Anyone who cares has already seen it, right? right? No need to be careful of sensibilities here? OK then.
First off: it was an extremely satisfying viewing experience, for sure. But at this point I have such a reflexive response to this show that you could probably play the opening music (the Morse-code-like pulsing over shifting harmony) and flash Olmos' face a few times and I'd claim it was a satisfying viewing experience. The moments I enjoyed the most were those that reminded me of pleasures I'd lost touch with -- you never knew whether a Lee-Starbuck scene would end with tension or banter. The back-formation of the character of the Pegasus XO in the Pegasus-Resurrection Ship episodes, when he creeps out Tigh with the story of Cain's shooting her XO in Razor. The examination of different levels of the command structure, and how easy or hard following orders can be.
The decision to "humanize" Cain's actions after the initial Cylon attack was a somewhat risky one, I thought, because they could have psychologized away what were potentially defensible military tactics. Especially true with the torture of Gina. But Michelle Forbes ultimately, I think, carried the day on this--she more fully fleshed out Cain as a character, clearly, but without making the force of Cain's decisions rest on the mere fact that she developed a personality.
The only thing I actively minded was that Shaw didn't survive the episode. Yes, I realize it would have required some plot maneuvering to excuse her absence from the end of Season 2 and Season 3; and the acting wasn't incredibly memorable. But it did feel as though she was being used as an excuse for backstory, and after her plot function died, poof, that was it. I wouldn't have minded having her reappear in Season 4 as a petty officer of some sort, or perhaps training new comm officers in an episode dealing again with the question of how people get trained for what kinds of jobs.
4 comments:
The funniest moment about "Razor" was pointed out by a good friend of mine who noted that immediately following that commercial break announcement that "It has been revealed that Cain and Gina were lovers" followed immediately by a Quizno's "Mmmmm mmmm, tasty." ad.
Nothing salacious there. Nope. The networks would never do anything to titillate the fan base. Never.
Ha! I hadn't noticed the actual wording of the Quiznos ad, because one of my watching companion compulsively mutes ads. But the whole sponsorship of plot points thing? Lame. "Starbuck now creeping along a dark hallway, brought to you by Everready flashlights."
It is a bit lame, but I'm going to let it slide since they had a PSA at the end for GLAAD.
For real. Was that PSA supposed to be in itself a revelation, of those actors' sexuality? I thought it did a great job being noncommittal about that, in fact, but it did seem like it would raise that question.
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