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Battlestar Galactica: Hub

Posted Jun 7th 2008 12:27AM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Battlestar Galactica, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free

(S04E09) I've been reading a lot lately from people who've become disappointed with this show the past few episodes or so. I've felt the same way. I'm happy to say, though, that while this episode didn't exactly make up for the lack of luster, it was certainly enjoyable.

Even without seeing the previews for this week (which, I admit, I can't even help but watch), we knew this episode would start with a flashback to what happened when Roslin and the occupants of the stolen Base Star jumped away. Right away we saw that a Cylon ship jumping has a strange effect on humans, though it's not clear if anyone other than Roslin had those brief visions.

When Roslin appeared in the desolate halls of the Galactica with Elosha, I noted right away that she had her real, non-wig hair. Again, I have to ask, how the heck do those makeup people hide that much hair behind another wig or a bald cap? Unreal. I smell another TV Squad award nomination!

It seems Elosha (Head Elosha?) is part of yet another force that's trying to push Roslin to do the "right thing." It makes me wonder sometimes what it is that's pushing Roslin so hard to be pigheaded about her decisions, to abuse the power granted to her. Remember when she was a meek thing who was shocked at being thrust into the position of President seasons ago?

Now, Helo. Y'know, I was beginning to really like Helo. Back when he was in command of the Demitrius, he held his own and did the job well. He was becoming one of my new favorite characters. Then he goes and throws that all away by somewhat blindly following Roslin's orders to bring D'Anna to her for a private meeting. Then he's ordered to be a door bouncer. I'm also surprised that Helo was fine with letting Roslin have that private meeting, when for all he knew Roslin was one of the final five. Look, I know she's the president and all, but Helo had more balls than that. What happened?

Speaking of D'Anna, I actually missed her. Jane Espenson wrote some great dialogue for her and especially Baltar. Baltar was back to the Baltar I like: somewhat comical, a bit scheming, and not getting all Jesusy on us. His interaction with the Hybrid and the Centurion were great, though I'm not quite sure what to make of the Centurion getting blown to bits yet. There's got to be something symbolic there.

There were two big revelations in this episode. The first was one not made to us but to Roslin, where Baltar confesses his involvement in the destruction of Caprica. I was first surprised at how Roslin stopped herself from simply pummeling Baltar to death, then surprised at how quickly she followed her visions and decided he should live after all. It will be interesting now to see what she does with this information.

The second revelation is that, if we're to believe what D'Anna says, Roslin is no way the final Cylon. It wasn't just what she said during their private meeting together, where she seemingly joked that Roslin was one of the final five. It was also when Helo told Sharon that he was taking D'Anna to Roslin, where D'Anna said, "Double-dealing. It's very human. You never got that, Eight." To me this was clear to say that Roslin is human, not Cylon. If we were thrown for a loop after this exchange and Roslin was really the final Cylon, there'd be some 'splaining to do.

Other things:

• The book Adama was reading to Roslin mentioned something about 'Scar' saving someone's life. Is that an actual passage out of that particular book or is it a strange part of her vision?
• Is Cavil really permanently dead?
• Is Hardball dead? Why the big deal about him jumping away as he was wounded? I guess if you wanted to talk about Cylon possibilities and all that, there's all sorts of things you could speculate. I'll just leave that for someone else. Didn't the fleet find Gonzo dead last week? (Nevermind -- thanks commenters for clarifying that Pike is Gonzo, and that was him in the Raptor. Makes much more sense) What about Sandman?
• Why did Laura think D'Anna would say anything to her alone in the first place? Roslin's hardly a physically threatening person on her own.

Current fleet population: 39,673
(Assuming Sandman's not dead, since the number didn't go down like I thought last week, and also assuming Hardball's not dead. Unknown if anyone else bit it this week, so the number stays unchanged for now.)