Top 5: Shows I Enjoy Watching Collectively

I've been having a really rough week.  The kind where you want to cry all the time and you don't know why.  Everything that everyone says makes you hurt but not because they're mean or rude, just because, well, because.  In that frame of mind I feel this ridiculous need to justify myself, to explain not only why I am NOT ashamed of the amount of TV I watch, but also why I love to write about it.

TV can connect you to other people.  It's more than if you have show in common you have an easy conversation topic with another person (You watch Fringe? I watch Fringe! So that thing with Peter, what's that all about?), even though that is amazing for socially awkward people like me, and I have friends with whom I can have lengthy conversations entirely about TV.  (Every time KP and I hang out in a group our friend roll their eyes when we start talking TV, knowing if they don't intervene we won't stop.)  It's more than that.  Recommending a show to a friend lets them get to know you better; you trust them a bit more by granting them access to your opinions and thoughts, when you agree it becomes a bond, when you disagree it become fodder for debate and seeing things in a new light.  When you watch a show with someone you create the memory of that act, and when you watch that show later it makes you think of that person.  I adore the texts I get from friends that say "I was watching such-and-such today and it made me think of you."

So in the spirit of TV as act of community, these are shows that I prefer to watch with other people.  I will watch these shows by myself, but if I have the chance to share them with someone else I will, because it makes already enjoyable shows so much more enjoyable.

Burn Notice
For Sis and LilBro this is like OUR show.  I'm not sure how, I'm not sure why, but somehow it became our go-to show to watch when we're all in the same place, usually only a few days at Christmas now that we're all adults and such.  And without them I just don't enjoy the show as much.  I still like it, just not as much.  Sam seems funnier when my brother is there to laugh with me.  Michael's schemes seem more outlandish and fun with my sister cheering along too.  At this point it almost feels like a betrayal to watch Burn Notice on my own, like I'm cheating myself and my siblings out of the lazy hours, bottles of wine, and random bullshitting conversations entailed in watching.

Battlestar Galactica
I will watch this show anytime, anywhere, with anyone or with no one.  While I do not love it any less when flying solo, watching BSG with other people is one of the supreme joys in my life.  I can tell when, where, and with whom I watched every episode of this show, and all of that information informs my relationship with Battlestar Galactica.  The mini-series was an adventure in Christopher and Calah's apartment, our second semester of grad school,  their infant daughter alternatively laughing hysterically or crying depending on how much attention we were paying to the show.  The first time I saw "Unfinished Business" I only caught half the dialogue because Jennie, Jason and I were occupying a table at the Knight's of Columbus in Dallas where Tom was tending bar and it was a raucous night.  (Of course, the immensity of that episode wasn't lost on us, we understood even without the sound.)  The revelation of the final five Cylons has less impact on me than I think it should have because I was watching by myself on Mal in the middle of the night, in my room in the apartment shared with the roommate who frightened me.  The finale was extra sad because it was the end of "BSG Viewing Party at the Russells'."  Watching BSG together made a little fleet out of me and my loved ones, no matter how far flung we get.

The Office
Awkward humor is so hard for me to take, even though I love many shows that revolve around awkward people doing awkward things that make me feel awkward.  Therefore, I'm more likely to turn off an awkward-humor show if I watch by myself.  (At least the first time I see an episode.  Re-watch isn't as bad, but that necessitates getting through it the first time.)  The Office is the best example of that personal phenomenon.  If it's just me I get about 2 minutes in and bury my head in my arms and then can't watch anymore.  If I'm watching with a group I bury my head in my arms, but the solidarity with others keeps me going, and I'm better off for it.   This is a show where without other people it wouldn't have happened and I'd hate if I'd have missed the many wonderful seasons (and don't forget that this show was really wonderful for a long time) of the Dunder-Mifflin bunch because I get going when the going gets uncomfortable.

Doctor Who
A major theme in Doctor Who is the fundamental need for communion.  The Doctor always has a companion, things go to complete fuckery when he doesn't.  So it makes sense to me that traveling with the Time Lord is just more fun when my blue box (aka my blue couch) is occupied by more than me.  Especially since I spend so much time while watching Doctor Who going "wait, what the bleepedy-bleep just happened?!?"  It makes me feel less like a crazy person when there is someone to hear those exclamations.
Also, Doctor Who has the tendency to float you along on jaunty adventures and quippy dialogue only to sucker punch you with devastation and tragedy (Davies, I still don't forgive you for Donna); the comfort of a watching companion or two gentles the experience because there is a hand to grab when something exciting is happening but also someone to pass the box of tissues when your heart (inevitably) breaks.  Plus, accent decoding is much easier with multiple ears.

The O.C.
This show is so ridiculous and awesome and awesomely ridiculous that it demands to be watched with others.  The Cohen-Atwood-Cooper-Roberts blended family is always a joy to watch, but it gets so much better with a friend to simultaneously roll their eyes at Marissa's dumb-ass-ery or get a little equally verklempt at those perfect Ryan and Seth moments.  I have happily spent many an afternoon cleaning and organizing to the background of soapy sunshine and emo antics, but the full glory of The O.C. (the touching family moments, the funny declarations of love, the sad sad car accidents) really comes into being when observed in conjunction with good friends.  And by good friends I mean people who have an equal lack of shame and love of upper-middle-class drama.  Or just people who drink as much as you do.

The TV Girl

Battlestar Galactica (7): Why I Haven’t Said Anything Yet.

I did watch last week’s episode. In fact I was so looking forward to it, I convinced myself that I lived in the Central Time Zone, so I was all prepped at 9PM to be showered with newness.

But I am hesitant to venture any opinions at the moment. I need to see how this plays out. My gut reaction is that the choice of Ellen as the last Cylon is weak and unsatisfying. I don’t know how this thing with Kara is going to be resolved. And is it ever going to come to light that Cally was murdered? A long time ago my sister and I were talking about BSG and I half jokingly suggested that no one is really human, that everyone is a Cylon. I am going to be mightily upset if I turn out to be right.

Okay, so that is my jumble of thoughts/reactions that even after a week have not really managed to calm down. Given that, something happened that should be noted.

Obviously, I am talking about Dee’s suicide. I really didn’t see it coming. I thought that I was about to be tortured for episodes on end with a rehashing of the abysmal relationship between her and Lee. I was groaning when she kissed him and dreamily rummaged in her locker. And then she shot herself. Really shot herself, not like Boomer’s half-assed “cry for help.” I have been advocating Dee’s exit for a long time (she got Billy killed, and I have never managed to forgive that), but I am impressed that her death was handled in that way. Contrasting her to the Agathons, who hoped for Earth, but do not need it to have a fulfilling life was a really interesting way to indicate her state of mind and her situation. That she approached her own death with the same precision and determination that she approached her duties with lent a kind of dignity to her final moments.

Not that I am all for suicide or anything, and the extended consequences of such an act were addressed. For the first time, when she needed help Kara turned to Lee (I mean she turned to anyone and that is a huge deal in and of itself), but because of Dee’s choice he couldn’t be there to help Kara. She did the right thing and put what she needed aside for the moment (anyone wonder why I love this girl so much?), but it would be a mistake to say that whatever is the deal with Kara it can just be brushed to the side indefinitely.

I wonder what tonight has in store?

The TV Girl

Battlestar Galactica (9): I Am Still Giddy.

So, please forgive me if I am kind of incoherent. And I need to hang on to this feeling since there will be no new episodes until early 2009.

But first, a Short Recap: D’Anna held Roslin and the human crew aboard the Baseship hostage in order to flush out the Final Five. While hostages, Baltar thanks Roslin for not killing him. When only Tory “joined her people” D’Anna started executing hostages, so Tigh told Adama the truth. Adama (understandably) lost it, and Lee took charge, putting Tigh in an airlock, forcing him to give up Anders and Tyrol, and telling D’Anna that he would execute them. Before being outed, Anders and Tyrol told Kara that the Viper she returned on was important and when she turned it on, she found a Colonial signal from Earth, so she ran to tell Lee and stopped him from throwing Tigh out the airlock. Lee offered D’Anna a truce, a chance to find Earth together, and full amnesty for the Tory, Tigh, Anders, and Tyrol. Adama, slightly recovered from his shock and reunited with Roslin (who praised Lee’s performance as president), decided that the whole fleet, including the rebel Cylons, would jump to the signal. There was much celebration when the fleet first saw Earth, but it was short lived. Landing on the surface, the remnants of humanity and the rebel Cylons found a barren and abandoned wasteland.

I will say it: Lee is a kick-ass president. And a really good human being. Finding out the rival for the love of his life just happens to be not so human, he didn’t use it as an opportunity to pursue a personal vendetta under the cover of authority. The look Anders gave him when he was first taken into the airlock absolutely confirmed that Anders was questioning if Lee would do just that.

Maybe not to the same extent as Adama’s, but Tigh’s confession broke my heart. Probably because it broke Adama’s. I cried when he cried, and thinking that he was so wounded as to allow his son to take care of him makes me want to cry again. Tigh made a great sacrifice by revealing his secret and he did so with as much dignity as possible. And really, that made it worse. He displayed the best part of him self by revealing the worst. Granted, I applauded for a second when Lee decked him. It was one hit as a (former) soldier betrayed by his (former) commanding officer, and also as a son avenging the betrayal and devastation of his father. It was both utterly personal, and representative of the entire Fleet, therefore singularly cathartic and necessary.

Without that hit, Lee probably wouldn’t have been able to offer the rebel Cylons the chance to forego the pattern of mutually assured destruction that has defined Human/Cylon relations thus far. Interestingly, early in the episode, on the Baseship, the rebel Cylons talk about how the Humans will never forgive the Cylons for the destruction of the Colonies (personally, don’t think that they should), and that remains true still. Baltar tries to encourage D’Anna not to execute the hostages because force did not work with the Humans in the past, but he doesn’t claim that a more peaceful future erases the past. Lee asks the rebel Cylons to join the Humans in making new choices, to disavow their fatalistic attitude (just because it happened before does not mean it has to happen again), but tellingly, he doesn’t reference the past, doesn’t say that all is forgiven. Moving on is not equivalent with forgiveness.

But, it all might be meaningless because the great promise of Earth has been totally destroyed. Or they just landed in Outer Bumble Fart and need to head towards the equator to find habitable land. Okay, that doesn’t seem likely. Earth looked to be uninhabited and uninhabitable, possibly the victim of global warming and international conflict, or ravaged by a geological anomaly. Or could it be that the other Cylons got there first?

As an aside, I would like to take a second to praise the artistic design of BSG. The final scene of the episode moved so fluidly, looked so unlike anything that has come before it, demarcating the ending of certain aspects of the show and the beginning of new ones that has nothing to do with the convenience of mid-season-finales. The fact that each place, and even each genus/species has its own particular color palate (Earth’s slate gray and bone tones told you it was empty before the sweeping final shot confirmed it) is one of the details of this show that makes it so whole and enjoyable.

My one gripe is the lack of Lee/Kara personal interaction. A conversation, a handhold, a hug, a kiss, anything! I mean, they found out her husband is a Cylon, so there really should have been some sort of Apollo/Starbuck business. I will just have to wait for the last ten episodes for this mistake to be rectified.

And for the last Cylon to be revealed.

The next couple of months is starting to look sort of like the Earth the Fleet found.

The TV Girl

Battlestar Galactica (7): Just Because She Looks Like Her...

I tuned in Friday night knowing that I would be a bit confused, since I missed the episode from the previous week. But like a cosmic pat on the back telling me my minor indiscretion was forgiven, this episode picked up where “Guess What Is Coming For Dinner” (two episodes ago) ended, and with the “Previously On” to fill in some gaps (which is not to say that I will not watch the missing episode as soon as I am able), I happily settled back in.

I am not going to claim that it was the “most amazing episode ever,” (sorry little bro, cannot agree with you here) but it defiantly qualified as good stuff. All centered on death, but still good.

Anyone else predict that what it would take for Roslin to realize that she is cold and distant would be visions she participates in during jumps on a Cylon Baseship? Me neither, but I really liked it. It had to be something special that changed her, because she has never really respected the emotional reality of other people. There was no way she was just going to look at Adama one day and realize that she loves him. I think this approach was a way to open new psychological possibilities for her while remaining consistent with her character. There is less hypocrisy in her now; the great savior of humanity is not as incapable of loving or being loved as an individual.

Visions didn’t do all the work. Roslin had to actively choose to privilege particular life. When Baltar was brought to her wounded she bandaged him up, tried to save his life. Her initial instinct was towards his dignity as a person, helping the viewer to accept her acceptance of her own better nature. It would have been difficult for the viewer to hear her confess to Adama that she loves him if she had let Baltar die by not reattaching the bandage she took off. My question is whether he will maintain his religious ferocity now that she almost killed him? In other words will he give her the forgiveness he demands others give him?

I would agree that mortality is a fundamental part of the human experience, even a defining characteristic, but I will not agree that simply without the ability to resurrect that the Cylons are “just like everyone else now.” Immortality is only one element that distinguishes the Cylons from the humans, and taking that away does not eliminate the distinction entirely. The fact that little miss Eight (the one with Helo that isn’t Boomer or Sharon/Athena, so I don’t know what to call her) didn’t seem to see why it is totally creepy that she accessed someone’s memories and experiences and then proceeded to behave as if they were her own evidences that (at least at this point) Cylons do not have a proper grasp of what it means to be human. I am hoping that since she believes Helo agrees with Roslin’s deception regarding who would talk to D’Anna first that she will cut out flirting with him.

And I cannot express how happy I am for the return of the (now not so) late, great Ms Lucy Lawless. Can any other character compete with that sick sense of humor or that manipulative determination? Telling Roslin she is a Cylon was priceless.

This Friday, the midseason finale, is a big old coming out party and not in the gay way. Should be exciting.

The TV Girl

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

Battlestar Galactica (9): RIP Callie.

There are some episodes that shock you and galvanize your creativity, and then there are episodes that shock you into a coma. “The Ties That Bind” is an episode like the later. I have no idea how to process the information.

What would help, a Quick Recap: The Cylons attempt to forgive and forget after the massacre, which according to Six means unboxing D’Anna. The Cavels say that the vote confirms it, and so they all need to go to where the Threes are being kept, but the models stay on separate ships. When they make the jump, the Sixes and the Eights realize that no Resurrection ship has jumped. The Cavel Basestars destroy the Six Basestars, killing them for good. Boomer’s defection saves her life. Kara’s search for Earth is not going well. The crew (including Helo, Sharon, Gaeta, and Anders) are discontent with Kara’s abrupt navigation changes, but she makes it clear she doesn’t care what they think. Frustrated by her inability to find her path, she confides in Anders that she feels disconnected from her body and unable to feel anything that is happening to her. The President confirms Lee’s place as the Quorum Representative for Caprica, but it is obvious she distrusts/dislikes him. Zarack tells Lee that her feelings are unlikely to change and points out to Lee a suspicious proposal the President is making. During the Quorum meeting Lee tries to defend the need for military secrecy (the Fleet has noticed that one of the ships is missing), but the President publicly rebukes him, so he brings up her proposal, thereby backing her into a corner, a move she does not appreciate. Callie has been taking anti-depressants since the ship was in the nebula, and she is not in full control of her faculties. She explains her dilemma to Doc Cottle, who encourages her to rest and talk to her husband. Believing that Tyrol is having an affair with Tory, Callie follows them and while spying finds out that they, and Tigh, are Cylons. Back in her room, in a state of delirium, she attacks Tyrol with a wrench, takes Nicky and goes to an airlock. Tory finds her before she can kill herself and her son, and Troy convinces her that being Cylons does not mean they are evil. Callie gives Nicky to Tory, who hits her and then opens the airlock, murdering Callie. The last scene shows Tyrol and Adama sitting in silence.

For me, Callie’s death has overshadowed everything that happened in this hour. Callie has been there from the beginning. She might not have always had the most rational reactions to events (remember when she shot Boomer) but she always loved Tyrol, even when he didn’t love himself, even when she thought he didn’t love her. For Callie, a wife and mother, troubled as she may have been, to die like that seems nothing short of tragic. Very few shows have the guts to portray the kind of suffering and trauma that would induce a woman to kill her own child, and no other that I have seen have the integrity to portray it with such honesty and charity. Callie did not die a ripped-from-the-headlines caricature, but rather a full person, know and loved, utterly devastated by circumstances beyond her control.

Before the next episode I am sure I will have more to say about what took place in “The Ties That Bind,” but for right now I am going to leave it here. Goodbye Callie.

The TV Girl

Battlestar Galactica: Pressing Questions from "One of Six"

As I said earlier, “Six of One” raised/highlighted some very important questions beyond the two obvious ones we have been pondering since the Season Three finale. These are the kind of questions about which we can kind of speculate, but it seems that we will really have to wait until the show feels like revealing itself to us. So:

How long have the humanoid Cylons existed?

Who are/were the “original Cylon programmers?”

Are they the Final Five? Or just the Final Cylon?

Why are the Known Cylons programmed not to think about the Final Five?

Is the Six who rationalized the Centurions Gina Six who blew up Cloud Nine?

Why is Sharon/Boomer model number Eight? Unless I am mistaken, the Known Cylons are numbered One-Six and then Eight, so why skip Seven?

Will Caprica Six start to see her Baltar-projected-self in her own projections instead of her projected-Baltar?

Is Tory having a nervous breakdown? (Okay, this is maybe not a pressing question, but could become a big issue.)

As I write these questions I am coming up with all kinds of possible answers, but I just want to put the questions out there for now. We have plenty of time, and we need more information.

The TV Girl

Battlestar Galactica (10): I Adore This Show!

I do not want to be all gushy-gushy but I have a feeling that is how this post may end up. I am so ridiculously in love with this show I wonder if any real life relationship will be as fulfilling for me. Probably not, oh well. But when you found the one why question things? When you find a show that defies your expectations and intelligently explores the complexities of the human condition there is no need to worry about tiny details like the fact that the conversation is very one-sided.

I sound as crazy as Baltar. And I am kind of kidding.

But a Quick Recap: Kara tries to convince Roslin to listen to her and Roslin tries to shoot her, but misses. Kara is taken to the brig, where Adama tells her that she has lost her last ally and she taunts him about being too devoted to Roslin. The Galactica Cylons decide that Baltar might have information about the Final Cylon, and send Tory to seduce it out of him. On the Cylon Baseship Cavil decides that the Raiders need to be re-engineered because they refuse to fight, but Six, Leoben, and Eight fight him, arguing that something has changed and they need to find the Final Five. The vote is deadlocked, but Boomer votes independently, against her model, and Cavil has his way. The pilots have a going away party for Lee. A drunken Adama and a belligerent Roslin get into an argument about Kara, miracles, and death. Adama leaves angry with Roslin, who ends up crying when she pulls out some of her hair. Lee visits Kara in the brig to say goodbye, telling her he now understands what she means by having a destiny, and that he cannot explain his choice but he knows it is right. They shake hands and as he is about to leave she calls him back. He kisses her, hugs her and tells her he believes her, then goes. He stands in the ready room one last time remembering his command. On the hanger deck he finds the crew, officers, Adama, and Roslin there to send him off properly. He salutes and hugs his comrades, and says goodbye to Dualla, telling her “she got the house” which publicly acknowledges that their marriage is ended. Baltar notices Tory noticing him in the mess hall, and when he talks to her about her motives he sees a projection of himself, not of Six, who tells him to use Tory as a source of information. After the Raiders are lobotomized, Six interrupts a meeting of Cavil, Dorals, and Simons to inform them that she, the Eights, and the Leoben’s have given reason to the Centurions, who proceed to murder Cavil and the others. During an intimate moment Baltar tells Tory that he believes Cylons are capable of feeling and that he believes in the one true god. Helo removes Kara from the brig and takes her to the hanger deck where Adama is waiting. She assumes he is going to abandon her in space, but he tells her that he is giving her a ship and a crew to find a way to Earth, because he cannot afford to ignore her if she is right.

On with my gushing. What the frakkedy-frak frak is Baltar seeing? There has never been a definite conclusion about what Baltar’s Six actually is; hallucination, projection of his own psyche, proof that he is a Cylon, or the voice of the one true god have all been hypothesized. Now he is seeing, and conversing with, someone that looks like himself, only him the way that Caprica Six sees him in her projection/hallucination/whatever. I will admit that after this long with Baltar’s Six I had stopped questioning her nature and simply accepted her as present and talking to Baltar the butthead. I doubt I am the only one so complacent, but I am no longer allowed to be so, because Baltar no longer sees Six. If she/he/they are simply manifestations of Baltar’s psyche, then this might indicate that he has absolved himself of any guilt he felt about his actions regarding the original genocide or New Caprica. He no longer needs another form to reinforce his narcissistic rationalizations. If she/he/they are the voice of a higher power then this shape change might indicate that his conversion to the one true god is (from his perspective) sincere and complete and that he can be his own spiritual guide. Or, regardless of the origin of his companion, the change could indicate that he is no longer concerned with simple self-preservation, but rather is turning his attention and energy towards establishing himself in such a way that he will not be as vulnerable to downfall again. It could mean so many things, and I am intrigued by the possibilities opened up here.

I am also intrigued by Roslin’s unflinching faith in herself. I kind of wish I had the confidence/delusion to believe that my drug-induced prophetic visions were worthy of blind loyalty and that another person’s word about their instinctual knowledge based on an unexplainable journey is a bunch of crazy nonsense. Furthermore I am intrigued as to why Roslin considers a recitation of her own plot-points proof of miracles and Kara’s return from Earth and/or death is not. One cannot confuse the public face of decisive leadership with personal infallibility, but that seems to be what Roslin has done, and that cannot bode well for anyone. It is no accident that when trying to shoot Kara she hit a picture of herself and Adama; there is a division between them coming, and she will be the one to initiate it.

The Known Cylons do not have to wait for impending division. I wonder if they have ever heard the phrase “pride goeth before a fall.” I am thinking not, otherwise they would have been a bit more reticent with all their high horse disdain of the human tendencies towards power-struggle, infighting, and division. On behalf of the human race: take that you stupid machines!

A double take that for how beautifully the Cylon inter-destruction was juxtaposed with human healing and solidarity. I am neither joking nor ashamed to say that I cried from joy at both Lee’s and Kara’s leaving. It would have been so easy for Adama and the rest of Galactica’s crew to revile Lee for his choice, to consider him weak or cowardly for leaving the military. But their respect for his service and knowledge of his integrity overcame any disagreement they may have with his decision. As for Kara, I could not take too much more animosity between her an Adama. It just broke my heart, but he is trusting her in the way he did before she died. As he has before, Adama put aside his personal fears to give humanity the best chance of success. It was almost as wonderful as Lee and Kara’s kiss.

“Six of One” raised a great deal of questions, but I will compile a list and post it later in the week.

The TV Girl

Battlestar Galactica (10)

I am not quite ready to write down all I have to say about this episode, but I have to say something before I go to bed. I love this show. Watching this episode it was clearer to me than Kara's sense of Earth. If you are not watching you are missing what has to be the best show airing at the moment. If you are watching I have to believe that you saw what I saw. There are few things that make me cry out of pure joy, but BSG makes me do so.

The TV Girl

Battlestar Galactica (9): What If It Had Been Zack?

I did little fist pumps in the air when Lee said that because I had been tossing around ideas with some friends that it would be an amazing twist if Zack turned out to be the last Cylon. So, as my sister asks: is the door now open to bring the other Adama son back to life?

But let us have a Quick Recap: After some bewilderment, Kara and Lee join the battle. Tigh has a vision of shooting Adama, but then follows orders and commands anyone who can fly to suit up. Anders is unable to fire his weapon, and a Raider scans him. His eye turns red, the Raider turns away, and the entire Cylon offensive jumps away. Kara is brought onto Galactica, says she was only away for six hours, and that she has pictures of Earth. Despite passing Doc Cottle’s test, Roslin does not believe she really is Kara, the ship Kara returned on is in mint condition, and Kara cannot give any definite information on the location of Earth beyond her feeling, so the fleet continues to jump based on the path of the nebula. Baltar is being protected by a cult living in a storage container on Galactica. While he is willing to get it on with one of his “followers,” he tries to leave, but stays to pray over a sick boy to the one true god. While shaving away his icky faux-Jesus look, he and one of his followers are attacked by Joe, whose son Kevin was killed on New Caprica. Baltar begs Joe to kill him, proving to Unseen Six (this is how I am going to refer to the Six only Baltar can see) that he would be willing to give up his life for the sick boy. When he escapes Joe, he finds that the young boy is miraculously healed. Adama offers Lee his wings back, but Lee tells him that even though he took them off for the wrong reasons, he is going to accept a position in the civilian government. Kara confronts Anders in front of her picture on the Remembrance Wall, and she starts to doubt what she is. He tells her that even if she is a Cylon he still loves her, but she does not reciprocate the sentiment. While they talk, the fleet jumps again, and Kara decides she has to convince Roslin to listen to her. She attacks he guards and Anders, makes he way to Adama’s quarters where Roslin is sleeping, and the episode ends with Kara raising a gun to the President. Got all that?

This could have been the crappiest episode in the history of Battlestar Galactica, and I still would be over the moon about its very existence. In fact, I had to rewatch the episode, because when I tried to think about what had happened, I realized that in my euphoria nothing had really stuck in my mind. Luckily for all of us, I realized on the second time around that “He That Believeth in Me” is a quality episode.

And one of the most quality moments: could Lee and Kara’s hug have been any more wonderful? She pulled away/pushed away from Anders, but she held onto to Lee, and boy did he hold onto her. I know that I am repeating myself and I do not need to point our every single time they show affection for each other, but Lee and Kara are a very important issue to me, and I just cannot help myself.

It has been too many episodes since we have had such a good battle scene. And it has been a long long time since a Fleet ship full of people was destroyed. For a while the Cylon/Galactica interchanges were skirmishes at most, stand-offs often, so I kind of forgot what an adrenaline rush it is when all the Vipers and Raiders are zooming around and shooting at each other. For the Cylons to launch such a large offensive I would think they were planning on destroying the Humans once and for all. But they turn back after scanning Anders, so were they looking for the Final Five? The Known Seven are not supposed to think about the Final Five, but the Threes did, and now the Sixes are, so it is possible they were fishing. There is something afoot on the Cylon side. Last season when the show starting taking place so often on the Cylon Baseships I was less than compelled, but now I want to know why they attacked and why they turned back, which only the Cylons can tell me.

I am not the only one wondering, but unlike the Galactica Cylons, I am not coming up with solutions. I have to question Tigh’s plan. I understand the principle behind it; he believes that his choices make him who he is, not whatever his DNA happens to be, so he will choose to end his life and/or their lives if it seems some sort of programming is taking over. His determination is a wonderful contrast to Anders’ crippling confusion. It would be unrealistic for all of them to simply “accept” that they are Cylons, and it is in keeping with Tigh’s character that he refuses to give up on the life he has lived. But even if they shoot themselves to prevent any damage they would do, aren’t there just other copies of their models? This leads me to another question: where are the other copies? This question can be absorbed into another question I have been pondering for a long time: is there a Cylon home world? There may be no answers to my questions, or they may be unimportant in the grand scheme of things, just something I have been tossing around in my head, re-prompted by this episode.

Tigh was not the only one resorting to gun-waving. Kara, whatever/whoever she is now, is not messing around. I do not disagree with Roslin’s wary attitude towards Kara reborn, but maybe she is a bit too presumptuous in thinking that Kara would just be ignored without fighting back. Normal Starbuck wouldn’t do that, so why would she return any less insistent or emphatic about something in which she believes? But Roslin is being rather persumptous in a related area as well. If I were sharing dreams with two Cylons and a Humalon baby, I would start to wonder if I were a Cylon. So concerned with what Kara might be, Roslin so far is not entertaining this (obvious) possibility. But maybe that is part of human frailty; it is always someone else, never me.

It is when you can no longer deny that it is someone else that things get complicated, and interesting. Lee couldn’t seem to care less what Kara came back as, and he asks his father if they could have Zack back would it matter that he was a Cylon. Lee is now facing a potential reality that the woman he loves is not human. He could be in the same situation Helo was two years ago, a situation to which Lee has been less than sympathetic. Now that it might be him, will he be more respectful of Helo and Sharon’s family? With Kara’s return Lee is in a position not just to change, but to grow.

Finally, and this may be highly trivial, but I love the new opening. I am usually hesitant when shows change their credits or intros, but I am a big fan. By concentrating on the issues of the Know Cylons, the Battlestar Cylons, and the Final Cylon, the intro focuses the viewers’ attention to be congruent with that of the characters. The general threat of the Cylons has been particularized over the years; it is not so important anymore what they are, so much as who they are.

The TV Girl

Battlestar Galactica: Marriage, Divorce, and Adultery

In the name of full disclosure I am going to get a few more things out on the table in the final hours before Season Four.

Dualla is the character I hate the most. As irrational as you many think I am, I blame her for Billy’s death. She humiliated him and then got him killed. I did not really give her much consideration before that, but when it happened repulsion took root in my heart, which will live forever. The fact that she married Lee after acknowledging that he will always be in love with Kara (see extended version of “Unfinished Business”) just makes me want to dismiss her entirely. A woman so stupid is not even worthy of my hatred, and she is defiantly not worthy of Lee.

Granted, Lee is kind of a screw-up, and loosing Kara did not help. It is not a coincidence that when Kara died he left the military. Lee is like his father, but he is not his father. It is interesting that he never actually says why he joined the service. We know it was for Adams’s approval, but I think Lee respects what he does too much to reduce it in that way. Whatever his faults, his love for Kara is so sincere that it guided his life as much as his relationship with his father. He could not trust her completely enough to leave secure mediocrity with Dualla, but he loved her too much to let her abandon herself to doubt. Kara tells Lee to let her go into the storm because his love is what ties her to life.

Lee, not Anders! Kara married Anders after talking with (a drunk) Tigh, proof beyond doubt that she made the wrong choice. Anders is to Kara kind of what Riley was to Buffy: not horrible in and of himself, but to weak to handle a girl like that. Love is not enough if it is not paired with any strength of character and a willingness to challenge the other.

And there is the minor detail that Anders is a Cylon. I just do not think he and Kara have what Helo and Sharon have. But really, is anyone as wonderful as the Agathons?

Enjoy tonight everyone!

The TV Girl

Battlestar Galactica: Bill and Laura

The big day is finally here, and I still have so much to say, but I am accepting that I will never be able to say it all.

One of the accomplishments of Battlestar Galactica is the portrayal of how a respectful relationship is formed. In the beginning Bill Adama and Laura Roslin could not have been more different (they still are different) and they could not have been more at odds. Her more humanitarian mindset did not mesh well with his military training. The basis of their relationship was necessity; in order for humanity to survive, the civilian fleet need needed protection. Through acts of trust and mutual forgiveness Bill and Laura have not only come to admire each other, they have come to love each other. I mean love in more than the romantic sense (and I see that plain as day between these two). I mean love in the sense of genuine friendship, the kind of friendship that is necessary for society to continue. They see the strengths and weaknesses of each other, and over time have learned when to give and when to take in order to achieve the best results.

Over time is the key. Between them there have been mistakes, disagreements, disappointments, and messes to clean up. She once incited mutiny for which he put her in prison. He defied a direct order from her to execute Cain. She stole and hid Hera without telling him so that he would not have to lie about it. He refused to prosecute Helo when he disabled the biological weapon, even though she was irate enough to want it. They have opposite view points on the verdict of Baltar’s trial. Through each encounter and the consequences thereof they learn they know each other more and forge a stronger friendship.

Bill and Laura are, professionally, at the highest level: the President and the Admiral. From that point the serve as leaders for humanity, but it is their private friendship that serves as an example of conduct for those they lead.

It took until Baltar became President for me to get to the view I express here. For a season and a half I would clench my teeth every time Roslin spoke. She verged on a bit too bleeding heart for me, but she was such a pain in the ass at the same time. Seeing her cry over Billy’s body (through my own tears) was not what changed my mind about her, but it opened the door.

I am thinking that the cancer getting her this time might be the right ending for her: a way to free her of her responsibilities without betraying her character. But I also think that she is the last Cylon.

The TV Girl

Battlestar Galactica: Why Are People So Stupid?

Sorry to be writing about this again today (I have something else to be writing for KP), but I cannot help myself when I "stumble" upon BSG articles. And it seems I cannot help but get annoyed. There are two characters disqualified from the "whose the last Cylon" race: Helo and Callie. Way back in Season One Sharon (Helo's wife, not Boomer) tells Helo that Cylons cannot sexually reproduce. The birthing farm Starbuck is held at in Season Two attests to the need for human DNA in order for Cylons to have children. Therefore, the only way that Callie or Helo is the last Cylon would be for the difference between the final five and the known seven to be biological (maybe a better word would be mechanical) rather than ideological (which is how it has been presented thus far). BSG goes out of its way to shake things up, but until they officially change the rules, Helo and Callie are off the table. Get cracking on better theories people.

The TV Girl

Battlestar Galactica: This Is A Boy’s Show?

The big day is closer, and I am not the only one whose anticipation has spilled over onto a web page. (Far from the only one I am sure, but we need not get into my internet-phobias here.) And there is something out there for everyone. For the virgins (KP) there is an video on SciFi.com that in eight (very funny) minutes tells you everything you absolutely need to know in order to start watching on Friday. “What The Frak Is Going On?” is informative, entertaining, and probably guaranteed to convince you of BSG’s worth. For the tramps (me) there are debates and theories and Last Supper recreations. An article I just finished is about how BSG could save your marriage. I (almost) wish I were a virgin again, because the female side was glaringly inaccurate, but if I had never seen the show I would not know that, therefore I would not be so annoyed right now. But the husband/wife debate propelled me to thinking, because it is based on a premise that I would never have thought in the first place, let alone assented to. Who is the nimrod that posited that Battlestar Galactica is a show for boys?

Frak that!

Let me explain something. I have four brothers and a very strong mother. I have believed since birth that women are intelligent, dignified, and honorable creatures; it is only through laziness and abnegation of personal responsibility that to be different from a man means to be less than a man. Do not mistake any of this for Jane-Fonda-women’s-lib-herstory bullshit. I am talking about my inherent worth based on the fact that I am a being created by God with a rational soul. My brothers did not get to have my dolls, but I was encouraged to make use of all the toys in our home: G.I Joe and I were dear friends, Lego open up new possibilities for me, and there was nothing like a Saturday morning in the dirt with Tonka. There has never been a point in my life that I believe aliens, Westerns, guns, or not showering is boy territory. (But really, we should all shower.)

So, can you see why I am a bit confused by this idea that BSG is in a genera for boys? My TV taste has always embraced science fiction, and not just the kind that portrays ass-kicking women. Supernatural is one of my favorite shows, but both of the main characters are male, and quite a few plots revolve around rescuing a damsel. (But did anyone else catch that the actress who plays Ellen on Supernatural was also on an episode of BSG?) My initial reluctance to BSG was not the genera or subject matter, rather it was a result of having seen a few moments of the camptastic original version. Shudder.

I have to say that I think women are intentionally built into the show as an audince. I am not even talking about Starbuck’s badassness, or Sharon’s awesomeness, or Six’s ability to remind all of us that the gym is not necessarily optional. Can you honestly tell me that with the amount of time that Apollo and Helo spend with their shirts off that the producers are not completely aware of just how many women (and gay men) are watching? Those beautiful scenes are not cheep ploys to lure in female viewers; they are proof that the show creators/producers realize that the question of what makes us human (the primary question of BSG) is non-gendered, and will be applicable to and appreciated by both sexes. Therefore they know that they have women viewers who need a little eye-candy to lift up their spirits when things look bleak.

The TV Girl

Battlestar Galactica: Kara Thrace and Her Special Destiny.

It does sound like a bad cover band.

Kara “Starbuck” Thrace (Katee Sackhoff) took some time to grow on me, but the more time has gone on I am beginning to think that it is just the in-medias-res nature of the mini-series. Many of the people I have encouraged to watch BSG tell me that the mini-series is good, but that it takes a bit to become attached to the characters. I think this is because when BSG starts the characters are whole persons, and as viewers we are not given nice, easy, this-is-who-this-is introductions to them. I felt the first pull of sympathetic understanding when Kara confesses to Lee that she feels responsible for Zack’s death. She jeopardizes loosing her closest friend in order to be honest about the most painful experience of both their lives.

Oh, and did I mention that she is a total badass?

The big question for all of us is: what came back to life at the end of Season Three? In the episode “Malestorm” Kara flew into a storm and her Viper exploded; she died. But in the last moments of Season Three she flies up next to Lee and tells him that she has been to Earth, that she will lead the fleet there. (I am going to talk about this elsewhere, but right now I have to point out that Lee is the last one she speaks to before she dies and the first one she speaks to when she comes back. All of you Kara/Lee nay-sayers just ponder that for a moment.) But is it really Kara?

I refuse to believe, even for a second, that Kara is the last Cylon, even thought that would be the most obvious explanation for her dying but not being dead. In Razor the Hybrid told Kendra that Kara would lead humanity to its doom, but pardon me if I am disinclined to take a gross human/Cylon old dude living in a tub of gel at his word. The fact that she and Anders have not produced a child would maybe indicate that she is a Cylon, but that seems like fairly slim evidence. On the other hand, Tigh (Michael Hogan), Anders (Michael Trucco), Tyrol (Aaron Douglas), and Tory (Rekha Sharma) were part of the Resistance, three of them were the leaders of it, but Kara was a captive during the Occupation. (If you can’t see where I am going, or if you don’t actually know me in person, I think the final Cylon is Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell).) I just do not think Kara is the last Cylon. It would be too heartbreaking, both for her and for the audience. To suffer as much as she has and then to find out that she is not human; it just strikes me as unnecessarily cruel.

So, I am denying that she could be the last Cylon. Does that mean that she really did not die when her ship exploded? She looked fairly dead. Lee did not even want to send out a search party; he was sure enough that she was gone. The “Leoben” who guides her into the storm, to guide her to the next part of her journey, is not really Leoben (Callum Keith Rennie), and tells her that he never said he was, so maybe she is now something like that. A guide who looks like Kara and has all of Kara’s memories and feelings, but is not the same as the woman who died. Maybe it is like Season Three of Buffy when Angel came back from a hell dimension; she has been given her body back to fulfill her purpose. Maybe it was just plain wrong for her to be dead in the first place.

We will have to play my all time favorite game: wait and see.

The TV Girl

Battlestar Galactica: Gaius Baltar

I need to prepare for what will happen on Friday. Season Four is starting, and I think that if I try to just jump into commenting after the premiere I will overload and only be able to sputter. So, as we all wait for each day to slog by, I am going to enlighten all of you about my opinions on some of the most import characters/plots/relationships/issues. These can only be brief overviews (so much has happened over three seasons), but I have to start somewhere, right? But please be warned; this is not for the faint of heart. If you have never seen the show, or if you have only seen parts, or if you just do not have as much time on your hands as I do, you cannot be upset with me for drawing upon my complete knowledge. I, as everyone already should, know who four of the final five Cylons are and if you end up finding out from me that is not my fault.

Why not start with the lowest of the low? The only appropriate punishment I can think of for Baltar (James Callis) is to be locked in a room for eternity with Lost playing on repeat. He facilitated the Cylon infiltration of the human military, murdered a man, gave Gina Six the nuclear bomb that allowed the Cylons to find New Caprica, participated (however unwillingly) in the systematic subjugation of the human race, helped the Cylons in their search for Earth, and (what I find most personally offensive) preyed upon the exhaustion and unintentional disparity among the fleet to stir up civil strife in order to divert attention from his own culpability. I would like to find one person who could even try to convince me that this man is not the most hideous example of desperate, self-serving, depraved, egomania.

Given all this, I think it was a good choice to spare his life at the end of Season Three. There is a strong possibility that I would just do anything that Lee (Jamie Bamber) says, but as objectively as I am capable of being, I think what he said at Baltar’s trial was for the most part right. The particular crimes they were accusing Baltar of could not be proven. Since there was no witness to his signature on the death warrant, therefore there was no way to fully ascertain the conditions under which it was signed, and the conditions do matter. Lee was completely correct to give the litany of the wrongs others committed with relative impunity. While I consider myself part of the loathing-Baltar camp, he was not the first to act contrary to civil and/or military law and he most likely will not be the last. Finding Baltar guilty might have been cosmically righteous but it would not have been right.

But one of the reasons BSG is so good is that there is never just one side to the story. What Lee does not take into account in his defense of Baltar is that those who have been forgiven for past transgressions all serve to actively participate in the protection and promulgation of humanity and human civilization. Baltar may have a dramatic function as a character, but he has no practical function in the society. He is a scientist, but he does not train others, nor does he devote himself to science other than when he needs to escape complications in another situation. For a while it was unclear what ship he even lived on. I do not believe the value of a human life is solely based on utilitarian capacity, but when it is a survival situation leniency is more understandable when the person is necessary. Baltar may not deserve to die, but does he really deserve to live? Is anyone obligated to give him food, shelter, or protection?

I know that we are not going to find out the identity of the last Cylon until the last episode, or at least very close to then. That does not mean I am not going to spend months speculating about the pros and cons of the possibilities. I am going to go on record right here and say that if Baltar is the final Cylon then a huge part of BSG will be turned into a big cheat. Even the small ethical debate I had above will be voided. I will be unbelievably upset.

The TV Girl

Random Info: Battlestar Galactica

I bring hope to those of you who have not as yet allowed Battlestar Galactica to make your world a more wondrous place.

One of the most daunting things about TV is the conception that you have to watch a series from its beginning to watch it at all. It is easy to tell yourself "I would not understand what is going on if I start watching mid-series." I agree that this is a legitimate concern, but the availablity of both episodes online and TV on DVD has changed the terms of the argument.

In the case of Battlestar Galactica you can avoid the problem altogether, because the Sci Fi Network is doing everyone a favor. Tomorrow night, Friday March 28th at 10pm/9pm (Central) the Sci Fi Network is airing an hour long Battlestar Galactica: Revealed. This is a program designed to give new viewers everything they need to know to start watching Season Four, which as you can see in the display to your right, begins next week.

Even though I have seen every episode of BSG (some of them so many times it is kind of sick), I will be watching, if only to see what the producers think is most important for viewers to know.

You have no more excuses for not watching one of the best shows on TV.

The TV Girl

Random Info: Battlestar Galactica

I can only speak for myself, and kind of my sister, when I say that I have an anticipation ulcer for the new season of Battlestar Galactica. While Razor was like a big swig of Mylanta, as April 4th approaches I am once again beginning to feel my insides churning and burning with a mixture of excitement, trepidation, and (the smallest bit of) sadness. If you are in a similar way, and have seen all of Season Three, then go to 'Watch With Kristin" at E!Online.com to see an amazing promo clip for Season Four. It is like a tiny swig of Mylanta, which I desperately needed. I think I will go watch it again.

The TV Girl