Main Entry: nos•tal•gia
Pronunciation: nä-'stal-j&, n&- also no-, nO-; n&-'stäl-
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin, from Greek nostos return home + New Latin -algia; akin to Greek neisthai to return, Old English genesan to survive, Sanskrit nasate he approaches
1 : the state of being homesick : HOMESICKNESS
2 : a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition; also : something that evokes nostalgia
- nos•tal•gic /-jik/ adjective or noun
- nos•tal•gi•cal•ly /-ji-k(&-)lE/ adverb
- nos•tal•gist /-jist/ noun
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
WARNING: HERE BE SPOILERS
Currently I find myself in wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for, or return to or of, some past period or irrecoverable condition, namely October 2, 2006. That was the day I published In Defense of the Best Show on Television, about my favorite show, Battlestar Galactica.
Four episodes into season three, I find myself shrieking to the writers of Battlestar Galactica like George Jetson trapped upon the perpetual sidewalk from Hell to please, for the love of the Lords of Kobol, stop this crazy thing! It’s still my favorite show, and I believe the bones of the best show on television are still there, but, keee-rike guys. Every hour of the show this season has managed to end like a bad magic trick. The magician grabs the table cloth, yanks, and all the dishes go flying everywhere. You think, Holy Zeus, how will they fix that unholy mess, and then the next hour begins at a brand new table, dishes and candelabra magically restored to wholeness.
Don’t worry. I’ll be using lots of wretched metaphors in this article today. One thing I’m perpetually reminded of watching BG this season is what I like to call Aaron Sorkin Syndrome, or ASS. This is the practice of casually discarding seemingly vital plot or character points in the service of the next seemingly vital plot or character point. The country is thrown into turmoil and Bartlet hands the reins of the government over to Walter Sobchak because Zoe Bartlet has been kidnapped by unidentified but probably shifty and foreign A-Rab terrorists? Oops, here she is in this abandoned trailer park off the Leesville Highway. A-rab terrorists or sorority hazing gone awry? Will we ever learn? Why no, because it’s on to the next season.
The BG writers have been showing us an awful lot of ASS this season, so much that I barely know where to begin. If the Cylon skin jobs are trying to create a utopian human-ville, why don’t they plant some flowers, give them all stackable washer/dryer units, or, you know, something? Conversely, if they’re not trying to create hu-topia, why don’t they just kill them all? Yeah, I get that they’re arguing amongst themselves, but there’s a really quick solution to the argument. An anti-human skin job can just nuke the lot of them. End argument.
Article comments
1 - Erynn
I was very skeptical about a full season on New Caprica, but now they have left I think it was a nice diversion from two seasons of mostly space. Yes, it has it's problems. Sure, Kara was gullible about the kid, but who knows how fast cylons grow? Well... we do, but Kara didn't. Also, don't they need explosive rounds to kill the tin cans, or were those different models that got on board Galactica. We'll probably never know. And can we please get Lee out of the fat suit? It's a bit ridiculous.
All I do know, is last Friday's episode was possibly one of the best episodes yet.
2 - sungoddess
There was no blood on that steak!!! Why do people keep saying that? That was GRAVY!!! If there was blood on the steak, where's the blood on the plate? Where's the blood on the table? What, he gushed blood and it just conveniently fell on the steak and nowhere else? Watch that episode again.... it's gravy mate. Still, Kara took him out like the crazy woman she is... I LOVE THIS SHOW!!!
3 - Kati
I'm sorry...I wasn't clear about the blood...it wasn't on the steak...but it sure was all over her hands. She's such a badass!
4 - sungoddess
Yes... I concede this... the blood was all over her hands... and it's a touch I loved... right down to the whole wiping in the carpet thing, the whole napkin to the mouth... I LOVED that scene. And I hope I didn't come off rabid, it's just I've read that whole 'Leoben's blood on the steak' bit in three or four different places, and it just mystifies me. Mind you, I've watched that episode about twenty times since it aired, so you'll forgive me. I am a BSG geek in the WORST way,,, and yeah, Kara is badass.... one hard core bitch and I love her.
5 - Logan Gawain
It's a little hard to blame Aaron Sorkin for the resolution to the Zoe kidnapping plot, since he left the show before it was resolved. (The last ep he wrote was the ep when, as you put it, Barlett gave power to Walter -- thankfully Walter didn't deliver a speech about Vietnam.)
Anyway, most of your other concerns come from not paying attention.
Laura never reappeared in the city. She was in Col. Tigh's bat cave hiding out with Zarek and the rest of the resistance. As Baltar noted in Exodus Part 2 no one knew where Roslin, Zarek, and Tigh were hiding.
The little girl looked around 2-ish. The incident at the farm happened early in season 2. Then at the end of season 2 we jump ahead over a year. Then in season 3 we jump ahead another 4 months. So, the math might barely work out.
The resistance, the vipers, were distracting the "tin cans" allowing the people to get to their ships.
Xena may not have been aware that everyone had left, as Adama and Tigh's plan to totally confuse the Cylons seemed to work. Plus, as we saw she didn't really desire to set off the nuke, but was instead on her personal dream inspired quest to find Hera.
Regards....
6 - CoMa7oSe
Not all the humans were gone yet, so Gaius' attempt to stop D'anna were well based. Gaeta was clearly still there, and he got off the same raptor as Tigh and Tyrol. Roslin and her crew hadn't gotten to Colonial 1 yet (the whole conversation about the nuke occured on Colonial 1). Kara and Anders and Kacey were still in the detention center. And there may well have been many more.
Baltar had no way of knowing whether there was still a significant human population or not.
Watching the 'Resistance' webisodes will tell you a lot about the weapons the detainees have, and how and why they choose to use them (sparingly). Also, 2 snipers against 4 bulletheads out in the middle of nowhere is a far cry from a few guys with some guns against the entire cylon occupying force.
The Galactica wasn't just creating a distraction, it was ensuring that its few Vipers could get to ground level to assist the escapees and protect them from cylon ships flying about. I am a huge Battlestar freak, I have watched each episode about 20 times, and I saw no loose ends. Pay attention in the future.
7 - Kati
I appreciate all your points. I would propose, however, that it should not take 20 viewings to absorb an episode.
8 - sungoddess
Hey Kati,
I doesn't take twenty watchings to absorb an episode... I caught up with the show after Season 2 had ended, but had seen the mini-series when it first aired. The mini-series had made such an impact on me, three years ago, that I remembered small details that were relevant in later episodes. This is true throughout all the subsequent episodes.
Often though, as one re-watches you can connect other dots in the greater picture that is this show... also when you watch an episode twenty odd times, the minutiae simply ingrains itself and a BSG geek understands and appreciates that this show does not degrade itself after multiple watchings... in fact it appreciates.
I always absorb things on the first watching, but real analysis can only occur when I take in something more than once. This applies to art, to film, books etc....