Baltar’s interrogation begins, and Apollo and Starbuck need to resolve the various issues with their love lives.
Cast
James Callis as Dr. Gaius Baltar
Edward James Olmos as Admiral Adama
Mary McDonnell as Laura Roslin
Katee Sackhoff as Kara “Starbuck” Thrace
Jamie Bamber as Lee “Apollo” Adama
Michael Hogan as Col. Tigh
Tricia Helfer as Number 6
Grace Park as Sharon “Athena” Agathon/Boomer
Tahmoh Penikett as Helo
Aaron Douglas as Galen Tyrol
Kandyse McClure as Anastasia “Dee” Dualla
Alessandro Juliani as Felix Gaeta
Synopsis
Adama and Roslin turn their attention to interrogating Baltar, while Apollo, Starbuck, Dualla and Anders deal with their collapsing marriages.
High Points
- Roslin’s first attempt at interrogating Baltar
- Baltar’s incoherent ranting about guilt and betrayal
Low Points
- The Starbuck/Anders/Apollo/Dualla love square had to be resolved at some point, but it felt a bit distracting and dull set against all the excitement of Baltar
The Scores
Originality: To be honest there isn’t anything particularly original here. It’s interrogation drama and romantic reconciliation done very well, but in ways we’ve all seen or read about. Four out of six.
Effects: There aren’t many effects in this episode, barely even any space shots, so it’s hard to rate them particularly highly. What we do get is good, of course. Four out of six.
Story: It felt in many places like the romantic second plotline was just a distraction from the main event with Baltar, Roslin and Adama. It was important, but Baltar was simply too compelling to leave much interest for Starbuck’s various inequities. Four out of six.
Acting: James Callis had a hard role this week but handles it very well. Mary McDonnell, though, was particularly superb in her shouting and ranting during Baltar’s interrogation. Unfortunately I didn’t feel that we were treated to similar quality from Jamie Bamber’s Apollo. Five out of six though, because Callis and McDonnell were so good.
Production: The new bar set is superb, and the editing during Baltar’s scenes was particularly effective. Five out of six.
Emotional response: It’s a shame about the emotional downtime between Baltar scenes, but the rest of the episode is a pile of emotional tension. Even the romantic subplot resolves to an emotional response at the end, so perhaps it’s not a complete loss. Five out of six.
Overall: This would have been superb if the juxtaposition of the two plots wasn’t so jarring. Unfortunately both had to happen at the same point in story-time due to previous events, but perhaps the episode structure could have eased that a little somehow. As such, four out of six.
And so Taking A Break From All Your Worries gets a grand total of thirty-one out of forty-two.
I called it!
Yup, the big Let’s Torture Baltar episode.
That was fun!
Anyone else want to smack Lee if he hurts Dee again? Or rather when he hurts her again?
Hey, anyone catch BSG on highdef? I caught an episode on UHD a while ago and… it was actually fairly crummy quality…
Re: I called it!
For just a moment there, when they were sitting at the table in the bar, I was pretty sure she was gone, was going to tell him enough. Very nice acting from Kandyse McClure there.
Re: Stabuck and Apollo
I agree that the Baltar story was wayyyy more compelling in this episode, but lets just take a look at the Starbuck and Apollo storyline for a minute…..
Ok, so Starbuck and Apollo want to be together, the fans want to see them together, the story (so far) has been pushing them together, so this episode they should finally be together right? WRONG. There wouldn’t be enough frakking angst for the writers if they did it that way. No we get Starbuck and Anders back together, and Dee and Lee back together and they keep pining away.
Wait, where have I seen these kind of plot machinations before? Oh, yeah frakking SOAP OPERAS!!! The Starbuck and Apollo line is a frakking soap opera. Arrrrgggghh!!! Buy pushing the "drama" past any resonable conclusion and resetting things back to where they were before the fight episode, they have played the same kind of bait and switch storyline that soaps have been doing for decades. It make the drama _less_ compelling, not more, to actually string the audience along. Also, why the frak is Starbuck a girl if she’s not meant to be with Apollo? And don’t claim I’m all sexist on that, my wife actually said that first.
I just hope they don’t have Mark Harmon come on to be Starbuck’s next love interest instead of Apollo (Bonus points for anyone who catches the reference). That show was killed because they toyed too long with getting the leads together. As of now Galactica seems to be following the same path.
I still have to listen to the podcast for this episode, but I’m almost certain Moore will be self-congratulatorily patting himself on the back for yanking the viewers’ chain.
Re: Stabuck and Apollo
In terms of who’s sleeping with who, yes, they’re back to where they were.
In terms of character development, both characters have had to make big decisions about their lives. It looks to me that they’ve each realized that they’re better off with their respective partners than with each other. I expect this will lead to the revelations about Kara’s past that have been hinted at, as she comes to trust Anders and open up to him more.
I absolutely don’t understand that question. Why does that fact that two characters are of opposite gender mean that they’re "meant" to be together, in fiction any more than in real life?
Re: Starbuck and Apollo
This struck me as how this plot would end up in real life. If they keep doing it, however, then we have a bad soap opera.
"WTF" seconded.
I’ve always liked the way they balance the more everyday plots with the planet-shattering ones, though I agree, at times one can seem trite by comparison. Overall, though, I think the writers do an excellent job with what is sometimes called Squid on the Mantlepiece. This is not the sequel to Snakes on a Plane, but a writer’s term for the problems created by the mismatch between "conventional dramatic properties" and the extreme situations found in SF and fantasy.
Re: Stabuck and Apollo
There really is no reason except that the writers have been throwing them at each other (sometimes literally ;-) since the miniseries.
Re: Stabuck and Apollo
Just for the record, I don’t and I never did.
Re: Stabuck and Apollo
Ditto. In fact, I considered their ‘cheating’ to be the low point of the season so far.
Re: Stabuck and Apollo
I’ve also never wanted them together. But I think some turmoil over why they shouldn’t hasn’t been all that bad.
Re: Stabuck and Apollo
Ok, well I see what you mean, and understand where everyone is coming from, and ….
I guess I’m just feeling more "get it over with" than "get Starbuck with Apollo". I didn’t really have a problem with Starbuck marrying Anders, and I really like Anders character. But in retrospect they have been pushing things back and forth between Starbuck and Apollo for three seasons now. Its time to be done, one way or another with this storyline.
This episode was absolutely jarring with its transitions between storylines, the worst being the one where they went from Baltar to the angst storyline and then back again. It just absolutely showed very powerfully the disparity between the two storylines. The Starbuck Apollo angst thing is just feeling very very played out.
Also, did anyone else go watch the bonus scene on the website and think, "whoa, that really belonged in the show". There we so many scenes they could have dropped for that one, it was a great scene. Hopefully Laura and Six will get more scenes together in the future…
Re: Stabuck and Apollo
I get it. Harmon’s role that you’re referring to is actually a Galactica type role – dashing astronaut in a Mustang convertible. Altho the rate the BSG soap opera is going, Maybe it’s Sybil we should be worried about – after all, she IS on "The L Word" these days…
Re: Stabuck and Apollo
Very good!! And I hadn’t even thought of that… shudder.
Re: Stabuck and Apollo
A couple of eps back, during "The Passage", Starbuck was so deep into Kat’s personal space during some of the argument scenes that I half expected she would just reach out, unable to control herself, and liplock. After all, many of the things Kara was berating Kat for were things she, Kara, was guilty of too, making them…kindred spirits…
Re: Stabuck and Apollo
For all you young pups out there that don’t remember the best non-SF show that ever ran on TV, check out paragraph four:
http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=60422
Re: Stabuck and Apollo
Ah, what the heck, go here and Take A Break From All Your BSG Worries…
http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=57402
Re: Stabuck and Apollo
Thanks for the link. :-)
Re: Stabuck and Apollo
Every member of the BSG writing staff would be very wise indeed to curl up with the DVD set of Moonlighting over a single weekend and take its lessons to heart. As a series, BSG is EXACTLY at the same cusp of either jumping the shark or going on to Eternal Greatness that Moonlighting was at in its prime in the middle of Season 3. Unfortunately, Moonlighting failed the test and beloved as it was /is, every fan will agree it didn’t quite live up to its ultimate potential. Neither did the wonderful La Femme Nikita, but that’s another story I won’t take up here.
For my money, the ONLY semi-fantasy show like BSG or Moonlighting or Nikita that successfully handled the ultimate release of sexual tension in a manner that kept from ruining it is the Diana Rig run on The Avengers. THAT is indeed the proper way to handle what BSG is trying to handle right now…
http://theavengers.tv/forever/peel2-25a.htm
Of course, The Avengers then succumbed to Tara King, but THAT’S another story too…
Re: Stabuck and Apollo
I’m not going to disrespect Moonlighting, a show I loved, but for my money the best non-SF show (actually, I think it’s the best period) that ever ran on TV can be found right here. Under-appreciated in its time, episodes shown out of order, time-slot and season shifting…How could it NOT be the greatest? ;)
Murderous Rage.
What are we supposed to think about Gaius sending Gaeta into the murderous rage with a few words? Accusations of being a Cylon is the only thing I can think of. Or of wanting to have a little hot-bodied Cylon action maybe? Why did Gaeta look up like he did, trying to tip off Gaius? Did Gaius really know that Gaeta was informing to the resistance or was that all just BS?
I really don’t want Gaeta to be a Cylon. Tigh either. At this point, I’d rather Starbuck than them. Except that it would make her time with Leoben worthless. All of them have drama in their past that being a Cylon would unravel the meaning of. Which places us as viewers in the same position as characters early in the series. Like Chief having to rewrite his memories of Sharron.
Re: Murderous Rage.
Well, something odd seemed to be going on with Gaeta and Baltar from the very start of their relationship. Maybe it was more than just what I would term a "man crush." Following that line of reasoning, it could be that Gaeta aided the rebels as revenge against Baltar for rejecting him, instead of for good old love of humanity. Mentioning that to Gaeta would certainly set him off, both because of the rejection and because his aid to the rebels would be seen in a very different light by the Galactica crew.
Re: Murderous Rage.
I think it’s mostly that they were both geeks (techies, science weenies) in a bunch of macho fighter-jock types.
Re: Murderous Rage.
Probably, though I consider my little theory more "meaty." (ouch)
I actually like your idea below about Baltar essentially saying nothing, though I would favor a more "significant nothing" like "If I’m going to die, I’ll make sure you die too by telling them that you were happy collaborating with the cylons."
In any case, that Gaeta/Baltar interaction was the most interesting thing about the episode to me. Really, I guess anything involving Baltar is the most interesting thing about any episode to me. Villains rock. :)
Re: Murderous Rage.
I suppose, that Gaeta is carrying one huge grudge about almost being thrown out of the airlock, and has decided to aim it at Baltar. I think Gaeta also still feels (rightly or wrongly) that he is suspected, not fully trusted, by others (like Tigh), and thinks he can earn back their trust by helping to nail Baltar.
I’ll bet Baltar didn’t actually say anything, just made it look to the onlookers that he and Gaeta shared a secret in order to yank Gaeta’s chain. And boy howdy, it worked.
Re: Murderous Rage.
As someone who has done that very thing, if that’s hat happened Baltar said, "And right now, they can’t hear me. I wonder if they suspect I’m reminding you of some deep dark secret I have on you…" And then they explode. :)