Last night the line stretched down the street and around the block to get into the Bagdad for the Battlestar Galactica season premiere—with only 10 episodes to go until the series ends (and what felt like years since it was last on the air), anticipation was high. Indeed, the potent tang of nerd excitement wafted through the cold January air, successfully driving away everyone who doesn't feel a thrill when they hear the words "dradis contact!"
Watching the premiere at the Bagdad was a blast, with the show up on the big screen, KUFO's Cort and Fatboy serving as hosts, and plenty of beer. The Bagdad's gonna keep showing the episodes there until BSG comes to an end, and aside from the waiting-outside-in-the-freezing-cold-to-get-in part, it was a great place to watch the show. As for the episode itself: Huh. Definitely some surprises, definitely some cool moments, and definitely some... well, let's put it this way: From the Mercury peeps who attended to everyone I overheard talking about it as they left the theater, reaction to the premiere was mixed at best, and grumpily disappointed at worst. I'll save the discussion and spoilers until after the jump, but I don't think this little factoid ruins too much: On the upside, at least that whiny whelp Gaeta didn't launch into one of his Mama Mia! singing moments. So at least there was that!
Spoilers ahead.
Things I loved about the episode:
DEE OFFING HERSELF. Ka-BLAM! I have hated Dee ever since she dumped Billy, and she's only gotten more annoying since. For the past season or two, it seemed like she'd been more or less written out of the show, most likely for being stupid and useless. But when she showed up prominently (and for no good reason) in the first 15 minutes or so of the premiere, it was obvious the writers were bringing her back to the forefront so they could do something with her—either make her the final Cylon or kill her. One self-inflicted gunshot to the head later, and Battlestar had it's most satisfying moment since Cally went out the airlock. As for what this'll actually mean to the show, I don't know. Losing Dee is no great dramatic loss, plot-wise, but it might make Lee act differently from here on out—unless the show's gonna get all crazy and bring Dee back somehow, in robot or human (OR GHOST! OoooOOOoOOO!) form.
STARBUCK FINDING HER OWN DEAD BODY. Holy shit was this fantastic. This whole subplot should have been the main plot, as far as I'm concerned. Creepy and weird and mind-fucky and character-driven, it was all the great stuff Battlestar does best. From Leoben backing slowly away from the ranting Starbuck to the ominous feeling one got as they tipped that husk of a decayed Viper over to find what was inside, this was one of my favorite moments in the whole series. I can't wait to see how this gets explained/played out.
SHITFACED ADAMA. There didn't seem to be a whole lot of reason to show Adama being this depressed over the disappointment that is Earth, but goddamn if it still wasn't hilarious to see him shuffling through the Galactica's hallways and belligerently shouting "Frak!" at people and/or insisting on telling Tigh weird, rambling, confusing stories about foxes in the sea or tides or mermaids or something. I'm not sure if this comedy was intentional or not, but I'm going to assume it is, and I hope there's more of it, because drunk Adama is awesome.
THE HINTS ABOUT CYLON EARTH. Aside from that goofy flashback Anders had (does this mean that dude was Bob Dylan?), all of the weird, disconcerting flashbacks to old-school Cylon Earth were excellent, melancholy and sad and bizarre and curious. Also cool: The skeletons, the old Cylon-style helmet, and all of the other weirdness on the planet. Again, this felt surprising and eerie, and I'm excited to see where it goes.
Things I didn't like at all in this episode, or at least am thoroughly ambivalent about:
ELLEN AS THE FINAL CYLON. Ugh. Okay. To be fair, it was evident through all of season 4.0 that Battlestar's writers didn't really care much about who the final Cylon was, being more concerned with the human/Cylon alliance and mystical prophecies and Starbuck acting like a raving loon. So even though I expected the reveal of the final Cylon to be something of a disappointment (especially after Sci Fi refused to even show critics the entire episode, most likely 'cause they didn't want to word about the disappointment to get out), this took the cake. In a full show of rich characters, Ellen has always been one of the weakest and most one-dimensional; ever since she was introduced, she's only been interesting as a foil for Tigh. Tigh is awesome and fascinating, and what Ellen does directly affects Tigh, so she's interesting by association, I guess—but on her own? Not so much. The fact that she was a Cylon all along (and that she and Tigh were together even back on Cylon Earth) is interesting in that this'll probably make Tigh do some crazy shit—that seems promising. But I'd hoped for a reveal of a character who had more to offer on their own merits, and not just that they'd affect other, better characters. To be fair, though: I think this is really gonna go somewhere in the coming episodes, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it go somewhere pretty cool. But at the moment, it just feels really meh.
MOPEY ROSLIN. Aww. Are you all depressed 'cause Earth wasn't a whimsical land of rainbow roads and unicorn pets and lollipop trees? Here's a tip: Buck the fuck up. Or at the very least, follow Adama's lead and get loaded.
THE GENERAL TONE. Maybe it's unfair to have wanted this episode to feel more "epic," but after months and months and months of waiting for a show to come back, I was hoping for something that felt bigger and more resonant—an episode that would feel like a sort of adrenaline shot, I guess, to really kick into the final episodes and get people amped to see what's gonna happen next. This was a good episode—and it was certainly better than most of the ones in 4.0—but it often felt soft and vague, and just wasn't quite the jolt back into Battlestar I'd been hoping for. If you're going to expect people to wait like a year between seasons, you've gotta be sure to bring the goods when you do come back, and this episode only kinda did.
THE COMMERCIALS FOR KFC'S "FRAK PACK." Who's the advertising genius who signed off on this tie-in? Isn't a frak pack that one thing that no one talks about that happens in backrooms at comic book conventions? Aren't there furries involved?
Okay, your turn.
