it better when I thought Adama/Roslin had been survielling him. It seemed plausible for them to figure he'd be a problem eventually. The reveal that it was all a trick was a bit disappointing, as it made both sides look a little dumber.

Yeah, that scene was baffling... "What the hell am I supposed to get out of this?" And of course, there's the obvious... why was the human doctor examining the cylon couple's fetus instead of... the cylons? Probably just to piss off Gaeta.

It was...and OK episode.

One thing that really frustrates me with this series is that Roslin/Adama continually tell the Quorum to fuck off instead of trying to reason with them. It runs in the face of Moore's talk of a Civilian Fleet vs a Military Fleet (which he made a big deal of in Season one's podcasts). It also retreads the Quorum of the original series, who were a bunch of stooges.


Yeah yeah it's all about Bush, but Bush is now history.

Makes me wonder how the new BSG will age.

And Gaeta has turned into a little snit.

More retroactive trashing of "trailer park Calley" in this episode as well. That Ho be messed up but good!

Was I the only one that thought Hot Dog sounded like a deaf person when Tyrol first confronts him?

Seeing how loyal Tigh is to Adama I think it does make sense that they would be receiving medical treatment on Galactica. Though Cottle probably isn't the most qualified between the choices.

I don't see why they can't just let Zarek be President, and when he fucks up, they can come in and say "see, we TOLD you not to, but did you listen? Noooooo!"
It's all down to Adama's ego, pretty much, and the fact that he knows Zarek is an asshole.

Pretty slow episode for this late in the game. But I liked it anyway. And it's pretty interesting how they made the crippled gay guy into an asshole attention whore. "Why doesn't anyone appreciate my sacrifices? Bwaah! I'll show you!" Because I think both he and Zarek operate for completely self-centered reasons.Gaeta wants revenge and Zarek is tired of being a figurehead. Nothing ideological behind their actions at all. I wished Starbuck would just shoot him in the head when they were talking.

Yeah, why did they have to piss all over Cally again? And they are still dropping the ball with the Cylons. They had to retcon Tyrol having a kid because they decided to turn him into a Cylon late in the series. And I really don;t get the Chief speaking for the other Cylons. It's like having an American-Japanese speak for the Japanese during WWII.

At least they mentioned Tigh still being XO and Lee's continuous career changes.

Consider the number of people who have endangered lives just for their self centered reasons (like President Roslin is doing now), I say let Gaeta have his turn at it.

See during that Starbuck/Gaeta talk I was way more on Gaeta's side. Gaeta lost his leg because he was in comand of a insane person (hell she even acknoweldges it after Gaeta is shot) but apparently he isn't suppose to feel any emotions that make Starbuck feel sort of down.

I mean do the presdient and Adama really feel they just get everyone to accept the idea that "the cylons are our friends now lets treat them nicely" through millitary action. Maybe if they tried reasoning with the civilian fleet, but 4.0 showed that as something Roslin hates doing.

So quite frankly I'm hoping for the mutinity to succeed.

Starbuck's stunning lack of anything resembling remorse, and Tigh and pregnant Hefler's suddenly domesticized relationship, were really "WTF?" moments.

Off the episode topic:

Battlestar 2021

Because they had to close a gaping plothole.

By opening another one? Tyrol not being Nicky's father makes Cally's attempted murder suicide (and Tori's killing Cally to save Nicky and their secret) senseless. Her entire freak out was based around the idea that she didn't know what her husband or her child were (and that Galen wanted to have ANOTHER kid).

Why are they doing another "revolt" storyline on this show. Why doesn't Adama just tell them fine, you want to go your own way we'll leave you to the Cylons and just leave them. It makes litte sense to me.

The same way they blow up the Pegaus instead of the Galactica.

Well, let's assume she knew the kid was Hot Dog's. She was obviously in love with the Chief, and moreso than he was with her. She married him after he beat the hell out of her, for goodness' sake. I think Nicky was part of the way she tried to keep Tyrol tied to her.

So, she finds out he's a cylon - WHAM. Of course the idea of actually having a child with a Cylon is going to be repulsive to her.

She's out of her mind on drugs, etc, and isn't thinking clearly. Maybe she doesn't want to leave Nicky in the hands of Cylons. Maybe she's starting to think that everyone on the ship is a Cylon, given she just saw the four of them... She goes to space herself. Maybe she would've changed her mind, but we won't ever know.

I don't find that much of a leap, at all.

Also, Cally could've slept with Hot Dog around the time she was beaten up by Tyrol. It seems like everything moved pretty quickly from there. So, it doesn't even make her look like a bad/worse person.

ETA: Or, she chose to keep Nicky within the relative safety of Tyrol's life as opposed to Hot Dog's fighter jock life. Much more stability for the kid, plus it's not as harsh as assuming she was just using the pregnancy to get her hooks into the Chief.

I just discovered that Hot Dog is Olmos' real life son.

Count me in with the insurrectionists. Even last week if you'd told me that Gaeta would be the character I sympathized with most I'd have thought you were nuts, but he's becoming actually interesting all of a sudden. How anyone could watch that seen with Starbuck and be on her side is beyond me.

Like much of the 4th season, a pretty good episode on its own, but leaves me scratching my head about the direction they are taking the main storylines.

I don't think Nicky's parentage was a retcon. I remember people thinking the writers were fucking up in season 3 when they didn't address Nicky's special destiny in the same way they lavished attention on Hera. They didn't address it because he never had a special destiny. He was always, to them, a skeevy viper jock's bastard.

I'm not sure, but did Hot Dog's case of the space clap (ICE PIRATES) come before or after Cally gave birth? I think it came after but it'd be so much better if it came before.

By the way, am I the only one thinking that Tigh's Six is Ellen in a new body?

Is Caprica 6 the same as Tigh's Six?

I don't get the distrust of the rebel Cylons. They pretty much sacrificed their immortality and placed their entire race in danger of extinction to help the humans. As far as acts of goodwill go it's way up there.

Counterbalanced with the genocide of 99.9% of the human race, I can see why some people are still nervous about the whole thing.

Considering how much the president seems to keep her people out of the loop I wonder if they ever know the cylons did that.

Seriously I image there would be people who would truly question whether the cylons lost the ability to download. Hell, how many of us are saying "so why can't they just build another hub"?

Also, there would be people angry enough to never forgive the cylons no matter how good of a speech Lee Adama makes at their trial. After all as the VP said "isn't it the cylons fault that we are in this mess"

Felix Gaeta has really evolved as a character from the dutiful navigator of S1&2. The turning point was probably when Roslin and Adama colluded to rig the election. He was really idealistic, maybe only slightly less than Dualla. And then he discovered the election scandal. From that point onward, I don't think he ever really trusted Roslin or Adama again. So, he went to work with Baltar, but then was forced to collaborate with the Cylons. Who, he remembers, effing blew away most of humanity. So, he feeds information to the rebels. And then, after the war, he's nearly executed by those same rebels. So he hates them, too. And to top it all off with a cherry on top, they're Cylons. And then one of them blows his leg off. Oh, and Earth was a lie, and Dualla committed suicide only a room away from him. It makes perfect sense that Gaeta is the one saying "fuck this noise, let's give Zarek a chance". And he's absolutely right.

Even worse, in the webisodes before the new episodes started, he was on a raptor and a cylon murdered everyone on the ship with him. The same cylon was on New Caprica with him and while she claimed to be helping him provide aid to the resistance, they had really just duped him into feeding her names of people to kill or torture. That really seemed to help flip the switch on his personality.