Saturday, November 04, 2006

Reviews of Torn

Several places have chimed in with their reviews of Torn:

TV Squad:

Battlestar Galactica: Torn

Posted Nov 3rd 2006 11:51PM by Keith McDuffee

battlestar galactica
(S03E06) Well, here I am watching the episodes live with the rest of you. And you know what? It feels good! Now I look forward to every week where there will be a new episode instead of lumping a bunch into one season. There's something to be said about pacing oneself.

Dear lord (lords?), what an opening. Does anyone get tired of seeing Number Six scantily clad, let along on a beach? Though it's about time that Baltar questions the vision of Number Six that plagues his thoughts, both in dreams and seemingly in reality.I love that Baltar starts things out by doing exactly what Gaeta says he's good at: finding a way to self preserve. "Earth? What Earth?" "You're going to die." "Oh THAT Earth! Why didn't you say so?"

DAMN it was good to see (a thin!) Apollo and Starbuck back to old tricks, wasn't it? Chief and Callie back in the pit. A newly populated Galactica. By gods the writers for this show pulled off what many thought was a hell of a risky move at the conclusion of last season.
Full Review

Entertainment Weekly

Going Viral

On ''Battlestar Galactica,'' Baltar investigates a virus on a Cylon baseship, while Tigh spreads dissension on Galactica by Marc Bernardin
There are always more questions, aren't there, in the Galactica universe. Every answer leads to a new query. Now that we've seen the inside of a baseship, we want to see more. Why is a naked Boomer doing tai chi? Is their ''projecting'' more than just the work of active imaginations? What exactly is ''the hybrid''? Was she a model that went wrong? Her ramblings of disconnected fact punctuated by words of import sound an awful lot like a person with autism. Is she a savant Cylon? Why don't they talk about the other five models? (Please, don't let Baltar be a Cylon. I know that's long been a theory, but it would just be too easy. Let him be humanity's Achilles heel because he chooses to be, or because he's too weak not to be, not because he's been programmed to.) Was there a Cylon civil war? Above all, why are the Cylons so intrigued by Earth? And what will they do if and when they get there?

There's been a lot of debate over what would happen if the Galactica ever reached our Big Blue Marble. Some wouldn't put it past executive producer Ron Moore to have the Galactica jump into orbit only to have President Bush blast it from the sky with a barrage of nukes. But wouldn't it be so much more interesting if the Cylons were the ones who found Earth, as abandoned as Kobol, and founded the 13th colony? What if we were the children of Cylons? Chew on that for a while.

Did Lee get demoted, and by more than his pants size? (And, really, I completely don't buy that Lee lost all that weight in the time he did. It takes people months, if not years, to get a six-pack like that. Not that I dug Fat Lee, but for a show that holds itself to something of a ''reality'' code, come on.) I guess he did, judging by the ''Major'' on his Viper's fuselage. Then again, how many commanders do you need on one battlestar? Clearly, Adama needs only one XO, and it's driving Tigh crazy that it's Helo and not him.
Full Review

TV Blend

TV Recap: Battlestar Galactica - Torn
By Steve West: 2006-11-04

I can only imagine the pain of losing a daughter or a wife, and hope that I never do. However, if I ever act as foolish as Starbuck and Col Tigh I sincerely hope I’m knocked out of my chair too. The pair of them set up shop in the pilot rec room and allow their rage to fill the ship with bile. At first I’m sure people didn’t take it seriously; Kat even tried joking about saving their sorry butts. It didn’t take long for everyone to realize how sincere the two were. When Helo says, “We all made sacrifices,” to Tigh the Colonel’s response was filled with venom. “While you were pinning wings on your Cylon girlfriend, our people were strapping homemade bombs to their chests…so forgive me if I don’t get all misty over your sacrifices.” Tigh is pitting those on New Caprica against the Galactica crew, and Kara is going right along with it.

For them it essentially boils down to, if you weren’t on the planet then you were asked to give up nothing. While Tigh and Kara lost far more than most, this isn’t necessarily true. Many pilots died in the rescue, and the desecration of their memory is despicable. Not to mention causing unrest in the crew being a bad idea, especially when William Adama is in command. When Kat tells Starbuck that they busted their assess to get them off New Caprica Tigh is again there to spread the infection. “You think that means anything? Every colonist that landed on New Caprica was loyal to a point. It was amazing watching those people you thought you knew go over to the Cylons…how come you’re (Kara) off flight duty and a Cylon lover is holding down my post?”

It’s difficult to hate Kara and Tigh for their actions. They’re grieving from great loss and trauma, so I’ll give them a break. It doesn’t mean that Starbuck was right to be so abrupt with her brush off of Kacy and her mom, or crashing one of the few Vipers that are left. When Helo informs Admiral Adama of the treacherous actions of the pair, his response is swift and decisive. Showing once again he’s a better leader than…well, anyone. Adama puts an end to their corrosive attitudes in one quick visit. He takes Kara’s sidearm and tells one of them to shoot him. When neither does so he calls them out on their crap, saying they are cowards. Tigh tells him to watch his mouth to which Adama replies, “Or what Saul? You going to turn the rest of my pilots against each other? Poison the crew?” When Kara says they won’t apologize he kicks her chair out from under her (frackin’ awesome) and tells her she’s no longer like a daughter to him. Not content to let her go there he says she’s a cancer and if she wants to stay on the ship she either learns to be human again, or finds somewhere else to live. His reaction to Saul is just as blunt, telling his friend that he doesn’t need a “one-eyed drunk causing discontent” among the crew. The Old Man wants his friend of 30 years back. Col Tigh says that man doesn’t exist, so Adama confines him to his quarters.
Full Review

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