Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT A Stupidly Tilting Planet
By Jacob Clifton | Season 2 | Episode 19 | Aired on 03.02.2006
Mary McDonnell then does one of the neatest things I've ever seen an actor do. She stands there for a second, perfectly still, her hands fly all over in that distracted, useless way she last did with Billy, then she sounds like she might cry or vomit, and then her hands get about halfway to her face before she starts giggling. It's a tiny moment, but one that every single person I've spoken to has mentioned. More people even than didn't notice that Three was also Xena, which I thought would be the all-time record. McDonnell's so good physically at the worst of times, but this was Emmy-worthy, in all seriousness. So Roslin starts laughing, and covers her mouth, and Bill finally smiles at her, and she chokes out that she got the giggles before a debate even in high school. Which is cool in many ways because this is a woman who can rewrite the numbers of humanity with one hand while airlocking a pregnant woman with the other, and barely break a sweat, so of course she deals with stress in weird ways, but more importantly: she can only lose control this time because she's going up against fucking Gaius Baltar. The twitching, wriggling queen of the Squirrel People. Why not laugh? Tory comes to get Laura, and Bill escorts her out. She holds onto his arm, merrily -- and hysterically -- laughing the whole way. It's adorable and just this side of deranged.
Gaeta has taken over for his part in the Pegasus briefing: "What many of you don't know is that the captured Cylon Heavy Raider is capable of technobabble techonobabble we rip the brain out and put it in a Raptor and then they can jump way better and get to Caprica in less than ten jumps." Which gives the Raptors increased jump capabilities through the network, and also wraps up the "bitch forgot about my ride" problem. The pilots all think, "Whoa." Gaeta says that the "limiting factor" -- a phrase I haven't heard since my days in the corporate world, and heard enough times back then for a lifetime -- has been the actual hookup. "That obstacle has now been overcome," he intones dramatically, and nods to some Marines, who bring Boomer into the briefing room. Like you couldn't have downplayed that a little, Gaeta? The pilots all wig as she enters. She's in just a tank top, having lost her baby and most of her will a month ago, and she looks broken and small and it's painful to see. Starbuck jumps on the gasping crowd with a quickness: "She's here to help us. She's gonna lay out our navigational markers and update our jump coordinates." Helo watches this jump to his significant toaster's defense. "Does anyone have a problem with that?" Starbuck demands. One of the several pilots who actually jumped to their feet when Boomer entered sits down. Boomer just stares.
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