Colonial Day ramblings
Mar. 20th, 2005 11:20 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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13thcolonyI'm watching Colonial Day for the, what?, 5th time in 24 hours. I don't even know how many times I watched Hand of God.
Ramblings on Colonial Day
I've read a lot about there being a precedent for Lee’s somewhat out-of-control anger. While I agree that we have seen him lose his temper on several occasions (at his father in the mini, Zarek in Bastille Day, Tigh in You Can’t Go Home Again), he still manages to maintain some sort of control over himself. He raised his voice to his father but he never screamed at him. He was still capable of rational thought about election policies in the midst of holding a gun on Zarek, and while he was obviously upset with Tigh (and for obvious reasons), he wasn’t actually mean to him. So I’ll grant the point that the boy's got a temper, but the screaming and the throwing of briefcases still seems a bit excessive and OOC.
Speaking of OOC, I was a bit confused initially about 1) Apollo’s malicious comments provoking the bar fight, B) why Starbuck and Apollo are sitting in a bar drinking while (presumably) on duty, and lastly, why they aren’t sitting together in said bar, which seems odd (why would two people who are presumably friends be drinking alone in the same room). Is it possible that the entire bar fight was a setup to flush out an assasin? Lee may have suspected Grimes after their earlier confrontation and had him followed and set up to reveal himself. Either catching Valance was just an added bonus, or maybe they suspected that any of Grimes’ associates would come to his aid. It would explain why Starbuck was sitting across the room but still watching what was going on with Apollo, and the "you are people. sort of" comments to provoke Grimes. I suppose.
I find Zarek rather irritating in much the same way that I find, say, republicans, irritating (though it's interesting that he's got some rather communist-leaning veiwpoints with which, normally, I would agree). His rhetoric sounds good enough on its face but there’s just something missing. He does make some good points, especially in his second wireless speech--there has been a drastic change in their culture and way of life, and social structures and people’s thinking need to adapt to the new reality in a way that I’m sure they haven’t been able to yet. Issues like employment and education and allocation of resources need to be dealt with on this new level. But there’s really no evidence that the current gov’t isn’t thinking about these issues. Besides, they’ve been a bit busy for the past 46 days working on that thing where they, what is it? Oh yeah, keep everyone ALIVE. Zarek seems to be the character most holding on to old ideas about society. He’s using the existing political structure to attain power (without mentioning how that is also out of date). And he’s still trying to make the case for the downtrodden against the oppressors, the poor versus the rich. Talk about “holding on to a fantasy”! The dichotomy of rich/poor no longer really exists in a society where the money is useless and the only real valuables are food, water and clothing (which should be communal resources at this point). They’ve already got a kind of de facto communism. This isn’t really an “oppression” situation, as I doubt anyone is being denied equal share of resources. But the fact that some may feel this way—a la the Geminon ships’ water rations—is what makes Zarek’s propaganda so appealing to many. Anyway, his logic is irritating. I do like that they aren't afraid that an evil!human character will distract from the bad guys (see below, re: complexity).
Watching Zarek and Roslin interact at the ball, it seems that he may have some respect for the prez, at least after watching her utilize her political skills. There was no real reason for him to confess that he didn’t kill the assassin (which seems sincere; I believe, at least, that he didn’t kill Valence himself. This doesn’t mean that Zarek’s not glad he’s dead, though.), except that maybe he sees her as a worthy opponent now and he wanted to warn her that she may have a traitor in her midst. Either that or he’s trying to frack with her head. (As my father said last night, while channeling Yogi Berra, “It either means that, or it means something else.”)
I wasn’t able to avoid most spoilers for this episode (The Dress and VP elections and we’ve all seen the caps of the garden hose scene), but I’m glad that I didn’t get spoiled for Helo’s revelation. For whatever reason, people don’t seem to care much about the Helo/Caprica!Boomer storyline, so that’s probably why. Though, really, if he didn’t figure things out after he saw Caprica!Boomer2, I was also done caring about him, because, hello? Stupid, much? Also, my heart skipped a little beat when Helo was advancing his theories on Cylon cloning and Caprica!Boomer starts to defend them “You know, if they were human clones that means they’re capable of…”, because I thought she said “if WE were human clones” blown her cover. You know, I kind of like this storyline, but I don’t ever really remember it from week to week. It’s like a big surprise every time we see Caprica for the first time in an episode. I go, “Oh yeah. Helo! I forgot.”
I love that you can still see Kara’s black eye under her makeup. I’m not really sure what to say about this scene, despite the fact that I thought it was fabulous. The look on his face was just…. Hee! I’m sure he forgets, most of the time, that she’s a girl. Which, IMO, is as it should be, because she’s at work, yo. And as a woman who works surrounded by men ALL THE FRACKING TIME, I don’t want to be a girl at work. Because when all they guys are thinking about me as a girl, we’re not getting any work done. Or at least they’re not. Of course, this does present some problems when you want them to remember that you’re a girl…
Gaeta dancing is soooo funny. Don’t the women have to wear dress uniforms to formal occasions? It seems like the men do. But then, Tyrol’s not in uniform either, so maybe they’re optional (unless enlisted personnel don’t have dress uniforms? They seemed pretty scruffy at, say, the decommissioning ceremony, when everyone else was in class A’s) What do you suppose the rules are on this in, say, the US military?
You never see Lee’s face when he’s dancing with Kara. I wonder if that was deliberate. If so, what is that about?
Ellen: I have a surprise for you.
Tigh: Uh oh, should I be worried?
Me: YES!
I remember there was some flack about Lee’s line in Tigh Me Up: “If she’s not a Cylon, we’re all in trouble (or something like that).” But it makes perfect sense (especially given recent developments). If she is a Cylon, they can just wash her out an airlock and be done with her. If she’s human, though, they have to actually deal with her and her irritating personality and Evil Scheming. I actually hope she’s not a Cylon, because if she is, it makes the situation way too black-and-white. I like that the Cylons don’t have a monopoly on being evil. I’d even like to allow for the possibility that they may have a point, or even be in the right. I’m not too worried about the balance with this show, though, because we’ve already seen that there are humans with character flaws, frailties and even Evil Schemes, just as we are given the possibility of reformed, no-longer-evil Cylons in Caprica!Boomer. I just love the layers of complexity they keep adding to this show.
Wow. That was WAY longer than I thought it would be. I'll shut up now.
Ramblings on Colonial Day
I've read a lot about there being a precedent for Lee’s somewhat out-of-control anger. While I agree that we have seen him lose his temper on several occasions (at his father in the mini, Zarek in Bastille Day, Tigh in You Can’t Go Home Again), he still manages to maintain some sort of control over himself. He raised his voice to his father but he never screamed at him. He was still capable of rational thought about election policies in the midst of holding a gun on Zarek, and while he was obviously upset with Tigh (and for obvious reasons), he wasn’t actually mean to him. So I’ll grant the point that the boy's got a temper, but the screaming and the throwing of briefcases still seems a bit excessive and OOC.
Speaking of OOC, I was a bit confused initially about 1) Apollo’s malicious comments provoking the bar fight, B) why Starbuck and Apollo are sitting in a bar drinking while (presumably) on duty, and lastly, why they aren’t sitting together in said bar, which seems odd (why would two people who are presumably friends be drinking alone in the same room). Is it possible that the entire bar fight was a setup to flush out an assasin? Lee may have suspected Grimes after their earlier confrontation and had him followed and set up to reveal himself. Either catching Valance was just an added bonus, or maybe they suspected that any of Grimes’ associates would come to his aid. It would explain why Starbuck was sitting across the room but still watching what was going on with Apollo, and the "you are people. sort of" comments to provoke Grimes. I suppose.
I find Zarek rather irritating in much the same way that I find, say, republicans, irritating (though it's interesting that he's got some rather communist-leaning veiwpoints with which, normally, I would agree). His rhetoric sounds good enough on its face but there’s just something missing. He does make some good points, especially in his second wireless speech--there has been a drastic change in their culture and way of life, and social structures and people’s thinking need to adapt to the new reality in a way that I’m sure they haven’t been able to yet. Issues like employment and education and allocation of resources need to be dealt with on this new level. But there’s really no evidence that the current gov’t isn’t thinking about these issues. Besides, they’ve been a bit busy for the past 46 days working on that thing where they, what is it? Oh yeah, keep everyone ALIVE. Zarek seems to be the character most holding on to old ideas about society. He’s using the existing political structure to attain power (without mentioning how that is also out of date). And he’s still trying to make the case for the downtrodden against the oppressors, the poor versus the rich. Talk about “holding on to a fantasy”! The dichotomy of rich/poor no longer really exists in a society where the money is useless and the only real valuables are food, water and clothing (which should be communal resources at this point). They’ve already got a kind of de facto communism. This isn’t really an “oppression” situation, as I doubt anyone is being denied equal share of resources. But the fact that some may feel this way—a la the Geminon ships’ water rations—is what makes Zarek’s propaganda so appealing to many. Anyway, his logic is irritating. I do like that they aren't afraid that an evil!human character will distract from the bad guys (see below, re: complexity).
Watching Zarek and Roslin interact at the ball, it seems that he may have some respect for the prez, at least after watching her utilize her political skills. There was no real reason for him to confess that he didn’t kill the assassin (which seems sincere; I believe, at least, that he didn’t kill Valence himself. This doesn’t mean that Zarek’s not glad he’s dead, though.), except that maybe he sees her as a worthy opponent now and he wanted to warn her that she may have a traitor in her midst. Either that or he’s trying to frack with her head. (As my father said last night, while channeling Yogi Berra, “It either means that, or it means something else.”)
I wasn’t able to avoid most spoilers for this episode (The Dress and VP elections and we’ve all seen the caps of the garden hose scene), but I’m glad that I didn’t get spoiled for Helo’s revelation. For whatever reason, people don’t seem to care much about the Helo/Caprica!Boomer storyline, so that’s probably why. Though, really, if he didn’t figure things out after he saw Caprica!Boomer2, I was also done caring about him, because, hello? Stupid, much? Also, my heart skipped a little beat when Helo was advancing his theories on Cylon cloning and Caprica!Boomer starts to defend them “You know, if they were human clones that means they’re capable of…”, because I thought she said “if WE were human clones” blown her cover. You know, I kind of like this storyline, but I don’t ever really remember it from week to week. It’s like a big surprise every time we see Caprica for the first time in an episode. I go, “Oh yeah. Helo! I forgot.”
I love that you can still see Kara’s black eye under her makeup. I’m not really sure what to say about this scene, despite the fact that I thought it was fabulous. The look on his face was just…. Hee! I’m sure he forgets, most of the time, that she’s a girl. Which, IMO, is as it should be, because she’s at work, yo. And as a woman who works surrounded by men ALL THE FRACKING TIME, I don’t want to be a girl at work. Because when all they guys are thinking about me as a girl, we’re not getting any work done. Or at least they’re not. Of course, this does present some problems when you want them to remember that you’re a girl…
Gaeta dancing is soooo funny. Don’t the women have to wear dress uniforms to formal occasions? It seems like the men do. But then, Tyrol’s not in uniform either, so maybe they’re optional (unless enlisted personnel don’t have dress uniforms? They seemed pretty scruffy at, say, the decommissioning ceremony, when everyone else was in class A’s) What do you suppose the rules are on this in, say, the US military?
You never see Lee’s face when he’s dancing with Kara. I wonder if that was deliberate. If so, what is that about?
Ellen: I have a surprise for you.
Tigh: Uh oh, should I be worried?
Me: YES!
I remember there was some flack about Lee’s line in Tigh Me Up: “If she’s not a Cylon, we’re all in trouble (or something like that).” But it makes perfect sense (especially given recent developments). If she is a Cylon, they can just wash her out an airlock and be done with her. If she’s human, though, they have to actually deal with her and her irritating personality and Evil Scheming. I actually hope she’s not a Cylon, because if she is, it makes the situation way too black-and-white. I like that the Cylons don’t have a monopoly on being evil. I’d even like to allow for the possibility that they may have a point, or even be in the right. I’m not too worried about the balance with this show, though, because we’ve already seen that there are humans with character flaws, frailties and even Evil Schemes, just as we are given the possibility of reformed, no-longer-evil Cylons in Caprica!Boomer. I just love the layers of complexity they keep adding to this show.
Wow. That was WAY longer than I thought it would be. I'll shut up now.
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no subject
Date: 2005-03-21 03:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-21 07:53 pm (UTC)Besides, if we're to be upset over something like this, we ought to be upset over the fact that the ranking system on the Galactica isn't proper but rather a hybrid of various military rankingm systems in our society and, say, over the fact that Tyrol pulls the "right to remain silent" card in "Litmus" when, in our society, military personnel don't have that right.