Battlestar Galactica: Exodus Part 2
The Upshot from Sci-Fi Channel: The crew of the Galactica and the insurgents on New Caprica coordinate their attacks in a daring attempt to liberate the stranded humans from their Cylon oppressors. But as the Cylons begin to lose control of the situation, they start to consider a drastic and brutal final solution to the crisis.
MEGA SPOILER WARNING!!!! –If you missed BSG on Friday and intend to catch the encore broadcast Monday night at 11 p.m….read no further.
“Fleeing from the Cylon tyranny, the last battlestar, Galactica, leads a ragtag, fugitive fleet on a lonely quest: a shining planet known as Earth."—that’s what viewers of the original BSG used to hear as Lorne Greene, the original Adama, used to sign off at the end of each episode.
It’s a neat summation of the end of Friday night’s episode Exodus part 2. It is not a spoiler to note that its is the end result that viewers expected going in…the only question was who would make it off New Caprica and how they would do it.
The show opens with Commander Lee Adama/Apollo (Jamie Bamber) torn over his orders to keep Pegasus behind with the civilian ships and prepare to find Earth if Galactica doesn’t return. But Lee knows in his heart they won’t return—not with a half-strength battlestar against the Cylon fleet.
Meanwhile, on New Caprica Col. Sol Tigh(Michael Hogan) is forced to deal with the fact that his wife Ellen (Kate Vernon) betrayed the resistance to the Cylons…to save her husband she says but the fact is her action got people killed. Tigh has been the hard charger of the resistance, sending in suicide bombers and showing his enemy no quarter—he can’t let this slide.
So the Tighs’ most tender moment on screen becomes their last as Sol poisons Ellen. If BSG weren’t an Emmy pariah, this scene would surely win Michael Hogan a gold statue. As Tigh cried over his dead wife, it brought a tear to our eye as well.
We weren’t really crazy about the Ellen Tigh character—precisely because Kate Vernon was so good at playing that narcissistic, whack-job tramp to the hilt and she was Sol Tigh’s Kryptonite. We almost believe that she loved her husband as much as she looked out for herself.
For which reason did she sell out the resistance—to save her husband or to curry Cylon favor? Perhaps both but we’ll never really know because in life, there are always loose end that are never tied—especially when a life ends.
Galactica’s rescue was every-bit as much a kick-ass battle as we had hoped it would be. The producers likely spent half the season’s special effects budget on this Exodus part 2 but it was well worth it.
Apollo finally got his mojo back by taking the Battlestar Pegasus to save the day and Galactica. He managed to take out 3 Cylon basestars but it cost him his own battlestar. It’s back to basics—one lone battlestar and the rag-tag fleet.
We found ourselves disappointed with the Baltar (James Callis) scenes. Even when he found Hera, the human/Cylon child among a cluster of the dead, the scene and his reaction to it felt flat to us. But he did manage to get an invite to join the Cylon.
For two seasons we’ve been watching a character that isn’t so much evil as weak and more afraid to do the right thing than did he want to do the wrong thing. It’s time for him to get off the fence and we want to see him get stronger and more evil.
Galactica’s rescue also interrupted the great “experiment” by the Cylon Leobon (Callum Keith Rennie). To save Starbuck’s (Katie Sackhoff) “daughter” Kacey, he finally got her “to say the words”…she said “I love you” just before she gutted him with a knife.
But this Cylon model who was built for maximum deception got the last laugh. Just as Starbuck (and the viewers) were starting to believe that Starbuck was indeed the mother of the little girl, the child’s real mother finds her. What should have been a joyous reunion with Starbuck’s husband turned to heartbreak as we see just how much she bonded with the child.
So the show is back to the original premise…back where they started but so much worse for wear. Next week’s teaser episode offers a glimpse that all is not forgiven after the rescue.
Anyone who has ever read about what happened to those in France after World War II who were proven or even suspected as being collaborators can get a good sense of where things go from here. Stay tuned.
MEGA SPOILER WARNING!!!! –If you missed BSG on Friday and intend to catch the encore broadcast Monday night at 11 p.m….read no further.
“Fleeing from the Cylon tyranny, the last battlestar, Galactica, leads a ragtag, fugitive fleet on a lonely quest: a shining planet known as Earth."—that’s what viewers of the original BSG used to hear as Lorne Greene, the original Adama, used to sign off at the end of each episode.
It’s a neat summation of the end of Friday night’s episode Exodus part 2. It is not a spoiler to note that its is the end result that viewers expected going in…the only question was who would make it off New Caprica and how they would do it.
The show opens with Commander Lee Adama/Apollo (Jamie Bamber) torn over his orders to keep Pegasus behind with the civilian ships and prepare to find Earth if Galactica doesn’t return. But Lee knows in his heart they won’t return—not with a half-strength battlestar against the Cylon fleet.
Meanwhile, on New Caprica Col. Sol Tigh(Michael Hogan) is forced to deal with the fact that his wife Ellen (Kate Vernon) betrayed the resistance to the Cylons…to save her husband she says but the fact is her action got people killed. Tigh has been the hard charger of the resistance, sending in suicide bombers and showing his enemy no quarter—he can’t let this slide.
So the Tighs’ most tender moment on screen becomes their last as Sol poisons Ellen. If BSG weren’t an Emmy pariah, this scene would surely win Michael Hogan a gold statue. As Tigh cried over his dead wife, it brought a tear to our eye as well.
We weren’t really crazy about the Ellen Tigh character—precisely because Kate Vernon was so good at playing that narcissistic, whack-job tramp to the hilt and she was Sol Tigh’s Kryptonite. We almost believe that she loved her husband as much as she looked out for herself.
For which reason did she sell out the resistance—to save her husband or to curry Cylon favor? Perhaps both but we’ll never really know because in life, there are always loose end that are never tied—especially when a life ends.
Galactica’s rescue was every-bit as much a kick-ass battle as we had hoped it would be. The producers likely spent half the season’s special effects budget on this Exodus part 2 but it was well worth it.
Apollo finally got his mojo back by taking the Battlestar Pegasus to save the day and Galactica. He managed to take out 3 Cylon basestars but it cost him his own battlestar. It’s back to basics—one lone battlestar and the rag-tag fleet.
We found ourselves disappointed with the Baltar (James Callis) scenes. Even when he found Hera, the human/Cylon child among a cluster of the dead, the scene and his reaction to it felt flat to us. But he did manage to get an invite to join the Cylon.
For two seasons we’ve been watching a character that isn’t so much evil as weak and more afraid to do the right thing than did he want to do the wrong thing. It’s time for him to get off the fence and we want to see him get stronger and more evil.
Galactica’s rescue also interrupted the great “experiment” by the Cylon Leobon (Callum Keith Rennie). To save Starbuck’s (Katie Sackhoff) “daughter” Kacey, he finally got her “to say the words”…she said “I love you” just before she gutted him with a knife.
But this Cylon model who was built for maximum deception got the last laugh. Just as Starbuck (and the viewers) were starting to believe that Starbuck was indeed the mother of the little girl, the child’s real mother finds her. What should have been a joyous reunion with Starbuck’s husband turned to heartbreak as we see just how much she bonded with the child.
So the show is back to the original premise…back where they started but so much worse for wear. Next week’s teaser episode offers a glimpse that all is not forgiven after the rescue.
Anyone who has ever read about what happened to those in France after World War II who were proven or even suspected as being collaborators can get a good sense of where things go from here. Stay tuned.
posted by FanBoyWonder at 3:42 AM
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