Watched the two-hour season premiere …
… and what I’m trying to figure out is … why?
It’s not bad, in and of itself. It’s muddled as all hell, as every single speaking character manages to get a part, an amazing number of them sympathetic (no matter which side or sides they’re on). Even in two hours, you can only fit so much, and BG seems to try to squeeze in three times that amount. And, yes, the Cylons have gone back to being largely black hats (sometimes literally). And, yes, the pointed moral ambiguity of resistance vs collaboration vs sacrificing oneself vs sacrificing
others vs How Far Would You Go sometimes topples over in its own self-important weight, but …
No, the show hasn’t “jumped the shark,” as some are claiming. Not yet, anyway. Plenty of time for that, perhaps, if the clichés continue to increase, but not yet.
But … why?
That was part of what I didn’t understand at the end of Season 2, as everything we’d known about the show was, with one plot element and a single caption, completely twisted around — as though Ricky had quit his show biz career to watch the kid, Lucy had opened a bar, and Fred and Ethel had become IRS auditors. Yeah, you can do a show about that, but weren’t you already doing a very satisfying show about something else, with plenty of material left to milk in it? Was this where it was all leading,
or did you just have a case of writers block?
Better analogy: the GM who decides he’s tired of the campaign as it is, and just picked up a new game setting book, and so decides to shift everyone’s characters from The Realms of Agrnar to Modern-day Earth, only instead of adventurers, they’re spies instead, and, oh, by the way, the President they work for looks a lot like the Evil Vizier from Murgeroth, and …
Again, it’s not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself (though, as I said, while some of the humans are struggling, the Cylons are becoming much more smugly bad guys — and self-righteously smug ones, at that — so there’s plenty of momentum starting to drift downhill), but it’s a huge gamble the creators are taking, recasting (figuratively) everything and everybody into a different setting, and hoping the stories told there will be as good and as gripping.
I’ll keep watching, but I hope I don’t start hearing that shark splashing around …
I can see the Cylon thing becoming more political with one or two of the Boomers siding with the Humans, and one or two of the 6’s also going from All Baltar to being more human oriented.
I did like the “Their blood is not on our hands” moment when they forced Baltar to sign the order. I guess it will hae to be watched to see how the wheels within wheels Machinations playout, but they set up a bunch of really good possible plot arc’s with the double episode.
Dina and I just finished watching the second season, and we had quite a few moments where we wondered if the show was going off the rails, but it always came together thematically.
The “surprise” in the season finale was one of those moments, but the extra time spent showing the characters fitting into their new lives/roles was satisfying. The writers, like the Cylons, seem to have a comprehensive plan.
I have to wait until the DVD release to see the show, but I’m hoping to see a scene where Prez. Baltar has a Number 6 vision while talking to Caprica 6 whose having her own Baltar vision.
I think the biggest ‘why’ was to invigorate the human/cylon animosity. Nothing like close quarters to create conflict. And I think the ‘they’re chasing us through the universe’ theme needed to be upgraded. (In fact, that theme ran thin in the first series.)
The good intensions of Sharon and Six just couldn’t anticipate that humans wouldn’t want peace at any cost. Ron and David have made it clear that they believe the “we know what’s best for you’ form of governing just doesn’t work, and they have no concern for making their political postitions clear in their writing. That may be too sophisticated for some of the viewers, but I like it. I’m fairly sure they’re going to get off this rock soon, at least based on the comments at the Con.
The real shame is the fat suit they put on Jamie Bamber. That can’t be over soon enough!
hehehe. ;P
Fat Apollo. *laughs*
I actually thought that was a really nice touch. 🙂
But … damn … going to miss (probably) Richard Hatch.
Upon consideration, I think this step (“Nothing like close quarters to create conflict”) is an even bigger mistake because it further humanizes the Cylons. Which, maybe, is the idea (“Look, the Cylons are as flawed as humans, both brutal and sympathetic, pleasant and seductive and treacherous and murderous”), but I think the show worked better when the conflict between the *humans* was as intense as it was, and the Cylons were more mysterious/alien/Other, except for some odd glimpses out on the fringe. If the Cylons are effectively humans who can rez, then I think the show loses something.
On the other hand, the “multiple copies in one room” tech keeps getting better.
Actually, person I’m feeling the most sympathy for right now is Baltar. Because he is so royally screwed, it isn’t even funny, having had his “Judas” moment thrust upon him during the premiere.
BD talks about this over here.