Battlestar: Galactica 3.18: "The Son Also Rises"

Written by Michael Angeli
Directed by Robert Young

It has been said on many an occasion that much of Western literature, particularly American fiction, can be reduced to the relationship between father and son. This is a subset of the common mythological construct exploring the generational struggle: the child literally or metaphorically killing the parent to rise as the new power or achieve full adulthood. This story is in keeping with that time-honored storytelling.

Lee Adama has been a character in search of himself, particularly after his long association with the moral high ground fell apart after a near-death experience in “Resurrection Ship: Part II”. Since then, Lee has found success by walking in his father’s footsteps, and disaster when straying from the well-trodden path. All of this points to an important crossroads: when will Lee find his own path, even if it means denying his own father’s wishes?

This particular episode presents a prelude to that process, or at least, it seems to match the expectation. Rather than toss Lee into the role of Baltar’s defense attorney, he becomes a key member of the defense team. Bill Adama is randomly chosen to sit as one of five judges on the tribunal. Despite the many plot contrivances necessary to set the stage in this particular way, this sets up a father/son collision that has been coming since the beginning of the series.

The writers choose to create this conflict through the mechanism of Romo Lambkin, Baltar’s unusual and engaging attorney. A protégée of Grampa Joe Adama, back in the heyday of the Colonies, Lambkin has an unusual penchant for understanding people. He’s quite detail-oriented, which helps him identify strengths and weaknesses. (That this manifests in kleptomania is a particularly nice touch.) He wants to unbalance his opponents by pitting father against son, thus complicating at least one vote on the tribunal. It’s such a neatly divisive tactic, right down to facilitating Baltar’s manifesto, that it’s hard not to wonder if Lambkin is a Cylon.

Like the stereotypical lawyer, he’s not above using grief over Kara’s apparent death in this endeavor. His words to Caprica-Six were as much for Lee’s benefit as for hers. He recognizes that Bill Adama needs to step out of his role as The Old Man, and that could be dangerous. So why not push Lee into stepping out from his father’s shadow?

Because Lambkin is the mechanism intended to overcome the contrivance of an Adama family showdown during the upcoming trial, the success or failure of the episode is largely dependent on the viewer’s reception of Lambkin as a whole. I, for one, liked the character, because he was challenging. He was a lot smarter than one might expect from his appearance, and his motivations remain questionable at best. Mark Shepard was a great choice for the role.

There were some items that were less than satisfying. On the whole, Cally’s issue with Athena felt tacked on, as if the writers understood that there was unfinished business of a sort but had no real idea how to make that into a viable subplot. Also, Dee’s absence in the episode was glaring. Wouldn’t she have her own opinions about Lee’s choices? Thankfully, this is balanced out by the excellent material for Lee and Anders, which served to remind all of us that the loss of Starbuck is still a major component of the story.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 8/10