1x13 Kobol's Last Gleaming (2)

I gave my criticisms of the story writing in my review of the previous episode (which also covers this one) and why I thought the core plot conflicts illegitimate and based entirely upon bad dramatic tropes that are intellectually deleterious to audiences/society when they are employed. That's why this is only a 7/10 and not a 9/10.

Otherwise, technically, aesthetically, and dramatically, this was a great episode.

The fight scene between Starbuck and Number Six was very well done by all involved. I'm fairly certain that every single melee shot, if not the entire scene, used no doubles, which is very rare, and the actors did a great job.

The treatment of suicide, and Grace Park's portrayal of 'Boomer' was, I think, progressive for its time, realistic, and acted beautifully by Park. Leah Caims's role in Park's section was the type of role that gets overlooked, but the subtle details of her reactions on their mission was completely convincing, even through a helmet. And seeing her without the helmet and gear later was a great distraction for Sharon's assassination of Adama, which actually caught me completely off guard, even though we knew she was going to do something like this, the pacing of the story and the editing were done masterfully to remove suspicion in the moment of the act.

I had a very long hiatus between the episodes preceding these two, so I don't quite have a handle on how they did it, but earlier in the season I was anti-Adama and viewed him as one tick away from military dictator, and now I was pretty okay with his forced removal of President fanatic but it's at least partially due to dramatic fuckery with how no one seems to be rational about the data presented, and have just been divided into Us vs. Them camps. That can happen, but it's due to the type of thinking that I criticized in my last review, and it's a bad trope that no one had a rational viewpoint, even if it were overruled and drowned out by the frenzied loyalty camps, which would have been a much more satisfying and meaningful story. As it is, the Cylon spies are the only outsiders, and neither Sharon nor Gaius are actually operating upon free will.

Speaking of Gaius... He's the closest thing I have to an audience anchor with these people, divided neatly as they are into civilian (and now messianic) or military allegiance, since he's supposed to be an actual scientist who operates upon scientific epistemology, and thus views Six as an insane jihadi murder-gynoid, but his entire character and all his scenes are just him being dragged around by his id and ego, making an ass of himself and appearing as an insane man. Yes, he's a self-centered egotist due to his lack of social skills and his genius. Yes, he's a "traitor for virtual robo-sex and cyborg fem-dom", but he's also supposed to be a scientist.

I also feel like their scenes are the weakest point of the dramatic storyline, while also being the thing that makes it stand out the most as unique. I hope they can do more with it in the future, especially better than a fucking baby. Jesus, how basic can you get.

Dramatically and "neat" factor, though-- fantastic episode. Great acting almost all-around, with special note for Leah Caims' small but key performance. Grace Park is both adorable and a smokeshow.