WARNING: Spoilers
I haven't really watched that much of Battlestar Galactica, but I made sure to watch Friday night's episode, Pegasus. Most of my eagerness was due to the fact that Michelle Forbes, who played an excellent role as Ensign Ro in Star Trek: The Next Generation, was cast to play Admiral Cain; a role played by Lloyd Bridges in the 1970s version of the series. Further, from what I have seen of Galactica, it's really an excellent show with a strong cast, gritty plot, and interesting stories. Friday's episode was no different: it was VERY intense, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the next episode in January.
A few thoughts:
1. I really think that the writers overdid it with the Pegasus crew. When Adm. Cain's Raptor arrived on the Galactica, it was like she and her crew were paying a visit to a prison ship; it seems to me that they, like Galactica's crew, should have been overjoyed to find that there were other survivors of the massacre of the colonies. The Pegasus CAG's treatment of Apollo, especially calling him "Daddy's boy" was very much over the line.
2. It would have been nice if there had been some background on Adm. Cain. In the original series, Cain was a living legend. What about now? Adama apparently knew Cain from before the attack: WHAT did he know about her?
3. The fact that Cain and the Pegasus crew were portrayed so negatively from the first made it that much harder to have ANY sympathy for them. Frankly, they are deserving of some. Cain's evaluation of Adama's crew was understandable, and I would even say 'dead-on'. Her decision to transfer Apollo to the Pegasus air wing was also sensible. If not for the shortage of pilots, Starbuck should probably be transferred to the brig for a few weeks...
The problem is that we, the viewers, 'know' Adama, Apollo, Starbuck and the rest, while we don't 'know' Cain and her crew. Hence, our sympathies naturally lie with the former and not the latter.
4. Regarding the subject of Cain's treatment of the Number 6 avatar on her ship and the attempted rape of Boomer, apparently ordered by her... I was naturally outraged. Then I thought about it a bit and started to feel a little less outraged. First, both Number 6 and Boomer are machines, no matter how life-like. Second, they are machines of the same kind that killed literally billions of humans in a sneak attack.(1) Indeed, another copy of Boomer attempted to murder Commander Adama. I think that the source of my outrage is that Boomer and Number 6 are 'female' and I, like most American men, have been taught from infancy that abuse of a woman is completely unacceptable. I note that I didn't feel any particular outrage when the Galactica crew capture the 'male' Cylon; Starbuck had him beaten and President Roslin had him tossed out an airlock.
That being said, the use of Number 6 as a (ahem) toy for the crew of the Pegasus is a gross violation of good order and discipline, and should not have occurred for that reason.
5. Adm. Cain was right to court martial Chief Tyrol and Lt. Agathon, though her summary judgment of them was ill-advised. I believe that a court martial would have found them guilty and likely sentenced them to death or life in prison.
6. Cain, however, would likely also be found guilty by court martial of conduct unbecoming an officer, insubordination, and possibly treason. If the story of her summary execution of her XO was found to be true, the charge of murder would also be possible.
I would note here that, in my opinion, the summary use of deadly force during a time of war is not necessarily murder. For example, it could easily be necessary for an officer to shoot one or more other soldiers to prevent mutiny or misconduct in the face of the enemy. In such cases, summary execution is not only excusable, it is even commendable (though distasteful).
7. Adama's clear threat to use military force to recover Tyrol and Agathon from the Pegasus is madness and he should be relieved and placed under arrest accordingly.
It's quite a witch's brew they've got going on; it will be VERY interesting to see how it is all resolved next season.
Ith at Absinthe and Cookies also blogged about this episode, as did Darleen at Darleen's Place and Hube at The Colussus of Rhodey.
(1) I did the math on this. Assuming that each colony had a population of 6 billion, this means that the Cylons massacred a total of 72 billion people (it may well have been more). There are about 48,000 survivors. If somebody attacked the United States in a similar fashion with the same proportion of survivors, this would leave less than 200 Americans alive.
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