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
Zarek enters immediately, ten different shades of Iago sleazy, and asks if Lee isn't happy to see him. Lee is the most interesting person in this whole episode, because he's completely himself the entire time: "I'm glad you're out. My father overreached when he had you arrested." But, of course, he's still all about the Cylon FTLs, which Tom never cared about in the first place, so now Tom gets to have a fake conversation about a fake issue just to see how high he can make Lee jump. The answer is, quite high but not high enough to live through this. "Problem with you is that you're trying to have it both ways. Honor thy father, or be true to your oath as the Caprican representative. At some point the two don't mix. Do you know why he released me? Because I'm only a threat if he recognizes civilian authority. Afraid our experiment in democracy is about to end."
Tailor-made for the Admiral's son, that little speech. I think I mainly hate Tom because he doesn't lie: he says true stuff with such warped intentions that it makes everything disgusting. He really is like a grosser Romo, isn't he? "Adama entertained it until now because of Roslin. But since she abdicated the throne..." Lee protests, but Tom points out he's done it at least a few times before. "Tell me, what excuse did he give this time when he refused to take your call?" A bridge too far, Lee thinks, too pat, and starts putting it together. He heads off to Galactica, snotting back over his shoulder, "To prove you wrong!" Zarek sits back and waits for the heads to roll; Felix informs the CIC that the imaginary fire has just fictionally taken out both the main and backup communications grids.
Maybe my favorite thing about this episode, besides the pulse-pounding intricacy of it and the way Felix has every corner covered, is the essentially lonely nature of the actual trauma of it. We get to see thirty characters in different parts of the mess, all over this huge ship, and watch them try to figure out their piece of it. And of course, at the same time, they're all convinced it's about them: Caprica won't shut up about her magic baby, and assumes the mutiny is about her; Gaius of course thinks it's because he's such a powerful cult leader that he cannot be suffered by the active parties to continue preaching the gospel; poor fucking Lee still thinks it's about the jump drives; Bill and Laura rightly assume, separately, that it's all about him. And every single rebellionista thinks they're owed something, that they're doing the right thing because it makes it hurt less.
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