Major plot threads continue to move forward as we return to the issue of Baltar’s trial.
Cast
James Callis as Dr. Gaius Baltar
Edward James Olmos as Admiral Adama
Mary McDonnell as Laura Roslin
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
Mark A. Sheppard as Romo Lampkin
Synopsis
A new defence counsel is appointed for Baltar after the assassination of the previous one, and Apollo put in charge of his safety while still trying to deal with the loss of Starbuck.
High Points
- “You now own one fifth of Baltar’s skinny ass.”
- “Suddenly I’m handcuffed to a serial contrarian.”
Low Points
- We note with sadness that Katee Sackhoff no longer appears on the opening titles.
The Scores
Originality: It’s about growth, finding your purpose and recovering from a loss. We’ve seen these things before, but on this show we’re rarely subjected to tired interpretations and this episode is no exception. Old themes, yes, but polished until they look quite fresh. Four out of six.
Effects: Not many effects shots this week, mostly interior pyrotechnics and some rather impressive makeup. What’s there is good and fitting, so no cause to mark it down. Five out of six.
Story: This episode obviously marks a turning point in the story of Apollo, which was hinted at before and kicked into motion with last week’s dramatic events. It’s also a major point in the story of Baltar, and that of Caprica-Six as well. The best thing is that I can’t complain about any of it. We’re seeing real movement forward, and it’s wonderful. Six out of six.
Acting: I’m not sure I like his tendency to growl everything under his breath like Edward James Olmos does, but apart from that niggle we’ve got a fine new member of cast for what looks like at least the next few episodes. The role of Romo Lampkin is a rather unusual variant on a defence lawyer, and Sheppard handles it well. Needless to say, the rest of the cast do their usual excellent work. I particularly like Mary McDonnell’s approach to Roslin’s press conferences. Five out of six.
Production: Neither great nor terrible, it’s simply there and you don’t really notice it. Four out of six.
Emotional response: There are some definite emotional high spots, although nothing like last week. I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m certainly feeling rather sympathetic toward Caprica-Six at the moment, and I suspect that’s deliberate. Five out of six.
Overall: An excellent episode. Five out of six.
The Son Also Rises receives a respectable grand total of thirty-four out of forty-two.
Wearing thin
My patience for Galactica is wearing thin. And as some noted last week, other parts of this season have been some of the best things on television lately.
My problem with this episode is: "Doesn’t anyone on this show except Adama, Roslyn, Helo, and Athena have anything they really believe in?".
I mean Apollo in this episode is a sheet flapping in whatever breeze is blowing. I don’t give a rats ass how much Baltar deserves a "fair" trial. But we all know and Apollo should also know that any "fair" trial finds his ass guilty, period. He signed death warrants on his people for standing up against the cylon occupation, now his people have a right (duty in fact) to find him guilty of treason to his people (it doesn’t matter if he had a gun to his head).
Its the only charge they really need to bring, and Baltar might as well plead no contest. This bullshit about how he needs his damn story heard is ridiculous. It should take 5 minutes to present this evidence and 5 minutes to convict. Let alone that we (and by plot happenstance Roslyn and Six) know what he did to bring about the destruction of the colonies, which while not a conscious effort on his part was something his is at least partly guilty of bringing about too. He’s so damn guilty of so many things, its ridiculous. They don’t even know hes guilty in part for the destruction of cloud 9. I mean my god how many deaths are actually on this guys head, and they’re still maneuvering the show to let him off?
Apollo is doing nothing "noble" here. Hes reduced by this story to a tool. Sure Baltar deserves council to represent him, but I know that there will be conflict between Adama and Lee over whether Baltar should be found guilty and thats garbage manufactured by the shows writers. Apollo knows full well what Baltar has done and if he were truly principled, he couldn’t represent him.
Prediction: A future "dramatic" moment on the show. Olmos will act his heart out and convincingly (however implausible and stupid it might be) utter the line "Not guilty". Its obviously coming, and it really really shouldn’t be.
Re: Wearing thin
Unless, while on some unrelated recon mission, Athena jacks into the collective and "randomly" comes across information showing how the cylons have implanted an interface in Baltar (that didn’t show up when he looked for ""a chip"") and have been controling him. If the link was to Caprica 6 specifically, it exlpains everything and then… Who could convict a man who has been controlled by a cylon implant? He was just a guy – happened to be a defence contractor – who was targeted, violated, and then controlled by the enemy.
That’s the thing about an enemy that has unknown capacity. You can’t rule anything out. It’s a crutch that most Sci-Fi writers rely on too heavily, making deux-ex-machina a regular part of the story. The BSG crew have done an OK job at avoiding that pitfall, but it is probably a thin line they are walking… Hopefully they will pull this whole thing off without resorting to ""Look at the secret unimagined cylon ability that explains all of our plot holes !!"".
+
Re: Wearing thin
I dunno. It’s basically Saddam’s trial, complete with lawyer assassinations, and that sure as hell took longer than 5 minutes.
Yeah, well, it could be worse. Adama says "Guilty", Baltar gets shot/hanged/spaced, Baltar resurrects on Cylon ship. You tell me.
I do agree that Lee has his head firmly stuck up the latest posterior to present itself yet again, but he’s in a bit of a weakened state right now.
Re: Wearing thin
Nooooooooo.
That… would … be… worse.
Re: Wearing thin
My bet? Baltar gets convicted. Cylons show up. Cylons offer to trade Starbuck for Baltar. Game over.
Re: Wearing thin
You forgot to mention the cylons would be riding a shark when they make the offer.
Re: Wearing thin
Yeah, that’s the name of the new medium class raider that’s a mix of the heavy & the fighter.
Re: Wearing thin
Naw…
There is a strange nebula called "the shark" in that system that the cylons simply have to cross over to reach the fleet. :D
A couple of leather jackets on the cylons involved would finish the deal nicely.
Re: Wearing thin
If Colonial law is anything at all like American law, it certain does matter if one is acting under duress.
"I could have signed the warrants, and they would have shot 100 people; or I could have not signed the warrants, and they would have shot 101 people including me. Not only was I acting under duress, I was attempting to do my duty as president of the Colonies to survive and preserve some sort of human government."
I’m not saying he’s got the best case, but he does have one.
Re: Wearing thin
I agree. Is cowardice really a capital crime? Does it rise to the level of treason? As much of a coward as Baltar is, I think we have been shown he DOES have some sort of moral compass, even if it spins wildly at times. I think that it’s more than plausible that given his situation, if he thought signing a warrant for 100 people would save 1,000, he’d do it for the right reasons, even if saving his ass was part of the deal. Puppets are not looked at as harshly as their masters, at least here on Earth, and it’s not unforeseeable that some of the judging council would agree.
Re: Wearing thin
Let’s see. What we know (might not all be revealed in the trial.)
Baltar’s ego or cowardace (I would assume ego would not be a capital crime either, right?) is responsible for:
The attack on the colonies, lives lost: billions
The destruction of Cloud 9, lives lost: hundreds
The cylon occupation, lives lost: thousands
So lets see, his ego and cowardice is responsible for, well billions of deaths in one way or another. Yeah, I’d say that calls for a guilty verdict. If the Cloud 9 stuff is in the case, its a real slam dunk.
Re: Wearing thin
I’d think Cloud 9 is more than hundreds, I seem to remember them saying ‘several ships’ were lost not just Cloud 9 proper. If I remember right the nuke blowing up did take out a number of nearby ships at least their hulls were aflame which for a civilian ship you would think that means toast for the folks inside.
I’d also think for a ship that large, there’d be more than a few hundred on it, I mean you could camp out a lot of refugees in the dome you would think.
Don’t know, just a random geek thought.
Re: Wearing thin
I actually disagree with you on a lot of this. His culpability in the original attack is negligence at best. If ego were a crime, there wouldn’t be jail space enough to hold most of the human race. He had no idea he was being used by a Cylon, at that time I believe no one in the colonies knew of the human form Cylons.
On New Caprica, as has been stated, he was a powerless dictator. His decision to settle wasn’t necessarily the wrong one. He was representing people, people who were tired of living on a ship. They wanted to start building a home. From his perspective, it seemed like a perfectly good place to settle down. WE knew that would never work but HE didn’t. The signing of the death warrant, I believe, will be easy to defend as stated previously. Do you believe in that situation that they wouldn’t have just killed him, forged his signature and done what they wanted anyway? Or just done it, skip the forgery? Everything they "gave" to humans on New Caprica was a sham, they were fully in power. His signing of the death warrant meant nothing at all.
As for cloud 9, I give you that one. He knowingly delivered a nuclear device to a Cylon agent. That was pure stupidity and treason enough to space him. If they know of that I feel it would be enough for a solid conviction. IF they know about it and have evidence to support the charge.
Personally I have no issue with the turn of events at this point dealing with the trial story line. I have to look kind of hard to find an issue, I am really enjoying it.
As for Starbuck, I have a hard time beleiving the would write her out of the show at this point or that Katee Sackhoff would want to leave such a successful show right now. My belief is that she needed to do something else for a while so they are putting her on ice for now and she will be back. I just hope it isn’t in a dumb way. Given their track record, I believe they will do it right. We will see.
Re: Wearing thin
What is up with the Cloud 9 thing? When it was destroyed and there weren’t any Cylons around, why didn’t Adama make Tyrol (or somebody) count all the nukes in the inventory? When they found all were where they were supposed to be, they would’ve (one assumes) checked on the one given to Baltar for his research. Upon finding it missing, they would have been able to guess what happened and space him right there. None of this happened. They just let it go… WTF?!?!?
My guess is that they still have no idea how/who/why that happened so I doubt that they’d charge him with it now (at least not without explaining how they figured it out).
Does any of this make sense or, did I just miss a big part of the story?
Re: Wearing thin
Not really.
He didn’t ask for one to sit it on a table and look at it. His plan was to disassemble it and use the parts. They would EXPECT to find that it was gone; used up in the making of the cylon detector.
The glasses
The sun-glasses that Romo wore ended up being a terrible distraction.
Not in and of themselves… but because of their consequences.
If Mark Sheppard had just been on screen, I might have just gone with it, much the same as I did when Edward Olmos was playing Adama. But since the glasses obstructed the face, I spent the first 15 seconds trying to figure out where I knew him from…
And then, every time his face hit the screen, all I could see was Dodger. – didn’t help at all that he was a pick-pocket .
Yeah, its picking nits, and the actor did a fine job, but that little detail sure was annoying.
North Americans hate lawyers until they need one.
Trials make for good drama, if they’re handled correctly.
I rather liked the line at the beginning of the episode, about being unwilling to sacrifice principles because of terrorist attacks. The same goes with giving Baltar a trial. They’re trying him the same way the Allies tried the top Nazis after WWII. This is principled behaviour.
And yeah, like many other people at the board, I’m finding the gravelly whisper annoying and difficult to follow. He’s a trial lawyer! He’s not going to deliver his dialogue in a barely audible whisper.
Can we have less of the mumbly whisper?
Re: The glasses
The glasses annoyed me for another reason. Who in the hell wears sunglasses inside, especially inside a fairly dimly lit ship? I was hoping for a reasonable explanation, like at the moment he was talking to Lee and took them off the first time (I think it was Lee), his eyes should have been weird looking or something, maybe a short accident explanation or something.
Re: The glasses
When he first fumbled to put his cat back in the bag (haha), I thought maybe he was just a very capable blind person. When that proved false, I had to wonder what their purpose was. It could make it harder to know at what he’s looking or whom he’s observing, but–as pointed out–Galactica is really dim. I think whatever meaning may have been intended was lost on the distraction and out-of-place factor.
And speaking of the cat and out-of-place distractions… WTF?
Re: The glasses
Interestingly, while I did have a nagging feeling of recognition, it never clicked that he was Badger.
As for the sunglasses (and the cat and the whisper), they’re obviously affectations intended to project an altered image of himself to others. If the scene with Six showed us nothing else, it’s that he’s a master manipulator. A character like that should know exactly how such quirks influence the way other people view and deal with him. Thus far, he’s successfully hidden his true personality from everyone except perhaps Apollo — it remains to be seen whether that was the real him that came out or another projected image.
Re: The glasses
I agree. My problem is that it’s distracting to the viewer. Because we’re not used to such (for lack of a better explanation) "forced characterization", this is also detracting to the story.
Re: The glasses
His voice, and his face from the chin down, carry a remarkable resemblance to the accent/voice that Baltar used when he was talking about his Arilon heritage in a previous episode. At the time many of us wondered about that chin-only shot of Baltar. Someone even said it might not have been Baltar’s voice. :)
-Joe
Re: The glasses
I think the accent he was using was Irish from the Dublin/South-Eastern side of Ireland. I’m not all that good with accents. It might not be even a "real" Irish accent but a "stage" Irish accent. (Not meaning that he is an actor putting on a false accent, we know that, but that he is putting on an accent according to what we think Irish accents are supposed to sound like, not what they really sound like). I think it is supposed to put us in mind of "blarney" or someone who manipulates others with his words. This would fit the character he was portraying. It sounded similar to the Bullseye character Colin Farrel played in Daredevil. Also it is almost St. Patrick’s day so maybe the director/producers thought it would be appropriate.
Re: The glasses
The Arilon accent was a mix of accents, some Cockney broadness of vowels, some Irish brogue in the consonants, and an odd, almost American-sounding flatness to some of the vowels.
Badger’s accent sounds remarkably similar. I’m not certain what the actor’s normal speaking accent is like. Maybe someone from the UK could tell us whether or not his accent is an actual accent, or more of an artificial construct like Ambassador Mollari’s accent in B5. :)
Vierrrrrrrh!
-Joe
Re: The glasses
To this person from the UK it sounded like an american actor attempting to do a regional British accent, but not being able to stick to one. Though as he’s born in the UK I’m mildly surprised. There was some Irish in there, but I’d say Belfast rather than Dublin. It was nowhere near as convincing or consistent as the one James Callis put on.
Re: The glasses
I’m an Anglophile, but I know there are some regional accents that I haven’t heard. I’m glad to know Badger’s accent didn’t just sound peculiar to me. :)
Thank you. :)
-Joe
Re: The glasses
It just occured to me, chances are good this series can’t afford a dialogue coach. I’d wager Badger was doing his best to copy Baltar’s Arilon accent without having anything other than Jamie Callis and a few patient staff members to guide him.
-Joe
Re: The glasses
I remember seeing an interview where Jamie Bamber (Apollo) said he was jealous because James Callis (Baltar) got to use his natural dialect while he and others had to fake an American accent for the production. It was quite intereesting hearing him speak naturally. (not as interestnig as when Hugh Lawrie (sp?) from HOUSE speaks naturally, but still kinda neet)
Population Count
I had to let out a sob during the opening music:
Population count on 3/4: 41400
Population count on 3/11: 41399
Kudos on the attention to detail guys.
Re: Population Count
Ah damn. I have to re-watch that. I thought they did an excellent job handling the aftermath of Starbuck’s death, particularly Lee and Sam’s dialogs. I half-way expected a fight. We see that rough and tough Sam is just truly, deeply wounded.
As for Lee turning towards Baltar’s defense team, the lawyer’s dialogue to Six about losing love was very powerful. Laura heard it, Adama was fiddling with his buttons, Lee heard it. It impacted him, at a time when he was very receptive.
That lawyer is very likeable, and the accent, if I make my connections correctly, is straight forward Arilon. :)
I agree Baltar is guilty as all get-out, but I admire Laura’s stand for law.
-Joe
Re: Population Count
I agree completely, but I fear (what I believe to be) the writers extreme desire to find Baltar not guilty.
Re: Population Count
Yeah i was watching for that specifically, even paused it and said Oh out loud not intentionally.
Well done.
Caprica six left some of her cells in him…
Caprica six left some of her cells in him. If her cells gradually are replacing his nerves and brain cells he could wind up being transfered into a female cylon body.
A funny thing could occur if he flatlined on Galactica during a cylon raid and transfered his consciousness to the resurection ship. If Galactica revived his body after the transfer there would be two Baltars for everyone to loathe, hate and distrust. One Male and one Female. The question is whether Tricia Helfer has the acting talent to pull it off.
I see an eventual conflict with Earth if everybody here has cybernetic components such as augmented vision, hearing, neural implants and initally looks less human than the cylons do.
What if Earth shipped out convicts on one way manned survey missions with no hope of return. Hard wired to obey the directives by pain motivation. Overpopulation has curious effects on social networks and the devaluation of human life.
There could also be a plot thread that the five unknown cylons deliberately sabotaged cylon to cylon pro-creation to force the rest of the cylons into genocidal conflict with humaninty.
Re: Caprica six left some of her cells in him…
I suspect the other five Cylons have special abilities deemed too dangerous to make multiple copies of. I’d bet some age, are capable of reproduction, and may not be capable of resurrection. They may also be 100% compatible with humans — no more synthetic structures in their bodies, so they would be essentially undetectable.
Undetectable = untraceable = uncontrollable? The uncontrollable independent-minded Threes were enough of a risk that the entire model was boxed. I might leave five potential rogues unboxed, but I wouldn’t keep them hanging around me.
There has to be some purpose for those farms on Caprica. I believe the Starbuck arc will reveal it. We also met a new Cylon in that episode, the doctor. I am not completely certain, with all of the attention paid to Badger, um, the lawyer, that he doesn’t turn out to be a Cylon.
Humanoid Cylons, at least the Sixes and the Leobens, are unusually perceptive, very persuasive, and their comments are very efficiently targetted at their intended recipients. The lawyer managed to engender the trust of the president, enthrall Caprica Six, get in good with Baltar, and win over the Admiral’s son, in relatively short time.
With his managing to smoothly, quickly infiltrate the upper echelons of power in the fleet, he might be one of the five, functioning as a guided missile to strike at the fleet’s heart, their government and command structure.
If I were a Cylon, it’s what I would do. With a few well-placed plants sewing disinformation the colonials could tear themselves apart from the inside out, and my work would be done. Someone, I think Calli or Laura, said as much in this episode.
-Joe
P.S. I was amazed at how well-written this episode was. In rewatching it there are nuances in the lawyer’s dialogue that I had missed before. He’s one hell of a character.
Re: Caprica six left some of her cells in him…
Um, if it goes down like you laid out here I won’t be watching the show to answer any of the questions you pose.
From Wikipedia
The last scene of the last episode: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_James_Olmos "Destroyed a $100,000 model ship while improvising a scene on Battlestar Galactica, he was unaware it had been rented from a model museum earlier in the day."
AUGH!
In the meantime, someone in the props department is watching that scene in horror.
-Joe
Re: From Wikipedia
OMFD. Do they do payroll deductions? I bet after they told him what he did he wanted to go break another out of frustration.
Glad they kept it in though.
Damien
Re: From Wikipedia
yeah on the podcast they talked about it, he totally improvised it and they could hear the prop guys almost crying.
I did like how it was mashed up still & in the background in this episode.
Re: From Wikipedia
They broke it, they keep it ;)
I hope they keep it in his quarters in future episodes. He made into a powerful symbol in that scene (and I’ll bet that showing it in the background here was intentional)
I’m curious to know where the tradition for sailing ships came from in the colonies…
Re: From Wikipedia
Prop Guy : EDDIE !!! That’s not a prop !
EJO: Oops my bad