Battlestar Galactica: Resistance"Resistance" is the weakest episode of the new season of
Battlestar Galactica. But when you consider how incredibly good the first three weeks of the season were, then you knew there had to be a bit of a letdown episode in there somewhere.
And it's not that "Resistance" is a bad episode. Certainly it's not in the pantheon of "bad" that such episodes like "Spock's Brain" or "Imaginary Friend" are in the
Star Trek canon. But "Resistance" just didn't quite have me walking away as enthused or on fire for
BSG as I have been the past few weeks.
I think a lot of that comes down to the plotline unfolding on Caprica. Starbuck and Hilo meet up with a group of people who were up in the hills when the Cylons attacked and have formed their own resistance cell. We spend a good part of the episode with these two parties shooting at each other or holding each other at gunpoint and assuming the other side is a "toaster." Then, they decide to all trust each other and we find out about the wacky group of resistance fighters living up in the hills and banding together for survival. Honestly, it's a plot thread straight out of just about a lot of
Doctor Who stories and that may be why I found it a bit dull. Outsiders come in, are mistrusted at first, then slowly accepted and we all end up wacky, good friends. And I'm assuming this is going to lead to Starbuck finding a ship and returning to the fleet, leaving her wacky new friends behind. She's found an army, but whether or not they follow her lead or see it being worth it to sacrfice themselves to the fleet can find Earth, I'm not quite sure. Or maybe they'll find a ship so they can all go, but that'd be a bit too easy.
And let's face it--nothing on
Battlestar Galactica comes easy.
Meanwhile, back at the fleet, the interesting stuff is happening. Tigh is slowly spiralling out of control. I kept hearing Princess Leia's line from Star Wars echoing here--"The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."
Tigh is trying to not lose the fragile grip he has on the fleet. He did no favors by disolving the Quorum last week and declaring marital law. Now, we see him head further down the slope as the fleet refuses to resupply
Galactica and Tigh sends in the Marines. Which only backfires since Tigh is so spread out keeping his fragile grip on power that he has to send in troops that easily panic and end up killing some civilians in a riot. And Lady McTigh ain't helping matters either, though the glimpse into their relationship we got this week was a bit disturbing (Tigh takes Ellen's belittling of him as some weird form of foreplay...makes you wonder what might have happened in the last scene had Adama not come back). Meanwhile, Lee is forced to stand by the choice he made in the season finale and choose to side with Roslin--to the point that it may permanently destroy his relationship with his father.
OK, I'll admit it was a bit predictable when Lee told Roslin that he knew someone to help her out and that Richard Hatch's name had appeared in the credits. Kind of gave that one away. (Yes, I read the opening credits...always have.)
But now, Adama is back and he's not piling on the Tigh (just yet). He's going to stand by Tigh's decisions and I guess if he can put the fleet back together. But you can bet Tigh has not made things easy for the Old Man. And I have to admit I can't wait to see how they start picking up these pieces and where it might lead.
UPDATE: I can't believe I forgot this...but I get off on a tangent. Thanks Katherine for jogging my memory.
To further show how far down the path Tigh has gone, we see him betrating Tyrol here and throwing him in the brig. (Apparently Tigh's solution to everything is the brig....I bet he wishes he could throw the entire fleet in there). But we see Tyrol put in with Boomer who tries to convince him she's real and has emotions and feelings. We then see Baltar come in under the auspices of proving Tyrol is human and instead pretend to kill Tyrol to play on Boomer's feelings. Baltar finds out there are eight Cylon agents still in the fleet...which doesn't sound like that many until you remember how many survivors there are. And you have to wonder if Boomer was lying to save Tyrol. Interesting that Baltar is learning how to manipulate Cylons back. Makes you wonder what other lesson he's picking up from his little talks with Six.
Six, by the way, had one of the great lines of the night in talking about how the word "toaster" is racist and she doesn't like Baltar using it.
posted by Michael Hickerson at 8/08/2005 11:42:00 AM |
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