Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Battlestar Galactica: Act of Contrition/You Can't Go Home Again

I'm running behind, so I'll cram two eps into one blog... which works out nicely seeing as the eps in question form a nifty two-parter.

With a shortage of pilots Starbuck is forced to instruct a team of kids in the art of flying. Still pained by the guilt of letting Adamas son (and her lover) Zach die unnecessarily, Starbuck begins to lose control of everything around her.

This is another strong offering with very good performances from Katie Sackoff (Starbuck) and Edward James Olmos (Adama). Character development eps in early seasons can often feel like fillers but this is not the case here. The use of flashbacks within flashbacks is a smart piece of direction that keeps the viewer hooked and makes each event lasting and fresh. The biggest let down is perhaps best dubbed the Top Gun moment. Luckily the episode redeems itself by not having the all-American ending I had dreaded. Instead we are left with the most depressing three words in TV history:

"To Be Continued"

In part two (You Can't Go Home Again), the emphasis shifts from the development of Starbuck to that of Adama and Apollo. Forced to deal with the prosepct of losing yet another member of his "family", Adama risked the entire fleet to save one pilot. The conflict between the President and Adama is memorable but on the whole this is a weaker offering than the previous ep. The conclusion is a little too obvious and rushed, although it does offer an intriguing insight into the cylons.

Act of Contrition: 7.5/10
You Can't Go Home Again: 6.5/10

1 comment:

George said...

Sorry - but I found the whole thing pretty lame... The characters aren't great, some 2D attempts at characterisation don't help. The idea of the cylon ship being organic is nice (nothing new tho - think B5?)

I know this isn't realism - but it IS sci fi - and no-one patches a hole in a spaceship but shoving a bit of material in the gap & then flying into space.

Still not risen much above OK for me yet...