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| Tuesday, June 3, 2008 12:05 PM |
| On the Viewer - Battlestar Galactica ("Escape Velocity") |
 by Fëanor |
This episode opens up with the funeral services for the character who died at the end of last episode. It's not clear what exact explanation was given for her death. Obviously everyone assumes she killed herself, but where was the baby found, I wonder? Did Tory just quietly put the kid back in his cradle? Or claim she found him sitting outside the airlock? Hmm... Anyway, afterwards, Tigh and Tory have an interesting little meeting with Tyrol (hey, what's with so many of the new Cylons having T as the first letter of their names?), where each of them offers the Chief a different way to cope with grief. Tory has a creepy, cold, heartless way of looking at things - saying they were built perfectly and are perfect beings who can turn off emotion if they wish. But Tigh says Tyrol must remain a man and deal with the pain head on.
Meanwhile, religious extremists known as the Sons of Ares raid Baltar's commune, beat people up and break stuff, so Baltar reacts by going into a temple of the old Gods and vandalizing it. He gets thrown in jail for his own safety and Roslin visits him there, pointing out to him that now that she's dying, her filters are removed, and she might do something final if he keeps causing trouble. Roslin and the Quorom (especially Lee) clash over Baltar and a law put into place to ban meetings of large groups of people. Baltar, goaded on by Six (and even physically picked up and pushed forward by her!), fights the law and keeps trying to enter a room full of his followers even though he is beaten down by a soldier again and again. Lee shows up and stops the beating by revealing the law has been repealed. Then Baltar gives a speech about God loving everyone because they're perfect. He's taking to his role as a religious prophet almost frighteningly well.
Tyrol continues cracking up (there are some really neat, artsy sequences here with some powerful flashbacks), nearly gets some pilots killed, and then says some really terrible things to Adama about Cally (this scene is brutal), earning himself reassignment.
Tigh is obsessed with the Six in the brig and is visiting her regularly. He begins hallucinating her as his dead wife, and seems desperate to get some kind of forgiveness or consolation from her. To give him clarity, she beats him, then starts kissing him. Pretty twisted!
This was another very strong episode. Lots of powerful character development and interesting plot developments. I'm really fascinated to see where Tyrol goes now. I feel like he's on the edge of a big transformation of one kind or another. He could end up following the path of Tory and Baltar, or head in a completely different direction altogether. The whole Baltar thing is fascinating, too, especially the weird moment when Six actually picked him up and walked him forward to his destiny. And the relationship developing between Six and Tigh is totally fascinating, as well. It seems like all the Final Four are on the brink of revealing their true natures. Exciting stuff! |
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