BSG: Escape Velocity

[beccatoria]

Two episode ago I went on a long rambling ramble about how everyone was moving sideways. This week, I'm struck by the episode title. Escape velocity. Not just the fact that they're escaping, but the pressures and angles and circumstances and speeds they need to achieve in order to escape.

I figured it out. This season is going to make me uncomfortable and confuse me because

1) it's not going to follow standard television formula and,
2) it's not going to do what I'd do if I were in charge.

That might seem...obvious, and one might well ask where the frak I've been for the last three seasons, but what I mean is this: at times I think BSG has succumbed to formulaic television. Not of the Stargate type, but of the HBO type. The type that puts characters through the wringer and has angst and character development of a sort, but that usually manages to restore the status quo, or introduce a more popular status quo. What I mean is, programs like Lost and Desperate Housewives and Buffy have all broken out of the Star Trek or Stargate episodics, or manic and overwritten soap operatic screechings. But they trap themselves in their own sets of cliches and formulas. An infinitely preferable set, and sometimes a set new enough I don't even notice them, until a run of episodes confuses me and I realise why:

I have no frame of reference to parse this.

It is surprising me.

And I don't just mean "Wow what a shock death!" or "Wow, what a shocking plot twist!" I mean on a fundamental, thematic level, this show is surprising me and confusing me and causing me to ask questions.

I have no idea if the rest of the season will continue on this "escape velocity." I'm almost afraid it will because these characters are sliding away from me; are becoming unrecognisable though intriguing; are becoming almost upsetting in that I've bought into them and chosen to love them and now they're changing and turning and I cannot punch through my screen to save them. But this is not an effect of bad writing. This is simply the writers being braver than me. It's rare that when I recoil or feel uncomfortable my response is to question whether the failure is in me.

(For clarity: this impulse is small and subsumed by the fact that I am very much enjoying this show right now. But it's there and I'm intrigued by it.)

As a comparison, I will try to explain why I didn't have this reaction to the start of season three. That was daring storytelling and a sequence of episodes I loved almost unreservedly (the reservations being a) Lee's plotline and b) that I think BSG does better when its comparisons aren't so explicit and they shouldn't have tried to make it an Iraq parallel when even RDM admitted it should be Vichy France).

But everyone got up in the sky again. And Kacey wasn't a toaster and Hera was obviously in a season-arc and would show up again, and Baltar came back to Galactica and D'Anna got boxed, and Roslin was president again and Adama was everyone's Daddy and so say we all. And none of this is bad: none of this made me unexcited. I never rolled my eyes. I threw myself into Kara's emotional journey, and Tigh's. And I think both are paying off beautifully. But maybe that's the problem. Quite aside from never being sure if my reading of Kara's emotional state was with or against the text, I was certain of my opinions.

Now I feel I'm standing on sand.

It's everywhere. Like entropy. Everyone's breaking apart, and embarking on their own escape velocities.

I think it's in the acting choices, a lot of it.

Take Roslin for instance. Okay, so she states explicitly that which has been obvious to us: she's dying and so she doesn't feel the need to play by the rules anymore. It happened to her a little last time, even more this time because she's been here before and she's more comfortable with power. In itself, for this show, this is not brave. They've been playing the Roslin-as-potential-tyrannical-dictator card for a looooong time.

What's great and unsettling is the breadth Mary McDonnell give it. The way she brings her light touch and fragility and open emotion to the task of being a tyrant as easily as she brought it to being a scared, dying woman who never wanted this power. In my ludicrously long ramble, I said that something about her seemed free.

It still does and I still can't name it but consider: the sincerity with which she approached Baltar in his cell. The simplicity. None of the screaming or the threats she's previously employed. She confused the shit out of Baltar before she spun it around on him. She confused me too. I knew she had a game plan. I knew she wanted something from him. But her quiet, friendly demeanor was so convincing, I started wondering if she was ever going to flip it around on him or if she'd just gotten so exhausted and free she could get what she wanted from him without ever issuing a threat.

It makes me suspicious of her other interactions which are all sweetness and light and tired plainness. Not because I think they're all sekritly ev0l acts on her part, but because I don't think that the first half of her Baltar scene was an act. Or rather, it was, but she genuinely felt it to, and that's...more scary? That there isn't even a difference anymore?

Something inside Laura Roslin snapped, and she doesn't give a shit anymore. Something inside everyone has snapped, except for Adama. Who I continue to actually like as a character now that I understand everyone around him is falling to pieces and he's incapable of understanding why, "Nobody's going anywhere," isn't working for him any more.

Something inside me snapped this episode, too. I don't give a shit about A/R any more. Obviously, I still prefer L/L. I'm even still...disapproving of A/R. I started this show actually liking A/R more than L/L but that quickly shifted during the latter half of the first season and early second (before I even had an LJ I think) and after that I gradually became actively hostile to A/R. I haven't lost any of that dislike. I just...don't care. Something snapped and that's the way the show is going and having had my epiphany that this show is going to drag me through hell and break my characters in ways I don't understand: not in noble angstilicious ways but in surprising, confusing ways, this is just...one more sign that something is Rotten in the State of Galactica.

That nausea that seemed to permeate that awesome cover version of "All Along the Watchtower" in the season finale? That feeling is this season.

...never did I think I would compare something to nausea in a good way.

Others who are escaping:

Tyrol. OH MY GODS CONTINUITY! He confronted the Admiral about wanting to have Cally shot! SQUEE. And Adama's confusion over how to deal with Tyrol, resorting to demoting him because again, he can't understand a world where "Nobody's going anywhere," doesn't work because he's the Old Man and people obey him. If they don't, he can't be the Daddy, and he can't keep them safe. Even death is supposed to stop for him. He saved his son from the Apocalypse, didn't he? His daughter found her way back to him? Even Sharon Valerii got a strange second chance because the Old Man wouldn't give up on her. Even Laura Roslin before New Caprica. So why the hell isn't it working now?

And wow, yeah. THIS IS NOT MY LIFE! I SETTLED! WE ALL SETTLED! The Chief's speech was awesome. Because the people we want to love are dead or turned out to be Cylons. One thing this episode did really well was that double-edged vocal trick. Both here and with Tigh.

Speaking of -

Tigh. Oh lord. Tigh and Six. Those scenes slayed me. I was so tense that Tigh was gonna frak up, betray himself to the marines, kiss her in front of them or something. The way he was desperate for something from this cylon, and she kept explaining just enough to him that he thought she understood only to come crashing down when he realised they were talking at cross-purposes after all.

This is what I was trying to explain above. Rewind to the mini series. Explain to me that that woman is going to end up kissing Tigh and that it will make perfect sense.

It's something I couldn't have predicted even last week. It's brave and they went there with conviction. And I believe it. And it's sick.

It's nauseating and glorious.

What's that phrase from that song? I see it on a lot of icons. It epitomises our modern TV culture where we want our heroes broken but pretty. Messed up but only enough that they have angst and we can still believe someone will swoop in and save them?

"There's beauty in the breakdown," I think that's it? Or maybe, "Beautiful messed up boy."

I'm not trying to belittle these concepts. There's something Romantic and transcendent about character growth, healing, salvation. There's something fascinating about damaged people.

But for me, this is stranger and braver. There's beauty in this breakdown too, but it's not physical, it's not mental, it's not even philosophical. I think applying either of those phrases to this situation would change the commonly used and instinctive understanding of the phrase. Because the breakdown is also ugly, and terrifying and confusing. As it should be to a mind that's not on the brink of collapse, like Tigh's, or perhaps Caprica's.

Speaking of and speaking of acting choices, Tricia Helfer was using the same trick as Mary McDonnell, sort of. The contrast of wild joy on her face as she pummelled Tigh. And her willingness to accept Tigh's quest on faith even when he didn't understand it himself. Playing against expectations. An escape velocity.

Finally I'm confused by Baltar. I was raised as a Unitarian with strongly pantheistic leanings, by hippy parents involved in at least one hippytastic lifestyle movement. As such, my understanding of God and the true nature of people is profoundly similar to Baltar's final speech.

The concept that something loves you, in your entirety and what's more you are worthy of that love no matter what you've done; without recanting anything or converting to anything, you are just an innately, incredibly, inherently good person and you deserve to be loved - that idea is what I was raised believing. Explicitly. I mean, my parents literally taught me that. Along with the notion "I choose to call this God," is a valid concept for worship, and that the notion that there is something is more important than the definition of what it is.

But then you have Tory's terrifying escape velocity smirking in the corner. The cancerous undercurrent that being worthy of being loved means you can do no wrong as long as you say sorry. Like Catholicism without the guilt. Tory ignoring the fact that while you may be inherently worthy of love, and while you may be born inherently good and awesome, this does not negate the world's ability to hurt you and screw you up and turn you into a thing that hurts other people and screws them up.

And the fact that what's possibly the closest to me seeing a discussion of something approximating my religion (for lack of a better word, though I don't consider myself religious) on TV and it's casting it in the place of this fascistic monotheism - Christianity in ancient Rome. And from a historical perspective and a personal one, and meaning no disrespect to anyone of any religious affiliation, I'm not interested in that story. I can't get on board with it as anything other than a tragedy.

But here we are, with the Sons of Aries as the bad guys, and Baltar teaching things my mother used to say to me and...I feel terribly confused and uncomfortable.

I desperately don't want Baltar to be Jesus.

I think his notions of "perfection" ignore the way our world shapes us. Why do we have to choose? Why can't it be miraculous that something out there loves every one of us, and thinks every one of us is perfect, at the same time we hear the Chief saying, "We all settled because the people that we love are dead." At the same time we hear Kara saying, "Those people are my family, and none of us belong here."

I'm not even making sense anymore, see. This show broke my brain...

So I'll end with a quick thought about Lee:

He's soooooo going to bust Tory to Laura about being one of Baltar's "girlie groupie sex whatevertheyares." Hur hur hur...

Comments

Part 1

[asta77.livejournal.com]

I have no idea if the rest of the season will continue on this "escape velocity." I'm almost afraid it will because these characters are sliding away from me; are becoming unrecognisable though intriguing; are becoming almost upsetting in that I've bought into them and chosen to love them and now they're changing and turning and I cannot punch through my screen to save them. But this is not an effect of bad writing. This is simply the writers being braver than me.

I also think the characters are changing in unexpected ways. Some of that change is dictated by revelations about themselves (Tigh, Tyrol, and Tory) or incredible circumstance (Kara) or their life slipping away (Laura). I can understand their choices and even most of their behavior, but I’m still not convinced of the writer’s bravery, particularly in the case of this episode given my belief that Jane Espenson does not have a handle on the characters. It’s hard for me to judge if what we saw is the new norm for the characters or if Jane went a step or two too far.

Okay, so she states explicitly that which has been obvious to us: she's dying and so she doesn't feel the need to play by the rules anymore. It happened to her a little last time, even more this time because she's been here before and she's more comfortable with power.

She was unsure of herself last time. It’s why she turned to Billy and Lee for advice and support. I think we discussed (or maybe it was someone else – I’m losing track!) Tory’s potential influence on Laura. Not that she’s dictating Laura’s actions, but that in not questioning them, in fully supporting her choices no matter the legality of them, that she is, in small part, responsible for Laura tightening control and not considering how her choices are being viewed by others. The problem is Laura is too comfortable right now. Her power has gone unchecked for too long and Lee is back questioning her, challenging her and he has the power and influence now to make real change, and she’s having some trouble dealing with that.

after that I gradually became actively hostile to A/R. I haven't lost any of that dislike. I just...don't care.

I’m having the opposite reaction. I’ve gone from not caring to becoming hostile. Not because I have to see more A/R potential shippiness on my screen, but because Adama is expressing the emotional maturity of a twelve year old when it comes to Laura. pellucid, who does ship them, is having some of the same issues as me. There is no evidence that actual adult conversations are happening about their relationship. I think Laura has at least attempted to get him to talk about more personal matters, but the bulk of their conversations seem to involve what is happening in the fleet or her health, which he really tries hard to avoid discussing. It makes some sense given how throughout the course of the series he’s avoided talking about his feelings or anyone elses, but now she is dying and there is no indication of them talking about their lives, separately or together, in even the most general terms. Instead of reading some pulp novel to her for an hour, talk to her.

Re: Part 1

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

but I’m still not convinced of the writer’s bravery, particularly in the case of this episode given my belief that Jane Espenson does not have a handle on the characters. It’s hard for me to judge if what we saw is the new norm for the characters or if Jane went a step or two too far.

I have to concede your point here. I'm not familiar with either Espenson or Buffy (I saw perhaps a dozen episodes and was vaguely aware of the overall plot of each season via friends, but aside from Angel season 1 - which I loved - I was never deeply into the Buffyverse), but it didn't even occur to me it could be a writer issue which was...probably naive. I think I just desperately want to believe it's on purpose. I recall being in love with the first slew of episodes from season three then getting less enamored and I...want the awesome to contine? So I suppose if given the option of believing it's bravery on the part of the writers or lack of ability...I'm gravitating towards the former based primarily on wishful thinking? ;)

Tory’s potential influence on Laura.

This is also a good point. And Bill doesn't help either when once he would have: back when I thought he was a noble and interesting character. Bill won't deny her anything because she's dying and he's in love with her and that means she's now in the same category as Kara or Lee, except Lee would never abuse that position because he's too unsure of his father's love and too noble, and Kara only abuses it unthinkingly because she fraks up and gets herself into crazy situations, it's not intentional, but Adama's still there, trying to save her and forgiving her and never punishing her except in fits of violent anger which aren't useful lesson-teaching-punishments for someone with Kara's history at all.

And then there's Laura. Who's realised she's now in that special category of people Adama would destroy the Fleet and the rest of the human race and if he could the whole frakking universe, to save - to "not let go anywhere". And Laura is...cunning and scary. In terms of the show's presentation I'd have to admit she also likes him a great deal, but that's never stopped her from using people and doing what she feels is necessary before...

As to the A/R - I feel for you. Truly. What you say makes sense. Bill is...an idiot. But I think that's part of my slow ability to like him again this season. I finally feel (or again, perhaps I just snapped and stopped paying attention) that the show is letting me think he's an idiot. I feel like it stopped asking me to see his every angry outburst or quiet moment with Laura as "noble" or "kickass". So I can read him as a man who's survived for too long in a world he no longer understands desperately trying to control chaotic creatures who do not speak his language. And...my heart aches for that man. Even as I think he's an idiot and a bad father and has anger and avoidance issues.

My honest opinion is that Laura must know - like you, she must have had him talk about it. I half wonder if they're going to pull an X-Files on us and just have it "happen" offscreen. And I don't mean sex, I mean the whole 'suddenly we're in love' thing. Which I was always more accepting of than other XF fans because I was a bizarre hybrid of Noromo and shipper and thought they were completely and utterly in love with each other, but whether it was romantic or platonic had completely ceased to make any difference. That they could start sleeping with each other and living together and it'd make not one bit of difference. I think maybe that's what they're going for here?

Though I don't know if they've succeeded. It largely makes me think that Laura's happy with the situation because she gets company and has decided that she can't be bothered to play Adama's psychiatrist. Cus I can believe Bill would act like he was 12 and be all noble cus she's dying and hold in his feelings. But Laura? (Sure, with Lee where she'd worry it was horribly inappropriate, but with Bill? Who's clearly obsessed with her? She wouldn't say anything? HAHAHAHAA. No.)

Re: Part 1

[asta77.livejournal.com]

I feel like it stopped asking me to see his every angry outburst or quiet moment with Laura as "noble" or "kickass". So I can read him as a man who's survived for too long in a world he no longer understands desperately trying to control chaotic creatures who do not speak his language. And...my heart aches for that man. Even as I think he's an idiot and a bad father and has anger and avoidance issues.

Perhaps I've been less enraged at Adama, thsu far, this season because he hasn't been depicted at all a noble or, I'd say, heroic. Even his decision to send Kara off with a ship wasn't Adama is right, it was just a matter of making sure they weren't wrong to listen to her.

And if I view Adama as a rather sad figure whose world is irrevocably broken, then I can be slightly more sympathetic (as you are) to the man, who while an excellent military leader, has failed miserably in his personal life.

That they could start sleeping with each other and living together and it'd make not one bit of difference. I think maybe that's what they're going for here?

Maybe, but, that is...depressing. I think Laura deserves some passion. Not necessarily in the tearing ones clothes off and having wild sex way (though, hey, I'm thinking Lee would be up for it), but at least to be emotionally stimulated. There was a spark between she and Adama when they had their almost fight in TTTB, but instead of breaking down the walls and letting the emotions flow, Adama walked away. I just keep thinking Laura deserves better.

Part 2

[asta77.livejournal.com]

CONTINUITY! He confronted the Admiral about wanting to have Cally shot! SQUEE.

I didn’t mention that in my post, but YES! I was shocked that they had Tyrol bring that up!

This is what I was trying to explain above. Rewind to the mini series. Explain to me that that woman is going to end up kissing Tigh and that it will make perfect sense.

Heh. Yeah, I think one of the last things that I ever would have considered is Tigh and Caprica making out. Then again, I never envisioned Caprica turning her back on her people and living aboard Galactica and being very accepting of her situation.

Christianity in ancient Rome. And from a historical perspective and a personal one, and meaning no disrespect to anyone of any religious affiliation, I'm not interested in that story. I can't get on board with it as anything other than a tragedy.

I’m with you on this. The story that interests me the least is Baltar and his cult right now. I fear a religious war is coming and part of me doesn’t know if it’s necessary and part of me worries it is and Baltar is going to be Jesus and somehow bring the humans and Cylons together and that idea is disappointing to me.

I'm not even making sense anymore, see. This show broke my brain...

I feel that way every week when I write my posts. :/

He's soooooo going to bust Tory to Laura about being one of Baltar's "girlie groupie sex whatevertheyares."

I know! Wheeeee! Laura just better listen to him.

Re: Part 2

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

I didn’t mention that in my post, but YES! I was shocked that they had Tyrol bring that up!

I KNOW! But awesome since I think it was one of the sickest things Adama did last season. And while nobody knows Cally didn't kill herself and was murdered, had her murderer not come along, she probably would have, and while it was because the Chief was a cylon, I also think she had psychotic depression, and I think the fact that in the last two years she was put up against a firing squad three times, twice by her commanding officer (Crashdown and Adama), probably didn't help much.

It might be stretching it to say that Adama bears guilt in her death, but he certainly bears responsibility for part of her mental state because I don't care if that strike was illegal. I don't care if he's in the military. You do not threaten to execute the family member of a lawbreaker unless you are Cain and it was just...such a surreal decision for Adama to make.

Then again, I never envisioned Caprica turning her back on her people and living aboard Galactica and being very accepting of her situation.

True again. Though I think that if someone had said that to me, I could have drawn a line to that point. Her fabulously confused expression both when she (or another Six) kissed the man on Armistice station after asking if he was alive, and when she snapped that baby's neck in a surreal curiosity/mercy killing, and actual apparent love of Baltar would be things I could use to understand her if not repenting then at least being...again curious and accepting?

But making out with Tigh? The concept I still find hilarious, even though the scene didn't make me laugh! Like every time I think about it I chuckle a little in my head! XD

The story that interests me the least is Baltar and his cult right now. I fear a religious war is coming and part of me doesn’t know if it’s necessary and part of me worries it is and Baltar is going to be Jesus and somehow bring the humans and Cylons together and that idea is disappointing to me.

I think it would interest me more if my watching of it weren't constantly laced with the desire to STAB MYSELF should Baltar actually end up as some sort of Jesus figure.

I know Baltar is quite a gentle person. I know he isn't evil incarnate. But dammit, he's not a good man either. He's weak and he's crazy and he's done terrible things and you can't have him repenting of them and becoming all Jesuslike and awesome at the same time you have him indulging in really skeezy weaknesses like womanising and have cast him as some sort of weird cultlike person. I mean, the writers must know what it looks like to give him a string of "girlie groupie sex whatevertheyares". They MUST. *hopes fervently*

I feel that way every week when I write my posts. :/

Well, they always make sense to me! (((Asta))) :)

I know! Wheeeee! Laura just better listen to him.

IT WILL BE ANGSTY AND TENSE AND NOBLE AND THERE WILL BE SO MUCH PRETTINESS ON MY SCREEN IT MIGHT SHATTER!

*crosses fingers for anything even half as awesome as the trial scene*

Re: Part 2

[asta77.livejournal.com]

I don't care if that strike was illegal. I don't care if he's in the military. You do not threaten to execute the family member of a lawbreaker unless you are Cain and it was just...such a surreal decision for Adama to make.

OK, this should have hit me when I watched the ep, but didn't until you used the word "strike". 'Dirty Hands' was written by Anne Cofell Saunders and....Jane Espenson! D'Oh! That explains both the coolness of Tyrol bringing up Adama's order and some of the confusion of not only the scene in 'Escape Velocity' but also 'Dirty Hands' since I think most of us agree Jane doesn't have a good sense of the characters!

He's weak and he's crazy and he's done terrible things and you can't have him repenting of them and becoming all Jesuslike and awesome at the same time you have him indulging in really skeezy weaknesses like womanising and have cast him as some sort of weird cultlike person.

If Baltar gives up sex in the next week or two I think we need to be worried.

[nomoreanonymous.livejournal.com]

I found this episode a bit lacking perhaps its seemed a bit mundane compared to the punch to the head of last weeks episode plus i agree with you both in that im not really that intrested in the whole Baltar Cult story.

Perhaps one of the reasons why the whole religous war story line would seem a bit dull is the chosen religion of the fleet is basically worship of what we would consider a dead religon here on earth and we wouldnt be afriad to call it bullshit even. Sorry Zeus! Unlike if they were followers of christianity or islam perhaps we would be a bit less dismissal.

I also find it a bit hard to believe that after suffering tbe loss of so many billions of people in the cylon attacks that the existance of the gods has not been more pulled into question. The majaroity of people in the fleet seem to only pay lip service to the gods in the first place though so the whole idea of a coming clash between religons seems kinda un-belivable.

I hope your parents hippytastic lifestyle didnt revolve around some Baltar like guru :P I myself am not religous in the slightest, I find the existance of the human race all the more a mircale worthy of celebration if indeed it did all just happen by chance. Baltars words just seemed so sorta happy clappy. Telling the sorta needy people that make up that kinda cult that god loves them and that they are perfect is just like shooting fish in a barrel. Plus very dangerous when there are people like Tory in the world.

Hope next weeks episode hots up a bit. Fingers crossed for a lot more starbuck. Lol when they showed the vipers bolted onto her ship last week did your mind also shout "HRMMMM i wonder if there gonna see any action"

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Perhaps one of the reasons why the whole religous war story line would seem a bit dull is the chosen religion of the fleet is basically worship of what we would consider a dead religon here on earth and we wouldnt be afriad to call it bullshit even. Sorry Zeus! Unlike if they were followers of christianity or islam perhaps we would be a bit less dismissal.

Interesting thought, though at the same time, I wonder if they were using actual religions it would be too much of a "hot topic" to effectively discuss? Something I always liked in season one was the way that the Cylon were monotheistic terrorists waging a holy war which immediately has parallels with the Middle East situation at the moment, but that their religion was actually closer to Christianity than Islam in its tenets.

Personally I think it's a bit dull because I can't get on board with Baltar as Jesus and I haven't yet seen that I'm supposed to get on board with the storyline with Baltar as FakeJesus. Grr!

I hope your parents hippytastic lifestyle didnt revolve around some Baltar like guru :P

Ha! No, no, I was fortunately not raised in a crazy cult, nor did we have any "gurus"!

In terms of religion, I'm not terribly religious either, though my parents are Unitarians so I did go to church as a kid, but again...hippie church... ;)

I agree about Tory though. She's twisting whatever message Baltar gave her into one that lets her live with herself and that's going to be daaaangerous down the road.

The trailer for next week's episode does look Starbuck heavy, yes!

[projectcyborg.livejournal.com]

so, this episode. I liked it far less than the first three. I HAD NO IDEA WHAT WAS HAPPENING. and sometimes that was delightful, like OMG BDSM WTF HOTTTTTTT, but more of the time it was just directionless, like GAIUS CHRIS WTF THEOLOGY AND WHEN DID LAURA BECOME DUMB? now, this didn't come out of nowhere -- the first three eps were wildly shattering, and probably the only way I made it through the third in the throes of squee is that Tory and I were already so sympatico -- but this was the point, for me at least, when my willingness to ride the awesome and trust that they know where they're going with it just broke. and I'm much less generous than you about calling that good television storytelling. they have to EARN the discomfort and ambiguity, as far as I'm concerned, and as you imply that comes of pacing the narrative so that each character's journey can be fully elaborated. I agree that Laura and Lee and Zarek are getting short shrift especially right now -- none of their positions makes much sense, and after all we've been through with Laura that's rapidly becomeing unforgivable. yes, SAYING that dying changes her perspective makes sense, but how that perspective extends to bad political decisions I do not understand (it might have helped if we'd learned more about the aftermath of her miracle cure the first time around). Tory is deeply blank and ambivalent, but personally I have no problem running with that given the excessiveness of my ongoing fanon (LAURA JUNIOR OMG). in this case it's Gaius that really trips me up most. I can't imagine that, after everything, that actually expect us to buy him as sympathetic and sincere -- and yet, by casting him as the victim of political opression and the subject of genuine inspiration, it's hard to see a way around that. such a mindfrak! moreover, it's totally unclear how his theology, which seems to exist in his megalomanical vacuum, fits into the universe's actual theology. and given my obsessions, this is driving me CRAZY. I just have no idea how to read this without knowing its connection to larger theological debates, which made this episode feel confusing and pointless. and needless to say, the idea that he could turn out to be RIGHT and GOOD makes me want to stab myself in the eye.

it's still the greatest post-apocalypse ever, though. because since the attacks both humans and Cylons have been operating under the assumption that they have to survive for a reason, that there's destiny and purpose and rightousness at work even in dark times, and however many months later things are just crumbling and crumbling and rapidly ceasing to make any sense at all. see how your interpretation about throwing out the rules just became LITERAL CANON? I didn't manage to comment on last week's post (although I did finally read it), but I agreed and mostly still can only say TORY TORY FLAIL FLAIL. she's my pefect woman! FEMME TOPS FTW!

I still think they can and will pull it together. notably, they totally set up the confrontation between Laura and Tory there -- and that is going to be EXPLOSIVE (Mary did say "you're going to be happy" when I was haranguing her about Laura/Tory XD). or at least it better be, or I might stop apeaking to them again. and there's going to be some twisted reveal about Gaius -- he's going to be right about the One God, but in some perversely skewed way that guts him. and the Cylon civil war storyline is going to converge with the human civil war storyline and/or with The Real World: Demetrius in a CONFLAGRATION OF AWESOME. if these things DON'T happen -- well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Part 1

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

but this was the point, for me at least, when my willingness to ride the awesome and trust that they know where they're going with it just broke. and I'm much less generous than you about calling that good television storytelling.

Truthfully I'm willing to acknowledge that my generosity may stem a little from desperation. I know that I've been around and around with a friend regarding The Matrix trilogy and his belief that the third film is great because it's a literal depiction of everything losing thematic cohesion and unity at the same time the Matrix is collapsing, and I'm saying, "You can't use that as an excuse for bad storytelling just because its philosophically interesting!" So I've been on the other side of this issue too.

Your point also makes me wonder if some of my response here is in reaction to my other main fandom, the ever present Star Wars. In two weeks the last book in a two-year-nine-book series comes out and I am not calm. In fact, I think that the premiere of BSG S4 has been fabulously placed because it's offering wonderful distractions. But my main issue with said book series is that its premise is incredible. At times, its execution reaches that level. But too often its...by the numbers, in a way I can't even call by the numbers because then the people who like it start shouting, "Dark!" and "Ambiguous!" and "Daring!" and I want to say, "NO! Every death is just this side of acceptable or this side of major. Every time you add moral confusion a few books later you destroy it. It's safety masquerading as bravery! GO READ MATTHEW STOVER!"

The point of this long aside being, I've spend the last eighteen months wishing Lucasfilm Licensing had the guts to make me uncomfortable, and terrified they'll manage to do it through sheer stupidity rather than sheer bravery and...perhaps that means I'm more comfortable now thinking, "At least they're trying, and maybe I should shut up and ride the BSG train," because I have that backdrop?

Tory is deeply blank and ambivalent, but personally I have no problem running with that given the excessiveness of my ongoing fanon (LAURA JUNIOR OMG).

My fanon was always slightly different to yours, but it is rapidly skewing towards this view as it's the most supportable that still lets her be AWESOME. Though Asta has a good point about this perhaps being nearly reciprocal. Tory doesn't apply the brakes to Laura then way Lee and Billy used to. What Tory picks up from and echoes back to Laura is different to her previous protege/assistants...

and needless to say, the idea that he could turn out to be RIGHT and GOOD makes me want to stab myself in the eye.

Well, as to how it fits in with the real theology, I have two thoughts. 1) Baltar is nuts. 2) His view of God is actually quite similar to Six's and perhaps Leoben's. I think this may just be the Cylon God and Baltar's flawed understanding of it? Or heck, Six's flawed understanding of it?

HOWEVER, I cannot agree with your quoted response above enough.

Baltar CAN'T be the saviour of humanity. They haven't done anything like enough rehabbing of his character for that. True, having the skeezy guy save the day is interesting objective storytelling but you have to be careful not to aliennate your audience by telling them to love a guy as awful as Baltar can be and who is still sexually exploiting his followers. It's gross. And I think that the writers have to know how unappealing his cult is, and how it echoes some very frightening cults on Earth. *clings to Laura's description of them*

see how your interpretation about throwing out the rules just became LITERAL CANON?

OMG! *throws out the rules*

And honestly, again, that's part of why I think I'm attributing bravery and good writing to this rather than confusion and laziness. Because it's my turn to defend the Matrix or whatever, and I'm a little fascinated by the notion of throwing out the rules in-universe as well as in a meta-sense re: the actual episodes. The notion I'm defending that makes me feel...odd. :/

Part 2

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Oy: rambled for so long this is in two parts!

I still think they can and will pull it together. notably, they totally set up the confrontation between Laura and Tory there -- and that is going to be EXPLOSIVE

Agreed. They do have a habit of making me forgive all the mediocre stuff in the middle of a season with the awesome stuff at the end of a season, and we haven't reached the mediocre middle yet sooo....

*braces self*

(Mary did say "you're going to be happy" when I was haranguing her about Laura/Tory XD).

OMG SHE DID? *SQUEE*

or at least it better be, or I might stop apeaking to them again.

I did that to Lee and Laura once. Then I got the season three finale.

I STILL WISH I KNEW HOW TO QUIT THEM!

and there's going to be some twisted reveal about Gaius -- he's going to be right about the One God, but in some perversely skewed way that guts him.

Oh Lord of Kobol, I hope you're right. I SO HOPE THAT.

if these things DON'T happen -- well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

*for her own sanity, denies the existence of the bridge*

[projectcyborg.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I have lots more to add here -- except that at "I STILL WISH I KNEW HOW TO QUIT THEM!" I LOL'd! also, you said, "Tory doesn't apply the brakes to Laura then way Lee and Billy used to." -- runawaynun and I had a very similar discussion about Tory. my pre-S4 take on her is that she saw her role vis a vis Laura as taking on the worst political sins so that Laura doesn't have to. but the nun points out that this has a way of backfiring, because Tory makes it possible to DO the wrongs that Billy or Lee would never have sanctioned. I think it makes Tory and Laura closer, in a way -- Billy was someone she'd always feel she had to protect, rather than vice versa. but it also make Tory much less trustworthy when it comes down to it, obviously. their parallel descent into evilness is fascinating (and HOT) to watch right now, but Tory has to hide this journey -- I can't wait for the confrontation!

oh, and also? I figured out that one of the reasons BSG is SO CONFUSING right now is that they've managed to go from three shows to FIVE SHOWS IN ONE.
our familiar installments of:
- The Roslin Wing
- Starbuck's Creek (NOW with its OWN SHIP)
- Cylon Runner (NEW in S3)
plus:
- The C Word (the Final Four's closeted identity crises)
- Gospel with Gaius (or whatever you want to title his whole televangelist harem storyline)

LIKE OMG!

iamsab is assigned to explain to the internet how The Real World: Demetrius is actually TORCHWOOD!

Starbuck = Captain Jack
Anders = Ianto
Helo = Gwen
Sharon = Owen
Gaeta = Tosh
Seelix = random bisexual babe who everyone hits on
(and Laura = The Doctor, while Bill = Rose! I think that makes Lee = Martha and Zarek = Donna XD)

[nightxade.livejournal.com]

You sound like you need a hug. :( Will watch and comment soon.

(One thing though: I'm not surprised by the continuity. This show has been very good at not forgetting anything, even the smallest detail. And sometimes, the smallest details are brought back as major plot points).

[pellucid.livejournal.com]

I was so intrigued by your other ep review that now I'm dancing through the backlist. :)

I'm almost afraid it will because these characters are sliding away from me; are becoming unrecognisable though intriguing; are becoming almost upsetting in that I've bought into them and chosen to love them and now they're changing and turning and I cannot punch through my screen to save them. But this is not an effect of bad writing. This is simply the writers being braver than me.

This is such an interesting thought! Along with the corollary idea that we're all being made so uncomfortable on purpose. I've really been trying to wrap my mind around the writing so far, trying to figure out what they're intending to do, and whether they're actually effecting their intentions or something else entirely, and I still can't decide. At my most optimistic I want to think, like you do here, that it is intentional, that they're doing what they're doing very much on purpose, and all the flailing around we're doing is what we're supposed to be doing.

Actually, at my very most optimistic, I want to believe that we're reacting how we should be because it's all thematic: this is, after all, the nature of faith. Just as the characters are taking their various and partial pieces of the puzzle and trying to understand the whole picture, so too the viewers are being asked to take the interpretive journey in this way, partly on faith. My problem, of course, is that I don't know that I have faith that RDM is going to pull off a satisfactory final big picture--yet I guess the uncertainty is part of faith, as well.