January 30, 2009 Battlestar Galactica - Season 4.5 episode 2 I think of this as a transition episode - everyone is still recovering from the shock of finding that earth is devastated, but not quite ready to pick up the pieces and move on. The tenor is set when Adama reads himself a passage from a book about the "languor that follows pain" (I am paraphrasing, btw). Two questions are posed in this episode: Will Roslin reassume her role as president or choose to live out her remaining time in a more personal way? Will the fleet and the rebel cylons become allies or remain enemies? There are some other issues touched on, but they are peripheral at this point: Caprica's pregnancy & its implications Tyrol's reaction to the news that he is not really Nick's father Starbuck's confusion about her identity and her role in the future Why is Adama taking all those pills What horrible thing is Baltar going to do next? When Roslin wipes the medication into the trash can, I wasn't really sure if she was amassing the pills prior to committing suicide or if she was making a decision to stop treatment. I am inclined to think that it was a refusal to accept treatment, which I suppose is a form of committing suicide, but considering her diagnosis I suppose that is a moot point. It's odd seeing her running laps in a sweatsuit, but in spite of the surface euphoria she is deeply disillusioned by the prophecies and essentially stepping down from the role as leader. Another way of looking at it is that without the prophecy to direct her decisions, how will she know what to do next? And why should she solve it when she has such a short time to live anyway? The affect on the political stability of the fleet is devastating. Gaeta's story is playing out the Cylon/Human future. The meeting to discuss Cylon FTL technology is the point where the Webisodes left off. At this point Gaeta is deeply traumatized (why he's not in a padded cell is beyond me). His conversation with Starbuck is essentially a laundry list of these traumas and the Cylon role in each. Starbuck, as usual, has a mean streak a mile-wide and once again Gaeta is on the receiving end. The difference is that Gaeta is actually looking smug and very hard (just as he did when he testified against Baltar at the end of Season 3), which is absolutely not typical for him. Frankly, I think it would be hard to argue against Gaeta's point of view - and it does seem to me as though the military is forcing the decision on an unwilling body politic. Roslin's absence means that the conflicts will spin out of control, and mutiny is clearly on the horizon. Gaeta's leadership in the mutiny really reflects the extremity of the conflict. He is always pictured as loyal, professional, and his demeanor is usually pretty controlled (in Webisode 1, when he talks to Hoshi, I noticed that his facial expression is completely open, and it is one of the few unguarded moments for this character). As usual, Gaeta puts his trust in the wrong person (Tom Zarek), which will no doubt result in disaster. If Gaeta makes it out of this alive, I will be very surprised. Comments: To post a comment - please use your username and password from our message board. Username:     Password:     Comment: Galacticaftl's Blog - Contact galacticaftl Latest submissions End of Galactica Blog February 27, 2009 Battlestar Galactica - Season 4.5 episode 3 February 04, 2009 Battlestar Galactica - Season 4.5 episode 2 January 30, 2009 Season 4.5, episode 1 January 27, 2009 Webisode Part II January 26, 2009 Battlestar Galactica - Webisodes & Season 4.5 January 21, 2009 Categories TV & Movies