Snapshot Chronicles

Susan Getgood's personal blog

BSG 4.5: “Sometimes A Great Notion”

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Spoilers for the episode but no future spoilers

The first episode in the final 10-episode arc of Battlestar Galactica, Sometimes a Great Notion, was exactly that.

Great.

Ron Moore and team consistently deliver excellent entertainment. If you get too emotionally invested in the fate of ANY character, you are likely to be disappointed, because the BSG team likes to do the unexpected.

I mean, given the 3 season build-up, who expected earth to be a radioactive wasteland? Originally inhabited by humanoid cylons and nuked more than 2000 years earlier?

But no matter what they do — even if you don’t like what happens to your favorites — it is almost always good entertainment. Sure, every now and then an episode misses, but rarely. Very rarely.

And you can never accuse any of the actors of phoning it in.  All the performances in Battlestar are consistently good. Even if you don’t like the character, you can enjoy the performance. Just think about Dean Stockwell, whose character Cavil has absolutely no redeeming features.

Based on last night’s show, we are in for a wild, dark ride as the series winds up. If you haven’t watched it yet, go do it now before you read the rest of my post.

What I liked:

Michael Hogan as Saul Tigh has become a highlight of the show. The character isn’t always likeable but when he’s on-screen, you are compelled to pay attention. I especially liked his scene with Adama, when he pulls the Admiral out of the bottle for a change.

Callum Keith Rennie as Leoben. Another unpleasant character portrayed with perfection by the actor. His scenes with Katee Sackhoff were amazing, especially the final one when he abandons her on the planet.

The overall pace of the episode was great, and every major character got some screen time, which isn’t true for every episode.

Some will disagree with me, and I know there is a fair amount of fandom angst that Moore has offed another female character, but I thought Dee’s suicide, while surprising, was good for the story. And  not just because I’ve always been a Kara Lee shipper.

As Tigh says, it is likely that many citizens of the fleet are having similar suicidal thoughts. This needs to be shown onscreen, but if it were a truly minor character, it wouldn’t have as much impact.

It works with Dee because the character was close to both Adamas, giving it maximum impact. It then becomes the plot device that both prevents Starbuck from confiding in Apollo about what she found on the planet and spurs the Admiral to move forward.

It’s also a fitting exit for the actress. There really hasn’t been much storyline for Dee since the end of Season 3, and I don’t think any fans — even Dee fans — wanted to see the return of the dreadful quadrangle of  “lurve.” This way, Kandyse McClure gets a showcase episode, literally going out with a bang that shocks the fleet.

What I didn’t like:

EJO’s angst was a bit over the top, especially in morgue scene and the early parts of the Tigh scene. I get that the morgue scene was to put the two Adamas in counterpoint, and like with the aftermath of Kara’s “death,”  show how tragedy makes Lee stronger even as others, including his father, crumble around him. But it was just a bit much. As was most of the Tigh/Adama scene. End was good though, with the fox story.

Now to the final cylon. It wasn’t terribly surprising. Ellen Tigh has been at the top of many lists since she appeared on the show. It will be interesting to see how they explain the Final Five in light of the new discoveries, and when/if/how Ellen reappears in current time.

And of course, what *did* happen to Starbuck?

Is it Friday yet?

Backyard birdwatching and the end of Stargate Atlantis

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Whoever coined the phrase “eats like a bird” had obviously never actually watched birds eat. We have five birdfeeders set up in the backyard, and all day long, regardless of the weather we have a steady stream of birds. Two pairs of Downy Woodpeckers, at least one pair each of Hairy and Red-Bellied Woodpeckers, a pair of Cardinals, plus many Blue Jays, Titmice, Chickadees, Juncos, Wrens, Goldfinches, Morning Doves and Nuthatches.

Some of our regulars:

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This little guy, a Carolina Wren, is a new visitor, just started coming last week.

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Friday night was the series finale of Stargate Atlantis, Enemy at the Gate. It wasn’t a bad episode but it pales in comparison to the series premiere five years ago. Which pretty much explains why it was the finale. The show really lost its steam a couple years ago and most of the episodes for the past two seasons have been average.

Just compare the money shot from the premiere — the rising of Atlantis — to the final scene in Friday’s episode, the balcony shot of most of the remaining regular cast (plus an interloper) gazing at the Golden Gate Bridge after Atlantis splashes down on Earth.

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The first is OH MY. And the last. Just sorta meh. But you just know the producers intended them to be bookends.

Not so much.

What was good about the episode? It mostly focused on what’s left of the original cast, without too much screen time for brand new characters. It had Todd the Wraith, with some great scenes  for Joe Flanigan and Christopher Heyerdahl. It had Walter.

What was okay about the ep? The storyline. All too predictable and full of holes, but better than most of the eps over the past two seasons.

What sucked about it? I know the producers would rather forget they ever had a character called Elizabeth Weir, but the fans sure remember and the other characters would too. I would have liked to see some mention of Weir as everything presumably came full circle. Sheppard and the others mention her from time to time (mostly at the insistence of actor Joe Flanigan from what I’ve read.) It would have been so easy to insert a scene with Sheppard (Flanigan) either looking at a picture from the early days or the Athosian pot he gave Weir for her birthday in season one. Because all the fans just know he kept it when she was captured by the Replicators.

And who is this Amelia chick who managed to insert herself in the closing scene? I haven’t been over the moon about all the Keller-centric stories this season, but at least Jewel Staite was a regular and Robert Picardo (Woolsey) has been part of the Stargate franchise since the beginning. They didn’t mention Weir, and they didn’t have Zelenka (David Nykl), Lorne (Kavan Smith)  or Chuck (Chuck Campbell ) on the balcony, and they had this Amelia character? My bet is that the producers are trying to counter criticism that they are more than a tad misogynist by balancing the genders in the closing shot.

Not the way.

There’s going to be a TV-movie, and I wish the producers would get their heads out of their collective posteriors and figure out a way to woo Torri Higginson back. But they won’t. In fact, rumor has it that they are also cutting actress Claudia Black out of the next SG-1 movie…

Oh well. Bye bye Atlantis. We’ll miss you a little, but really, the show I was watching left the airwaves more than a year ago. Around the same time we saw the last episode of Battlestar Galactica in fact.

And that’s the good news for sci-fi fans. We’ve got Battlestar back  on Friday. Only 10 episodes left. Who knows how it will end, but wherever these producers take their storyline — even if you don’t like what they do —  you know it will be damn good TV. All 10 hours.

Reading list & some thoughts on Stargate Atlantis’ AU Vegas ep

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For some reason, I read more when we are at our home in Vermont or when I am travelling on business. I can actually start and finish a book, or two, in the same week. When we are “home-home,” other things always seem to intervene, and I’m lucky if I can read 10-15 minutes every night.

I highly recommend the two books I read over the Christmas holidays: Madame de Stael: The First Modern Woman by Francine du Plessix Gray and Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.

What have you been reading? I’m loathe to start a meme, but I’d love some new books for my reading list.

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On another note, I finally watched last Friday’s “Vegas” alternate universe episode of Stargate Atlantis. Warning: SPOILERS AHEAD.

It wasn’t a bad episode all in all. It was nice to see Joe Flanigan (Sheppard) for more than a few minutes loading a tray in a cafeteria, which seems to have been his lot for the last few McKay-Keller centric episodes. I like David Hewlett and Jewel Staite well enough but they aren’t why I started watching the show. Flanigan and Torri Higginson, who played the “late?” much lamented, Elizabeth Weir, are. Their chemistry as actors — forget about whether you “ship” them — was so good, it made the show for many viewers.

Something the producers either didn’t see, or just didn’t want to see, but the show has not been the same since Higginson left, and while still good, neither has Flanigan. According to the interwebs, he asked for less, not more, screen time, and I’ve read that in the latest issue of Stargate Magazine, he has this to say about his character

Q: Is there anything that John didn’t get to do, in your eyes?

JF: I wish that I’d had a leading female romantic interest who was, like, my boss. I was thinking we could get some of that Moonlighting quality into the show, where it’s not gratuitous nonsense and romantic excess, it’s just under the surface, hidden, and consequently incredibly frustrating. You have a job to do, and you have to push your feelings aside. That makes for some of the best movies and television around.

Emphasis mine. Many — myself included — have interpreted this as a subtle dig at the producers for not capitalizing on Flanigan and Higginson’s acting chemistry and doing more with the relationship. Instead of quasi-killing her off.

Anyway, the AU episode (the show’s 100th by the way) had a decent storyline, and not too much Keller, which was refreshing because lately it has seemed a bit like the perils of Jennifer. It also had what seemed to many John/Elizabeth shippers a nod to the importance of the Weir character to the Sheppard character, the reference to the medic AU Sheppard couldn’t save.

What I hated? Initially it was the end, with AU Sheppard bleeding to death in the desert after saving the Earth from certain destruction, and The Powers That Be not lifting a finger to save him. It seemed such an unfair ending for such a heroic character.

Then I realized that it was perfectly fitting, and pretty much summed up how Flanigan has been served by the show he served so well.

No matter what any of the other actors did, for the producers, it was always the Rodney McKay show. McKay was the only character allowed a family more than in passing or as a one episode plot device. Nerdy science guy, he had two girlfriends on the show, while NONE of the other men or women — no matter how hot or hunky — ever had sustained, long-term relationships. The plot device of Teyla’s pregnancy does not count.

So no matter what they do on this Friday’s season finale, I think I’ll consider Vegas the final word on Stargate Atlantis as a series. Sheppard left hanging, Rodney safe warm and happy, and most of the other characters completely irrelevant to the storyline.

It could have been so much better. In fact, it was in the early years. Here’s hoping all the actors land in good vehicles.

So looking forward to new eps of Fringe, Burn Notice and Battlestar Galactica this month…