Season 1 Episode 6: Litmus

You keep my planes flying. I need my planes to fly.

Will Adama to Galen Tyrol

Once again, spoilers are noted below, so easy on the scrolling if you haven't seen this...

What was already getting messy gets downright slovenly in Episode 6 of Season 1: Litmus. However, I think this episode might have been a misnomer, since there's really not a lot of litmus-ing going on. It just barely touches on Gaius's "project", which is actually much more of a topic in the successive episode(s). Although this episode isn't of a lower quality by any means, it's more of a go-between, almost a little break from the action, from previous episodes to the latter part of season 1. It's more like a "business as usual" kind of episode where the crew seems to have settled in to their situation a bit more. I needed this episode to happen now and I think it was good timing in the production of the season. Even us fans can only take so much excitement before our devoted little fan-hearts give out. Don't get me wrong; this episode isn't a total sleeper by any means. There are several shocking moments to be had. I guess it's just that in Litmus, the action isn't as non-stop as it has been in the series thus far. Phew! Finally the crew (and I) can relax for a moment. Not!

This episode touches on a little bit of politics and law, as well as loyalties and humanity. Of course that last subject is the very foundation of this show. One of the highlights of Litmus is that it really gets us (me at least) thinking about this humanity thing, and what it is that really seperates the humans from the Cylons. The differences at this point are starting to look more like the conflicts between nations at war, which of course is a completely human phenomenon. Basically some more story development goes on here, and my oh my - some very UNcomfortable situations are starting to boil over. As if a whole civilization going into exile from it's home world and being constantly chased by an unpredictable and not always identifiable enemy wasn't uncomfortable enough...


*LITMUS AND SEASON 3 SPOILERS*
This episode might be even more interesting to those who have seen the entire series thus far, particularly concerning events that tie in all the way through season 3. For one, it's hard not to wince when we see Boomer and Tyrol consummate in that back room and think about all the different levels their relationship would have been unproductive. Heh heh. I mean really unproductive. Boomer is still a sleeper at this point too, but you would think she must know by now, especially with all the hub-bub around the ship and all the weird things she's been going through. Basically she seems to be in a major state of denial. More like a clinical state of denial, which, along with everything that Sharon becomes later in the series, makes me question just who is more human; the humans or the Cylons, who are the children of the humans?

Jammer! Oh poor, poor Jammer. It is good to see him again, but I get shivers thinking about his fate. *gasps*

Even though Doral was exposed as an agent way back in the miniseries, and Tigh was one of the select few "in the know" about the skin-jobs until this episode... what I know now about Tigh from the end of season 3 makes me a little hyper aware about how quickly Tigh recognized Doral before he done blowed himself up. It's just kind of cool to think about it all again in retrospect to the beginning of the series. I really believe the final 5 are with the humans to somehow help protect them from the other Cylons, and to look back on what Tigh has done in that respect makes him, and the other final 3 we know of now, seem more like super heroes. Man... who the heck IS the fifth of the final 5?

Even though I'm a girl, I got a little thrill out of seeing Number Six beat the crap out of Sharon, although I probably enjoyed it in a different way than most male fans would. It's just pretty cool to see girls kick ass, even if it's each other's, and even though they're not really human. It was a nicely shot scene, as so much is in BSG. Add photography as another strong point in the production value of this show. I'm having a hard time finding weak points. One little spot might be with a few moments where Grace Park is becoming less convincing as "on the ship Boomer". But geeze! I can't even imagine ever doing the acting job she does, and furthermore, I am more convinced that her degrading performance as "on the ship Boomer" is completely intentional. She's really starting to act more distant as she becomes more isolated from everyone else, as everyone is to each other at this point with the witch hunt and all. But Boomer is really just starting to talk like someone who is controlled by a base ship. A little more like "on the roof with the other Cylons Sharon". In the meantime, "on the roof with the other Cylons Sharon" is doing a fantastic double acting job of interacting with Helo on Caprica. As we know from later in the show... "getting into character" has so many more levels of meaning now with Sharon/Boomer/Athena/Mrs. Agathon/#8.

This episode ties in with season 3 on many levels. The whole idea of the litmus test, and that it wasn't really supposed to work anyway (but then again, it did), all the issues of humanity, the wooden ship Adama is playing with becomes a very symbolic prop later on (isn't that shown in the season 3 episode Maelstrom?), the whole thing with Tyrol and Boomer... okay, NOW we know how Cylons make babies!

*END OF SPOILERS* (unless you follow the links below)

Litmus at scifi.com/battlestar

Litmus at battlestarwiki

Season 1 Episode 5: You Can't Go Home Again

This entry will contain some spoilers for Season 1 Episode 5: You Can't Go Home Again, but I'll mark them where they occur, so scroll down slowly...

You'll have to excuse me because I am still a little weepy after watching this episode again for the *counting* 4th or 5th time. I was really choked up in a good way then a bad way, then good again, etc. This is quite possibly my favorite BSG episode of all time (with the exception of season 4 which hasn't come out yet). I guess I can't really pick one favorite, since different episodes have different elements in them. But You Can't Go Home Again has to be the one episode that really *moved* me. Maybe it has to do with the mood I am in now, or possibly having to do with just being engrossed in the story as I rewatch it all in order.

It's just that this episode is where the story *really* starts to evolve. Make that stories, plural. So much was introduced in the miniseries and the consecutive episodes of season 1 (episodes 1 through 4). We really got jolted right into the action with episode 1: 33. I think a lot of people really favor that episode, which I do as well. The next few episodes are also compelling, but mainly introduce some of the scenarios between different characters to us, and build the characters themselves a little more. But episode 5, the one I am speaking about today, this one brings you right inside the very souls of several of our main characters; primarily Will and Lee Adama and Kara Thrace. A second story is still evolving at this point, which is that of...

*SPOILERS BEGIN HERE*
...Helo and Boomer/Sharon (wait... Boomer is back on the Galactica - right? LOL) who are still "stranded" (okay, I use that term loosely, since it is really just Helo who is stranded) down on Caprica, looking for a way out. Some of the really cool things about this side story are first, the visual reference of Helo putting bread in the toaster not seconds before the other toasters, the walking toasters with bullets, bust in. It may be trite and extremely obvious as an omen, but I just got a good chuckle with that. You've got to appreciate that little pun the writers threw in there. Secondly, the ensuing shootout scene is one of the most awesome shootouts I've seen in film or television. Keeping this as a spoiler only within this episode, I won't mention how Karl and Sharon's experience on Caprica now reverberates throughout the rest of the series.
Back to the matter at hand... Kara is also stranded; alone, with little oxygen on an uncharted gas planet. Everything about this part of the story is just gripping, both visually and emotionally. As unbelievable and unlikely as it might be that she would free herself from the parachute about to drag her over a cliff AND moments after praying to the Lords of Kobol for a break, lo and behold a downed Cylon Raider appears around the next corner... I just don't care that this is all too lucky (oh that destiny of Kara's!). My eyes and my emotions ate this whole episode up like Luke Skywalker craves that exotic hot chocolate drink. This series is all about Kara Thrace for me, so I admit I am a little bias as to why I favor this episode. She is just so frakking lucky, but at the same time, she is so real to me. She is me.

Back on the fleet, tempers flare and the true feelings of some of our other main characters are surfacing. Will Adama has to face his own heart. Tigh and Roslyn may be the level headed ones here, but really I was waiting for everyone to admit that aside from the family issues between Lee, Will and Kara, the real reason they should have ALL been so concerned with getting Starbuck back is because she is the best frakking pilot they got. They are extremely low on talented Viper pilots at this point. Losing Starbuck could be even more dangerous than taking a calculated risk at saving her. My opinion of course, but as conveyed by Lee when sent out solo to intervene the lone dradis: "This bastard is good!", this is obviously a known fact among the Galactica crew. Not to mention the fact that she was the only instructor available to teach the groms.

Everything about bringing Starbuck back in was awesome and too cool. Unbelievable, yes. But isn't this one of the things we love about sci-fi? We know this couldn't really happen, but my belief is suspended. My faith leaped. Add the human emotion to that, emotion we can really feel and relate to, and this made for the some of the most stellar moments in moving picture storytelling for me. The two moments at the end, when Kara speaks to Lee about her "new toy" and after when Kara is in the sick bay and Will comes to face her... I cried. I started to choke when in the beginning of the third act of this episode, Lee and his father had a little chat about what Will would have done if it were Lee stuck down there. "We would have never left" or something to that effect. *choke*

*END OF SPOILERS* (unless you click on the links below)

All in all, this episode was so well constructed and so rich in story... it's no wonder people stick around to watch this thing. As cliche as some elements might be, the timing is so right on it makes the cliches more like integral parts of the story, rather than cliches. Almost every episode in BSG has some great quotables, but this one in particular had tons of them. More proof that the writing, directing, and acting are superb.

Here's some links to refreshers and references for this episode:

You Can't Go Home Again at scifi.com/battlestar (official site)

You Can't Go Home Again at battlestarwiki

Catching up with rj...

Over the course of the last month or so, I started re-watching the entire series again. Actually, it was more like this: somewhere around late April or early May, I popped the miniseries in with plans on watching the whole series again, but I really only got around to watching the mini, then episode 1 of season 1, "33" right after. Then life took over, and I got sidetracked.

Until rj's recent entry. It gave me a good point to catch up to, which is basically the first two discs of the season 1 box set: the mini and the first four episodes.

Egad! I'm not sure how many times I've seen these already, maybe 5 or so... but it continues to overwhelm me... in a really good way. The writing is really so rich, and even in the "less intense" episodes, there's always some arc or element that captivates. This show has it's highs and lows as any other show does, but the difference is that it's lows are pretty high in my own humble opinion. And because it's highs are so high, they kind of set a bar for themselves that's hard to live up to, if that makes any sense.

The emotion of it all is what really sticks to me, as well as the character development. Even though I know everything that is going to happen to these characters by watching from the beginning again, I am no less engrossed. In fact, maybe I can look even deeper now, and see the finer details which show me once again just how expertly written this show is. The tie-ins across episodes and seasons are easier for me to catch, and believe me, there are a lot of them and surely more to be seen. There's so many subtle details but our imaginations are still allowed to glue everything together. It's a lot like Star Wars in these ways to me.

Watching Kara tackle flight instruction again, after her and the Adama family's trauma... it's just so frakking human, it tears me apart. The ways I can relate to Starbuck are so vast it scares me a little, yet this one character in particular (as well as the show as a whole) I just can't get enough of. There's something addicting about this show that isn't like any show I've ever watched before. It's the same kind of addiction as Star Wars for me. Maybe I just have a good story abuse problem.

So, I watched the first two discs of the season 1 box set again, and happened to have the chance to visit with my parents this weekend. I finally gave those two discs to my dad to watch. He really loves science fiction, loves Star Wars like me (although he's also really into Star Trek, unlike me), and he's a writer and editor (did I mention I got my screen writing teacher totally into the new BSG?). I've had some pretty lengthy discussions with my dad about the new BSG, and I think we both recognize that one of the only deterrents that he might come across with it is the violence (less so) and the political references (more so) - one major factor being that my mother is a displaced person from the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states, so some political references can be a little touchy in my family. A little too much info there...

Basically, I'm really anticipating how my dad will like it. On the one hand, I think that he will absolutely love it (he loves Firefly and Serenity too BTW), but on the other hand I'm a little scared that he will be turned off by some of the references. I know he will love the SFX (remember Boomer and her co-pilot finding the water planet in "Water" - that one shot with the Raptor skimming on the planet surface - incredible), and I hope he will enjoy the writing as much as I do - the pure genius in the story.

Season 1: First four episode thoughts

My wife and I finished the DVD of the first four episodes of Season 1. The next DVD should be coming our way soon.

The beginning of season 1 was a very strong start. It may be difficult to ever match how blown away I was by the mini-series, but these first four were very, very good. I thought the first episode, 33, was the best.

The water episode was good. I really liked the development of Boomer's split personality. It's also cool seeing the juxtaposition of the two Boomer's. I feel bad for Helo.

My favorite part of the prison riot episode was the last scene, after President Roslyn tells Apollo that she has cancer. I forget the exact exchange, but I believe Roslyn's last line is something like: "Of course you will. You're Captain Apollo." There's just something so great in the way she delivered that line, her smile after she says it and the music. In general, I absolutely love the music and sound in this show. It plays a huge part in setting the awesome tone. I feel similarly about the music and sound in Heroes. So important. And Mary McDonnell is genius in this show. She is just fantastic in that portrayal.

The rookie pilot episode was very interesting. That was our cliffhanger for now as Starbuck plummets away from her Viper.

Oh, and I also have to mention how much I dig Baltar. He is so funny in his own disturbing sneaky way.

I'll report back after we get through the next disc.