This might have been my favorite episode of the series. So much kick-ass action combined with so many powerful moments. Someone else said it best on this thread - this was season finale material on just the fourth frackin’ episode!
The atmospheric drop / jump was just mind blowingly cool.
adding to the love fest here, but the Galactica jumping in atmosphere, launching all fighters and jumping out is bar none the coolest sci-fi battle offensive maneuver of all time. And the death of Pegasus was spectacularly epic, taking out three Basestars (one with cannons in the surprise attack, one by direct collision, one by shrapnel collision.) before she was done.
The Leoben-Casey-Starbuck thing ended up far more fucked up than I thought it would. Cloning Starbuck, I would’ve expected, a child Cylon model that we haven’t seen before, I would’ve expected. Kidnapping someone else’s kid and passing it off as Kara’s Cylon-human daughter? That’s some fucked up shit right there.
And what of Gaius? He’s going to be in an even bigger hell than he was as the puppet president of New Caprica, he’s going to be treated as nothing more than Caprica 6’s pet now.
Fucking awesome awesome awesome awesome show.
It was great acting all around last night but damn, Tigh and Kara were tied for the gut wrenching looks they had when they got back on the Galactica. What with Tigh and his wife and Kara learning Casey wasn’t her daughter. The look on her face when she found out…Damn…
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Anjin I also thought Michael Hogan (Tigh) gave one hell of a performance tonight. When he told Adama that not everybody made it, the look on his face damn near brought a tear to my eye. |
‘Damn near’? Hell, I’ll proudly admit I was choked up as all hell during the one-two punch of Tigh’s return and the revelation about Kara’s child.
And for what it’s worth, I didn’t get the impression that Ellen knew what was coming. The camera focused on the poisoned cup much more than she did, and the way she casually mentioned how exhausted she was implies (to me) that she wasn’t suspicious. She was scared, for sure, but I think she was overly confident in her ability to manipulate Tigh.
I can only imagine the great sense of satisfaction the people who work on this show must have, awards or no. I’d be beaming with pride just to be listed as a grip in the credits…
The Ellen/Tigh scene was tear-jerking. Television has never done that for me before.
My girlfriend laughed and screamed with joy over the atmosphere jump.
(It only occurred to me then how ballsy the New Caprica arc has been SFX-wise…we saw a burning Battlestar in full daylight and it looked fucking beautiful).
The editing of the Pegasus rescue ALONE deserves an Emmy. It’s as if Moore and co sat down and said, “How would we shoot this if we were actually going to destroy the Galactica and kill everyone onboard?” The slow, wrenching pullback as the explosions grow. And at the LAST moment, when they have convinced me that they have the balls to do it–the soft sound of a missle, and Pegasus. Sweet Christ.
Best episode of the series. Every character had a significant arc. Shit got mixed up in a meaningful, organic way.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by bililoquy The slow, wrenching pullback as the explosions grow. And at the LAST moment, when they have convinced me that they have the balls to do it–the soft sound of a missle, and Pegasus. Sweet Christ. |
That was great. In your head, you absolutely know for certain they can’t destroy the Galactica; nevertheless, there was a genuine sense of dread and loss as they pulled back on the overwhelmed ship. It’s almost like cheating a little – how in hell did Galactica take that stunning abuse and still manage to get the FTL back up?
Galactica dropping down towards the planet and then jumping was one of the greatest moments on TV. Holy god.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Jacob Singer And for what it’s worth, I didn’t get the impression that Ellen knew what was coming. The camera focused on the poisoned cup much more than she did, and the way she casually mentioned how exhausted she was implies (to me) that she wasn’t suspicious. She was scared, for sure, but I think she was overly confident in her ability to manipulate Tigh. |
See, I think she said that she was exhausted because she was trying to spare Tigh more pain. Live the lie.
She overheard the entire conversation Anders had with Tigh; she knew it was coming. She confessed all her sins and all of her love, then passionately said she’d do it all again. And then, “I could use a drink.” All the while holding eye contact with Tigh as she drank…
But, regardless of how we see it, it was an excellently acted and very tragic scene. Kate and Michael both did fabulous jobs.
The whole episode was pedal to the metal from the Tigh/Anders scene on (the Lee/Dee conversation ran a bit too long for me, and I don’t feel they have much chemistry). Yeah, overall, things were a bit predictable, but they were executed very, very well.
I’m curious to see what they’re planning with Zarek and Roslin. If their friendly/flirty conversations mean they’ll be working together or at cross purposes. Or if they’re actually going to give Laura someone to date…
P.S. I’m also hoping that someone brought Jake the dog along…
I wish I could have seen this episode in a packed movie theater. The atmosphere jump sequence would have brought the house down and then some. I’m talking Indy-shooting-the-Arab-Swordsman-style bringing the house down. The aisles would flow with urine of joy.
Nothing more to add that hasn’t already been well-said. We’re watching downright historic TV excellence in the making.
This is the type of episode that’ll make you forever an apologist.
They pulled it off. Every department was just cooking with gas. Pure class.
Jammer’s gotta go next. As a matter of fact, if Jammer isn’t first up against the fuckin wall in next week’s episode, I’ll be pretty surprised.
The Gaeta situation feels like it’s gonna play out to be “Boomer part II” where a lot of people don’t like him, but they NEED him tactically. Next to Baltar, who is now gone, Gaeta’s probably the best scientific mind there, AND he’s got a lot of insight into how the Cylons work after being stuck with em for about 4 months.
But Tigh is broken, and I think we saw the beginnings of a serious wedge between him and the Old Man in that hangar deck sequence, and if Gaeta becomes an issue, I don’t think Tigh and Adama are gonna come down on the same side of that, and I think this time Tigh isn’t going to roll over for Bill like he used to.
That combat jump was one of the most well concieved bits of action I’ve seen since maybe the opening attack on the white house in X2, and this kills that because there’s 2 full seasons of weight coming to bear on the combat/atmo jump. And Hot Dog’s lazy understatement sealed the deal.
“Well, this should be different.”
If they were to put just these last two episodes for sale on DVD, I’d buy it right now.
What I love too is that we sort of just saw the French Revolution. Next week brings the Reign of Terror.
I agree with you, Richard, when it comes to the last few episodes. It would be completely worth it. I don’t agree with the Tigh being broken statement though. He isn’t the kind of character that people would let break because of some horrible thing he did. More then likely he will have some trouble for a while but will come back from it when needed the most. Even though Battlestar is better then pretty much every show on TV it still needs to play to what the general populace likes and that isn’t losing main characters for any reason.
Excellent…excellent episode.
I think Tigh is going to start chafing when he hears everyone praising Adama for rescuing them. He’s going to think, “I killed my own fracking wife to further our cause down there, where the hell is MY ride on everyone’s shoulders?”
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Richard Dickson I think Tigh is going to start chafing when he hears everyone praising Adama for rescuing them. He’s going to think, “I killed my own fracking wife to further our cause down there, where the hell is MY ride on everyone’s shoulders?” |
I don’t know…that doesn’t seem like Tigh’s style. He may rage on for a host of reasons, but he will never, ever, ever turn it towards Adama, consciously or not. The only way that thought would ever even conceivably get there was through Ellen Tigh’s cooing, and that ship has sailed.
Incredible episode…it had me on the edge of my seat…
i don’t think anything will happen gaeta except apologies from everyone once they realize he was their man on the inside and he saved far more people than any of them will ever realize probably. Chief and tigh will be the first to shake his hand i think.
Gush. Gush. Gush. Best show on television. Brilliant battle scenes. Loved every moment of it.
I wonder if Roslin is going to get pissed at Sam for letting Maya die along with the baby (remember, she thinks the baby is dead). I also wonder if Starbuck is going to try and adopt. Probably not. She’ll probably just push the hurt way down and hop into a Viper.
My God, I must join in on the love orgy with the atmosphere jump. Damn!
I feel foolish for misjudging this show. Yeah, I love the original series, but damn this is some good shit. I’m glad I recorded this episode, I will be watching this again with the home theater blasting.
I know sci-fi channel is known for the frugality, what’s the budget for this show? That looked expensive.