"Hero"
Original Airdate: 11/17/2006

I need to start by saying that I love Carl Lumbly. He was so good in Alias, even when we, the viewers, were all like, "How can Dixon not know that there is something weird going on with Sydney? It's like how everyone just believed that Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari were beautiful ladies -- no questions asked!" But then it was so cool when he found out what was up with Syd and even cooler when they finally gave him actual plotlines.

I would also like to say, for the record, that I am very much in favor of episodes where characters are developed and we Learn Lessons, so long as the Learning of Lessons is not sledgehammered into our tiny little skulls until we can no longer form the words to cry out in protest. For instance, one of my favorite Deep Space Nines is the very fine bottle show "Duet," wherein we get characters developed and Learn Lessons aplenty. Like, I now know that I should never get extensive plastic surgery to make myself look like a notorious Cardassian war criminal , as I will surely get myself stabbed in the end.

So. All that said...why didn't I love this episode? It supposedly has Lessons and character stuff, right? Plus, Carl Lumbly!

I think it might have something to do with the fact that Carl Lumbly's character, Adama's old pal "Bulldog," feels very plot device-y. In short, Bulldog is a pilot from Adama's old ship, the Valkyrie, and has been held prisoner by the Cylons. He escapes and seeks refuge on Galactica. And then we learn about the super-secret events that led up to his imprisonment. Back in the day, Adama led a black ops mission to the Armistice line to investigate the possibility of a Cylon strike. Things went kinda screwy, and Adama made the decision to shoot down Bulldog's Viper and leave him for dead in an attempt to avoid detection and retaliation from the Cylons. Now he's convinced that his actions are directly responsible for the big Cylon attack that took out most of humanity.

I can see how the revelation of one of Adama's darkest moments is supposed to be cool. Writing it out, it sounds cool. And yet, I felt sort of detached from both the revelation and the episode in general. To his credit, Carl Lumbly acts the hell out of his slenderly-written part, but you can kind of see the seams of the character -- hey, this guest star is here to do "X!" Thus, I don't feel like key moments connect the way they should -- when Bulldog learns about what Adama did and confronts him, the scene doesn't simmer with raw, rage-fueled power. And when we learn that the Cylons let Bulldog escape on purpose in order to kill Adama…eh. My normally bitten-to-the-quick nails remained intact.

Also, all of this somehow allows Tigh and Adama to sort of reconcile, which...what? I was really hoping that their estrangement would last longer, would build in a painful and fascinating way, so that their eventual coming together would feel more earned, more poignant.

One cool part of this plotline is the ever-awesome Roslin, who basically chucks Adama's resignation into the bin and tells him he's going to accept some stupid medal and he's going to like it, dammit! She's so no-nonsense about it and reminds him that there's no way he can really be completely responsible for the near-annihilation of the human race and it's pretty great.

Meanwhile, if the basestar's a'rockin'...you know the rest. Baltar, Six and Lucy Lawless Cylon are having threesomes, though they all look sort of fashionably bored with the whole thing. Lucy Lawless Cylon is also continuing to have crazy dreams and tries killing herself for fun. I think Lucy Lawless Cylon has pretty much taken over Baltar's spot as the biggest crazy on Battlestar Galactica. And considering that Starbuck and Tigh are also still on this show, that is no mean feat.

So...things I liked about this episode? Carl Lumbly's acting. Lucy Lawless Cylon's craziness. Roslin's kickassness. Things that I was reluctantly "eh" on? Pretty much everything else.

I still have this sneaking suspicion that I should have liked this one a lot more. Maybe a second viewing will do it. Maybe it will be like Bring It On, a movie that I foolishly did not recognize as completely brilliant when I first saw it. Yes, I just compared Battlestar Galactica to Bring It On. All things considered, I think it's a good thing we have a week off before Apollo and Starbuck use boxing as a substitute for sexin'.

iTunes Links

Battlestar Galactica - Series
Battlestar Galactica - Season 3
"Hero"