| By Patrick Sauriol, ugo.com,
on 21-12-2006
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Favoured : 100 |
The third season fall finale of Battlestar Galactica has some big shoes to fill, namely last season's "Pegasus". Unfortunately, "The Eye of Jupiter" doesn't reach the same level of storytelling nor intensity as where we paused in season two. Here in "Jupiter" there are a couple of fumbles along with a couple of good moments, but in the end the episode turns out to be just OK. But is being just OK acceptable for BSG or has the show finally - dare I say it - jumped the shark?
"Jupiter" is a BSG mythology episode; we're given a new Thirteenth Tribe artifact to ponder over and another clue as to where Earth lies, which is indeed the driving force for the show. The X-Files laid the ground for this over the course of its nine seasons, having shows which featured a monster of the week along with the occasional episode or two-parter that delved into the government conspiracy behind the existence of aliens. X-Files saved up its mythology stories for the big episodes, such as each season's finale or important ones during sweeps week. Here we have BSG following a similar path, at least for the purposes of the show's mid-season break. "Jupiter" definitely ends on a cliffhanger as we all expected, but the build-up to the show's climax doesn't have the same kind of punch as did "Pegasus."
Some of my misgivings stem from geeky issues. Why, for instance, can Athena spot the difference between Number Eight models and know which one is Boomer? That little piece of plot seems to runs contrary to what was established when Athena infiltrated New Caprica City and passed undetected by other human model Cylons. And for that matter, why is Boomer all chummy with her Cylon friends now? We saw a very different Boomer in "Downloaded", one that told us she would do anything to get back to her family back on Galactica. So now she just walks on the ship and has no feelings for them? If Boomer had a change of heart, it hasn't been shown to the audience. Boomer was a major player in the show's first season and a good chunk of the second, but is all that being forgotten now that Athena is the "new" Sharon? C'mon. This isn't the same attention to detail that made us fall in love with Galactica.
And why are the Cylons so eager on finding Earth now? This is a major new development and one that you think Roslin or Adama would be asking D'anna when she stood face-to-face with them during their discussions. The problem here lies in the fact that the show's writers need the Cylons chasing the humans because, if they didn't, it would be a boring show. Right, but we've been hanging in there waiting for some answer as to why Earth is now important enough to the Cylons to be chasing after the Fleet all this way from their home. At this point where it's now revealed that Baltar is working with the Cylons, this mystery has to be addressed. There was an opportunity here and it wasn't taken. Thumbs down.
Another part of the alienation that I'm feeling for the show is the direction that the Apollo-Starbuck relationship is taking. We know Starbuck can frak up things better than anyone else on the show, but when it's hammered home again and again and again, it's getting harder for me to feel any sympathy for her. To top it off, her inability to end her marriage to Anders because it's a "sacrament" seems to fly against all kinds of reason, even for a screw-up like Starbuck, to recognize. If Apollo really "isn't the only one" as Anders told him, then why would she put so much into the concept of being married and betrothed to someone in the first place? It's not that I don't dig seeing the ugly side of marriages happen but it just seems that the reason for Apollo and Starbuck to be at odds with what to do with their feelings for each other is too simple and forced, like the writers want to keep the Lee/Kara/Anders/Dualla torment on the back burner while the Cylons hammer at them week after week. I don't know if this is intentional and Ron Moore and his troop have something up their sleeve or if it's bad characterization, like Helo suddenly refusing his orders in "A Measure of Salvation," but BSG characters lately have been making decisions that seem contrary to who I've been led to believe they are. You can play that card a couple of times on a show, but keep doing it and fans like me are going to notice. Speaking of which, I hope we're given some kind of explanation why the Chief took off for the hills when he did. As both Gaeta and Baltar said at different times in the episode, the odds of this particular thing happening right now are pretty remote indeed.
All these issues compounded on my ability to have this episode carry me along the way I felt it should have. I'm hoping that these are just the growing pains that go along with establishing a new path for the show. In many ways it's a brand new BSG in the third season; there's no more time spent on Caprica watching one of our heroes running from the Cylons, and Baltar is now with the Cylons leaving his arc to play out with the toasters. These kinds of major writing shifts are undoubtedly forcing the show's writers to decide which balls they should keep juggling in the air, and which ones they need to put down and reveal to their audience. But right now it feels like the show's mythology is being written episode to episode and too many shortcuts are being taken with the players. At this point in the show's chronology the third season just hasn't been living up to the greatness of the first or second seasons.
I only say this because the BSG we know and love has set the bar for excellence so damn high. To me, a mediocre episode of Galactica - especially one that's a cliffhanger - should be judged more harshly because we expect greatness from the team that brought us this far. We want to see our characters stumble and fall but we also need to be shown why we liked them in the first place. We want our heroes and villains to change as the story progresses, but not show up later in the series seemingly 180 degrees from where we last left them. I want a BSG that kicks nine levels of ass consistently, and when it doesn't, I miss it.
So, what's good: Anders, Anders, Anders; the visuals of the algae planet; Baltar over the wireless saying hello to old friends; the confrontation between Boomer and Athena; Adama's stare down with D'Anna; the tension between Apollo/Starbuck/Anders/Dualla; watching Tigh give a slight smirk as the order to fire up the Galactica's nukes is given; Dean Stockwell, in every scene he appears in; the continuity in showing us minor characters brought back (such as Lt. Hoshi from Pegasus CIC or Jean Barolay from Anders' old guerrilla squad); and Roslin being schooled by the Admiral without him having to say a word.
Batten down the hatches and dig out your DVDs of BSG because we've got a month to pass now until new episodes reach our TVs on Sunday nights now. I'll see you again in the fourth week of January. Source Link: http://www.ugo.com/ugo/html/article/?id=16312§ionId=2&page=1 Submitted by Zipper Talk about this article on our forum: http://galacticabbs.com/index.php?showtopic=886
Last update : 21-12-2006
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