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Saturday, January 24, 2009

I Want to Punch Felix Gaeta In the Stump.

Posted by Erik Henriksen on Sat, Jan 24, 2009 at 5:58 AM

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It's true: I want to punch Felix Gaeta in that stupid stump that he won't stop crying himself to sleep about. This guy is rapidly becoming the Jar Jar Binks of the Battlestar universe, and so say we all, the sooner he gets shoved out an airlock the better. Say, when Gaeta's floating around out there in the airless, freezing void of space, maybe he can meet up with....

Ah, fuck. At this point, I literally can't even make a reference to anyone on BSG without getting all spoilery, so follow the jump for more bitching about Gaeta, commentary on this week's episode, and my admission that I might be just a little bit gay for Chief.

Okay, so are all those fuckers who aren't caught up on Battlestar yet gone? Good. Just between you and me, I hate those assholes!

SO ANYWAY. Speaking of Cally getting blown out the airlock, fucking A, was she a skank or what, right? Sleeping around on Chief, having some other dude's baby, never bothering to tell Chief he's not said baby's father—and then having the nerve to get all guilt-trippy about that one time she saw him with Tori, and wost of all, and the whole goddamn time, reeking like cabbage! I didn't think the writers could possibly do anything to Cally to make me loathe her more, but they did. Cheatin' on my boy Chief? Not cool, Cally. Not cool. And with motherfrakkin' Hot Dog? Seriously?

I'll be honest here: Part of my anger over this is due to the fact that I might be just a bit gay for Chief. I'm okay with admitting that. I mean, let's take a look at him:

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Sigh. Now, let's take a look at Hot Dog:

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JESUS WHAT THE SHIT IS THAT THING? CALLY, YOU ARE SO GODDAMN STUPID AND I AM SO GLAD YOU ARE DEAD, CHUCKED OUT THE AIRLOCK AND FLOATING AROUND IN SPACE, WHERE HOPEFULLY YOU WILL BE JOINED BY GAETA SOONER RATHER THAN LATER.

Overall, it might be easy to think of last night's episode of Battlestar, the ludicrously titled "The Disquiet That Follows My Soul," as one in which not a whole lot happened, but I'll beg to differ: Reverting back to the halcyon days when Battlestar hadn't gotten carried away with its labyrinthine mythology, last night's episode brought back a ton of the cool aspects of the series without any of the mystical crap that's clogged up more recent episodes. Character-wise and plot-wise, this episode built on what's happened in the show and took advantage of ongoing developments, but didn't get carried away in exposition or mysticism. In short, it just told a solid story, and reminded people why Battlestar can be so cool.

Things I liked about this episode:

ADAMA BECOMING A GARBAGE MAN. You might say that having the admiral of a fleet of interstellar spaceships repeatedly stoop to pick up litter in his ship's hallways is degrading. Well, I think it shows civic pride. If I were an elementary school teacher, I'd give Adama an A+ in citizenship, because he takes pride in his community, and that is the way to be.

STARBUCK TELLING GAETA WHERE TO SHOVE IT. It was up his whiny ass, in case you didn't catch it. Gaeta spent this whole episode moaning and rolling his eyes and bitterly calling Cylons "toasters" and basically foreshadowing that he's gonna do something really bad and/or stupid in the next episode or two, but Starbuck wasn't having any of it, and was all, "Hey, choir boy? Stop yer yodeling for two minutes and suck it, gimpy." If I lived on the Galactica, Starbuck would get really sick of me because I'd be all Colin Creevy around her, always running around behind her and trying to give her high fives and stuff. And maybe trying to kiss her. (But only if Chief wasn't looking.)

SIX AND TIGH LOOKING AT THEIR ULTRASOUND OF THEIR FREAKISH, UNHOLY CYLON OFFSPING. Aww. It was sweet! And also: So now Cylons can reproduce with each other?! Call this "revelation" a hastily-written plot device or whatever, but it was still a cool thing to find out. Plus, it gave Doc Cottle and Ol' Drunky an excuse to smoke around a pregnant chick, and if that's not television gold, then I don't know what is.

ZAREK GETTIN' UP IN EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS. Tom Zarek is a badass. Sure, he's a former terrorist or whatever, but he also has a tendency to keep Adama and Roslin on their toes, and his willingness to look for the worst in the fleet's leadership (albeit while exploiting it for personal gain) makes the whole political aspect of the show about a billion times more interesting. Every time Zarek shows up, you can rest assured that the whole "moral ambiguity in times of great conflict" thing that Battlestar does so well is about to happen. Plus, Zarek is all anti-Cylon now—and using fear of Cylons in the fleet for his own gain seems like it could lead somewhere promising.

NO MOURNING FOR DEE. Seriously, did last week's disappointing episode even happen? Offhand, I can't think of a single reference to the major events from last week, like finding out Ellen was the final Cylon, or finding out how satisfying it is to watch Dee fire a slug through her skull. Part of me thinks this feels a bit lazy—shouldn't these characters be dealing with the prety major repercussions from the previous episode?—but part of me also realizes that if they had addressed last week's events, it most likely would have been in the form of Gaeta singing a funeral ballad for Dee, and the very thought of that makes me want to fire a slug through my own skull, so I guess I'm glad none of that happened.

Things I did not like about this episode:

ROSLIN. Seriously, Roslin, nut up already. You used to be a stronger character than this. If I wanted to watch a melodrama about some middle-aged lady being brave and accepting the inevitable and carpe diem-ing or whatever before she died, I'd be watching the Lifetime Channel, not Sci Fi.

ADAMA AND ROSLIN DOIN' IT. Granted, I guess it's kind of hot (in a weird, semi-uncomfortable way) that Roslin looks like that bald chick from Star Trek: The Motion Picture now, but this still just weirds me right the hell out. I don't like to think of old people in bed together. Instead, I like to think of them sitting on a porch at sunset, demurely holding hands, reflecting on the rewarding lives they've led, and also reflecting on how great it was that they saved a few bucks by getting the early bird special when they ate dinner at Denny's at four in afternoon. The idea of Adama just really givin' it to Roslin, meanwhile, doesn't really do anything for me.

BALTAR'S HAIRCUT. So now Baltar, having obviously visited the fleet's U.S.S. Supercuts, shows up doing his radio show or whatever, and it looks like now that he's convinced a bunch of people in the fleet to be monotheists, now he's working on turning them into atheists. I'd like to say that Baltar still serves his purpose on this show—like Zarek, he used to be somebody who shook things up in pretty grand fashion, making everybody else try to figure out what to do in response—but frankly, I found the pre-cult scientist Baltar way more interesting than cult-leader philosopher Baltar. Admittedly, this might have something to do with a disappointing lack of sexy hallucinations of Six.

Thoughts? Reactions? Have at.

 

Comments (15) RSS

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1
What about the ten minute tooth brushing scene?

So.Fraught.With.TENSION.

Also -and this is where we part ways - I really like the mystical stuff.

Then again, I like books about dragons so what do I know?
Posted by kiala on January 24, 2009 at 8:20 AM · Report
2
Your posts on the last two episodes make me seriously confused as to what show you've been watching for the last six years.

Roslin, especially, has been going to the only places her character could go. She basically died when they reached Earth, because she had methodically turned over her entire identity to being the dying leader who will save humanity. When that didn't happen, what would have been completely untenable from a writing and character standpoint would have been to just have her stiff upper lip soldier on. Doing THAT would have been justification for reactions of "WTF are they doing with Roslin".

Also, watch more closely next time around. "I can't think of a single reference to the major events from last week, like finding out Ellen was the final Cylon." Really? Not even the fact that Lee told a room full of reporters that the Fifth was a she?

Meanwhile, perhaps ponder the notion that Tigh/Caprica are preggers has to do with the fundamental difference of Tigh's type of Cylon, rather than just some sort of hasty re-write. Now the Cally affair, THAT'S a hasty re-write, cobbled together after making the Chief a Cylon, in order to not have a second hybrid baby running around and keep that focus on Hera.
Posted by The One True b!X on January 24, 2009 at 9:39 AM · Report
3
Um, that was meant to be written to be "terse", not "bitchy".
Posted by The One True b!X on January 24, 2009 at 9:47 AM · Report
4
Gaeta is super annoying, yes, BUT if you watched the webisodes then you can see how he is absolutely justified in his mistrust of the Cylons. Not to mention that he has to blame someone for his guilt over the death of all those detainees. I don't think it's his fault but you know, Gaeta has to climb up on whatever horse he can any chance gets. It's who he is.

Plus, he's extrasexual. How come nobody is talking about that? It's kind of awesome. It would have been awesome-er if it was Chief, though. I miss bearded chief. Sigh.

In other news, I really hope someone throws that baby out the airlock because any progeny of a union between Hot Dog and Callie has got to be some kind of super stupid monster thing.

Posted by kiala on January 24, 2009 at 10:20 AM · Report
5
Stick with it, b!x; you got it right, and I think you're dead on about Tigh's "difference".

And no mention of the indications that Adama's apparently headed into a stim addiction, Erik? The toothbrush scene wasn't fraught with tension, kial, it was fraught with amphs. Adama's picking up all that garbage on the ship because when he rolls he doesn't like clutter... ;)
Posted by Zen.Trixter on January 24, 2009 at 10:36 AM · Report
6
"Extrasexual". That's four kinds of awsome. Good point; I brought that up recently myself. We don't know his true orientation yet at all. Was he merely "taking one for the team" back on New Caprica? Is he now put off by babes in general--human, Cylon or otherwise--because of the betrayal? Also, we still don't have resolution with Hoshi and the extra pain-juice he supplied Felix. Maybe it was a "rose on a pillow" as it were...?
Posted by Zen.Trixter on January 24, 2009 at 10:39 AM · Report
7
The writers screwed-over poor, homely, cabbage-smelling Cally. Clearly, they didn't know Chief was going to be a Cylon, so they came up with this silly Cally-Hot Dog affair to keep their fat-ass baby from being the other human-Cylon savior child.

Like in prior seasons, the show packs an episode with major developments and then does quiet episodes. This was one of those boring episodes. Apollo did mention that they know who the 5th (unimpressive) Cylon is, so Tigh did tell them.

Gaeta did refer to Dee's death, but gods, if they mourned everyone who died, then they would have a memorial every episode.

I'm so glad we didn't have to see Adama+Roslin hook-up like Apollo+Starbuck, Helo+Sharon, Baltar+Everyone. I'm still waiting for Apollo+Helo though.
Posted by Norm! on January 24, 2009 at 10:56 AM · Report
8
I like that Baltar seems to have come full circle: When they were calling him Jesus, I always thought he was more like Alastair Crowley. And with today's episode he pretty much is. He's cracked just like Laura has, just like Dee did. Dee blew her brains out, Laura's letting the cancer (and Bill) take her (from behind za-POW whoo-HAA) and Baltar's giving up on God and redemption and going back to the selfish little shit he was before he started boning Caprica and inadvertently blew up the world.

Gaeta is an angry little kid right now. He sounds like the skinjobs did in seasons 1 and 2. He's pissed and he's not really thinking. He's gonna figure out where he's going wrong here, but not in time to redeem himself. He'll probably get it just before he catches a bullet or 30.

Everyone online seems to be thinking those were heart pills, angina medicine or something. But the meth angle is fuckin PERFECT. I love that. Adama gacked out of his mind vaccumming his room, tearing the filters off generic cigarettes, listening to Pantera, haphazardly gluing wood paneling to his cabin walls at 4am.

I like that Ron Moore, for his first time directing, went ahead and did the last "comedy" episode for the show. This was probably the funniest one since "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down." Cottle was gold, Chief was gold, Hot Dog aaaahahahah, and the crowd at the Bagdad just lapped up every syllable of Starbuck vs Gaeta. You'd have thought we were watching Balboa vs. Lang in there. So good.

Speaking of the Bagdad, next week's episode looks balls-out insane: We got the writer of that episode, local boy Mark Verheiden, showing up to get drunk and watch the episode, and then drunkenly field questions from the audience afterwards.

And I didn't see Erik, or Alison, or Courtney, but if you guys were there: The Bagdad was so much smoother this time out. Picture looked better, sound was clearer, and the doors opened right at 9. I'd say about 95% of the audience was in their seats with beer and food in front of them by the time Cort and I got up front to do our little dance.

Hope to see you guys next week. Verheiden's said next week is gonna be pretty action packed, so big-screen viewing is only gonna enhance that. Plus, again, Drunk Screenwriters answering audience questions afterwards.

"That's a lot of smoking around a pregnant woman."
"She'll live."
More...
Posted by Fatboy Roberts on January 24, 2009 at 10:59 AM · Report
9
"Maybe you should draw up a chart to keep it all straight".

I love Tigh.
Posted by kiala on January 24, 2009 at 12:29 PM · Report
10
I drink your homosexual tendencies. I drink them up!
Posted by idrinktheline on January 24, 2009 at 1:46 PM · Report
11
Good points, all. Admittedly, I might have possibly written the above post when I was a little bit tipsy, and whatever meager critical and observational skills I have MIGHT have been a tiny bit dulled. Maybe.

I still stand by most of this, though.

@ Kiala: Yeah, those webisodes made clear Gaeta's motivations for hatin' on Cylons, but that doesn't explain why he's acting like a cartoon--if he had a mustache, he'd be twirling it in every scene. Especially when paired with how grating it turns out Gaeta can be, it all just seems too simple, especially for a complex show like Battlestar.

As for the mysticism angle, I know a lot of people are really into it, and I guess if it bothered me as much as I like to think it does, then I'd have been forced to turn off the show a few seasons ago. But I genuinely think BSG is at its best when it's a really hard-nosed sci-fi show that examines the intersections of power between desperate people; it's far less successful as a Lost-type mystery where everything ties back to a whispered supernatural prophecy or bullshitty vision. My sister gave me the Sword of Truth series for Xmas; if I want pulpy fantasy, I can go there. I if I want really smart sci-fi drama, I still want to be able to reliably turn to BSG.

@ b!X: I get that Roslin's identity pretty much got shot to shit as soon as they found out Earth was a radioactive shithole--but over the past seasons, she's repeatedly proven herself to be a stronger character than she's currently portrayed as. I'm not asking that she act all super-determined or excited to soldier on or oblivious to the ruinous state of the fleet or whatnot--she should be depressed, and pissed, and hurt--but she has never been the sort to just wait around to die, whether because of her cancer or because of the crappiness of Earth, yet that's exactly what she's doing right now. (And if that really is who she is at this point, then that just makes me sad for Adama, who must feel like he's on the fool's end of the greatest bait-and-switch scam in history: Spend years falling in forbidden love with a tough, smart, intense, driven woman; end up with a mopey lady who seems about two steps away from writing really bad poetry and becoming a cutter.)

But you are totally right about Lee letting it slip to the press (those jackals!) that the final Cylon is (was?) a woman. Heh. I kinda forgot about that. I wish we could have seen that conversation when Tigh told everybody, though. I bet they all thought he was joking, and refused to believe him, because no way that could be true! "C'mon, Saul!" Adama would say, doubled over and slapping his knee. "Seriously? THAT'S who we've been all worried about?"

And @ Fatboy: Totally agree with the humor angle of this week's episode--who knew Moore would bring the funny? (Well, funny for Battlestar, anyway. It's relative.) And yeah, I was at the Bagdad, and it did go way smoother this week! Watching these episodes with an enthusiastic crowd is rapidly becoming one of the highlights of my week. Again, I meant to say hey, but I couldn't spot you afterward. I wouldn't miss that Verheiden business for the world, though, so I'll get there a bit early next week, and I promise I'll track you down.
More...
Posted by Erik Henriksen on January 24, 2009 at 1:51 PM · Report
12
So far most of the characters I hate have bitten it not too long after I start to really despise them, so hopefully Gaeta and a certain other character will get offed soon. I'm lookin' at you, Roslin.
Posted by Will Radik on January 24, 2009 at 7:22 PM · Report
13
I'm still in the camp of thinking that Ellen isn't actually the *current* fifth cylon, and did anyone notice that the jump coordinates that Zarek gave Adama was the 3rd crumpled-up piece of trash he had picked up in the episode? 3rd time's a charm... And amongst other theories, I'm starting to think that not only was the prophecy correct, but that they just all had it wrong as to who the "leader" was who will lead them toward salvation...
Posted by miracle minnie on January 24, 2009 at 10:53 PM · Report
14
Dude, how old are you, man? Someday, if you're lucky, you'll be old. And if you're even luckier, someone will want to sleep with you. And then you will think comments like this about not wanting to see old people have sex are kind of lame or at least very naive.

Unless of course you become some sort of self-hating old person who doesn't want to see yourself naked. Which would be sad.

Adama and Roslin finally getting it on - totally hot. Although my boyfriend did point out that Roslin looks like she has a really, really big head which is a little disturbing, I guess.
Posted by jenhowell77 on January 24, 2009 at 11:04 PM · Report
15
Here's something I don't understand: didn't we see them establish in the last episode that Starbuck is a Cylon? I mean we saw her corpse. Now Helen is one too? So how many "final fives" are there anyway?
Posted by thiebes on January 24, 2009 at 11:08 PM · Report

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