Battlestar Galactica: Season 2 Blog

Season 2. Episode 10.

“Pegasus”

          49,605 survivors. Oh, man, this episode is proof that this show has one of the best production teams out now. First, of course, the story. Adama finds that there is another surviving battlestar. The ship turns out to be the Pegasus, and the commanding officer on that ship is Admiral Helena Cain, who is Adama’s superior. After being identified as a colonial vessel, Pegasus‘ commanding officers board the Galatica to meet the rest of the human race–the song on the background during this scene is amazing, but more on that later. After a joyous meet-and-greet on the hangar deck of Galactica, the crew of both battlestars begin to interact; though all is not as good as it seems to be. Since Admiral Cain is Adama’s superior, the military command of the fleet has to be given over to Cain, and Adama would have to step down. President Roslin instantly sees the problem with this and consults Adama about the possible friction this action would cause.

Admiral Helena Cain

          Meanwhile, Col. Tigh and Col. Jack Fisk—the XO of the Pegasus—meet up in the Hangar deck’s bar to chat over some brew. Once the alcohol kicks in, Fisk reveals a secret to Tigh. He tells Tigh that he became XO of the Pegasus because the previous one disobeyed an order from Admiral Cain. Fisk also tells him that when former XO Jurgen Belzen disobeyed the order, Admiral Cain asked Belzen for his sidearm and shot him in the head. Tigh is shocked by this, but then Fisk laughs it off as a joke. Although, Tigh later tells Adama about this, believing it to be the truth. Over the course of the episode, Cain begins to assert her doctrine over the fleet by taking supplies from civilian ships to restock Galactica. Roslin begins to see Cain as dangerous when she refuses to speak with Roslin. Additionally, Cain transfers Galatica’s best personnel to Pegasus–Starbuck and Apollo transfer reluctantly.

          Later on, it is revealed that Cain, too, has a Cylon prisoner. The prisoner turns out to be one of the Number Six models, who goes by the name of Gina Inviere. Chief Tyrol and Helo discover that Gina was raped as a form of torture, and they soon discover that Lt. Alastair Thorne, Pegasus’ Cylon torturer, is going to rape Caprica-Valerii. Infuriated, Tyrol and Helo catch Thorne and his men in the middle of the rape and beat them up. Mistakenly, Tyrol kills Thorne, and Cain places them under arrest aboard her ship. When Cain orders the execution of Helo and Tyrol without an independent tribunal, Adama is infuriated and he asks Cain one more time to give back his men. Cain refuses Adama’s request, and Adama sends out his Vipers to attack the Pegasus, and Pegasus does the same. The episode ends with squadrons of confused Viper pilots from both battlestars going head on for each other—not knowing whether they are here to kill Cylons or each other.

           As I promised, I said I would explain the excellent production features of this episode. The background music by composer Bear McCreary is absolutely intense and beautifully fitting. The scene where Admiral Cain and her officers meet the Galactica crew features an awesome guitar laden with chorus effects. It was so awesome that I had to look up the song name; its name turned out to be, of course, “Pegasus”. But that’s not the only great song in this episode. The last scene was the most intense scene in the show so far—it turns out that the tension is much stronger between the humans than Cylons; therefore, it would be logical for the production team to score up an equally intense track. And that’s exactly what McCreary did, and more. The track to the last scene is called “Prelude to War” if you want to listen to just how intense I’m talking about—crazy cellos and warlike percussions. Like I said before, the music in this episode is just so awesome and really top-notch. Of course, I had to order a copy of the soundtrack.

          The editing is also noteworthy. The scenes were excellently paired with the music to give it a more dramatic feel, and it definitely made me feel the growing tension throughout the episode between the two battlestars. I loved the story, though, most of all—written by Anne Cofell Saunders—because the characters from Pegasus were so believably hard-edged and tense, and it really contrasted well against the crew of Galactica. An interesting fact I learned researching about this episode: it was originally supposed to be a longer episode to show more background to the Pegasus crew, but it had to be cut for duration purposes. Oh, and this episode was nominated for the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. Awesome stuff. A solid, shiny five out of five!

Location viewed: My room

Source: Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series (Blu-Ray)

Time viewed: 10:00-10:50 PM

Battlestar Galactica: Season 2 Blog

Season 2. Episode 9.

“Flight of the Phoenix”

          47,853 survivors. First off, I have to say that this episode has to be one of best morale boosters for the viewer as well as the characters. Watching the characters for almost two seasons in endless stress and turmoil, and then watching this episode really breathes satisfaction. Well, the morale boost has to be earned, of course. And I love how the writers for this episode, Bradley Thompson and David Weddle, decide to use the characters’ situation to contrast the small accomplishment that Chief Tyrol works on. What does he work on? Oh, yeah, I forgot. Here’s the story.

          The Galactica crew discover a Cylon logic bomb in their system, and it is beginning to cause malfunctions all over the ship–such as the when Starbuck, Hotdog, and Apollo nearly die from lack of oxygen when the environment monitor in the room malfunctions. Roslin discovers that her cancer is reaching a critical level and that she has only a month left to live. Caprica-Sharon Valerii offers to destroy the virus by hooking herself up to Galactica‘s mainframe–it’s not as weird as it sounds, honestly. The Cylons show up with heavy raiders ready to activate the virus-bomb; instead, Valerii sends the virus to the Cylons’ mainframes and deactivates all the raiders and the basestar, left open for attack–just like when the Cylons deactivated the colonial Battlestars on the attack of the Twelve Colonies. Payback? Maybe a little victory. Meanwhile, amidst all this action, Chief Tyrol works obsessively on his built-from-scratch viper. His character at this point is deeply troubled because of the death of Boomer-Valerii and the arrival of Caprica-Valerii, who is in love with Helo. Everyone doubts Tyrol, and many think that his ship won’t even get off the frakkin’ ground. But Adama believes in him, and that’s why he let Tyrol continue building the ship. Eventually, the doubters join to help build the ship when they begin to realize that this project was the only thing that the crew had to look forward to in months. When Tyrol and his crew finish the ship they give it a test run, and it turns out to be an extremely quick stealth-ship, as demonstrated by Starbuck. Towards the end, a ceremony is held for the new ship and Tyrol unveils the name of it, in front of President Roslin, to be Laura. She is overwhelmed. I can’t stop smiling: it feels as if I was there. The episode ends as a celebration, which the crew and Roslin have not seen in so long.           

           

          Like I said in the beginning of this post, I was impressed by the writers being able to effectively use the nature of the characters’ situation to produce an episode so rewarding for the viewer. During the episode, I couldn’t help but cheer for Tyrol–he’s such a likable character because he’s so depressed, but he still manages to get the frakkin’ job done–when everyone else told him that his bird wouldn’t fly. Excellent episode. Five out of five.   

Location viewed: My room

Source: Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series (Blu-Ray)

Time viewed: 9:10-10:00 PM

Battlestar Galactica: Season 2 Blog

Season 2. Episode 8

“Final Cut”

          47,853 survivors. Man, this show is so relevant to our times. This episode deals with the media, and the stress of the Galactica crew. A little back flash, though, before I get started. Back in the episode ”Resistance”, Col. Tigh ordered marines to take supplies out of the civilian ship the Gideon. In doing so, a civilian was shot dead by accident by Lt. Joe Palladino when things got out of control. Now, an ambitious reporter named D’anna Biers—who has been granted unrestricted access by Commander Adama—wants to go around Galatica to make a documentary about the lives of the hardest working crew in the fleet. In the process, though, she discovers what is now called “the Gideon massacre”—of course, this is an extrapolation by the media. This is what I really loved about this episode. Reporter D’anna Biers is so determined to document the lives of the Galactica crew, but she, being the reporter that she is, also wants to go after the truth of “the Gideon Massacre”. Eventually, she makes another major discovery: Commander Adama and co. is keeping the pregnant Caprica-Sharon Valerii in the brig.

          Things get really interesting when D’anna discovers that Col. Tigh has received a death threat. This later turns out to be from a distraught Lt. Palladino—haunted by what he did on the Gideon—who attempts to kill Col. Tigh, but then decides not to. This episode showed that even among the fleeing fleet the media still did its job to reveal the truth in its government and military. The when Adama forces D’anna to give him the recording of Caprica-Sharon Valerii really shows the nature of our media under the pressure of the power. I felt all noble about this episode until the last scene, which completely threw me off in surprise, showed that all was for nothing: D’anna Biers was a cylon agent. Damn, I felt so frustrated but so satisfied at the same time. I really thought that this episode was going to be a primer for future episodes featuring the media, but I was also extremely satisfied to find out that the cylon models are being slowly and ingeniously revealed. What better way to infiltrate and influence the fleet than to be a part of its media. Brilliant. Four out of five.

Location viewed: My room

Source: Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series (Blu-Ray)

Time viewed: 9:00-9:50 PM

Battlestar Galactica: Season 2 Blog

Season 2. Episode 7.

“Home, Part II”

          47,855 survivors. This was one of the great episodes as well. The first part of this episode built up a good framework for this episode to answer, and it has done so in good, solid writing–I love the episodes that are written by Ronald D. Moore and David Eick. This episode addresses the situation in which Commander Adama goes to Kobol to find Roslin and crew, so they can reunite the fleet and reconcile their differences. On Kobol, Roslin and her crew are trying to find the Tomb of Athena while Zarek and Meier conspire to kill Lee Adama in hopes of gaining a strategic position in power. Meanwhile, Commander Adama goes aboard a Raptor himself, along with Billy–the President’s aide–and Chief Tyrol, and scouts for Roslin on Kobol. They soon find Roslin and crew, but then Commander Adama sees Caprica-Sharon, and he attacks her. He then stops because of the pain in his chest from the gunshot wound. Roslin and the Commander reconcile and the whole crew goes off to find the Tomb of Athena.

          Aside from the events on Kobol, I really have to give credit to the writers for also addressing the issue of the Number Six in Gaius Baltar’s head. Is she just a projection from a chip inserted inside his head, or is Baltar going nuts? This was a question that gnawed at me since season one. When Baltar asks the same question, Six gets mad and starts to mess with him and tells him to go get a brain scan by Dr. Cottle. After the test, Dr. Cottle concludes that Baltar has no chips inside his, and that he is just another frakkin’ hypochondriac. I love Doc Cottle–he smokes and curses like it’s the end of the…oh, yeah, never mind. Anyways, Six returns to Baltar before him and says that she was sent by God to help him. When Baltar asks her how long she’s supposed to help him, she replies gently, “Until the end of the human race.” This is just excellent: the story keeps on getting more interesting, and Baltar’s character is just getting more and more crazy. It makes you sympathize with him, but then we have to remember that Baltar is a traitor to the human race.

          Back to Kobol, my favorite scene is when Sharon Valerii proves that she is making her own choices, and kills Meier and his buddy, not Zarek, thwarting the assassination of Lee Adama. I think this would be one of her many acts to prove her trustworthiness to the Commander. The crew has found the Tomb of Athena, and Roslin, Starbuck, the Adamas, and Billy proceed to enter it. Inside the tomb, they place the Arrow of Apollo in the hands of the Sagittaron statue and a virtual representation of Earth, with the view of Lagoon Nebula above them, appears before them. This dramatic scene reaches its climax when the group concludes that they are standing on a virtual representation of Earth and that the Lagoon Nebula was the next stepping stone in the path to finding Earth. This is a lot in one episode.

          In conclusion, writers Moore and Eick have really outdone themselves with this top-of-the-line production. Everything in this episode was more than satisfying: it was smart, the characters were four-dimensional–that’s right, you heard me–and the plot was driven home in a timely fashion while also leaving room for healthy questioning and anticipation. I give this episode five out of five stars. It would be a crime not to.

Location viewed: My room

Source: Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series (Blu-Ray)

Time viewed: 9:00-9:50 PM

Battlestar Galactica: Season 2 Blog

Season 2. Episode 6.

“Home, Part I”

          47,858 survivors. This episode forwarded the story, but that was all to it. I didn’t like anything particular about this one, as it was mostly a story setter for another episode. The episode begins where we were left off in the last episode: Roslin on the Astral Queen with Tom Zarek, Meier, and Lee Adama, and the rest of the fleet right behind them on the way to Kobol.  Starbuck escapes Caprica with Helo and another copy of Sharon Valerii, who is pregnant with Helo’s baby and is compliant.

          Commander Adama and Colonel Tigh aboard the Galactica are now faced with half the crew gone and with the new CAG (Commander Air Group) needing to be selected, in the absence of Captain Lee Adama. We can also see that Commander Adama is obviously hurt by his son deciding to go against him, and it is beginning to stress him out. The new CAG is chosen, but he proves to be very inefficient. Adama, in his quarters, calls Anastasia Dualla to his room for consultation. Though she is of much lower rank, she speaks out to the Commander and tells him that it is time to put the fleet back together, as parents and children are separated (hinting at Adama and Lee). This emotional scene is an important one because it shows that the Commander was hurt by many things–the betrayal of Boomer, Starbuck disobeying him, half the fleet veering away from him, and his son leaving his side–and that he has been keeping it to himself all this time.

          Meanwhile, Starbuck makes contact with the Astral Queen.  When boarding the ship, Lee is thrilled to see Starbuck and kisses her, much to her surprise. Once Lee spots the Caprica Sharon Valerii, Roslin and Lee decide to kill her, but Sharon reveals that she knows the way to the Tomb of Athena on Kobol. Roslin agrees to let her live and they land on Kobol with the team consisting of Roslin, Lee, Starbuck, Helo, Sharon, Tom, Meier, Elosha (the priest). Trouble ensues as Elosha steps on a land mine set by the Cylons and is killed. The group soon destroys the Cylon Centurions in the area, with the help of Sharon Valerii.

          The best part, I think, in this episode was when Commander Adama was exposed emotionally to Dualla, and then the scene where he walks along Galactica’s empty corridors to the CIC and orders information on Kobol, so as to put the fleet back together. Overall, I think this episode deserves a three out of five because of certain weak points in the story, such as the choosing of the new CAG, but it is not all that bad together because of the scenes that featured the Commander: the ones that gave us some insight as to what kind of man Adama is, really.

Location viewed: My room

Source: Battlestar Galactice: The Complete Series (Blu-Ray)

Time viewed: 9:00-9:50 PM

Battlestar Galactica: Season 2 Blog

Season 2. Episode 5.

“The Farm”

          47,857 survivors. I thought this episode was very interesting in the sense that it revealed more about the Cylons and how they operate, and also continued the feud between Roslin and Adama, leading to more problems. On Caprica, Starbuck and the rebels plan to commandeer a Cylon Raider ship and travel back to Galactica, but their plans are foiled when they are ambushed by Cylon Centurions. Starbuck is wounded in the pelvic region and falls unconscious. She later wakes up in a hospital and finds that she is tended by a doctor. Strange, given the situation. I was really surprised when the doctor called her Starbuck because she never told him that before. I suspected that he was a Cylon now. And soon, Starbuck suspected it too. We were both right. The doctor turned out to be one of the Cylon human models–I think that makes five known Cylon-Human models now: Number Six, Sharon “Boomer” Valerii, Leoben Conoy, Aaron Doral, and now Simon. Starbuck stabs Simon with a shard of a broken mirror and escapes. Starbuck then discovers the Cylon “farms”, which is a place where human female subjects are captured and impregnated with Cylon-Humanoid eggs for reproduction. I was completely thrown off by this. I didn’t know what to make of it, so I just had to continue watching and hope that there is an explanation for this. Starbuck then burns down the “farm” and reunites with the rebellion and escapes Caprica but leaves behind her lover Anders. She promises to come back for him when she reaches Galactica; and this nicely sets up the plots for future episodes, I’m sure.

          Aside from the major insight into the nature of the Cylons, the Sharon Valerii onboard Galactica is killed by Cally, and the feud between Roslin and Adama has split the fleet in two…what? If the Cylons don’t destroy the human race, then the human race will gladly do it themselves. But aside from my thoughts, yes, Roslin plays the “religious” card and tells the fleet that she knows the way to Earth, and that she is the dying leader in the written scriptures. Half the fleet, mostly the ones angry at Adama, follow Roslin and her aides to Kobol in search for clues to Earth–separating the fleet.

          All the problems created in the last season are now being addressed with more problems: Excellent storytelling. As a result, I give this episode a five out of five.

Location viewed: My room

Source: Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series (Blu-Ray)

Time viewed: 9:00-9:50 PM

Battlestar Galactica: Season 2 Blog

Season 2. Episode 4.

“Resistance”

          47,861 survivors. A great episode for many reasons. In declaring Martial Law and pissing off the civilian body in the last episode, Colonel Tigh realizes the ramifications of doing so: the Galactica is short on supplies and the civilian fleet won’t supply it. Tigh makes another mistake when he sends Marines over to the Gideon, a civilian transport ship, to take their food and water supplies. Chaos ensues when the crowd aboard protests and a shot is mistakenly fired upon the crowd by one of the Marines. Messy. Again, I really love the politically infused elements in this show and this scene just sweetens the show. Oh, and speaking of politically infused elements, Apollo helps Roslin escape to Cloud Nine and they meet up with one of the Quorum members and Roslin’s former adversary, Tom Zarek. President and Government on the run from the Military. 

          Not to neglect the events elsewhere, on Caprica, Helo and Starbuck find a ragtag of civilian rebels on the run from the Cylons. We soon figure out that the group has been fighting well for months. I found this surprising as I thought the radiation from the initial Cylon nukes would’ve killed them all already, but apparently they got themselves some anti-radiation meds. Samuel T. Anders is the leader of the group and it seems like he has the hots for Starbuck. I don’t know, we’ll see.

          Back on Galactica, Tigh retires to his room and is scolded by his wife Ellen Tigh for not acting tougher when he tells her he is not fit for command. I think by now we can all agree that Ellen is a manipulative parasite in his life. I think she might be a Cylon, maybe. Anyways, Tigh and Ellen fight, but then make love. Nothing special really, but towards the end the episode I was surprised and caught off-guard. Ellen is yelling at Tigh again for not acting tougher and shooting Apollo back then on Colonial One so he would not have this problem–escaped President–on his hands now. Right at those last words Commander Adama appears at his room door, and everyone is shocked. The episode concludes with Tigh telling Adama that he really screwed things up for him, and Adama responding that they’ll pick up the pieces together. A bit of a shocker; I thought Adama might get mad at him, but perhaps their friendship is too strong and might be important for future episodes.

          Overall, given the solid continuation of the political and social problems brewed from the beginning of this season, I give this episode a four out of five.

Location viewed: My room

Source: Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series (Blu-Ray)

Time Viewed: 1:00-1:50 AM

Battlestar Galactica: Season 2 Blog

Season 2. Episode 3

“Fragged”

          47,862 survivors. This episode was Frakkin’ excellent! It is definitely one of my favorites now, and I’ll tell you why. First, a little memory refreshing, the Quorum of Twelve is unicameral body with each member representing the twelve colonies. That’s it for now–oh, and President Roslin is still in the brig. Ok, now we remember why Roslin is in the brig in the first place: she influenced Starbuck to disobey the Commander’s orders and went veering off for Caprica, and this pissed Adama off. So the result from all this was the military pitting themselves against the President. Well all this happened under Adama’s command, but now that he is unable to even stand up, Colonel Tigh has to take the reins on this one. This is where the drama ensues. 

          The civilian press is attacking Tigh for the military’s decision to remove Roslin from office, and there is growing speculation of Martial Law being declared. The main reason I love this show is because it doesn’t only show the sci-fi part of it, but it also includes real-life problems socially, politically, and morally. But this episode focuses on the political side of Galactica’s situation, and it really show the reality of this kind of situation when government is challenged by the military and the civilians are repressed in the process. This episode aired in the US on 7-29-2005, and watching this episode I instantly remembered the situation in 2006 when Thailand’s military staged a coup against their government and declared Martial Law. Prescient and Awesome.

          Further things that happened in this episode: Doctor Cottle arrives to treat Adama, the Quorum of Twelve speak with Roslin in her jail cell, who is under Chamalla treatment for her terminal breast cancer, and Baltar and the crew on Kobol is rescued by Apollo and his team. All these scenes advanced the story in their own way, but I still think the best scenes are when Tigh, speaking to the Quorum of Twelve, denies his intent on declaring Martial Law and towards the end of the episode when Tigh tells the press that he is dissolving the Quorum of Twelve and he is declaring Martial Law. AWESOME! I rate this episode a solid five out of five. There is nothing better than political drama in a sci-fi show. It really makes the show worth its salt. 

          Oh, and for further insight into this episode, Richard Hatch (Tom Zarek) talks about the political nature of this episode: http://www.hollywoodnorthreport.com/article.php?Article=1519

Location viewed: My room

Source: Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series (Blu-Ray)

Time viewed: 1:00-1:50 AM

Battlestar Galactica: Season 2 Blog

Season 2. Episode 2

“Valley of Darkness”

         47,874 survivors. I thought this episode was more of a “filler” episode. It didn’t really advance the story much, but granted it did focus more on the mystery of Kobol. The good thing, though, was that we get to see more of Colonel Tigh’s position as temporary Commander. The Cylons that boarded Galactica in the last episode have now caused panic across the ship. President Roslin and Apollo are let out of the brig for a fight with the Cylon Centurions, and the crew on Kobol has just lost a couple more soldiers and is being tested in patience with each other.

          What was interesting was when Baltar was dreaming; in his dream, on Kobol, we see Commander Adama, now holding the baby from Baltar’s vision, asks him if this is the shape of things to come. When Baltar acknowledges, Adama then brings the baby to a nearby river and drowns it. Baltar wakes up and we him surrounded by human skulls. The Cylon in his head, Number Six, tells him that this was the true nature of the humans that inhabited Kobol. Interesting: does that mean the thirteenth tribe of humans left Kobol recently, instead of a thousand years ago? The skulls look relatively new, but Six could just be projecting another vision in Baltar’s head. Another interesting scene is the one in where we see a bit of Starbuck’s past when she and Karl C. Agathon, or “Helo”, travel through Cylon-occupied Caprica to her old apartment. In Starbuck’s apartment, a circular painting on the wall is seen, and she tells Helo of how she never missed this place at all. I have to say that these two scenes were the only major interesting parts of the episode, as both scenes provided history and background. 

          Seeing the Marines and Apollo and the President on the run from Cylons was great, as well as the conclusion where Apollo and Roslin are back in the brig, but before that Tigh and Apollo both tell each other how they’re unfit for the uniform. Tigh also goes to visit his wounded friend Adama and tries to confide with him, though Adama is still unconscious. Though all theses scenes were good in their own sense, the episode was not major satisfying–only in certain parts such as the situation on Kobol and Baltar’s dreams. Therefore, I conclude with giving this episode a three out of five rating.

Location viewed: My room

Source: Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series (Blu-Ray)

Time viewed: 1:00-1:50 AM

Battlestar Galactica: Season 2 Blog

Season 2: Episode 1.

“Scattered”

          Man, what a great way to start off the new season after last season’s absolutely crazy cliffhanger. First off, I want to note the upgrade in the show’s production. I love the way this show is shot:  zooming-in at appropriate scenes, excellent dramatic angles, and a shaky camera effect to emphasize the drama in the scenes. The CGI scenes are definitely improved from last season’s: the Cylons look much sharper, the battle scenes are extremely intense and believable, and space seems more menacingly real. For the music, composers Bear McCreary and Richard Gibbs capture the new season in a very unconventional way for sci-fi shows with amazing new soundtracks that sets the overall tone of this show. Just to name a few features of the music, the tracks feature mystical-sounding duduks, intense military-style percussions, fiddlers for celebration scenes, mantric chants, and occasionally sitars in place of guitars–all of which are virtually non-existent for sci-fi shows. Ok, now that I have gotten that out of my system, it’s time my review of the actual episode.

          47,875 survivors now–great intro by the way–and the Cylons continue to pursue the fleet. Commander Adama was shot and wounded by Lieutenant Sharon “ Boomer” Valerii (who is Cylon) in the last season’s finale, Captain Lee “Apollo” Adama has just committed mutiny for turning against the Commander’s order to arrest President Laura Roslin in a military coup d’état, and for pointing a gun in the face of Colonel Saul Tigh in protecting the President. Vice-President Gaius Baltar and a team including Chief Tyrol is left stranded on Kobol after crashing, and Lieutenant Kara “Starbuck” Thrace has left for Caprica in search of the arrow of the arrow of Apollo. Colonel Tigh has taken over as temporary Commander of Galactica in a time of chaos. What a great way to start off the season: disorder, a wounded leader in critical condition, mutiny, and a President and the Commander’s son in the brig. I am seriously on the edge of my seat, dropping my plate of food, in excitement to see how developers David Eick and Ronald D. Moore will lead this season off.

          The best character development in this episode has to be Colonel Tigh’s. We are finally shown Tigh’s past with Adama and how he got back into service. I love the way he is thrown in to the chaos, and we begin to see how he can’t handle pressure as a leader and makes his first mistake by ordering an FTL jump after Cylons show up on DRADIS. After Galactica makes the jump the rest of the fleet is not on the map. Saul forgot to relay the coordinates to the rest of the fleet and now they are left behind for the Cylons. Although Galactica does go back and rescue the fleet, the great part about this episode is Tigh’s incompetence without his best buddy Adama leading him. Oh, and as for Adama, I don’t think he’ll die even though Doctor Cottle is the only doctor able to save his life, but he is far from Galactica. Adama is too important for the series to just die by the hands of Boomer, I think. 

          I was also caught off guard by the last season’s finale hinting at a half-cylon, half- human child. I don’t know what to make of that yet, but Baltar’s just a great character, I think. He is so troubled by what he has done to humanity, but he will always try to save his own skin first. Starbuck and her relation with Baltar is nothing, I hope. And as for Karl C. Agathon, I think his story on Caprica is about to end because Starbuck is there, and we can’t leave Starbuck behind. I can speculate further, but there are too many possibilities as to where this show can go from here; but what I’ve said above are my topical speculations, nothing too deep.

          My final verdict: Great season premier, excellent story and character development, and truly top-of-the-line production team. Five out five stars. I am going to love the rest of the season.

Location viewed: My Room

Source: Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series (Blu-Ray)

Time viewed: 9:00-9:50 PM