Doctor Who: S03 Ep03 – Gridlock

What happened?

The Doctor and Martha travelled into the future to New Earth, a planet The Doctor had visited previously with Rose (in series 2, New Earth). However, they find themselves in the underworld; a place little more than a slum. Martha is kidnapped by a couple who take her onto the packed traffic jam of a motorway, believing that 3 people in a car entitles them to take the fast lane. The Doctor investigates and discovers the traffic jam is endless, the motorway a neverending circle, beneath which lie ravenous crab-like creatures.

The Doctor makes it to the overworld to discover humanity has been wiped out, and all that remains is the Face of Boe struggling to maintain enough power to keep the underworld denizens alive. The Doctor finds a way to open the underworld’s ceiling and frees the people. The Face of Boe is then able to die but, before doing so, tells The Doctor he is not alone.

Martha asks what it means and The Doctor tells her the Face Of Boe must have been mistaken as he is the last Timelord.

Thoughts

I really enjoyed this episode. On the surface it had all the hallmarks of being a rather run-of-the-mill filler and yet as it unfolded it was mining some really clever ideas and themes that really chimed with me. Indeed, at first when I thought the underworld traffic jam gridlock was a deliberate ploy from the ‘higher ups’ to keep the masses occupied, I thought the show was really tapping into rather profound territory regarding social structure.

The idea that the masses could be drip-fed a fiction to keep them ticking over in their literal dead end, treadmill lives felt like a serious commentary on how the world works – the masses kept controlled and pacified in their position in life, blinkered to the reality and the larger scheme of things.

As it turned out Gridlock wasn’t attempting to be quite so politically cutting, and instead settled on a tragic situation where the people stuck in traffic were oblivious to a terrible disaster that had occurred. I was a tad disappointed, I suppose, but a return to the Face of Boe, and the promise he had made to reveal a secret as his last words to The Doctor was at least fulfilled.

Although his remarks that The Doctor is not alone are hardly offering up anything concrete to go off. The Doctor’s conviction that the Face of Boe was wrong didn’t seem overly-convincing – perhaps he doubts the belief he’s held for so long that he really is the last remaining Time Lord?

It’s certainly the most obvious conclusion to reach from the Face of Boe’s final remarks: that there is, somehow, somewhere, another surviving Timelord. But then the expression is cryptic enough to be moulded and interpreted in a whole number of other ways so, I suspect, such a clear-cut assumption won’t be correct.

The other good element to this episode was the relationship between Martha and The Doctor. I do get the feeling that she has rather fallen for him a little quick and it feels somewhat premature for her to have such absolute faith in his abilities to rescue her, and to extol his brilliance to other people. That being said, it was good that she demanded he speak to her properly and he acknowledged to himself that he hadn’t really been treating her fairly.

Good episode then, offering a solid storyline with character progression and even a dash of longstanding show mythology thrown into the mix. I certainly got a lot more than I expected!

What was the best part?

I am tempted to go with the moment The Doctor was questioning the nature of the traffic jam, of the validity of the information the people were receiving. However the close of the episode, with The Doctor rather reeling about the information he is not alone and admitting he had lied to Martha about his home planet and then plainly telling her what had happened and how it used to be. With the music and singing it verged on the cheesy, but I think it just about managed to get away with it.

What do I think will happen next?

I’d anticipate further clarification around the Face of Boe’s words (though I don’t expect that to happen within the next episode or two at the very least). My guess would be that perhaps The Doctor is a father? I do remember an offbeat remark he once made in the last series, about being a father. . . I’m a bit hazy on it, but I can only figure that somehow The Doctor isn’t quite the last Timelord in existence.

Doctor Who: S03 Ep02 – The Shakespeare Code

What happened?

The Doctor and Martha arrived in 1599, England, to see Shakespeare and his plays at the Globe in all their glory. Unfortunately a trio of Carrier Knights, very much like witches, have orchestrated the construction of the Globe to be a spot where a portal can be opened to free the rest of their race from their other-dimensional prison. With Shakespeare’s play, his words, being used as a means of unlocking the prison it’s up to The Doctor, Martha and Shakespeare to prevent it from happening.

Thoughts

I wasn’t enthused about this episode, but it proved rather enjoyable. The constant Shakespeare quotes, and running joke of The Doctor feeding ‘Will’ his most famous lines (paradox alert!), I did find somewhat tiresome, though. Clearly the writer of this episode knew his Shakespeare, both in work and in history, and many of the remarks felt like a kind of breaking of the fourth wall.

Like, for example, Shakespeare simultaneously flirting with both Martha and The Doctor, to which The Doctor quipped about a certain number of scholars being pleased. The in-joke being that speculation about Shakespeare’s sexuality has been pondered through various obscure references in some of his sonnets. That kind of thing breaks the suspension of disbelief for me.

Same goes for the use of Harry Potter-speak “Expelliarmus” at the end of the episode. “Good old, JK!” exclaimed The Doctor; such moments just totally snap me out of what’s going on and make me think of a scriptwriter being referential and communicating too directly with the audience.

But that’s just me. Maybe other people love all that. I don’t.

The monsters of the week for this episode were reasonably otherworldly whilst retaining a Shakespearean vibe, the three witch creatures calling to mind Macbeth (I felt certain a reference would show up and hammer that point and was rather happy it didn’t/couldn’t and was left more subtle). Not sure why they were called Carrier Knights, or quite what they were all about, but they served their purpose.

The interplay between Martha and The Doctor ticked along here. The episode started with him discussing how this was to be her one and only trip away with him, but there was no mention of that being the case as things were wrapping up. Of course she’s going to be around for a while yet so there’s no danger of that really happening, though I must say that The Doctor’s obliviousness of her is a little off.

I liked how Shakespeare observed the two of them, recognising the age in The Doctor’s young eyes and how Martha looked at him with a sense of surprise that he even existed. The show doesn’t quite have the energy to relive that sense of new excitement it once took the time to allow Rose to experience, but at least Martha was there to question cause and effect and consequences of time travel. The Doctor seemed wholly unconcerned with it, mind, which is probably subject matter that shouldn’t undergo too much scrutiny.

Doctor Who doesn’t quite subscribe to the ‘whatever happened, happened’ theory of linear time and yet allows whatever changes and alterations are made in history to not have a lasting effect on what has occurred. Perhaps earlier shows, years ago, thrashed out the specifics of the nature of cause and effect for The Doctor. Me? I’ll just go along with it.

Something of a one-off episode then, on which a Doctor Who series is mostly comprised of. Enjoyable enough as some light entertainment on TV but nothing really meaty to chew over in the grand scheme of things.

What was the best part?

I did like the bedroom scene with The Doctor and Martha. He very nonchalantly presented her with the option of sharing a cosy bed with him. Once she was in it all her sense of suggestion, about how small it was, went right over his head. I guess the point being made here is that The Doctor just can’t get passed Rose, can’t even see Martha as anything like an equal – and so when he talked about her it was the equivalent of slapping Martha across the face!

What do I think will happen next?

From this episode there were really only two potential ‘threads’ that I suspect will be either picked up again or continue to be pulled on. The first was Queen Elisabeth I showing up, hating The Doctor. Almost certainly this indicates an episode will feature her and result in her displeasure! The other was Martha and her evident attraction of The Doctor. Not quite sure where it’s come from so fast (the one kiss in the previous episode – must have been a heck of a kiss!) but The Doctor is so far ignorant of it to the point of obnoxious. Can’t he see that Martha is way hotter than Rose!?!

Doctor Who: S03 Ep01 – Smith & Jones

What happened?

Martha Jones, a trainee doctor, arrives at hospital for work on the day the entire building is transported to the moon by a race of police-like aliens called the Judoon. The hospital is enclosed in an airtight bubble, so whilst the Judoon begin hunting for their quarry (a shapeshifting Plasmavore) the oxygen for the stranded people in the hospital is running out. Luckily The Doctor is in the hospital, too, and alongside Martha Jones they find the alien Plasmavore and turn it over to the Judoon, who destroy it.

With the hospital returned to Earth in the nick of time, The Doctor catches up with Martha and shows her the TARDIS. As a thank you for saving him, after proving to her that he can travel through time, he offers her one trip with him through time and space.

Thoughts

My interest in Doctor Who used to be just a passing one. It is shown on Saturdays, early evenings, and if I happened to be in front of a television when it was on I’d watch it. However, I decided I’d return to the early days of the show and watch the lot since, in recent times, it’s become more sophisticated and improved as a drama series.

After the loss of Rose in the second series’ finale, this 3rd series has the burden of introducing a new companion for The Doctor. (I appreciate the recent Xmas special, The Runaway Bride, introduced us to someone that will eventually become a companion, which in retrospect makes the fumble of bringing Martha Jones into the mix even more bizarre.)

Martha Jones does make a good first impression here, though. She’s smart and has a very open mind. She’s the first to question how they can still breathe once on the moon considering the hospital building isn’t airtight, and yet doesn’t flinch when joining The Doctor to open the doors and step outside. Furthermore she has compassion, lingering to close the dead eyes of her doctor mentor, and a sense of humour as well as being very capable; she’s thrown right in at the deep end and has to save The Doctor’s life with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

In all honesty I didn’t like that The Doctor’s scheme basically involved him dying to save the day. When he was interrogating the Plasmavore with disguised naïve human ignorance it suggested he was merely loading up a surprise to spring. Instead he just basically allowed the Plasmavore to take his blood so the Judoon would know she was an alien. Fine in exposing her, but at the cost of his own life? It amounted to a sacrificial act and he’d only known Martha for five minutes – not enough time to establish she’d be able to save his life.

OK, the episode showed us she knew he had two hearts and had steely determination, so he could have predicted that outcome – but considering she could have easily succumbed to collapsing through lack of oxygen like pretty much the rest of the hospital’s inhabitants (her continued capacity to act was put down to sheer adrenaline which, to be honest, I didn’t really buy either) then it was a major gamble for The Doctor to take.

Those were my only nits to pick in the episode, which was otherwise a strong, confident opening full of the verve and energy that makes the show rattle along and seem to pack in so much character reveal and plot exposition that don’t seem possible in the running time. A bit like the TARDIS, Doctor Who episodes are bigger on the inside than they are on the outside – and it was fun to see that oft-repeated phrase used here when Martha first encountered the iconic police box time machine.

What was the best part?

I really liked the nifty opening, actually. Zipping across phone calls between Martha’s family, interrupted with The Doctor showing up undoing his tie (an event that would later be revealed as his proof that he could travel in time) it was a terrific way of introducing us to a major new character with an effortlessly light flair.

What do I think will happen next?

As this is Doctor Who the episodes are often standalone affairs. There is little indication about what the over-riding plot arc of this 3rd series will be (if there even is one). Ostensibly this episode paired up The Doctor with his new companion, Martha, and set them off on adventures together. The next episode preview showed me they’re going to see Shakespeare; I can’t say I am looking forward to it, really!

Boardwalk Empire: S01 Ep02 – The Ivory Tower

What happened?

Following the robbery, Nucky has now become the focus of interest for the authorities. He detaches himself from dealings with Jimmy, who in turn has to find the money he owes Nucky for what he did. Jimmy is rebuffed by Al Capone and so ends up pawning the jewellery he bought for his mother, only to watch Nucky squander the lot. Meanwhile Rothstein in New York wants the money he feels he is owed, but Nucky plays tough and sets up a line over Atlantic City that he dares him to cross. The episode ends with a stumbling appearance of a wounded member of the gang that were robbed, that Jimmy thought was dead. . .

Thoughts

Boardwalk Empire is proving difficult to warm to. From a plot point of view it doesn’t really put a foot wrong. It’s clearly got the visuals and production values to make it look the part. And yet there’s something about it – something aloof, perhaps, or something in the pacing – that really makes it difficult to get enthusiastic about. Indeed, it’s only on reflecting on the episode afterwards do I appreciate what was going on of interest; whilst it was happening I basically watched with an expectancy that something more would occur, but it didn’t seem to.

I think one of the major problems is in not quite being able to grasp precisely what is going on. I mean, 1920s Atlantic City is practically another world to here and now, and so I feel like I could do with more explanation about how things fit together and operate. Two episodes in, for example, and I still don’t really understand what Nucky is: what is his job, both in public and in the criminal fraternity. He is said to have his fingers in every pie and be the central figure to all that happens, but it’s not really clear how or why.

Another more specific example came during the scene when Jimmy went to visit a woman who was in a raunchy show. Backstage she greets him by wrapping her legs around him, and with kisses. He then gives her an expensive gift (from the robbery swag). It’s at the end of the scene did it appear to transpire that this woman was not his lover, but his mother. Rather than be a slap in the mouth surprise, instead I just frowned and wondered if I’d understood things correctly.

If it was supposed to be a surprising reveal, it got muddled. If I’ve got the wrong end of the stick, then why make it so confusing?

The main federal agent guy, Van Alden, remains a fairly obtuse fellow. He betrayed little sense of humour when he met with Nucky, and the eventual reveal that he had stolen Margaret’s ribbon showed a rather seedy, creepy element to his character. Not quite the straight, clean-cut G-man then and he definitely appears to have taken a personal dislike in Nucky to turn his full attention in nominating as the number one target.

It also seems Nucky is determined to cut Jimmy loose, but something about the relationship between the two of them tells me they are not going to stop having dealings with one another. The scene where Nucky got the money he had demanded and then blew it all on a whim at the roulette table in front of Jimmy was clearly a power display. . . Maybe, just maybe, there’s the potential that Jimmy might not align himself with Nucky at all – rather he’ll become an antagonist.

That would actually be a really good dynamic; seeing Jimmy rise to power to become a force for Nucky to concern himself about. However, for now, it seems he’s got the likes of Rothstein in New York to worry about. And Rothstein certainly seems menacing and petty enough to not allow Nucky’s unsettled debt to him go unpaid.

The last scene of the episode set up the ‘surprise’ that had been subtly signposted earlier with a dialogue exchange between Nucky and Jimmy over how many bodies had been recovered from the robbery. It has turned out that one of the men that Jimmy believed had been killed had survived, and is now set to surely get to the authorities or his gang and report what he knows.

What was the best part?

Two scenes stood out for me. The Rothstein scene, where he delivered the tale about the guy who could swallow a billiard ball. It was a nice speech, but a better performance. Rothstein has an eerie, above-it-all quality about him and is probably the most enigmatic character in the show so far. I did also like the scene where Nucky gambled away the money Jimmy had brought him; it said so much without saying a lot about who these men are to each other at this point in time. If Jimmy ever needed motivation to take Nucky down a peg then that’s the kind of spur it would take.

What do I think will happen next?

I expect that the survivor of the robbery and what he does next will have direct repercussions in the events of the next episode. If he goes to the authorities then he ought to be able to tell them something that will hasten their investigations or give them lines of enquiry that ought to see them breathing down Nucky’s neck.

Otherwise, if he goes to Rothstein, then it might be all that he needed to hear to set in motion a serious strike against Nucky. Either way, this survivor doesn’t bring good tidings for Nucky!

Boardwalk Empire: S01 Ep01 – Pilot

What happened?

It’s 1920 and Prohibition-era America is about to fall. Alcohol – the sale and consumption of – has been outlawed. Revelling in this news is businessman, Enoch “Nucky” Thompson, who is set to profit by running a smuggling operation that will import booze and then sell it at a high cost.

Nucky sets up links with counterparts in Chicago to arrange a deal but, when lower-ranking muscle from both sides decide to thwart the transaction, it becomes apparent that power and control of this new era is going to come at a ruthless cost.

Thoughts

Boardwalk Empire certainly came with a large entourage. I’d read about it long before it was released due to the trumpeted buzz of major production values, Martin Scorcese directing, and a reasonably high profile cast (all of the key players have been leads and co-stars in movies). It was also the flagship show to launch (in the UK) the Sky Atlantic channel. It can’t complain that it didn’t have hype or pre-release publicity – for a brand new show I can’t think of one that’s had more expectation dumped upon it.

If anything it’s the hype that has perhaps most dampened my enjoyment. If Boardwalk Empire had been a little more unassuming then I would have enjoyed it more – instead I expected to be blown away, and I wasn’t. The wow factor wasn’t present. Fair enough, it didn’t need to have it, it’s just the hype about budget and big stars and Scorcese directing made me expect more than I received.

Setting aside the disappointment, however, this pilot episode seems to have positioned various key characters in a turning point of American history that is rife with cops ‘n’ robbers, gangster action potential. Steve Buscemi as Nucky is clearly the central figure, but he’s got some way to go before he makes a compelling force that everything gravitates around. He’s no Tony Soprano. Weedy, ugly, and in various scenes he’s played for laughs – such as with the hotel assistant interrupting him during sex and him banging on the door when his squeeze has locked him out of the bathroom. Whilst he does warn that he shouldn’t be messed with his ruthlessness has a question mark over it for me.

Far more interesting were the two underling characters, Jimmy and Capone. Jimmy was the main focus. Not only does he have a dangerously cold view of life and death due to his experiences in the war (his remarks about how he was considered a hero for all his forays going into enemy territory spell out he is a man that cares little for his life and is efficient at taking other people’s). That he now appears to be also straddling both sides of the law mark him as a character mired in all manner of interesting circumstances – it’s unclear whether he really will be a rogue agent for the government as well as maintaining his criminal interests but I kind of hope he does.

The introduction of a young runt Al Capone was also good. I hope his is a character that is kept in the mix. When he went back to Chicago I kind of wished the show was actually about him; the story of how a young Capone worked his way up to the figurehead he became. If he remains a part of the show’s tapestry then great, it’ll be a strong plotline and character arc for the show to lean on.

There were other elements introduced but sidelined. Kelly MacDonald’s character, Margaret, the battered wife who had her unborn child beaten into stillbirth, was horrific. If anything this show let the tension drop and the viewers turmoil eased by having her husband beaten and killed early on; it would have been bold and provocative to allow his terrible deed to go unpunished, at least for now. I suspect the newly-widowed woman’s future now lies with Nucky who clearly has a soft spot for her.

Otherwise there was also the government’s police agents circling the criminal operation. Whilst the majority of them were portrayed as bumbling and idiotic, the one main guy (name forgotten) maintained a brooding, focused intensity that mark him out as a formidable antagonist for Nucky.

So, for a show that had over an hour running time it didn’t really bring the wow factor, and if anything it was somewhat talk-heavy. Even the much-touted recreation of prohibition Atlantic City didn’t particularly impress me, although I concede the show certainly looks like nothing else I’ve seen on TV and the attention to detail is sharp.

I think the point being made is that Nucky is unwittingly on the verge of a new era in what we consider gang-related crime. The old ways of conducting illegal activity have been blown apart by the new wave of hoodlum – Jimmy and Capone ushering in violence and double-cross that will become common practice. Prohibition-era America is about to experience relaxed inhibitions from those that have the stomach to take what they want however which way they can get it.

In a soundbite, Boardwalk Empire was billed as a 1920s-set The Sopranos. Well, it’s got a long, long way to go before it can hope to reach that kind of benchmark but, outside of all the hype, it’s laid down a solid start and it’s bristling with potential.

What was the best part?

The double-cross gunfight was nicely handled, with the close-up shotgun blast to the head being brutal and bloody. I don’t know why, but those old guns just always seem nastier and more damaging than 21st century weapons! Seeing Jimmy and Capone get trigger-happy and totally blow open the ‘cicvilised agreement’ both literally and metaphorically is the spark the show needs and will surely propel all manner of dramatic tangles and thrills.

What do I think will happen next?

At this stage I can’t really predict any kind of specific events I think will occur. I think this pilot episode has set up the situation and the general tone for the course of events. I envisage Nucky will have to balance controlling Jimmy’s violent activity with the new-found power he will gain. The lawmen will attempt to tighten the noose, and other gangsters will vie for dominance over the ‘boardwalk empire’ now emerging.

BSG The Plan

If this is to be the very last word about Battlestar Galactica then I can’t help but feel it’s left a few things unsaid, and what it did say it perhaps might have said a little better. This straight-to-DVD feature-length special, The Plan centred around the original intentions the Cylons had for their assault on humans right up to the sudden shift in Cylon agenda that occurred at the end of Season 2.

The Plan began with a scene that slotted chronologically at the end of Season 2, with the two Cavil’s being taken to be flushed out of the airlock, and one Cavil telling the other why there had been a change in tactic. As a framing device it worked well enough, and it wasn’t shortly after that we were seeing the attack against the colonies from the viewpoint of the Final Five as well as the Cylon base ships.

The effects, whilst hardly blockbuster standard, were mostly impressive. The first hints that there was some greater force in the universe shaping events was present in such moments as Tory’s survival from the blast, crawling out of her car when everyone else around her appeared to have been wiped out. Ellen Tigh, also, survived in such a way like she did back on the original Earth. These were neat touches but, like most of the show, would probably be lost on everyone but proper BSG fans.

The manner by which the film skimmed along certain episodes from the first and second series was another narrative device that would have been bewildering to all non-BSG watchers. And yet here, in this conceit of filling in the gaps of episodes, is where my biggest complaint about The Plan arises. For every good fill-in there were some massive omissions.

A good one? Boomer’s ‘awakening’, dripping wet, having planted the charges in the water supply. We find out that Cavil was interacting with her, using an elephant as a recall tool to trigger her Cylon consciousness. It was nicely done and worked. And I like that we found out who Six turned to talk to in the miniseries after she had been with Baltar. Again, that was Cavil, and it was nice to have those moments revisited. Again, with Six, as the agent that tried to discredit Baltar - that was an odd episode that got a behind-the-scenes exposition.

But the omissions? The point that the Cylons kept attacking the fleet every thirty-three minutes. I presume this was because the Cylons were tracking them, and this was how long it took for the base ships to calculate their next jump? (Seems really slow, when you consider the Hybrid’s speed at jumping in later seasons.) But then the ship that had apparently been tracking them, the one Apollo and Starbuck shot down, it had appeared empty in that first episode. What had been going on there? The Plan felt like the perfect chance to answer that mystery, and it missed it.

Same goes for Starbuck’s internment in The Farm, where she received a scar. The Plan actually touched on this very subject, actually went there and showed pieces of it, and yet didn’t bother to explain why Starbuck had been given the scar. It was such a frustrating overlook that I really don’t know how to justify.

The Cylon plan itself did seem somewhat petty. That the Cylons were all hanging around the Final Five, and had inserted themselves within the fleet to mop up any survivors didn’t seem like the most machine-like and efficient way of achieving their goals. The suggestion was that the other Cylon models, aside from Cavil, were not so wholeheartedly bent on destroying humans. It’s really the only way of considering the Boomer/Helo on Caprica sideplot from Season One – that the Cylons wanted to know if the humans could love them and so, potentially, redeem themselves.

There were some interesting depths of the Cylon psyche mined. The Simon model, having a wife and family with humans, served as a direct counterpoint to the cold Cavil and the murder of the child at the finish (a fine BSG moment of ruthlessness). And Leoben’s drawing of the mandalas, and his intuition apparently drawn from future visions of Starbuck, all helped embroider his character’s actions. There was good stuff in The Plan, but the patchwork quality of the narrative didn’t help it all flow along enjoyably.

The only real tangible ‘plot’ was Anders and his Pyramid ball team’s survival and resistance on Caprica. Again, it was a nice touch that he was watched over by a Cylon model (Simon, again) but I didn’t really feel like I got into their plot as much as I could have. Perhaps the whole thing was blighted by the fact that it was a rehash and fill-in piece; the audience knew where everything was headed, who lived and who died, and how certain things had to play out so there was an inherent lack of drama. A similar problem inhibited the Razor special episode but that one did, at least, function as a standalone story. The Plan can’t make the same claim.

As a swansong then, it wasn’t the most graceful of exits. If this is the last word, perhaps there were some things that were better left unsaid and instead left for us to talk about amongst ourselves.

4.20 Daybreak - Part 2

So this was it. The big one. The grand finale. The last ever episode of Battlestar Galactica. I can state right at the top I was extremely satisfied with it. I believe the show delivered the required answers, left just enough to interpretation, kicked up some surprises and didn’t skimp on the emotions.

The flashbacks were still in evidence in this episode, and by the end they made more sense. They gave us more of a grasp of what our key characters were as people, with real lives, that made the final ‘modern day Earth’ have more resonance. Without the flashbacks that kind of ending might have just felt a little jarring. It already felt a touch jarring, but the flashbacks helped lessen the blow and justify the ‘everything has happened before and will happen again’ mantra. Referencing our Earth as being similar to Kobol, or Caprica, or wherever, was cheeky and could have flopped over as gimmicky, yet somehow the show kept a nice balance of pessimism and optimism in it's final kiss off.

The assault on Cavill’s fleet was always going to be the grandstanding action sequence, and it was good they incorporated everyone into different capacities to keep them in the mix. Even Gaius had a change of heart and decided to go along! The action itself was never as exciting as, say, the Gaeta mutiny or the Exodus Part 2 episode, but it was more than climactic enough. That as many of them actually made it was perhaps the biggest surprise – that Galactica actually survived to bring them out of it even bigger! No way did I think the old girl was coming back, especially when it was locked into the jaws of Cavill's base! (Was it just me that viewed the Battlestar crunching into Cavill's ship as symbolically comparable with a penis entering a vagina!? I can't work out what meaning ought to be drawn from that, but it did seem too blatant to be accidental!)

Galactica and some of its crew surviving was a welcome surprise, but that didn't come before a succession of ace revelations. The handling of the ‘Opera House’ and the glowing Final Five turning out to be CIC on Galactica, with the Final Five all in place on the upper area, was just a joy to see unfold. The moment it hit the screen it felt absolutely right. CIC was the Opera House. Of course it was!

Evidently there was a ‘higher power’ at work, one that existed in between Cylon rebirth (as Deanna discovered), call it an afterlife, or a place between life and death, existing around the fabric of the known universe, one that could send Angel agents (Head Six and Head Gaius) to guide life along. That the show didn’t attempt to wrap everything up with a masterplan ending was the right move. It was ultimately a simple explanation for much of the mystery, and yet it’s probably the best: something more elaborate and convoluted would have robbed the show its magic and wonder.

Cavill certainly seemed transfixed by the notion of this world beyond the known world - enough to lay down his arms to know more. I liked that Cavil wasn't reduced to pure evil villain, and instead retained his own thirst for knowledge and power that drove his own interests. The moment the Final Five elected to share the secrets of resurrection, and Tory herself realised that her dark secret regarding the murder of Callie was going to become known, it was a terrific build-up. I didn’t expect Tyrol to react so violently though. That was a shocker. (Though I did like Tigh’s admission later on that he would have done the same thing if it had been Ellen!)

Of course that then kicked off Cavill to consider a trick was being played and the whole peaceful moment went to hell. I expected it was going to be Starbuck that was going to turn up and ruin everything, mind, with her being the harbinger of death. It’s Starbuck that has perhaps been the hardest to qualify and even now I feel that her presence is very interpretative, and so have had to reach my own conclusion.

I figured that Starbuck really did die when she went into the swirling maelstrom. Somehow that storm was perhaps a wormhole directly to Earth where she was sucked to, her already dead body dumped on that barren planet. The Starbuck that returned, with a new ship, was a similarly angelic form from this higher power, like Head Gaius or Six with physical form – but perhaps from a certain point of view to be considered an angel of death.

That certain point of view, I feel, has to be the Cylon one. By the end of the episode they were a doomed race – or at least the human skinjob versions were. It was a nice touch that the Centurions were left to their own freewill, leaving that open-ended feeling that they would repeat the process all over again by themselves, building skinjobs and seeking revenge for the end of their race and perform an attack on a modern day Earth. All of this has happened before, etc.

Starbuck vanished when Apollo informed her of what he was going to do with the rest of his life. Her purpose had been fulfilled. It was sad, and without fuss, especially when echoed against her and Apollo’s relationship – one of romance that never quite happened successfully; in the first instance because of Apollo’s drunken brother reminding them of his presence and informing them that they were wrong to be getting it on.

They were always wrong to be getting it on.

I did feel that a lack of punch regarding Starbuck being the ‘harbinger of death’ was perhaps the only disappointment in the whole episode. Yes, she did get them to new Earth (using the song – evidently some kind of product of a higher power that pervades into our real life with Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix!) but, no matter what, it still felt like she saved everyone rather than brought about their end. Maybe there’s understanding about that I am missing but she didn't feel like a harbinger of death to me.

The music in this episode was brilliant. It has been through the whole show, courtesy of Bear McReary, but this finale delivered the goods. From the use of the Watchtower Cylon theme, to Adama’s and Laura’s themes, and the gloriously poignant reprise of the Colonial Theme – the original Battlestar theme – over the images of Galactica and the fleets’ ships gliding towards the sun - bittersweet with the emphasis on the sweet.

It was Adama and Roslyn that really brought home the emotional goods. Whilst it was heartwarming to see Helo actually survived to be with Athena and Hera on Earth (the idea that the fleet bestowed primitive humanity with language and progression is, perhaps, a tad Scientological to be intruding on Battlestar Galactica, but I can’t deny that it fits like a glove (and was a heck of a surprise to boot)) it was the Admiral and the ex-President that wrought out the tears.

Seeing the old man carry the dying leader to the Raptor to give her a better look at the flourishing life on their new home was beautiful. And the look on Adama’s face, in his eyes, when he realise Laura had quietly slipped away simply defied words. Edward James Olmos performance has been commanding from the start but it was this last submission into dignified sadness that totally choked me up. Watching him, by Laura’s grave, talk of building that cabin as the sun set, at daybreak no less, was as befitting a lasting image as any fan of the show could have asked for.

The show has been an absolute triumph, and this finale (against what felt like impossible odds) carried off the show’s finish in style. Praise for all concerned. That’s what I say and, naturally, so say we all.

4.19 Daybreak - Part 1

I hope Ron D. Moore knows what he’s doing! He took over the reins for this episode and the last, the double-episode finale, and then that will be it for BSG! So I don’t think it was unreasonable of me to expect this would be an episode where things got moving. And yet, what happened? It went into FLASHBACK!

Frak me.

I didn’t think the flashbacks were bad. Indeed, seeing Gaius with his father (and how Six worked her way into his life, winning his favour and securing his time with her) and Starbuck meeting Apollo (with Zach there! I wonder if that’s the same actor we saw in the photo all those seasons ago!) and, perhaps most affectingly, Laura with her sisters before tragedy hit her family. . . It was all good stuff. And yet it felt utterly out of place.

For one thing I didn’t get the reason for it. I couldn’t understand WHY I was being shown these histories. I couldn’t understand what the relevance for it was. I presume there was one, I just didn’t see it. The closest I got to any kind of revelation of character was a drunk Apollo trying to chase a bird out of the room. That felt significant somehow, some way, but I can’t quite put my finger on why. Anders’ flashback was the most revealing, with him discussing time and motion and perfection clearly part of his Cylon psyche – of mathematics and music – working away.

(I guess we have to presume the musical notes did represent the co-ordinates to where the Colony was. I don’t recall that being made explicit. Potentially it got edited out of the finl cut; I got the feeling quite a lot got cut from this episode, like Adama’s flashback story for one thing.)

The real gripe, of course, is not that the flashbacks were bad it’s that they were unwelcome! There’s so much to be getting on with – about the Opera House and Starbuck’s true nature and Head Six and Head Gaius – that dawdling around in the past felt so intrusive. I just sincerely hope Ron D. Moore knows what he’s doing – that he has got it all laid out beautifully for the finale episode.

Fingers crossed.

In the meantime, then, the stage was otherwise set for a whopper of a confrontation. All our heroes (except, bizarrely, Gaius – whose choice wasn’t made explicit so far as I could tell) are set to join Adama on his rescue mission of Hera. That they have one small attack approach on the Colony creates a classic against-all-odds scenario for Galactica’s last hurrah. I thought it was interesting that the Final Five were all convinced they had to be together, and had to go. There’s meaning for that, I am sure.

With it being the last episode the odds of who will live and die are out of the window. I have to assume a few of them will make it back, probably in a Raptor, with Hera. But Galactica won’t make it, and the very frail-looking Laura I fear will die with a resigned Adama. . . That’ll be a heartbreaking end, for sure. But maybe it’s in death that the secrets of the Opera House and other mysteries may find their resolution?

It’s exciting and worrying and pushed for time. All the hallmarks of great Battlestar Galactica episodes, of course, but this last one is the one that really counts above all the rest. Oh I really hope Ron D. Moore knows what he is doing!

4.18 Islanded In A Stream Of Stars

I was aware before this episode started that the last remaining episodes, one single and one double-header, had all been written by Ron D. Moore. I got the impression that those 2 hours (of running time) were all his to wrap up the whole show. As such, I also expected this episode to have something of a filler feel to it and be used purely to get the pieces arranged on the board ready for the grand finale.

I would say that was a fairly good assessment of what this episode was about.

There wasn’t much of a central plot thrust, rather lots of little scenes with all the main characters to get us up to speed with where they were at. If there was a spine to the episode it was ultimately about the end of the Battlestar Galactica. Hera moved the toy Galactica towards the Cylon Base Ship at the start of the episode, perhaps indicative of the move that Adama would eventually be forced to use.

Adama’s explanation for it was the best there could have been. As he explained to Tigh, Galactica had never let them down and so he wanted to honour her with the dignity of letting her go now, rather than see her taken down and destroyed by dragging her on further. Cue a little bit of Adama’s theme as the two men were left to reflect to themselves and it was a perfect ending moment captured.

But that was the ending. And there are plenty of other issues going on with the other characters. Apollo and Baltar have been the two characters that have most notably been left on the fringe of things of late, Apollo especially. Whilst Apollo may not be the most interesting person at present, he is a good character and I hope the finale gives him something crucial. Baltar, meantime, tried to use Starbuck as a sign that angels were amongst them, eulogising of a life after death. Given Head Six, and the weird place between life and death that Deanna explored a while back, it’s hard not to imagine it’s a notion that holds a place in the Battlestar Galactica universe.

Helo’s reaction was very powerful, his performance in practically begging Adama for a Raptor to go and look for his daughter incredibly well-delivered. Adama was fairly tough, I thought – equating Hera with his own dead son was not quite a fair comparison; Hera was still alive! Although everyone seems fairly assured that she definitely is the most important child around so her remaining in Cavil’s clutches is surely a matter to be resolved for the finale.

Good to see the opera house dream sequences being revisited. Clearly an area that needs more focus, and paves the way for Laura’s role in the big send-off to be laid out. And Boomer, also, having handed Hera over appears to have formed a bond with her (ironically, Hera used the same ‘projection’ trick Boomer used on Tyrol to get into her affections) and might just once more turn traitorous, against Cavil this time. I’d put nothing past that crazy Cylon!

I presume the place we saw Hera delivered to was the Colony, and the tantalising glimpse of that place probably didn’t give us anything like the full story about what that place holds. I would expect there to be ‘tanks’ for the Final Five should they need to download – and it has occurred to me that it may be the logical and tactical plan to have that happen - kill them so they can wake up at the Colony - in order for them to locate and infiltrate Cavil's HQ. . .

Lastly was Starbuck. She delivered the episode’s biggest shock moment when she almost shot Anders. (Again, begs the question about where he would have woken up!) He was linked into Galactica like a Hybrid, clearly fusing the line between human and Cylon in ways we could not have imagined a Season or two ago. The moment of finding out the truth about Kara Thrace, harbinger of death or angel, Cylon or human, is close at hand.

Perhaps Hera’s movement of the Galactica to the Base Ship is pre-empting a last strike attempt by Galactica on Cavil. If Anders can be used to run the systems like a Hybrid then it can almost be like a kamikaze mission – with the “harbinger of death” leading the charge? Is that what this term indicates? It seems like a tantalising proposition.

4.17 Someone To Watch Over Me

The episode started with a somewhat whimsical feel for the first third, which made me wonder if this was going to be one of those introspective types of affairs rather than a more progressive occasion. Introspection is fine, sure, but at this stage in the season you’d hope things were moving!

Turns out they were definitely moving in this fundamentally two-pronged episode chiefly concerning Starbuck and Tyrol.

Starbuck’s was the least surprising and yet the more compelling plot. The piano player she met in the bar it seemed, to me reasonably early, was purely someone she could only see and hear. No one else acknowledged what was happening at all, but the encounter seemed to possess that vibe anyway so I don’t think the programme-makers were trying to pull it off as any major surprise.

By the end of the episode it seemed certain that the piano player was a manifestation of Starbuck’s father – whether he looked identical to him we can’t know, but in the way he talked, and the warm-up tune he used, and the cigarettes he was smoking, and particularly towards the end in how Starbuck was flashbacking to her own childhood with him then the parallel was striking. Is it significant? Is her longing for a father-figure somehow linked to that crazy idea I had a couple of episodes back, about how Starbuck is somehow an offspring, or a conversion, of the ‘lost’ Cylon model Daniel?

What’s intriguing is what it means about Starbuck. She’s been in a tailspin ever since she saw her own body. And in this episode we witnessed Boomer displaying the powers of projection we’ve heard Cylons mention before (nice to see old-plotting brought back to the fore), creating fantasy worlds to take her mind out of the present. Was this encounter with the piano player a form of projection from Starbuck, further cementing her as one of their kind?

Or was it a ‘passed on’ projection, from Hera to Starbuck, via the small communication they had where Hera passed her the notes to The Song? That one seems a little off – but there was a brief mention of a higher power that controls everyone. . . Maybe Starbuck’s part of that? As ever, it’s more glimpses without a full view of the whole thing. Although the moment the piano player/Starbuck struck out The Song fully on the piano was a thrilling moment, excellently edited against the climax of the plot playing out between Boomer and Tyrol.

Anders the musician needs to wake the hell up and spill what he knows!

Boomer managed to squirrel her way into Tyrol’s affections by projecting the life they dreamed of having together. When she left him at the end she made an unnecessary declaration that she genuinely did love him – and I believe she means it. But then her model is one that gets taken by shiny things, so the fact that she even meant it then doesn’t mean it’s a feeling that will last!

So it seems her secret agenda for returning Ellen to the fleet was so she could engineer the kidnap of Hera – and it was nicely done. The scene with Helo in particular, with the beaten and bound Athena forced to watch them together, emphasising what a poisoning element in their midst she was. And Boomer left leaving more than a distraught Athena behind, jumping next to the fragile hull of the Galactica and doing untold damage.

Roslyn’s reaction, with Helo and Tyrol and Athena also, suggest this kidnap is not something that is going to be allowed to stand. The Cylons, also, consider Hera a symbol of their futures. Doing nothing us surely unthinkable. Ellen may know where Cavill is (or perhaps the ‘stars’ Hera draw serve as a kind of map!) but the Galactica doesn’t seem to be in much fit state to plunge into battle. Desperate times, and the end is closing in, which further impresses the feeling that this net is tightening inexorably.