Friday, April 18, 2008

Battlestar Galactica, "The Ties That Bind": Mother-frakkin' airlocker!

Spoilers for "Battlestar Galactica" coming up just as soon as I paint my bunk...

Wow. You know an episode has effectively cast a spell of dread when it ends with the death of Cally -- easily the most annoying character on the show, and one whose death I and many fans have been rooting for for years -- and all I could feel was sick to my stomach.

Enormous kudos to the episode's two Michaels, writer Michael Taylor and director Michael Nankin, for doing such a wonderful job of placing us in the atmosphere and emotional state of each scene. Throughout "The Ties That Bind," I felt like I was in those rooms, feeling overtired while Nicky cried, feeling nauseous while the chemo came through the IV, feeling claustrophobic and impatient on the Demetrius, hostile and impatient in the Quorum and, especially, horrified and yet spellbound by the idea that Cally was going to airlock herself and her baby just to escape the nightmare of having a Cylon husband/daddy. There was never a false moment, or even a moment where I felt the ability to take a step back, catch my breath and say, "It's okay, it's just a TV show." I was frakking there.

I would have thought that watching the episode on my laptop during one of SciFi.com's streaming broadcasts during the day might have diminished the intensity, but it didn't. If anything, it helped that the image quality wasn't as good as it might have been on my TV. Any pixellation added to the hazy, dream-like quality of all those jump cuts in the Cally and Kara scenes (both featuring women waiting for something, but not understanding how to make it get there sooner), and the poorer image quality meant I couldn't read that the weapons locker where Tyrol, Tigh and Tory met was designated NCC-1701-D, the sort of inside joke that would have been more appropriate in a less nightmarish episode.

What I especially admired was how Taylor trusted Nankin to let the visuals tell so much of the story, to not overwrite and spoonfeed the dialogue the way, oh, I don't know, Michael Angeli would have. Aside from the aforementioned visual style of the Cally and Kara up all night sequences, consider the beautiful scene where Adama helps Roslin get through her chemo by reading her a sampling of Colonial Noir. Yes, Taylor got to exercise his inner Raymond Chandler with the snippets we heard of "Love and Bullets," but note how much emotion and information is conveyed by Mary McDonnell -- how miserable she is, how grateful she is that Bill is doing this for her, how surprised she is to see him there, how much she loves a man who enjoys a good potboiler -- without her saying a single word. (I think, but can't be sure due to the streaming image quality, that she wasn't even in focus for a good chunk of that scene, ala her memorable smiling-daggers moment during Baltar's trial.)

And where the other episodes this season have been a bit longer on emotion than on plot, this one felt like it moved all the stories (save the absent Baltar, cult leader) along much quicker, even as it was cutting so deeply into each character.

We know now, for instance, that the Final Four aren't all quite as pure of heart as we might have hoped (and that they, like the other Seven, have super-strength), though it's not clear whether Tory is being overrun by her programming, or whether she's just using her new self-knowledge as an excuse to indulge her id a little. Compare Cylon Tory (hair down and wild, enjoying life and simple pleasures, capable of cold-blooded murder) to apparent human Tory (impeccably made up and dressed, reserved, professional).

After his endless farewell last week, Lee gets thrown smack into the middle of fleet politics, and what looks like the early stages of a palace coup by Tom Zarek. While Lee looks naive, and even petty in the way he attacks Laura with the tribunal memo (immediately after she belittles him as a junior representative not worth her time), there's the usual "Galactica" moral ambiguity. We know, for instance, that Laura had nothing to do with the Demetrius mission, and is reluctantly covering for Adama, but I can see from Zarek's perspective how that might be the tipping point for her recent high-handedness. (At the same time, Zarek is written, and played by Richard Hatch, with enough shades of grey that he could just be after the head job, any way he can get it.)

As for the Demetrius itself, where Kara is being aided by Gaeta and virtually every surviving pilot character (is Hot Dog guarding the fleet all by his lonesome?), we see that getting to Earth isn't quite the cakewalk Kara made it sound like. More importantly, we're reminded that Kara (if this is, in fact, Kara) didn't come back from her death quite whole. In another episode, Kara's line about how "my body is just this alien thing that I'm still attached to" might be a big neon "She's a Cylon!" arrow, but in comparison with all of Tory's talk about how her Cylon knowledge has made her feel more alive than ever, it suggests she's something quite different from the last of the Final Five.

(I also thought it was a nice touch that, in their mania to find peace/answers, both Kara and Cally focus on trying to add some human touches to their dingy quarters, Cally with the star mural and mobile, Kara with her latest painting.)

The Cylon civil war gets bloodier than ever, with Cavil moving well past boxing and into apparent genocide of his own kind. How many models are going to be left soon? Just the Cavils and Boomer as the lone Number Eight? Or is Natalie not as gullible as she -- and, really, all the Number Sixes -- seems?

But oh my gods, that final sequence with Cally, Nicky and Tory in the launch tube. As Cally began carrying her crying baby in there, I began to feel nauseous, even as, scary as it may seem, I could understand why she was doing it. She's always been an avowed Cylon hater, had to deal with the guy she had a longstanding crush on turn out to be doing it with a toaster and then, after she finally gets him (in a truly desperate fashion, as she admits to Cottle) and has his child, she finds out that her husband's a toaster, too, and her baby might be. Hell, I could see a woman in Cally's situation -- still Stop-loss'ed into a military she wants no part of, sharing a tiny room with a distant husband and a cranky baby, not getting any sleep, Post-Partum Depression, etc., etc. -- contemplating the sweet release of death. (See the women who drove her kids into a lake, the kids who were drowned in the tub, and all the other horrible stories CNN gives us every couple of weeks.) But on top of all that, to get the toaster news? I didn't doubt for a minute that Cally's response, sickening as it was, was true to her character, nor did I doubt that this show, of any show, would have the guts to let her go through with it. When Tory showed up, I felt relieved, let myself get suckered into believing that everything would be okay for Cally and for poor Nicky, who never asked to be caught up in the middle of any of this -- and then Tory had to go and sucker-punch Cally across the room and toss her out the launch tube. That just shredded me to the core and, like I said, I've never been able to stand Cally.

Hell of an episode. What did everybody else think?

46 comments:

Nicole said...

That was heavy.

I too thought that Tory might actually save them, but no, Cally is gone. Was bringing the baby to the bar short hand for "this girl is white trash?" While I sorta understood her feelings, I was irritated with her for most of the episode, except the end.

Also, Cally did mention feeling weird when they approached the nebula, so I won't be too surprised if she is the final one (but I hope not).

As for the Cylon Civil War, I don't think it will be that easy for Cavil to get rid of the Sixes. And where was Leoben in this?

And the word frak was used alot in this episode, especially in the Anders/Kara scene, so much so, that I just wanted them to say the real thing, but it was kinda forced. It's on cable why not?

Mrglass said...

Amazing episode, the first perfect episode of the season in my opinion. With Kara and her crew leaving the fleet, I was afraid there would be too many storylines in BSG now, but the writers proved me wrong in a big way. Although I didn't miss Baltar at all, so maybe his subplot is the weak link; get him out of his harem to do something interesting.

Roslin seems to become a mix of Saddam Hussein and George W. Bush, I wonder how far they will go; isn't she supposed to be one of the "good guys"? And what made her change so radically, the trial, or her illness?

It might be the best season of the series so far.

karigee said...

So unbelievably good. I wanted so badly at the beginning for somebody to kill Cally--who didn't hate Cally?--and then at the end felt guilty for wanting it so badly, when it came in such a wrenching way. You know an episode is top notch when you have to sit up straight on the sofa from start to finish.

Roslin and Adama? The most romantic couple on TV -- and they never even touch! Such amazing actors, and thank god their dialogue was toned down in this ep. Last week's BIG HUGE FIGHT felt so false, and it wasn't because of the acting.

Mrglass said...

Compare Cylon Tory (hair down and wild, enjoying life and simple pleasures, capable of cold-blooded murder) to apparent human Tory (impeccably made up and dressed, reserved, professional).

I don't think that's really true. Tory tried to fix a presidential election, and was a member of the (terrorist) Resistance. She has always been ruthless; but now her agenda is unknown.

Unknown said...

This show is ON FIRE this season. Parts of the second half of season 3 were blah, but the reveal of The Four has completely re-energized the show. And Tory -- WOW.

If I were to complain about this episode, I *might* quibble with the fact that it was three weeks after ep 2, and we never got to see how Helo hand-picked the Demetrius crew (Gaeta?!?! HA!) -- particularly, how did Sam come to be on the ship? I mean, I know he's Kara's husband... but how did the fact that he's a Cylon come into play? Did he have a conversation with Tigh and Tory and Chief before leaving?

Anonymous said...

As much as I liked the first two episodes, this is the BSG I've been waiting for.

The political stuff is always so great, and it was fantastic to see Roslin at the press conference and then at the Quorum Q&A.

And I know it's been obvious to us, but I'm glad someone in-universe pointed out the Stockholm syndrome-ness of Cally telling Tyrol she loves him after he wailed on her face. It makes me even sadder for her, and like y'all, I have always disliked her, mostly due to Nicki Clyne's performance.

I hope the rest of the season keeps this up.

Nicole said...

Poor Gaeta, he looked so miserable on that ship.

I'm starting to think that Laura and Kara are two sides of the same coin. One is dying, the other may already be dead. Both think they know the way to Earth. Both will stop at nothing to get their way.

I know Caprica Six was in Laura's operahouse dream, but I wonder if Kara was there too.

Mrglass said...

One last thing: the idiots at SciFi in charge of the previews and promos should be fired, they pretty much gave away the most shocking moments of this episode last week.

Anonymous said...

Oh my Gods, they killed Cally! Strong stuff, although Tory's heel swerve might have been a bit more effective if they hadn't already given it away at the top of the show.

The scene where Adama breaks the news to Tyrol... damn, that was good. Quick, simple, wordless. Perfect.

Put me down for another Too Much "Frak" vote. Frak, frak, frak, seemed like it was every other word. They even threw in a "motherfrakker" for good measure!

Last week's BIG HUGE FIGHT didn't feel false, to me, but the scene where Roslin dresses him down and stares icily at the papers on his desk as he leaves seemed to be a more subtle take on their relationship. Yeah, he helps her out with her chemo, but that doesn't mean she'll give him a pass when she thinks he's frakked up. Aaagh, now I'm doing it!

Anonymous said...

One quibble: Starbuck's crew is actually arguing over whether they're really doing what their cover mission says they're doing? How could they not be looking for Earth? What, Starbuck comes back from the dead, runs around screaming that they're going the wrong way, Adama locks her up, and then he frees her to go out and look for stellar anomalies or whatever? Why is it even a topic of discussion? They may be grunts, but there's no reason to make them dumb grunts.

SJ said...

They gave away the death in the promos. Her watching the meeting...Tory standing outside the airway holding the baby...I was extremely positive that Cally was going to be killed. I decided not to watch the promos anymore but I can't resist!

It doesn't make sense to send both Gaeta and Helo on the mission. Haven't both of them been crucial to Galactica?

I am liking the new political aspect of this show (though obviously there has been always a political element to this show). Roslin is supposed to be the "good gal" but she seems more like a benevolent dictator at this point.

And yes, I'd prefer that they rather use the f-word than "frak". "Motherfrakker" just made me giggle. Why not use the f-word? They are pretty much trying to say the same thing anyway...

R.A. Porter said...

At first I was concerned that there would be too many parallel stories this season, but now that it's starting to play out, it's reminding me a lot of season one. I like the symmetry of that a lot. I would have liked a little more time spent on the Cylon machinations (machine machinations?) than with Cally, but that's because I'm part of the infinite chorus of Cally haters.

I was concerned she was going to get out that airlock with the baby, but once Tory showed up I knew Nicky would make it out alive. I still wasn't sure how it would play out, even after the wicked backhand, because I thought Tory might just bring Cally back to quarters and Tyrol might convince her she'd had a nightmare. Given the drugs, the lack of sleep, and her general psychic state, I thought she'd buy that.

But seeing her cold, dead corpse blasted out the launch tube was okay, too. (I really, really hated Cally.)

I don't know what Zarek's game is here. Sometimes I think he's genuinely concerned about democracy and freedom and justice, and sometimes I think he's just hungry for power. In a lot of ways, he's just like Roslin. The thing I really don't understand, after seeing Richard Hatch on and off for the past four or so years...why didn't he ever make it big after old-school BSG? He's got talent and subtlety to spare. He really should have had a bigger career. Hopefully, some casting directors see what he's capable of and he has a late-career bloom.

As for Kara's painting, that looked like a gas giant and a trinary system. I don't think she's just trying to make it feel homey; I think she's trying to trigger her memory.

Anonymous said...

I want to disagree with those saying Roslin is supposed to be a good leader or the one we ought to root for. She certainly cares about her people, but she's shown an astounding knack for totalitarianism since season 1.

She banned abortion, she let her religious beliefs and possibly kamala-induced hallucinations guide her (whether they were helpful or not), she tried to steal an election, she authorized torture and summary execution, and all along she has erred on the side of secrecy and security over transparency and civil liberties whenever possible...these are not the traits of an admirable democratic leader.

Her heart is undoubtedly in the right place, but it's quite clear that RDM and company don't want us to think she's this perfect president. I'm not convinced Tom Zarek would be a worse president, actually, though I'd be sad not to have those delicious scenes displaying how well Roslin has assimilated into the political culture.

Diane said...

Well, so much for my theory that Cally, horrible, annoying Cally, was the Final Cylon. (Or...is she? What's more interesting than a cylon-human baby? A cylon-cylon baby. And who shot Boomer? And what did she say this episode: she hasn't felt right since the Nebula -- just like the rest of the Final Five.)

And what a scene to have to play for Aaron Douglas, whose wife died a few years ago!

Anonymous said...

While I really liked this episode, I think it will truly stand out as one of the best of the series when viewed during a marathon run of BSG. The change of pace and tone while moving most of the storylines forward makes me feel like we're finally viewing a new season as opposed to the two episode denouement of season three I felt like we've been watching.

The "frak" that crossed the line for me was "clusterfrak." While I wasn't offended about the word itself, this was the only time in the series I felt like using "frak" was a stupid concession to television rules rather than BSG taking place in a similar, but not our own, universe. Also, I felt like someone was trying to be clever or witty and it didn't work at all. That said, still a great episode.

Unknown said...

Thanks jim treacher for the "they killed Cally!". I had to be said.

Anonymous said...

You're welcome!

Wait, they're down to less than 40,000 people in their whole race, and Roslin is the bad guy for banning abortion?

Yeah, Richard Hatch is really good, isn't he? Subtlety, that's exactly the word. Was he ever this good on the original show?

K J Gillenwater said...

This was the one time I actually LIKED Cally and started to feel badly for her.

I'm going with the idea that there are Final Cylon pairs...it's obvious Tori has a 'thing' for Tyrol all of a sudden. Or is she just super-sexualized now?

Anyway, then it would make sense to me that Starbuck maybe IS one of the final five. She and Sam are another pair. With Tigh as the overall leader dude.

I don't know...I just think the other final five person HAS to be a woman. It just makes sense in a symmetrical way.

Did anyone else see the dripping red paint as some sort of foreshadowing? Something bad is gonna happen on that garbage scow.

Personally, I am really bored by the political stuff. I just don't care about arguing the finer points of government. Those bits dragged for me, and I could have done without them. It covered the same territory. President is overexercising her authority, the Quorum is very squabbly, Zarek is suspicious. Sorta bummed that Lee got dumped in that crowd. He was always right in the action and interesting and exciting to watch. Now he's going to be sitting at a table arguing every episode? God, I hope not.

Same goes for the lack of Cylon activity. Now they just sit around and argue about things rather than act. I get that they are splitting apart, but I'd rather have them DO stuff than talk about it. Thank God they had the trick at the end, or I would have been annoyed.

HOWEVER, I enjoyed the ep overall. I think there is still a lack of action, tenseness outside the Galactica. Outer forces or events forcing them to do stuff and risk themselves.

But that final scene with Tori and Cally was a winner. Shocking. Terrible. Perfect.

Anonymous said...

About Kara's painting: some elements in it look pretty much exactly like the "Ship of Lights" from the original Battlestar.

See: http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Ship_of_Lights

So, does that make Kara something like an angel?

Anonymous said...

I think Tory is just a drunken Cylon slut. See her line about how she never liked to drink before she found out, but now she's got all these new sensations. She'll fu-- frak anything that moves. She's turning out to be the creepiest of the new Cyclons, too.

Same goes for the lack of Cylon activity. Now they just sit around and argue about things rather than act.

Cavill took some fairly decisive action. And then there was the massacre last episode. That would qualify as action, I'd think.

Tony Dayoub said...

Richard Hatch IS great. Who would have thought?

Cally being the Final Cylon? I wondered about that too. Wasn't her "I'm-slowly-going-insane" theme music the same or reminiscent of the snatches of "All Along the Watchtower" the Final Four heard last year?

Tony Dayoub said...

Also, when we were watching the show on Cally-vision (through a vaselined lens) I'm pretty sure we were supposed to think her perspective was off because of the drugs she was on.

So does anyone remember whether Tory was holding the Chief's arm only in the Cally-vision shots?

Because that would really inform my opinion on whether Tory is after the Chief for herself or whether she was just protecting the Final Four from being outed by Cally (not to mention protecting Nicky, another next generation Cylon).

Anonymous said...

Hmmm. My impression of Tory caressing the chief's arm was that she saw Cally come in, then took his arm. I thought she was trying to push Cally to the edge.

Anonymous said...

Amazing episode. Not much else to say.

As a tribute to dear, departed Cally, check out her two part appearance on the wonderful video podcast Tiki Bar TV...

http://www.tikibartv.com/tikibar_display.php?vid=20&pver=f8

And

http://www.tikibartv.com/tikibar_display.php?vid=24&pver=f8

She's actually quite charming in it.

Taleena said...

Cally is Charlie. Annoying as can be until they kill her off. I must say that I was distracted with just how fat that little kid playing Nicky was. It seemed he doing pretty well on that Algae mush Cally was so worried about. Cute but chubby.

I don't think that Tori is making a play for the Chief, I think that was a part of Cally's paranoia. If I hadn't have known going in that Cally was going to die I would have thought that Tyrol (who is finally likeable as a Cylon) would have convinced her it was the coctail of drugs that made her hallucinate.

I am so over Lee Adama. I would much rather have seen straight up political wrangling between Zarek and Roslin. Lee is the new Helo with his sanctimoniousness.

Poor Sam getting a few home truths from Krazy Kara. I guess the moral of the story is that Cylon's have crappy love lives.

Kenrick said...

Hmmm I never really wanted Cally dead... I just wanted her to not be in the show. I felt a little sad when she got sucker... kicked? But then I thought, at least it was only Cally, haha. Shame on me.

How is Tory gonna explain this one? I just happened to wander to the airlock and found your kid outside, but Cally jettisoned herself outta here?

Also, why couldn't Kara just go back whence they came? Does Galactica not keep of a log of all the points in space they've jumped from?!!!? It's things like these that I have trouble ignoring and thus ruin parts of the episode for me, so hopefully someone has a reasonable explanation for this.

I'm starting to find that I find almost every single character on the show annoying. Probably the only characters I like now are Bill Adama, Cottle, and I'm starting to like Helo again. Of course, six looked especially good this episode, but I don't count the none final five Cylons.

R.A. Porter said...

From Bear McCreary:

I planned these transpositions so that the next shift (down to Db) would coincide with Tory’s appearance in the airlock. Db minor is the key in which I set "All Along the Watchtower" for "Crossroads Pt II" and it has come to represent the Final Four cylons. As Tory appears, the score drops from D to Db, and the very familiar electric sitar and tabla drone sneaks in.

As Tory explains herself to Cally, the yialli tanbur, duduk and zhong hu play statements of the Final Four theme...


So it wasn't the same theme, but there was some overlap and interplay.

Anonymous said...

Yep, in the shower this morning I was still processing it... and I saw it on the feed.

Cally very well could be the fifth Cylon -- they don't make 'em all the same, with Cavil as imperious leader, Doral and Simon specifically as followers. Cally could be the model that follows their spiritual leader -- Tyrol -- without knowing just how programmed her stalking was.

I mean, if you had a crush on a man who was revealed to have sex with the thing that attempted to assassinate your Captain, *would you let him hit you*? Would you marry and have a child with him, even though on New Caprica you could have your pick of a free, safe masculine population?

No, the Cylon rap about fertility is that love has to be there -- and since they're the ones with the anxiety, they must be the ones to feel love. If that's the case, since one can't force love from another why didn't Leoben drug Kara and impregnate her? I think it matters whether the Cylon female is in love (who can say what Helo felt, on Caprica, running for his life); thus, Nicky could be Cally's full-Cylon love child.

Then again, I just might be avoiding the whole "how can that bitch even touch Nicky, let alone swoop in to raise the lil' toaster" thing....

So it goes said...

Also, why couldn't Kara just go back whence they came? Does Galactica not keep of a log of all the points in space they've jumped from?!!!?

The only way going back where they came from would be the fastest route to earth is if the fleet was headed exactly in the opposite direction of the proper heading. Considering all the maps we saw Kara working with it would seem that she has plenty of info about previous jumps.

On a side note I would never ever want to play tennis with Tory. That is one wicked backhand.

Unknown said...

-who didn't hate Cally?

I didn't hate Cally. I loved Cally. She was cute, she was practically a civilian (I think she started off as a reservist) doing a military job. I don't spend any time on the fan sites so I'm actually surprised that she was hated.

I'll miss her.

Bobman said...

I also didn't hate Cally. I thought she was played by a terrible actress, don't get me wrong, but her character wasn't all that bad and she was kinda cute.


And to whoever posted that Tiki Bar thing... shame on you. That was horrifically bad.

Anonymous said...

I didn't hate the character of Cally, I didn't like the actress chosen to play her. (I think the producers thought of her initially as a bit player, then made her kill Boomer and marry Tyrol for plot reasons and I believe they were hoping the actress would mature into the role).

One theory - in the same episode that Cavil sought revenge on Six, Tory killed a person who killed another Cylon. It wasn't direct revenge but a parallel of sorts.

Anna said...

Oh, if only Cally were just annoying, but I've honestly thought that she's a self-absorbed and hateful (among other adjectives) woman-child ever since the episode where she blackmailed Baltar, attacked Jammer for no reason, and then murdered Boomer in cold blood. My opinion was reinforced every step of the way after that. But this is the first episode where we've really seen things from her point of view, and she even acknowledged how f-ed up she is. And even though I'm glad she's dead, her actual death scene was incredibly disturbing.

And I feel like it was very appropriate for Tory to be the one who killed her. I've always thought that Cally was a person who acted like she could do anything she wanted to people and it was fine because at least she wasn't a cylon; and now that Tory is embracing her "new cylon urges" she seems to think that she can do anything she wants to people and it's fine because she is a cylon and it's therefore in her nature. So that's really interesting to me now.

But, for the record, I don't think the final five are programmed. I think they choose who they want to be, and Tory is choosing to be evil.

I love this episode because the director really did an amazing job of putting the audience into the characters' heads. And I think the cinematography had the most to do with that. I love the vaselined lense from Cally's POV and that intimidating shot of Kara up through the floor grating. But my favorite was the scene with Cally and Chief where he stood behind her and his voice was muffled and he was completely out-of-focus the entire time.

Michael Taylor, if everyone doesn't know, was the one who wrote "Unfinished Business" last season, which is another episode that really let the visuals tell the story rather than dialogue (which is why it's one of my favorite episodes of the show), and that was really great to see again here. Even though some Michael Angeli-ness did creep into the fight/frak scene between Kara and Sam. I was like, "Why are you still talking? Just start having angry sex. We'll get it!"

I find it amusing that, of all the pilots that we actually know by name (that I can think of anyway), the only one who is not on the Earth-finding mission is Racetrack. Personally, I wish she were there instead of Seelix, but I guess with Helo and Lee gone, someone had to stay and be the new CAG.

And as for the cylon civil war, I really don't think that the writers will let Natalie (and the other sixes and eights and presumably twos) really die. I think Boomer might actually do something to stop it. She's trying so hard to just be a machine like Cavil, but she can't seem to give up her belief that they really are people with souls. Poor girl.

Anyway, great, great episode.

Anna said...

Wow. I really didn't mean to write so much.

Anonymous said...

I don't think Cally was a Cylon. I think they're giving us red herrings. Baltar said stuff to Tory about music that made her think he could be, then Starbuck said stuff to Sam, and Cally said stuff to Galen. Now someone just needs to say something to Tigh.

As a post-partum depression survivor, I found this episode full of painful realism.

Anonymous said...

So...Callie's about to kill herself and the baby. Tory follows her, and makes sure to save the baby. Merciful Cylon, or something more significant?

Anonymous said...

I have been thinking of Kara's disappearance and what could have happened. The old War of the Gods episodes from the old tv-show sprang into my mind as a possible solution and link with the old series.

"Viper pilots hear a strange piercing sound as it approaches. The craft has the ability to render people unconscious, as well as make them disappear (War of the Gods, Part I).

The "vanished" pilots and spacecraft are transported to a different dimension. When returned to their own dimension the warriors' memories have been erased regarding their abduction experience. (War of the Gods, Part II)."

Now GEO makes the link with the new painting of Kara and I'm even more convinced that this is the solution to why Kara disapeared for so long and only remembers being away for 6 hours.

What does anyone else think?

Matthew said...

I wanted so badly at the beginning for somebody to kill Cally--who didn't hate Cally?--

Um, me? Don't get me wrong, she was never going to be a favourite character, but she was okay, and I certainly have never understood why everyone else felt the need to point out how much they hated Cally every time she gets mentioned (honestly, it was like Colbert going "I hate you so much" every time John McCain appears). Personally, she was there, I felt sorry for her in her occasionally abusive relationship with Tyrol, she was clearly terribly messed up, and the actress was definitely weak, but hate-worthy? I don't see it.

Still, it's nice when a show is so well made that they can kill off a disliked character and still have people going "Oh my gosh".

AS for the rest of the show, I fpound the Cylon plotline terribly engaging (did we know about the thing between Boomer and Cavil before?) Trying to wipe out the rest of the Cylon race was a terribly drastic step, and assuming the effort fails, the repurcussions should be interesting. All-out Cylon civil war.

Put me down for another Too Much "Frak" vote. Frak, frak, frak, seemed like it was every other word. They even threw in a "motherfrakker" for good measure!


It was almost like a kid that has learned a new swear word and just kept using it. Personally, I find invented swear words just irritate me (and I say this as someone who doesn't swear) - especially with a word like "frak" which is clearly supposed to be "f--k'. They may be neccesary to avoid the censors, but it still seems like a slightly annoying affectation. And when they're using the word as muh as they were in this episode, it's just that much more obvious, because we're constantly being reminded about it.

Anonymous said...

On the other hand, at least it's not "frell."

Anonymous said...

From Nicole:
"I too thought that Tory might actually save them, but no, Cally is gone. Was bringing the baby to the bar short hand for "this girl is white trash?"

I think it underscored how alone Cally was. She had no support, not even an acquaintance who would be able to watch her child while she went to hunt for her absentee husband. Just another nudge to push Cally toward that airlock.

Anonymous said...

Damn I love this show. Easily one of the best episodes in a long while. I think I almost passed out from holding my breath at points.

And Cally... oh how I disliked you. And yet I cried so hard for you in this episode, you poor, suffering soul. Rest in peace.

Damn, what an incredible hour of TV.

Anonymous said...

I believe that Admiral Adama is the 5th cylon, and that Galactica is in fact a resurrection ship. If you look at the galactic seal it is of the goddess Aurora. People are speculating that Star Buck is Aurora. However, I believe it's symbolic of resurrection. From the start, Adama has struck me as a father to all. Perhaps Star Buck, Apollo, Chief, Baltar etc are all cylon hybrids, like the one's we see in the tubs controlling the ships. Thus their prophetic abilites.

As for the line "All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again"... perhaps for a select few who continue to be resurrected. Perhaps they haven't been able to learn from their mistakes. Perhaps this time will be different.

I Believe that Admiral Adama is a lot older than any one imagines, and his progeny is the result of many relationships, from many different lifetimes. Can the hybrids be resurrected? I believe they can!

I LOVE the idea of Adama being the 5th cylon. How could you not still love the man, even if he was a frakin toaster? The man can do no wrong in my eyes.

I could be wrong. All fingers are pointing at Star buck, or Roslin, or Baltar as the 5th. I think that's too obvious.

Or could the 5th cylon be Galactica? Hmmm... like a big raider. Imagine, floating around in the belly of the beast. how have the cylons been able to track them all along? too many unanswered questions. I believe the answers can be found with William Adama and his beloved ship!

Joan said...

On the other hand, at least it's not "frell."

Oh, Treacher, that's low. You know Farscape never had a frell-fest the way this episode went crazy with the "frakking."

IIRC, Tory never touched Chief at all, that was just Cally's fevered imagination. I don't see how Tory gets away the murder, though.

Anonymous said...

I didn't have the hatred for Cally that many did - she was an accurate characterization of what happens when you put an immature kid in the military and teach them 'followership' (seriously, it's in a manual!) - but I'd agree this was one of the very best episodes of the entire series, and certainly the best since the beginning of S3.

Agreed on Hatch as well. I was biased towards him given I wanted to be Apollo as a kid, but he did well against Malden in that one year of Streets of San Francisco, did the campy version of BSG...and then poofed. The guy can act, and I've missed them using Zarek in a big way.

Anonymous said...

Even though I could see it coming, I haven't been this shaken up by a death since watching some of the dramatic exits in "The Wire". That's high praise indeed.

Now, the question I'm wondering, is not a matter of Tyrol will find out. He'll find out. I'm jsut wondering whether he will kill Tory, or accept that she did what needed to be done.

Unknown said...

If I were one of the final five, I think I would have a bit more of an excited reaction about it. Screw going back to work for the old man or old lady, I'd run off to find out what this sh1t is all about. I am dissapointed by the lack of self-discovery the four have had about their experience. I can't understand it from a personal level, but I can as a let's push this last season out to 20 episodes. It could be done alot faster and alot more exciting