overnights

‘Battlestar Galactica’: Has the Whole Galaxy Gone Insane?

“Well, I’m off to float aimlessly in space. See ya!”Photo courtesy of Sci Fi


As Battlestar’s final season continues to subdivide into competing story lines, we’ve accepted the fact that there are some narratives we’re emotionally invested in every week — and that others are real yawners concerning half-Cylon babies and imaginary opera houses. Friday’s episode had a typically busy plot that, most meaningfully, scooted along the quietly building love story between Bill Adama and Laura Roslin.

Love Boat Galactica
No matter how much he acts like a hard-ass, Adama is deep down a hopeless softy. Here he allowed his concern for one person — Roslin, who was captured by the Cylons last episode — to overshadow his responsibility to protect the entire fleet. His decision to relinquish command and stay behind in a lonely raptor while the fleet jumped away was both incredibly romantic (he can’t bear the thought of losing her) and astoundingly stupid (uh, dude, you know you’re gonna be floating in space all by yourself, right?). But ultimately it was a shocking twist that still felt true to his character.

If only everyone else was acting like himself.

They Have a Plan
We get that Tigh is attracted to the Caprica Six prisoner — he keeps seeing his dead wife in her face — but now he’s sleeping with her? And she’s pregnant? Can Cylons even procreate with one another? Tigh’s not himself since he found out he’s a Toaster, but what the frak?

Meanwhile, with Roslin captured, Lee Adama has been charged with finding candidates for interim president. Lee and sleazy lawyer Romo Lampkin go through a bunch of names without Lampkin ever saying, “You know, Lee, you’re a heroic, honorable guy who we see a lot of: Why don’t you be interim president?” Instead, Lampkin came to that conclusion at show’s end, at which time he decided to deliver the good news by pointing a gun at Lee and announcing that he must kill him because … Lampkin’s wife died during the Cylon strike and he still has their dead cat in a bag.

Why the sardonic Lampkin would transform into a violent lunatic is a question not even the Hybrid could answer. The scene was an extraordinarily clumsy way to set up Lee’s 100th “We as a civilization must have faith in our basic decency if we want to survive!” sermon, which, by the way, isn’t as moving as it used to be even if it did earn him the presidency.

Maybe Bill had the right idea: Better to chill out in space and wait for everybody else to come to their senses. —Tim Grierson

‘Battlestar Galactica’: Has the Whole Galaxy Gone Insane?