Daybreak, Part 1
Sunday, March 15, 2009 at 09:37am by GeekBoyThis week, on Battlestar Galactica …
RECAP DETAILS AHEAD (don’t read if you haven’t watched it yet) …
Ron Moore himself wrote this penultimate chapter of the Battlestar saga, and perhaps appropriately, decided that before we can look ahead to how the series ends, it is important to look back first. In the case of this episode, that means looking WAY back, to pieces of the lives of the key players on Caprica City even before the events we saw chronicled in the miniseries. Before the Cylon Holocaust … “Before the Fall”.
We see Bill Adama grudgingly accept the task of decommissioning the Galactica.
We see a giddy Laura Roslin of a kind we’ve never known before, just after her sister’s baby shower. Then watch her break down completely when she learns that both of her sisters and her father have died in a random(?) car crash after being sideswiped by another car. Then see her again months later, her psyche already scarred over as a result of the tragedy, more closely resembling the cool and calm and battle worn President Roslin we know now … long before she ever became president.
We see Old School Gaius Baltar and Caprica Six (whose name he can’t remember) on their first date. Then watch Gaius deal clumsily with a personal crisis involving his father, who he obviously despises — perhaps for no other reason than that he’s a farmer — and who is incapable of caring for himself. Then see Six provide the solution to Gaius’ problem (as she always does), some days later, taking the initiative to put Papa Baltar into a nursing home.
We see the first meeting of an uber-smiley Kara Thrace and Lee Adama, in happier times, back when Zak Adama was still alive, and he and Kara lived together. And we already know this will end badly. The next scene for Lee is him stumbling home drunk, presumably after Zak has died in a flight accident, which was indirectly the result of Starbuck not failing him when she should have. There’s no need to show us how Zak’s fiancee and father reacted to this same news — we’ve already seen the aftermath in episodes dealing with Starbuck and Adama’s complex relationship in Season 1.
What these flashbacks seem to do is tell us that these characters, these survivors of the Attack on the Twelve Colonies, were all pretty much frakked in the head before the bombs ever dropped. And who knows, maybe that’s what made them well-suited to being key figures in the survival of the human race as a species. A Roslin with a happy family, an Apollo with a living brother, a Baltar with a satisfying childhood … would any of these people have had the strength required to play the key roles they have played in the post-Apocalypse? Or is a certain amount of emotional desperation and/or detachment what’s required to be a leader under extreme circumstances?
Meanwhile, in the present day, the Galactica is in the process of being stripped for parts when Adama decides to take a break from boxing up his possessions to pay a visit to Anders in the Tub — who, in a cute poetic turn, also got a flashback, in which he was in a tub, in a locker room, giving an interview after a Pyramid game, back in the day when he was a professional athlete. From Anders, Adama learns the location of The Colony, where Cavil is holding Hera (and is preparing to dissect her), and resolves to make one final stand for a Human/Cylon Future. He and Starbuck draw a red line down the middle of the flight deck, and he announces that if enough people volunteer — by stepping to one side of the line — then he will lead the Galactica on a mission to rescue Hera. If not, then he’ll lead a raptor assault instead.
In the end, about one-third of the crew signs on for what’s been sold to them as a suicide mission, including most of the key players … but not Baltar, who stands sheepishly on the other side of the “thin red line” (a term generally used to describe a defensive, not offensive stance). Even Roslin hobbles down from her death bed to stand by her man, bolstered by Starbuck. While the intent is noble, the outlook is bleak. After a recon mission conducted by pilots who had recently been brigged as a result of Gaeta’s Mutiny, it’s discovered that Cavil has located The Colony at the edge of a black hole. There’s only one way to FTL into the area that won’t result in the Galactica being ripped apart by floating debris, and Cavil will undoubtedly be defending that way in with everything he’s got. As James T. Kirk once said to Jean Luc Picard: “I take it the odds are against us, and the situation is grim. Sounds like fun!”
So there you have that. The final setup to the final two hours. I’ll be curious to see if any of the details we gleaned about these characters’ pasts will end up being relevant to the finale itself, or if they were just meant to enrich the context tapestry a bit as the present day story heads into its final chapter. For instance, there’s a sniggling suspicion in the back of my mind that the death of Roslin’s family and Zak Adama may not have been random. That they might have been acts — like Six’s solution to Baltar’s family problem — deliberately designed to position key people prior to the attack.
Regardless, from an aesthetic point of view, the visual parallels tying the past and present together in this episode were poetic at times. I already mentioned Anders in the tub. But did you also notice how Roslin’s scene in the fountain, torrents of water washing over her, was immediately followed by the slow drip of her feeding tube in the present? And I’m sure the pigeon that Apollo was trying to chase out of his apartment meant something symbolically, although it’s eluding me at the moment. Anybody want to take a stab at it?
1. Dave said ( Sunday, March 15, 2009 at 12:06 pm )
I’m glad there was one final (?) allusion to the relationship between Starbuck and Adama. “You’re my daughter.” I loved that, even after all that’s gone on, he still feels that way towards her.
2. ben said ( Sunday, March 15, 2009 at 2:32 pm )
I really didn’t get the drunken Apollo scene … it didn’t occur to me that Lee was drunk after learning of Zak’s death. I actually assumed he was stumbling home after drinking too much during the dinner party with Kara and his brother — and maybe getting drunk because he was totally jealous of Zak hooking up with the awesome Starbuck. So thanks, Geekboy, for the clarification! It makes much more sense now, especially since the other backstories dealt with loss.
Although, is that ever specifically said — that Apollo is drunk because of Zak’s death — or is it something we’re meant to assume (like Starbuck’s father being Daniel … I don’t think that was ever specifically stated as such, but he obviously was). I feel like I’m missing something obvious, and I’ve watched it twice now! There’s been some complaints lately on one of the fan podcasts (either Galactica Watercooler or Galactica Quorum, I can’t remember which, sorry!) that the characters have been explaining too many obvious things, and we the audience get it. But this is one time that totally threw me!
3. ben said ( Sunday, March 15, 2009 at 3:11 pm )
Oh one more thing — going off of what dave said — there were tons of great little character moments in this one, such as Adama making the point to Starbuck that she is his daughter. There was a Ron Moore podcast once where he said that if an episode is ever running long he would rather cut action or plot instead of character moments, which is the exact opposite of what mainstream TV shows generally do. The norm is that if it’s too long, you first cut the moments dealing with character development, but not on Galactica!
That being said, I absolutely loved the scene where Doc Cottle goes to cross the thin red line and join the suicide mission, only to have Adama stop him and tell him to go back, because humanity can’t afford to loose its only Doctor. The looks that both actors exchanged were just lovely and so real.
Same with Hotdog when he drops the photos in the corridor. He’s carrying his son and says “frak” without thinking … then looking at the kid he says: “You didn’t hear that.” Just great!
In fact, looking back over the last five years it’s little moments like these that really made me fall in love with BSG. You know, besides all the explosions and dogfights with killer robots and whatnot!
4. Maggie said ( Sunday, March 15, 2009 at 9:11 pm )
There’s a superstition that a bird flying into your home portends death…that’s what the pigeon probably symbolizes.
5. GeekBoy said ( Sunday, March 15, 2009 at 10:24 pm )
Ben, you mentioned the scene with Hotdog, and what occurred to me there is that it might be one of the only scenes that Edward James Olmos has acted in with his son, Bodie Olmos, who plays Hotdog.
Actually, you’re totally right that it was never specifically stated that Apollo was drunk after finding out that Zak died. That was my assumption based on it being a parallel with Roslin’s story, but it may be wrong. Especially if, as Maggie says, a bird flying into the home is an omen of death to come. It just seemed like he was REALLY drunk, and I couldn’t imagine him getting that drunk just having dinner with his brother, even if he was jealous. But I don’t really know much about his drinking habits pre-Galactica.
6. sandra said ( Monday, March 16, 2009 at 9:50 am )
I also took Lee’s drunken master fighting with the pigeon as a reaction to Zak’s death, considering the only other glimpse into Lee’s past is his dinner with Kara and Zak – it made me come to that conclusion – happiness led to death led to anguish dealt with hard liquor, but that being said, no, there was nothing to indicate it specifically. I took the bird as a reference to the mechanical bird that his brother died in, but I can see how it can be taken as an omen, too. Again, I think it is at this point open enough for people to interpret as they see fit – it may be clarified further on Friday.
I thought this episode was really well shot, directed and acted. The last few episodes seem to lack that good flow that this one had. I loved seeing these characters as they were before the people we know them as now, how much they have changed, into the darker, sadder, angrier and desperate souls of Galactica.
Is it just me or did anyone find it strange that when Laura, after finding out her father and sisters had died, looked at a family photo with all their smiling faces but the mother was completely shadowed out (to the left of the dad)? I may have been seeing things but thought that was weird. Maybe there was no mom at all, as she was never mentioned and I’m just making things up in my head. I’d have to see that scene again.
Jay laughed and laughed at Baltar’s dad – what a kook, and their relationship – awkward.
7. GeekBoy said ( Monday, March 16, 2009 at 10:55 am )
In hindsight, I’ve actually made quite a few assumptions about those flashbacks that maybe I shouldn’t have. For instance, we’re never told that Adama’s meeting is about decommissioning the Galactica. Or that Six really put Gaius’ father into a nursing home … she may have just killed him. Or that Anders ever really lived the flashback we saw — maybe it was just a dream that Tub Anders was having. In fact, there are so many details left unexplored — like why Roslin recognized the name of the person she was being set up with — that I have to assume some dots will be connected for us in the last two hours, and this truly was just the first part of a larger episode.
8. Jack said ( Monday, March 16, 2009 at 3:34 pm )
I don’t share the complaints about characters explaining obvious things to the viewers, because I feel like I miss so much of what’s being told. It’s RARE that I read a blog on BSG (and I read a few) where I don’t learn something new, or don’t receive another angle to interpret what I’ve seen. It may seem like “dumbing down” to some degree, but a story as complex and grey as this sometimes needs the additional exposition.
I had the distinct impression that Six’s solution to Daddy Baltar wasn’t a nursing home. It seemed to be another hint at how that character has evolved. But I was baffled by the pigeon scene.
The way this episode played, I felt like it mapped out why these individuals were “chosen” to become the leaders that they are. I didn’t make the connection that their burdens made them stronger, but there did seem to be a method to the storytelling.
Yet another detail I’ve missed all this time – Hot Dog is Adama’s son in real life? If that was the purpose of that scene, it was a nice touch, and well-deserved.
9. ben said ( Monday, March 16, 2009 at 11:02 pm )
Just to add a twist to the whole conversation of whether the show over-explaining things or under-explains what we think are “obvious” plot points … I just listened to the podcast to the episode “Islanded in a Stream of Stars.” And in it, Ron Moore goes out of his to state for the record that lost Cylon model Daniel is in NO WAY related to Kara thrace. Daniel was not her father.
D’oh!!!
Moore said he never considered that to be so while developing the story, and didn’t think much about a signifigence to Daniel other than the whole “Cain and Abel” analogy between him and Cavil. But he said in recent weeks he’s seen how fan forums have exploded with the theory that Daniel is Kara’s father and how this whole “cult of Daniel” has formed. So he wanted to set the record straight so people wouldn’t be going into the final episode expecting something huge to made of Daniel.
I for one am extremely disappointed by this!!!
10. GeekBoy said ( Monday, March 16, 2009 at 11:20 pm )
Wow, that IS disappointing. Less so that it’s not the case, because after it wasn’t mentioned in the past two episodes, I’d already begun to doubt that I was right about it. But moreso because it’s amazing to me that Moore seems surprised that we’d come to this conclusion based on the clues we were given. And that it sounds like Daniel may end up being a big loose end. Why bother to introduce his name so close to the end of the saga if you’re not going to make him important somehow?
11. Dave said ( Tuesday, March 17, 2009 at 10:09 am )
I’m thinking that Daniel will show up at the end (it’s kind of like showing a gun in the first act – someone better get shot in the third act). His line was discontinued, but maybe a Daniel survived somewhere.
That he’s not Kara’s father is quite a bit disappointing, but that would make Starbuck the first hybrid, and make Hera just a little less special. I still have a vague notion that Starbuck IS Daniel (XY turned to XX during the genetic scramble), but I’m doubting that’s right either.
For now, I’m trusting Moore. He’s taken us this far….