Battlestar Galactica 2x10 - "Pegasus"
BY GOD, IT'S GOTTA BE CAIN!
John: One thing that I haven't praised yet about Galactica is its
musical score. The musical choices are very unusual and eclectic
for a sci-fi TV show but I think they work extremely well. I saw
a lot of bitching on the message boards about the music in this
episode but those people are douchebags. The music in the opening
scenes was an extraordinary compliment to the Galactica encountering
its larger, newer sister ship, the Battlestar Pegasus. It was a
cause for celebration that not only did another Battlestar survive
the Cylon attack but it's a new ship with a full compliment of Vipers
and supplies. The entire Galactica crew assembled on the flight
deck to greet the Pegasus raptor, carrying Admiral Cain.
Admiral Cain: On behalf of the crew of the Pegasus, welcome back
to the fleet!
John: Everyone broke into applause and celebrated, but hold on,
hold on here! Who the hell is Admiral Cain, who just got here, to
welcome anyone back to the fleet? There's something rotten in the
state of Galactica.
Rob: I know, right? Fleet? I count one ship. Adama should've welcomed
"the fleet" back to what's left of civilization. I notice
the Pegasus isn't currently saving the asses of a few dozen civilan
ships. I don't like this Admiral Cain. But I guess I'm not supposed
to. It wouldn't be very exciting if this was just a harmonious reunion
of the remnant of the Colonial armed forces.
ENSIGN RO
John: Commander Adama, Admiral Cain and President Roslin sat and
talked about how Pegasus survived the Cylon attack. Adama admired
Cain's decision to go on the offense against the Cylons, which was
his game plan before Roslin talked him into running with the fleet
to Earth. Adama reverted back to the chain of command and allowed
Cain to take command of the fleet, much to Roslin's chagrin.
Admiral Cain: Madame President, you look like I just shot your
dog.
President Roslin: No, no, it's just that Commander Adama and I
have been through a lot together. I'm not sleeping with him if that's
what you're thinking. Let me ask you something, if I stole your
two best pilots and created sedition in the fleet based on my religious
beliefs, how do you think you'd handle that?
John: Cain doesn't think much of Roslin, who is just the Secretary
of Education with a fancy new title to her, and isn't interested
in Adama's deal to share the command of the fleet with the President
of the Colonies. Cain immediately shut Roslin out of all decision-making
and won't take her calls. There's something not right about Admiral
Cain.
Captain Picard: That woman is a traitor to Starfleet and everything
it stands for. The very idea of a Maquis terrorist ascending to
the rank of Admiral and commanding her own ship makes me question
the very nature of this Colonial Fleet.
Rob: So much for respecting the chain of command. If Cain can go
around ignoring the President, then why should Adama listen to Cain?
Granted, Adama once had Roslin arrested and thrown into the brig,
but he learned from that. How is Cain planning on dealing with the
civilian population following Galactica around? Technically speaking,
she has no authority over them. I think it's time the Quorum of
Twelve demanded a meeting with Admiral Cain to discuss their feelings
about the military. I'm sure Cain will be very interested in Tom
Zarek's opinions on the importance of democracy.
GETTING TO KNOW YOU, GETTING TO KNOW ALL ABOUT YOU
John: While the big dogs make nice, the two crews weren't exactly
gelling. Starbuck being Starbuck, she started making fun of the
Pegasus's Viper pilots keeping score of their Cylon kills. Stinger,
the Pegasus CAG, got pissed off and took it out on Apollo, ordering
him to start making the Galactica Air Wing keep score of their Cylon
kills.
Ric Flair: Whoo! Stinger!
John: Then he called Apollo a daddy's boy. That was actually an
interesting comment; the way Apollo acts with Roslin, I always saw
him more of a mama's boy. But just what was Apollo's reputation
before the Cylon attack? I'd always assumed he was well-regarded
but maybe he isn't and the discipline problems he's shown on the
show were there even before. Meanwhile, Colonel Tigh showed Colonel
Fisk, the Pegasus XO, Chief Tyrol's distillery. Fisk made a crack
about how it's a miracle the Cylons didn't kick their asses in a
bucket like Galactica.
Scotty: Laddie, don't ye think ye ought to rephrase that?
John: Fisk then told Tigh a story about how Cain shot the former
Pegasus XO in CIC in front of the crew for disobeying her order
to attack the Cylons. Fisk tried to laugh it off as a joke but he
spooked Tigh enough that Tigh reported the story to Adama. Adama,
who can have any number of his decisions easily called into question
when Cain reads his logs, talked about taking everything in context.
I really liked how the episode highlighted that Galactica's crew
is now suddenly answerable to a higher authority after months of
doing whatever they wanted and making and breaking rules as they
go along.
Rob: I think Tigh might have got the shivers when he thought of
what might have been if he had been the Pegasus's XO. If Cain was
willing to kill someone she's known for years, she probably would've
strapped Tigh to a Viper and sent it for a few laps around the ship
for all the shit he's done. But this is where you realize that no
beer and no civilization make the crew of the Pegasus go something
something. It's not healthy to be stuck out in the middle of space
with no goal except the futile killing of small amounts of Cylons
to live for.
Chief Tyrol: They really should've tried to build a stealth Viper.
Does wonders for the soul.
THE CAIN MUTINY
John: After reviewing Adama's logs, Cain went back on her statement
that she wouldn't interfere with Adama's command by announcing she
was integrating the crews and transferring Apollo and Starbuck to
the Pegasus. Cain acted like she was doing Adama a favor, that he's
too close to his crew and lets them get away with anything. Which
is absolutely true, but Adama sees the crew as his family. Cain
sees them as a bunch of troublemakers, especially his two best pilots.
But especially his drunken XO, whom she didn't transfer.
Commander Adama: I guess she missed the context. Maybe Admiral
Cain should watch that piece D'Anna Biers did on the Galactica crew.
It might help her see that my people are better than she thinks.
John: I'm sure the Admiral will be quite moved by the naked Viper
pilots playing grab ass with each other. Starbuck and Apollo took
the news of the transfer like the disciplined, professional soldiers
they aren't. The two of them turning into Bart and Lisa and complaining
to Adama was the funniest scene in the episode. After they got transferred,
Starbuck immediately mouthed off to the Pegasus CAG and got booted
off a mission to scout the Cylon fleet and their mysterious vessel
guarded by two base stars. Then Apollo got demoted to Raptor pilot
duty. Apollo and Starbuck immediately went rogue, with Apollo telling
Starbuck to lie about Cain wanting the Blackbird tested so she can
steal it and do her own recon. That'll show the Pegasus CAG who's
boss. These two really are out of control. They're committing outright
mutiny.
Starbuck: It's been a few months since our last mutiny, and we
don't even like the Pegasus jerks so this is a lot more fun.
Rob: I can understand Cain's dismay over the discipline problems
among the crew, but she doesn't understand what Galactica's been
through.
Admiral Cain: What do you mean, we've been out here as long as
they have.
Rob: Sure, but they've had the extra burden of creating buzz for
the Sci-Fi channel. You can't do that without a cast of characters
with complex motivations. How else are you going to create conflict?
Do you think anyone wants to watch a show full of generic extras
following orders and carrying out hit-and-run raids on the Cylons?
Good luck getting on the cover of TV Guide with that.
USED AND ABUSED
John: Admiral Cain asked Dr. Baltar to examine the Cylon prisoner
they have aboard the Pegasus. Number Six, who was mysteriously absent
for the first time in last week's episode, was making jokes about
who the prisoner might be, but it turned out to be a copy of Six
that the Pegasus crew has tortured and abused. My first thought
when I saw her chained up and lying on the floor was that she'd
been raped and that turned out to be the case. Baltar's imaginary
Six was completely bent out of shape by seeing how her copy has
been abused.
 
Baltar: It'd be for the best if you went away for a while. Frankly,
I'm looking forward to dealing with a copy of you who doesn't talk
quite so much. It will be rather refreshing.
John: Baltar pledged to help the Six copy and told her about his
previous experiences with her model and that he'd fallen in love
with his Six. This is a really interesting situation that has developed
now. My assumption is that the Six Baltar knew on Caprica was destroyed
in the nuclear attack; if so her memories have been transferred
to the other copies. Which would mean the Six on Pegasus knows Baltar.
Now, I'm also subscribing to the theory that there is no chip in
Baltar's brain and he's going crazy by imagining Six is talking
to him and having sex with him. If that's the case, then Baltar
helping this Six copy means he's effectively gaining a real Cylon
as an ally and vice versa. Baltar's compassion for Six is also an
example of and possible beginning to how the Cylons might find some
common ground with the humans they're trying to annihilate. Of course,
those are lofty dreams and won't ever happen because Baltar is Baltar
and Six is a Cylon and they will behave as they tend to behave according
to their agendas. Still, if Baltar can heal Six, then he has a real
Cylon to play with, which will make for better sex. It's win-win
for both of them.
Rob: Battlestar Galactica needs to really turn it up with their
shocking Cylon twists. This one wasn't hard to see coming.
Number Six: Who do you think this Cylon model will be? Trusted
friend? Face from the past? Ooh, I can't wait to see what deliciously
ironic plot twist is about to be revealed. Whatever could it be.
Rob: I can understand how it's tough to see an exact copy of yourself
tortured and broken. Well, actually, I don't suppose I can, but
I can empathize to a degree. But I'm just not buying Six's indignant
protests.
Number Six: Look what they've done to her, what animals!
Rob: Destroying billions of humans in a single stroke isn't exactly
a mark of enlightenment, either. Myself, I don't believe that Baltar's
completely crazy, and I do think that some version of Number Six
is actually communicating with him, but I'm also not exactly sure
how that all works, so this Six may or may not remember him. And
it doesn't look to me that this Six is going to be ready for sex
play any time soon. Still, Baltar should probably be prepared and
see if he can't start stocking up on sexy evening dresses for the
prisoner as soon as possible.
THORNE IN THE ASS
John: If there was some doubt initially about whether the Pegasus
crew were raping their Cylon, it was erased when the transferred
Pegasus crewmen started bragging loudly and proudly about it to
Chief Tyrol, Cally, and Helo.
Stan Marsh: Dude, that's some pretty fucked up shit right here.
John: Cally, who is not only a woman but was almost raped herself
by one of Tom Zarek's inmates in season one, had to listen to these
Pegasus fuckers describe how Thorne, their "Cylon interrogator"
not only repeatedly violated their Cylon but turned her into an
amusement park ride for the crew. Helo had to be held back when
the Pegasus assholes made the same comments about wanting to ride
Sharon the Cylon, until they realized Thorne was in the brig at
that moment beating the shit out of her. Helo and Tyrol made it
right when Thorne had his pants off and Sharon the Cylon bent over
and held down. Tyrol and Helo were able to save the Cylon they both
love but Tyrol accidentally killed Thorne. Good. That piece of shit
deserved it. The bottom line is, Cylons might be murderous, untrustworthy
robots, but they don't deserve to be raped.
Starbuck: Okay, listen, I'm with you on the rape thing, but these
same Cylons are forcibly impregnating human women with Cylon fetuses
on Caprica.
John: Okay, you got me there, but Thorn and the rest of the Pegasus
people are clearly assholes. They're exactly the reason why the
Cylons think humans are worthless and deserve genocide.
Rob: Cylons may or may not deserve any better, but it says something
about you that you're willing to do something like that to someone.
Lyndie English: I hate alegory.
Rob: Sorry, but it's what good sci-fi does. It's also telling that
no one told Adama what was about to happen.
The Ghost of Thorne: Hello, Commander, good to see you. Well, I'm
off to rape your Cylon.
Rob: I think they knew they were doing something wrong there.
The Ghost of Thorne: Hey, no one ever said I couldn't rape the
Cylon.
Rob: Is that even a good way of getting information?
The Ghost of Thorne: Information? Oh, right. No, probably not.
G VS. P
John: Admiral Cain had Tyrol and Helo extradited to Galactica for
trial and threw how Adama dissolved the independent tribunal in
season one because he didn't like their findings in his face.
Commander Adama: She missed the context again.
John: Adama, whose desire to choke Sharon the Cylon to death is
well known, never stated his opinion on Cylons being raped. Adama
had done his best to put on a brave face and fall back into military
discipline while Cain took over his command, but this was the last
straw. While he was walking with Cally, Adama completely lost it
when Tigh told him Cain immediately court marshaled and sentenced
Tyrol and Helo to death for treason and murder. Tigh ordered a marine
strike team assembled and launched Vipers in the middle of his perfunctory
phone call with Cain. So it's come to this, Battlestar vs. Battlestar.
What a mess.
Rob: Adama takes what he can takes, but he can't takes no more.
He didn't put his family back together just so some new Admiral
can swoop in and execute them.
Adama: These are my men. And two thirds of a love triangle that's
going to take us right into season three. Prepare a strike team
and launch Vipers. I'll show her how we get ratings around here.
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