BSG Watch: Coup de Ta-Ta

Wow. Seriously, these past two episodes? Arguably the best of BSG's already distinguished run.
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I have to disagree a bit with your minor quibbles, James. I personally think these past couple episodes are the first where Baltar has started to make sense and grow as a character again -- for so long he was a conniving opportunist with a tenuous grip on his own sanity (the visions of the Six that only he could see? Born out of guilt for what he helped the Cylons accomplish?). He seemed one of the few people in the fleet unchanged by the horrors of the near-extinction of mankind (or, at bare minimum, one of the few whose personality faults actually amplified due to the catastrophe). I mean, the man was craven enough to turn himself into a quasi-Messiah, for gods sakes.
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These last few episodes, though? We've seen the disillusionment and regret in Baltar -- even his guilt and recognition of his own self-centered preservation instinct. I'm personally thinking that this change in Baltar will be VERY important to the conclusion of the show, and just might reconnect Baltar with his personal Six spiritual guide.
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As for the rip in the hull, my first thought -- is GALACTICA the "dying leader" that will lead the fleet to "Earth" (or at least a habitable home)? Now THAT would be a twist in a show about the human v. Cylon battle -- the "leader" being actually a machine (or, more accurately, a ship consisting of several machines) rather than a person....

Not to nitpick, but wasn't the actual line "I'm coming for all of you!" (Minor difference but I think it had a little more punch as a threat about coming to get them versus just threatening to come back.)
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Either way, if I would have been Gaeta or Zarek, I would have just jumped out the nearest airlock when she hit that part about taking them down with her eye teeth...

Wow. I had to take breaks throughout the episode because it was sooooo intense. I definitely agree that all the actors are bringing their A+ game over these last episodes. They're not just effectively conveying emotion - they are conveying multiple layers of emotion at the same time, and often doing it without even saying anything. Its riveting stuff. I was surprised that there was a resolution to the coup by the end of this episode, I had expected this to carry on at least another week - but the scene with Roslin telling them all that she was coming for them was possibly my favorite BSG scene ever. It was a thing of beauty - as was the Apollo-Starbuck action squad, a term I read somewhere else and now can't remember where. Watching Adama and Tigh stand together and retake their ship was EXTREMELY satisfying. I was a bit upset that we didn't see the resolution of the Starbuck-Anders-Lampkin storyline, but I guess they had to leave something for the next episode.
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I've heard many folks talk about Gaeta's principles, good-intentions, etc, but I'm just not buying it. Gaeta became weak and narrow-minded and chose to ignore the reality of the changed universe. He was unwilling/unable to adapt to the new reality, so in desperation he teamed up with a man who used everyone's fear to grab power in a brutal, bloody way. They had no better ideas, no other plan, and no plan for how to adapt to the changed universe. They preyed on the desperation of the people, and there is nothing principled in what they did. Roslin and Adama should have better communicated with the fleet in the first place, but Gaeta and Zarek perpetrated massacres and set the fleet up to tear itself apart. They endangered humanity's ties to its only existing allies and basically empowered everyone who followed them to engage in the basest of revenge and hate schemes, even against those loyal to the fleet. It was filthy all the way through, in my opinion, and there is no redemption from that. He was every bit as bad as Zarek, even though he cringed at the methods Zarek used. Gaeta had become a shell of a person, with only a misplaced smugness and self-righteous arrogance and hate and resentment guiding his every move. Maybe it will just take me awhile (and a rewatching of the relevant episodes) before I'm ready to see this differently.

@Chaddog, James: I also thought that the last 2 episodes were excellent Baltar episodes. A central part of his character has always been his ability to delude himself, as well as others. We don't see a lot of examples of Baltar coming to an epiphany of self-awareness (where he recognizes himself as a weak, selfish person) - but that's really his only path to the redemption that he has always craved, and the only way he can find the strength to do things that are selfless and great. It seems like many of these characters have the same challenges forced on them again and again, they are trying to find ways to NOT be stuck in the same cycles. I would have been really dissatisfied if Baltar had ended the series without more serious reflection about his ongoing cycles of self-delusion.

and I LOVE the idea about Galactica being the dying leader. That would be so, so cool.

@shara -- here's the thing about Gaeta and Zarek, though: they're kind of right. Sepinwall and Maureen Ryan have both talked about this at length, but the best proof was Narcho's quote -- "I've always respected you, sir. But I hate the Cylons, and I won't serve under someone who won't fight them."
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And that's where Gaeta is a different animal than Zarek. Zarek wanted power for power's sake, and was willing to kill (the entire Quorum, even) for it. Gaeta wanted to depart from Adama/Roslin's path toward cooperation with the Cylons, and while he realized that Adama had to be replaced to do so (hence the coup) he also thought a peaceful transfer (retaining the same Quorum that had voted 11-1 for Zarek's resolution allowing ships to bar Cylons from boarding) could be accomplished.

@Chaddog - I definitely know that I'm in the minority here, over the weekend I read all those other articles and I still just disagree - respectfully. I definitely see Gaeta and Zarek has having different motivations - but they are each equally culpable for the atrocities that were committed (the road to hell is paved with good intentions). Zarek has always sought power under the guise of being a freedom fighter, and preyed on the desperation of a people who don't want to face the reality of the new paradigm with which they were faced. Gaeta was deluded by his smugness and his hate into freeing and empowering a madman - I can cetainly see how he got to that point, but all I could see was extreme weakness of character, driven by resentment and hate. They used hate and fear to grab power at the time when they all needed to be coming together to figure out where to go next, with no better plan of their own, so I cannot agree that they are "kinda right" even though the military and the president were being more heavy-handed and less communicative than would have been ideal.
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Narcho's quote was actually one of the things that influenced me in thinking that they are wrong! The world has become more complicated than human versus cylon, and everyone should know it by now. There are human-cylon children. There are the final 5, which show that there are multiple different kinds of cylons. There are cylons that have been serving loyally on the fleet and in the resistance, and sharing loving relationships with humans. Gaeta and Zarek, they are waging a battle based on the universe that they once knew, not based one the one that they were actually in (kinda like folks who couldn't get past the Cold War dichotomy to see a future without that stark division - this was at least a big deal in political theory). But the universe has changed, and they are facing a new set of challenges, and they can either lock themselves in the past and tear each other apart, or they can try to accept the new paradigm and move forward. Zarek and Gaeta are telling folks that its OK to perpetrate reverse genocide against the rebel cylons, and the cylons who have been loyal to the fleet - even though they know that the alliance is probably be their only hope for survival, and even though they know that the Cylon world is way more complicated than anyone had realized previously. By allowing - nay, encouraging - people to continue wallowing in their ignorance, they're endangering the future of whole species, just so they can stick it to the folks who have led them through unbelievable obstacles. I see nothing noble in that.
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The one bit of blame (if that's even the right word) I have for Roslin and Adama is that they should have risen better to the responsibility of being "leaders" in every sense of the word - not just in making the hard decisions, but in helping others see the reasons behind their decisions. I am definitely planning on re-marathoning the whole series as soon as its over, and will try to keep an open mind the next time around.

@shara -- yes, the world (or should I say, fleet) is more complicated now. But there is only ONE human-cylon child (Hera), and regarding the final 5, well, they're still "Cylons," regardless of how human-like (or non-typical skinjob Cylon) they may be.
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We could argue the bigotry inherent in humans who once willingly served next to Tyrol and now turn on him solely because he's a Cylon (the "does your actions or your DNA define who you are" paradox). But you cannot forget that it was Cylons who wiped out billions of humans in an attempt (that the renegade Cylons now admit was incorrect) to eliminate humanity. Everyone in the fleet has lost almost everyone they ever loved due to that attack by the Cylons (which included the renegade Cylons that are now allied with the fleet) -- asking them to ignore that history? You'd have an easier time getting peace in the Middle East, if you ask me.
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And remember -- it was the fact that Gallactica WAS NOT networked that saved it, alone (or, at least, alone with Pegasus) in the human fleet. Networking the fleet, AND with Cylon technology to boot? Well, I gotta say -- Gaeta and Zarek would have gotten my vote on that narrow issue, at least. Not the methods, but the logic that we shouldn't be alligning ourselves too closely with the Cylons. At least leave a backdoor open so that we're not completely vulnerable to Cylon deception, you know?

I definitely hear what you're saying, I'm just not there right now. And I do think that it speaks really well of this show that it can get me worked up like this, and that the show can present issue in such a complex and nuanced way that my perspective often shifts with time and reflection. This show is great at taking issues where - in real life - I would very strongly lean one way, and just by shifting the context (sometimes multiple times) I see things in a very different light. That's actually, I think, my favorite thing about the show.

I was a little worried when they went down the coup de tat road b/c they've been there and done that already, but these turned out to be my favorite two episodes in a long, long time. One qualm - Gaeta asked Narcho to select his most trusted men for the firing squad, then those same men are marching through the ship to help Adama re-take it from Gaeta? Um, what?
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@James- "The one weakness of the last few episodes, I feel, is that BSG seems like it has forgotten what to do with Baltar." My one quibble with BSG is that they've NEVER seemed to know what to do with Baltar. He's gone through so many role transformations I can't even keep track. It's always seemed like they wasted a good actor on that role to me.
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Good to see Starbuck and Apollo kicking a$$ together again. It's only been about three seasons...

Oh, and: "It would have been funny if you thought of it." "No, NOT FUNNY!" I love Starbuck. Can the Lost Island time-shift far enough so that Sawyer and Starbuck can get together? B/c that's love at first sight right there.

@antilles: !!! Starbuck and Sayer would make a he1l of a team. Wow, can you imagine the chemistry they would have?

@antilles -- I know some other people have said that those firing squad guys helped Adama take back the ship, but I didn't read it that way. I thought Adama said "Tie 'em up" meaning Narcho AND the squad...and thus the team that re-took the CIC were other marines and crew that had been locked out/shut out by the coup...
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Starbuck and Sawyer? Agreed -- it'd be awesome. Of course, watching old West Wing episodes lately (with him as the Joint Chief of Staff), I'd love to see John Locke as an officer on Gallactica, too.

Well, when the LDG takes over the world, imagine the crossovers we can have!

@Chaddog-perhaps, but then where did those marines magically appear from? (Ben's magic box?? Okay, sorry.) Seemed like they skipped a step, but I'm not really going to let that detract from what I otherwise thought was a great episode.
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Oh, and since you bring up TWW, Gaeta never would have tried that nonsense if Fitzwallace was in charge.

@ Chaddog and Shara

If you'll allow me to put in my two cents here. Shara, I get what you're saying in that its a completely different galaxy now (as Felix says, "the world is frakked") and people need to re-calibrate their opinions, but I think our POV is much wider than theirs (meaning the crew, the people on the other ships). As the audience, we have the luxury of seeing what is going on behind the scenes almost everywhere, and knowing that the rebel cylons are just as frakked as the rest of the fleet. With everything that has happened since the destruction of the colonies and the brutality endured at the hands of (and visited upon) the cylons, I think the response from the fleet at the new jump drive orders and the subsequent mutiny and panic is well justified in the way that it plays out. Adama and Roslin did NOT lead them to the promised land. This would call all of their subsequent decisions into question. Yes, I believe Adama will save them, but I have the luxury of sitting on my couch and obsessing over the survival of the fleet instead of actually surviving in the fleet. It's a big difference.
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@ Antilles

I agree with you. While I think Baltar is a great character and James Callis a great actor, the directions they have gone with him have been all over the place. Never liked his turn as a religious leader, but couldn't chalk it up to whether or not it was Baltar as the religious leader or just my innate disbelief of any religion.
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Just a few more random thoughts.
1. VERY interested in seeing what happens to the collaborators. Seems according to one of the interviews I read, we have not seen the last of this particular thread. Did NOT like the joke shared between Racetrack and Zarek at a time like this, but goes to show how damn charismatic Zarek can be.
2. Didn't even pick up on the fact that it was a crack in the bulkhead that caught Tyrol's attention and I rewound that scene a few times.
3. Amazing that Roslin manages to bend the Cylons to her will even at a time when they seemed fully justified in jumping their damaged basestar away before Galactica could come and possibly destroy them. The "I'm coming for all of you" moment would have been much more powerful had they not promo-ed the hell out of it in previews.

and one more thing...
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In Mo Ryan's recently posted BSG interview, there is repeated mention of how much was left on the editing room floor. This episode definitely felt that way. Would love to have an extended version of the BSG episodes (along the lines of the extended versions of the LOTR movies).

@joe - I'm definitely interested in the DVD - they were saying that there's a good chance that the deleted scenes would be available on the DVD. I would LOVE to see what got cut out.
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I really wouldn't have minded this being spread out over 2 episodes, even though I have no complaints about this final product.