3.19 Crossroads - Part 1

The trial of Baltar finally begins, and what would seem like a watertight prosecution against is turning out to be a flimsy story perpetrated by witnesses that are falling apart at the seams. “A storm is coming,” Helo gloomily stated as he heard they were just three jumps away from the nebula, and I’ve heard similar statements of doom before – and they always carry through to reveal something grim.

I’m expecting grim things.

For one thing we’ve got people seemingly cracking up out of nowhere. Tigh has started hearing music that he believes is coming from within the ship – but he’s not the only one who heard it as Anders apparently also did. And then there was Tori, the president's aide, who out of nowhere has started unravelling and shared that odd exchange with Anders.

I have absolutely no idea what she is all about, but it feels like something to be dreaded. Indeed, the whole business with Tigh and the weird music is an odd one. Is it a psychological metaphor, or is there some deeper significance to it? The closer to the nebulae they get, the more the music plays? Signs of civilisation? Was Tigh picking up music playing from Earth!?

And then there’s the president, whose cancer has come back and she has taken to the kamala again to ease her suffering (which explain the hallucinogenic dream that opened the episode featuring Laura and Athena pursuing Hera only to see Caprica scoop her up – I am sure that’s symbolic but I don’t quite know what of). What does it mean that the cancer came back? Another symptom of something going inherently wrong?

And then there’s Apollo, now turned fully against his father and against the military to pursue a life as a lawyer for Gaius. What the hell is that all about? If people weren’t behaving strangely and cracking up I would have found Adama’s dismissal of his son hard to believe – but at present it could simply be interpreted as another example of this angry malaise that appears to have descended on the people.

It was a good thing that all of this was happening amidst the trial, because the trial itself was rather dull, and continues to be rather dull. Try as they might it’s simply never going to be as exciting as they’d want it to be. The moment the raptor stayed behind and encountered a sudden appearance of Cylon base ships was far more exhilarating than any trial could be. Caprica Six said the base ships were tracking the fleet due to the tylium ship – and this has created a plan to use the tylium ship as a diversion. Perhaps it’s just the sense of unease getting to me, but that seems like a bad idea. What if the Cylons get to the fuel ship and destroy it? That leaves the fleet without fuel, stuck out there, and in a bad spot. . .

Potentially it could mean the Cylons get the jump on them on the journey to Earth and take the next step ahead of them. That’s if the Cylons don’t just blast the fleet to pieces. There’s a whole lot of things could go wrong, and this first-part episode did a good job in selling the potential that it very probably will. I’m expecting grim things indeed. . .