(no subject)

[barkley.livejournal.com]

This is their first case of title recycling from the original series. In the 1978 episode they stormed a Cylon base star against all odds, and Starbuck and Apollo escaped in the Cylon fighter after dropping their ID beacon by waggling their wings. And at the end, Apollo, Starbuck, Sheba and Cassieopeia go up to the make-out dome. Apollo said it was like riding in the hand of God. And then, right after they left, the earth lunar landing "tranquility base..blah..blah...blah" transmission came through with no one to hear it.

So, they already instituted the make-out dome in last week's episode. They had the wing waggling in "You Can't Go Home Again." But they've got the Attack the Cylons First plot firmly in hand from the titular episode.

But I suspect they used this title because it played in so well with the central theme of the episode about fate, free will, making decisions and living with them. The president's life and death is foretold by a prophecy. Baltar's seemingly wild ass guess proves true. In hind-sight, these things seem foregone. Adama makes the choice to go ahead with the end game situation. Starbuck gets a taste in making a battle plan and stepping back. In hind-sight, these still seem like risks, but risks that paid off. But since all decisions look the same at the moment you're making them, does 20-20 hind sight really pay off? Some decisions on the other hand are easy to make when it all comes down to numbers. If you need to be able to push with a certain force for a certain time, and you can't, you can't go on the mission.

The prophecy is interesting for all the biblical allusions it brings forth. Moses led his people in the desert, yet didn't live to see the promised land. Another interesting thing is that in the book o
f Deuteronomy, it's noted that Moses sent out 12 spies into the promised land to scout around, and when they had doubts about God, that's when he banished them to forty years of wandering until the infidels died out. So far, Galactica and fleet have only been wandering for 36 days. I foretell a good long series run.

So at this point, it's still unclear about the twelve refering to vipers or cylons. The vipers/snakes translation would be really cool except for one thing. I've got a snake phobia to the point where I can't watch them even on TV. So if there are any important facial expressions that the President made in the beginning, I missed them watching as I did through my fingers.

The sight of the very few pilots in Starbuck's briefing was chilling. The desperation really comes through. Given the whole Cylon debacle, it's a good idea for Adama to keep back tactical information. At this point, I'm still not sure how much Baltar can relay back to the Cylons, and it's good that Adama is still not letting plans out of the bag.

Distracting cross pollination of Earth-BSG World issue: "Sometimes you have to roll a hard six."

I kind of melted a little bit at the second Starbuck-Roslin hug. I also kind of melted a bit at Apollo and Commander Adama's talk.

Comments

[morwen_peredhil]

I kind of melted a little bit at the second Starbuck-Roslin hug.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. It was so sweet.

[barkley.livejournal.com]

It came across as such a moment of genuine happiness and relief, and I loved it so.

[jenah.livejournal.com]

It was a great episode - but I wonder why no one on the Galactica pondered the why's and how's that the cylons would have such a well established refinery/factory on that asteroid. They have only been on the run for 36 days, and the cylons managed to get ahead and create that? We know that after the Cylon Wars 40 years ago no one knoww where they (the cylons) went off too. . . and my thinking is that the fleet right now is entering that territory. It may be uncharted by the humans, but definitely chartered and monitored by cylons.

Just a thought.

I couldn't decided if the 12 was the vipers or the cylons OR the 12 colonies.

The episode was perfectly timed and plotted with the emotion. Well done.