Review

iTunes TV Review - Battlestar Galactica 3.6: "A Measure of Salvation"

Monday, November 13th, 2006 at 4:35 AM - by

"A Measure of Salvation"
Airdate: Friday, November 10th, 2006

You know, sometimes when I'm writing about this show, I feel like my gush-o-meter goes to 11. I try really hard not to get too foamy at the mouth, but sometimes it just happens. And since this season thus far kicks every kind of ass imaginable, I don't see it letting up too soon.

I mean, this episode where to even begin? I would like to submit it as a nearly ideal hour of Galactica -- it's got the massive moral quandaries, the very personal, character-driven moments, the bits of nail-biting intrigue, and Baltar at his craziest. Yeah, about Baltar -- he doesn't get away with forgetting to mention that beacon thing for even two seconds. Six and Lucy Lawless Cylon totally know what's up and proceed to torture him for intel. Can I just say that I love the scene where they confront him? Most shows would score this particular bit with pounding, tension-filled chords, but Galactica gives us that distinctively Cylon-esque mood music -- kind of a minor-key piano plinking? It's perfect.

Anyway, whilst being tortured, Baltar goes to his sexy Six happy place and they do it on a beach. And he spouts off a bunch of stuff about religion and faith. And then he gets all teary and gazes up at Lucy Lawless Cylon and tells her he loves her. The whole thing is insane, people! Also, completely awesome and intriguing. And I think ol' Baltar may have saved his own ass yet again.

Meanwhile, Sharon, Helo and others investigate that mysterious basestar and discover the infected Cylons. Thanks to Doc Cottle, who always knows the answer to everything, we learn that humans are immune from the virus. And somehow,giving birth to Hera makes Sharon Athena immune, too. Which is great, because I think I would have been seriously devastated if Athena had died right after being awarded her own callsign.

After talking to one of the sickly Cylons, the Galactica crew learns that Baltar is now working with the enemy and also that offing the prisoners near a resurrection ship will kill the entire race for good. NotFat Apollo is all over this. Helo, not so much. Helo, by the way, continues to make that Romulan haircut look really, really good. Just saying.

Roslin decides to go ahead with the plan, but before they reach the resurrection ship, Helo kills the prisoners. Now here's another reason why this episode is so awesome. I have always had fairly pleasant feelings about Helo. You know, like when he shows up, I go "Yay, Helo!" and don't think about it much further.

But he has so much amazing stuff to play in this particular hour and it's as if the character just...I don't know, three-dimensionalized before my eyes. It could be that he was all complex before and I was too blind to see it. But after this eppy, after all of the beautiful moments between him and Sharon -- like when she explains to him her choice and struggle to be human, oh my God -- I'm completely fascinated by and drawn to the character. So now, when I see Helo, it will go beyond "Yay, Helo!" to "Yay, Helo now I shall sit back and watch and think."

All this, plus some really great moments between Roslin and Adama, in which they refer to each other as "Laura" and "Bill." You know how I love that. This season frakking rocks.

On a random note, my DVR description for the episode says that "Starbuck is dispatched to interrogate the dying Cylons onboard the infected baseship." But that's not what happened at all, right? What gives? Is the writer of DVR episode descriptions just a really big Starbuck fan?

iTunes Links

Battlestar Galactica - Series
Battlestar Galactica - Season 3
"A Measure of Salvation"

Need more? Talk about Battlestar Galactica in our new iPodObserver.com forums.

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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Bryan said:

member since 11 Jun 2001 with 7331 posts, TMO Staff, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:02 am

Ahhh, Sarah, that's why you should have a TiVo, instead of a 'DVR'!

TiVo describes the episode as, "D'Anna tortures Baltar to find out who is responsible for the virus." At least on mine.

And I totally agree with you on most this episode. The torture and the three way conversation between Baltar/Virtual Six, Baltar/Caprica/Xena, and Virtual Six/Xena-via-Baltar was just way too cool.

I was also fascinated with the process Help was going through, and will be interested to see where that goes.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Nov 13, 2006 10:35 am

GREAT episode ... though I'm not sure how starbuck showed up in a viper during the fight. Otherwise, pretty much flawless.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Nov 13, 2006 1:16 pm

If you watch the scene before the vipers launch you'll see starbuck close her cockpit.

I absolutely loved the eps to. In a way I always liked Helo as the "good" guy. He always does the right thing. This ep just brings it to the forefront. Which is good for me cause i was an Apollo fan. The new not-fat Apollo seems kinda like a jerk now and i hope they fix his character soon. I mean I don't even understand how he fits in the Military structure now since he's a commander but with no ship but it's obvious he's not the XO.

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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 Nov 13, 2006 1:45 pm

FWIW, I have Dish Network, along with their DVR, and my description also read "D'Anna tortures Baltar to find out who is responsible for the virus."

Is this the first time they've said that Six's real name is Caprica?

And what's up with the 5 missing models? I'm wondering when we'll learn more about them. That little nugget was just tossed out there a few episodes ago, but I assume it was a set-up for something to happen later, hopefully sometime this season.

I'm also curious to see the Cylon homeworld and learn more about their society.

Has anyone else heard that Ron Moore says he wants to go 4 or 5 seasons with this? I forget where I read that. In all honesty, I'd rather see a show play itself out and come to a graceful conclusion, rather than drag out the series forever. It's sad to see a great show end, like Six Feet Under or The Sopranos, but I think it's better to have nice arcs for the main characters and come to some finality. Although, admittedly, the death scenes at the end of the final SFU episode struck false notes for me. They were almost all kinda lame, the way they were staged. Which was odd, considering how death was such a big part of the show and many deaths were done well.

Not to go off on a tangent, but, anyway, I hope they bring BSG to a nice conclusion when all is said and done.

And then there's that Caprica TV series to think about.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Nov 13, 2006 1:57 pm

Guest wrote:
The new not-fat Apollo seems kinda like a jerk now and i hope they fix his character soon. I mean I don't even understand how he fits in the Military structure now since he's a commander but with no ship but it's obvious he's not the XO.

Low-Fat Apollo (lol) may actually be the XO after all, since Tigh is presumably off somewhere drinking up a storm and trying to forget the fact that he killed his wife.

As former commander of the Pegasus, I'd imagine that LF Apollo is the logical choice as fill-in XO. But who knows, maybe he prefers to fly, and wanted to be CAG again?

See, this is the problem with the current pace of the show- it's going pretty fast, and we're missing out on a lot of the little scenes that make things hang together.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Nov 13, 2006 2:01 pm

BradC wrote:

Is this the first time they've said that Six's real name is Caprica?

Not by a longshot. Even late last season, the other Cylons referred to the Six that infiltrated the human's defense network and that fell in love with Baltar as 'Caprica Six'... she's like a hero to them.

It's not her real name either, I'm not sure Cylons even have 'real names', its more like an honorific they bestowed upon her. I guess RDM decided that things were getting too confusing without being able to differentiate between multiple instances of the same model.

Hence, 'Helo and Sharon Sharon' is now Athena. It's also a nice shoutout to the original series.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Nov 13, 2006 2:11 pm

Sarah, you're right this was a very good and very 'gushworthy' eppy, but a couple or three things bothered me about it and/or made me go "Hmm....":

1) I REALLY REALLY don't think that Roslin and Adama would've just 'let drop' the matter of Helo stopping their plan to genocide the Cylons. We're talking HUGE stakes here, and Helo's actions, while noble, may have just doomed the human race. The only questions the two of them would've debated was whether to throw Helo in the brig, or out an airlock. And whether or not Athena should join him. So yeah, the ending of an otherwise very good episode really rang false.

I think I understand what RDM was trying to do here- mainly that Roslin's and Adama's reservations about committing genocide would've prevented them from going after Helo (and possibly Athena). However, the pace of the episode was so quick that there was really no convincing way to do that- we needed one more scene of Roslin and Adama talking about it to get that idea, and it just was not there. Adama had reservations yet went along with it, and Roslin was stone-cold about it. She should've put Helo in irons, no doubts about it.

2) There was another out that could've let them continue on with the genocide plan. They may've lost the Cylon prisoners, but they still had a Cylon onboard that they could've 'executed'- Athena. She may've been immune but may still've been a carrier. However, as the Galacticans now regard her as a Colonial officer, she would've had to have volunteered to do it. It would've been a very heart-breaking scene in a lot of ways.

3) Even if the Galacticans had succeeded in implementing their genocide plan, I doubt it would've killed ALL Cylons. Those resurrection ships have a limited range of influence, we found that out in Season 2. And also the Cylons have Baltar, who they know is immune to the virus. If Doc Cottell all by his lonesome can figure out some meds to counteract the virus all by his lonesome, no doubt the resources of the Cylons empire could've done same.

Short-term a lot of Cylons would've died, and it would've been a major setback for them, but they would not have been 'genocided', logically speaking. But I guess it destroys the dramatic tension to say something like, "This will sorta kinda semi-genocide the Cylons, I think."

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A guest said: (hide)

Thu Nov 16, 2006 3:21 pm

Guest wrote:

Short-term a lot of Cylons would've died, and it would've been a major setback for them, but they would not have been 'genocided', logically speaking. But I guess it destroys the dramatic tension to say something like, "This will sorta kinda semi-genocide the Cylons, I think."

Very good point here, and in retrospect I've adjusted my view of this particular case as more of a decision to use weapons of mass destruction or not. Now conventionally they use nukes all the time. I see this more of a decision on the equivalent scale of lets say the US dropping a nuke on someone right now. It's not going to wipe everyone out but it has major moral and social impacts as well.

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