Battlestar Galactica (4.11) – The Hub

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Battles, vision, blood, and love—this one was a real mix. Too bad the flavors didn’t go all that well together.

The show rewinds two days so that we can see what happened on the damaged baseship that disappeared along with President Roslin, Baltar, Helo, and half the fleet’s Viper pilots. The Hybrid keeps jumping the ship around, but it’s actually trying to complete the mission, and is following the Resurrection Hub around. Every time there’s a jump, Roslin has some kind of “vision” of a dead priestess she knew, but it turns out it’s just her subconscious just letting her know how much she really cares for William Adama. They finally catch up to the Hub and attack, grabbing the one Three/D’Anna model who had been “unboxed” by Cavil. They nuke the Hub into oblivion. Baltar is seriously injured in the attack and Roslin tries to save him, until the morphine causes him to reveal that he had given the codes to the Cylons, which allowed them to wipe out most of humanity. She almost decides to let him die, but has a change of heart. D’Ann refuses to reveal the identities of the Final Five Cylons until she’s safe with the fleet, because information is all she has left. When they jump back to where the fleet was, Adama is sitting alone in his Raptor waiting for them.

With only a little more than half a season left for the entire series, I was hoping this wouldn’t happen, but it has: I’m getting a little disappointed in BSG. This week’s episode was not as bad as last week’s, but it was uneven and not up to par with what I’ve grown to expect from this show. While I loved the action parts, the Baltar scenes, and the Helo/Eight scenes, I was bored by the Roslin visions. I can only hope this is a small bump in the road to the series finale.

Last year I wrote a whole review focusing on the character of Karl “Helo” Agathon, and how he always seems to be able to get away with things that no other character can. The biggest by far was when he killed all the Cylons infected with the disease that would have wiped them out so they wouldn’t infect the rest. Here’s a guy who has not only shown an affinity for Cylons, but married one and has a child with her. And Roslin asks HIM to be the one to grab D’Anna and break the deal with the rebel Cylons? What kind of sense does that make? The whole thing with the other Eight model having his wife’s memories was creepy and cool at the same time. It must have been really bizarre for him, and it was a good way for the writers to cause his betrayal in taking D’Anna straight to Roslin all the more meaningful.

My favorite part of this episode, by far, was Baltar trying to convince the Centurion that he needed to learn about the Cylon God and stop being a slave, followed by his scenes where he tried to connect with the Hybrid. This was a return to the old Baltar I love/hate and made me realize how much I miss him.

The final scene with Adama and Roslin was touching, but for some reason I’m just not feeling their relationship. When they started to become friends after their major falling out, I thought it was a good turn in the story, but since they started suggesting (and I say that because we never really had any confirmation until now) that their relationship had become romantic, it just doesn’t seem to work. I can see what they’re trying to do, and the writing and acting are fine…I just can’t put my finger on it. Maybe the chemistry between the actors just isn’t right or something. I will give the writers props for Adama’s response to Roslin saying she loves him: “It’s about time.” Not only is it much better writing than the standard “I love you, too,” it also invokes one of the best love scenes in film history, when Han Solo responds “I know” to Princess Leia’s profession of love in The Empire Strikes Back.

Like I said earlier, I am a little disappointed. The thing is, even when this show is a little disappointing, it’s still the best show on television.

3

Posted by John J. Geysen on 06/18/2008, 04:09 PM

John J. Geysen

Great call on the The Empire Strikes Back reference.

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About Christopher Valin

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Occupation: Teacher, writer, artist, historian

Bio: Christopher J. Valin ("Christopher Valin" to his friends) is a writer, teacher, artist, historian, and sometime musician living just close enough to L.A. to claim he lives in L.A. He's one of those many screenwriters who is "almost there" in his career, having optioned one screenplay and done well in many contests. He is also the author of Fortune's Favorite: Sir Charles Douglas and the Breaking of the Line, a biography of his 5x great-grandfather, who was a British captain in the American Revolution.

Posts: 123

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