Season 2, Episodes 5 & 6

Episode 5: The Farm

Highlights/Moments of Revelation

• Starbuck in bed with Anders: what about Lee?
• Laura not knowing how to use a tape recorder.
• I felt that the hospital where Starbuck was being held was a Cylon trap immediately, but thought that would be too obvious. Nice double-bluff.
• Commander Adama crying over Sharon's body, despite (or perhaps because of) the memory of her shooting him.
• All the Cylons need is love!

Questions

• Why should the resistance guys have believed that Starbuck and Helo weren't Cylons?
• Is Starbuck now pregnant?
• Where did Caprica Sharon get the Cylon ship?

Quote

• Tom Zarek: "Zeus has returned to Olympos."
  

Episode 6: Home, Part 1

Highlights/Moments of Revelation

• Surprising but pleasantly reassuring kiss between Lee and Starbuck.
• Commander Adama talking like his son is dead.
• Great transition shot from Adama and Tigh coming out of the press conference to Gaius smoking in his lab with Six.
• Dee is awesome.
• The final scene featured the same music as the final scene of season 1's "Hand of God" (episode 10), I think.

Quote

• Gaius: "Why is it when things go wrong, they go wrong so well?"

Season 2, Episodes 3 & 4

Episode 3: Fragged

Highlights/Moments of Revelation

• I can't get over the smoking doctor.
• Gaius is a compulsive liar.
• It was interesting how Chief Tyrol stood up so vehemently when Gaius suggested they vote on whether or not to go on the mission, and then seemed to regret it immediately.
• Six only considers someone a man once they've killed.
• Tigh saying to the unconscious Adama that he really fracked things up, followed directly by him declaring martial law.

Episode 4: Resistance

Highlights/Moments of Revelation

• The other ships in the fleet refusing to resupply the Galactica with coffee is what tips Tigh over the edge and causes him to send in the marines!
• Domestic violence is foreplay with the Tighs.
• I felt genuinely sorry for Sharon when Tyrol joined her in the cell and said he'd kill her if she so much as touched him.
• Awesome move by Gaius to get Sharon to tell him the number of Cylon agents in the fleet. Also, he admitted to her that he hid her true nature from her for his own purposes.
• Laura is awesome. She won't be stopped by a corporeal pointing a gun at her.
• Gaeta covered for Dee's off-logged calls.
• Ellen is so a Cylon, or at least working for them.
• I was impressed that Billy decided not to go with the President.

Quote

• Six (of the word "toaster"): "That word is racist. I don't like it." 

Season 2, Episodes 1 & 2

Episode 1: Scattered, Part 1

Highlights/Moments of Revelation

• Ellen suddenly seems very Cylon, wanting Saul to take over command of the Galactica. But her Cylon test was negative, no?
• Chief Tyrol really cares about his officers. This episode did a lot for his character development.
• I enjoyed Saul referring to Gaius as a "shifty son of a bitch" when comparing his work to Gaeta's.
• The space battle above Kobol was awesome. All the little explosions above the Galactica was rather mesmerising, and the way the Galactica jumped away as the Cylon's missiles approached was just great.

Questions

• "Who gave the order to shoot the old man?" Good question. Will we ever know? The Cylons seem so far to be rather Borg-like, without a clear leader.
• Was that woman in Tigh's bed during his flashback when he was told he had been reenlisted in the fleet relevant? Was it Ellen?

Episode 2: Valley of Darkness, Part 2

Highlights/Moments of Revelation

• Was it sexist/anti-feminist of Apollo to offer Billy a weapon before offering one to Laura just after she was let out of her cell? Or perhaps I'm overanalysing.
• In his dream in which Commander Adama drowns the baby, Gaius says "how in God's name did you find us?". Notice that he didn't say "how in the Gods' names", but "God's name"; the one God. (Also, I loved the music in this scene)
• I enjoyed Starbuck's reaction to hearing music in her apartment. This was probably the first time either she or Helo had heard any music since the day of the Cylon attack on the Colonies. But perhaps her reaction was more shaped by the fact that it was her father playing.
• I loved that Apollo used a military-sounding abbreviation for "right fracking now" after Tigh gave him orders of where to head! ("Aft damage control, RFN.")
• Apollo shooting the Centurian as it flew over his head was a total fist pump moment.
• Dee and Billy's kiss was really hot.

Questions

• Where had Tigh seen the Cylon's attack pattern before?
• Is this the first time we hear the non-human looking Cylons referred to as "Centurians" (by Jammer) in the small arms locker? Or is that just a general term for soldiers?

Quote

• Apollo: "Let's go toaster shopping."

Season 1, Episode 13 & Thoughts on Season 1

Episode 13: Kobol’s Last Gleaming, Part 2

Highlights/Moments of Revelation

• What a perfect mission for Boomer to pretend to be a Cylon agent. I thought she would kill herself.
• Caprica Sharon pregnant! The first Cylon/Human baby?
• Number 6 really loves Gaius. I hadn’t quite realised how much before this episode.
• I loved how Commander Adama and the President were negotiating through Dee and Billy and how they were whispering to each other.
• In the scene when Starbuck shoots the glass case containing the Arrow of Apollo on Caprica, there is quite clearly a camera man in a red t-shirt standing on the other side of it.
• The way the Sharon duplicates (models?) said that they loved her on the Cylon base ship was weird. Also, one of them lovingly stroked the warhead that she left behind like it was a gift. But, cool explosion.
• Starbuck’s reaction to seeing Sharon on Caprica and realising she’s a Cylon was not really what I expected.
• I almost jumped out of my seat when Sharon shot Adama. There was NO WAY that I could have seen that coming. That’s what I love about this show!

Questions

• When Number 6 showed Gaius what I guess was Caprica Sharon’s baby in the cot in the opera house on Kobol, did he think it was his?
• Are the Number 6s on Caprica of the same consciousness as the one in Gaius’ head? I don’t think that one’s just a figment of his imagination, but could it be cut off from the others? They seem to have different motives and objectives.
• Did the Sharons on the Cylon base ship (re-)program Boomer to shoot Adama?

Season 1: Thoughts

Basically, I'm in love with this show. Everything from the dialogue, characters and story to the music, visuals and themes just grab me and compel me to watch. I really enjoy the fact that there is a big over-arching story throughout the series and that it really needs to be watched in order and that it relies on you having paid attention to stuff that happened previously (which, I know, are recapped in the "previously on Battlestar Galactica" clips at the beginning of each episode, but I don't watch) and drops bombs in your lap when you least expect it.

I just love how diverse, effective and well-placed the music in this show has been so far. Within the first few episodes, I was already noticing themes for different characters, and it is quite obvious that a lot of thought went in to the production and editing of the music. I really appreciate that the music for this show is not just incidental and forgettable, but integral to the storytelling and memorable and I often find myself humming the Cylon/Number 6’s theme!

There are just so many great characters here, and I care about and am emotionally invested in all of their stories. My favourite character is probably Gaius Baltar, with Starbuck and Laura Roslin tying in a close second place. I'm also really compelled by Number 6 (at least the one in Gaius' head) and am enjoying trying to figure her out. The only character I don't really care about yet is Tom Zarek, though that's probably simply due to his limited screen time in season 1. I did enjoying discovering from watching the extras, however, that that actor played the character of Apollo in the original BSG series!

I'm really excited about starting season 2 and getting further invested in this story, its characters and their world, but I'm going to take a week's break before releasing a post for the first two episodes of season 2. I predict that Commander Adama is not dead, however, or that if he is, he will be revived somehow. Perhaps with the help of the Cylons? See you in two weeks, when I find out.

Thanks for reading!