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rose_griffes) wrote2009-02-07 10:49 am
rose_griffes) wrote2009-02-07 10:49 am
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BSG 4.14 'Blood on the Scales'
This started as an attempt at a thoughtful summary of the episode, but... sort of devolved.
Captain Kelly. He was the man who killed Gaius Baltar's lawyer(s). Apparently he was let out of the brig during the mutiny and now he gets a key role to play again. (At first I thought he was one of the Sunshine Boys--a bit of physical resemblance there.)
We start with Hotdog refusing to shoot the President's raptor. Narcho has no such qualms, though, and Roslin's ship barely makes it aboard the baseship. On to the pretty: the basestar's control center has Tory, another very blonde Six (badwig alert!), Gaius, Leoben looking dapper in a red shirt... a photogenic group of people. Roslin's arrival helps start the argument over whether the baseship should jump away. This will continue throughout the episode, as will her attempts to communicate with the fleet via wireless.
Tyrol skulks through the corridors, then moves into the ducts: another thread.
The next thread begins: Romo Lampkin is escorted to what appears to be Adama's own quarters, where Gaeta and Zarek are discussing Adama's trial and execution. Lampkin: "I'm not a very good shot." Heh. Romo's role is to be Bill's lawyer. He 'gets' this lucky opportunity because Gaeta wants a 'fair' trial. Zarek is the judge, though; the odds aren't in Adama's favor.
Romo convinces Tom and Felix to let him talk to his new client. Tom Zarek takes advantage of this break to kill the quorom. Oh, seventies sideburn man, I hardly knew you!
Kelly flinches when he hears the carnage. Important for later.
Felix is stunned when he sees the bodies. "We had the truth on our side. Now--" Tom responds that the truth is told by those who are left standing. Here's where I see Felix as understanding the true cost of working with Tom. It didn't sink in when Zarek killed Laird; he was just one man (and one with no real political clout). Gaeta didn't like it, but I'm guessing he had told himself to expect some bloodshed, some death. This, though... goes far beyond that. Oh, Felix. I'm sorry, but Tom is not the man to trust with power.
Tyrol's airduct crawl takes him right to Kelly's feet. I kind of love this little exchange: Kelly can't ignore the previous ties he's had with Tyrol, because everybody loves the Chief. Tyrol has good people skills; it's what made him so effective when he ran the maintenance crew. It's what helped keep people alive on Kobol. (Well, that and Gaius finally shooting Crashdown.) It's why he was able to help those working against this mutiny and get Laura Roslin and Gaius Baltar off the ship.
Okay, my Chief love is back in place, apparently! Heh. At any rate, he manages to do exactly what needs to happen to keep him alive: get Kelly to remember that they were friends before. Bringing up little Nicky's non-cylon heritage, Kelly says, "Could've told you she [Cally] was trouble."
Tyrol says, "Wouldn't have mattered." Aw. And Kelly lets him go.
Oh, hi Honey! (This is my nickname for this new honey-blonde Six.) I thought she was some new incarnation of head!Six for a moment; she did look angelic in that white robe. BTW, how is it possible for Tricia Helfer to be that gorgeous?
Kara and Lee, the crime-fighting duo, take out the brig guards by the sheer force of their coolness. Whee! Seriously, so cute, with the
"Not funny."
"Yeah, it would've been if you thought of it."
It's a bit chaotic as everyone exits the brig; interesting that Sharon is still letting Caprica take care of Hera. Lee's distraught that his father isn't there.
Sam, though wounded, automatically goes to pick guns off of bodies
I guess that getting Adama rescued takes priority over taking Sam to sickbay. I guess. (But it's Sam who's wounded! And Kara needs help to move his body, 'cause he's a giant! Speaking of which, good thing Helo is currently mobile on his own. Did he walk himself to sickbay? Go hang out with Caprica and Hera? I don't think I saw him later; he was in no shape to help with taking back the ship.)
eta: To clarify, I know Kara told everyone to go ahead, but I still can't help my reaction of someone help her get Sam to sickbay. Also, yes, Tigh tells Caprica, Hera and Helo to go to Baltar's lair. Thanks to
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lyssie, who has better hearing/eyes than I do.Leoben finds Laura a wireless that works. I think it's Kara's ghost-radio. That's creepy and awesome at once. At any rate, after hearing Roslin's soothing tones several ships disengage their FTL drives.
Romo's penpal! Hah! He actually said that! "Me and my penpal were shot at two times..." He finally agrees to help Kara move Sam to see Cottle. Meanwhile, Kelly, our mutineer with a heart, slips away from Adama's execution cortege, to be found by Lee's little group. Handy, that.
Gaius has a dream about Bill's execution. Honey-Six tries to make everything better with sex, only in a creepy cult-follower kind of way rather than a dommy kind of way. Weird. Anyway, Gaius admits to running away multiple times--this last time out of cult-follower fatigue.
*snickers*
also, that 'cut off my legs' line was spooky, considering the events in the last chapter of
beccatoria's fic The Body Is a Myth.Roslin and Gaeta have a PA showdown. I'm not particularly fond of how much shouting she did in this episode. Maybe that's just me, though. Roslin has the baseship armed and ready for action... and just in time, our heroes save the day! Tyrol disables the FTL drive! Lee and the gang rescue his father! Everything seems to happen all at once and really fast.
In a symbolic moment
Laura returns to the ship. I still don't like Laura/Bill in a romantic pairing, but this is nonetheless a sweet moment. I like hugs.
Our final long scene: Gaius and Felix chatting and smoking. My first thought was that Gaius had been sent either to get information or to act as some sort of counsel. But no; this was a last meal. Felix wants nothing to do with Gaius' religion or attempts at comfort. He just wants to talk. We hear the dreams of the little boy who wanted to be an architect, who thought he was good at science, "until I met you." Gaius gets to listen. It's a sort of atonement.
"I hope that people realize eventually who I am." He's right to worry about it. The truth is told by those who are left standing.
Excuse me, I have something in my eye.
Okay. On to the execution: firing squad for both Gaeta and Zarek. Oh, Felix... To me his little smile at Zarek at the end felt like acknowledgment of Zarek's fear. Felix didn't look afraid, though. His line, "It stopped" was in reference to his leg itching, but it felt emotionally true, too. Like everything he had tried to fight for was over.
Yes, the line was a bit cheesy, but I liked it anyway.
What I hate is that he's now bound to Zarek forever, but that's also why Felix was ready for it to end. Zarek, in spite of being a potentially great man, corrupts everything he touches. Gaeta's mutiny was never going to be the right move, even though I think he had a lot of correct principles on his side. Once Zarek got involved, though, everything was doomed to be carnage and destruction.
Interesting that the time stamps we had throughout the last two episodes stopped once the ship was retaken. I'm guessing that not much more time has elapsed, though. The Colonial culture, especially the military side of Colonial culture, isn't going to take a long time to mete out justice. While I still think that Gaeta's mutiny had a lot of good reasons behind it, moving ahead is what's going to keep the fleet alive.
a few more thoughts, actually... as if I weren't long-winded enough: I'm going to miss Zarek. He was a thorn in the side, a muckraker, deceitful... and he had some excellent character beats.
I'll miss Gaeta a lot more. He's been a constant since the beginning. I'm glad that his character was given an interesting and complete arc, something that parallels what a lot of individuals are going through in the fleet.
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He didn't see Kara doing it, he moved to do it independently of her--actually, they pretty much moved at the same time to do it. And Kara's the one who was all, "Go on, we'll catch up." <3
(they were acting like partners, I may have gotten a bit gleeful about that.
I also may have watched that too many times last night while trying to get screencaps)Helo and Caprica and Hera were sent down to Baltar's cult of groupies, since, as Tigh says, "No one wants to frak with them" (also, Caprica tells Tigh off for trying to protect her).
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Ah, you're right. I watched his line of sight and he wasn't even looking at her when he stooped to get the gun.
Also, it's a good thing you have better hearing than me. Heh.
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I was trying to focus on something that wasn't SAM ON THE FLOOR WITH KARA FREAKING OUT. And Caprica is love.
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Kelly can't ignore the previous ties he's had with Tyrol, because everybody loves the Chief. Tyrol has good people skills; it's what made him so effective when he ran the maintenance crew. It's what helped keep people alive on Kobol.
A few weeks ago everyone loved Gaeta. (Or didn't hate him, rather.) Chief will never get any credit for all he's done. All he's sacrificed. He has pulled them from the edge before. Like in Dirty Hands. Desgining the Blackbird. But he's not even the Chief anymore. Or is he now that Laird is dead and the ship has a tear in it? Will they give a Cylon back his job?
And Kara needs help to move his body, 'cause he's a giant!
Hee! This made me laugh and laughs are in short supply today. I'm glad you found Sam helping her romantic. Ah, shipper glasses. So sweet. I was like "Not to be getting shot while Kara's working, Sammy!" Besides he was hurt himself, wasn't he? That boy, I tell you. I can't believe he's still alive. Skulls is probably still alive. Gage is still alive, Rose.
The truth is told by those who are left standing.
I know. I know. Frak.
moving ahead is what's going to keep the fleet alive.
I hope so. I hope they learned something. Maybe I'm the only one worried. I still feel another shoe hasn't dropped. But it will. It will. The reckoning may have happened, but this resolution feels a bit unfinished to me.
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I don't know. But I think that's my new OTP: Chief/Galactica. Because no one knows and loves the ship like him. Oh Chief!
Skulls is probably still alive. Gage is still alive, Rose.
Skulls I will magnanimously allow to live. I'm still waiting for Caprica Six to kill Gage, though. Preferably with LOTS of pain involved. Oops. I think you and
Maybe I'm the only one worried. I still feel another shoe hasn't dropped. But it will.
Yes. I'm sure there's more to come. The consequences aren't through just because Adama's in control of the ship again.
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But yes. Much pain. All over the Sunshine Boys, yeah.
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Where did Kara's ghost radio come from? Why am I having a huge blank whenever I try to think about this?
I wasn't particularly fond of Roslin's yelling either. It felt too over the top and more hysterical "I HAVE TO SAVE MY BOYFRIEND" rather than "I HAVE TO SAVE THE HUMAN RACE." I dunno, I'm having major problems with the Adama/Roslin relationship...
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I KNOW. This is totally not a logical reaction I'm having. ;-P
Where did Kara's ghost radio come from? Why am I having a huge blank whenever I try to think about this?
The shiny unmarked viper she brought back from the dead. She and Leoben were using it on 'Earth' to find the signal from her burnt-out viper. I'm not positive, but Leoben may have been holding it when he backed away from her.
I wasn't particularly fond of Roslin's yelling either. It felt too over the top and more hysterical "I HAVE TO SAVE MY BOYFRIEND" rather than "I HAVE TO SAVE THE HUMAN RACE." I dunno, I'm having major problems with the Adama/Roslin relationship...
Yes. I wanted to tell MM to stop taking acting lessons from EJO. And yes to having problems with Roslin/Adama romantic relationship. Bah!
On a totally unrelated note, go watch this fanvid (http://taragel.livejournal.com/34665.html?style=mine), if you like vids. It's all about Kara and Kacey (and a small serving of Leoben), and it was MADE FOR ME! sort of. heh.
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That gave me my Chief love back too! And moved Angeli way, way up on my personal writers' room scale.*g* Don't blow it now, Chief.
I wanted that to be head!Six 2.0 - she didn't have enough backbone to be a real Six.
I guess that getting Adama rescued takes priority over taking Sam to sickbay. I guess. (But it's Sam who's wounded! And Kara needs help to move his body, 'cause he's a giant!
I knoooow! But look at it this way: if someone had stayed behind to help Kara we wouldn't have gotten all of those shipper-coma inducing scenes of her Not Leaving Him Behind No Matter What. Even though he's a Cylon. Even though it's ADAMA. (Which, good call there Kara. :P) Even though it nearly killed her, though that's last on the list because our girl's a hero. Talk about romantic - I didn't even need my tinfoil hat this week! ;)
Just, even if they die or end up with other people, we know they love each other. And yeah, I thought that already, but it's good to be reminded.
Also, we would not have had that wonderful moment of Lee telling Saul to help save Kara's beloved and Saul going all woobie about HIS beloved. Aw, old guys.
To me his little smile at Zarek at the end felt like acknowledgment of Zarek's fear.
I thought so too. He saw Zarek for what he was, finally, but reached out to him anyway in the only way that he could. Oh Feelix!
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I know, it's shocking! An Angeli episode gave me back my Chief! He was pretty adorable as he scooted along those airducts. *giggles*
But look at it this way: if someone had stayed behind to help Kara we wouldn't have gotten all of those shipper-coma inducing scenes of her Not Leaving Him Behind No Matter What.
Yes, I'll try to focus on that. :)
Talk about romantic - I didn't even need my tinfoil hat this week!
With this little break I've sent my hat out for repairs. I'm thinking a duct tape lining and some red foil added along the side in a flower shape. ;-)
Just, even if they die or end up with other people, we know they love each other. And yeah, I thought that already, but it's good to be reminded.
ITA.
He saw Zarek for what he was, finally, but reached out to him anyway in the only way that he could. Oh Feelix!
I'm glad I'm not the only one who read it like that. It was less about bonding and more about Felix attempting to be comforting in some way... which is just heartbreaking.