BSG confuses me and perhaps scares me...

[thistlechaser]

Today's ep: Taking a Break from All Your Worries. Gaius Baltar is back on the Galactica and is welcomed back with psychological torture.

First off: WTF? D: Since when did torture, even if it's "just" psychological, become okay? What are you people thinking? How can two good people (Adama and Roslin) not only sit there and let it happen, but decide to do it and carry it out themselves?

Second, the confusing part: Near the end of the ep, they were cutting back and forth between two scenes: Gaeta trying to be tricky and get Baltar to trust him and talk, and Lee/Dee talking about their marriage. The scene switches were fast, perhaps 10 seconds in each scene before switching to the other, over and over, so clearly the writers were trying to get us to see a connection... but what was that connection supposed to be? That a marriage could have no trust? That there shouldn't be trust? Or that it could be psychological torture?

This is the first ep that has made me want to stop watching the series. Not because it was bad, but because it left me so disturbed (and confused as to why). That torture is wrong is a clear enough reason, but the whole ep was just so... "fracked up" to borrow a phrase. Baltar's nightmare alone at the beginning of the ep was enough to turn me off it, and it just went downhill from there. :/

I feel like I need a shower. :/

Comments

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, disturbing episode, ironic title. Even though I want horrible things to happen to Baltar, that doesn't justify what was done to him. He's still a living being.

You've hit the beginning of the rough patch of Season 3; the next episode is one of the weakest ones in the series, but if you can get through that, things'll pick up again soon after. The last 3-4 episodes of the season I found to be fantastic.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

You're right. This ep is really hard to get through. Not only is the storyline pointless (omg religious tension! This is an original plot element-- no wait...), but the characters don't even seem to be acting ICly. Odd. :/ 20 more minutes of it left to get through!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

You've hit the beginning of the rough patch of Season 3

Blarg. A Day In The Life (chief and wife go out the airlock) was bad, but I was hoping this next one (Dirty Hands) would be better... but nope. What sense does it make that people would read and believe a book by Baltar? Traitor to the human race just how many weeks ago? And this whole union thing with the fuel-making ship...

Oh well, I'm getting closer to "The last 3-4 episodes of the season I found to be fantastic.", hopefully next ep will pick up! :D

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

Baltar oozes charisma, and not everyone is as aware of all his wrongs as the audience is. ;p

His ability for self-preservation is truly astonishing, really; you could almost make an argument for divine intervention. (I could say something about Baltar Getting Religion, but it'd be spoilery. But it's amusing in a sad way.)

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, this episode synapses interests me. I may have to go back and figure out where I left off in the series and then start watching again (I think it was at the episode where the Cyclons found them on New Earth. Stupid Baltar...)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oh, you should! It's totally worth watching. :D

[citizenbleys.livejournal.com]

It's a theme--good people do bad things when they think it's for the greater good. Adama and Roslin believed they had no other viable alternative, since the Cylons were trying to wipe them out.

They would also commit genocide if they could, and wipe out all of the Cylons, because from their perspective, the only choice is "them or us."

The series tries to show us the good side of Cylons to keep us from agreeing unreservedly with Roslin. In reality, it's never black and white.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, point...

[littlekuriboh.livejournal.com]

Yeah... Get ready for the low point of BSG.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I'm wading through it now. People say the end of the third season is great, and there are only three more eps of it left, so hopefully I'm started on the upswing now. (I just finished the ep where Starbuck (supposedly) dies. I won't believe it until the series ends and she's still dead though. It'd be just like them to do a 180 and her show up alive in a couple eps.)