Entertainment Weekly Review of the Woman King

Entertainment Weekly has posted up their review of The Woman King:

Dr. Strangehate

On ''Battlestar Galactica,'' a disease strikes the Sagittaron minority, and Helo discovers that a Caprican physician is killing his patients

Marc Bernardin

This episode of Battlestar Galactica is brought to you by Tahmoh Penikett's crazy oblique muscles.

Man, I'd have bad dreams too if I were the mayor of cubicle city, like poor Helo. Could you read the longing on his face when he kissed Sharon goodbye and she ran off to the (relatively) carefree life of a pilot? I guess the Sagittarons are supposed to be like Christian Scientists, who don't believe in that newfangled medicine and feel that prayer will heal all that ails them. Still, it's a little unclear why everyone seems to hate them so much. (Then again, they do also act a bit like hippies, with all that burning of incense-y branches. And not everyone loves hippies either.)

I had a little difficulty buying Dr. Roberts, not only because it seems unlikely that such a fully formed bigot would rise to becoming a respected doctor but also because I kept thinking of him as Dr. Bob. Which, despite Bruce Davidson's fine portrayal, rendered him a little silly in my own head. But then again, my head is nowhere anyone wants to be, not on a Sunday night.

Tom Zarek, the voice of reason. He's probably right that the trial of Baltar will consume the fleet with a pungent, divisive hate. But Laura should be very careful about listening to Zarek: It seems that those who do follow his advice get what they want, as Baltar did, but not exactly in the manner in which they wanted it. And Laura was wrong when she said that she'd never seen Zarek like that. He was just as heated when he first warned her what would happen if she tried Cylon collaborators in an open forum. And his speech then was astonishingly like his speech now. He's like a weatherman of political discord. (And, for my money, Richard Hatch is one of the real acting surprises of this show. He's always a joy to watch, and it makes you wonder why he doesn't get more work.)

Head Baltar! Whoo-hoo! I always like to see him — it's a little reminder that machines can be just as kooky as humans. But is it me, or is James Callis barely fitting into that miniseries suit? Those pinstripes seem like they're bending in weird ways.

Helo is like Captain Superego. He does, by and large, whatever he feels is the right thing at the time. Sleep with Sharon on New Caprica? Check. Suffocate Cylon prisoners before they can download a virus into the resurrection ship? Sure. Shoot your wife? Done. Deck a vastly superior officer? Why not? Yes, Colonel Tigh was absolutely asking to be cracked in the jaw, and he deserved it. But should Helo have done it? No frakking way. Not if he likes wearing a uniform.

For a second there, I actually thought, ''Holy crap, is Dualla dead?'' Of course she isn't. By now, we know that if the producers are gonna kill off a regular character, that regular gets an episode built around him or her — as when Billy or Kat bought it. But that was a pretty decent act break.

And I appreciated Adama's apology to Helo for dismissing his hunches. That's a big part of command, knowing that you need to own your actions, when they're right and when they're wrong. (I completely understand why the producers cut that little bit of the scene where Helo admitted to sabotaging Adama's plan for destroying the Cylons with that virus. Unless you can play that beat for everything that it's worth, don't just tease us with that. It would be cruel.)

Truly, the only quibble I had with the episode was with the motives behind Dr. Bob's killing spree. I saw it coming a mile away. I'm sure you did, too. Because you've actually seen some television shows before. And it was so obvious that I was hoping that it wasn't true. Part of me wanted Dr. Bob to be a serial killer who works in clinical triage because no one will look twice if a person dies here or there. People expire all the time, as Doc Cottle told Helo. It would be the perfect cover for a twisted healer. But, no, his bigotry fueled his actions. Bo-ring.

Finally, an episode with real issues. Not silly romantic quadrangles or invented food shortages. No, this was an episode about ethics. It's said that a society is judged by how it treats its weakest members. How will Galactica and, by extension, the colonial government, be viewed after what's happened with Dr. Bob? This episode touched on a bunch of different story threads that needed touching on, and incorporated an interesting subplot that illuminated our main characters. And that's what I want out of Galactica — with a little bit of space combat thrown in for good measure.

What do you think? Why would everyone dislike the Sagittarons so much? Was the mystery of their deaths solved a little too easily? And will Helo's insubordination ever get him in real trouble?

Posted Feb 12, 2007

TV Squad Review for Women King

TV Squad's review of The Woman King:

Battlestar Galactica: The Woman King

Posted Feb 11th 2007 11:12PM by Keith McDuffee

(S03E14) Before I start on this episode, I want to update on something from the previous episode. When Baltar whispers something to Gaeta, Ron Moore says in his podcast that it was part of a sub-plot they had planned but seemingly scrapped, where Baltar was going to pin some killings of Saggitarons on Gaeta. Anyway, that seems to clear up what was going on there, but it still seems confusing if they're not following through with that sub-plot now.

As for the story this week, I have to say it was quite a snoozer. Look, I know not every episode has to advance things along plotwise significantly, but I'm just being honest here. I didn't much care for what was going on, and a big part of that might be that I find Helo to be one of the least interesting characters on the show.

Hey, at least we barely saw Starpollo this week.

It's interesting to see how those in the medical field are infallible to many of the upper echelon of the fleet, and rightly so, if you think about it. I mean, the few doctors they have are there to treat over 40 thousand people in some of the worst conditions. So yes, it's going to take a lot of convincing when someone like Helo comes around making accusations.

I forgot that Six had a little Baltar on her shoulder until he appeared tonight, which was that one small thing that made me snap awake. This is one of the most interesting aspects of this show, that these two characters (Six and Baltar) share an image of one another in their mind. Why is that? Did it have something to do with that blast she shielded Baltar from? That seems very possible, as it's a part of the story that's come up again recently (actually in the previous episode).

The most interesting part of the episode was actually the cut scene at the end, where Helo admits to Adama about killing off the infected Cylons. What a waste!

I'm sorry, but that's about all I've got to say about this episode. If you found something profoundly interesting or fulfilling from it, please let me know and let me have it.

Current fleet population: 41,401 (-4 mentioned in this episode)

Woman King Preview Clip

AOL TV has a preview clip of the upcoming episode, The Woman King, here.

SciFi Updates

The SciFi channel site has updated with a number of new things. First up, the podcast for the upcoming episode, The Woman King, is up for download:

314 – The Woman King

Also, there's a new video blog, hosted by Second Camera Assistant Collin, for an upcoming Adama-Centric episode, viewable here.

Finally, a new feature was launched, a Battlestar Galactica Quiz, which you can take here. (I aced the first one, 9/10 on the second, 8/10 on the third and fourth)

Upcoming Episode Titles

The Patriot Resource has rounded out the rest of the titles for Season 3. Here's the new ones:

307: Hero
308: Unfinished Business
309: The Passage
310: The Eye of Jupiter
311: The Rapture
312: Taking a Break from All Your Worries (Spring 2007)
313: The Woman King (Spring 2007)
314: A Day In The Life (Spring 2007)
315: Dirty Hands (Spring 2007)
316: Maelstrom (Spring 2007)
317: The Son Also Rises (Spring 2007)
318: The Crossroads, Part 1 (Spring 2007)
319: The Crossroads, Part 2 (Spring 2007)

It's looking like The Passage and Eye of Jupiter are a two parter, and The Son Also Rises (A play on the book title by Hemmingway?) and both Crossroads are a three parter for the season Finale. As previously reported, Season 3 will be only 19 episodes.

Detailed spoilers for these episodes can be found here.

Updated Episode Title List

Just going over the list of confirmed episodes that Gateworld has been posting.

OCCUPATION / PRECIPICE 301
EXODUS, PART 1 302
EXODUS, PART 2 303
COLLABORATORS 304
TORN 305
A MEASURE OF SALVATION 306
HERO 307
UNFINISHED BUSINESS 308
THE PASSAGE 309
EYE OF JUPITER 310
RAPTURE 311
TAKING A BREAK 312
THE WOMAN KING ???