Author: John Paulsen (Page 33 of 79)

For months, we’ve been pondering on this blog about what state Earth would be in when the fleet finally found it. But my own personal light bulb didn’t go on until about halfway through this episode – which was called “Revelations” – when I thought about the apocalyptic nature of that part of the Bible, and I said to myself, Earth is probably going to be a nuclear wasteland.

You could just feel the weight of this looming unknown as the fleet made its final jump to Earth and its descent to the planet. (On a side note, it was a big surprise that they jumped to Earth at the end of this set of episodes. I thought for sure that the remaining 10 episodes would be dedicated to the final journey to Earth, as the fleet tried to hold together an alliance with the Cylons.) The truce with the Cylons happened about two-thirds the way through the episode, so with that much time remaining, it was clear that the creators had a big revelation in store for us. Given all the positive vibes when the fleet found Earth, there was no way that the final revelation would be a good one. This show is too dark for that.

“It has all happened before and it will happen again.”

So are we to believe that this cycle continues over and over? The human race started elsewhere (or Earth, I guess), developed enough technology to colonize other planets (or Earth, I guess), then created Cylons, which eventually turned on the humans and chased them back to Earth, which has already been destroyed by the humans living there? Now the human fleet will (possibly) colonize Earth again, build everything back up, and the cycle will continue, over and over? Is this what the hybrid meant when it told Cara that she would lead the humans to their doom? To make things even more interesting, there’s a photo on the show’s homepage that is clearly meant to resemble Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting, The Last Supper.

All right, as for the rest of the episode… I thought it was great. The final four revealed themselves pretty quickly, which was a little surprising, but it was interesting to see each relationship change. Adama had a breakdown trying to deal with the truth about Tigh and there was a huge shift in power between Roslin and Torry. It was especially compelling to watch Tigh struggle with his conscience and ultimately make the decision to reveal his true identity. Then Baltar had to step in on the basestar and negotiate with D’Anna on the behalf of what was left of humanity.

So where do we go from here? We have a planet that looks pretty fracking unlivable and we still don’t know the identity of the final Cylon. Will the fleet still colonize Earth? Will we find out what happened there? Will the final Cylon take the fleet to some other Promised Land?

This show is slated for another 10 episodes and I have no idea where it’s headed.

Week in and week out, this show does a tremendous job of inching us closer to the end without giving too much away in any given episode. Occasionally, we’ll get a filler episode that doesn’t really move the big storyline, but this wasn’t one of them. We knew that the plan was retrieve D’Anna and destroy the hub so that she would be compelled to reveal the identities of the final five Cylons, and ultimately reveal the way to Earth. But all D’Anna has is information and she’s not giving it up until she returns to the human fleet, so we have to wait at least another week to find out the identities of all the skinjobs. Of course, last week’s line to Roslin about her being one of the Cylons turned out to be a joke… a joke! Damn you, Ronald D. Moore!

Roslin kept having visions every time the basestar jumped, and I guess the point was for her to come to the realization that she couldn’t let Baltar die, even after he (finally) admitted that he (unknowingly) gave the security codes that allowed the Cylons to destroy Caprica and the other colonies. Roslin really wanted him dead, but after her last vision she apparently saved his life. The priestess said something interesting after Roslin admitted there might be something for her there (presumably, Galactica). The priestess said, “Maybe even closer.” What the hell does that mean?

We saw Roslin reading that book that was eventually found in a destroyed raptor, and I guess that was meant to explain how that book got there. Was that the same raptor that jumped away in the middle of the battle, eventually to be found by Galactica? It was finding that book that sent Adama over the edge last week, so it’s nice that they explained how it happened to be there.

The dynamic between Baltar and Roslin (when they were trying to communicate with the hybrid) was really funny. There’s a weird tension between the two of them; I dare to call it sexual, which was kind of confirmed by Baltar’s compliment of Roslin’s beauty when he was all hopped up on drugs. I also thought his interaction with the Centurion was humorous, especially when the robot tilted his head like a dog who has just heard a strange noise.

Lastly, I have to hand it to the creators once again for the wonderful special effects of the battle scene. It’s amazing to see how far these effects have come over the past thirty or forty years.

Based on the scenes from next week, it looks like we’ll have another big step forward in discovering the identities of the Cylons in the fleet and finding a way to Earth. It is the 10th episode of the season, and I’m pretty sure there will be a break before the final 10 episodes, so I’m betting we’re in for a doozy.

All right, in the interest of full disclosure, I wasn’t a huge fan of this episode. It sort of dragged and not a whole lot happened with respect to the big picture. After last week’s cliffhanger, we didn’t get any new information about what happened to Roslin, but just like the rest of the fleet, they wanted to keep us in the dark.

Sandy Blonde Number Six died on the operating table, and Athena’s assault on her fueled all sorts of speculation about why the basestar jumped away. With the President gone, the quorum was all in a tizzy, and since Admiral Adama won’t recognize the VP’s authority, Lee decides to call on Romo Lampkin and his dead cat to sift through possible interim replacements for Roslin. I knew something was up with the cat when it got so much screen time; it’s strange how so many people in the fleet see friends, relatives and pets after they die.

Anyway, was anyone really surprised when Romo identified Lee as the only possible replacement for Roslin? We’ve been talking about that probability here for weeks.

However, I am intrigued by the whole Tigh-knocking-up-Platinum-Blonde-Number-Six storyline since both parties are Cylons and they are not supposed to be able to reproduce. Maybe the final five can reproduce… hmmm. Anyway, I find it quite disturbing when they switch between PB Number Six and Ellen. Tigh’s wife always bothered me, so when she pops up it gives me a bit of a jolt.

So Lee is the new President and his dad gives up his command so that he can… sit in a raptor in the middle of nowhere? I guess that the idea is that the fleet moves on while he waits for the basestar to return. I’ll admit that I’m touched by the affection that he has for Roslin, though I question the wisdom of this course of action. He usually makes good decisions, so I’m sure he’ll stumble upon the missing basestar somehow.

But where does the fleet have to go? Last I heard, the plan was to form a truce with the Cylons so that the final five could lead the fleet to Earth. So did the fleet just jump to some random coordinates to protect themselves in case the truce is off?

**POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT**

I typically don’t watch the “scenes from next week,” but I’ve started to lately since a reader generally comments on them. This week’s scenes contained a (possible) doozy of a spoiler, so stop reading now if you don’t want to ruin the surprise.

The Cylons will apparently revive D’Anna next week, and in a preview clip she tells Roslin, “You know about the five remaining Cylons. But do you know that you’re one of them?”

Now, truth be told, I don’t believe that Roslin is the fifth and even if she were, I don’t think the creators would drop that bomb in the “next week” preview. But the clip seemingly revealed the identity of the fifth, so I wanted to be very careful with that information so as to not ruin the surprise for anyone.

(By the way, I think the fact that they showed that clip – or edited that way – pretty much confirms that she is not the fifth. But, then again, they could be doing some super-devious reverse psychology on me.)

Politically speaking, a lot happened in this episode. After the Demetrius’ failure to jump along with the basestar, there were a few pretty tense moments until Tigh stepped in and averted disaster. This allowed with the Cylon rebels to negotiate with the fleet to cooperate in an attack on the resurrection hub.

But the two parties (understandably) can’t trust each other, so a double double-cross is set into motion. That’s going to have to wait, however, because as soon as the hybrid was plugged back in, she forced the basestar to jump to parts unknown (with Roslin, Baltar and *I think* Starbuck in tow). I’m surprised that the skinjobs didn’t foresee the possibility that the hybrid would wig out once she was back online.

Anyway, the creators are making a big deal about Gaeta, his lost leg and his (rather annoying) singing. I couldn’t make out what he was singing at the end of the episode, just after the basestar jumped away. Are they preparing us for Gaeta being the fifth cylon? And why don’t they get the Threes back online so the identities of the final five can be revealed?

That was a very cool sequence with Athena and the intercut shots of the opera house with her search for Hera. You know anytime they get those drum beats going in the background that they’re trying to amp up the tension, and it worked. It was interesting that Athena asked Tyrol to take Hera away from the situation, and that she felt so threatened by that particular Six. Considering that it was that Six that was driving the agreement with the humans, it’s entirely possible that the alliance is broken due to Athena’s actions.

On a side note, it occurred to me that whatever version of Earth the fleet eventually finds will probably be in the future. Otherwise, the inclusion of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” won’t make any sense. The four new skinjobs were singing the song as they discovered the truth about themselves, which makes sense considering that the rebels believe that the final five have been to Earth.