WRITER: Mark Verheiden DIRECTOR: Rod Hardy
CAST: Edward James Olmos (Adama), Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol), Kandyse McClure (Cally), Jamie Bamber (Lee), Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck), Mary McDonnell (Roslin), Kandyse McClure (Dee), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Michael Hogan (Tigh), Grace Park (Athena), Aaron Bodie Olmos (Hotdog), Don Thompson (Anthony Fugurski), Sebastien Spence (Narco), Michael Leisen (Pvt Jaffee), Lucinda Jenney (Carolanne Adama) & Jennifer Halley (Seelix)
Tyrol and Cally get trapped in a leaking airlock, Adama faces painful memories on his wedding anniversary and Lee is asked to participate in Baltar's trial...Battlestar Galactica is beginning to frustrate me. Perhaps it's the vogue for serialized television shows that makes BSG seem rambling and unfocused, but recent episodes have been tedious. The acting, production values and scripts remain solid work, it's just that the writers seem to be having problems hammering out compelling ideas.
The show prides itself on strong and realistic portrayals of its characters, mixed with moral storylines that reflect contemporary issues. This is a tradition that continues, but it's all becoming heavy-handed, predictable or uninteresting.
A Day In The Life is a good example of this downward trend. It focuses on Adama (the excellent Edward James Olmos), giving insight into his marital life before his wife Carolanne died. It's of mild interest, particularly when son Lee gives him some home truths about their family life together, but it's just told in a laborious way via wishy-washy flashbacks.
The best aspect of this episode is some back-to-basics peril involving Tyrol and Cally, who find themselves trapped in a malfunctioning airlock with the air escaping into outer space. Tyrol and Cally have never quite worked as a couple for me -- indeed, many of characters find themselves thrown together into relationships that don't work (see: Starbuck and Anders or Lee and Dee). The airlock situation proves quite tense, although I would actually welcome both character's deaths and an injection of new blood into the show.
It's just increasingly clear that BSG limps around killing time whenever the Cylons aren't around. In early season 3, the Cylons have become overexposed, therefore losing their mystique. This has meant the "search for Earth" plot has become the only continuing narrative I'm keen to see explored.
Last year, just when the continual running-away-from-the-Cylons gambit was beginning to wear thin, the writers introduced some amazing new concepts to shake things up ("downloading", Resurrection Ships, etc). In season 3, more new concepts were introduced (the Hybrids, the mystical "Final Five"), but much earlier in the run. So while season 2 gained a second wind mid-season, season 3 hit the ground running but is now beginning to flag.
For me, the characters of BSG are realistic and multi-faceted, but the show has always worked best when the characterisations are explored against a pure military backdrop. Episodes with Adama frowning at bitter memories may spoon-feed me information, but they're boring to watch.
As if to prove this point, the airlock danger faced by Tyrol and Cally, and its emotional pay-off with their daughter, immediately endeared them both to me and made me care. BSG wisely downplays the vaccuous gung-ho mentality of its 70s predecessor and Star Trek-style sci-fi is out of its remit, but it needs to embrace what it is: a military drama.
The writers need to develop these characters and nurture its plot against the threat of extinction and the hope of a better tomorrow. For much of the post-New Caprica episodes, BSG seems to have lost sight of this.
Last year, just when the continual running-away-from-the-Cylons gambit was beginning to wear thin, the writers introduced some amazing new concepts to shake things up ("downloading", Resurrection Ships, etc). In season 3, more new concepts were introduced (the Hybrids, the mystical "Final Five"), but much earlier in the run. So while season 2 gained a second wind mid-season, season 3 hit the ground running but is now beginning to flag.
For me, the characters of BSG are realistic and multi-faceted, but the show has always worked best when the characterisations are explored against a pure military backdrop. Episodes with Adama frowning at bitter memories may spoon-feed me information, but they're boring to watch.
As if to prove this point, the airlock danger faced by Tyrol and Cally, and its emotional pay-off with their daughter, immediately endeared them both to me and made me care. BSG wisely downplays the vaccuous gung-ho mentality of its 70s predecessor and Star Trek-style sci-fi is out of its remit, but it needs to embrace what it is: a military drama.
The writers need to develop these characters and nurture its plot against the threat of extinction and the hope of a better tomorrow. For much of the post-New Caprica episodes, BSG seems to have lost sight of this.
