Written by Mark Verheiden
Directed by Robert Young
“Go to hell!”
“I’ve been there. It’s called Gideon.”
Well…that was the most ordinary episode of Battlestar Galactica in some considerable time.
Ordinary in the sense that it was competently filmed, beautifully acted (as always), and gives another new twist to the Cylons: infiltration of the rag-tag fleet. Aside from that, none of this was extraordinary…or something fresh and wonderful. Stories using reporters’ p.o.v.’s have been done on every show from ER to The West Wing to its original, superior outing in an episode of M* A* S* H. Galactica does its own competent version, but I never truly felt anything in the interviews. They simply didn’t get me emotionally involved in the plot…
…and, to be honest, the threats to Tigh and his wife felt incredibly tacked on?as if there simply wasn’t enough plot to run with this week. Again, competent, but hardly outstanding.
And what was all that chaos about Sharon nearly losing the baby? One of THE key ongoing plots of season two…and they consign it to a set of throwaway scenes? Ridiculous!
What does make Final Cut a watchable outing is the amount of juicy, throw-away scenes and character moments…worthy enough to dig out of this quagmire of ordinary drama:
1—The relationship between Apollo and Starbuck: only people as close as they are can tease, fight, bitch, complain and console each other they way they do — it’s a testament to the chemistry between Jamie Bamber and Katee Sackhoff.
2—Starbuck, with the line of the episode: “Can I be a suspect again…please?”
3—The Galactica pilots, post-shower. Men and women of all persuasions were heard hitting the floor, as they fell into blissful, dead faints…drool on their chins!
4—Lucy Lawless — Xena herself! — premiers as the latest Cylon model. She certainly makes for a silky first impression.
5—Kate Vernon continues to make Ellen Tigh the most manipulative bitch-queen since Lady Macbeth. She is absolutely, MAGNIFICENTLY, repulsive!
6—The ending, in the Caprica movie theatre…it opens up ALL sorts of juicy questions. This being Galactica, I’m confident that there will be much follow-up in the future…
So, a generally “meh” episode, spiced up with a bit of the usual Galactica colour. It could have been much worse…and it does make for a bit of a breather, after the previously intense seven weeks.
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