Ah, New Caprica. What a thrilling tourist destination. Come for the suicide bombings, stay for the mass executions. Or, if you’re lucky, get captured by a love-sick cylon who introduces you to the daughter you never knew you had. The human race has never had it so good.

I was dubious about the time jump at the end of the last season, but that’s all passed. I’m not as interested as I thought I’d be in Lee: How I Got Fat or Gaius Baltar: Shit President or Shittiest President? We can probably stay in the here and now as far as I’m concerned. That said, it’s almost painful to see the once-heroic and desperate humans bickering amongst themselves, condoning horrible crimes against their own kind and generally being hopeless.

Overall, when Colonel Tigh is in charge, things aren’t good.

I’m not sure where I stand on the suicide bomber issue. Everyone seems to be wrong. There’s the Cylons, with their “Oh you horrid humans with your suicide bombers we’re gonna shoot you all in a ditch” attempt being morally indignant. There’s Tigh, who’s pretty sure that they’re at war and so these things are acceptable. There’s Roslyn, who finds herself losing the moral high ground when talking to Baltar — a bad sign if ever there was one.

Meanwhile, the cavalry’s coming, but they’re still arguing over the details. How many do we send back to save the day? Are we dooming all of humanity? Both father and son have their points, but it’s hard to take the side of Lee McFatty-Fat. The Admiral is only convinced when Lee mentions Roslyn’s name; he’s clearly still got a bit of a crush going on.

It must be hard for poor old ex-Battlestar-Boomer. Not only do you find out that you’re a Cylon, and have your love affair screwed up as a result, but then you shoot your C.O. due to Cylon programming, get shot by some punk and resurrected back with the rest of your chums, and when you finally get back to your mates again, the punk has hitched up with your ex-lover and had a kid. I’d be pissed off. I’d also be annoyed that there’s another Boomer wandering around getting good character development while I natter uselessly to Cally and parrot Caprica Six in the Cylon council meetings.¹ Does she even feel like part of the crew any more? It must be hard to fit in with the Cylons and their “I’ve shot you in the head so I win the argument” brand of negotiations.

There’s not much certainty going round at all any more. Starbuck seemed pretty clear on life last episode; kill the Cylon, kill the Cylon, kill the Cylon, kill the Cylon.² Now he’s brought a baby into the argument, one of the more underhanded ways to swing the opposition. He hasn’t mentioned Hitler yet though, so he’s still in with a chance. Even the mighty Kara Thrace is helpless before a wounded child. Maybe there’s hope for everyone after all.

1. No other show has this issue. I feel like my first loyalty should be to ex-Battlestar-Boomer, but there was a pretty long stretch where she just wasn’t around. Either way, I suppose, Grace Park is one of the most beautiful people on television, so I shouldn’t be complaining. ↩
2. To the tune of Kill the Wabbit. Er, I mean, to the tune of Ride of the Valkyries by Wagner. Ahem. ↩

This entry was posted by the illustrious Tom Charman on Monday, October 30th, 2006. It concerns such pressing issues as Battlestar Galactica, tv. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.