Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5 episode 4

While I did get a chance to watch last week's BSG while in Hawaii, I didn't have the time to write a review until now. Tonight's ep I'll review tomorrow, since I watch it through scifi.com, which doesn't post until Saturday mornings.

The violence from last week culminates in an unsettling climax and resolution in Blood on the Scales.

First off, there is the cold-blooded execution of the entire Quorum of 12 (minus Lee of course) by Zarek, when they do not acquiesce to his coup of the goverment. The heretofore squabbling quorum displays one single moment of bravery and solidarity and rejects Zarek's illegal takeover. In response, Zarek exits, and directs some (very cold, very unquestioning) marines to shoot the lot of them. But not everyone is so unfeeling - Gaeta is appalled, as is Kelly, who witnessed the deed (see below).

One of the higlights in the episode was seeing how attempts to weaken Adama and Roslin through psychological warfare did, in fact, fail flat out. When Zarek lies to Adama, telling him Tigh was killed in an escape attempt, in hopes that the news will break him, Adama responds by shutting down, giving Zarek nothing. Gaeta tells Roslin that Adama had been executed (and for all Gaeta knows, he had been), and she does not fall apart but flies into a rage. Roslin's "I'm coming for you" speech was reminiscint of Hillary Clinton's "No way, no how, no McCain", both in phrasing and in diction.

But ultimately, "the reckoning" came, and by day's end the Zarek/Gaeta coup is unseated. While it seems as thought the foot soldiers in the rebellion will receive some degree of leniency, such is not the case for the heads: Zarek and Gaeta are excuted by firing squad.

Which is not unexpected in one sense - it is, after all, treason, for which death is the punishment. But the special circumstances of the human race (<40K people, limited genetic diversity to carry on) and the fact that Adama usually runs a pretty forgiving ship, made it a little shocking. After all, Baltar ended up exonerated after new Caprica, others on Galactica have pulled some major insubordinate incidents and received little or no punishment.

But also it's unsettling because Gaeta bears somewhat of a resemblance to jeff_industrial, so I tend to root for his character. After they killed him, I kept saying to Chris, "I can't believe they killed Industrial Jeff!"

Anyway.

Gaeta's arc closes with reflection on his life, and the events of the coup, giving confessional to Baltar of all people. Zarek, the more sophisticated player, had driven the coup out of control, and corrupted Gaeta's more idealistic vision. It's clear that Gaeta is relieved things were put to a stop, even at the cost of his own life. His phantom leg pain, which had been increasing since the injury, disappears in his final moment of life, between the calls of "aim" and "fire".

This episode also brought back characters Kelly (former ship officer, who tried to assasinate Baltar at his trial) and Romo (Baltar's trial lawyer). Maybe they're giving all non-dead minor characters a final revisit before series' end. Although slightly contrived, each had their part to play (Kelly as the doubting revolutionary who eventually redeems himself, Romo as lawyer for Adama and to help Kara with neck-wound Anders).

The conclusion of the episode leaves a few loose ends. One is what is going to happen to Anders, who's suffered a serious neck wound. The other is something to do with the ship itself - Tyrol discovers some kind of gash in the engine room that is presumably a big deal. Something that will no doubt be explained in tonight's episode.

Tags: sci-fi
Mood: shocked