Battlestar Galactica 2.20: "Lay Down Your Burdens: Part II"
Written by Anne Cofell Saunders and Mark Verheiden
Directed by Michael Rymer
In which the discovery of a habitable planet has a profound effect on the presidential election, while Tyrol suffers a psychotic break and Starbuck leads a rescue mission to Caprica…
It’s never easy for a series to change the status quo in a meaningful way. This is hardly an exception. Among my friends who are fans of the series, I can easily predict that a third of them will absolutely hate the direction taken in the season finale. Others will love it for what it is: an unusual move for a series and one that fits with its unusual pedigree. Still others will adopt a “wait and see” approach and leave it at that.
I’m probably most aligned with the final group, leaning towards the second. I loved the plot threads that were established and wanted to see where they would lead in a less general way than this finale offered, I’ll admit. I still wonder at the Cylon plan, as I still don’t think that the original version of the plan was defined well enough to make the current version of the plan feel particularly distinctive by comparison.
At the same time, I can see how the writers wanted to break out of a particular mold, and there are now new ways for the Cylon perspective to come to light. The writers basically gave themselves just enough of a jump for the characters to change without losing sight of how they arrived at their current place in the world. If anything, because the characters were becoming so well-defined, it makes it easier to determine what changed.
The Cylons and their motivations are one connective thread to all the events in the episode, but there’s also the damning exploration of Baltar’s rise to power and the consequences to humanity. The Cylons were apparently willing to let humanity chart its own course, which if anything, seemed designed to facilitate Baltar’s rise by making settlement on the planet more appealing. Thus it was easy enough, based on the fact that they presumably kept Sharon and one of the Cavils (I was right!) prisoner the entire time, for the Cylons to know where the humans were and how they were treating themselves and the prisoners in the meantime.
My theory is that they waited until they had overwhelming force and humanity had completely lost the will and command structures to fight. Even if Adama and his allies wanted to keep a defensive posture, there wasn’t the constant pressure from the Cylons to keep popular support on his side. Adama, who once took open action to preserve military control over the fate of the Colonial Fleet, seems to have lost the drive to make another attempt against the “will of the people”.
So my theory is that Caprica-Six and Boomer, as leaders of the Cylon race, have decided to occupy the new human colony of New Caprica rather than wipe it out. They had overwhelming force; why not use it? I imagine it’s not very different from the reason why they didn’t wipe out the fleet when they obviously could at any time; they have a purpose in mind for humanity. The third season will hopefully make it a little more clear and tie back into the hints and reveals from the first two seasons.
Baltar now has yet another version of Six to interact with, one who loved him and may still. Tyrol has the Boomer who loved him, and who may not be pleased with pregnant little Cally. Anders’ fate and why Leoben was looking for her are likely to play into Starbuck’s reactions to the occupation. There’s the open question of Hera (or whatever her name is now) and whether or not the Cylons will discover that the baby lives. There’s even the possibility (however unlikely) that the Cylons really don’t have any intention of resuming hostilities. There’s more than enough material to cover in the third season and beyond.
For all that I see a great deal of potential, my enthusiasm is tempered by another recent example of such a move. At the end of the second season of “Alias”, the writers took the story and jumped it forward by two years. The subsequent third season of that series is widely considered to be its weakest, and many look back on that as the moment when a strong series with a history of taking chances began to lose focus. One could argue that the series never recovered.
I’m not suggesting that Ron Moore will allow the same to happen with his series, but it’s hard not to recognize that there’s equal chance for failure as there is for success. I have a certain amount of faith in Moore and his vision for the series, and so I want to believe in success. And to be honest, it’s the possibility of failure and risk involved that makes this such an interesting and memorably turn of events. It’s going to be one hell of a long wait until October!
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 3/4
Final Rating: 9/10
(Season 2 Final Average: 7.9)
Directed by Michael Rymer
In which the discovery of a habitable planet has a profound effect on the presidential election, while Tyrol suffers a psychotic break and Starbuck leads a rescue mission to Caprica…
It’s never easy for a series to change the status quo in a meaningful way. This is hardly an exception. Among my friends who are fans of the series, I can easily predict that a third of them will absolutely hate the direction taken in the season finale. Others will love it for what it is: an unusual move for a series and one that fits with its unusual pedigree. Still others will adopt a “wait and see” approach and leave it at that.
I’m probably most aligned with the final group, leaning towards the second. I loved the plot threads that were established and wanted to see where they would lead in a less general way than this finale offered, I’ll admit. I still wonder at the Cylon plan, as I still don’t think that the original version of the plan was defined well enough to make the current version of the plan feel particularly distinctive by comparison.
At the same time, I can see how the writers wanted to break out of a particular mold, and there are now new ways for the Cylon perspective to come to light. The writers basically gave themselves just enough of a jump for the characters to change without losing sight of how they arrived at their current place in the world. If anything, because the characters were becoming so well-defined, it makes it easier to determine what changed.
The Cylons and their motivations are one connective thread to all the events in the episode, but there’s also the damning exploration of Baltar’s rise to power and the consequences to humanity. The Cylons were apparently willing to let humanity chart its own course, which if anything, seemed designed to facilitate Baltar’s rise by making settlement on the planet more appealing. Thus it was easy enough, based on the fact that they presumably kept Sharon and one of the Cavils (I was right!) prisoner the entire time, for the Cylons to know where the humans were and how they were treating themselves and the prisoners in the meantime.
My theory is that they waited until they had overwhelming force and humanity had completely lost the will and command structures to fight. Even if Adama and his allies wanted to keep a defensive posture, there wasn’t the constant pressure from the Cylons to keep popular support on his side. Adama, who once took open action to preserve military control over the fate of the Colonial Fleet, seems to have lost the drive to make another attempt against the “will of the people”.
So my theory is that Caprica-Six and Boomer, as leaders of the Cylon race, have decided to occupy the new human colony of New Caprica rather than wipe it out. They had overwhelming force; why not use it? I imagine it’s not very different from the reason why they didn’t wipe out the fleet when they obviously could at any time; they have a purpose in mind for humanity. The third season will hopefully make it a little more clear and tie back into the hints and reveals from the first two seasons.
Baltar now has yet another version of Six to interact with, one who loved him and may still. Tyrol has the Boomer who loved him, and who may not be pleased with pregnant little Cally. Anders’ fate and why Leoben was looking for her are likely to play into Starbuck’s reactions to the occupation. There’s the open question of Hera (or whatever her name is now) and whether or not the Cylons will discover that the baby lives. There’s even the possibility (however unlikely) that the Cylons really don’t have any intention of resuming hostilities. There’s more than enough material to cover in the third season and beyond.
For all that I see a great deal of potential, my enthusiasm is tempered by another recent example of such a move. At the end of the second season of “Alias”, the writers took the story and jumped it forward by two years. The subsequent third season of that series is widely considered to be its weakest, and many look back on that as the moment when a strong series with a history of taking chances began to lose focus. One could argue that the series never recovered.
I’m not suggesting that Ron Moore will allow the same to happen with his series, but it’s hard not to recognize that there’s equal chance for failure as there is for success. I have a certain amount of faith in Moore and his vision for the series, and so I want to believe in success. And to be honest, it’s the possibility of failure and risk involved that makes this such an interesting and memorably turn of events. It’s going to be one hell of a long wait until October!
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 3/4
Final Rating: 9/10
(Season 2 Final Average: 7.9)
posted by John Keegan | 13:08
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