SPOILER SPACE

























When a series is working towards a pre-determined end date, the production staff
has a tendency to look towards less conventional storytelling. After all, the
opportunities for creative expression are fewer and fewer with each passing
week. Doing something unusual is pretty much a “now or never” proposition.

This is mostly applicable to the scenes related to Cally and her state of mind.
The camera work is designed to communicate her psychological state, particularly
the mixture of antidepressants and sleep depravation. Because this dominates
the episode, given her eventual death, the effectiveness of the unusual
technique is tied directly to the success of the episode. For my part, I
thought it was a bit forced.

Similarly, I had some issue with Cally’s mindset that it might be all right
for Tyrol to hit her, because then at least she’d know that he felt something
towards her. Even if it has already been established as something she might
believe (after the events of “Crossroads”, in particular), it’s not
something that necessarily needed to be reinforced. Tyrol’s savage beating of
Cally, followed by their relationship and marriage, was always a sore spot for
me.

It’s troubling, then, to see similar logic now applied to the Sam/Kara
relationship. Granted, Kara is in a deeply disturbing psychological state, but
it’s the effect of her status as visionary and prophet. Pushing Anders to his
limits, hoping he’ll lose control and take her along for the ride, just
doesn’t feel right. Then again, everything about Kara since her return has
been confusing and contradictory.

Speaking of Kara’s current role, now that Kara’s visions are emerging, other
astronomical evidence is beginning to suggest that Earth is not far away at all.
The gas giant in Kara’s memory looked suspiciously like Jupiter (tying into
the “Eye of Jupiter” reference rather nicely), and in two instances, the
constellation of Orion was plainly visible in its familiar configuration, which
is only visible from Earth’s general location!

So the fleet should actually be very close to the end goal now. In fact, based
on the map acquired in “Home”, they should be able to figure out the right
coordinates. They know where the nebula in the Sagittarius Cluster is located
on the “Home” map, and the star field probably included the constellation of
Orion. All they should have to do now is find the Gemini part of the “Home”
map and plot a course. It should be fairly easy.

Of course, at the same time, ever since finding the Ionian Nebula, Roslin has
been resisting a number of actions that could complete the exodus to Earth. Not
only that, but as seen in the surprisingly entertaining Quorum scenes in this
episode, Roslin has been slowly but surely consolidating power and authority.
Zarek is concerned, despite feeling that Roslin has her heart in the right
place.

Lee might be advised to question both motives: Zarek could be supportive to
Roslin in the hopes of taking her place when she dies. It certainly would make
sense for Zarek to take Lee under his wing and secure a political ally.
Roslin’s motives, however, are more elusive. If the fleet is really as close
to Earth as it seems, could she be subconsciously trying to point them in the
wrong direction? I’m waiting for the one solid moment that will point to
Roslin acting out of character.

That moment came for Tory in this episode, and it has ruffled some feathers.
The writers clearly had something in mind for each of the four new Cylons, in
terms of how they would react. Tigh is still pushing for everyone to act
normally, and Tyrol is trying to maintain a sense of balance (and clearly losing
the battle). Anders is dealing more with his identity with his relationship to
Kara to change in any other way.

That leaves Tory, the one with the least complicated background, to be the
recently-emergent Cylon with a calculated edge. In this episode, she seems to
revel in the opportunity to be more than the simple aide to Roslin that she’s
been. She sees Cally as a problem, recognizes Nicky as something important, and
she acts accordingly to resolve the issue. I wouldn’t call it evil, but
she’s certainly no longer thinking and acting out of purely human concerns.

If all characters are created equal, then it’s not really a problem for Tory
to take this direction. After all, she is the only one of the four
newly-revealed Cylons without a massive history. But on top of Cally’s death,
this is another female character (and one of color, for that matter) to take a
negative turn. And that’s in addition to Kara’s mental breakdown and
Roslin’s health issues. And of course, there’s also the Cylon situation.
In the latest round of the now heated Cylon Civil War, the male Cylons
effectively wiped out a huge chunk of the female Cylons. The writers might
consider striking a balance before much longer.

The Cylon Civil War serves to keep the Cylon fleet away from the Colonial fleet
for a time, but it also weakens the Cylons enough that their numbers might be
too low to annihilate the Colonials. That, in conjunction with the intervention
of the Final Five, could bring about the circumstances of the series’
conclusion. Boomer is clearly an important part of the equation, and I suspect
that the severity of the current conflict may be her doing.

Ultimately, despite the high profile death at the end of the episode, this
episode felt like it was missing something. Maybe it was my dissatisfaction
with the style choice with Cally’s perspective, or my distaste for some of the
psychology at play. Generally speaking, I like where the story is heading, but
this was not how I would have preferred to get there.


John K
Reprinted with permission
Original source: c. Critical Myth, 2008
All rights reserved
Link: http://www.criticalmyth.com