Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock

February 22nd, 2009

Season 4, Episode 16

Disclaimer: Spoilers! The posts covering the last ten episodes will undoubtedly be full of spoilers and are intended for discussion after watching the associated episode. If you’re not up to speed, look away now.

Synopsis

Chief shows Adama the Cylon goo used to repair Galactica. A raptor arrives on Galactica with Boomer and Ellen — the last of the final five — aboard. Adama puts Boomer in the brig. Tigh is very happy to be reunited with his long-lost wife.

Questioned by Adama, Roslin, Lee, and Tigh, Ellen says Cavil wants to rebuild the resurrection hub. She asks for a drink to see the other final four. After the others leave, Ellen and Tigh make love on a table.

Baltar returns to his followers have armed themselves to protect a food stockpile. Later, Baltar sees a hungry child and decides to share their rations.

Tigh tells a displeased Ellen that he’s been sleeping with a Six model, but doesn’t mention the baby.

The Final Five gather around a still-unconscious Anders. The Cylons want to abandon the fleet and strike out on their own, with the unborn Cylon baby as their future. Ellen puts two and two together and realizes Tigh has gotten Caprica Six pregnant. Chief and Tory vote to jump away, with Tigh and Anders (he voiced his desire to stay with the fleet before his surgery) wanting to stay. Ellen, furious at Tigh, abruptly leaves without voting.

Roslin stops Caprica Six in the hall, asks about their shared visions, and wonders if the unborn child is on the same level of “importance” as Hera. Starbuck notices a new piano player in the bar, and asks Chief if he has visited Boomer in the brig.

Ellen angrily confronts Caprica Six in Tigh’s quarters, but eventually takes the high road, saying she can’t make Tigh choose, and will let him be with Caprica Six.

Baltar is handing out food when some heavily armed men (Sons of Aries) arrive to steal everything. Head Six tells Baltar his followers need larger guns.

Adama (drunk again) tells Tigh that the human race’s survival depends on the Cylons.

Tigh tells Ellen that the human race’s future is intertwined with the Cylons. She accuses Tigh of loving Adama more than anything, and votes for leaving the fleet. Tigh says he will stay behind. As Tigh and Ellen argue, Caprica Six keels over.

As Doc Cottle tries to save the Cylon baby, Tigh struggles to express his love for Caprica Six and his unborn child.

Baltar requests weapons from Admiral Adama and Roslin, saying the fleet is falling apart due to the Cylon allegiance. Several crates of large guns are delivered to Baltar’s followers.

Chief visits Boomer in her cell. Anders’ brain monitor shows activity. Tigh hugs Adama and delivers the sad news that his child is dead. Caprica Six places  photographs of dead Cylons on the memorial wall. Roslin and Adama nod in acceptance.

Thoughts

After a few solid, exciting episodes, this one was a serious let down. I sensed an outline, as if the larger plot had to go certain places (return Ellen Tigh, kill the baby, arm Baltar, push the Cylon-Human alliance home) and the characters were unconvincingly going along for the ride.

I did like the return of Boomer, who has been in the shadows for far too long, hanging with Cavil. There’s a possibility of a really interesting conclusion to her relationship with Chief that ties us back to the miniseries. The Baltar stuff was goofy but I liked the return of the manipulative Head Six, as a reminder that an explanation for his visions is much overdue.

But my list of complaints are longer: Ellen Tigh’s return felt awkward, as her behavior didn’t live up to my expectations as the “enlightened” Cylon being from the previous episode, that preached love and forgiveness to Cavil and sought to put an end to the Cylon-human conflict by instilling the skin jobs with human values. Here, she asks for booze (seemed like she kicked the habit aboard the base star), and argued with Tigh for sleeping with Caprica Six, conveniently forgetting how she slept with Cavil (her “son”). She then accused Tigh of loving Caprica Six, then Admiral Adama, and then flipped back to supporting the baby once its life was in danger.

As the only Cylon who got all her memories back, Ellen’s knowledge of the big picture (specifically Cavil’s hampering of the skin jobs’ memories and breaking of the Armistice) should have been interesting to everyone. She could have completed the rush of information coming from Anders.

And Chief, who seemed like he had dedicated himself to fixing Galactica and was rehired by Adama, voted to jump away? Huh?

The death of “Liam,” the pure Cylon child, taken with the earlier discovery that Chief’s son is human, provides more unwanted evidence that the writers never had a clear plan since the end of season 3, and couldn’t handle more than one Cylon child. Hence the decision to get rid of two, leaving only Hera. I can accept that there wasn’t a plan, but the writers really need to make it less evident.

The repercussions of the last few episodes seemed forgotten. Adama should be struggling with a collapsing military, and wouldn’t Roslin be dead by now, having gone off her meds?

Lastly, I must mention my increasing disappointment with the “blended” situation that is presented as an inevitability. I’ve never found the whole Cylon alliance believable. I fear we’re headed for some happy-go-lucky ending where the Cylons and humans agree to merge and colonize some planet together.

Now that Zarek and Gaeta’s rebellion has been quashed and the Cylons seem just as confused as the humans, my only hope to see all hell break loose resides with Baltar and his heavily-armed followers. In the light of all the touch-feely Cylon-loving going on with drunk Adama, silent Lee, and whipped Roslin, I’ll take that.

With only five episodes remaining, Battlestar Galactica is running out of time to wrap up so many things in a satisfying way. This episode didn’t help things.

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