BSG 4.16: "Blood on the Scales"
Feb. 7th, 2009 06:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icepixieWas out running errands and lurking through clearance racks for long-sleeved shirts and being outside enjoying the pretty day (it was 65F and snow as still on the ground, but I can deal with the cognitive dissonance for the pretty) and NOT DOING ANY WORK WHATSOEVER YAY, so I only just now got around to watching BSG.
This episode can be summed up in one word: BADASS. HOLY FRAK.
I have to quote Laura Roslin here: "No. Not now, not ever. Do you hear me? I will use every cannon, every bomb, every bullet, every weapon I have down to my own eyeteeth to end you! I swear it! I'm coming for all of you!"
I didn't think I could love her any more than I already did, but I was wrong. LAURA ROSLIN OWNS MY SOUL.
And Starbuck and Lee and Tigh and all the Cylons were also running around the ship being BADASS AND AWESOME. I could feel my testosterone levels go up fifty percent during this episode.
I loved that there were a ton of what I can only term BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA moments. The Quorum telling Zarek to get out. (Although then they were shot. Which was ICY, but not terribly surprising.) Laura every time she got on the radio and completely flummoxed Team Gaeta. Adama's oh-so-smug expression the first time she gets through, when they're in the middle of the "trial." Tigh & Co. disarming the execution squad. Tyrol pulling out the vital part of the FTL drive. (I'm glad him squirming endlessly through the ducts finally paid off there.) Adama and his ever-growing POSSE at the end.
Questions:
- Are they actually making Baltar (more of) a prophet now, or was the dream sequence just to illustrate the general train of logic everyone on the Cylon ship had to be following?
- Did Baltar actually show a glimmer of honor there? He actually recognized his responsibility for his flock. He refused sexual favors from a Six. This is huge.
- "It stopped." What would that be, Gaeta? Perhaps your little Cylon heart? (I know, I know, it was the itching. But given the previous scene about Gaeta wanting people to know who he was, it seriously sounded like they might be implying he was the fifth. And if they killed the fifth unknowingly, how horrible-yet-awesomely-risky-from-a-writing-POV would that be?)
- UM. Did Tyrol see a claw mark on the wall at the end there? And if so, WHAT THE HELL KIND OF ANIMAL MADE THAT?
Other stuff:
- Cool visuals: Ship guts! I love ship guts! And the Colonial One was inside Galactia. Dude.
- Cool music, too. I liked the flute solos at the beginning while they were trying to shoot Laura's raptor.
- Speaking of which, YAY HOT DOG.
- AND LAMPKIN. (Never thought I'd say that.)
- I figured Anders was done for when he got shot, but I see they're keeping him around. This should be interesting. Maybe he'll get delirious and tap into some kind of Cylon collective unconsciousness and reveal...stuff. I guess there's not much left to reveal now. Hmm.
- Laura Roslin still owns my soul. She was heartbroken and furious and relieved and happy all in the same episode. Mary McDonnell needs an Emmy STAT.
- Well, that was definitely a reckoning. If the episodes keep getting better and more intense than this, I don't think my heart can stand it. But damn, that was awesome.
This episode can be summed up in one word: BADASS. HOLY FRAK.
I have to quote Laura Roslin here: "No. Not now, not ever. Do you hear me? I will use every cannon, every bomb, every bullet, every weapon I have down to my own eyeteeth to end you! I swear it! I'm coming for all of you!"
I didn't think I could love her any more than I already did, but I was wrong. LAURA ROSLIN OWNS MY SOUL.
And Starbuck and Lee and Tigh and all the Cylons were also running around the ship being BADASS AND AWESOME. I could feel my testosterone levels go up fifty percent during this episode.
I loved that there were a ton of what I can only term BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA moments. The Quorum telling Zarek to get out. (Although then they were shot. Which was ICY, but not terribly surprising.) Laura every time she got on the radio and completely flummoxed Team Gaeta. Adama's oh-so-smug expression the first time she gets through, when they're in the middle of the "trial." Tigh & Co. disarming the execution squad. Tyrol pulling out the vital part of the FTL drive. (I'm glad him squirming endlessly through the ducts finally paid off there.) Adama and his ever-growing POSSE at the end.
Questions:
- Are they actually making Baltar (more of) a prophet now, or was the dream sequence just to illustrate the general train of logic everyone on the Cylon ship had to be following?
- Did Baltar actually show a glimmer of honor there? He actually recognized his responsibility for his flock. He refused sexual favors from a Six. This is huge.
- "It stopped." What would that be, Gaeta? Perhaps your little Cylon heart? (I know, I know, it was the itching. But given the previous scene about Gaeta wanting people to know who he was, it seriously sounded like they might be implying he was the fifth. And if they killed the fifth unknowingly, how horrible-yet-awesomely-risky-from-a-writing-POV would that be?)
- UM. Did Tyrol see a claw mark on the wall at the end there? And if so, WHAT THE HELL KIND OF ANIMAL MADE THAT?
Other stuff:
- Cool visuals: Ship guts! I love ship guts! And the Colonial One was inside Galactia. Dude.
- Cool music, too. I liked the flute solos at the beginning while they were trying to shoot Laura's raptor.
- Speaking of which, YAY HOT DOG.
- AND LAMPKIN. (Never thought I'd say that.)
- I figured Anders was done for when he got shot, but I see they're keeping him around. This should be interesting. Maybe he'll get delirious and tap into some kind of Cylon collective unconsciousness and reveal...stuff. I guess there's not much left to reveal now. Hmm.
- Laura Roslin still owns my soul. She was heartbroken and furious and relieved and happy all in the same episode. Mary McDonnell needs an Emmy STAT.
- Well, that was definitely a reckoning. If the episodes keep getting better and more intense than this, I don't think my heart can stand it. But damn, that was awesome.
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no subject
Date: 2009-02-08 08:43 am (UTC)While I have got a few 'ideological' issues with it (read: while Zarek ends the illusion of democracy in the fleet once and for all, its decline actually started with Roslin and Adama...), it worked brilliantly as a piece of action-packed story-telling. And it was emotionally gut-wrenching as well. (I did cry during Gaeta's execution, ahem.)
Are they actually making Baltar (more of) a prophet now, or was the dream sequence just to illustrate the general train of logic everyone on the Cylon ship had to be following?
I think it was simply the latter. It was quite obvious that the mutineers were going to execute Adama, so Baltar doesn't need to be possessed of prophetic powers to come up with this idea.
Did Baltar actually show a glimmer of honor there?
Yes. Yes, he did. Boy is starting to grow up.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-08 10:48 pm (UTC)YES.
While I have got a few 'ideological' issues with it (read: while Zarek ends the illusion of democracy in the fleet once and for all, its decline actually started with Roslin and Adama...)
Yes, I seem to remember him fighting for democracy for a few episodes at some point, or at least against Roslin-as-autocrat. But he's also a terrorist, so I can totally buy him killing the entire Quorum.
(I did cry during Gaeta's execution, ahem.)
I used to love Gaeta. Love him. I'm sad he's gone, although more sad that he led the rebellion.
I think it was simply the latter. It was quite obvious that the mutineers were going to execute Adama, so Baltar doesn't need to be possessed of prophetic powers to come up with this idea.
Yeah, you're probably right.
Boy is starting to grow up.
Finally!
no subject
Date: 2009-02-09 04:54 pm (UTC)Oh, I didn't have any problems with Zarek slaughtering the Quorum -- he was indeed capable of stooping so low. But I do hope that Adama's and Roslin's own failures might be adressed as well. A benevolent autocracy is an autocracy nonetheless.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-10 11:10 pm (UTC)