'Dancing With The Stars' Season 14 Dream Casting
What To Watch On TV This Week
Battlestar Galactica: Occupation / Precipice (season premiere)
(S03E01/S03E02) I felt like Col. Tigh this summer, making hash marks on a dirty cell wall, waiting for the new season to finally start. 134 days on New Caprica, according to Roslin. Right off the bat you had to be excited as hell for this episode. The haunting music, the quick shots of people we can't quite make out ... and some we can make out pretty well. Saul, as we see, has come under some pretty tough times, sporting not only some significant facial hair but also a patch, as he's sans one eye. And as it seems, he's also sans wife, though he doesn't know it quite yet.
It's the scene with Saul's wife, Ellen, that made me spoil to you weeks ago that I felt this was pretty clear proof that she is not a Cylon, one yet to be revealed to us. You've got to admit she was suspicious ever since she reappeared, though it seems it's not due to being a toaster. We see later how clearly she loves her husband and at what cost she'll go through to make sure he's no longer harmed.
It's one hell of a creepy atmosphere, here on New Caprica. Starbuck also seems to be one forced to be fraking a Cylon, and one has to wonder how many times she's "killed" him, only to have him come back every time.
The Cylons clearly have a few agendas in mind, one in particular being forcing the Humans to believe in only one god. Brother Cavill wants to take an approach that's very hard handed, suggesting even to start mass executions. Though you had to love his first idea, to kill Baltar as a way of getting the masses to comply. The more intelligent of the bunch quickly shoot that down. Speaking of Baltar, it's also funny (though understandable) how much the Humans want that slime dead.
An odd observation ... I wonder what the Cylons do to dispose of all those dead versions of themselves. Leoben just stepping over his old shell was just surreal.
134 days have done more than change New Caprica. Adama's still got his 'stache and Apollo has gained so much weight that his own father calls him a "fat ass." It's another surreal moment as we scan over the empty hallways and flight decks of Galactica, which in the previous season was teeming with guys and gals ready to put the smack down on the Cylons.
What's perhaps more surprising to see is how much Adama confides in Sharon, sitting alone with her and discussing things he may have only talked about with Tigh. This is a version of a woman who tried to kill him a season ago, and now it's his best friend.
The best tense moment of the episode comes when Baltar's talked into not attending the police graduation ceremony, one where he was clearly going to be offed. I'm not sure if I should've easily guessed that Gaeta was the one helping the insurgents with inside info, but it made the most sense. Another intense group of scenes here.
What made all of the police officers want to take on those jobs? Did the Cylons really convince them that they'd be looked upon as heroes in the future? They're caving in to the Cylons and are going against their friends and families. There's hell to pay for that when Galactica comes back for their rescue mission and people have some explaining to do. And Tyrol's going to be there first, making those nooses tight.
Now for the biggest shocker of the episode: Kacey. Did Leoben really use one of Starbuck's ovaries to make a child between them? And supposedly the birth mother, the one who carried Kacey to term, died in childbirth. Was it really that simple? Right away Starbuck reacts to the child as a "thing," something that couldn't possibly be considered human. It doesn't matter how cute the kid is -- to Starbuck she's a toaster. Later we see how quickly this changes as what seems like the unbelievable might happen -- that Starbuck might fall for a Cylon.
A side note -- was it just me or was that scream Kacey gave out when she fell on the stairs one of the most frighteningly weird things you'd ever heard? Holy hell, that was not human.
It's great to hear the mention of the search for Earth again. I'd been afraid before that maybe that part of the story would be pushed aside too easily.
With all the suicide bombings going on, the Cylons resort to the only thing they can think of to get everyone in line -- round up the insurgents and just kill them all. What's interesting here is how the Cylons are actually afraid of their god, that they'll have to carry the burden of killing them all and need Baltar's signature to say it's all OK. Baltar retreats into that safe place beside the Number Six in his mind, who tells him to sign the order so that he can fight another day. I can only hope that this means in a future episode we'll really see him come forth and do something to make himself worthy of being a Human.
Sharon coming back into the fleet is another surprise development. One has to wonder how the rest of the Humans will react to that once everyone is reunited, though already the insurgent group seems quick to accept the news. Hey, these guys are desperate to get the hell off that planet, so whatever Adama says is just fine with them.
Finally, the unbelievable cliffhanger ending. Is the Sharon with the insurgents the cause of the ambush on them? Are the writers actually crazy enough to mass kill so many main characters to the series? Is it possible at all that they can actually get out of this? Could I sound any more like a corny radio announcer at tne end of a serial? Stay tuned!
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