Review of Battlestar Galactica 4x05: "The Road Less Traveled" + random previous season comments

[flowrs4ophelia]

HELO. IS. AWESOMESAUCE.
and other rantings about BSG 405.


Good stuff

- Helo Helo Helo. Beating that guy for making a crack about his Cylon-loverness. Owned me. My friends and I were clapping and cheering at that scene. I love how even though the motivation for mutiny at this point is pretty understandable he is trying so hard to be loyal and really doesn't want to go against Kara's orders.

- Also, HOT DOG trying to stand up for Starbuck, too. Or at least trying to stop drama from ensuing. I love Hot Dog forever. <3

- Leoben is such an endlessly awesome character. He creeps me the hell out but always brings so much to an episode when he's around. I cracked up so much when he suddenly said "C-Bucks rule." (He definitely seems to know who Sam is. If he knows he and Kara are "not meant to be enemies" then that must mean there's something to know about both of them.)


Bad stuff

- No Roslin, Adama, Lee, or Six? For an episode that spent time with so few characters it felt like not that much happened. The only consolation when I was really upset to see Lee get into a politician suit and stop being Apollo (when he's supposed to be on the Galactica because the show is Battlestar Galactica, dammit) was the hope that his character must be playing some major role this way that's going to be really cool. The fact that he's been almost completely MIA for the past couple episodes doesn't mean that won't still be the case but isn't promising either. However, has anyone else seen that footage in one of the BSG ads they've been showing that shows him suited up in a helmet and jack smock in a Raptor? At least that means he could still be doing something of action hero status again eventually.
Also, I guess Laura's not doing anything important enough to show...besides...dying. :( I have not really been a fan of her so far this season even though I understand where her behavior is coming from, but at least her scenes with Bill are still always great.

- I wasn't liking Athena so much in this episode. I'm sure she's truly just thinking about getting home to Hera, but she just seems a little heartless and completely unconflicted about not trusting Starbuck. And she doesn't have the excuse that she's dying like Roslin does.

- Baltar yaaaaaaawn. Get to the point with all this stuff already. Bear McCreary, the soundtrack composer, has said several things on his blog talking about how many of the recent episodes seem a little slow because they're setting a lot of things up for what's going to come later, and this at least makes me feel better about how less exciting this season is so far. I really hope it's worth sitting through all of these tedious scenes with Baltar's fangirl groupies and attempted development of Tory, the only unimpressively performed and truly dull character in this show.




So obviously...I'm caught up on this show now. So let's do this, too.


A review of season 3 in a few paragraphs

- I kind of hated the way this season started but was able to look back on it and love it later. I had to call ninety6tears after watching through "Exodus Part I" to basically say "Please tell me it gets better! I kind of feel like slitting my wrists!" It felt like they were never going to get off that damn planet and back onto a spaceship. The way the characters continued to be really messed up over everything they went through was also depressing and hard to watch. But at the end of the day I really appreciate this show for being that much more real about things that you wouldn't just recover from in a couple episodes' time. I love all the meaningful little moments like Starbuck cutting her hair off again using the knife Shaw gave her in Razor.

- How did Starbuck suddenly get so much hotter in this season? Massive girl crush attack.

- The episode "Unfinished Business" is actually the reason I finally got into this show all because ninety6tears described the concept of "the dance" to me and how this is what a whole episode of BSG revolves around and it just sounded very unexpected for a science fiction show and spectacularly awesome. (I have random tastes and I love a good boxing scene.) It did not disappoint and is definitely completely unlike any episode of any other show I've ever seen and one of the best of BSG ever. There is nothing more priceless than Adama saying "Get your fat, lazy ass up here" to Tyrol. LOL. But Layla didn't even tell me how monumentally important this episode is for our beloved OTP. Um...I'll have more to say about that later in a whole other post about what I think of how the Lee/Kara storyline has played out so far and where it could be going.

- How the hell was Gaius able to sleep surrounded by all those bright lights all the time on the Cylon base ship? LOL.

- I'd been spoiled and already knew Kara dies and comes back, and I'm actually glad I was spoiled. I think it made "Maelstrom" a much more powerful episode for me to watch when I could guess what was happening soon. I thought the way her death happened was brilliant because even at the time I perceived it all as a major point of character development for Kara (I also have more to say on this in my big K/L analysis later...).

- Joe's! Gods bless the establishment of Joe's for giving the characters a new recreational setting besides the tiny rec room.

- Romo Lampkin is a really interesting character and I think without him the episodes following Kara's death could have seemed very empty. I hope he appears again in S4 somehow.

- At the end of the finale when I realized the song that the four Cylons were hearing was "All Along the Watchtower" my jaw literally dropped because I couldn't believe they actually did that. And what a final shot. EARTH. O_O

Comments

[flowrs4ophelia.livejournal.com]

Even though I knew what was going to happen I was crying a lot in that episode. I think starting with her and Lee telling each other where they want their pictures if they die because I was like "Nooo! You're jinxing it you idiots!" LOL.

[alba-holly.livejournal.com]

I've always liked Helo, but this season he is really rocking. The lacking of Lee sucked though. Lee has really turned into a background character. All he does is cause minor trouble for Roslin.

[the-aloha-girl.livejournal.com]

hey new friend, yeah, Helo always brings the heat! And you gotta love Hot Dog for trying to defend Kara/stop the drama. alba_holly is right about Lee; the lack of him sucks, and the fact that he's simply been a background character totally bugs me (esp. when he's the thorn is Roslin's side).

Anyway, glad to have ya on my friends list! - Jewelz