Spoilers. I'm all for character-building, but Battlestar Galactica has a very annoying tendency to follow epic, game-changing episodes with mundane, tedious episodes of introspection. Ordinarily, I'd be happy to take whatever mytharc nuggets we gleam from episodes like this, and take note of the political maneuvering and character moments for later pay-off, but considering there are so few episodes left... "A Disquiet Follows My Soul" just felt stale, irritating and a waste.Showrunner Ronald D. Moore makes his directorial debut here, and will hopefully stick to tapping on a keyboard from now on; this wasn't badly directed per se, but a few scenes drew attention to themselves, some moments were badly composed, and one particular shot lingered on a baby-scan for so long I thought my television had frozen. Intentional, or not, it's never a good sign when you start noticing "the strings".
The raw shocks of last week gives way to pragmatism, as Adama (Edward James Olmos) suggests outfitting the colonial fleet with Cylon-made FTL, drives to help them find an alternative homeworld faster. This encourages the rebel Cylons (using the Final Four as mouthpieces, it seems) to propose a deal that will see Cylons given citizenship, and thus military protection, in exchange for their tech. It's a proposal that V.P Zarek (Richard Hatch) doesn't agree with, as he fights against Lee (Jamie Bamber) in the Quorum over even allowing Cylons access to colonial ships without consent.
Elsewhere, Tyrol (Aaron Douglas) becomes concerned about his son's health and learns from Doc Cottle (Donnelly Rhodes) that his late-wife Cally had an affair before their marriage, and he isn't the father of their child. It's a retroactive change forced on the writers to annul Tyrol's baby as a Cylon-Human hybrid, basically -- meaning Hera is still the only genuine crossbreed in existence. The reveal that meathead Hotdog (Bodie Olmos) is the father will hopefully avoid a "two men and a baby"-style storyline to develop.
But we do have the first full-Cylon baby in the offing, with pregnant Caprica Six (Tricia Helfer) has an ultrasound scan of her baby, fathered by Tigh (Michael Hogan). Mind you, I'm not convinced the Final Five are technically "Cylons". Artificial beings, yes; but how can they be Cylons if they existed on Earth two millennia ago and Cylons were created by Capricans 50 years ago? Still, I guess this is the BSG equivalent of a PC mating with a Mac.
Roslin (Mary McDonnell) has lost her faith, refuses to take her cancer medication, and uses the resulting boost of energy to jog around the ship and exercise in her quarters. I'm always in two-minds about McDonnell's performances, and sometimes Olmos'. Both are very good actors and their conversations and brittle relationship can be gripping in the right context, but sometimes they're just annoyingly dreary. A faithless Roslin and a demoralized Adam are quite exasperating to watch, so you spend a large chunk of this episode hoping they'll snap out of their funk.
The seeds of mutiny are sewn by Zarek in this episode, as he helps the fleet's fuel ship jump away from the fleet to make an anti-Cylon protest. Adama manages to trick Zarek into giving him the coordinates of the ship's whereabouts, by threatening to expose him as a dirty politician, but things are only just getting started. In a mild surprise, Gaeta (Alessandro Juliani), fresh from tearing chunks into Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff), offers to become Zarek's right-hand man in a planned rebellion -- clearly harboring a bitter hatred of Cylon-kind, tipped over the edge by the recent loss of his lower-leg (which, perhaps symbolically, has been replaced by a mechanical limb.)
The threat of sedition is welcome and, while I've never cared for any of BSG's "supporting characters" (Gaeta, Dee, Seelix, Hotdog, et al), I must admit that giving Gaeta this role is quite befitting. He's always looked slimy and sneaky to me, so it's long overdue him being given a villainous role. His public argument with Starbuck crackled with energy, with the actors somehow overcoming mostly terrible dialogue ("rimshot"? "half-kicks"? Gah.)
Overall, "A Disquiet Follows My Soul" is one of those episodes where interesting stuff happens, but it's not put across in a very entertaining way. You could probably read a comprehensive synopsis and save yourself the languorous gaps between important details here -- like Baltar (James Callis) suddenly rallying against the God he recently became a "prophet" for. I also got the sense this episode would be improved if you'd seen the "Face Of The Enemy" webisodes (but I have a bête-noir when it comes to online extra's, and broadcast episodes should always work without them.)
27 January 2009
Sky1, 9pm
Writer & Director: Ronald D. Moore
Cast: Edward James Olmos (Adama), Mary McDonnell (Roslin), Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck), Jamie Bamber (Lee), James Callis (Gaius), Tricia Helfer (Caprica Six), Grace Park (Athena), Donnelly Rhodes (Doc Cottle), Richard Hatch (Tom Zarek), Aaron Douglas (Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Bodie Olmos (Hot Dog), Alessandro Juliani (Gaeta), Michael Hogan (Tigh) & Kerry Norton (Layne Ishay)
