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And now... two reviews for the price of one!
Lost
Ok, so the Others live in real houses and have a book club? Wow. I definitely need to see the first five minutes of that episode again, now that I know what's going on. I thought this was a strong season opener. I can already guess that Kate/Jack is going to fall by the wayside to make room for Kate/Sawyer and perhaps Jack/Julia. Was Julia the same person as Penelope? I couldn't tell but I thought it was. While we know a little more about The Others, I have more questions than answers. We know more about how they live but nothing about their motives. Are they leftovers of the Dharma Initiative, or more malevolent still? I guess we'll find out. Meanwhile, we didn't see the other survivors at all. I suppose that's for next week's ep.
Battlestar Galactica
I thought this was a strong episode even though it didn't exactly blow me away. I wish I'd watched more of the webisodes so I'd had a little more insight into how Duck went from loving husband to suicide bomber. I feel bad for Jammer even though Chief is right in that he's an idiot for thinking he could do some good as a member of the New Caprica Police.
Speaking of Chief, I don't understand his animosity toward Gaeta. Does he not know that Gaeta is his source, or was he playing dumb to Anders and Tigh? Regardless, he has to understand that someone with a brain has to work on the inside or they'd be totally screwed.
I also secretly hope that Cally got shot because she drives me nuts and I hate the idea of her with Chief.
I want to know what happened that made Adama trust Sharon again. And I'm glad he told Lee off. He needed to hear that. He and Dualla appear to be on the rocks, which pleases me because I've never been a big Dee fan, with Lee or without him. We also learned that she married Lee because she's possibly hung up on Papadama.
Gaius' storyline was one of my favorites as usual, because he's the most fascinating character. I was amused that the cylons have their little cylon pow-wows with Gaius sitting in the background. I also have to admit some surprise that Gaius would protest the death warrant. I see this as a sign that Gaius is evolving. Sure, he eventually signed it, but only because Doral had a gun to his head and had already shot his precious Six. I really think the old Gaius would have signed instantly when he realized his life was in danger. Is he developing some morals? Probably not, but he's getting closer, and he did look truly haunted when Gaeta came in to bitch him out.
I thought the whole Kara/Leoben thing was very bizarre. I loved that first scene where she stabbed him and then sat down to eat her steak. I knew that Starbuck was back when she used the napkin to wipe her mouth instead of cleaning the blood off her hands. It was just a really powerful scene. Leoben, of course, understands that the way to get to Kara is with a child, because of her own child-abuse issues. I definitely think Kasey cracking her skull open was staged because Leoben of all people would know that that, more than anything else, would get through to Kara. I hope she grabbed his hand at the end as a trick, because I certainly wouldn't want her to fall into his trap. Unfortunately, I'm not sure it was, because all I saw on her face at the time was relief that Kasey was still alive, and Leoben himself seemed genuinely surprised.
I also saw for the first time how much Ellen Tigh truly loves her husband. Sure, she's sleeping with a cylon, but there was so much pain on her face when Cavil threatened Saul. Although, ew, we probably didn't need to see them having sex.
The only part I didn't like so much was the whole suicide-bombing issue. Sure, BSG has always had present-day relevance, and Ron Moore has pointed this out on several occassions, but until now it has been extremely subtle. You could be absorbed in the storyline without constantly having to think about what is symbolizing what. However, there was no subtlety in this particular debate. It was fairly clear to me that we, the Evil Americans, are the cylons, complete with promises of friendship and puppet local governments. This was pretty much thrown in our faces. War on New Caprica = War in Iraq. I found this to be endlessly irritating. I hope the writers can get this balanced out again before too long. I'm not saying the parallels shouldn't be there, but there has to be a balance of real life and fiction, and this felt completely off to me.
But of course, I'm super excited about next week even though, of course, I have to work again.
Lost
Ok, so the Others live in real houses and have a book club? Wow. I definitely need to see the first five minutes of that episode again, now that I know what's going on. I thought this was a strong season opener. I can already guess that Kate/Jack is going to fall by the wayside to make room for Kate/Sawyer and perhaps Jack/Julia. Was Julia the same person as Penelope? I couldn't tell but I thought it was. While we know a little more about The Others, I have more questions than answers. We know more about how they live but nothing about their motives. Are they leftovers of the Dharma Initiative, or more malevolent still? I guess we'll find out. Meanwhile, we didn't see the other survivors at all. I suppose that's for next week's ep.
Battlestar Galactica
I thought this was a strong episode even though it didn't exactly blow me away. I wish I'd watched more of the webisodes so I'd had a little more insight into how Duck went from loving husband to suicide bomber. I feel bad for Jammer even though Chief is right in that he's an idiot for thinking he could do some good as a member of the New Caprica Police.
Speaking of Chief, I don't understand his animosity toward Gaeta. Does he not know that Gaeta is his source, or was he playing dumb to Anders and Tigh? Regardless, he has to understand that someone with a brain has to work on the inside or they'd be totally screwed.
I also secretly hope that Cally got shot because she drives me nuts and I hate the idea of her with Chief.
I want to know what happened that made Adama trust Sharon again. And I'm glad he told Lee off. He needed to hear that. He and Dualla appear to be on the rocks, which pleases me because I've never been a big Dee fan, with Lee or without him. We also learned that she married Lee because she's possibly hung up on Papadama.
Gaius' storyline was one of my favorites as usual, because he's the most fascinating character. I was amused that the cylons have their little cylon pow-wows with Gaius sitting in the background. I also have to admit some surprise that Gaius would protest the death warrant. I see this as a sign that Gaius is evolving. Sure, he eventually signed it, but only because Doral had a gun to his head and had already shot his precious Six. I really think the old Gaius would have signed instantly when he realized his life was in danger. Is he developing some morals? Probably not, but he's getting closer, and he did look truly haunted when Gaeta came in to bitch him out.
I thought the whole Kara/Leoben thing was very bizarre. I loved that first scene where she stabbed him and then sat down to eat her steak. I knew that Starbuck was back when she used the napkin to wipe her mouth instead of cleaning the blood off her hands. It was just a really powerful scene. Leoben, of course, understands that the way to get to Kara is with a child, because of her own child-abuse issues. I definitely think Kasey cracking her skull open was staged because Leoben of all people would know that that, more than anything else, would get through to Kara. I hope she grabbed his hand at the end as a trick, because I certainly wouldn't want her to fall into his trap. Unfortunately, I'm not sure it was, because all I saw on her face at the time was relief that Kasey was still alive, and Leoben himself seemed genuinely surprised.
I also saw for the first time how much Ellen Tigh truly loves her husband. Sure, she's sleeping with a cylon, but there was so much pain on her face when Cavil threatened Saul. Although, ew, we probably didn't need to see them having sex.
The only part I didn't like so much was the whole suicide-bombing issue. Sure, BSG has always had present-day relevance, and Ron Moore has pointed this out on several occassions, but until now it has been extremely subtle. You could be absorbed in the storyline without constantly having to think about what is symbolizing what. However, there was no subtlety in this particular debate. It was fairly clear to me that we, the Evil Americans, are the cylons, complete with promises of friendship and puppet local governments. This was pretty much thrown in our faces. War on New Caprica = War in Iraq. I found this to be endlessly irritating. I hope the writers can get this balanced out again before too long. I'm not saying the parallels shouldn't be there, but there has to be a balance of real life and fiction, and this felt completely off to me.
But of course, I'm super excited about next week even though, of course, I have to work again.