Television Review
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (2003)
Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down
Dateline: Sunday, March 6, 2005
By: JASON DAVIS
By: Columnist
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (2003)
GRADE: B
Reviewed Format: TV
ShowNetwork: Sci-Fi Channel
Original Airdate: 4 March 2005
Cast: Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackoff, Jamie Bamber, James Callis, Tricia Helfer, Grace Park
Creator: Glen A. Larson
Developer: Ronald D. Moore
Writers: Jeff Vlaming
Director: Edward James Olmos
When Dr. Gaius Baltar develops a means of detecting Cylons in the fleet, President Laura Roslin and Commander William Adama decide that high-ranking personnel in key positions should be Baltar's first test subjects. While Roslin suggests Adama go first, the commander has other ideas when he learns of an unexpected passenger discovered aboard the Rising Star.
When Adama brings Colonel Tigh's wife, Ellen aboard the Galactica, Mrs. Tigh's negative effect on everyone she comes in contact with quickly becomes apparent as she drives her husband back into the bottle while making unsubtle advances toward Captain Lee Adama. At a dinner also attended by the President (whom Mrs. Tigh insults), the Commander (whom Mrs. Tigh later alleges molested her), and Lee Adama (whom Mrs. Tigh fondles with her foot under the table), the full extent of Mrs. Tigh's character is revealed, and Commander Adama's concerns that she may be a Cylon sent to get close to Colonel Tigh are lent credence by her mysterious and unexplained appearance along with her curiosity about Earth.
"Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down," as the title suggests, centers on Galactica's executive officer, Paul Tigh, but the thematic thrust of the story is one of identity and loyalty. While the whole of this revisionist series has focussed on the post 9/11 concern of "the enemy among us," this episode goes one step further with the notion of developing a way to prove one's identity one way or the other. It asks who has the right to order such tests and what scenarios warrant them. In an environment like GALACTICA's, where the stakes are the survival of the human race, these questions come loaded with the threat of extinction, and the political maneuverings of Roslin and Adama are well handled given the delicate balance of power between the political and military wings of the fleet.
The heightened paranoia brought on by the possibility of identifying Cylon agents is ably conveyed by Olmos' skilled direction, which eschews flashy camera moves in favor of studying the characters' faces in lingering close-ups. After Roslin has voiced her suspicions about the Commander, his unscheduled Raptor journey milks every ounce of paranoid suspense, even down to revealing a woman's legs at the back of his ship when he returns to Galactica. Could this shot be subjective to Adama like Baltar's romantic encounters with Number Six? And speaking of Baltar, the scientist's tests to identify Cylons take a back seat to the concerns over Tigh's wife and Adama's identity, but the C-plot has its own allure. Baltar, depressed by the scope of testing everyone in the fleet and the decades necessary to conduct the tests, finds a solution to his problem typical of the personality that led humanity to ruin and offers an excellent act out for the episode.
The addition of Ellen Tigh to the recurring roster of characters brings with it excellent comedic possibilities, not to mention the possibility of treachery close to the Galactica's command staff, and Baltar's solution will no doubt result in monumental consequences as the series continues.
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