Battlestar Galactica 2.17: The Politics of the Fleet.
Political maneuverings and a Cylon trap make a perfect episode for BSG.
Last week's episode of BSG was quite a pivot from the middle filler episodes into the turn to the season finale. The episode had an explosive array of political intrigue and policy and military insubordination and incompetence. The first story arc involves the very volatile issue of abortion in their universe, and ours, and the new world order of a post-apocalyptic battle of the survival of humanity. After a cargo container on the Galactica is searched, a stowaway is found. The stowaway is a pregnant 17-year-old girl named Rya seeking an abortion from Doc Cottle and asylum from the ship she came from, and her parents as well. This issue gets widespread attention in the fleet as the Geminon delegation, the most religious sect of the colonies, demands President Laura Roslin's help in ending the legality of abortion or face losing support from one of her biggest political assets in the upcoming Presidential election.
On the military side of the issue, a pair of Raptors from the Pegasus, know nicknamed "the beast" go missing on a training exercise. The new commander of the Pegasus, a former engine room chief, chooses to chase after a risky lead on his pilots despite the protests of the new XO, Major Lee "Apollo" Adama and Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, and a direct command from Admiral Adama not to pursue the lead. The fear is a Cylon trap, but Commander Garner disobeys the order and jumps to the location of the Raptor's last transmission. As predicted, a Cylon trap is in place and the Pegasus takes major damage and loses the ability to jump away. Commander Garner proves unable to lead in the hectic battle conditions and decides to go back to his engine room to fix the FTL drives; as Major Adama gets the chance at the helm of the Pegasus. Apollo proves to be a successful leader and Garner sacrifices his life to get the FTL drives back online. The Pegasus shows its dominance compared to the Galactica as it is able to survive 3 Cylon Base Stars for quite awhile.
Back at Colonial One, President Roslin announces despite her personal beliefs that a woman has a right to choose, she has decided that the shrinking human population requires that the best interest of the species is to make abortions illegal throughout the fleet. Vice-President Gaius Baltar uses the opportunity to make a grandiose speech about freedom being the difference between humans and Cylons and his bid for the Presidency. The remainder of this season, three episodes left, will certainly have smell of politics in the air as Gaius does political battle with Roslin over issues of freedom, security, and Cylons. Back on the Galactica, Major Adama gets another promotion from Major to Commander as he is now to be at the helm of the Pegasus. Tonight's episode will prove to be a very interesting one, as two reluctant Cylons, Sharon and Number Six, are hailed on Caprica as heroes. The promise of seeing the Cylon life-style and society in action will prove to be a BSG first and certainly a great episode to set-up the two-part season finale.
Last week's episode of BSG was quite a pivot from the middle filler episodes into the turn to the season finale. The episode had an explosive array of political intrigue and policy and military insubordination and incompetence. The first story arc involves the very volatile issue of abortion in their universe, and ours, and the new world order of a post-apocalyptic battle of the survival of humanity. After a cargo container on the Galactica is searched, a stowaway is found. The stowaway is a pregnant 17-year-old girl named Rya seeking an abortion from Doc Cottle and asylum from the ship she came from, and her parents as well. This issue gets widespread attention in the fleet as the Geminon delegation, the most religious sect of the colonies, demands President Laura Roslin's help in ending the legality of abortion or face losing support from one of her biggest political assets in the upcoming Presidential election.
On the military side of the issue, a pair of Raptors from the Pegasus, know nicknamed "the beast" go missing on a training exercise. The new commander of the Pegasus, a former engine room chief, chooses to chase after a risky lead on his pilots despite the protests of the new XO, Major Lee "Apollo" Adama and Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, and a direct command from Admiral Adama not to pursue the lead. The fear is a Cylon trap, but Commander Garner disobeys the order and jumps to the location of the Raptor's last transmission. As predicted, a Cylon trap is in place and the Pegasus takes major damage and loses the ability to jump away. Commander Garner proves unable to lead in the hectic battle conditions and decides to go back to his engine room to fix the FTL drives; as Major Adama gets the chance at the helm of the Pegasus. Apollo proves to be a successful leader and Garner sacrifices his life to get the FTL drives back online. The Pegasus shows its dominance compared to the Galactica as it is able to survive 3 Cylon Base Stars for quite awhile.
Back at Colonial One, President Roslin announces despite her personal beliefs that a woman has a right to choose, she has decided that the shrinking human population requires that the best interest of the species is to make abortions illegal throughout the fleet. Vice-President Gaius Baltar uses the opportunity to make a grandiose speech about freedom being the difference between humans and Cylons and his bid for the Presidency. The remainder of this season, three episodes left, will certainly have smell of politics in the air as Gaius does political battle with Roslin over issues of freedom, security, and Cylons. Back on the Galactica, Major Adama gets another promotion from Major to Commander as he is now to be at the helm of the Pegasus. Tonight's episode will prove to be a very interesting one, as two reluctant Cylons, Sharon and Number Six, are hailed on Caprica as heroes. The promise of seeing the Cylon life-style and society in action will prove to be a BSG first and certainly a great episode to set-up the two-part season finale.
posted by Oliver Lieu at
8:46 AM
2 Comments:
"You have your pound of flesh." Did anyone else notice Roslin use that phrase when she was talking to that religious lady? I wasn't aware they had Shakespeare on Caprica.
By
Anonymous, at 8:18 PM, February 26, 2006
Yeah, I guess this would be the first Earth idiom mistake on the show.
By
Oliver Lieu, at 11:19 PM, February 26, 2006
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