Battlestar Galactica 2.15: Just Another Flashback

We fall back into old habits and barely scratch the surface of Starbuck’s meltdown.

I was sorely let down by this episode. Not only did we not learn a whole lot about Starbuck or the Cylons but we are also treated to the wonderful cat fighting between Kat and Starbuck. Which persisted throughout the whole episode. The incessant back and forth, the bickering, the bitchiness. Through the whole episode. It felt like the whole episode was dragged down by their fighting. We got the message that they didn’t like each other from their very first fight, no need to beat us over the head with that message, over and over again. That was gripe number one with this episode.


The second gripe that I felt with this episode was the fact that it was another flash back episode. It’s been done too much with BSG and I think they are milking it for all it’s worth. And it’s killing the flow of the storyline and not allowing for very dynamic character development. It’s a very common formula: show erratic behavior, show flashback explaining said behavior. Repeat. I don’t think that a show of this caliber should rely on such tried-and-true techniques. A linear storyline isn’t taboo! If done well, they are often times better than these pseudo-Tarantino techniques which are usually choppy and always detrimental to the development of a character. Especially in this show, and the previous one concerning Apollo.


These two characters are some of the best and most dynamic in the show and it just kills me when an episode showcasing them is wasted away like this. It just FEELS like a wasted opportunity. In both of their character-centric shows, much of the flashbacks were superfluous, often showing footage already seen in previous episodes OR the same footage shown over and over again. This does nothing to develop the anguish each character is supposed to show and wastes the opportunity given to the writers to flesh out these characters further. It’s just a shame really.


Speaking of wasting the chance to develop a character, we must not forget the infamous ‘Scar’. There is no exposition of whom or what Scar is nor how they have come to know him so dearly. But this is partly the fault of the wasted time spent on rehashing the flashbacks. We just have no time to waste to explain Scar and could have really been the greatest foil for the turmoil that Starbuck felt. You know the writers were hinting at this when Sharon mentions it. But it’s a thread that is lost in all the artistic cuts and edits and we end up with a show that could have been so much more.