BSG 2.13: "Epiphanies"
Jan. 20th, 2006 10:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annathepiperI don't approve of what just happened here.
Don't get me wrong. I really like Roslin as a character. She's totally badassed as a leader and as a President. I really like the development of her relationship with Adama. That part of me is happy she'll still be around.
However. As both a fan of what up to now has always impressed me as a gritty, cutting-edge show and as a fledgling writer, I'm really disappointed that they whipped out a magic cure for her cancer out of Cylon baby blood. It is an extremely cheap plot device, one for which I can see no purpose except to keep Roslin on the show. Had we had any hints whatsoever before this episode about interesting results coming out of the fusion of human and Cylon blood, I could have dealt with it better. But right now, as it happens, it just feels like they've done a huge disservice to the greater overall story arc. Hells bells, what happened to the prophecy about a dying leader seeing her people to the promised land? Is that suddenly now tossed out the window?
The story was demanding that she die. Sometimes in order for the story to just be told right, even a beloved character has to die. Gladiator would NOT have ended right if it had ended any other way than with "He was a soldier of Rome. Honor him." And I feel the same way about this thing with Roslin.
Now with all that said, I will freely give props to this episode for the Sharon/Helo mileage. The conflict about whether to abort the baby, taken apart from the thing with the magic cancer-curing blood, was suitably gripping. And while Helo's mostly big, cute, and kinda dumb, I do have to admire the boy for having principles and heart and being ready to unflinchingly stand up to Adama and deliver that "I'm a father. Like you." line. That was beautifully done. And watching Sharon wig out over the threat to her child--also beautifully done.
And I liked the parallels between Roslin's flashbacks about the teachers' strike and the current situation with the Cylon sympathizers--as well as the (not surprising but still cool) revelation that they're being manipulated by Gina/PegaSix. Also, watching Baltar react to both Sixes... thumbs up on that. I really liked how he told Gina that he would not be the "destruction of mankind". Even if the first word that popped out of my mouth in response was "again!" >;> And that, taken in conjunction with that little present he gave her towards the end... very, very good.
I liked seeing Lee back as CAG--I was hoping they'd do that. And I liked Starbuck's tentative attempt to sound him out to see how he's doing--and even that she didn't get a chance to actually find out, since he found the reader device with the data about the tylium ship on it. A small detail, but one that sat well with me with Lee and Kara's whole side of things.
So overall, sure, there was some goodness in this episode.
But the thing with Roslin really threw it out of whack for me. To be taken up to what looked like Roslin's time... only to have it yanked out from under us at the very last instant with a cheap magic bogoscience plot device... ugh. Especially with this hard on the heels of killing Cain off too damned quickly. BSG is supposed to be better than this. I'm not yet prepared to say it's jumped the shark, but I'm definitely disappointed by this plot decision.
Don't get me wrong. I really like Roslin as a character. She's totally badassed as a leader and as a President. I really like the development of her relationship with Adama. That part of me is happy she'll still be around.
However. As both a fan of what up to now has always impressed me as a gritty, cutting-edge show and as a fledgling writer, I'm really disappointed that they whipped out a magic cure for her cancer out of Cylon baby blood. It is an extremely cheap plot device, one for which I can see no purpose except to keep Roslin on the show. Had we had any hints whatsoever before this episode about interesting results coming out of the fusion of human and Cylon blood, I could have dealt with it better. But right now, as it happens, it just feels like they've done a huge disservice to the greater overall story arc. Hells bells, what happened to the prophecy about a dying leader seeing her people to the promised land? Is that suddenly now tossed out the window?
The story was demanding that she die. Sometimes in order for the story to just be told right, even a beloved character has to die. Gladiator would NOT have ended right if it had ended any other way than with "He was a soldier of Rome. Honor him." And I feel the same way about this thing with Roslin.
Now with all that said, I will freely give props to this episode for the Sharon/Helo mileage. The conflict about whether to abort the baby, taken apart from the thing with the magic cancer-curing blood, was suitably gripping. And while Helo's mostly big, cute, and kinda dumb, I do have to admire the boy for having principles and heart and being ready to unflinchingly stand up to Adama and deliver that "I'm a father. Like you." line. That was beautifully done. And watching Sharon wig out over the threat to her child--also beautifully done.
And I liked the parallels between Roslin's flashbacks about the teachers' strike and the current situation with the Cylon sympathizers--as well as the (not surprising but still cool) revelation that they're being manipulated by Gina/PegaSix. Also, watching Baltar react to both Sixes... thumbs up on that. I really liked how he told Gina that he would not be the "destruction of mankind". Even if the first word that popped out of my mouth in response was "again!" >;> And that, taken in conjunction with that little present he gave her towards the end... very, very good.
I liked seeing Lee back as CAG--I was hoping they'd do that. And I liked Starbuck's tentative attempt to sound him out to see how he's doing--and even that she didn't get a chance to actually find out, since he found the reader device with the data about the tylium ship on it. A small detail, but one that sat well with me with Lee and Kara's whole side of things.
So overall, sure, there was some goodness in this episode.
But the thing with Roslin really threw it out of whack for me. To be taken up to what looked like Roslin's time... only to have it yanked out from under us at the very last instant with a cheap magic bogoscience plot device... ugh. Especially with this hard on the heels of killing Cain off too damned quickly. BSG is supposed to be better than this. I'm not yet prepared to say it's jumped the shark, but I'm definitely disappointed by this plot decision.
