BSG Discussion Thread — 3.13 “Taking a Break From All Your Worries” February 1, 2007 zuzu Well, dammit. I forgot to start the thread. Mainly because I’ve been decompressing so much I forgot to watch the episode. I do hear Roslin was all hot to airlock Baltar, though.
It was a pretty frustrating episode — a dark, suspenseful Roslin and Adama vs. Baltar storyline, but also a trite, melodramatic Kara/Lee/Anders/Dualla storyline.
Is it just me, or is the Lee/Dee/Kara/Sam thing getting just too soap opera? I like multi-dimensional characters, but come on…
ok, what was going on with Gaeta? Tipping Baltar off to the fact that he was being watched and then flipping off and trying to kill him with a pen? what did Baltar whisper to Gaeta? I hope this is the last we see of the love quadrangle
Is it just me, or is the Lee/Dee/Kara/Sam thing getting just too soap opera? Nope, not just you. I thought it was weird how they juxtaposed the junior-high-boy-girl crap with the riveting Roslin-Baltar freak show. I think what Baltar whispered was something like, “I’m the only one who knows you didn’t kill me when you had the chance.” That might tip Gaeta over the edge.
Definetly no just you MikeEss. Hopefully that sub-plot is done now, it looked like it at the end of the episode. And is anyone else wishing there were some space battles? I don’t think there has been one since episode four of this season.
Regarding the soap opera plot: why are they wasting our time with this when there are apparently meaty scenes between Roslin and Caprica to be had? Regarding the bar: there is a word for a man who has to hide from his wife in a bar: “loser.” It’s also a gross cliche and it’s dissapointing to see it adopted so casually by the writers. On Roslin losing it: I liked it. What I didn’t like were the totally unnecessary flashbacks that have no purpose other than to show off how great the writers are. Finally, regarding Dee: was anyone else interested in where she was going when she stormed out of the apartment near the beginning of the episode? I mean, we know where Lee was going when he was getting away. But, what about Dee? Who was she confiding in? What was she doing to blow off steam?
Kara/Lee is gross. Lee is a jerk. Not quite a multiple-betraying-humanity-genocide-causin’ jerk, but a jerk nonetheless. You know what I find interesting? When my sympathy for characters is stretched because they behave in frustrating ways for a little while, because they do bad things occasionally yet have ways to justify them that almost make sense, because they’re imperfect yet in very human ways. But when they’re mid-to-late 20s married professional soldiers and they’re acting like whiny stupid high schoolers for no discernible reason, no reason at all, that is just obnoxious. I suppose I should pity Dee, but I don’t believe that she truly madly deeply loves Lee. There’s just been nothing to indicate it. She’s not passionate about him. She has no characterization. Screw that. Kara is really bad at insults. HEY LEE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GOOD AT? THINKING! The easy answer to what Gaius whispered is of course: “they don’t know you’re a Cylon.” Why not fuck with his head if you have the chance? But it could also be “they don’t know you’re gay!” See, Moore has said that the show would have to make a big deal and highly politicize (oh, fuck, we wouldn’t want to have anything *political* on a show that’s been metaphoring Iraq for three years, would we?) any situation where any character is shown to be gay and that’s why they haven’t had any gay characters so far. Pffaugh. Anyway, I expect an epic coming-out story coming soon, and being gay can be a metaphor for being a Cylon! I liked the Baltar stuff a lot, I really did. Until the end when they decided that the best ending would be to have him not change his opinion or take responsibility at all, but to go deeper into denial. That’s stupid. (And Baltar was totally being waterboarded, right? I am not imagining this?) So, end result: Nothing has changed except Baltar can now do anti-smoking ads. He doesn’t change his mind despite going through yet another horrific ordeal. Kara/Lee: same, despite having the chance to get together/forget it all. This could have been an awesome episode but it was total filler.
I think Gaeta is one of the Final Five. That precognitive dream he had about Baltar is what made me think that. However, I don’t think Baltar knows that, so I don’t think that’s what he whispered to him. As for the queasy quadrangle, I hope it’s over now. I think it might be.
Oh! Also gross: The revelation (well, I only just realized it) that most everyone’s living in such close quarters and Kara and Sam are fucking and talking about fucking two feet away from everyone else, separated only by a non-noise-blocking canvas curtain. Poor everyone else.
And is anyone else wishing there were some space battles? I don’t think there has been one since episode four of this season. I think they blew their whole budget on Occupation/Precipice and Exodus I and II Finally, regarding Dee: was anyone else interested in where she was going when she stormed out of the apartment near the beginning of the episode? I mean, we know where Lee was going when he was getting away. But, what about Dee? Who was she confiding in? What was she doing to blow off steam? I really, really hope she was sleeping with someone else. Anders, maybe? Gaeta being one of the Final Five is an interesting thought. I can’t decide if I like the idea or not. He’s probably my favorite supporting character, and I’d hate to see him outed and airlocked. I’ve been trying to figure out if that idea fits in with what D’Anna said to the figures in the temple.
most everyone’s living in such close quarters and Kara and Sam are fucking and talking about fucking two feet away from everyone else, separated only by a non-noise-blocking canvas curtain. Poor everyone else. Much like an aircraft carrier.
I’ve been trying to figure out if that idea fits in with what D’Anna said to the figures in the temple. I’m trying to remember what interactions they had on New Caprica, when he was Baltar’s #2, to see if there was a reason for her to apologize to him. Sadly, I can’t really remember specifics now.
Way too much of the last few episodes have focused on the Lee/Kara/etc. mess, with exactly 0 new developments. Everyone is exactly where they started. It’s obvious now that the writers are keeping them apart for no other reason than that there won’t be any tension anymore if they do get together. Leave the soap opera love stories to the Grey’s Anatomy crew, kids! I don’t tune into BSG for clumsily executed relationship subplots! Anyone else think all this Lee/Kara nonsense is an attempt to draw in a more mainstream audience, to go with their move to Sundays? I’m excited to see where things are going with Gaeta, though I have a little bit of a fangirl crush on him so I’m secretly hoping he’s not gay.
And Baltar was totally being waterboarded, right? I am not imagining this?) Absolutely. Sure, they used drugs and sleep deprivation, but the felt each near-death from drowning.
When Laura was having Baltar dragged to the airlock, she reminded me of a mother whose bratty kid had just gotten on her last nerve. “Nope, that’s it! I’m throwing out the PlayStation!” as Baltar plays the kid trying every trick in the book to talk Mommy down. Anyone else think all this Lee/Kara nonsense is an attempt to draw in a more mainstream audience, to go with their move to Sundays? I think I’ll start calling them “Desperate Colonists.”
Sadly, I think they’ve “resolved” the soapy love quadrangle only to have it rear its ugly head sometime when it will be really, REALLY inconvenient. *sigh* Or to create massive amounts of tension whenever Lee and Kara need to work together. Was anyone else bothered by ex-top-pro-athlete Anders *smoking* or is that just my bias? I deal with other characters doing so because, hey, it’s not illegal and people do. But I’d like to think that pro-athletes in a civilization that can cross interstellar space might be aware that smoking *anything* is really bad for your lung capacity. (OK, rant over. 😉 However, I do find the large quantity of alcohol/smokeables interesting given that very recently they were all *starving*. Hmmmmmm. I guess algae ferments pretty fast, huh? And smokes well? Or did they just have a bunch of that left over from New Caprica which they “just happened” to bring along in that insane mess of an evacuation? I guess it’s just no fun if your main characters can’t come stumbling home wasted, eh? (Credit to my husband for pointing out the amazing amount of resources being used in the bar scenes.)
Regarding all the resources: it’s SPACE MAGIC. I’m fairly sure they have a farm of Transmetropolitan-style Makers squirrelled away somewhere. Powered by algae, of course.
I was truly disappointed with this episode, it’s only thin saving grace was that I didn’t have to see Helo. That was a treat. This was probably the worst episode of the series for me and I found myself wondering why the hell I was continuing to watch it. The relationships on this show are horrid and unnecessary and the only one that *kinda* worked was Kara and Sam and it would have been better if they’d left her to self destruct in that relationship and have Sam try to help make her a good person who’s capable of loving others and herself, instead of this self indulgent as*hole. The one thing I really don’t like is that Kara was in love with Zack (Lee’s brother) and they took the route of gotta fall for the sibling. *ugh* even after they’d set up that she was in *love* with Anders (which is why she went back to get him). I wished they’d kept the brother/sister squabbling between Kara and Lee, that would have been more interesting. And when did the Chief start hating Callie? THAT I think is what pissed me off the most. It smacks of lazy writing; “Hey, we need to get the Chief with someone, Callie’s a good idea!” Second half of the season, “Where can we take the Cheif for these next few episodes? Oh, we could have him hate Callie now, that’s a change.Okay, good, done. Go write it.” The writer’s room is a bit more complicated than that but still… Like everyone else I hope the love square is over.
The Lee/Kara triangle doesn’t work because the writers are totally clueless about what they’re doing with Lee’s character. They had fat Lee, which could have been interesting and then…it went nowhere. Being pissed at his dad was his character note, and now that he’s not butting heads with Adama, I don’t get who he is. He’s just…adrift. I’m also not understanding why anyone in the world would want Lee over Anders. Dee likewise makes no sense, becuase her character is increasingly defined by being in love with Lee, who, again, the writers have lost their way with, so it makes Dee’s motivations strange because you don’t get WHY she’d put up with this crap to be with a guy who’s so…meh. And yeah, the Chief and Callie? Also not making much sense. Although it may be good foreshadowing (bear me out)–cramped conditions on the ships, people living on top of each other are making everyone more or less crazy. That said, I LOVED the character moment between Lee & the Chief. Do you ever think of what could have been? And the Chief is like “no. I’m an adult, and I don’t compare my life to fairytales of what could have been.” See, if that’s where they’re going with Lee, that would be interesting. But they need to DO that. And, um, maybe it should tie back to, you know, PTSD of their homeworlds being destroyed and maybe deep down that’s the fantasy he’s still living in, and Kara is just a thing he’s clinging to from that old world. That’s genuinely interesting. I loved that Baltar never changed his stripes. That’s who he is. It was totally in character. He’s self-absorbed, megalomaniacal, and sociopathic. What will be interesting, of course, will be how persuasive he is at trial. People who have no remorse for their actions, who have convinced themselves that they are not responsible for the things they’ve done, are often VERY persuasive to others. It’s like “if you were really so evil, you’d feel guilty about it, so maybe it makes more sense that you’re not so evil and this story you’re spinning is what really happened.” And I think Roslin was FABULOUS this episode. I love her because she’s not perfect, but she’s VERY honest. And she really does see things for what they are, not what she wants them to be. She realized that she wasn’t torturing Baltar for information–she was torturing him because she needed to break him. She thought that if she made him suffer, she could get from him this admission of guilt that SHE needed. Remember the letter she wrote when she was dying–she always had hope that Baltar could conquer his demons. So, she had this mix of guilty rage that she didn’t keep him out of office, and he failed the people in a way that she never would have, and she wanted to punish him but she also wanted to redeem him. Because that would have been a great victory for her–to fix Baltar, to get his talents on the humans’ side. Vengeance AND victory, you know? Um, but, yeah, overall this was a terrible episode. Better than Lee with the hooker, but not much better.
See, if that’s where they’re going with Lee, that would be interesting. But they need to DO that. And, um, maybe it should tie back to, you know, PTSD of their homeworlds being destroyed and maybe deep down that’s the fantasy he’s still living in, and Kara is just a thing he’s clinging to from that old world. That’s genuinely interesting. That’s not going to happen. They’ve set up this big “love story” and on the other side you’ve got Dee, who’s a cypher and Anders who isn’t enough of a major character, it’s the constant cycle of TV. This is going to drag on and on forever until the final episode with Starbuck and Apollo declaring their undying love. On the good side, this will really piss off the BSG purists who can’t deal with the fact that they made Starbuck a woman. 🙂