Battlestar Galactica: Sometimes a Great Notion

The final ten begin counting down, as the Galacticans and the Cylons deal with the burned-out cinder of earth that was.

Cast

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 Colonel Saul Tigh
Kandyse McClure as Lt. “Dee” Dualla

Grace Park as Athena

James Callis as Dr. Gaius Baltar

Tricia Helfer as Number 6
Aaron Douglas as Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol

Lucy Lawless as D’Anna Cylon

Premise

Depression sets in as the characters realize the sought-after earth is an uninhabitable, radioactive wasteland, marked by buildings and possible tributes to post-apocalyptic earths past1. The “final four” Cylons find themselves drawn to particular places on earth, and we learn the identity of the fifth—although it’s apparent there were once many more of their kind. Meanwhile, Starbuck stumbles upon an unsettling mystery.

High Point

Despite questioning Kara’s actions, they result in some very powerful moments. Dee receives a convincing parting. Adama walks down a corridor of despair to confront Tigh. This episode delivers consistently powerful narratives of a society in crisis.

Kudos to the show’s creators for actually having the existence of the final five Cylons, integrated into the colonies without anyone’s knowledge, actually make sense.

Low Points

Starbuck’s decision to say nothing about her discoveries makes dramatic and psychological sense, but it still strikes me as contrived. She has a critical key to understanding the mystery of earth, learned at a critical point in human history, and she says absolutely nothing, and conceals important, testable evidence?

A nit: I recognize that earth-that-was might not be able to support human life, but they imply it has no life. Obviously, it bears plants and a breathable atmosphere, two thousand years after the nuclear apocalypse. Not only do plants count as life, such an ecosystem must contain other living entities.

The Scores:

Originality: 5/6 Many questions remain. Two of the biggest:

What, exactly, happened to Starbuck?

What, exactly, happened to earth?
Did Cylons created by the original colonies found earth, only to die in a civil war?
Did Cylons created by the original colonies found earth, forget they were artificial, and then create mechanical Cylons who rebelled, with the results we see?
Are the “Final Five” remakes/reborn from that time, or originals from two-thousand years ago who integrated with the former colonies’
Cylons?

Effects: 5/6. Great, as always, but some of the CGI backgrounds look like, well, CGI background.

Story: 5/6.

Acting: 6/6. The actors received one of the bleakest Galactica scripts thus far, and manage to pull it off without overplaying their parts. Some of their actions seem infantile-angsty, but not in context. This is how many people deal with extreme stress and the loss of hope.

Emotional Response: 6/6

Production: 6/6.

Overall: 6/6. This is an excellent episode. At the same time, the show has come some way from what its fans once knew, and one hopes the remaining episodes will find new directions.

In total “Sometimes a Great Notion” receives 39/42

Notes

1. The line “You might not like what you find” comes straight from Planet of the Apes, while the guitar-as-artifact has a precedent in Rush’s 2112.

The other obvious allusion may be found in the title. Sometimes a Great Notion, a novel by Ken Kesey, only tenuously connects to this episode; both feature a hardline patriarch and a fractured family during hard times. However, that title is itself an allusion, to the folk/blues song “Goodnight, Irene,” in which the line refers to the singer’s depression and thoughts of suicide.

Ron Moore discusses the identity of the final Cylon, and other matters, here.

36 replies on “Battlestar Galactica: Sometimes a Great Notion”

  1. Two nits about your review.
    First a nit about your nit. They’ve come god knows how far to find Earth, thinking it’d be a thriving civilization that escaped the Cylon holocaust, only to find a burnt out rock. Finding grass isn’t exactly the life they were hoping for. When you go to the fridge for food, and see only half a cup of milk, some ketchup, mustard, mayo, and a squishy head of lettuce, do you say "There’s nothing to eat" or do you say "I don’t want to eat rotten lettuce with ketchup, mustard, and mayo with half a cup of milk." You say the former.

    Second. Apparently you missed two crucial points in the show. Tyrol said, "I used to live here," and a moment later pointed at the black mark on a wall and said, "we died in a holocaust." Saul is digging out Ellen, she tells him it’s ok, they’ll be reborn, then a huge explosion plows in the wall. They quite clearly downloaded and resurrected in new bodies.

    Also, I was astounded to see them bring back Doctor Zee. That blindsided me.

    • Re: Two nits about your review.

      Apparently you missed two crucial points in the show. Tyrol said, "I used to live here," and a moment later pointed at the black mark on a wall and said, "we died in a holocaust." Saul is digging out Ellen, she tells him it’s ok, they’ll be reborn, then a huge explosion plows in the wall. They quite clearly downloaded and resurrected in new bodies.

      I caught both. I don’t trust any one interpretation, however, at this point. They could be resurrected. However, if their earth is ours, and early indications suggest it is– we don’t resurrect in this fashion (that we know of).. In that case, we would have to turn to other interpretations of that scene– and I can think of at least two. I think all bets are off, in terms of these Cylons functioning like the one we know.

      • Re: Two nits about your review.

        I caught both. I don’t trust any one interpretation, however, at this point.

        Well, Ron Moore said early on he won’t play any cheap tricks, and he won’t lie to us. He’s not relying on cheap tricks to get ratings. So far I see nothing that contradicts those words. Remember when Deanna outed that 4 of the final 5 were in the fleet? She said clearly "There are four in your fleet" and that wasn’t a lie either. This is Earth. The 5th wasn’t in the fleet. Tigh and Tyrol and Anders and Tori and Ellen were all downloads.

        • Re: Two nits about your review.

          Ron Moore said early on he won’t play any cheap tricks, and he won’t lie to us.

          Starbuck is dead, he said.
          Oh wait, he was lying for dramatic effect… ah well.

          • Re: Two nits about your review.

            Ron Moore said early on he won’t play any cheap tricks, and he won’t lie to us.

            Starbuck is dead, he said.
            Oh wait, he was lying for dramatic effect… ah well.

            Technically, Starbuck *is* dead. What we have now is… something else. Quite what that is has yet to be explained, although I’ll put money on it being something to do with how the four/five resurrected after Earth was annihilated. Some entity has to have given Starbuck #2 a shiny new Viper, a new body complete with most of her memories intact and everything and the only thing left I can see is the entity that the Cylons refer to as "God".

            • Re: Two nits about your review.

              Ron Moore said early on he won’t play any cheap tricks, and he won’t lie to us.

              Starbuck is dead, he said.
              Oh wait, he was lying for dramatic effect… ah well.

              Technically, Starbuck *is* dead. What we have now is… something else. Quite what that is has yet to be explained, although I’ll put money on it being something to do with how the four/five resurrected after Earth was annihilated. Some entity has to have given Starbuck #2 a shiny new Viper, a new body complete with most of her memories intact and everything and the only thing left I can see is the entity that the Cylons refer to as "God".

              Speaking of technically, has that wreck been there for thousands of years, or a few months?
              That wasn’t clear to me…

              • Re: Two nits about your review.

                Speaking of technically, has that wreck been there for thousands of years, or a few months?
                That wasn’t clear to me…

                Given the general state of the remains, I’m assuming that it’s been there no longer than the episode where Starbuck #1’s Viper vanished near the end of S3. The state of the corpse in particular, plus that it was sitting fairly neatly on the surface and not embedded in the ground, yet grass had grown back seems to back that up too.

    • Re: Two nits about your review.

      First a nit about your nit. They’ve come god knows how far to find Earth, thinking it’d be a thriving civilization that escaped the Cylon holocaust, only to find a burnt out rock. Finding grass isn’t exactly the life they were hoping for. When you go to the fridge for food, and see only half a cup of milk, some ketchup, mustard, mayo, and a squishy head of lettuce, do you say "There’s nothing to eat" or do you say "I don’t want to eat rotten lettuce with ketchup, mustard, and mayo with half a cup of milk." You say the former.

      You’re both missing the point. As they said, there are "low levels of residual radiation" from the nuclear holocaust. They also mentioned that it was in the food chain. Nuclear weapons create long-lived isotopes (such as Strontium 90) which, once in the food chain, are everywhere and damage all living things with radiation. Certainly there are plants and animals (and ones could be grown), but eating them would be a death sentence. A nasty slow one by radiation poisoning. These isotopes are in the air and water and in the cells of every plant and animal on the planet. Like most radiation, it’s not too bad if you’re just near some source. The really dangerous thing is to ingest it, then it can kill you from the inside. Strontium is chemically similar to Calcium, and gets incorporated into your bones, you keep it for life…

      Don’t eat the apples in Chernobyl for a few millennia either.

      Staying on Earth is not an option.

      • Re: Two nits about your review.

        You’re both missing the point…

        Actually, that is beside the point. He was nitting on "there’s no life" and I was saying that it was because there was nothing useful to them. But what you said is also true besides the first bit.

  2. The past is the future.
    A couple of thoughts about this episode. My first one was:
    "We waited this long for this?!?!"

    I bet that this show will end with Time Travel. Earth is nuked BECAUSE the survivors are the 13th colony because they are chased by cylons. We have already seen ‘old models’ that got detached from the main collective so that can easily answer why there was a ‘toaster’ found in the bodies.

    The repeating theme that ‘This has all happened before’ is too hard to ignore. It will happen because they are making it happen.

    Something that I have suspected for awhile, but just reading the linked interviews has shown me really disappoints. Too much of this show feels made-up as they went along. There feels to be too little ‘grand scheme’ and too much improvised.

    I’d give this episode a meager 6/10.

  3. They’re all…
    Based on the facts that:
    * Tigh remembered seeing Ellen through a previous incarnation/life/download’s memory,
    * Starbuck is really a reincarnated/downloaded Cylon,
    * Others remember having been there before..
    is it possible that entire fleet are descended from Cylons and it has just been so long that their memories have faded?

    Damien

    • Re: They’re all…

      Based on the facts that:
      * Tigh remembered seeing Ellen through a previous incarnation/life/download’s memory,
      * Starbuck is really a reincarnated/downloaded Cylon,
      * Others remember having been there before..
      is it possible that entire fleet are descended from Cylons and it has just been so long that their memories have faded?

      Damien

      I really believe they’re all Cylons of one generation or another. This has been my conjecture for several years. The colony that was shown in flashbacks by Tyrol and Tighe on Earth had many different people. The Cylon tribe that went to Earth had obviously been interbreeding there freely.

      I don’t think there have been "humans" around for a long time. I also believe that the similarity in Centurion design, even over thousands of years, is due to ingrained genetic memory of the original Cylon constructs. The humanoid and cybernetic Cylons are a race of machines that have been fighting this war with themselves for millenia.

      To explain Tighe, Anders, Torry, and Chief, maybe every few thousand years the genetic material breeds true enough that a few individuals are born who have the correct neural wiring to interface with a resurrection hub, and the next time a resurrection hub is made, poof, they are pulled out of the ether and reborn. Baltar was mixed up with Caprica when her backup program triggered. It fraked up his internals because he was enough like her that some of him was picked up too.

      One other point, and this is definitely a spoiler, I have read that Ron Moore has already said that Caprica Six and Baltar’s survival on Caprica, and Kara’s apparent resurrection from Earth are related.

      I was very wrong about Boomer being the fifth. I am saddened actually that (supposedly) in a deleted scene from the destruction of the resurrection hub Helo was shown killing Boomer. I had hoped that character would get a more thorough final treatment.

      I’m not upset about Ellen being the fifth, it makes perfect sense, but I don’t see how her being the fifth shakes everything up, and if she comes back being as much of a worthless tramp as she was when she was alive, she’s definitely not a credit to the five being "gods".

      My question is who are the movers and shakers that put the five in the Colonies, seeded the virus that could be transmitted through resurrection to the seven, and somehow resurrected Kara? I have got a strong feeling that the final confrontation will be between them and Cavill’s lot.

      Oh, and I would like to kick the cowardly Leoben so hard in his nads that they pop out of his nostrils. :)

      I wasn’t disappointed by this episode. I thought Dee’s reaction was appropriate. This episode contains a lot of stuff that I expected. I am glad to see Adama pulling himself back together. I’m hopeful Roslyn will too.

      -Joe

      • I dunno…..

        *

        I’m not upset about Ellen being the fifth, it makes perfect sense, but I don’t see how her being the fifth shakes everything up, and if she comes back being as much of a worthless tramp as she was when she was alive, she’s definitely not a credit to the five being "gods".


        -Joe

        She’s consistent with many of the Greek gods. :)

      • Re: They’re all…

        I really believe they’re all Cylons of one generation or another.

        I don’t think you’ll see this, as it would be sort of a cop-out, leaving viewers to question what the whole point of the series was. For better or worse, BSG/Moore has been pretty fair with the audience, and it’s pretty clear that he has a sense of how important it is to play it straight with the fans as much as possible.

        My theory:

        Humanity some years before the Great Exodus from Kobol built a great civilization on Kobol, including the Cylon’s as "servants", but only skin jobs. Eventually, and perhaps inevitably, war broke out between the skin jobs and humans. Perhaps due to defeat or perhaps a peace treaty, the skin jobs left Kobol to find/found Earth.

        Fast forward two thousand years to the time of the Exodus. Once again, humans have created the Cylons (toaster model) and once again, they rebel. The Cylons attack Kobol and this time destroy it, or at least force the Great Exodus of the twelve colonies. In addition, they discover the "13th tribe" at Earth, the original skin jobs. The toaster cylons attack Earth, destroying it and the skin jobs, but the skin jobs by now have learned resurrection (or perhaps always had it), but for some reason (imperfect resurection methods? distance? limited availability?) only 12 models are able to resurrect. These twelve models survive as best they can (base ship?) by duplicating themselves, and perhaps begin searching for a new homeworld.

        Fast forward another two thousand years (minus ~40), to the start of the human/cylon war the series hints at. Once again (again), humans have created toaster cylons. And once again, they rebel and attack humanity. Destruction of the colonies does not come right away this time, and like the first time on Kobol, a treaty is reached, and the cylons go in search of a new homeworld. Eventually they meet up with the skin jobs, who have either found a homeworld in the two thousand years since, or come across the toaster cylon’s homeworld. This time, however, the skin jobs are ready, and take over the toaster cylons, making them their slaves.

        Fast forward ~40 years to the beginning of the series. The skin jobs have by now become aware of the twelve colonies, and are naturally still mad that not only has humanity "wronged" them, they have twice since re-created toaster cylons, at least once leading to the destruction of Earth. They infiltrate the colonies with skin jobs, some sleeper agents, destroy the colonies, and off we go.

  4. Its always darkest before its pitch black
    All in all this episode is the one that had to follow the last one. McDonnel’s understated acting was superb, the way she handled returning to the Galactica wasn’t what you see leaders on TV do, but is what a lot of leaders would do in the same situation. The burning book scene is incredible too. What Dee did had to be done by someone, this show is so franking hopeless right now, that kind of thing would happen as well. As someone extrordinarily upset with the last episode, it seemed appropriate that the characters would struggle.

    That said I have no hope that this will end well, I think pitch black is where the show will end up.

    I do concur with the comments above that Starbuck’s dillema is solved either by the ship of light or by time travel and that while it great to be past that who’s a cylon thing, the identity of the final cylon was lame…

  5. Its always darkest before its pitch black
    All in all this episode is the one that had to follow the last one. McDonnel’s understated acting was superb, the way she handled returning to the Galactica wasn’t what you see leaders on TV do, but is what a lot of leaders would do in the same situation. The burning book scene is incredible too. What Dee did had to be done by someone, this show is so franking hopeless right now, that kind of thing would happen as well. As someone extrordinarily upset with the last episode, it seemed appropriate that the characters would struggle.

    That said I have no hope that this will end well, I think pitch black is where the show will end up.

    I do concur with the comments above that Starbuck’s dillema is solved either by the ship of light or by time travel and that while it great to be past that who’s a cylon thing, the identity of the final cylon was lame…

  6. Its always darkest before its pitch black
    All in all this episode is the one that had to follow the last one. McDonnel’s understated acting was superb, the way she handled returning to the Galactica wasn’t what you see leaders on TV do, but is what a lot of leaders would do in the same situation. The burning book scene is incredible too. What Dee did had to be done by someone, this show is so franking hopeless right now, that kind of thing would happen as well. As someone extrordinarily upset with the last episode, it seemed appropriate that the characters would struggle.

    That said I have no hope that this will end well, I think pitch black is where the show will end up.

    I do concur with the comments above that Starbuck’s dillema is solved either by the ship of light or by time travel and that while it great to be past that who’s a cylon thing, the identity of the final cylon was lame…

    • Re: Its always darkest before its pitch black
      "All of this has happened before.

      All of this will happen again."

  7. Its always darkest before its pitch black
    All in all this episode is the one that had to follow the last one. McDonnel’s understated acting was superb, the way she handled returning to the Galactica wasn’t what you see leaders on TV do, but is what a lot of leaders would do in the same situation. The burning book scene is incredible too. What Dee did had to be done by someone, this show is so franking hopeless right now, that kind of thing would happen as well. As someone extrordinarily upset with the last episode, it seemed appropriate that the characters would struggle.

    That said I have no hope that this will end well, I think pitch black is where the show will end up.

    I do concur with the comments above that Starbuck’s dillema is solved either by the ship of light or by time travel and that while it great to be past that who’s a cylon thing, the identity of the final cylon was lame…

      • Re: We are all Cylons!

        …and several of the "J_W_W" Models posted at one time.

        ; )

        Funny.

        The truth is posting from an ipod is real flaky.

  8. My notions
    If I remember correctly, there was a scene in either the first half of this season or the later half of season 3 where Tigh saw Kara turn into Ellen. Not sure if I have to draw a line for everyone, but they do look similar enough that it’s a possibility (and it would explain some of the enmity between Kara and Tigh).

    Also, was I the only one who saw someone who looked an awful lot like long-hair Kara standing behind Tyrol-that-was in the flashback?

    It was a hell of an episode, and I’m glad it’s back on – hopefully they can keep this level up right to the end!

    • Re: My notions

      If I remember correctly, there was a scene in either the first half of this season or the later half of season 3 where Tigh saw Kara turn into Ellen. Not sure if I have to draw a line for everyone, but they do look similar enough that it’s a possibility (and it would explain some of the enmity between Kara and Tigh).

      Also, was I the only one who saw someone who looked an awful lot like long-hair Kara standing behind Tyrol-that-was in the flashback?

      I missed the flashback, but your other theory has been discussed elsewhere online, and it would account for some things.

      It was a hell of an episode, and I’m glad it’s back on – hopefully they can keep this level up right to the end!

    • Re: My notions

      someone who looked an awful lot like long-hair Kara

      There’s a resemblance (having the same hair and make up and wardrobe might be part of it) but it wasn’t her (I just checked : )

      • Re: My notions

        someone who looked an awful lot like long-hair Kara

        There’s a resemblance (having the same hair and make up and wardrobe might be part of it) but it wasn’t her (I just checked : )

        I double checked that when I saw it, too.

    • Re: My notions

      If I remember correctly, there was a scene in either the first half of this season or the later half of season 3 where Tigh saw Kara turn into Ellen. Not sure if I have to draw a line for everyone, but they do look similar enough that it’s a possibility (and it would explain some of the enmity between Kara and Tigh).

      Also, was I the only one who saw someone who looked an awful lot like long-hair Kara standing behind Tyrol-that-was in the flashback?

      It was a hell of an episode, and I’m glad it’s back on – hopefully they can keep this level up right to the end!

      If I remember correctly wasn’t it six that turned into Ellen?

      • Re: My notions

        If I remember correctly wasn’t it six that turned into Ellen?

        Hmmm… you might be right. Still, with the amount of juxtapositions between Kara and Six in the media for the show, and the recurring theme of Six warning Leobin away from Kara, I might have to suggest a triangle rather than a line.

        Frak it. Bottom line, Galactica is great and Ron Moore is probably going to keep us guessing until the end – and I’m happy with that!

        • Re: My notions

          If I remember correctly wasn’t it six that turned into Ellen?

          Hmmm… you might be right. Still, with the amount of juxtapositions between Kara and Six in the media for the show, and the recurring theme of Six warning Leobin away from Kara, I might have to suggest a triangle rather than a line.

          Frak it. Bottom line, Galactica is great and Ron Moore is probably going to keep us guessing until the end – and I’m happy with that!

          True. Even at that six turning into Ellen still has a cylon connection there as well.

          I still think Starbuck will be something entirely differnt.

  9. Kara and Lee

    Starbuck’s decision to say nothing…

    She was going to tell Lee, she said something to the effect that "I’ve got to tell somebody". But then Lee told her what happened with Dee, and that pretty much made it not the right moment.

    My high point – Admiral Adama’s "I don’t frakkin’ know" as he pulls out the bottle. Obviously not a "high point" for the character, rather one of total bleak dispair; but an intense well-written and well-acted moment that drew me in.

    • Re: Kara and Lee

      Starbuck’s decision to say nothing…

      She was going to tell Lee, she said something to the effect that "I’ve got to tell somebody". But then Lee told her what happened with Dee, and that pretty much made it not the right moment.

      My high point – Admiral Adama’s "I don’t frakkin’ know" as he pulls out the bottle. Obviously not a "high point" for the character, rather one of total bleak dispair; but an intense well-written and well-acted moment that drew me in.

      Where I really liked the portrayal of Roslin’s despair. I had hoped Adama would be stronger.

      • Re: Kara and Lee

        Where I really liked the portrayal of Roslin’s despair. I had hoped Adama would be stronger.

        Mary McDonnel is an amazing actress. I really love Laura, and it was terrible to see her burning Pythia. The way she trembled and said, so weakly, "don’t touch me, just go." What does happen when the vision leaves the prophet? What a terrible thing she is enduring.

        At the end Adama pulled himself together, along with Tigh, and kicked the fleet in the ass.

        It was hard for me to see the graffiti on Galactica’s bulkhead. The "frak Earth" tag, and the terrible disarray really hit home. I am thinking beginning next week we’ll start seeing mass suicides, perhaps entire ships jumping away from the fleet to die, or to take their chances.

        I don’t think any except the most extraordinary people could handle this level of disappointment and dispair.

        At the end of the series the fleet will be much smaller, and there won’t be many of the faces we know and love left.

        The scene where Kara cremates her body will be with me for a long time.

        -Joe

        • Re: Kara and Lee

          The scene where Kara cremates her body will be with me for a long time.

          -Joe

          I’m right there with ya’, Joe. That one resonated pretty strongly with me, too.

          .

          • Re: Kara and Lee

            I’m right there with ya’, Joe. That one resonated pretty strongly with me, too.

            Over the past four years the writers have constructed an enormous bomb. The fuse was lit in the first part of this season. In the cliffhanger the bomb went BOOM, and now we’re seeing the carnage.

            The thing is, there’s a much larger bomb in there with a fuse still sizzling away. It’s like a train wreck full of people I love. I can’t not look.

            -Joe

        • Re: Kara and Lee

          Where I really liked the portrayal of Roslin’s despair. I had hoped Adama would be stronger.

          Mary McDonnel is an amazing actress. I really love Laura, and it was terrible to see her burning Pythia. The way she trembled and said, so weakly, "don’t touch me, just go." What does happen when the vision leaves the prophet? What a terrible thing she is enduring.

          At the end Adama pulled himself together, along with Tigh, and kicked the fleet in the ass.

          It was hard for me to see the graffiti on Galactica’s bulkhead. The "frak Earth" tag, and the terrible disarray really hit home. I am thinking beginning next week we’ll start seeing mass suicides, perhaps entire ships jumping away from the fleet to die, or to take their chances.

          I don’t think any except the most extraordinary people could handle this level of disappointment and dispair.

          At the end of the series the fleet will be much smaller, and there won’t be many of the faces we know and love left.

          The scene where Kara cremates her body will be with me for a long time.

          -Joe

          Frankly, I thought that that scene could have been directed better. The closeups on the corpse were unnecessary and had a real gross out effect. I think a wider shot or less focus on the body should have been used and I think that would have been more effective…

  10. Book? Movie? Song??
    Interestingly, I found that the song lyrics for "Sometimes a Great Notion" (John Mellencamp) applied more than the book/movie description seemed. (Given the song includes the line "Never Give an Inch", I have to wonder if it is related in some way to the other media.)

    here

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