Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Looking Up At The Admiral
By Jacob Clifton | Season 3 | Episode 15 | Aired on 02.17.2007
"And there was me thinking I was being sly, sneaking off into his office all by myself. Yeah, I guess it's a pipe dream now, but for five minutes there I really did consider 'lawyer' as one of a dozen careers that I could go into, before I joined the service." They both make poo faces having to spit out this impossible, unmusical, jangly, consonantal, awkwardly constructed, unrealistic, over-wordy speechifying, and Bill's like, "I never knew that." Probably, Lee explains, this was during one of his "angry at Dad" phases. (Which: is gorgeous, because only Lee Adama would rebel in that way. "Fuck you, I'm going to read your estranged dad's 'law books' and 'papers'!") Bill's face at this, the mention of Lee having "angry at Dad" phases, strikes him like a blow. (Compare the video game boyfriend with the military-career father: don't go anywhere or change or grow or resent me until I get back in like five years, okay? Projection.) Lee realizes he really can't: "CAG's duty is already 24/7, even on a light week." He makes a funny frowny face when he says this, and Bill nods softly, suddenly torn. "Yeah, I assumed that." Narcho calls Little Boy Blue away to duty, and the Man in the Moon looks down at his hand; outside the old house, he drops a child's ball, and in the briefing room watches it fall, invisible. At least it looked pretty that time, but my God. Kid's toys, now.
In Airlock 12, the alarms are going crazy! "Seelix, check the pressure. If that patch holds, we're gonna equalize in a few minutes. This door's gonna open." There's a sudden whistling sound: the patch is blown and the hole is bigger. The Chief and Cally don't really have much to say, in terms of adding to the conversation, although they scream profanities. Here's the thing about Chief: he never wanted to be married. Not on Galactica, not in the Fleet. He and Boomer were going to wait until they mustered out, when the holocaust came. He didn't even notice Cally until New Caprica. He wasn't going to get married, build a cabin, lay it down, until he knew he was safe. Until he knew they'd be okay, and he could keep them safe, and be strong. He didn't want to make any promises he couldn't follow through on. He wanted -- and this is all Cally's been saying -- to wait for the day when they'd have time. And he had that taken away from him, that ideal, and everything since has been his cruddy attempts to reconcile what he thought was happening with what's happening now; he's still waiting for something to happen, and make it better. And if they don't die in the process, he's about to get his wish.
Finally, somebody else on Galactica notices the alarms and the hole in the side of the boat, and Adama comes storming down the hall, flanked by Saul and Lee. Majel Barrett's like, "This is a condition three alert...hull breach on deck 14..." They come running up to the glass, standing alongside Seelix, looking down at the head of the Resistance and how well he fits back into his life now. "Admiral," he says, air growing thin and cold, "I seem to have turned this into a full-blown fubar. You'd be doing us a hell of a favor getting those doors open." Bill's face falls.