Battlestar Galactica - S04E05
43 Posted on May 2, 2008 in articles by Conor Kilpatrick |
Tonight's episode - The Road Less Traveled.
It looks like it's mutiny on the Bounty tonight as Starbuck's crew refuses to go along with whatever it is she is trying to get them to do. Kind of bad planning on Adama's part to send people like Gaeta, who has not been shown to be the most open-minded of officers.
I'm sure all of this is the fault of creeeeeepy cylon Number Two who some how ends up on Starbuck's ship. I love the twisted relationship between Number Two and Starbuck, even as it creeps me the fuck out. Seriously. The guy gives me the heebie jeebies.
I'm really glad to have this show back on track and barreling forward to its conclusion. I also really love that both the humans and the cylons are mired in political intrigue and in-fighting, to the point where they are almost more worried about themselves than each other.
One of the best things about this show is that naturalistic evolution of the characters. President Roslin has gone from a reluctant, inexperienced leader to an iron fisted near-dictator and it completely makes sense. Lee Adama started as a hot shot, yet duty-bound pilot, perpetually in the considerable shadow of his father to someone who has discovered his true calling outside of the uniform and the cockpit. These character progressions have been expertly written and acted and it's one of the things that is so rare in American television these days. It sets this show apart from so many others. Battlestar Galactica is less a series than a really long mini-series.
I look forward to your thoughts, ideas, theories, and live blogging.
Comments
The thing I love about this show is there's not really a bad character... There's people you abhor, but as characters they're all so frakkin brilliat...
The Demetrius has been missioning for two months? Are you kidding? That's so intense!
Posted by GungaDin on 05/02/08 at 10:05 PM
Balter draped in purple and gold, very nice.
Posted by HBD on 05/02/08 at 10:05 PM
There's something about Baltar... I just LOVE him this season... It's just quality how he's progressed... Look at all the peopleout there with the cult... Damn...
Posted by GungaDin on 05/02/08 at 10:06 PM
Look at that shaved head... Damn...
Posted by GungaDin on 05/02/08 at 10:07 PM
Is he recording a podcast?
Posted by HBD on 05/02/08 at 10:07 PM
Moore? He always does... I'm still waiting for the first ep of the season to come out....
Posted by GungaDin on 05/02/08 at 10:09 PM
I meant Baltar. :) TWiT: This Week in Theocracy.
Posted by HBD on 05/02/08 at 10:10 PM
Leoben's awesome....
Posted by GungaDin on 05/02/08 at 10:16 PM
Returning to the scene of the crime. Don't they have fingerprint finding technology?
Posted by HBD on 05/02/08 at 10:18 PM
@HBD I'm gonna guess there are way too many fingerprints on that button... Also, no one touched the button they think was used... She was ejected by Tory in that viewing room, not from within the chute as originally believed...
Posted by GungaDin on 05/02/08 at 10:21 PM
Kara and Leoben sitting in a tree.
Posted by HBD on 05/02/08 at 10:21 PM
Poor Leoben sure gets beat up, stabbed, and beat up a lot.
Posted by HBD on 05/02/08 at 10:23 PM
It's cool to see how the Four are being corrupted. Tori is just pure evil, and getting sucked in by Baltar; Tigh is in pain and turning towards Six; Tyrol has snapped and is distancing himself from everyone; and Anders is gonna get involved in an alliance with Leoben.
Posted by HBD on 05/02/08 at 10:27 PM
What I'm excited about is seeing how all these storylines come together.. Or when they do... OH SNAP! Tigh AND Tyrol at the Baltar meeting!
Posted by GungaDin on 05/02/08 at 10:31 PM
Something that Tori's nnaked back reminded me of: how come in the pilot, Six's back glowed when she and Baltar fracked, but none of the other skin job's seem to?
Posted by HBD on 05/02/08 at 10:31 PM
Bye Mathias.
Posted by HBD on 05/02/08 at 10:34 PM
Is that a hole in the top of Galactica?
Posted by HBD on 05/02/08 at 10:38 PM
@HBD Doesn't it? I don't know... We know Athena's glowed when she frakked Helo.... But we don't know about the men Cylons because... let's face it... We've never seen them get it on...
Posted by GungaDin on 05/02/08 at 10:39 PM
Methinks Tyrol is gonna punch Baltar.
Posted by HBD on 05/02/08 at 10:39 PM
Or choke...I was close...
Posted by HBD on 05/02/08 at 10:40 PM
So is anyone else convinced by Baltar's cult? Anyone think he's gone good?
Posted by GungaDin on 05/02/08 at 10:40 PM
Staruck's back...
Posted by GungaDin on 05/02/08 at 10:41 PM
@HBD Yeah... It's been there since the beginning of third season... The battle scarring has been staying... So great....
Posted by GungaDin on 05/02/08 at 10:42 PM
The way Leoben speaks... His dialogue... Genius... Great poetry and quality...
Posted by GungaDin on 05/02/08 at 10:44 PM
@GungaDin - I don't think he's ever been good or evil. I think he just does whatever it takes for him to survive. In this case, that means pretending to be a messiah. But he does tend to begin to believe his own lies, so he's probably starting to believe in this.
Posted by HBD on 05/02/08 at 10:44 PM
That frakker should get a bullet in his brain...
Posted by GungaDin on 05/02/08 at 10:46 PM
Walk away!
Posted by HBD on 05/02/08 at 10:46 PM
@HBD But the thing about Leoben is we can't tell how much is lie and how much is truth... It could be nothing, it could be everything... I think he's never really lied to Kara... And not about this... I don't believe it.
Posted by GungaDin on 05/02/08 at 10:47 PM
Helo rocks. He believes in Kara. Otherwise, he'd be the first one to mutiny.
Posted by HBD on 05/02/08 at 10:48 PM
@HBD I've loved Helo since the miniseries... The other two people I watched it with loved him and were pissed when they left him behind... But then they saw him back in 33 and were giddy...
I can't wait to see him in Dollhouse. That's going to be tres awesome...
Posted by GungaDin on 05/02/08 at 10:50 PM
Damn.. Baltar's gotten even better at these speeches... Why is it I'm beginning to believe him?
Posted by GungaDin on 05/02/08 at 10:53 PM
I can't believe this episode is almost over....
Posted by GungaDin on 05/02/08 at 10:54 PM
No Helo... Come on, man....
Posted by GungaDin on 05/02/08 at 10:55 PM
And with the "To Be Continued" to slap us in the face? Bastards!
Posted by GungaDin on 05/02/08 at 10:57 PM
LoL, forget about what I said about Helo believing in Kara. =P
Posted by HBD on 05/02/08 at 10:57 PM
Hmm... okay episode. Baltar/Chief stuff = Good. Starbuck/Leoben stuff = Bad.
Quiet around here tonight. Maybe the Iron Man/GTA IV/summertime effect?
Posted by conor on 05/03/08 at 12:45 AM
*sigh*
Boring.
Sick of loony Starbuck. Sick of Baltar.
Where the hall was Adama?
Next week looks like something interesting might actually happen.
Posted by MikeFarley on 05/03/08 at 02:00 AM
I didn't love it and I didn't hate it. I see this episode and a building block that slowly pushes the plot forward... hopefully with a big a payoff. Although, at this point it seems to be going a little deeper into things than I think necessary...
Posted by JD on 05/03/08 at 10:54 AM
I didn't hate it either. I just thought it was middling on par with the first two episodes.
Posted by conor on 05/03/08 at 04:42 PM
I'm agreeing with what everyone else said... The more I think about it, the more I find it... decent... Not awful... A drop off from last week... But they're pushing all the pieces into place... It's like watching a big and/or important chess match... With like... four times the pieces...
I think that gets my point across...
Posted by GungaDin on 05/03/08 at 08:59 PM
I wish Starbuck had stayed dead. Crazy painter Starbuck and the Doubting Thomas crew is just unbearably boring. They took 2 episodes just to get to "It's a mutiny!"? we've seen this coming from the moment she started scribbling in her notebook. Loeben was more interesting when he was being killed repeatedly.
I do like Baltar and liked the arc his character has taken. If any of the characters on BSG have changed in a major way, I think it is him. He's been central to the story since the first episode and I'll miss him when the series is over.
Roslin annoys me. Adama Sr is awesome, Adama Jr not. Boomer has become boring since they accepted her as a friendly Cylon while Helo has remained good, although the whole Boy Scout Poster Boy thing may wear out soon.
So , my final tally at the end of this episode
Characters I hope reach earth:
Baltar, Col Tigh, Galen, Helo, Adama Sr., that lawyer guy, Six, the floating dead corpse of Callie, that sludgey guy in the mucktub from Razor, Al from Quantam Leap, A constantly replaying clip of Billy being shot in the bar.
Push button and out the airlock:
Roslin, Starbuck, Boomer, all the nameless pilots/space mechanics who we're supposed to feel sad about when they're blown up, all babies on board including the hybrids, Gaeta, the Cylon that looks like a gameshow host, Anastacia Dualla, the rest of humanity, especially the press.
GAME OVER!
Posted by AdverseE on 05/05/08 at 01:15 PM
Haw haw! Screw you, Space channel! I remembered to close my eyes during your 10-second, spoileriffic, pre-episode teaser!
Posted by HBD on 05/02/08 at 10:01 PM