Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: A+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT All Aboard The Battlestar Handbasket!
By Jacob Clifton | Season 4 | Episode 13 | Aired on 01.30.2009
In years past we've talked about how the whole Personal Is Political thing is not, to my ears, all that honest: that the Political is actually just the aggregate motion of a bunch of Personal wills and neuroses, and that pretending your everyday existence is politically meaningful is a great way to do nothing, until you're finally drowning. Well, this is what that looks like: this is politics in action. 39,643 madnesses blending together in different directions, creating the river of history right in front of you. Not pretty. I'm not troubled by the idea that people only ever act on self-interest, because that's obvious, but it's irksome and scary when they take it to the next level of taking choices away from everybody else.
0902 and the ships out on CAP and running between ships in the Fleet have started getting nervous at Galactica's sudden silence. Lee's Raptor shuttle finally lands, and before he can even ask what's gone wrong with comms, Connor's dudes take him down and hold him up, punching him. "Whatever this is about, you're making a big mistake," Lee starts, and Connor gets weird and ugly and messy, conflating outrages all across the last four years into one big monster that gives him the authority to make everybody else hurt as much as he does: "Oh, sure, we're confused. Maybe we should have a trial, sort it all out. After four years of fighting with those Cylon things, did you really think you could make a deal with them?" Except before it was Lee, it was Gaius, and before it was Gaius it was something else, and before that it was the Cylons, and before that everything was perfect, right? Absolutely perfect, until other people gave you the right to start killing, when your son died. Once there was a Them, it started shifting to whoever was in front of him. I have no sympathy for grieving when it results in shit like this. This is how Billy got killed.
Racetrack finally starts looking perturbed as a Marine holds a gun to Lee's head and Connor, enjoying himself, spits, "So where are your precious Cylons now?" Then the Marine drops with a single shot, and standing behind him is Kara. "Take it from someone who died once, it's no fun. Let him go." Skulls tells her to frak off, and she shoots him too, without a second's delay. How long has it been, since the world made this much sense? "I could do this all day. Who's next?" She takes out a second gun. "Racetrack? Connor?" Please, yes. Connor lets Lee scamper over to her, and Lee immediately tries to get Kara to leave with him, but she's enjoying herself too much. "Kara, now." She follows him, grinning: "Follow me. Please." Skulls rolls around on the floor groaning, and even Connor rolls his eyes, because this is bad. You want to not let Kara and Lee, of all people, go running willy-nilly through the guts of the ship. If you can possibly help it.
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