Written by David Eick
Directed by Michael Rymer
“One day…you just decide to get up and walk out of your room.”
Hero was surprising. It had the potential to be a dull story about an overused plot device – the prisoner, long since given up for dead, miraculously returning – and yet…it was decidedly different.
David Eick takes the story and subverts our expectations. Was it the virus from A Measure of Salvation that truly aided Bulldog’s escape? Is he under some sort of Cylon conditioning? In fact, NONE of these are the truth behind the episode. Instead, Hero is a story of men broken by their experiences, and hiding their pain from the world…until that pain becomes their drug of choice.
As my friend James so eloquently writes in his own review, Hero is an episode where the actors pull out their big guns in order to pull off the episode…and the audience certainly isn’t disappointed. From Carl Lumbly veering between disorientation and sardonic wit, to Roslin’s realism, to Tigh’s surprising but painful resurrection (of sorts), we’re treated to some powerful performances.
But even these great actors pale in comparison to Edward James Olmos, who once again demonstrates why he is the heart and soul of this show. Ever since the mission aboard the Valkyrie, he has been carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders…and whether or not it’s true, he carries a guilt that would have crushed most mortal men. It’s fitting that only his son can see where the cracks in his facade exist, and Jamie Bamber’s reaction to his father’s explanation of the back story surrounding Bulldog…and the possible consequences…only magnifies Olmos’ performance.
I also enjoyed the simplicity and elegance of the Cylon plan: they didn’t implant any subconscious commands into Bulldog. They simply broke him, and harnessed his desire for revenge into a weapon they could against the Galactica. The p.o.v. shots on the base star, veering between the truth and Bulldog’s halluncinations, are beautifully conveyed…and I enjoyed the link between the two realities: the rattling of the cage by Number Three, demonstrating the conditioning in progress, despite Bulldog’s false memory of the event.
Speaking of Number Three…this is a woman with serious issues. Nothing much is explained in this episode, but the nightmare she lives through…and the horrific near-death experience she initiates…are no doubt leading to something very disturbing. It’s already led to the most unlikely threesome in science fiction history!
Hero is surprising, touching, powerful…in short, nothing like anyone thought it would be. We give a lot of praise to Ronald D. Moore’s for his vision of Battlestar Galactica…and now it’s time for his partner, David Eick, to reap the kudos for his own work. Between the two of them, we are definitely in safe hands.
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