Battlestar Galactica 3.12: "Taking a Break From All Your Worries"
Airdate: Sunday, January 28th, 2007

Prior to this episode, I think I was maybe the last person in all of fandom still intrigued by the Angsty Quadrangle of Doom. "Unfinished Business" stands as one of my favorites of this season and the tiny developments of the last couple episodes have been pretty entertaining (particularly Dualla's magical sprouting of a backbone and slapping of doped-up Kara). But if this is the explosive moment in Quadrangle story development that we were building to...eh, never mind. Over it. 

The problem is that Lee and Kara once again decide they can't be together and go back to their infinitely patient spouses and nothing really happens and some guy named Joe builds a bar (what?).

The Quadrangular drama is sort of awkwardly mashed up against the interrogation of Baltar, who is accompanied nearly all the way through by his inner Six. Caprica Six, however, is curiously absent until that tacked-on "bonus" scene. I love Six in all of her impossibly gorgeous forms, but I'm really wishing Baltar also had an inner Three – goddamn, do I miss Lucy Lawless Cylon.

Anyway, Roslin tries interrogating Baltar, which is pretty awesome. Putting McDonnell and Callis in a scene together is always one of the best choices you could possibly make. It mostly just leads to lots of screaming, though, so then they decide to try out some sort of experimental drug to get Baltar to talk. 

Unsurprisingly, drugged up Baltar is not all that different from original flavor Baltar. He babbles a bunch about how he's not really guilty of anything and also says some stuff about the Final Five (by the way, he doesn't seem to believe he's one of them any more).

In a last-ditch effort to extract something, anything, Adama and Roslin send in Gaeta and it actually seems to be going well. Until, you know, Baltar figures out what's up and trash talks Gaeta and Gaeta stabs him with a pen. Baltar survives, of course, and will now stand trial for his crimes and I really wish they could get Tigh to play prosecutor, but I don't think that's going to happen.

This storyline has pockets of awesomeness, certainly – the scenes of Roslin, Adama and Tigh conferring and strategizing are the best of the eppy and putting Baltar back on Galactica is a truly thrilling twist. And yet, I couldn't help but feel that this is all a lot of build-up for the trial, that we won't get to the true meat of this story until said trial gets cookin'. I also wasn't so into all the time spent inside of Baltar's whacked-out head, but you know...that could just be a side effect of me missing his glorious interplay with Lucy Lawless Cylon. Sigh.

Meanwhile, in Quadrangle land, Dualla and Anders tell their respective spouses to just get together and DO IT, already. Well, DO IT again, but this time they have permission. Kara asks Lee if he would still consider leaving Dee and he sort of has an inner freak-out and they both end up back where they started. 

It's dumb.

Dualla, I was really starting to like you, what with the slapping of Kara and the righteous, teary speech you gave Lee in this episode. And then you have to go and ruin it by taking him back just because he cries a little. Bah, I say!

And Lee? God, shut up. You were all earnest and oh-so-ready for twu wuv back when you couldn't actually have Kara. Now you can and you suddenly freak the frak out. I liked you better when you were fat.

As for Sam...frak it, I love him. It seems like they're trying to make him less hot or something by giving him weirdly scraggly facial hair. It's not working. In fact, I find myself rooting pretty hard for him and Kara, considering how true and unashamed he is about loving her. Team Anders! Team Anders!

Anyway, this intense, relationshippy plotline, which began so promisingly, just feels kind of dull and dragged out here. I was really wishing they'd cut away from Lee crying over his ring to, say, an entertaining interlude featuring The Fighting Agathons (pretty much my favorite couple on the show after last week). Or maybe a quick peek at how Caprica Six is doing onboard Galactica. Or, I don't know, anything else.

Here's hoping the trial of Gaius Baltar restores some of that amazing, beautiful forward momentum we had going prior to the holiday break.

iTunes Links

Battlestar Galactica - Series
Battlestar Galactica - Season 3
"Taking a Break From All Your Worries"