BSG — The Ties That Bind

I repeat:

Holy.

Frak.

A show that has generally been a tad on the dark side suddenly gets a lot darker. To emphasize that fact, the episode opens with one of the more adorable scenes in the series, with Adama reading a potboiler to Laura as she’s receiving her chemo.

A lot’s going on in this episode, so let’s get to it: Let me start by saying that I don’t try to write formal reviews here, but instead am just offering more or less instant reactions, to try and get a discussion started.

Starbuck–This part was a little weak, mainly because much of it was predictable. Anger sex is getting cliche, and when Starbuck said “I just wanna feel something”, I flashed on Buffy shagging Spike in S6. Been there, done that. I’m still hoping that they take this somewhere interesting.

Lee–They’re obviously setting up something down the road, and yes, I know Lee’s new to the whole politics things–except he isn’t, really. He was Laura’s military liaison in S1, and his status as CAG and Adama’s son would have given him some additional insight. It’s a bit unrealistic to see him so easily manipulated by Tom Zarek.

Toaster v Toaster — The Rule used to be, whatever you do, do not, under any circumstances, piss off Six. Cavil may have taken over there. His counterattack was brutally efficient. But has he taken out ALL the sixes, two, and eights? Or is he just making the point that “Anything you can do, I can do better”? I have no idea how this civil war is going to turn out, but it has been fascinating to watch.

Tory– Evil Tory. Evil Tory. Evil Hot Tory. Sorry. Just as each of the previous seven models each have his/her own collective personality, the Tory, Tigh, Anders, and Tyrol models must have their own personalities–and those personalities are starting to bubble up to the surface as their programming has been activated. At first glance, it may appear that Tory was just eliminating a threat, but I wonder if something else is at work. At the beginning of the episode, there was something… calculated about the way she was talking to Tyrol, as though she was setting Cally up to find them together. It’s quite possible that Tory has a more long-term agenda than mere survival.