Writer: Michael Angeli
Director: Wayne Rose
Grade: A+
Wow… I just… I don’t even know where to start. I kept planning to re-watch this episode every night this week, but somehow I kept never getting around to it. I think it’s because the episode is so emotionally draining. I finally got around to re-watching it last night, and I shed tears, again.
I suppose I can start with Felix Gaeta. I said last week that Gaeta didn’t want the power and responsibility of taking over Adama’s position, and that assessment was supported this week through the running symbol of Gaeta holding Adama’s Commander’s* wings. When Adama first takes them off and tosses them at Gaeta in the CIC, he stares at them for a moment, but he doesn’t pick them up. Later, during Adama’s (mock) trial, we see him holding them a couple of times, measuring their weight in his hand. And finally, though Gaeta had every intention of witnessing Adama’s execution, in the end, he couldn’t watch them murder the old man. Instead, he went to Adama’s quarters, left the wings on his desk because he knew there was no one left fit to wear them (least of all himself), and ordered the execution from there. That’s my idea of a well-executed bit of symbolism.
*(I hadn’t even realized that everyone was still calling Adama “Admiral” long after the Pegasus was gone, but it seems like little more than a well-intentioned bit of deference by the crew. Without the Pegasus, Adama is not technically an Admiral.)
I think that when Gaeta saw the Quorom bloodbath, he began to see the truth about Zarek. As Zarek said, “The truth is told by whoever’s left standing,” and Zarek intended for that to be him—it was either rule the world, or watch it burn. In that scene, I think Gaeta began the process of understanding that he was going to die, by Zarek’s hand or by Adama’s. He struggled with this for much of the episode, and when the FTL went down, it finally hit him that he was absolutely going to die, and soon. He realized that he could die still acting as a traitor, or he could die knowing that in the end, he tried to do something resembling the “right thing.”
Which brings me to the other potent symbol in this episode, Gaeta’s itch. We’ve watched him scratch at that stump for months, and I feel like a big dummy for not noticing it beyond thinking, “Gee, that looks painful and itchy.” Now it’s clear that it was a phantom itch, it was his guilt—for backing Baltar over Roslin, for blowing the whistle on Roslin’s attempt to cheat her way to reelection, and most of all, for being willfully blind enough to help that Eight create the death lists. And of course, “It stopped,” right before his death, because he knew in the deepest part of his soul that he was finally going to be punished for his crimes.
Gaeta’s entire arc from New Caprica onwards has been incredibly well-written and well-acted. I never would have seen any of this coming, but as heart-breaking as it was, the storyline was executed to near-perfection. I must also add that Gaeta’s musical theme was used to great effect throughout this episode—every time it was used, it got slower and more drawn-out, because Gaeta’s story was coming to a close. I’m sad that I may never hear it again, as I think it’s probably the most beautiful piece of music ever written for this show.
As for Tom Zarek, he was more nauseating then ever in this episode, cracking jokes with Racetrack mere hours after murdering Laird. As for murdering the entire Quorum (minus Lee), I actually stopped and blinked at my television in disbelief when he told Gaeta, “This is what happens.” No, Tom, this is what YOU DID. There’s a huge ocean of difference between “This is what happens” and “This is what I chose to do.” Way to avoid taking responsibility for your own actions, you arrogant, self-serving psychopath…
Still, as dark and draining as this episode was, at least three people managed to find redemption in the depths of all that madness. Even after being held in the brig for months and being referred to as “the brig rat” by Tigh, Aaron Kelly was still able to recognize that Galen Tyrol was crawling through Galactica’s guts and risking his own life out of loyalty to Adama. That had to sting, knowing that a Cylon was more loyal than he was, and yet, he managed to not only show mercy, but switch back to Adama’s side.
Romo also found his own redemption, tied directly to his backstory, by helping someone else try to save the person they love.
And even Baltar found, if not redemption, at least a new willingness to accept responsibility. That dippy, Farah-haired Six was like a perfect amalgam of the entire Baltar cult, which was appropriate considering that it was she who reminded him (inadvertently) of his responsibility to them. Baltar even continued in this new, responsible vein by being the one to hear Gaeta’s last words.
Hell, I even have to hand it to Narcho for at least looking Adama in the eye and giving him a reason for his betrayal.
Mary McDonnell better get an Emmy, or at the very least a nomination, for her work in back half of season four, particularly this episode. Her first pep talk to the Cylons about how wonderful Adama is and how he’ll know who remained loyal to him was a thing of beauty, the way she lost herself in the middle and regained her composure at the end. And then she upped the awesome even more channeling some kind of Valkyrie warrior goddess when she thought Bill was dead!
Maybe I’m overlooking something, but Lee really hasn’t had much to do in these four episodes since the hiatus. Starbuck re-awakened Apollo, sure, but Apollo hasn’t done much besides look über badass shooting side-by-side with Starbuck. His grenade trick and the following banter was charming, but it’s nothing compared to becoming President, almost airlocking Sam and Tigh, and forging an alliance with the rebel Cylons. It really felt like Lee had finally found an actual function on the show prior to the hiatus, and now he’s back to doing… not much (aside from spout off a bunch of useless anti-Cylon nonsense that seemed out-of-character in the previous episode).
And as much as I love seeing the old Starbuck come back with a vengeance, I’m also ready for a little in-depth exploration of what’s going on with her emotionally (and, y’know, story arc-wise).
Miscellaneous Notes
-I was right to question whether that was Athena in the Raptor at the end of last week’s episode. It was not!
-I’m glad that Hotdog couldn’t shoot down the President. Still not sure how involved he was in this fiasco, though.
-Where was Sam shot? Base of the skull? Back of the neck? Upper back? His eyes rolled back in his head and he didn’t seem able to move his legs, so I wonder if he’s going to be paralyzed. Also, I thought the editing in this portion was one of the episode’s only flaws—considering that they were just going to drop the Sam and Starbuck plot thread anyway, they should have just stayed with them after he was shot, rather than cutting back to Adama’s sorry excuse for a trial. It was too mentally jarring to go from the simple shock of “Holy shit, Sam could be dying!” to trying to untangle the moral, political, and emotional intricacies of the trial scene.
No comments:
Post a Comment