BSG: Exodus Part One

[beccatoria]

My thoughts on this are not deep or complicated. It's a good episode. It deserves deep and complicated thoughts but I don't think I'll have any until the end of Part Two because I'm mostly on edge and stressed about the resolution to the story lines that I know will gut me. Like, what will happen with MacTigh and Lady MacTigh, and how exactly will the brilliantly trustworthy men that Laura is entrusting with Maya and Hera's safety let them down, and in what way will the plot line with Kara and Kacey backlash. It's hard to think about what happened in the episode without being too aware of how *up in the air* everything is.

Not the reaction I had last week, but hey. This week is different.

So, unordered and not particularly deep thoughts that mainly have to do with sleeping naked and Laura Roslin's romantic prospects (sadly, not at the same time).


1.) Cylon!Xena has three earrings. I don't know why I noticed/like this but I did/do. I'm also more interested in her as a character than I have been so far. Like, I liked her in Downloaded but wasn't particularly keyed into what her character was about. She mostly seemed scheming and manipulative in a way I wasn't completely convinced a cylon would be. (Not sure why, just wasn't). I feel now that I'm getting a handle on her.

2.) Cylon!Xena sleeps naked. For a TV show that's a little odd. It made that scene really striking.


3.) TOO MANY LAURA ROSLIN SHIPS! I love Laura Roslin, and to be honest, I think I'm just desperate to see her sleep with someone young and pretty because that would not only be hot, but also interesting in terms of our society's attitude to women "of a certain age". But honestly, in this episode we had:

- Laura/Zarek (which I'm mildly more interested in than I was before. Oddly, I've always thought it eventually plausible, I'm just not quite enough of a fan of Tom Zarek to be actively cheering this possibility.)

- Laura/Lee (YES she was worriedly asking about why the Pegasus wouldn't be joining them because she was scared something had happened to Lee. Don't argue with me. I WILL become irrational.)

- Laura/Maya (YES she was desperate to protect them and doing it slightly inartfully because of her vast LOVE for them. Don't argue with me. I'm already irrational from defending Laura/Lee.)

- Laura/Anders (and boy was THAT new. And unexpected. I like the respect they seem to have for each other. Her comment about trusting him suggests that they actually have some sort of (platonic I'm sure) established relationship. Which would make sense being high ranking members of the Resistance.)

- Laura/Adama (I mention this mostly for completeness' sake. I didn't think this had much of a Roslin/Adama vibe at all. Her look at the sky seemed more based in exhaustion and relief than anything else and the camera didn't focus on her nearly at all. Certainly not long enough for an "emotive longing look".)

Clearly with all these romantic options, she will need to form some kind of rota.

Also, I have eaten a boatload of vitamins today. I have decided to take boatloads of vitamins for a month to see if I feel any healthier and shit like that. Apparently it might help me concentrate. We will see. Today is DAY TWO of my initiation in to the VITAMIN EMPIRE!

Comments

[zepooka.livejournal.com]

Would it be crass and hideous of me if I asked what BSG was? O__o

Yay vitamins!

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Course not! BSG is Battlestar Galactica is one of my TV obsessions. I'm talking about the new and totally AWESOME one, not the old, crap one with that bear-dog thingy with no knee joints and the casino planet and stuff.

New BSG totally rocks. It's got lots of moral grey areas, and not in the way a lot of shows do where they get the lead to do something a little...angsty in order to, primarily, let the lead look cool and angsty. It really goes to the heart of a lot of issues and while sometimes it cuts a little too close to current affairs in an almost self-congratulatory way, a lot of the time it also manages to completely avoid that by *not* using direct parallels meaning you get to look at the real *issue* instead the stereotypes and distressed viewpoints that surround it.

Anyway, I'm babbling now which isn't really important. What's important is, it's got fantastic production values, an amazing cast (two oscar nominees), the hottest woman to walk the face of the earth (Mary McDonnell), and the hottest man to walk the face of the earth (Callum Keith Rennie) though sadly he only guest stars, so at least they give us the likes of Apollo in a TINY towel and Helo to make up for it.

Now I bet you wish you'd never asked! ;)

Also, YAY VITAMINS! *raises soluable multi-vitamin drink* DAY THREE!

[asta77.livejournal.com]

In the podcast (write up will be forthcoming) Ron comes right out and says not a lot actually happens in this episode and that it's more a set up for things about to happen. He also goes off topic *a lot* which goes to prove that there really isn't much to dissect in the episode. And the stuff I want to comment on I can't because, ya know, we have a crystal ball into the future. ;)

I didn't see so much Laura/Anders as Laura/Substitute for Lee because you just know if Lee had been on the planet that would have been him standing there with her. Not that I still didn't appreciate the scene. I like that we are getting to know Anders as a character seperate from Kara.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

I love our crystal ball! I also need to get hold of the podcast. Though I like your write-ups. In true me fashion, I enjoy the shortcut!

And hey, since Kara fell in love with Anders because he was a Lee substitue, I'm totally willing to let Laura do the same. I do agree with you, though, that he is...kind of a Lee substitute. Laura needs her younger, hotter, dedicated man to boss around.

I'm...worried about Lee/Laura. Lee has so much on his plate right now I'm wondering how the writers will make time to explore his relationship with the president. I sadly don't think they're going in the direction we want, but they've always (prior to 2.14) had such an interesting and important relationship I don't want to see that forgotten.

Which is maybe why I'm all over Laura/Substitute for Lee right now. It...reminds me of better times and I'm actually starting to like Anders.

[asta77.livejournal.com]

Laura needs her younger, hotter, dedicated man to boss around.

There's a fic in there somewhere. ;)

Well, David Eick said many moons ago that there would be some interaction between Lee and Laura this season. I didn't expect anything before Episode 5 for obvious reasons, but as they try to rebuild the fleet I could see some instances where Laura and Adama disagree (especially if he doesn't know about Hera) and her turning to Lee once again for his opinion/support. And it would be fascinating to see Lee, juggling issues with both Dee and Kara, go to Laura for advice.

[asta77.livejournal.com]

Forgot to mention...

Laura/Zarek (which I'm mildly more interested in than I was before. Oddly, I've always thought it eventually plausible, I'm just not quite enough of a fan of Tom Zarek to be actively cheering this possibility.)

ITA. I can't say I'm shipping them or am dying to see them naked together, but if it did happen I wouldn't have any problem with it. I also find the potential for the two of them much more interesting than Laura/Adama.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Which is a lot of kudos to Richard Hatch who I originally was totally unimpressed by.

[asta77.livejournal.com]

The first time I saw 'Bastille Day' I totally mocked him. His acting has improved as the series has progressed and he's been able to explore Tom more. And I have to say after seeing him at Dragon*Con last year that, dammit, he impressed me with his impressions of the show and his fellow actors and it made me soften on him a lot.

[nyuszi.livejournal.com]

dude! i'm so totally with you on the laura!ships. but you gotta admit she's very shippable. she sort of "clicks" with everyone in all the right ways.

and it's amazing to hear someone else see the laura/anders! wow! i thought it was only me! i actually mentioned it about a month or so ago, or even earlier than that. scary! lee-subsitute... lolz... poor lee.

i hope we get flashback scenes or something. we need to see how these relationships formed (kara/tigh, chief/tigh, laura/anders) and evolved.

here via galacticanews,btw

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Dude, Laura/Anders is totally the new Laura/Lee. Except not...cos, like, nothing will ever replace Laura/Lee. But yes, I agree about the shippability (is that a word?) I can kind of see her with everyone. But that might just be because *I* have a crush on her.

I'm also interested to see if the relationship between Laura and Anders will be explained, or if it'll just be...well...they were both working in the resistance and came to trust each other, let's skip it. I'm hoping it'll be explained.

[nyuszi.livejournal.com]

well, nothing can replace laura/lee! because laura/lee is (was) awesome! but i like the laura/anders dynamic, that's for sure.

i think it becomes a word once we start using it and we all agree on its meaning. :) i can sorta "see" her with everyone as well. which does't mean i WANT her with everyone, but she'd just sorta "fit". mkay, maybe not with tigh. although i'm wondering (after the slapping scene), what kind of relationship they'd have. tigh seems to like his women a little on the violent side. :D

i hope they'll explain certain things. like the laura/anders thing.

[projectcyborg.livejournal.com]

oh, Laura and her harem!! I am actually finding the prospect of Roslin/Zarek disturbingly hot, but mostly I'm excited about Anders because his closeness with Roslin could be a conduit back to Roslin/Starbuck!see how very desperate I am?!

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I think Anders' limited episode run means he'll either snuff it or have episodes written around his presence so he's not onscreen and he'll probably end up spending his screen time angsting with Kara about their frakked relationship.

Then again, perhaps I should have more faith - season three has gone a long, long way in making me like Anders as a character largely because he's been allowed to develop without "Starbuck's Love Interest" tattooed across his forehead like an inevitable death. So perhaps that development could include interactions with Roslin. It would be interesting to see Roslin dragged into the inevitably tangled relationship between Kara and Anders (and Dee and Lee?) I really hope they allow her to interact with a greater segment of the cast. I can't say I've ever been a Laura/Kara shipper, but their interactions are *fascinating*. Perhaps it's just the lack of screentime. I really hope that the writers continue to allow Roslin to interact with the younger characters.

See? I'm not judging. Then again, I became obsessed with a ship based on two minutes of footage, so perhaps I should be over in the corner of shame with you...

[projectcyborg.livejournal.com]

I heard that Anders gets a pretty good run before he eventually dies -- so you never know! given the fanboy hangups about crossgen sexxx0rs, I can't imagine Roslin will ever be allowed a cameo on Starbuck's Creek -- throwing down with the resistance pretties is about as close as she can come, I suppose. even though all the kids clearly want to frak her. I just want her to talk to women -- any women! that is really all I ask of this show. I won't sic my whole Starbuck/Roslin architecture on you -- mostly it's character and theology based, since indeed there is a tragic lack of screentime (and Mary and Katee love each other! in some interview they were saying they wish they worked together more).

did you get to read all the Roslin/Maya fic? I don't remember seeing you around. much of it was jennyo, but some stuff also came through getyourtoaster. anyway, masterlist.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Feel free to sic the architecture on me. I'm actually interested. I'm pretty much new to (fem)slash. I'm not gay, so it's not what jumps out at me most of the time, but then, Laura/Maya was just so...so OBVIOUS that it became kind of a fascination. And what with having my heart stolen away from Roslin/Adama to Laura/Lee pretty quickly in season one, I've started shipping unconventionally for the first time (I always fell in line with the expected ships in previous fandoms).

So, as a result of that, I'm kind of in the mood to know more about any kind of it'll-never-happen pairing, especially if it involves Roslin. Sort of as a rebellion to having to acknowledge that no, she probably won't ever sleep with anyone under the age of fifty. Hell, *I* want to sleep with her and I'm a (mostly) straight 23 year old girl. *Grr*.

I think the main thing keeping me off the Laura/Zarek wagon is that as interesting as it might be, I do feel that they're wedging him into a position that Lee had already grown into gracefully. If Lee's character were twenty years older, well...yeah.

So, since I have every intention of continuing to read your blog/watch your vlog, I'm sure I'll get to hear all about Roslin/Starbuck eventually. I already have, like, two music videos of it (I collect crack!ships music vids whether I ship them or not; I've noticed an odd lack of m/m crack!ship vids though *shrug*).

I'm also pretty sure I've read most of the Laura/Maya stuff out there, but I'll check out those links!

[projectcyborg.livejournal.com]

well, I should probably stoop to pimping myself and make you read this -- at least the first and last parts, with their embarrassing OTP-ness. that's sorta my Starbuck/Roslin meta in fic form, our revisionist history of season 2 explaining why Starbuck and Roslin stopped speaking to each other.

what I've said about S/R in the past is that it got rolling mostly because the girlslashers were watching The Roslin Wing and Starbuck's Creek equally avidly -- these were the characters that captured our imaginations early on (much as I'm fascinated by Boomer, she was very busy with her boys and not my type either, and Six was pretty restricted to Gaius, though that has changed since) -- and it was too tempting not to pair them. but characterologically (to coin a word), also, they fit so perfectly. a lot like Laura/Lee (unsurprisingly) -- except that Lee is too much of a goody two-shoes to stand by Roslin unconditionally, I think (he and his dad are quite the pair for being emo kids). what you have to realize about Starbuck is that, underneath all that bravado, she's a raging submissive. she craves authority and validation (is completely steeped in her mommy/daddy issues), and loves the regimentation of the military and religion, and ultimately what she wants most is for someone to see through her BS, to tell her she can redeem herself by serving them. exhibit A: Admiral Cain. so when you read Starbuck that way, it's all OH, Laura Roslin -- I mean, Starbuck betraying everything to go for the arrow makes so much sense. and Laura is the perfect counterpart, because she takes so well to being served, she attracts this legion of twentysomething little disciples that she has such complicated, intense chemistry with. but unlike Lee, I think Starbuck's loyalty would be absolute, and unlike Billy, I think Starbuck would still be an interesting challenge for her.

and then there's the theological dimension, which I vlogged about some in part 1. a lot of that's in the fic, but basically these are the two characters with some kind of opaque but crucial destiny in cylon-god-land. and it's also faith that brings them together in their crucial arrow-of-apollo moment.

but much as I'm desperate for them to bond over their lost croutons, I think Starbuck's going to be too busy with her various boy issues to keep this ship afloat. I (and you) may have to convert to Laura/Tory. I'm so full of squee about Tory sticking around as the new Billy -- she's perfect within this disciple model, and she's fierce and ruthless and smart -- but it's just not as satisfying because she's so undeveloped as a character. I hope they give us more. I mean, she and Roslin have been working closely together for a year and a half now, so there's a lot of history there, even if we haven't seen it. and Tory was clearly pining for Roslin the whole time she was playing the happy housewife with Maya (jennyo totally wrote that story, ha). oh Tory (it occurs to me that MY relationship with Roslin is most similar to Tory's, of any of the characters). TPTB should totally make Tory a dyke -- a political scandal around that would be a great storyline. I mean, they should make *someone* a dyke.

what are the music vids you have?? the only good S/R one I've seen is the one linked on my fic index.

yes, I am a total shipper whore. *hangs head in shame*

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

I'll check out those stories at some point. And thanks for the rundown - very interesting. You're right about Starbuck's raging subission complex. I'm really annoyed that they never wrote or filmed a scene for Scar that was discussed in the writers' conference podcast (available from the official site) about Starbuck going and confronting Roslin about how it's her damn fault she got sent to Caprica and had her ovary stolen and fell in love and therefore lost Anders and is really screwed up, and Roslin basically...letting her throw a temper tantrum at her. Now that would have been a freakin' awesome scene.

I guess I get your point about Lee's loyalty to Laura having limits. Being the Romantic that I am, I prefer to think that his love for her would be unconditional, but that in situations like Bastille Day, he'll go against her for his principles, and that is an aspect of him that challenges and compliments Laura, and one that keeps her honest and away from her dictatorial tendencies.

Whatever they ultimately have in store for them interacting as characters (and yes, I tend to think Kara will be too busy with her boys this season) they are definitely theologically linked.

You know, before this season, I would never have been on board with Tory as a character. She was okay, interesting even, but from her brief scenes (and cut scenes) she seemed ambitious, amoral, a dirty political campaigner for whom victory was more important than the party she represented. There's been a real change in that this season with her choosing to continue supporting Roslin and the resistance and her real, absolute sorrow when she breaks the news about Maya and Isis. Like, the acting there was awesome. I really, really felt for her and was completely on board with it. I actively like her now! So yes, now that Maya's popped her clogs (and in a sick way I'm glad about that because their LOVE AFFAIR CAN NOW NEVER BE INVALIDATED!) I could definitely get on board with Roslin/Tory....

I've only got 2 S/R vids and one of them is the one you mention. The other is by lidi I think and is very short, though I think pretty good. It's kind of cracky simply due to the music choice (Kiss the Girl from Disney's The Little Mermaid...) And I don't think I've ever seen any others - if you have I'd be interested.

Here's a link (only 2megs): http://www.megaupload.com/?d=78ZI2GT5

I do have other crackvids (some serious, some comedy, some high quality, some...dubious) brief breakdown as follows:

Laura/Lee: 10
Adama/Laura/Lee: 1
Six/Sharon: 1 (well, I don't think it was necessarily intended as a slash!vid but...it so is.)
Starbuck/Cain: 1
Starbuck/Boomer: 1
Roslin/Zarek: 1
Adama/Tigh: 1
Helo/Lee: 1
D'Anna/Aaron Doral: 2
Starbuck/Leoben: 5
Roslin/Leoben: 1
Gaius/Gina: 1

[projectcyborg.livejournal.com]

you're not the only one who feels robbed of that killer scene, believe me!! plus there was the confrontation from Roslin's deathbed, that only ever appeared in the LDYB previouslies! grrrrrrrrr.

I can get certainly get behind Lee/Laura (this ship has been foundering lately too, as Lee is also all tied up with Starbuck's Creek, meh). I like the crossgen! but I can also see that Lee's integrity would challenge Roslin in a good way -- although I like her dictatorial tendencies (and I think that keeping Starbuck in line would also be a fun challenge). I just have to imagine Lee 1.0/fanon, because I have a hard time taking Lee(mo) 2.0 seriously in any way.

I *heart* your theory of Roslin/Maya! it's true -- their love is forever! and only Tory knows the whole truth!! (GUH, Tory)

vids! ah yes, I have seen Kiss the Girl (silly -- I think I just have it favorited on YT). hmmmm, possibly I want the girlslash ones, if I don't know them, and D'anna/Doral (due to my vast love for D'anna), and Roslin/Zarek (hot, god help me), Roslin/Leoben (intriguing -- and another Roslin/Starbuck conduit!), and Helo/Lee (in solidarity with boyslashers). yay! I can trade if you want -- I have mostly gen vids, given the dearth of girlslash. I imagine you've already seen the good ones, but who knows.

Attitudes...

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

>but also interesting in terms of our society's attitude to women "of a certain age"

Yes, it would be interesting. But wouldn't it also be interesting for her to have a multisexual harem as a woman 'of a certain age'? I see no problem here... *roarr*

;-)