Review

iTunes TV Review - Battlestar Galactica 3.13: "The Woman King"

Tuesday, February 13th, 2007 at 1:50 PM - by

Battlestar Galactica 3.13: "The Woman King"
Airdate: Sunday, February 11th, 2007

So I'm kind of getting the idea that this episode is not inspiring raves amongst my fellow Galacticans. In fact, this morning I heard someone compare it to season 2's snoozy "Black Market," which...I'm sorry, but that's impossible. No episode is as bad as "Black Market. It's A Fact.

You want to know the truth? I liked it. Perhaps I am too much of a Fighting Agathons fangirl. Or perhaps I was just in the mood for an old school TNG-style bottle show. Or perhaps the whole Bruce Davison thing amused me (more on that in a sec).

OK, so there's some sort of epidemic going on and many of the victims seem to be Sagittarons, who don't believe in medical treatment and stuff. I won't even say what religion they're a metaphor for, because I think you are all smart enough to figure it out (Hint: It's Christian Scientists!). Civilian Dr. Robert is in charge of treating them. Who in the whatsis? That's right, Dr. Robert! He's well-respected and has been there all along, even though we've never seen him before, ever. And he's played by Acclaimed Character Actor Bruce Davison, so I'm sure he won't be important and/or secretly up to no good, right?

Yeah, no. This is like when one of the Law & Order's has a semi-famous guest star lurking in the background, biding their time through all of the red herrings, just waiting to give their big bad guy speech in the interrogation room. If you see Kal Penn scuffling through the scene as a lowly janitor while Stabler and Benson are arresting a suspect, it means he did it.

Anyway, Helo knows Bruce is doing bad things, because he's Helo. After Dualla (who is a Sagittaron, by the way - go, character development!) almost bites it, everyone actually listens to Helo and it's revealed that Bruce is killing Sagittarons because...uh...he...doesn't...like them? I don't know. His motives are sort of vague and sloppily explained. But he does get to give a classic big bad guy speech.

I really dig it when this show, with its sprawling canvas, lasers in on one particular character and the dilemma that arises here - that Helo is always on the wrong side of everything - is a compelling one. And yes, OK, the more screentime for my Fighting Agathons (Helo, Sharon, Hera, Helo's Muscles), the better. I mean, how cute was Hera's little starship mobile? And how much did I love Helo punching Tigh, who kind of deserved it? And though this isn't as elegant a piece of work as, say, TNG's "The Drumhead," there is a classic TNG bottle show-ness about it, which I found comforting rather than derivative.

I also really dug all the little touches throughout, which contribute greatly to Galactica's rich texture. The group scene in the bar, for example, doesn't do much to advance the plot, but I enjoyed watching a big group of BSG characters interact in a slice o' life sort of way. A word of advice to Chief, though: you're kind of turning into that slurry drunk that nobody likes. No, nobody wants to give you a ride home or listen to your three-hour manifesto on why Dodgeball is better than Anchorman (though for the record, I agree with you). Just be careful, OK?

I was also intrigued by the two tiny bits of Starbuck - the surreptitious glance at Apollo and Dualla in the bar scene and the wordless, arm-touching affection she showed Sharon at the top of the hour. The latter thing, in particular, was heart-warming, yet odd. Are she and Sharon best buddies now? Oh, well. It's just nice to see Kara acting like something other than an asshole.

I should also mention that sandwiched into this episode are two tasty scenes that are like fun candy surprises. First there's Zarek, telling Roslin he doesn't think the trial of Gaius Baltar is such a good idea. Then there's Sharon, visiting the imprisoned Six and telling her that she'll try to find the poor Cylon some more clothes. Hey, does anyone happen to have anything that might fit an impossibly tall blonde bombshell with a fondness for microminis? Six, by the way, is also being visited by HallucinoBaltar. Lovely.

Yeah, I liked it. And it's not "Black Market"! It's not! Make that comparison again and I will squash you with Lee's fat suit.

iTunes Links

Battlestar Galactica - Series
Battlestar Galactica - Season 3
"The Woman King"

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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)

Tue Feb 13, 2007 3:11 pm

Why all the TV reviews? I certainly don't come to ipodobserver to read generic TV reviews. I have too much RSS flow to keep up with as it is.

As far as I'm concerned -- ixnay on the TV reviews (unless it's something rare & really special). Otherwise I'm going to unsubscribe from ipodobserver...

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pak150 said:

member since 04 Dec 2006 with 3 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Feb 13, 2007 3:15 pm

I enjoy the TV reviews (especially the BSG reviews!) - keep them going

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Feb 13, 2007 3:29 pm

I may be only person thinks this, but Black market was better than this episode. It laid out that prostitution wasn't a taboo in this universe when Adama was just surprised he didn't know of the woman his son was paying for sex with. It explained how a free market might viable in this fleet, after all previous legal supply source are eliminated. that there might be a underlying human cost to the booze and cigars they enjoy we dont see on surface.

It reminded us there is still greed, violence, lust, perversion and enslavement even after Armageddon.

They haven't touched on how the fleet gets in good and services since.

Oh, i am wrong, now they have sports bar names "Joe's"

Puhleez! I swear this Joe's bar thing is about as close as to jumping the Shark as BSG has come, and cant believe the writers who swore to break convention would go the way TNG did nearly 20 years ago.

the only redeeming thing of Witch King had to offer other than the great performance of actor who plays Helo, the Zarek scene you mention, was Roslin watching 6 from a two way mirror.

Other than that, the A story stunk to high heaven. I cared nothing over the plight of the Sagittarons, helo, or the Dr.

All this episode did was lay foundation fro future civil unrest from the Sagittarons.

I thought in Black Market, it was interesting at end, when Apollo offered to do the "right thing" and be a knight on shining armor by this prostitute he was seeing and her child, he was rejected by her. That is not typical formulamatic Hollywood stuff for the hero who shoots the bad guy point blank.

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Bosco said:

member since 03 Jun 2002 with 1001 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Feb 13, 2007 3:54 pm

You know what's really interesting about BSG compared to STTOS, STTNG, STV, and STNYC (Star Trek New York City)? This show doesn't deny, even embraces, the fact that economics exists. In Star Trek, if there were a limited supply of some med, they'd stick it in a replicator. In BSG, if supply is constrained, it becomes a moral problem. BSG is all about scarcity and conflicting wants. I love how government and military are ultimately so ill equipped in BSG to manage the scarcities. But they have to work themselves out for people to survive. And sometimes, you have very smart people doing very optimal things on their own that fail a wider moral test. Sucks to not have replicators and have to deal with human reality, doesn't it?

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erictheb said:

member since 22 Nov 2006 with 4 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Feb 13, 2007 4:03 pm

What I want to know (and can't find out) is what happened on Super Bowl Sunday. My Tivo said there was no new episode. The iTunes store stays there was no new episode. Yet the last 25% of the "previously on BSG" portion was stuff about bringing the Sags on board and Chief and Cally looking lovey-dovey. Was there a filmed (but aborted) episode that led into The Woman King? It kinda felt like when the algae planet stuff started. There was no general lead-in as to why they lost all their food. But at least then there was a quick explanation and I don't think there were "previous" scenes shown.

Did I somehow skip a week of my life and miss an episode?

EB

PS Not meaning to sound dumb, but to what does the title refer?

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Feb 13, 2007 4:09 pm

Guest wrote:
Why all the TV reviews? I certainly don't come to ipodobserver to read generic TV reviews. I have too much RSS flow to keep up with as it is.

As far as I'm concerned -- ixnay on the TV reviews (unless it's something rare & really special). Otherwise I'm going to unsubscribe from ipodobserver...

I actually like the TV reviews, since IPO tends to stick to shows that us geek culturists love (BSG, Lost, etc.).

It's a pity that you dislike them so, but many do not share your opinion. Nice review btw, Sarah.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Feb 13, 2007 5:39 pm

" I love how government and military are ultimately so ill equipped in BSG to manage the scarcities"

yes your right, and i love BSG,

but they dont say do they? not since Black market at any rate.

I am poster who brought up supply and demand. your right it is great that replicator dont exist. that is what makes BSG exceptional. it should force writer into corner to come up with innovative solutions. (Joe's Bar?!!) But they also dont take the hard question and answer it do they? other than in Black Market? where do the good come from, and what is cost to individuals? that IS economics! Si

but although we know they are in dire straights with supply and demand, they have done no better than any other show, replicators or not, since Black Market in either asking answering those questions.

And when the audience is asked to buy into the fragility of a fleet where people drink and smoke and eat the 50 tons a week Baltar predicted in season one, and dont address it, That is weak writing, sci-fi and drama.

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DanielDecker said:

member since 15 Apr 2005 with 23 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:25 pm

Picking nits here, but Dee's heritage was exposed way back in season 1 when she was all lovey with Billy, especially in "Bastille Day" when Tom Zareck was brought into the show, this little bit in this eppy was just a reaffirmation of information already presented.

As to the title of this one, the woman that Helo kept talking to, who came beating on his door, whose son was sick right from the start, her last name was King, hence "The Woman King".

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mchampag said:

member since 28 Jul 2006 with 13 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:42 pm

Dude, right on. Keep 'em coming.

Baltar's innocent, by the way.

-Matt

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DaiMac said:

member since 29 Jun 2001 with 952 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:16 pm

I keep saying I'm going to stop clicking on these and you keep drawing me in by making at least one statement that annoys me in the article teaser.

While I agree that this was a good episode, just like Unfinished Business was a good episode despite the fact that it caused some BSG fans to go into major Cylon withdrawl, I disagree that "Black Market" was a bad one. This episode was better, and outside of the miniseries I agree there aren't many episodes (maybe Water, second ep of the first season after the mini) that should be ranked below Black Market, but just because it's small and she is kinda horsefaced (assuming its not a gender-bent self portrait as some contend) doesn't make the Mona Lisa a bad painting, just one of the least of an exceptional body of work.

This was one I had to really watch twice to appreciate, and not just because the very second I saw Ed Begley, before he even spoke, I knew he was the bad guy. It almost breaks itself during Helo's second tiff with Sharon, when he says:

"You think that's who I am, thats what I've become? Thats my defining characteristic, the guy married to a Cylon?"

The fact is that, until this ep the answer was yes, and that was really the point.

Two other things:

Guest wrote:
And when the audience is asked to buy into the fragility of a fleet where people drink and smoke and eat the 50 tons a week Baltar predicted in season one, and dont address it, That is weak writing, sci-fi and drama.

Well obviously there is some carefully rationed and controlled central food supply, hence the vulnerability to contamination and the necessity of taking the fleet through that highly radiocative cloud to get to the algae planet. In terms of liquor, as we saw in the episode where they construct the blackbird its not that difficult to set up a still when you have those types of raw materials lying around. Since there are several ships that have hydroponic or other types of growing capacity, one would assume that is where the yeast comes from, and then you just need some starches from the same source. There is also obviously at least the facsimile of a functional currency system, or what the heck to they play Pyramid with? I don't think Starbuck is gonna play if there isn't any money.

As to smokes that's a good question, I'm still not clear if they're smoking a tobacco or the smokeable plant they apparently discovered on New Caprica. Either way, other than Doc Coddle you only see people smoke occasionally, I'm guessing he is owed quite a few favors, hence his seemingly endless supply.

In fact, the only really good example of ridiculous excess in consumables on BSG are all season 1 or early season 2, and center around the Cloud Nine, a massive luxury liner that probably had a 5 year supply of liquor and other raw materials to start with. When abused-Pegasus-Six nuked it she probably took most of the remaining real liquor with her, not to mention all those other trees and plants.

I'm not saying that you don't have a point at all, but most of the more egregious and important stuff has been addressed one way or another, heck I mentioned the episode Water earlier, that and the followup Bastille day tackled the supply problem pretty early. It isn't perfect, but they do try.

Secondly,

DanielDecker wrote:
Picking nits here, but Dee's heritage was exposed way back in season 1 when she was all lovey with Billy, especially in "Bastille Day" when Tom Zareck was brought into the show, this little bit in this eppy was just a reaffirmation of information already presented.
Absolutely correct, although the Sagitarron survivors such as Zarek and his cohorts are political dissidents, and specifically anti-religious. In the first issue of the recent BSG:Zarek comic Sagitarron is an industrial world that utilizes effectively slave labor to feed resources to the wealthier colonies, and the Cylons are created in part because of increasing unrest among the worker population, as replacements for unreliable humans. It certainly isn't canon, but again it fits more with the original presentation of the Sagitarrons. As I recall it was the Gemenese who are the big religious nuts, but maybe there is more than one colony of those.

BTW BSG Zarek comic is good, but despite some awesome cover art I've yet to be blown away by either of the main BSG comic titles that are coming out.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Feb 13, 2007 8:52 pm

Colonel Tigh is one of the Final Five.

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boric*acid said:

member since 13 Jun 2006 with 28 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Feb 14, 2007 12:12 pm

Count me in the 'Black Market' was a great episode camp too. It was nice to see that Lee was human after all, that he had this fantasy relationship with a prostitute. It was very good character development. That was something I used to appreciate about this show; the characters were all multi-dimensional and compelling, the writing was so good. This season, not so much.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Feb 14, 2007 2:21 pm

DaiMac wrote:

This was one I had to really watch twice to appreciate, and not just because the very second I saw Ed Begley, before he even spoke, I knew he was the bad guy.

Dr. Robert was NOT Ed Begley, though. It was actually Bruce Davison. He does LOOK a great deal like Ed Begley, though. :\

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Feb 14, 2007 2:35 pm

YAY! Finally, a decent one-off episode. Haven't seen too many of these, and none that were truly memorable since 'Scar' in late Season 2. This one wasn't up to that standard, but it was still a bit above average.

This eppy lived and died with Helo, and it was nice to see that he was up to the challenge. The Sharon-Helo relationship also got some airtime, which is great because they are probably the sweetest and healthiest couple on the show right now. Other things of note:

- Tigh getting punched in the face: Loved it. And his reaction to it was classic Tigh.

- 'Joes' Bar' scene: Ok, the name of the bar sucks. But it was inevitable that the flyboys would have to have some place to congregate. And yes, Sarah's right, Tyrol is turning into a sloppy drunk. Hope the storyline doesn't go there, I don't know what fresh take BSG could have on something like alcoholism.

- Anyone notice Racetrack's higher profile in this eppy? Guess with Kat gone, we need someone to remind us that the Viper squadron isn't the 'Lee and Kara' show. And Leah Cairns, the actress who plays here, is quite hot in a 'Mary Louise Parker' sort of way. Hope to see more of her.

- Loved Adama's apology at the end. Wasn't overplayed, was just right.

Anything bad? Well, the Sagittarons themselves. None of them was particularly memorable, even Mrs. King felt slightly off or not interesting enough. They were basically just there to be saved by Helo. You really don't get their point of view or their faith, you just mentally substitue 'Christian scientists' for them and move on. Would've been VERY NICE to hear Dualla explain their beliefs a bit. Assume that was a 'delted scene'?

Overall, not bad, even good for one-off eppy. 7 out of 10. Still want to go back to the central story arc though... Final Five, Earth, is Vision Six/Vision Baltar really Lucifer(?), and all that.

.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:43 pm

My wife and I are both BSG fans, we often pick it up on iTunes, cause we just have basic cable.

We are also both Christian Scientists...but I won't take offense at your comment, Sarah. But just to say that we don't doggedly shun medicine the way most people think, but, as a first resort, we usually use our system of prayerful treatment for health care, and it works quite well. And our policy is to always obey the laws of the land, including health laws.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Feb 14, 2007 5:49 pm

I found myself liking the episode in spite of myself. When Helo got to his "I'm on the wrong side of everything" bit, it all made sense. This really was character development, not just a one-off episode.

Keep the reviews coming. They're really enjoyable.

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A guest said: (hide)

Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:41 am

This wasn't a bad show. Good story as far as stories go. Bit more of Helo/Sharon than we generally get. And a break from the Starbuck/Apollo storyline is REALLLLLLLL welcome.

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A guest said: (hide)

Thu Feb 15, 2007 2:03 pm

Guest wrote:
This wasn't a bad show. Good story as far as stories go. Bit more of Helo/Sharon than we generally get. And a break from the Starbuck/Apollo storyline is REALLLLLLLL welcome.

Yep. Because the Starbuck/Apollo storyline has been botched so badly that it makes hardcore fans weep, basically.

.

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A guest said: (hide)

Thu Feb 15, 2007 4:16 pm

Btw, to those who still don't get it- 'Black Market' did, in fact, suck.

If you listen to Ronald D. Moore podcast of it, in fact, you can hear his disappointment in it. He pretty much disses the episode throughout.

.

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erictheb said:

member since 22 Nov 2006 with 4 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Feb 15, 2007 6:41 pm

DanielDecker wrote:
As to the title of this one, the woman that Helo kept talking to, who came beating on his door, whose son was sick right from the start, her last name was King, hence "The Woman King".

Thanks...that answers my subquestion (I prob shoulda figured it out myself). Still haven't seen any chatter about the last 1/3 of the "previously on BSG" scenes and I feel that I was in a time warp. Am I correct that there was no eppy on Super Bowl Sunday? That this was the 3rd ep of Season 3.5? The previous being "Taking a Break...". If so, then where did the Sags coming on board clips come from? And I think there was a previously unseen (by me at least) Tyrol/Cally clip also.

Help put my mind to rest!

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