Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Battlestar Galactica - Season 4

I see Gaeta much differently, more that he's sort of a chronic hero-worshipper and a bit of an idealist who's finally come down to earth hard (literally and figuratively.) He's sort of an overly earnest outsider that wanted to sit at the cool kids' table and got rejected and now that he's boiled over he's lashing out stupidly and making bad decisions. He's saved the Galactica at least once (when he networked the computers) and was the mole for the resistance.

Well, actually I think we agree on certain points, DB. He did get his ego bruised, but that's compounded by the fact that whenever he's raised valid points he gets shut down by the hierarchy. Just because Adama and Tigh are BFF's doesn't mean the rest of the fleet, most of whose families and homes were destroyed by the Cylons, are going to want to have anything to do with them. Adama's just steamrolling ahead, and Roslin was just totally checked out.

I actually thought it would have been kind of a cool twist if Athena had gone in with the mutineers. It's not really in character, but it would have been a little meatier if someone besides Gaeta and a bunch of 2nd and 3rd stringers and it's not like Athena is up for Cylon Employee of the Month. It would have meant not using the Yeehaw Boys though (Ron Moore's nickname for Gage and Vireem which sums them up nicely.)

What a huge letdown. This episode was disappointing to me on so many levels.

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">Why the heck would two Marines assasinate the entire Quorum on Zarek's say-so? Zarek went from shady political operator to bone-headed villain in two quick episodes. Gaeta folding under pressure seemed to stem less from his character than from story mechanics. Clearly the Admiral was going to come out on top, even though it was through mostly swagger and brute force than persuading anyone that his was the correct path. It was also pretty convienient that despite sporadic firefights throughout the ship, Gaeta and Zarek didn't have guards outside CIC. And WTF happened with Starbuck, Anders and Lampkin? They just totally dropped that thread mid episode! I'm also disappointed that they took the obvious path of executing Gaeta. I really thought the Admiral might have understood that he bore some responsibility for the situation, especially after Narcho threw a little cold water in his face. This episode had about two enjoyable moments: Lee faking out Starbuck with the grenade, and Tyrol and Kelly's moment of lucidity in the weapons locker. This was a story that should have been spread out over at least another episode or two, or better yet have been done somewhat earlier in the series when they didn't have to squeeze "the mutiny story" in at the last minute just because they always thought about doing one (which was mentioned in some of the interviews after last weeks episode.) I wonder if we'll even get any followup next week concerning the other mutineers like Racetrack or if it'll be willy-nilly on to the next thing. Unfortunately I was too stunned to skip the preview for next week, which was basically a giant spoiler. Thanks Sci-Fi!!!</span></span>

Sorry for the longish rant but I expected better and wasn't in a great mood to begin with...

can't wait to see it. ha!! i hope six gets to snap someone's neck tho...

matlock
sorry u didnt enjoy the episode, but i dont see the problem with Gaeta folding under pressure, the representitives of the 12 colonies has been killed by the VP and Gaeta is next if he wants to back down. Admiral doesnt have to take responsibility for a bad judgement call by Gaeta that resulted in a coup and deaths of many innocents. And yes they dropped the story of anders and starbuck with lawyer, but in Canada if you saw preview for next weeks show
warning spoinler for next week....


Anders lives and tells starbuck to get the rest(?) he has remembered everything including why they are on earth.

I enjoyed it and found it very taut. This story needed to happen particularly to pay off Zarek's story, and to show there would be considerable resistance to cooperating with the Cylons. I'm glad it was wrapped up this episode, so that we can get down to the end game. I think next episode is us getting there.

By the way, does anyone know if D'Anna went ahead and stayed on Earth? I expected to see her aboard the base ship, actually. Does anyone know for sure that Lucy Lawless will appear in the remaining episodes?

Huh, the Sci-Fi preview was totally Ellen-centric.

As an aside, I listened to Jane Espensen's commentary track to the Gaeta webisodes and she mentioned that if the actor that played Narcho had been available he'd have been Gaeta's squeeze and they wouldn't have broken up at the end of them. I can see how that would have slotted in to tonight's episode since the webisodes had to work around the mutiny episodes which were already written. Instead Gaeta had to dump Hoshi to account for Hoshi being led off halfway thru last weeks episode.

Unless they're saving it for a big surprise all indications are that D'Anna stayed on Earth. It was in an interview with Ron Moore I think and he said that essentially she was tired of running and they thought it was a suitable ending for her.

I'd be surprised if we've actually seen the last of her, despite that. With Ellen coming back, it would seem wrong for her not to be involved at all given D'Anna's reverance of the Final Five.

Yeah, but given that this is the season of everybody dies, I'm not expecting it.

Maureen Ryan from the Chicago Tribune has posted a post-episode interview with writer Michael Angeli here:

Spoiler filled interview ahoy

I was right about one thing: the episode had to be trimmed way down. I guess they had to make time for the endless sequences of Tyrol crawling down tunnels.

I'm sure it was, but i said IN CANADA, we have SPACE and it showed a more detailed (imo) preview, more of everything and not just ellen.

To me, Zarek's always been ambiguous. Was he really a terrorist, or a freedom fighter. The last 2 episodes, we found out. I'm not disappointed; in fact, I'm delighted, because his poor choices highlight again how easy it would be for Adama and Roslyn to have followed a similar path. They haven't, and that's what makes them heroes.

Poor Gaeta. I was crying in the last scene with him hanging out with Baltar. I've never thought much about Felix, but it's clear from that final scene that he's always been the hero in his own mind, but his reality could never match up. He's always stepped up to do the right thing at the wrong moment. He never realized the satisfaction from supporting the hero, and wanted the story to be about him instead. It's the kind of realization that most of us have to go through at least once, and it's really tough -- that you aren't the best at something, and won't be, and your childhood aspirations won't become reality. And the fact that it was Baltar there, at the end, to comfort him. Wow. Baltar may turn out to be the hero of BSG--the man who almost gets humanity destroyed, but redeems it in the end.

Even after a 2nd viewing I'm still just not happy with this. It seems like fans are giving Roslin free pass just because she yelled a lot and intimidated the Cylon rebels with her crazy antics. Frankly, Adama's objections or not, Zarek should have been made President (or at least acting President) well before the mutiny happened. She essentially vacated her post and left a power vacuum so she could nest with the Old Man. And Adama, after a poorly executed attempt at suicide by XO, decides the best course of action is a further embrace of the butchers of mankind. Essentially this is another in a long string of incidents of the kind that Lee Adama pointed out in his defense of Baltar.

I'm not defending the mutiny per se, because at this point everyone in the fleet needs to realize that each human life is valuable above and beyond all other concerns. Gaeta and the rest should have refused to do their duties in protest. I think Narcho made the point the best, the Cylons are the enemy and if it were me I'd never trust them as a group. I suppose it's all well and good that Kelly was able to see Tyrol as the man he used to serve with, but the Sixes, Eights and the Leobens (can't remember his number?) I wouldn't trust them any more than Cavil and his side.

I guess I'll have to see how things play out next week. I just want to see some kind of fallout from this, not only go into more Cylon mythology.

the show ends in like 6 episondes, why have fallout after fallout and why dwell on that. End the show, tie up the loose ends, and sure more CYLON mythology, why not?

Eh, I just think they may as well have not bothered with it. It was a heavy story to have to be rushed through and probably not followed up on.

Anyway, I saw that Canadian promo. I've done a lot of things over the years that have put me in the doghouse with my wife, but I think Tigh's really going to have some 'splaining to do.

well, matlock i agree with you on most things ...but i loved the episode!

i'm glad zarek was actually turned into a villain...i was over the devils advocate thing. i was ready for them to go one way or the other. i'm even glad they wiped out the sheep that are the quorum.

i'm so over gaeta too. "i just want people to know me" what a crazy ego trip he was on!?! in the first few episodes of the series i thought we'd see the kid who calculated jump coordinates in his head to save humanity turn into a self assured stalwart. yet, hes gone crazy bouncing from cause to cause...in the hopes of being somebody big.

the writers went alot with "black and white" "good and evil" writing but after the past like 2 seasons of character development i loved the action! and it seems like they just need to wrap things the frakk up.

the president had some great speeches from the kick butt "i'm coming for all of you" to my favorite when she convinced the cylons to aid her "who do you want to be"

i was really hoping for and think the episode needed a "peace with the cylons is our only hope for survival" speech but we didn't get it...

and this coup has been caused by flaky leadership and non inclusion or explanation of decisions.

hmm i almost feel like this is the final episode because for a long time this show has been about infighting. so wrapping up the in fighting is the end....

but i wonder what's next, since this show has never been about scientific solutions to their problems. its led by action characters, that i love but...are they just going to wander the galxy willy nilly until they find a perfect planet or are they going to create something. or wait for some cylon messiah to open up his arms and carry them off to paradise. ha!

anyways, i think baltar's character still needs to be punished for all his deviousness and yes, destroying civilization. hes gotten off pretty easy so far.

and i want to see six snap some peoples necks.

I just want to know what Baltar is, i mean i find it hard to believe he survived a nuclear explosion aftershock by hiding behind 6, that needs to be addressed.

It was a little odd looking, especially since the next time we saw him he was running through a field with a lot of other refugees. But I don't think there's much there although I wonder if they're planning on any clarification about his imaginary Six. Or Caprica Six's imaginary Baltar.

I kept waiting for imaginary Six to pop up during the scene where the other Six was hitting on Baltar. Was there an episode from the first half of Season Four where she "left" Baltar? I remember her watching him preach but can't recall if they "split".

Well, tonight's episode was pretty much talking heads throughout but I'm glad. The post-Earth arc that culminated last week left me worn out. Tonight was all big chunks of mythology with a few tidbits of plot on the side. I wouldn't have picked Anders to become Captain Exposition but they set it up well.

I'm not going to go through all the BIG spoilery stuff yet but I will mention that after you watch it if you are wondering about all the other mutineers it seems that there weren't any other executions/reprisals per Ron Moore's commentary on "Blood On The Scales." Essentially what he said was that Galactica couldn't function without reintegrating the mutineers. I don't think this will be explicitly shown though.

i say daniel is reborn as the child of tigh and 6

My guess is that a Daniel might have been Starbuck's father. Daniel was supposed to have been artistic, and Starbuck's father is known to have been a musician. I guess it depends on how much time it took for the 5 to develop skinjobs 2.0, and whether they infiltrated the 12 Colonies far enough back for a Daniel to have been the father before the Cavil's killed them. It would go a way towards explaining her "special destiny" and maybe provide a clue about her own resurrection.

but if she if she half cylon, is their ressurrection for hybrids?

So if Cavil was aware of the identities of the Final Five this whole time, that adds a whole other level of complexity to the mind games he played with Tyrol when he was "Counseling" him after hsi breakdown.

I loved Dean Stockwell in that episode! I am not sure that I want John/Cavil to turn out to be behind most of the Cylon plotting, but he sure can pull it off. It seems like the Five must have given him special access to the inner workings of Cylon programming. Not only did he manipulate the Five, but managed to supress the knowledge of the Five in the other Six surviving models. What a naughty boy.

Rouge -- not to mention having relations with Ellen and torturing Tigh on New Caprica! That John is baaaaddd!