Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock. The Bitch is Back.
I’m starting to get a tremendous sense of finality with each passing episode of Galactica. One of the positive things about what’s transpiring now is that we know that there is a resolution coming. It may not be a resolution we like, it may be painful, but with the end in sight and predetermined, we know that they can’t spring anything on us and let it slide any more. And in case you missed it, this week’s episode, Deadlock, gave us the birth of the second Human/Cylon child in the form of the Galactica itself now being rebuilt with organic Cylon goo.
There were a lot of things that had to happen in tonight’s episode for this story to continue. Most prevalently, they could not bring Ellen Tigh back without addressing this awkward situation. Michael Hogan gives us his strongest performance yet as Saul Tigh, caught in a no win scenario between Ellen, Caprica Six and his unborn child.
It was Tigh and Six’s unborn child that was the solution to the second nagging issue that had to be addressed. As long as Caprica Six was pregnant, there was no driving motivation for the final 5 to stay with the colonial fleet. And so, the unborn Liam, named for William Adama as we now know, had to be sacrificed. The Cylons know they can procreate with the humans, but as long as they can’t among themselves, they need the humans even more desperately than the humans need them.
Now we have Hera, the Human-Cylon hybrid child, we have the Battlestar Galactica — now a hybrid of Human and Cylon technology, and finally we have Bill Adama and Laura Roslin’s acceptance that the cultures are merging. Oddly enough, the realization that the Cylon’s were commemorating all of their fallen just as the colonial pilots were was perhaps one of the most thought provoking and touching moments in the series run.
Finally, with only 4 episodes left, it looks like we may actually get some resolution on Starbuck’s storyline next week. But when the hell are we going to find out who the hell Daniel is? It’s certainly not Starbuck.
And so, because the only safe bullets in the hands of Baltar’s followers are the kind you use to make bullet point lists, this is my weekly State of Galactica report.
• You’re a Mean One, Mrs. Tigh. It’s official. Ellen Tigh is a real piece of work. And she seems 1000 times more dangerous than ever now that we know she’s intelligent. We hated her when we just thought she a nasty, two-timing skank-ho. Now we see her as a manipulative, jealous and vindictive bitch. There’s something just wrong about this character. Now that we know she is a Cylon, in fact the mother of all Cylons, it just seems completely odd that she’s so damned human in her behavior. Ultimately, though, she’s a much more interesting character now than she was before the revelation.
• The Six is Back. Just when we thought that they were writing Baltar out of the show, tonight we had the long over-due return of Head Six. For those of you that don’t frequent sleazy Galactica forums or listen to Ron Moore’s podcasts, “Head Six” is the official name of the Cylon Number Six that has been haunting Baltar’s head since the beginning of the series. It’s a good thing she’s back, too, because there were bound to be riots in the street if they left this plot thread hanging when the series ended. Admittedly, this thread has been getting thinner and thinner over the past couple of seasons and even took a surprising turn briefly in the first half of season four when Head Six was inexplicably replaced with “Head Baltar.” Baltar having illusions of himself rather than Six. Of course, the assumption was always that “Head Six” was some type of incarnation of Caprica Six, whom Baltar had his steamy affair with on Caprica before the holocaust. But all this got extremely complicated when the real Caprica Six became an integral part of the plot. For a long period of time, it really seemed like Head Six was simply a hallucination. However, tonight as strongly as ever, it really seems like Head Six is some type of real character that imposes her will on Baltar to do her bidding. And now with the course of the story going the way it is, her motives seem as subversive as ever. It just gets more and more interesting.
• Speaking of the real Caprica Six, how weird is this? Caprica Six has become one of the “Good Guys” recently. She’s a sympathetic character. She’s fallen in love with our favorite drunk, become a compassionate expectant mother and we felt for her and Saul when she had her tragic miscarriage this week. Before we get all weepy over Caprica Six, let’s not forgot just exactly who Caprica Six is. She is the Cylon that had a sleazy sexual affair with Baltar and manipulated him for information to get the security codes to freeze the colonial defense system. She was dubbed “Caprica Six” because she was the spy made the sexual sacrifice that allowed the human holocaust to happen. More than just about any other Cylon she is responsible for the near extinction of the human race. She killed an infant baby in the street in original mini-series! How much sympathy should we really have for her? Or is that the same Caprica Six? This shit’s all confusing.
• How dry I am. Has there ever been a more cold look than Roslin’s glare at Adama when he produced that flask of booze for Ellen Tigh? I must admit, it was a laugh out loud moment for the show. Adama’s journey to the dark side is complete. He has become Saul Tigh. Full blown alcoholic! He is the old fogey that can’t handle change. For him to be able to take it, he has to take a few belts of Jack Daniels. I’m actually curious if they are really heading anywhere with this. I just have a feeling that Adama isn’t going to make it out the series finale alive. He sees the writing on the wall, the human race can’t survive without the merging of the Human and Cylon races. A man like Adama will never be able to accept that. Historically, literature tells us that he is going to have to make the ultimate literary sacrifice with his life. Just a thought, really.
• I’m not a racist, but… How do these Cylons tell each other apart? Tonight we saw Tyrol immediately recognizing Boomer on sight. Was he looking into her eyes to be sure or is there something about her eyes? Also, as touching as the moment was, there was somewhat of an absurd element to the fact that the Cylons were posting pictures of their fallen comrades at the end. Pictures of the same couple of faces over and over again. As I said, not to sound overtly racist, but they all look alike to me.
• This Week’s Spin-off idea. Galactica: Intervention! After the Humans and Cylons finally settle their differences and colonize an Earth-like paradise planet, Saul Tigh and Bill Adama finally overcome their demon of alcohol addiction and decide that they have discovered their true calling: to bring their message of recovery to the people who suffer from addiction. With alcohol and drug abuse rampant throughout the new colony, each week, Bill A. and Saul T. reach out to help families that are plagued by a loved one with a serious addiction. In the pilot episode, some long-standing business must be addressed: Ellen Tigh. As we saw from the first moment that Ellen resurrected, her craving for booze had returned. Adama and Tigh however are not strict 12-step program goodies, they believe in the good old-fashioned cure: they tie her down and through a series of beatings and electric shocks pummel the alcohol addiction out of her. Now that Saul has settled down with Caprica Six, Ellen ends up seducing and marrying Lee Adama and becomes first lady of the new Human/Cylon colonies.
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2 Responses to “Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock. The Bitch is Back.”
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February 24th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
It was a mostly boring episode but I think it had to be. I have to say I am not really all that fond of the absence of Lee Adama. I just am having a big problem with the fact that Lee was such a huge character at the beginning and now he seems to be way overlooked. Yeah, he and Starbuck were fighting the rebellion but I think Hotdog has made as many appearances. I’m not hot to trot for Adama but c’mon that’s just wacky.
Ellen should just hang herself. I think the biggest surprise has been The Cheif’s willingness to just abandon the fleet. I really didn’t think that would happen.
February 24th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Tyrol’s vote to leave the fleet was a bit of a shock for me, too. It’s hard for me to rationalize, especially after just accepting his position of Chief back. I think it was a poor decision on the part of the writers to make him a “leave” vote. One of the great things about Saul Tigh as that even though he’s come to complete acceptance of his identity as a Cylon, he’s completely loyal the Admiral and fleet. We’ve known Tory was a bitch for a long time and she’s never really fit in, but Tyrol? But he was the only one they had enough flexibility with to make him a “leave” vote. The only other option would have been to have Tory vote to stay, which would have made even less sense that Tyrol voting to leave.
I’m at the point now where I hate Ellen, but I’m enjoying the character now while I hate her. In the first 3 season I just couldn’t stand the bitch.