A lot of Blood indeed
As usual, good reader, you should mind the spoilers.
I think I actually liked The Oath slightly better than I did Blood on the Scales, the most recent episode of Battlestar Galactica…but at the same time, I think that Blood was by far the better episode. So basically, I’ve just admitted to being a pulp fan.
Whatever.
The pacing of the episode was excellent, and I especially liked how William Adama’s re-taking of his ship was, when it came to the main push, relatively bloodless. I liked how each scene of him and his loyalists marching through the corridors depicted a steadily thickening crowd of people, giving a vivid depiction not only of just how many people had opted to remain loyal to Adama in the first place, but also of how many people probably clung to Felix Gaeta and Tom Zarek’s mutiny-turned-coup out of fear or a desire to pick the winning side, rather than out of genuine loyalty to “the cause.”
I wonder how many historical revolutions have been like that.
Fare thee well, stable government
Zarek’s execution of the Quorum of Twelve could, I suppose, have been predicted — Zarek is first and foremost power-hungry. His secondary quality is that he is self-serving. His third quality is that he is calculating, and in this case it is the fact that the first two qualities overrode the third that ultimately spelled his doom. The mutiny and the coup failed the moment those two marines opened fire on the assembled delegates — that murderous action was not only the impetus behind people, like former LSO (and former Captain) Aaron Kelly, switching sides from mutineer to loyalist; it was also the impetus behind Gatea’s own backing down just prior to Adama’s retaking of Galactica’s CIC.
Tom Zarek (and Felix Gaeta) died in that hallway outside of the chamber that the Quorum was slaughtered in. It just took a few hours for the process to complete itself.
The death of the Quorum, of course, creates another power vacuum, and one wonders how the governance of the Fleet will proceed going forward. A recently-released preview clip for the next episode, No Exit, seems to suggest both that the government will be put back together and that Laura Roslin will be taking a step back in her role as President whilst working to elevate Lee Adama’s power, but I suppose nothing is certain; Adama could well decide that he’s put up with enough crap from “the civvies.”
Which would pit the older Adama against his son for the umpteenth time in the series.
Not that the repetition of theme would be a tiresome one — Jamie Bamber and Edward James Olmos carry off the father/son dynamic very well, and their squabbles are always fun to watch. I think.
Exeunt Felix, exeunt Tom
Of course, since I mentioned that Gaeta and Zarek died, it’s worth filling in the blanks: both men were executed at the end of the episode, by firing squad. Gaeta’s last words — “It stopped,” in reference to the itching in his amputated leg — indicate that in this final moment, he’s at peace with himself.
Which, I suppose, can be taken as indicative of the fact that much of the pain he felt in his amputated leg has psychological in nature. In fact, I suspect that Narcho’s explanation of his own actions was intended, by the writers, to mirror Gaeta’s reasoning: for as much respect as he might have had for Adama as a man and as a commander, he hated the Cylons more, and could not — in good conscience — serve under a man who would not fight them.
The only mystery left is Gaius Baltar’s cryptic statement to Gaeta in the “restaurants shaped like food” scene; when Baltar said he knew who Felix was, what exactly did he mean?
Thank goodness: no rape subplot
It was nice that the producers opted not to go this route, and that Lee and Starbuck managed to spring the prisoners from the brig before anything untoward happened.
Six was holding Hera?
Speaking of the brig scene, it was interesting to observe that Caprica Six was the one who ended up carrying Hera Agathon out of the cell; previously, Sharon Agathon has acted with great determination — even going so far as to use deadly force — to keep her child out of the hands of Six-model Cylons. One would think that her determination in this regard would burn especially hot in regard to Caprica Six, who has been the Six that has featured in Sharon’s paranoid visions in the past.
I’m not exactly sure if this is significant…but if so, I wonder what it portends? After going to such great lengths — even to the point of retcon — to establish that little Hera is the only Human-Cylon hybrid (and thus to re-assert her significance in the story arc of the series, presumably), one wonders at what the show’s producers are going to do to move Hera back into the action.
Anders
Samuel Anders was shot during the escape from the brig, and the wound to his neck looked pretty bad. It was a bit wrenching to see Kara Thrace struggling so hard to save Sam — despite how much of a mismatch they are as a couple, and despite the cold indifference that has characterized their relationship, it’s obvious that Starbuck cares very deeply for Sam, possibly to the point of genuine (if repressed) love.
Speaking of love…
…I can’t help but think that ultimately, love (as in: friendship, camaraderie) had a lot to do with what turned the tide in the mutiny. Because whereas the people loyal to the mutiny were acting primarily out of hatred — of the Cylons, of those who sided with them, of the established political order, etc. — the people who fought back were acting out of love — for the uniform, for the ship, and for each other. This was symbolized, I think, in the scene where Galen Tyrol accidentally wound up under Aaron Kelly’s gun, after which mutineer and Cylon began exchanging memories and laughing at shared jokes.
When last we saw Kelly, his resolve to destroy anyone associated with Baltar’s defence (because of Baltar’s association with the Cylons) was all but absolute. Yet in this scene, he’s able to look past the former Chief’s Cylonity and see the man that he knew for years in his role as LSO; he was even able to work in a joke about Cally Tyrol, perhaps implying that he was yet another of her conquests.
Kelly demonstrates that same sensibility again when he parts ways with Adama’s execution detail to weep in the memorial corridor, and in how he jumps at the chance to assist in saving Adama when the opportunity presents itself. For all his hatred — which he has in the past clearly articulated — there is something he loves more, and this is a large part of what compels him to switch sides, and then pivotally.
Speaking of hatred…
…it was interesting to see Tory Foster agitating for the rebel Cylons to abandon the Fleet in the wake of the mutiny/coup. Her disgust with humanity is still palpable, and she’s still working to undermine the Cylon/Human detente from her end of things.
She is almost assuredly going to side with Cavil when he turns up again.
The President kicks butt
Last episode, Starbuck was the character that really came alive and into her own again; this time around, Laura Roslin did it. Her scenes aboard the Cylon basestar were just grand, and fun to watch. And her threat to Tom Zarek was just…smashing:
“No. Not now, not ever. Do you hear me? I will use every cannon, every bomb, every bullet, every weapon I have down to my own eyeteeth to end you. I swear it! I’M COMING FOR ALL OF YOU!”
Epic.
Romo is back
Yes, everyone’s favourite lawyer, Romo Lampkin, turns in an appearance, and even downs a guard with his pen. Supposedly he’ll be around for another episode or two, so it’ll be interesting to see what the writers have in store to close out that character’s story.
Those massive cracks
Michael Hall, over at Galactica Science (which is rapidly becoming my favourite site to read for BSG commentary), cites the Rime of the Ancient Mariner in his analysis of the final scene, in which Tyrol manages to disable the FTL drive, and in so doing discovers the massive cracks in the ship’s hull.
Of course, we’ve been hearing for weeks now (mostly from Saul Tigh) that the ship isn’t doing well, and that it is suffering for having been so long out of port. Only now, however, has the exact scope of the problem been made clear, and it’s pretty staggering. The cracks Tyrol discovered aren’t piddly little hairlines; the hull has nearly rent itself asunder, and it’s clear that the good ship Galactica is only a few more good hits away from cracking like an egg.
Hall wonders if this discovery, which follows so closely after the ship becomes “becalmed” again as the mutiny is settled, isn’t meant to be an allusion to the Rime. One notes, that in that poem, the description of the decay of the ship (which follows, as vengeance, after an Albatross — representing Christ — is felled) is followed up by the drawing near of another ship, described thusly:
Alas ! (thought I, and my heart beat loud)
How fast she nears and nears !
Are those her sails that glance in the Sun,
Like restless gossameres ?And those her ribs through which the Sun
Did peer, as through a grate ?
And is that Woman all her crew ?
Is that a DEATH ? and are there two ?
Is DEATH that woman’s mate ?Her lips were red, her looks were free,
Her locks were yellow as gold :
Her skin was as white as leprosy,
The Night-mare LIFE-IN-DEATH was she,
Who thicks man’s blood with cold.
Given that Ellen Tigh is apparently going to return in the next episode, there may be something to Hall’s theory.
Of course, in that case…who is (was) the Albatross?
Which brings us to the one thing I didn’t like…
…which was the re-dress of the flight deck as the engine room. I didn’t really like the look of it; it felt a bit cheesy. I realize that thus far, I’ve had precious little to say against the show, but there it is: that backdrop needed a lot of work. Better yet, it just plain shouldn’t have been shown; it would have fit the series better for Tyrol to have ended up in an area rather like the place where Barry Garner was killed. Showing those massive, absurdly fast reciprocating pistons might have seemed like a good idea to the VFX team…but it tested the limits of believable. In fact, I think it might have exceeded them, just a bit.
…but let’s close on a better note.
Over at Hall’s blog, one of the commentators asks the obvious question: Gaeta was going to order the Fleet to jump…to where?
Hall himself has a theory that we’ve already seen Earth’s solar system in the show, most recently when the tylium ship jumped away (this is based on analysis of the constellations in the background). The commentator wonders whether it’s possible that Gaeta might have known that there was a livable planet in that system — Hall’s theory also involves Starbuck’s “find Earth” mission aboard the Demetrius having passed through that system without noticing Earth directly — and kept this information to himself, for later use.
That’s certainly an interesting speculation. It’s got me thinking about the First Hybrid’s prophecy, in fact, although I’ll have to come back to that idea tomorrow. I’ve no time to expound on it today.
Great post. I agree, I’m so glad there was no rape subplot in this episode. I also like your point about characters acting out of hatred or love.
Thanks for the compliment of my website. I wrote the article on Blood on the Scales and compared the events to the Rime of the Ancient Mariner before I saw the previews or heard anything about them. (My recording didn’t have the previews.) So, my article was discussing the return of a red-lipped “dead” blond woman in a ship (referring to Nightmare Life-in-Death in the Rime) before I knew that Ellen was coming back. I bring it up not to brag, but because a successful prediction strengthens the case that the writers were inspired by the Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
And actually, I was first posting about the Rime of the Ancient Mariner back in early July. It was the bird-like symbols and paintings of birds in Baltar’s lair that got me started thinking “albatross,” and that made me think of the Rime. However, in the Rime, the albatross represents Christ, and Baltar really seems like more of an Anti-Christ. I don’t know who the real “albatross” is, but back in July, I guessed the “albatross” would be Starbuck, while Baltar would only pretend to be an “albatross” (i.e., pretend to be a Messiah and pretend to be murdered.)
In any case, it’s not so much a theory as just a comparison, which may or may not be getting into the minds of the writers.
@ Lisa: you know, I can stand to watch most things on television and in movies, and can even understand when there’s narrative value to showing most sorts of disturbing things. But I’ve never understood the narrative value of depicting rape directly…and by some coincidence, have not watched Season 2 for a while (in no small part because of Thorne and the “farms”).
@ Michael: Good call then, mate. :)
It wouldn’t surprise me if the inspiration was there; certainly, the Albatross imagery would dovetail nicely with the Messianic/redemptive imagery that has been popping up in the plot.
I am honestly not sure whether Baltar falls on the side of angels or devils in the whole scheme; I can see the Luciferian possibilities in the character, but I can also see a kind of Snape-like (or, to draw upon the Bible, a somewhat Pauline) redemptive pattern beginning to emerge.
Kenneth: One of my main problems with using rape in storytelling is that it’s often a short-cut to character development. Rather than doing the harder work of creating genuine obstacles for a female character, often she will suddenly act out of character — i.e., do something stupid she would normally be too smart to engage in — and “suffer the consequences.” As a writer when I’m trying to think of ways I can tear my characters down and pull out all the emotional stops I try to eliminate the first five possibilities that come to mind because those are usually tropes. Rape is one of those.
Michael: Kudos on the Rime connections. I’m not going to have pay special attention to the bird imagery in Baltar’s lair. Baltar seems much more Luciferian to me. While watching one of the recent episodes I do remember seeing Paul comparisons, but now I can’t remember what that was. I’ll have to rewatch to see if it comes up again. Specifically, I remember thinking some element was similar to the conversion of Paul and the scales falling from his eyes.
@ Lisa: That’s a valid point. In what few attempts at writing I’ve made in the past, it’s been my experience that I do not even want to contemplate wishing that sort of violation on even a fictional character. The idea of rape is, to me, so shattering and debased — I honestly can’t understand how people can write, depict, or enact it in fiction.
Oh, and I’d be interested in hearing what event you thought correlated with the scales falling away, if ever you remember what it was.