The second part of “Exodus” in Battlestar Galactica manages to pay off the long slog of the first episodes this season. In the end, the plot advances, the cast is thinned, and things move on. The heroes get to be heroic, the villains angstily tormented, and plenty is set up to continue matters back “the way they were.”
So, was it all a good thing? Hard to say. I feel the New Caprica chapters were, simultaneously, too much of a diversion and too scantily engaged in. In some ways, it would have been better had it been a full season (as impractical as that would have been in some areas). And it did manage to refocus some of the characters, cut away some of the deadwood (or distractions), and get us back to where we really should have been.
The trick, of course, will be, what now? What’s up for the various survivors, on both sides (I’ll stay ambiguous here for those who may still not be caught up)? How the producers and writers answer that — walking the tightrope between returning to what made the show good, and honoring that things have in fact changed — will determine whether BG continues on in greatness or tapers off into third season limbo.
Meanwhile, on the Doctor Who front, we have “The Girl in the Fireplace,” which manages to span both the futuristic and period piece styles of the Doctor’s adventures.
TGitF is an odd episode, in that the Doctor … behaves oddly, swept up into a romance that, in some ways, seems atypical. One of the challenges of the new DW series is managing to bring in some deeper dramatic themes, but if you bounce characters around too much, you’re liable to make them a heck of a lot less believable. Here, the Doctor’s infatuation with the guest protagonist feels force, out of character, too quick. Meanwhile, Rose and Mickey are relegated off to comic relief (with
a bit of “boy, there he is, jerking me around again” on Rose’s part).
The end, though, was a nice touch; Rod Serling would be proud.
Not one of the best episodes, and, honestly, another case of Series 2 (and David Tennant) not living up to the Series 1 promise. But it’s still a heck of a lot better than most of the alternatives out there.
I guess I’m out in left field — I’ve enjoyed the New Caprica arc of BSG (largely because of the implicit-if-preachy question raised: “terrorism is bad, but what if we’re the occupied state?”), and I actually found the Doctor Who episode quite a bit of fun — certainly enjoyable, with a nice touch of emotional realism for the good Doctor. Dunno if my complete and utter lack of any exposure to the old DW series(es) changes my perspective a bit or not.
I miss Eccelston, thought I like the new fellow quite a lot as well, and I can always get a (very disturbing) Eccelston fix by watching 28 Days Later.
Could be worse. Remember Galactica 1980?
Oh, don’t get me wrong — both shows are still on my “Yes, I urgently wish to watch this” list. And the current BG is not only head and shoulders, but waist and ankles above the earlier incarnations (esp. G80). My criticism is as much within the bounds of the benchmarks both series have already established.
On BG, I’ve always mistrusted “One Year Later” sorts of thing. They can be perfectly legitimate — real life tends to come in cycles of activity, not one intense stream without respite. But that said, they more often are “Hmmm, can’t quite figure out what to do next, or how to get us from Point A to Point B, so let’s just slap a caption up there and take narrative and character development shortcuts.” The result of which are suddenly people are married, or divorced, or dead, or addicted, or set up for some other, new, fresh, unfounded development.
That’s a bit of what happened here. In the last half-hour of a 90 minute season finale we went from status quo to a completely different show, arguably twice. And the first two episodes this season, leading into this third, have been set up almost to get us out of that hole — oh, and in the meantime, X is married, Y is separated, Z is wearing a beard, Q is behaving really differently, and …
This past weekend’s episode almost made up for that. But it still felt a bit like an artificial churning of the pot for the sake of refreshing the creative juices. As I said, a lot of judgment will come based on “What now?” What happens to Baltar? What happens to the fleet, and the Galactica, and the integrated fighter forces? How does Apollo react to his loss, and Starbuck to hers, and Tighe to his? Does Rosslyn reassume the Presidency, and on what basis? Did Zarek make it, and are Rosslyn and he now dangerously closer? How will Adama deal with the hero worship (and how long will that last)? How are folks going to feel about Boomer now?
There are some “easy” answers to those questions, and some hard ones, and some utterly off the wall ones. Though I’d have rather they’d stuck closer to the status quo before, they can’t just return to it now. I’ll be really curious to see what direction they do go.
On DW, I’m really missing Eccleston, too. He was a much more powerful presence than Tennant, who is intelligent, funny, excitable, charming, and still comes off feeling like a lightweight to me. He’s not the center of the show the way Eccleston was. He’s good (and, again, DW is on my gotta-watch list), but …
This particular episode had some intriguing bits to it, and in some ways was very classic Who (automatons! ancient France! spooky space station!). But the romance — the infatuation — by the Doctor, the drop-everything and let’s-rewrite-history and come-along and oh-I-forgot-about-the-time-distortion thing … just really felt out of character, a cheap dramatic ploy (played well, mind you) to humanize the Doctor and to drive a further wedge between him and Rose.
And don’t get me started on Mickey. The guy doesn’t even warrent “tin dog” status.
My two cents, bitching about the difference between an A+ and an A-.
I can’t believe I’m two weeks behind your Doctor Who schedule. I just finished watching “The Girl in the Fireplace” thought it was obvious, but terrific.
There was a bit of an Eccleston-ian chuckle to be had. “Girl in the Fireplace” is written by Steven Moffat (of Coupling fame), who also wrote the WWII episodes of the Eccleston series. In both stories, much ado is made of the Doctor’s refusal/inability to dance.
…well, it made me chuckle.