Written by Joel Anderson Thompson
Directed by Rod Hardy
“Pull yourself together! You’re about to become President of the Colonies. You’re going to be asked to make some very hard decisions. Act like you can handle it.”
There’s no way Epiphanies could follow the previous three episodes without falling short. That said, it sets up interesting plot lines down the road towards season three…and it does so with some considerable style.
I found much of the flashback portion of the story to be fair but unexciting. A little bit of colour and background to Roslin’s pre-catastrophe life, her apparent tryst with former President Adar, her solving the situation with the striking teachers…on a plot level, it didn’t do much for me. On a visual level, it’s something else entirely…but we’ll get back to that.
The meat of the episode is much better: the fleet falling into crisis from a pacifist movement, the decision to abort Sharon-Cylon’s baby, and Baltar’s continuing relationship with the Gina/Six Cylon he rescued from the clutches of the Pegasus crew. All of this is well written and well played, with numerous wonderful scenes (Helo making a futile but loving last stand for his child; Gina’s inability to be intimate with Baltar, despite her deep feelings for him, Sharon’s smashing of the cell glass in response to the attempt to abort her child…).
My primary complaint is the speed of it all. It’s dynamic, it’s lightning-paced…but it loses something in the need for high-octane. The best illustration of this is Gina’s comment that the fleet is crumbling from within — it would have done better with more set up and demonstration, rather than simply taking her word for it. As for other plotlines ? such as Roslin’s discovery of Baltar’s tryst with Six ? stay tuned…
But if Epiphanies is a case of triumphant style yet simple substance, then it’s not afraid to run with the label. The direction is superb — skewed angles and cutaways, ethereal lighting for the flashbacks, and shaky close ups to hammer home the confusing, chaotic emotions running throughout the episode.
The President lives, thanks to Cylon fetus deus ex machina…but it’s an acceptable solution, and one that can be sold by the series and the characters, so I have very little to complain about. Let’s face it: did anyone really believe Roslin was going to die? And thank god that she didn’t; she’s one of the pillars of this brilliant show. Long may she reign.
Ephiphanies ends on one hell of a final scene — stark, simple, and full of destructive possibilites. That’s Battlestar Galactica in a nutshell, wouldn’t you say?
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