Exodus I & II

[thepouncer.livejournal.com]

I'm still annoyed every time an episode begins with a scene, then flashes to "X Hours Earlier." Ron Moore used up his lifetime allotment of that device in the latter half of season two, and I think this episode would have worked just as well if it had begun with Chief Tyrol telling Tigh about the imminent execution of Cally and Roslin et al. Stripped of that redundancy, and of the many action scenes in the second half (which were, I admit, amazing), this story only has a few elements to consider.

The Resistance Efforts to Escape

Tyrol manages to determine the location of his wife's execution. Newly-commissioned Lt. Sharon Agathon manages to plan for ambush and places reinforcements on the high ground above her rendezvous with Anders. And thus are the cliffhangers of Precipice resolved. I didn't want Roslin or Zarek to die, so I'm fine that the resistance was able to overcome Centurions (and glad that Tyrol took the time to shave – may it presage better grooming for all Colonials) even though I remember the episode from the first season where it took explosive rounds at close range to take them out.

For all that she now knows that Adama is on his way, that they're on the verge of escaping the dust and muck of New Caprica, Laura Roslin still focuses on the safety of Boomer and Helo's baby girl and her adoptive mother. "She very well may be the shape of things to come," Laura tells Anders, designated protector of the child.

I loved that there was an escape plan in place, that the entire population has practiced evacuation drills under the Cylon's noses. The Galactica Marine coordinating the rescue effort is surprised, but somehow I wasn't. The thing that bugs me is this: why settle on New Caprica? Why jump forward in time a year and more? Why skip another four months ahead, when the populace will be back in space in four episodes?!?! Had the occupation story line played out in more detail, over more episodes, I could have banished all my doubts remaining from the end of the second season. Instead, we see none of the planning, none of the efforts to foment resistance and insurrection. I admit, life amid the fleet would have been boring, but I could have lived with a minimal space presence for a few weeks, if it had given me more of the progression from then to now. Instead, I'm left wondering why this interlude was even necessary. What was Ron Moore thinking, or wasn't he thinking at all?

The implementation of the plan to escape was certainly exciting, though. I loved the explosions, the turmoil, people rushing to their ships while the resistance performed assigned missions to free prisoners and damage Cylon forces. I've read criticism of the fact that Roslin went to Colonial One, that she told Tom Zarek, elected Vice President, to get to the shipyard, but I was fine with it. Roslin's been the civilian leader of the resistance since Baltar was collaborating and Zarek was incommunicado – she must feel that Colonial One is her rightful place until they get back into space.

And I have to wonder how Zarek felt about his President after a year of dissipation – is he even willing to take office now? He told Roslin that he wished she'd gone through with her plan to steal the election, so Zarek might have decided that this long trail of woe wasn't worth the people's judgment. Plus, he knows what he did to manipulate public opinion before the election, even as Roslin plotted to count false votes. So long as the show addresses this issue, I don't care that Roslin went to the President's ship. She could have seen it as her responsibility to ensure that the Cylons were off the ship, that Baltar was evicted as a traitor.

The Fate of Collaborators

The opening scene with Ellen and Tigh, the way she helped him bandage his eye socket, and told him she'd do anything for him, just about made my heart break. Ellen and Tigh have always been dysfunctional, but love underlies their relationship regardless. For all that I sometimes wanted to space Ellen out an airlock, she was always interesting, layered, complex, and so was her husband. She's done horrible things to try to help Saul, and she has to know that her actions will damn her in the opinions of many. Sleeping with a Cylon? Giving them information, no matter that it was under blackmail? There's an absolutism in Colonial society right now, one that sees any aid or assistance to Cylons as total anathema. They will not forgive, and they will not forget.

A resistance soldier (better known to me as Ladon Radim, new leader of the Genii, and it was very weird to recognize him here) found the map that was supposed to have been burned, found it at the sight of a Cylon ambush. He gave it to Anders, who knows only one person could have given the map to the Cylons: Ellen Tigh. And Anders sends his foot soldiers to arrest Ellen, secures her in the tunnels underneath the camp. When he tells Tigh about the chain of evidence, Tigh won't let Ellen be berated, but something in the expression on his face told me this couldn't end well.

Tigh has always been the rock standing firm while the Cylons try to batter his will, but he's remained implacable. He hates the Cylons, always has, and what he's witnessed, what he's experienced on New Caprica has only deepened that hatred. Ellen's betrayal was too serious to go unpunished. She almost caused the failure of the coordination between ground and fleet, the disruption of the evacuation of this planet, where they would have died one by one until no humans were left but the subverted. Tigh listens to Ander's passionate indictment and knows that his love for Ellen doesn't matter enough to overturn his principles.

The scene where Ellen explained how she frakked Cavil to gain Tigh's release, where she said she'd do it again for him, was heartbreaking. She did what she did out of love, but she was so wrong, so counter to her husband's primary purpose for existence, that she couldn't be allowed to live. I was reminded of Socrates death by drinking hemlock, except that Ellen was always wrongheaded. In her death she became deeply tragic. Tigh did what he had to do, but he always loved her, and I can't see how he'll survive these new scars.

Escape from Imprisonment?

Kara, Kara, Kara. She does seem to have bonded with Kasey, becoming maternal in an instant. Four months of imprisonment, a year on the ground, and it still seems odd to me. What did she experience that makes her willing to offer this connection? Is it memories of her own troubled childhood? She's not able to disappoint a child, because she was disappointed too many times?

When Leoben goes to take care of his Cylon duties amidst the chaos of battle, Kara can't stand it, doesn't want to be left trapped behind locks, tries to fight him. But he breaks her stranglehold and punches her into unconsciousness. Anders finds her lying there, tries to carry her to safety, but Kara wakes and refuses to leave without Kasey. Leoben meets Kara when she returns to that twisted apartment, and she plays his game to distract and disarm him. She tells him that she loves him, kisses him like she means it, then stabs him and turns the knife in his gut while a blonde moppet watches her from the floor.

That whole scene was so incredibly hot that I could only stare. It was only later that I saw people who thought that the words and the kiss were unnecessary. I think that they were, because Kara's known Cylon strength, knows that you have to take them by surprise if you want to kill them. And I also imagine that her emotions are very tangled and confused, a state that will only increase now that she's learned that Kasey isn't her daughter. Kara was heartbroken when Kasey's true mother appears to take custody of her lost daughter aboard Galactica. Oh Kara, how could you have believed him? And what scars will you bear from this experience?

She was already damaged before the Cylon occupation. I don't know how she'll survive whole, given her latest trials.

She and Tigh will have even more in common now.

Amidst the Fleet

The main conflict in space is between Adama père et fils. Galactica and Pegasus crews no longer fight each other, and the line of salt between them is only there to be broken apart after scripture is read. One fleet, focused on one task – rescuing their people from the ground, from their Cylon masters.

Lee has been given the task of guarding the civilian ships, of waiting for Galactica and the New Caprican ships for 18 hours only before heading off to find Earth. His last action before leaving his father is an embrace, one showing that they've reconciled but for their opinion on the wisdom of this plan.

And the plan turns out to be ingenious, exciting, lots of deception and risk and flashy effects (and god, I loved them), but eventually successful. The drones to mimic the signatures of Pegasus and Galactica were so clever and awesome. When the Galactica dropped like a stone through atmosphere, hull red with ablation, I gasped. When she jumped within sight of the ground, I rocked back and forth in excitement.

All the better that Lee and Dualla discuss the plan, that Lee knows it's a suicide mission. And when Pegasus appeared in the midst of the space battle, I cheered. Lee undoubtedly transferred all non-essential personnel to other ships, stripped the Pegasus of everything they could in such a short time, left all his Vipers to protect the civilian fleet, and went off to disobey his father's last orders.

Adama knows his ship won't survive, given the damage they took in that crazed descent, given the four base ships their sensors detect, but then comes the Pegasus to save the day! Hurrah! I was happy that the Pegasus was destroyed, because the show doesn't work with essential characters split between two Battlestars. They need to be on the same ship, and maybe my disgruntlement over the time jump and the four episodes on the ground will disappear if this reunion goes well enough.

And my approval will always be there for this episode's visual effects, because they were so good I could hardly believe it.

Cylon Machinations

Three dreams, and her dreams lead her to a Colonial oracle. I loved the oracle, just as I loved the glimpses of Colonial religion that I saw in the webisodes, when Cally burned her prayer as an offering to the gods. The bits and bobs, the stones and bells, the chamalla extract the oracle eats to induce her visions – they fascinate me. And for all her faith in one God, Three still listens when the oracle tells her that Boomer and Helo's child is alive. Then she finds Boomer stealing the launch keys to all the ships on the ground and tries to tell her this truth. Sharon won't listen, says, "Adama wouldn't lie to me," but the lie was told long ago, before their trust regrew. When Sharon learns that Three's words were true, she'll be shattered, her relationship with Adama sundered once more.

A reborn Cavil is horrified that he was left to die in the sun, injured and alone, after the condemned were saved, yet he never reflects on how his own actions led to his death, or how the families of the condemned would have felt at their eternal disappearance. The Cylons argue amongst themselves, not knowing how to deal with the human rebellion. Six says their resources are stretched thin, that they can't crack down harder, but no amount of repression will make the humans believe in them.

Gaius Baltar is having trouble performing sexually, as well he might given the threats made to get him to sign the death orders. Caprica Six can't understand the loathing Baltar feels for himself, the way that four months of knuckling under to Cylon demands have fractured his psyche that much more (saying something, given he wasn't exactly together on Galactica). Later, Baltar tells the Cylon council to leave the planet, and Three refuses because then the humans will take their vengeance one day. Is that what happened after the first Cylon War? They retreated and told tales to each generation until they could take their revenge? "Blood for blood. It has to stop one day," Baltar says, and he's right. Comparing lists of wrongdoing doesn't help. Learning to forgive helps. Baltar has to know that he'll never be welcomed into human society again; his stain as chief collaborator has seeped into his very soul.

Once they realize their situation is hopeless, the Cylons decide to evacuate, and Three even tells Baltar that he was right and they were wrong. And then my heart leapt, because Gaeta can't take this any more and is ready to kill Baltar. Go Felix! There's nothing like a true believer who's been shown his leader only cared about his own pleasure. Baltar agrees that everything Gaeta says about him is true, but he wants to stay and stop Three from setting off the nuclear warhead the Cylons have as their last ditch measure to keep the humans from leaving.

And as Baltar tries to find Three, tries to stop the nuclear fires, he finds a crying child amidst the dust and smoke: Hera, the lost hybrid returned to Cylon arms. I think that only this child would have stopped Three; she was always obsessed by their plan to procreate.

Where oh where do Baltar and Six go? Where oh where can they be?

Reunited

Oh man, I can be a sap sometimes. It was so good to see Tyrol back on the deck of Galactica, to see crews reunited with one another. Tigh's wrecked and ravaged face as Adama heard his voice asking permission to come aboard, their salute and stare – oh gods, they love each other so much, but even this won't be enough to salve Tigh's grief. I don't think anything will. He hears the deck crew chanting his commander's name, but Tigh wants to leave it all behind. Kara looks like she's about to cry. Gaeta stands alone, uncomfortable. Lee and Dualla embrace.

Roslin hears that Maya didn't make it off New Caprica, that there's no trace of the baby.

And then Adama washes his face, clips the hairs above his lip, and shaves. He walks back into the corridors of his ship ready to fight again. Life teems around him, and he's sworn to protect his ship and his crew and the entire fleet. If they maintain this feeling, I'll be happy forever.