oh my god…
i think that was even better than the premiere, maybe! i mean, i’m not certain yet but it’s entirely possible! jesus hell…i’m not over it yet, really. definitely one of the best episodes of the entire series, possibly even better than 33, but maybe for different reasons.
so ridiculously good, and gut-wrenching. and bottom line: i fucking love tigh. so fucking much. i’ve been loving him since the end of last season and now all of a sudden i love him more and more with each episode. and totally completely get my heart ripped out by him every episode. god bless michael hogan for being a totally spectacular actor. yeah, james callis is acting the hell out of season three, but he ain’t no col. tigh, yo.
anyway…everything the last 3 episodes have been building up to came to a head right here. it was action from scene one and it didn’t let up for a single second of the episode.
so we sit through some: “oh look at dee and apollo, they’re married now. awww. barf.” stuff that sets up apollo whining over the olmos taking off to rescue everyone and everything because he’s fucking awesome. but that’s not even all that important, really.
and ok, how good is a show when i can get so freakin’ teary eyed over a character i’ve wanted to die seven ways from sunday since her introduction!??!? seriously! it’s just not right. i mean, i tolerated ellen tigh. for the most part i would forget about her entire existence until something went wrong that was her fault. other than that she was just kind of gross, and really skanky.
then all of a sudden she’s doing everything and anything to keep tigh alive and even fuckin’ toasters. which is, also gross. but she almost gets everyone killed, and she gives them all up in a big way. and in a way that’s worse than fucking around to get tigh out of detention because it hurts him far more than having an eyeball ripped out. it opens up all those icky issues involving service and dedication and things you give up in the middle of war to ensure survival. it’s standards and honor against love and fear and desperation. everything tigh turned off; everything he pushed the insurgents to do; every standard he held his men to; everything he struggled through just to make sure the people on new caprica could have a chance to get away when the olmos finally comes through; everything he suffered in the unshakeable hope that yes, the olmos is coming back; and now this? treason is death and no man is above the cause of humanity, of survival. apparently no woman either.
and that was just so horrible to watch. it was probably the sweetest, nicest moment between tigh and his wife — but only if you don’t look at the part where he had to kill her. because he had to, he really did. after everything she did for him, the least he could do was make sure she went quietly, comfortably, and without humiliation. any number of people would’ve gladly put a bullet in ellen’s skull and called it a day, but tigh would’ve had to live with letting them do that. letting her spend her last moments in fear and shame. letting her down. i don’t know that what he has to live with now is totally better, but in a way it’s kinder. and either way it’s just so sad.
and that’s only the first freaking act! the, all hell promptly breaks loose. finally the birds on galactica are able to pull off their missions and send out decoys to start the rescue effort. cylons down on new caprica summarily begin to freak the fuck out and baltar mopes and whines a lot…except this time he’s actually right about something. only that doesn’t make up for all the things he’s been so very wrong about. the cylons decide ‘frak humanity’ and begin their escape, capricasix pulls a ‘buck up, lil camper’ on baltar and is interrupted by a gaeta (gaeta!?!?) assassination attempt; all while d’anna frolicks off to detonate a nuke. just another lovely day in new caprica. and i think the cylons extending an invitation to baltar on their little abandon ship party sets him just that much more batshit crazy. it’s like, each and every second he spends on new caprica a little bit more of his humanity is eroded away. only now he’s finally aware of it.
new caprica city: cue the freaking insanity. leoben leaves an unconscious starbuck with the creepy children-of-the-corn baby and heads out into the melee. people running everywhere, diversive explosions, roslin all ‘save the cylonbaby above all costs’, while anders & the chief muck stuff up and rescue people. cylon raiders are everywhere, gunfire, flames, smoke, explosions and then…
galactica literally falling from the literal sky into new caprica’s atmosphere? fucking unbelievably AWESOME!
“my logic was: look, if galactica can take a hit from a nuke and keep on movin’…if it can take a nuke and still be okay on some level, this is a tough motherfuckin‘ machine.” — ron moore
most.fucking.awesome.scene.ever. one second all of galactica is flaming and barreling towards the ground in a massively impressive display, and the next: BOOM! it jumps right back out of the atmosphere! BOOM-WHOOSH!!! fucking awesome. and of course, if there isn’t a visual effects emmy for the galactica this year all hell will break loose. seriously, yo.
i could watch that over and over it was so spectacularly spectacular. really, it really was. KABOOMWHOOSH!!!
and then, and then and then…on the galactica things are not doing so good. they can’t maneuver, ther eare too many base stars coming after them, the FTL drive is fucked and everyone is wounded and frantic. you can see in the olmos’s face — his giant, pock-marked, fucking awesome face — that it’s over. that they can’t fight anymore, and there is sadness. i seriously freaked out for a while…and then, and then…and then the pegasus zooms in with a full battery of shooting and fighting and you know it’s all over for that giant ship. but they’re saved, in the last second, the battlestar has time to regroup and the cylons are caught off guard. it was awesome, and made me actually like apollo for a while. i don’t hate him, mind you, but i never really, truly liked him. still…good show, man.
even better when they all evac and the beaten, broken mass of the pegasus slams into a fucking base star and takes it out, snapping in half and taking out ANOTHER base star with the rest of its flaming pieces. fucking visual effects grammy, yo.
some drama with d’anna getting ahold of the cylonbaby-of-doom and whatnot. there’s starbuck freaking out while anders is trying to rescue her and going back for the creepy kid. why in god’s name she really thinks that is her daughter i’ll never know, but then leoben corners her. and it gets so creepy and disgusting and a little more of her breaks when she has to say she loves him. even more when she has to kiss him, but not enough of the good ol’ starbuck is gone when she finally takes anders’ knife, rams it in leoben’s guts and twists. she fucking twists it…and that, ladies & gentlemen is why i love starbuck. awesome. but finally, roslin takes over colonial one again and gets the hell out of new caprica: all calm and collected and adorable. it was nice, almost closure.
but, all sorts of emotional again when everyone comes back on the galactica. there is much rejoicing, much oh my god we did it, much milling about and reuniting with people. it’s shock and disbelief and fucking relief. chief sees starbuck all ‘hey! omg it’s you!’ because nobody has seen starbuck since the occupation except for creepy-ass leoben and they all KNOW she would totally fucking have ninja-kicked all the cylons back into the cold, dark, empty vaccum of space. she would have, you know. totally.
apollo gets a big ol’ happy hug from the olmos and they just might have put all the family baggage ugliness behind themselves now. just maybe…but then there’s tigh… again, he is the most heart-wrenching part of this episode. after all this time, after the whole year has passed and the occupation and everything he is still a solider. he asks permission to come aboard and the olmos can see how much he’s given up. it’s not just how raggedy he is, or the limp, or the eye…it’s how freaking worn out he is. and sad. they briefly reunite and i think that’s the most heartbreaking moment right there. because nothing is ever going to be the same again, and even though they’re all “free” and together again…is it really worth it?
i hope it is.
i hope i can sit still for another 24-ish hours until the next episode…
also note: episodes with a minimal, to nearly non-existent presence of boomerwhores are good episodes.
also, halloween is in mere days, but when i have the time this might be a necessary project
(because i am, in fact, a dork like that): cylon-o-lantern!
