2.15 Scar

If the previous episode was all about Apollo’s ‘dark night of the soul’ then this was Starbuck’s turn – and I have to say hers was a far more impressive affair. The ‘scar’ of the title was a deadly Cylon ship, picking off Vipers with alarming ruthlessness. The pre-episode recap featured the ship that Starbuck once piloted back to Galactica, so I guess the suggestion was that Scar was the reincarnated version of this previously dead ship.

However, thanks to the destruction of the Resurrection Ship, Scar could now ‘die’ – and so he was a nasty ship with a grudge, but a fear of death. And Starbuck was his enemy.

Starbuck, in the meantime, was pining over that guy she left behind on Caprica. And so turned to drink to numb the thoughts, especially after Apollo turned her down for some no-strings rough sex. As Helo pointed out at the end of the episode, she had something to live for rather than nothing to die for – and this made her less reckless.

I thought the episode was supremely enjoyable. As the “nuggets” filed in and were terrified by tales of Scar picking them off, there was good rivalry between Kat and Starbuck battering through. (I thought for sure that Kat would be killed and Starbuck would be the one to take Scar down – that this clichéd end didn’t happen was very welcome. Kat’s too good a foil for Starbuck to just kill off just yet!)

The episode felt like the last half of a movie, like Top Gun or something, with the gloves off and the stakes raised high – and the finale didn’t disappoint, with the touching toast at the end to those they could remember the names of, and those they couldn’t; the pilots that had been killed.

In other respects this was pretty much a stand-alone episode – one a casual viewer could have tuned into and got involved in without having to know the larger picture. Such episodes can be risky propositions, but when the calibre is of this standard it’s no risk at all. The only overhanging aspect is what, if anything, Starbuck will do about her nagging urge to go back to Caprica to try and rescue those survivors she left behind – despite feeling almost certain they are dead.

Will she go? Will the fleet go? I can’t imagine it. . . but I can’t rule it out either. (If it is just a question of one FTL jump, then why the hell not send a small pick-up squadron?) In the grander scheme of things, between this and the previous episode Season 2 is treading water a little bit. I am sure the next major plot turn is around the corner, to kickstart the inevitable chain of events that will lead up to the season’s climax.

I don’t have much inkling as to what that will be – but if it doesn’t involve Cylons and Galactica people in jeopardy and dreadful decisions then I’ll be mightily surprised. . . And I still haven’t forgotten about Gaius and Pegasus Six being in possession of a nuclear warhead! Nor Cylon Boomer on the verge of giving birth! I expect all of these to come to fruition before the Season is over.