rose_griffes: (Default)
rose_griffes ([personal profile] rose_griffes) wrote2007-07-19 08:04 pm
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Go me! And, um, Go BSG too!

Today I: swept and vacuumed the floors, including under some of the furniture, flipped the matresses, washed bedroom curtains, did other laundry, sorted through another file in the filing cabinet, worked on the shelves in my classroom at school for an hour, walked with some friends, did a few weights to exercise my arms and swam for fifteen minutes.

Then I fell asleep on the couch during the news. Heh. (Disclaimer: this is NOT a typical day for me. Hence my bragging.)

Oh, I also rewatched Occupation/Precipice (season three opener for BSG) in honor of the good news that the episode was Emmy-nominated for writing.

First we see a whole bunch of previouslies--two seasons' worth. Then credits, then my FAVORITE opening scene--those quick cuts of hands and faces, with that haunting quiet music (two female vocalists) in the background. It's awesome. Glimpses of Ellen, Kara, Tyrol and Anders, Saul, Adama, Roslin... it's a fabulous hook for the episode. The way it was edited, the visual nature of everything that was happening--I like it that we get to absorb what's going on a little bit at a time, without huge amounts of exposition.

The complete scene with Ellen and Cavil has to be one of the squickiest (non-gory) things of any show I watch... and I'm amazed every time that this is the moment we realize just how much Ellen really loves Saul.

Oh Kara. Every time I see her eating the steak, knife in still-bloody hand, I'm stunned. That slight tilting of the camera to show how truly unbalanced she is--wow.

Rats. Exposition. It's a good thing I like Mary McDonnell; the diary reading is not my favorite thing but it works to get us caught up and at least we don't have a whole lot of it.

I like the cylons together arguing. All those scenes are done so well, the multiple copies blending seamlessly (to my eye), the timing of their lines. Cavil is direct (and funny, in a very grim way), the eights and sixes look so defensive.

Little hints for later in the season--D'Anna is asking Six if love is worth what they're going through. Three is looking for love in all the wrong places. (Sorry, couldn't resist. *g*)

I know everyone has said this before but Gaeta looks great with the longer hair. I think it just forces us to pay more attention to him--he's a good-looking guy, but it's easy to get lost in the background in CIC, wearing the same blue uniform that Lee and Helo wear extremely well.

Tigh's line to Anders--"Any word on Kara?" It speaks volumes. Poor Sammy.

And back to Kara... "Honey, I'm home." It's both funny and sad: Leoben is so pleased to be playing house with his pretty 'wife.' Leoben, you are so weird, thinking God has sent you to Kara to help her. And that line about how either way she'll be spending the night with him. Heh.

Rennie and Sackhoff just blow me away in their scenes together. They're so expressive--fleeting expression on their faces, the in-your-space body language. They both have that quality when onscreen with other actors, so putting them together creates some intense scenes.

Up in space!
News flash: Kat is annoying. Why did they flatten Helo's hair?
HAH! The fat Apollo towel shot makes me laugh--that camera lingers on his gut.

Admiral Adama has formed a connection with Helo's Sharon. I still don't like it. I understand that we're supposed to appreciate how loyal she is, and how she works for the good of the humans now. Trusting her and taking that risk of putting her on the ground helped to save the humans on New Caprica. Doesn't mean I like it, though.

Lee whines to Dee and she gives him a speech. That line about how much he's like his father, and that's one of the reasons she married him--it didn't bother me at the time, but now I realize it was supposed to be a big clue about their marriage.

Baltar tells Gaeta that he's not going to the ceremony. That tone of voice, the look--I've always wondered if Baltar knows that Felix is leaking information.

Duck prepares for death. That image of him strapping on the bombs, ugh. This whole part of the story is set up very well--I feel sorry for Duck and horrified by what he's about to do.

Shoeless Laura talks to Baltar in the detention center. I love Roslin's opaqueness here. She hates Baltar and she hates the suicide bombings but we only see hints of both of those; it isn't until later that we find out her true feelings.

During that conversation between Galen and Felix I didn't realize at first that Tyrol was unaware of Gaeta's role as the mole in the President's office. Galen's rather terrifying in his later speech to Jammer about "tying the knots... making them tight." (And he had to work to be scary, 'cause he's so cuddly with that beard!)

Leoben has a surprise for Kara! Chocolate cake! Oh... darn. Leoben lies and lies and lies about Kacey--Kara sits there, freaked out. I don't know that we've ever seen her sit so still before. Lots of speculation about whether Leoben made sure Kacey got hurt while Kara was in the bathroom--who knows, but it definitely works faster than anything else might have to get Kara to accept her 'daughter.' (And how sad it is that self-loathing is part of the key to getting Kara to accept Kacey.)

Lee's angry about Sharon being part of the plan! Go Lee! Papadama listens for once, mostly--not about Sharon, but about keeping the rest of the fleet safe.

Right before Jammer talks to Boomer, she and Six are having a conversation--why aren't these tactics working? Why won't the humans love us?! The same thing Leoben is wondering, but on a larger scale. It doesn't matter if the contact is very personal or in large groups, the humans won't accept the cylons and they don't get it. Clueless cylons.

Boomer's visit to Cally in the detention center is very divisive. The anti-Cally faction see it as proof of how awful Cally is. I don't feel much sympathy for Boomer, though. She really is a frakked-up toaster. Cally is just being Cally--she's scared and powerless, except for being able to menace the cylon who remembers being shot by her before.

A second suicide bombing, so it's time for stronger measures from the cylons. Baltar gets to play the role of puppet. James Callis is crazy-versatile. He's hilarious at times and pathetic at others. This scene of him being forced to sign the death order is well-done, especially with Doral shooting Caprica Six. (By the way, I always thought the first act of cylon-on-cylon violence was when Sharon shot a Six on Caprica. Maybe D'Anna was unaware of that when she accused Caprica Six of being the first. Or maybe the writers didn't care, heh.)

Sharon A. gets sworn in as an office aboard Galactica. Even though I think Helo is deluded for loving Sharon, I like Helo (except when he's put in the role of savior). He's loyal. Misguided but loyal. (And thanks to [livejournal.com profile] alissabobissa's ficlet about comparing arms, I really want to know who has bigger guns--Lee, Anders or Helo. Go read it, it's funny!)

It's getting close to the end and they're ramping up the tension--Ellen being blackmailed into retrieving more information, stealing the map; Laura being taken out her classroom; Zarek and Roslin bonding over how they both H8 Baltar.

Sharon finds Anders and his resistance fighters. His reaction to her hug is priceless. *g*

Brief break from the fast-paced moments--Kara's in the hospital, praying for Kacey. ([livejournal.com profile] pataka02 and I once exchanged comments about what Kara touching Leoben's hand meant.)

Back to the high-tension stuff--Zarek chats up Roslin; Anders and Sharon are ambushed; Jammer frees Cally and we see the line of bulletheads across the ditch. Oh noes, not our beloved Roslin! Tune in next week, when all the shots of Cally running away will be replaced by different shots of Cally running away. It's no wonder she forgot that someone freed her before she got shot--she lived through two different escape experiences!


And now I shall go eat Oreos with milk! Huzzah!

p.s. I liked the Adama pornstache--but I might be biased, my dad had a mustache for many years.

[identity profile] natalexx.livejournal.com 2007-07-21 05:25 am (UTC)(link)
I don't like that everything we thought we'd started to understand about the Cylons suddenly changed in season 3 and took off in a different direction. And by "we" I mean the audience, not the humans on the series. It smacks of creative back-peddling to me.

How quickly the newbie learns that fandom is just crazy.

Hee! Is this your first fandom? You're doing well dealing with the crazy, if so. Fandom tends to follow certain patterns. Me, I start getting a little wary at this stage in the game. Hazard of suffering through so many shows that fell apart in later seasons.

The more I think about this the more it bothers me too; it makes me wonder if something is fundamentally wrong with Helo and Bill Adama--without their influence Sharon would still be locked up and shunned.

Personally, I'd be relieved if it were eventually made clear that there IS something wrong with them. At least it would be an explanation! I always feel a tiny bit relieved whenever someone like Roslin speaks out about how dangerous it is that Helo and Adama trust Sharon with the safety of the entire Fleet. ([livejournal.com profile] daybreak777 makes some excellent points about how illogical it is, just taking into account all the essentials of what it means to be Cylon and even ignoring the whole Cylon/human debate.)

[identity profile] rose-griffes.livejournal.com 2007-07-21 08:07 pm (UTC)(link)
I always feel a tiny bit relieved whenever someone like Roslin speaks out about how dangerous it is that Helo and Adama trust Sharon with the safety of the entire Fleet.

YES. And when it's Roslin people tend to be less nuts than when it's Cally. So yay for that. Although those Sharon/Helo fans are just not willing to hear it. *g*

I don't like that everything we thought we'd started to understand about the Cylons suddenly changed in season 3 and took off in a different direction. And by "we" I mean the audience, not the humans on the series. It smacks of creative back-peddling to me.
daybreak777 makes some excellent points about how illogical it is, just taking into account all the essentials of what it means to be Cylon and even ignoring the whole Cylon/human debate


*sigh* I appreciate the creative process but it seems to me RDM (or the PTB) sometimes takes too many leaps away from the beginning. I'm all for evolution on a show but we started with a basic premise that feels like it's been ignored for a while. On the other hand I really love the result of the creative leaps in terms of what the cylons themselves wanted in season one--the whole idea of wanting to reproduce and not being able to was a really cool thing, and apparently it wasn't something planned from the very beginning. Guess it comes back to waiting to see what they do with season four. Happily even when I'm irritated by this show I still find it fun to watch (except for a few select episodes). And I think I'll try to keep my newly-discovered crazy fangirl nature confined to just one show for now...

Yup, BSG is the first real fandom. I started reading online reviews with Buffy during season six and found TWoP's reviews near the end of Angel. Little did I know what else there was, with fanfic and forums and weird fandom wankfests galore. Frankly I think BSG fandom seems pretty sane (at least on LJ) compared to the little I've seen of Harry Potter fandom and a few others that I've stumbled across. (It's weird being both a fanbaby and fancrone at the same time. Heh.)

As for craziness in fandom and shows, I guess that's another reason to be grateful for an end date for BSG. Maybe it'll go out with a bang, not a whimper.

[identity profile] natalexx.livejournal.com 2007-07-23 05:58 am (UTC)(link)
Sadly, the creative process is imperfect (and don't we all have to re-acknowledge THAT from time to time). I'm a wee bit relieved that we have an end date for BSG now, I admit. It's pretty much guaranteed to cut down on creative lethargy. Yey!

Frankly I think BSG fandom seems pretty sane (at least on LJ) compared to the little I've seen of Harry Potter fandom and a few others that I've stumbled across.

Definitely. I hesitate to characterize it this way, as it seems such a generalization, but I think the BSG fandom tends to skew a little more adult. In both source material (of course) and, thus, most of the deeply involved fans. *shrug* My first fandom was a teenage show and even the adult fans tended to get a little melodramatic. Weird how that works. Heh.