Battlestar Galactica (7): Craft Killed This Episode.

There were two fully possible episodes going on Friday night. I would have been entranced by a proper development of one; the other would have only vaguely bored me. Inappropriately matching them made this a disorganized and ineffective episode.

In the wake of Callie’s “suicide” Chief is distracted from properly taking care of his job, and almost gets Racetrack killed. After a few too many drinks Tyrol lashes out at Adama, telling him (and the whole bar) that he settled for Callie because Boomer turned out to be a Cylon and that his marriage was miserable. Adama demoted him. Baltar’s sanctuary was ransacked by religious traditionalists, prompting him (with help from Tory) to decide to crusade for the one true god. The President tries to curtail their freedom of assembly, but Lee fights for their civil liberties. A marine beats Baltar, but Lee informs them of the order being lifted. Baltar gives a huge speech about the one god’s love of perfect humanity.

These two storylines had little or nothing to do with each other; they neither reflected upon nor contrasted to each other. I could not concentrate on the enormity of Tyrol’s grief and the dark path it propelled him down when the scene kept jumping to Baltar’s self-indulgent non-logical ramblings cloaked in religious terms. I have no personal problem with the religious storylines of the show; my problem is that the only thing that has changed about Baltar is his diction. He is the same p.o.s. with a fancy new vocabulary. This fact is even more evident in the face of Tyrol’s distinct and shocking change, and while this may be something I see, I don’t think that was the point the episode was designed to convey.

This was not one of BSG's finest.

The TV Girl