Director: Rod Hardy
Cast: Edward James Olmos (Adama), Jamie Bamber (Lee), Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck), Mark Sheppard (Romo Lampkin), Grace Park (Sharon), Tricia Helfer (Caprica Six), Richard Hatch (Zarek), Donnelly Rhodes (Doc Cottle), Rekha Sharma (Tory), Leah Cairns (Racetrack), Colin Lawrence (Skulls), Michael Hogan (Tigh), Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh) & Alexandra Thomas (Hera)
Cast: Edward James Olmos (Adama), Jamie Bamber (Lee), Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck), Mark Sheppard (Romo Lampkin), Grace Park (Sharon), Tricia Helfer (Caprica Six), Richard Hatch (Zarek), Donnelly Rhodes (Doc Cottle), Rekha Sharma (Tory), Leah Cairns (Racetrack), Colin Lawrence (Skulls), Michael Hogan (Tigh), Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh) & Alexandra Thomas (Hera)
The disappearance of President Roslin triggers a power struggle amongst the Quorum of Twelve, as Adama considers the fleet's next move...UK viewers get the jump on their US counterparts, owing to the fact the Sci-Fi Channel didn't air this episode last Friday in the States, because of Memorial Day weekend. Whether us Brits will stay an episode ahead till mid-season is anyone's guess, but enjoy it for now. It's like season 1 all over again...
After last week's big thrills and jaw-dropping cliffhanger, a sense of deflation descends when it becomes clear the fate of Roslin and Baltar aboard the Basestar won't be explained. Instead, this episode focuses on the fallout from the colonial fleet left behind. In particular, the Quorum of Twelve are eager for someone to replace Roslin as acting President, so Vice-President Zarek (Richard Hatch) assumes the position. It's a fair, legal decision, but Lee (Jamie Bamber) knows his father won't accept Zarek's leadership and it's in everyone's interest to install someone else.
To help him decide who that person should be, Lee reacquaints himself with lawyer Romo Lampkin (Mark Sheppard); the shades-wearing, cat-loving legal eagle who represented Gaius Baltar at his infamous trial. Romo, who we discover lives in squalid conditions with a single porthole (payment for representing Baltar), agrees to help Lee find the perfect temporary replacement.
Meanwhile, Adama (Edward James Olmos) faces a tough time over the losses in personnel and Raptors, but is most concerned about Roslin – who won't survive long without treatment for her cancer, according to Doc Cottle (Donnelly Rhodes). In an effort to find the missing Basestar, he has Tigh (Michael Hogan) interrogate the imprisoned Caprica Six (Tricia Helfer), as he's aware his XO has been seeing the prisoner regularly. Caprica Six reveals that the Basestar has likely jumped to the Resurrection Hub, but only the onboard Hybrids know where each Hub is located, so she's unable to help them.
During their discussion, Tigh again finds himself imagining Caprica Six is his dead wife Ellen (Kate Vernon) and it becomes clear the pair have formed a close bond during their discussions. Indeed, Doc Cottle later informs Adama that Caprica Six is pregnant, and Adama is furious that Tigh has abused his position of authority that way – leading to a fight with his best-friend over sleeping with the enemy.
Romo eventually deduces that the best replacement for Roslin is Lee himself, congratulating Lee with the good news -- but revealing a nihilistic side to his personality when he threatens to shoot him dead, as he believes mankind are a doomed race who deserve to go extinct, and shouldn't be given glimmers of hope like Lee. It's also revealed that Romo's omnipresent cat was just a figment of his imagination, as his real pet was killed. Lee manages to talk Romo around, allowing him to be sworn in as acting President.
Indeed, it's a Ying-Yang scenario for the Adama family, as Admiral Adama comes to realize that his decision-making is being influenced too much by his desire to rescue Roslin. Believing he can't continue to allow his personal feelings to cloud his judgement, he decides to give up his command and relinquish control of the military fleet to Tigh. The episode ends with Adama taking a Raptor and leaving the fleet behind as they jump, meaning he can concentrate his efforts on finding Roslin without endangering anyone else's lives. Or, y'know, just waiting around in the vague hope she'll return. But if she doesn't, can he jump back to the fleet? Hmm.
Sine Qua Non was a very troubling episode for me, primarily because I wasn't convinced by most of its key events. In particular, the sudden rush to replace Roslin after she disappearance struck me as extremely premature and silly. What's to say she won't return in a few hours, or days? All that fuss over replacing her, when they have a perfectly capable elected Vice President? I just didn't buy it. And Lee's reason for finding someone instead of Zarek (that Adama wouldn't get on with Zarek) was similarly annoying. While it may be true that Adama and Zarek would clash, doesn’t it make a mockery of the political system if everything's thrown up in the air over personal issues?
Of course, it's all a means to get Lee installed as acting President, by way of a welcome return for Romo Lampkin. But that also bothered me. Lee was a military man with no political experience until recently, so I was never convinced by his move into politics anyway – and now he's the acting President? And he got that position by deciding on it himself with the help of a controversial lawyer? Sorry, but none of that made sense to me. I'm assuming the fact this is the last season meant the writers couldn't make this manoeuvre more plausible, by spreading it out over 5 episodes, so it was instead rushed along in one 43-minute episode. Shame.
And what's with Adama deciding to give up his command and wait for Roslin alone? I loved the rise and fall of father and son by the episode's end, but was anyone else a bit confused by his decision? I wasn't satisfied with the reasoning for him to go off alone like that. Surely he'd have lots of support in finding the errant Basestar from the fleet? Again, it seems like five episode's worth of subtlety has been swept aside just to conjure a surprising climax here. Maybe the next few episode's will justify this odd development for the character. Hopefully.
There were a few things I did like, though: Sharon (Grace Park) was reprimanded for shooting Natalie (Helfer), who didn't survive the gunshot. The idea that Caprica Six is pregnant is very interesting – as this will be the first fully Cylon baby, seeing as Tigh is one of the secret Final Five. Again, the revelation that Tigh and Caprica Six were actually having sex in her cell didn't really sit right with me, but the result of their union is at least intriguing. And there's a certain amusement in the fact Cylon Tigh is now in charge of the entire military.
Overall, this episode ended with developments that made you sit up and take notice, but a lot of it came at the expense of realism. Maybe others will disagree, but I just wasn't convinced by any of the big changes to Lee and Adama's situation, while Romo Lampkin (a real highlight of season 3) came across as deranged instead of weirdly brilliant here – despite Mark Sheppard's valiant efforts. Olmos and Hogan also managed to act well above the script's quality, but Sine Qua Non still wound up being unpersuasive about its extensive changes. Let's hope Roslin doesn't just return next week and wonder why the hell Lee's sat in her chair, or why Adama's floating around in space with her book.
27 May 2008
Sky One, 9.00 pm
