"Collaborators"
Airdate: Friday, October 27th, 2006

"Keep jumping."

So sayeth Adama to Fat Apollo. And so sayeth me, just a little bit, to this show.

I suppose after all the crazy excitement of the New Caprica storyline, our return to Galactica proper was bound to be a wee bit of a letdown. This episode felt kind of sluggish and awkwardly paced to me, but perhaps that's just because there were no great escapes or tearful reunions to be had? (Speaking of which: you still denied me A Moment between Roslin and Adama, Ron D. Moore! Don't think I won't remember this!)

Anyway. Tigh, Chief, Anders and the rest of the merry insurgents spend the episode dishing out trials and executions to the folks they deem Cylon collaborators. This means that Jammer is screwed, despite -- or perhaps because of -- all that airtime he racked up in the webisodes. Gaeta, however, is saved after the revelation that he was the insurgents' informant. At some point, Anders decides he's done and Tigh's crew has to recruit another member. Gee, I wonder who they'll ask? Someone who's even more crazy and frakked up by the occupation than Tigh, maybe, perhaps? Oh, Kara. You should justÉ not be doing anything right now.

Kara's general bloodthirstiness and not-OK-ness leads to her and Anders parting ways, which is really sad and horrible and heartbreaking. And this moment between them -- him handing back the dogtags, their final embrace -- is really well-done and showcases the complexities of their relationship in its current state. It's one of the few moments in this particular eppy that wrenched my guts the way nearly every moment of the previous few outings has -- I don't know what will happen to Kara's humanity now, and it scares me. I really hope the show doesn't just ditch Anders, though. I like the guy and I need some man-candy until Fat Apollo transforms into Hunky Apollo again.

Meanwhile, in Baltarland, the biggest Crazy of them all is busy hanging out on the Cylon ship. He's also having dreams where everyone loves him, especially Laura Roslin, if you know what I'm saying, wink wink. Six, perhaps realizing that she can do a whole hell of a lot better, actually seems ready to dump his sorry ass. In fact, I think she does dump his sorry ass, but I sort of dozed off during that part. Where's Hera? Where's Boomer? Why is the Cylon ship so boring? Even the damn Bajoran temple was cooler than this -- those Vedeks really know how to party.

(Speaking of Bajorans and Vedeks and such, I was just wondering if anyone else made this rather tenuous connection: I notice that Tigh's crew is called "The Circle" and this episode is called "Collaborators." In season 2 of Deep Space Nine, there were two really awesome, politically-themed episodes called "The Circle" and "The Collaborator." And "The Circle" was also an underground Bajoran extremist organization. These episodes were so awesome that I watched them back-to-back until I wore out the poor, put-upon videotape. Come on! Who else knows what I'm talkin' about?! Really? Just me? OK.)

Finally, Roslin at last becomes president again, but not before Zarek -- who is prez for like two seconds -- signs some kind of executive order, making the actions of Tigh's crew totally legal. Roslin is like, "moron," and goes on to grant everyone amnesty. Zarek still has a mad crush on her, though.

So, yeah. Kinda slow and kinda predictable (we pretty much know from the beginning that Jammer is spacefood and Gaeta is not). But what's more worrisome than that is the sinking sensation that our characters haven't grown as much as I initially thought they had in this post-New Caprica world.

Thus, things are feeling fairly familiar. Tigh and Starbuck are still pissed off and basically just crazier. Adama and Roslin are still the voices of reason. Baltar is still completely insane. Will things develop and grow in new and interesting directions or are we basically going to see what we've seen before? I trust this show a lot, but it's gonna have to work it, Tyra-style, to ensure that what we're watching is as innovative as Galactica is capable of being.

iTunes Links

Battlestar Galactica - Series
Battlestar Galactica - Season 3
"Collaborators"