3.5 Collaborators

After the occupation, recriminations. The stark opening scene with the ‘prosecution’ of Jammer in the airlock was hardline stuff. Despite him being a baby-faced young man, who had aided Callie in her escape from the firing squad, the ‘circle’ of judges and jury still considered him guilty and culpable – and punishment meant death.

And so Jammer was blasted out of the airlock. And he wasn’t the first, as rumours of other people that had gone missing were filtering up the chain of command.

Tigh and Starbuck figured heavily here, with both of them exhibiting a new-found bitter side to their characters as a result of their respective experiences on New Caprica. Starbuck, it seems to me, is the one who is least likely to bounce back quickly. Her statement about wanting to just scratch out Anders’ eyes spoke volumes about her state of mind. I am not sure what it’s going to take to bring her back from the dark place she is currently in. Likelihood is she’ll get worse before, if ever, she gets better.

Tigh may have a better chance. He had a long pause after the near-killing of Gaeta. It was this scene that was crucial for me. I can honestly say that if Gaeta had been blasted out of the airlock it might just have been a blow too cruel for me to take too well. Thankfully Starbuck was there to drop the point that he had been the guy feeding the resistance movement information and without him there would never have been a rescue mission at all.

I felt pleased for Gaeta, getting nods of respect and the company of the always-likable Tyrell at the end as he ate a meal. They didn’t speak, but just seeing the two of them – one vindicated, one humbled – sitting together trying to reclaim a bond given what they had experienced encapsulated pretty much where many of the survivors of New Caprica are coming from.

This is a crew and people that have been much-changed and had the boundaries of their lives shifted. How else could it explain Skarek being permitted the role of vice-President? Suddenly he’s Mr. Nice Guy? Suddenly the anarchist is gone? Maybe for the moment, but I think there’s a viper in him still ready to strike given the right motivation and opportunity.

Gaius, meanwhile, is now in the custody of the Cylons. This is potentially an excellent avenue for the show to take, as we can see the Cylon’s point of view through his eyes. The trouble I have found so far is that the Cylons were at their best when their rationale and motivation was unknown; so far whenever reason is revealed for what they do it sometimes feels contradictory and flawed. The show kind of negotiates its way around this problem by showing the Cylons themselves as disagreeing amongst themselves, but there was a sense of unity and purpose about the Cylons when they were less understood that feels betrayed by every new revelation.

By the end of the episode a pardon had been issued so the matter of who is guilty following New Capica has been dispensed with. Another slate wiped clean, leaving the way clear for the series to start burrowing into whatever plot machinations and character complications are going to be explored and developed. The way the show is balanced now, darker and more mature, I have little doubt that there’s dark times and turmoil ahead.

Bring it on.