Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: C+ | 1 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT Can't Stop The Signal
By Jacob Clifton | Season 2 | Episode 13 | Aired on 01.19.2006
Of the many cheats in this episode, the only one that really bugs me is this, because I think it's not necessary, and actually clumsies things up a little. The real reason the baby's gotta go is the same reason Cain had to go: it's a loose thread that Roslin knows Gaius can't handle. But whereas Cain was capable of blowing up the Galactica and then stripping the Fleet for her own mad agenda, not to mention killing Adama first thing, the baby's primarily a political issue. We're talking about living proof that a high-ranking officer had relations with a member of the army which committed genocide on the human race six months ago. That she is still alive, in a comfy cell on board Galactica, no less, and that every member of the cast, which involves the highest members of both the military and the civilian government, knew about it, which is tantamount to condoning it, and furthermore kept it secret, which is an unimaginable failure of the government and military's fiduciary duty to the people. This is where the peanut gallery thing comes in from before: we're so used to spending our days with these people that we forget the level of power their wield, and that the general populace has no idea about anything that's gone on for the past two seasons. So it's a combination of two combustible political issues (fraternization and a variation on Bartlet's multiple sclerosis) -- and she's going to hand that off to Gaius Baltar? A man whose incompetence runs so deep he can't even go the bathroom without breaking fifteen rules of etiquette?
So, of course it's Gaius that's confused here -- even though I don't fully think Adama's on the exact same page just yet -- "Madame President, I don't understand. This makes no sense." And she stares him down: "One of the interesting things about being president is you don't have to explain yourself to anyone; thank you, gentlemen." She dismisses them and Cottle ushers them out, and Adama looks at her, figuring it out. Gaius attacks Adama in the hallway, getting more and more overexcited and hysterical, begging Adama to overrule her. He starts with a call to reason, suggesting to Adama that she's losing it, and Adama shuts that down right quick, so he starts going nuts: "I'll have to appeal to you on scientific grounds! Destroying this child would seriously impact my studies of the Cylon sub-species..." Adama explains the obvious fact that he will always back Roslin, and that the call has already been made. Gaius says that this decision was made based on Cottle's evidence, and tries to pull the intellectual superiority card. Finally, Adama shuts him down completely, looking disgusted as he does it: "Pull yourself together. You're about to become President of the Colonies. You're going to be asked to make some very hard decisions. Act like you can handle it." It's a deft synthesis of about a hundred things: his annoyance with the fact of Baltar, his pre-annoyance with having to deal with Baltar on a governmental level, his fear of what will happen with Baltar in power, his constant annoyance at having to answer questions more than once, his own ambivalence about the termination order, his counteracting respect for it as a technical last wish, and of course, his heartbreak over Laura's death. He might as well have just slugged him. He kind of did.
Adama leaves Gaius standing there, looking ridiculous and slapped, and Six appears -- yeah! -- wearing a cool bronze jacket and black skirt. Gaius is complicatedly happy to see her, and she gives a very humorously exasperated, "Where have I been? I never left you, Gaius." It's a rare creature indeed, that can infuse the usual selachimorphic menace with these additional flavors of "recently fucked-over" and "fed up with the High Fidelity bullshit already" girlfriend, but Helfer does it, and gorgeously. "Right…yeah, metaphorically speaking," is his awesome response. He exposits that it's been "weeks" since he last saw her -- and the last time he saw her was the day Cain died, remember -- and he immediately starts in with the Baltar crap, reaching up to touch her imaginary cheek. She almost gives in, but at the last she grabs his wrist, twisting him around. He's in a corridor in what must be -- since we were just in sickbay -- the heart of the ship. Getting self-defense-twisted by invisible forces. No wonder everybody hates him with this crap all the time. "I'm sure you've suffered mightily in my absence," she hisses. Baltar, nearly upside down at this point: "You know, jealousy is a really ugly emotion." Hee! Yeah, dare the evil invisible robot to show you "ugly."
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