Review

iTunes TV Review - Battlestar Galactica 3.4: "Collaborators"

Monday, October 30th, 2006 at 4:05 AM - by

"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"

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Sarah Kuhn is an L.A.-dwelling writer with a weakness for block-style action figures, spandex-clad superheroes, and the collected works of Joss Whedon. Her work has appeared in such fine publications as Back Stage, IGN.com, Creative Screenwriting Weekly, and StarTrek.com. You can catch her geekblogging at Alert Nerd and Great Hera!.

Battlestar Galactica Archives.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:10 am

Yep, pretty much filler. And I reiterate from last week, they really haven't changed anything. I had hope for the idea that their would be a revenge component that would be a string that would continue through the season but this looks like a one and done. This show has been great the first two seasons but I'm getting the feeling 4 shows into season three the writers/network fear making any real changes. Same president, one ship, same officers, etc etc. Need some kind of revelation soon or these show's might be Tivo'd into oblivion.

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Bosco said:

member since 03 Jun 2002 with 999 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:23 am

OK, maybe I wasn't dosing, but I think Zarek had already authorized the circle jerk. They had a signed authorization on official Battlestar Galactica paper that they showed Starbuck. This episode sets up a lot of possibilities. For example, how will Fat Apollo deal with stretch marks from losing the weight? When he and Kara finally get together after the stories start getting recycled and viewership goes into the tank, will she point them out and remind him that he was being the Galactica's version of Eric Cartman while she was acting out the Cylon version of Groundhog Day on New Iraqica. And do you get the feeling that they wanted to do a whole season of anti-Iraq War stories until someone at the network reminded them that it wasn't all that fresh of an idea anymore. Next week, Battlestar Galactica takes on Scientology. I think their take might be that "it's a cult", but I'm not entirely sure...

All smack aside, the show is still something to look forward to on Friday nights. I am intrigued by the Xena character. I think Baltar is too. There's only so much of a tall, hot blonde a guy can take.

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BradC said:

member since 29 Apr 2005 with 80 posts, TMO Staff, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Oct 30, 2006 1:29 pm

A few responses to the comments: No episode of any TV show should ever be filler, even if it doesn't contain as much drama as others. Some episodes set up the gun on the mantle, some show it going off. Don't forget, even though Roslin issued her pardon, many in the crew obviously still have issues with Gaeta. I mean, in Major League Baseball, there are still players who have issues with the guys who crossed the "picket line" back in 1995. I assume (and hope) that some people, especially Kara and Tigh, won't give that up anytime soon, pardons or no pardons.

If I was Gaeta, I would have been like "Look, where's the guy who knows about the yellow dog bowl? Ask him what I did." It was frustrating to watch him just accept his fate, until Kara inadvertently saved him. But it made for great drama.

And what if the relatives of those who were killed (Apollo said 13 people had vanished) decide to exact revenge on some of those in The Circle? The repercussions from this could (and should) echo for a while. This show seems to be good about doing that sort of thing, unlike, say, The Sopranos, where too much stuff gets left dangling.

RE the "New Iraqica" episodes: Yeah, obviously there were comments made about the war in Iraq. But there were also allusions to the Holocaust, with the humans who joined the police force. (Some Jews joined a Nazi-created police force and helped persecute their brethren.)

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Oct 30, 2006 1:37 pm

Filler, eh? Well I could use a little filler after the past 4 episodes. It's good to have a slight break from the roller coaster ride of the past three weeks. But, this was not just filler, I think. Things are different on Galactica. The people have crossed a threshold of sorts. They have been tested and some of them lost. In fact, i think all of them lost something in these past few episodes. I hope the writers maintain that in the background of upcoming episodes - it'll be good for a little extra-strength tension (this is something they *should* have done in Enterprise when Trip was responsible for an alien's death and the revenge factor of having lost his sister on the attack of Earth).

That final scene when the Chief sits down with Gaeta was PERFECT. Shows how much can be said with no words whatsoever. This is why this show is great. More scenes like that, and the one when Tigh poisons his wife, is the reason I can't get enough of this show.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Oct 30, 2006 1:42 pm

"RE the "New Iraqica" episodes: Yeah, obviously there were comments made about the war in Iraq. But there were also allusions to the Holocaust, with the humans who joined the police force. (Some Jews joined a Nazi-created police force and helped persecute their brethren.)"

Yeah, and someone I know from the former Yugoslavia, said that the death squad scenes were lifted from what really happened during the conflict in Kosovo (where my friend is from). They (the Serbs) would just come into someone's house and "disappear" a person in the middle of the night.

Humans have been doing this cr@p forever. Why not in the future on a distant planet or Battlestar?

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Oct 30, 2006 2:04 pm

I have to disagree STRONGLY with Sarah and the various comenteers who said this episode was filler or too slow. It's kinda laughable, when you think of it, along the lines of, "Waaah, waah. In last episode, big battlestar go boom. Many basestar go boom too. In this episode, nothing go boom. Too slow."

Put on yer thinkin' caps for a sec, fellas (and lady). This episode was a completely natural outgrowth of the occupation (it was even set up the Tyrol-Jammer "We'll be the ones stringing them up" scene a couple of episodes earlier)- in fact, if it had not been done, the show would've been copping out, big-time. During wartime, there are ALWAYS collaborators, and how they're dealt with and how that changes the people doing the 'dealing with' is a big part of war. To not tell the story would've been '2-D'ing' it bigtime, and that's not what BSG does most of the time.

I also don't think Ron Moore ran away from the Iraq parallels in any way, shape, or form (though obviously there's more going on here than just that). He makes some pretty important points about what happens when due process is suspended, and how things devolve when 'secret orders from the President' become the rule of the day. I loved Roslin's response to that too... even though it'll likely be a source of future conflict (but that's what BSG does, right?).

I think people need to understand that this show is first and foremost about IDEAS, and that burning Battlestars falling from the sky whilst launching mass Vipers and Hunky Apollos and semi-naked hot blonde Cylons are the icing on the cake, not the cake itself (though I sure do loves me some icing too).

Yeah, I'm looking at you, Sarah.

...

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Oct 30, 2006 2:29 pm

sarah gives me tingly feelings in my pants :p

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Oct 30, 2006 4:14 pm

Guest wrote:
sarah gives me tingly feelings in my pants :p

Aaaaaand someone demonstrates all-too-clearly why they can't get a date.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Oct 30, 2006 7:28 pm

Sorry to geek out a bit here, but I was a big fan of DS9. And I clearly remember the Circle episode. However, according to Memory Alpha, The circle is the second part of a 3 part story arc which also includes the episodes "The Homecoming" and "The Seige".

I also got to wondering whether RDM was involved with the circle episode, but it looks like he was only on TNG a that time. his first credit for DS9 isn't until Season 3.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Oct 30, 2006 9:23 pm

Yes, "The Homecoming" and "The Siege" were parts 1 and 3 respectively, with "The Circle" sandwiched in the middle, but then "The Collaborator" was sort of like a sequel to the whole shebang later in the season. Remember? With the big Kai election? I especially liked "The Circle" and "The Collaborator" because I had a huge crush on Vedek Bareil. Uh, this is Sarah K., by the way.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Oct 31, 2006 12:08 am

Well Sarah, I enjoy your comments, most especially because I don't regular access to tv, and I can at least know about the show's progression and plotlines. I groove on BG, especially since I can't ever expect more Firefly (best show ever cancelled!!!) ever, again. Since I can't watch it, at least you can keep me in the loop.

And by the way, I *like* your writing.

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