4.5 The Road Less Travelled

If this hadn’t been the first of a ‘to be continued’ two-parter then I would be worried about the pace and momentum of this fourth season. Once again the episode got absorbed in the psychological struggle within Tyrol as one of its key focuses. I appreciate that this is naturally an important aspect to the show, and I expect that it is a slow progression towards a planned resolution – but it does feel like an awful lot of naval gazing and musing about faith.

It’s not like these are dull themes to explore, it’s just that sitting around talking about them introspectively for a show like Battlestar Galactica feels annoying. I know the show can be pulse-pounding and exciting, but the last two episodes have totally slowed the pace down to a drag through the sludge of the soul in this transitional exploration of many main characters. Whilst this may be a means of laying the groundwork for some major revelations I think it’s taking a little too long: I’ve already bought the majority of the transitions in the characters – if anything I am looking for the likes of Tigh and Tyrol to get a move on and embrace their new selves more quickly so the show can progress!

Tyrol had shaved his head by the start of this episode, clearly showing that this was a man going through a new phase of identification. That he seems, by the end, to have linked up and embraced Gaius was something of a weird surprise. It’s not something that I particularly buy into, mainly because I don’t understand it. I don’t understand the grip that Gaius seems to be holding over everyone anyway, all of a sudden.

Fair enough that this cult of followers that indulge him would make him start to believe his own sense of importance, but for the likes of Tyrol? Perhaps the awakening of his Cylon side has cracked open a monotheistic aspect to his psyche? I guess it’s a reasonable interpretation.

Gaius himself is obviously becoming more and more powerful in voice, and his movement is perhaps set to become larger and more potent. Maybe in the grand scheme of things there is to be a union between Cylon and mankind, and those in support of one God will find such a merging easier to handle. Who knows? For the most part I can say that it’s not a plot line that interests me all that much until its intention is made clearer.

What really salvaged this episode, for me, was the business onboard the Demetrius with Starbuck and an increasingly mutinous crew. Picking up Leoben (which had a fair amount of contrivance attached to it – perhaps explained away by fate rather than coincidence?) was always going to be a sticking point. That Starbuck gave him the time of day and listened to him was bound to happen. Quite how much that guy knows is another matter. He speaks of profound understanding of the universe and how things are supposed to be yet, when faced with Anders, there wasn’t a flicker of recognition as to what he really was.

So the episode ending with first Helo and then Gaeta and then eventually everyone admitting that they were no longer willing to carry out Starbuck’s orders, and were going to assume command. It’s hard to imagine how Starbuck is going to get away with her own pursuit of Earth in the face of this state of affairs. Is she willing to gp completely alone? Or with just Leoben? Or is there some way that she can wrangle the situation around to her will and have the crew trust her just a little more to see where it takes them?