Now, it's not necessary to have watched the previous incarnations of BSG in order to enjoy the current season, and I will try to explain some of the more confusing parts along the way, but if you are getting lost, rent the DVDs, or refer to the Battlestar Wiki (warning: contains spoilers). Anyway, at the end of last season, we learned that another Battlestar had survived the original attack on the 12 colonies. That Battlestar was named Pegasus, and it was captained by Admiral Cain. Now, although these two Battlestars survived, they took different paths after the original Cylon attack. The Galactica has become protector to a civilian fleet, has come under control of a civilian government, and is concerned with evading the Cylons and finding "Earth," which in their legends is the home of a thirteenth tribe of humans, mystical and presumably full of all of that good salvation. On the other hand we have the Pegasus, who is ruling under military control, has little concern for civilian affairs, and wants to beat the Cylons into submission and return back to their home worlds.
Since Admiral Cain is senior in rank, she will command the colonial military, and she's not so keen on still being beholden to a bunch of (sort of) elected pussies. Can wants to go after the Cylons, and it looks like civilian rule has made people a little soft. For instance, there is Sharon "Boomer" Valeri, a Cylon. One of her copies attempted to kill Commander Adama, and another one of her copies fell in love with Carl "Helo" Agathorn and is now pregnant. She is prisoner, but she is treated well. This is in contrast to Gina, the Cylon who was captured on the Pegasus. Gina was tortured and raped until she was left barely functioning. The man responsible for Gina's treatment was about to interrogate Boomer, and his first technique to get her to talk was raping this pregnant woman while two of his brave soldiers held her down. Helo and David Tyrol, the chief engineering officer who was in love with the Galactica Valeri, go to her aid, and while we all cheered when the would-be rapist died in the scuffle, it meant bad news since he was from the Pegasus and Cain is in control. Cain sees no reason why anybody should care what happens to a Cylon prisoner, even if that prisoner is carrying the child of one of the people who "attacked" the rapist.
In no time at all, she has a tribunal and Tyrol and Helo are sentenced to death, without a chance to defend themselves. Commander Adama, leader of the Galactica, and still possessing some sort of moral fiber, will not have Cain pulling that sort of shit while he is around, and is determined to stop Cain, his only method of getting her attention being to send his space fighters to attack her ship, even though it would be about as effective as betting on Duke to win an ACC football championship. Last season ended with us wondering what the hell it was going to take to stop an all-out civil war from taking place. What it took was yet another gutsy mission by Kara "Starbuck" Thrace.
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Comments (12)
Cain: "You are to terminate Adama's command."
Adama: "I want you to shoot Admiral Cain in the head."
Now tell me who's the real badass. I love the Old Man.
1 of 12 | Posted by mholc68
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Posted on January 9, 2006 5:44 AM
I can't watch Adm Cain without seeing her in Star Trek and Homicide. She is a good actress I like to watch, but I can't wait for her to die on this show. J-Unit is right, the writers might taker their time with this plot line. Yay for good writing!
2 of 12 | Posted by Jennifer T
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Posted on January 9, 2006 7:40 AM
You may think that he was checking out her scars, but I thought that he was checking out the huge knockers that were overflowing from the side of her chest. Ohhh, you hottie robots!!!
3 of 12 | Posted by dumbanddumber
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Posted on January 9, 2006 8:12 AM
I've always hated Starbuck and Apollo -- they're just too MarySue. Both of 'em.
The way the Pegasus was introduced last season was terrific, and highlighted how borderline incompetent and pampered the Galactica pretties were. It's too bad that Cain's TotallyEvil now, and Roslin's more military than military. Almost everyone on Galactica is smugly superior now. (Almost: Tigh came off surprisingly well.)
The Cylons, however, are drawn with depth, character, ambiguity and self-awareness -- you know, humanity. My lot's with them and Baltar.
4 of 12 | Posted by Mija
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Posted on January 9, 2006 5:53 PM
I love how this show is just filled with grey areas..
I mean, you know that the Cylons are supposed to be the villains, but the writers don't make it easy to hate them and sometimes they seem more human than the damn humans...
5 of 12 | Posted by Phenom
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Posted on January 9, 2006 7:54 PM
THat was one hell of an episode. Great action, suspense, and tons of cylon side boob.
I really fdo love these characters. I hated adama after he pulled that treasonous stunt last season by putting the president in jail, but hes growing on me. And compared to that bitch Cain. And I enjoy the symbolism of naming her Cain as well. A nice touch.
Suffice it to say the ending was awesome. Can't wait for this weeks episode.
6 of 12 | Posted by EdHill
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Posted on January 10, 2006 6:48 AM
While 6 was in the brig with Gaius you could see her reflection in the glass for almost the whole scene. Kind of took away from the "she is in his head" mentality. Or is that the writers messing with my head and saying that she can be real if it suits here?
7 of 12 | Posted by mycerinus
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Posted on January 10, 2006 7:08 AM
Adm. Cain is so deranged. She really should be tried for war crimes. They don't have to allow her to continue in command of the fleet. Roslin could have her taken into custody.
I loved that it was Roslin taking the hardline again. "You have to kill her." Both of them will know about the other's assassin. Cain will have the guards jump Starbuck/Apollo and Tigh will have security all over Adama.
I think the Galactica crew learned their lesson; and Cain is wily as hell.
Tyrol was pretty relaxed for a guy awaiting execution who had just killed someone.
8 of 12 | Posted by Lady J
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Posted on January 10, 2006 9:53 AM
mycerinus, I think it was more of a "we have such a small budget we have to go to Vancouver just to get it done" type of thing. Its also probably why the metal cgi cylons make rare appearances. CGI is expensive.
9 of 12 | Posted by EdHill
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Posted on January 10, 2006 11:01 AM
I guess I think the grey is fading, Phenom. It's clear who the fatuous good guys are, and they've made Cain the shallow embodiment of all evil. It's OK when Daddy does it, but not OK when the bitch does. Adama doesn't even need to threaten martial law, as Roslin's basically instituted it already.
The only grey areas are with Baltar, Tigh (the only character who's been called on his flaws) and the Cylons. I want to be convinced otherwise, because I think the Stargates are boring as all hell and BSG is looking more and more like them.
10 of 12 | Posted by Mija
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Posted on January 10, 2006 12:49 PM
I think there is still a grey area, although the tide has clearly turned in favor of the Cylons since Cain has arrived on the scene. But I think that the great thing about this show is that as soon as you think you have a clarity about a certain issue, it's willing to challenge those assumptions.
I thought there was tons of suspense in this episode, and I'll be waiting eagerly for this Friday's edition.
11 of 12 | Posted by J Unit
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Posted on January 10, 2006 1:27 PM
That's a cool interpretation, J-Unit. How do you think the Cylons will benefit from the infighting, if that's what you're thinking?
I'd be thrilled (dramatically) if Operation: Abort the Resurrection fails, and that's the reason for the collapse of the Pegasus-Galactica detente. But there hasn't been any real ambiguity in any Galactica character (outside Tigh and Baltar, in different ways) since Boomer shot Adama. I happily hope my assumptions about that are wrong.
12 of 12 | Posted by Mija
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Posted on January 10, 2006 1:44 PM