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July 30, 2005
Battlestar Galactica -- Fragged
A solid episode, but one that acted more like a bridge in the story, moving us towards the hinted to mysteries and revelations beyond. It was, for me, the weakest episode so far as a stand-alone chapter.
Contrary to what Tigh thought about Roslin, it is he that is becoming unglued. Without the powerful presence of Adama, Tigh is easily demonstrating the truth of The Peter Principle. Contrast Tigh's grasp of command with Adama's during the first season. As much as Adama holds a profound distaste of all things political, he's more than capable of playing the game of politics and using politics to advance what he believes is in the best interests of his command and the people thrust by circumstance into his responsibility. Tigh spoke to the Quorum of Twelve of Adama's opposition to martial law. Then, after Tigh's attempt to show Roslin as a hallucinating fool blows up in his face, he not only declares martial law but for the first time we hear him speak of Galactica as "his ship."
This is not going to go well over the next few episodes.
The writers are playing to both the strengths and weaknesses of the human condition. Under extraordinary circumstances we are capable of putting everything else aside and pulling together. Take the pressure off and we start squabbling amongst ourselves, looking for opportunity and advantage.
I know some of the fans of the old series miss the more "toaster" Cylons, fully non-human. But there is an elegance and subtlety to the clone-style Cylons ... "children" as a race and descendants of humans, with all the pettiness writ large with huge power. As the opening credits say this season And they have a plan that much we do know. But will their legacy of being copied too much human finally betray them? There were hints of "rogue" Cylons during the first season, and we still left guessing about the true motivations of Baltar's Six and to what extent the original Boomer, now in the brig, has a clue to what has/is happening to her.
Next week's Resistance ought to turn up the fire a few notches.
Posted by Darleen at July 30, 2005 06:31 AM