Finally watched 2x03

[nicwhite86.livejournal.com]

OK, I know Im a week behind, being Australian and all, but I just watched it at 4am last night and feel the need to rant so bear with me. 2x04 is on its way right now.

Theres lots in this episode to look at, its blowing my mind all the possible implications of the events.

To start off, quite a bit of it was very predictable IMO.

The minute the Cylons showed up in KGL1 I knew Crashdown wasnt leaving the planet. I mean look at it this way. Hes a minor character and the only military and only officer left standing. He was very obviously not coping from the start. I like the guy, Ive always liked him and I was sad that he died, but it was inevitable from the second they jumped to Kobol. I think hes a reasonable officer that would have become good in time, but he was in way over his head and he took on a sense of responsibility almost to the extent of having a messiah complex, especially after two of his men die and he feels responsible. I so knew he would take those symbolic dog tags.

Him getting killed by Baltar was also predictable. I didnt see him getting randomly owned by gunfire at that stage, and I knew his death was coming up, so I was thinking hed die in a much more complicated way, and mutiny seemed an option given that he was losing it so badly. The clincher was when Six said that someone would betray the others - that someone was always going to be him (Baltar). So when the opportunity presented itself, Baltar was going to be the one to fire.

Does anyone remember that scene in "The Usual Suspects" where Keaton is threatening that guy in the van - "give me the fucking case" - but doesnt want to shoot him, and the Kevin Spacey's character shoots him instead? It reminded me a lot of that.

I did expect the other redshirt to get killed too and I really thought she was doomed when she got hit in the leg. I thought it would be only Cally, Baltar, Tyrol left at the end. I really hoped that arc would continue for a few more episodes and Crash would get fleshed out into a full character before he died, but alas not to be.

The Cally = dentist line was actually very revealing. It shows just how stretched these guys are, with Galatica being a not particularly crack ship as it was being decomissioned, and so many having died, that who they have left are pretty green and not even career soldiers. Contrary to what others have said I was very happy with how Tyrol managed the situation, he really did need to shut down Baltar when he did and it was a wonderful faceoff. Good on Baltar for having a spine too though.

Baltar + Six was nothing new. More strange philosophy that will make sense later but not now. Shes trying to build him into something that will act how she wants and then implant him a high position like VP so he can mess everything up. I dont know exactly what her endgame is but its likely to be very complicated.

I actually missed the Hornblower reference but its been ages since Ive watched it.

Roslin the prophet has been covered a lot by others and I really havent got much to say on the religiousness of the whole thing, I think its too early to tell on that one, especially on how legitimate the whole prophesy is.

Doc Cottle is beyond awesome, even how he smokes when hes a doctor, quite amusing. Billy is coping well too - hes always been the moderating influence on Roslin and holds the show together when its falling apart. "We stand with our president" and all that from KGL2. Geeta was pretty useless in this episode. He needs to be fleshed out more, I like him but other than some scenes here and there hes very simple. Ishay made an appearance too, squee! There was no Kelly, this upset me because he is awesome.

Tigh, God, pull yourself together. There has been a lot of anti-Tigh angst going around, but he himself is not as bad as what people think. He is stressed, that is the main problem. I think hes afraid too. He gets stressed and worried so he drinks. Hes stressed and worried so he demands control and snaps when he doesnt get his own way. Hes stressed and worried so he doesnt think clearly and does dumb things and forgets obvious stuff and blames everyone else, its painful to watch. Its not until afterwards that he realises just how bad hes doing, and he tries to fix it but because hes too stressed and worried to think properly he just makes it worse. Hes also holding way too many grudges and everything is becoming personal, which is very bad.

Ellen is also a problem, but Ill get to that.

Lee, you are so angsty but I love you. Just give this guy command, hes the only one with a clue that consistently makes the right call when Adama does not, he just needs to trust himself a bit more and get over his self doubts, but thats for another time. Unlike everyone else, I hated the "Youre welcome" line. So corny.

Now I want to highlight this line. In the hanger bay when Tigh snaps at Apollo, saying it would take 90 minutes to get them in the air, but I swear Apollo actually "9-10 minutes" as in "9 or 10 minutes", not 90, and Tigh didnt listen properly and got angry, hence the "huh?" look on Apollo's face. Anyone else catch this? Ive listened to the line multiple times but maybe Im just hearing things.

Right, now for some crazy theories and predictions.

According to the rumors and Moore interviews, Roslin leads a rebellion after Apollo lets her out of the brig and it becomes the people vs Tigh, and Adama's prediction coems true. Zarek is very interesting, as is Ellen, and I want to know how they act during this. They are interesting because they are unpredictable and you dont really know what their agendas are.

There is so much Zarek hate going around and I dont think its warranted at all, at least not yet. We dont know the guy is bad, thats just what we are supposed to think now, and given how the series is playing out, that doesnt mean much. He is a bit dodgy, but hes not relaly that bad. Hes right about the whole needing to be functioning as a collective, his speech in Colonial Day was spot on. However the implications of Colonial Day with Ellen are quite worrying.

The obvious theory is that Ellen got the location of Valiance from Tigh somehow, told Zarek in exchange for that holiday and a working relationship between them. Shes definately likign the idea of getting Tigh into command so she has lots power, and maybe she wants Zarek in power too, so shes in very close with the two most powerful people in the fleet. Does this mean she had anything to do with Adama getting shot though? It all seems very convenient for her. Perhaps Zarek is just a pawn in her plan, and maybe she really is a Cylon. It is possible that Zarek really is just a leftie politician that is trying to do the best for the fleet and democracy, or maybe I just like him because I know hes right in this situation.

Anyway, Ellen is evil and I hope she dies sooner rather than later, but it would be good for the plot for her to hang around long term, even though she annoys me greatly in every second of her existence. If Ellen is a Cylon, then in order for her not to be working against Six (if you assume shes out to nail the humans not for something else, which is far from certain), she must be using Zarek as a pawn to dispose of Roslin politically and then set up a Baltar vs Zarek to bring Baltar to the top.

So either Ellen is an evil power-hungry fiend whos getting lucky with Adama getting capped, or shes an evil Cylon whos engineering people in places when they can mess everything up.

Ok that was really long, sorry bout that.