Battlestar Galactica Review: “Someone to Watch Over Me”

With weeks left in the series, Battlestar Galactica gives us bad decisions, soap opera, and barroom piano.

Title: “Someone to Watch Over Me”

Cast and Crew

Written by David Weddle, Bradley Thompson
Directed by Michael Nankin

Edward James Olmos as Admiral Adama
Katee Sackhoff as Kara “Starbuck” Thrace
Aaron Douglas as Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol
Grace Park as Athena/Boomer/Number 8
Jamie Bamber as Lee “Apollo” Adama
Michael Hogan as Colonel Saul Tigh
Kate Vernon as Ellen Tigh
Tricia Helfer as Number 6
Mary McDonnell as Laura Roslin
Rekha Sharma as Tory Foster
Roark Critchlow as Slick
Erika-Shaye Gair as Young Kara
Michael Trucco as Samuel Anders

Premise

The Cylons want to put Boomer on trial, and the Chief helps her escape. Meanwhile, Kara meets a piano player and discovers more clues regarding her own origins and recent rebirth, but no answers. After destroying the religious elements the show had carried for so many seasons, we see increasing evidence of some other power at work in the Galactica-verse.

High Point

Athena encounters Boomer in disturbing but well-stage scenes.

Low Points

The Chief, once one of the ship’s most grounded characters, has grown increasingly unhinged. Tt really feels (as J.W.W. observed of last week’s episode, though I thought it less apt then) contrived to make the plot work.

The Scores:

Originality: 2/6. The only thing really original about this episode is the Chief’s unusual behavior and utter lack of forsight.

Effects: 6/6. The ship takes some serious damage.

Story: 3 or 4/6. I’m not certain what to say about the story. We’re seeing pieces of a story arc that may or may not eventually make sense.

Acting: 5/6. Several regulars put in excellent performances, including Katee Sackhoff as Starbuck and Grace Park as multiples of eight. The Final Five seem a little off this week. Maybe it was the ambrosia.

Emotional Response: 4/6. This episode provides a good example of what the Turkey City Lexicon calls “Squid on the Mantelpiece.” This episode, the most soap-operatic we’ve seen, experiences difficulties balancing the small character moments with the ongoing epic events.

Production: 6/6.

Overall: 4/6. Given how few episodes remain, I’m surprised they devoted so much of this one to small moments.

In total “Someone to Watch Over Me” receives 30 or 31/42

Notes

The toothpaste is called “Felgercarb,” which was the original series’ word for B.S.. Not surprisingly, it’s a Tauron product.

Where the frak are they getting all those cigarettes? Under the circumstances we’ve observed, would they really dedicate a farm ship to growing tobacco? Or have the existing supplies just lasted that long, Doc Coddle’s habit notwithstanding?

14 replies on “Battlestar Galactica Review: “Someone to Watch Over Me””

  1. Yeesh
    What a friggin clusterf@#k of an episode. Not saying it was bad, just that that’s where we are now. WHY DOESN’T ANYONE FRAKKIN TALK TO ANYONE ELSE? Have they not heard how communication is a GOOD thing?

    And no kidding about the cigarettes. I understand they’re trying to show us how stressed out everyone is (cause, you know, no other way to deal with stress) but maybe they should all be going insane from withdrawal by now (:

  2. Chief’s Identity Crisis
    I think the Chief’s unhinging is something that’s been brewing ever since he found out his was a cylon. Massive identity crisis not withstanding, He’s probably the one who’s lost the most out of any of the main group and unlike Saul he doesn’t have the ability to just soldier on. We’ve seen this in the past when he first believed he was a cylon (snapping and beating the ever-loving frak out of Callie). He may have made an entirely bad decision with helping Boomer but it at least made sense(more than last weeks leave vote did). He was grasping for the one thing left in his life that wasn’t taken away or falling apart, it just so happened that it too was an illusion.

    Regarding tobacco, like alcohol I’m sure there is more than one closet tobacco farm floating about. Something like that just screams black-market good.

  3. Jump drive Weapon
    Was I the only one that saw the damage from the jump drive next to the Galactica, and thought Wow! what an awesome weapon. If they used that on purpose they could kick the crap out of anything!?

    Judging from this episode, if you can just get 2 or 3 jump capable ships up close to a basestar, and then jump out, one after another….you just killed a basestar…

    • Re: Jump drive Weapon

      Was I the only one that saw the damage from the jump drive next to the Galactica, and thought Wow! what an awesome weapon. If they used that on purpose they could kick the crap out of anything!?

      Judging from this episode, if you can just get 2 or 3 jump capable ships up close to a basestar, and then jump out, one after another….you just killed a basestar…

      Considering a Raptor is the smallest ship that can fit an FTL drive in the fleet I’m sure that every cylon fighter would be targeting it as soon as they figured out what was happening. So maybe you kill one basestar, it’s not going to happen twice.

      We don’t know what the FTL drives capacities are as far as short jumps, so no idea if they could jump a ship into the basestar and jump out again.

      Still, it’s a cool idea.

    • Re: Jump drive Weapon

      Was I the only one that saw the damage from the jump drive next to the Galactica, and thought Wow! what an awesome weapon. If they used that on purpose they could kick the crap out of anything!?

      Judging from this episode, if you can just get 2 or 3 jump capable ships up close to a basestar, and then jump out, one after another….you just killed a basestar…

      I guess the constant talk of "calculations" and "spooling" should lead us to understand that it’s not a convenient thing to try to use in a battle :-\

    • Re: Jump drive Weapon

      Judging from this episode, if you can just get 2 or 3 jump capable ships up close to a basestar, and then jump out, one after another….you just killed a basestar…

      If you could get 2 or 3 jump capable ships up close a basestar, you could get two or three nukes up close to a basestar, so you’d probably just use those.

      I’m guessing that jumping that close to a large mass is not safe for the jumping ship, either.

    • Re: Jump drive Weapon

      Was I the only one that saw the damage from the jump drive next to the Galactica, and thought Wow! what an awesome weapon. If they used that on purpose they could kick the crap out of anything!?

      Judging from this episode, if you can just get 2 or 3 jump capable ships up close to a basestar, and then jump out, one after another….you just killed a basestar…

      Perhaps this is a sneak preview as to the ultimate fate of Galactica.

  4. Felgercarb
    Picking nits.

    F-e-l-g-e-r-c-a-r-b

    I’m enjoying the slow reveal of whoever is really manipulating this whole thing. :)

    -Joe

    • Re: Felgercarb

      I’m enjoying the slow reveal of whoever is really manipulating this whole thing.

      I’m half expecting to find out the whole thing is a dream.

      Given the key role of a [url=http://www.bobdylan.com/#/songs/bob-dylans-dream]certain song[/url/, perhaps Bob Dylan’s dream.

      • Re: Felgercarb

        I’m enjoying the slow reveal of whoever is really manipulating this whole thing.

        I’m half expecting to find out the whole thing is a dream.

        Given the key role of a [url=http://www.bobdylan.com/#/songs/bob-dylans-dream]certain song[/url/, perhaps Bob Dylan’s dream.

        If they St. Elsewhere this show, I’m going to be soooo pissed.

  5. Musical Cameo
    I loved the shout-out to the original intro. When "the piano player" finished his first movement and started poking out his second, he played the music that played with the intro voice-over from the original series. Sweet.

    • Re: Musical Cameo

      I loved the shout-out to the original intro. When "the piano player" finished his first movement and started poking out his second, he played the music that played with the intro voice-over from the original series. Sweet.

      Darn… I missed that….

      Now I have to go back and see it….

      .

    • Re: Musical Cameo

      I loved the shout-out to the original intro. When "the piano player" finished his first movement and started poking out his second, he played the music that played with the intro voice-over from the original series. Sweet.

      So that’s what it was? I knew it sounded familiar, but my brain just didn’t make the connection.

      • Re: Musical Cameo

        I loved the shout-out to the original intro. When "the piano player" finished his first movement and started poking out his second, he played the music that played with the intro voice-over from the original series. Sweet.

        So that’s what it was? I knew it sounded familiar, but my brain just didn’t make the connection.

        Ditto. It drove me nuts for a few seconds trying to place it.

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