my goodness that was poor
Oct. 25th, 2010 10:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivendellroseBSG: 3.14, The Woman King.
But my goodness that episode was poor. I mean really. On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is "let me spork my eyeballs out, please" and 10 is "please let me feel this happy for the rest of eternity," that was about a 3. And, keep in mind, I say this as apparently the one person in the universe who counts Karl Agathon as high among their favorite characters.
Straight from the beginning, we launch from the "previously" into "what's new in this episode!" in such a way that it's completely unclear what's going on. Seriously, I kept asking The Boy "are you sure we didn't skip one?" And then I double-checked before writing this. We didn't. But the whole thing with Helo being put in charge of the refugees... am I wrong, or did that come out of absolutely nowhere? Did I miss that bit in a previous episode, or what?
As for the episode proper... seriously, this writer wins an Emmy or something next season? Are you sure it was for this show? Because I'm fairly sure he wasn't even writing for this show this time, they just scribbled out the names and a few relevant proper nouns and passed it off to the actors (who, frankly, looked like they were struggling with the horribleness of the script about as much as The Boy and I were). That scene down in the new bar, where Helo and Apollo and Starbuck and Dualla are all talking? I seriously felt like we were watching pod-people, not the crew of the Galactica. Did the poison Dr Roberts was using on the Sagittarons get into the air supply and act as some kind of crazy personality-altering drug on everyone else, or what?
(Incidentally, where are the Librons? Are they hiding? Have we ever mentioned them? Represent, people! ...Although in fairness I think we've always avoided mentioning the Scorpio...ons, too. Er. For exactly that reason, I'd imagine. It's hard to come up with a version of that name that wouldn't be "Scorpions." Scorpons? No... that might actually sound worse...)
Doc Coddle (or however the hell that's spelled) is played as a total moron here, and a complete jackass, which, despite his exterior, is something I've never seen in him before. Grumpy, yes, cantankerous, yes... incompetent jackass? No. Likewise Adama, who hears Helo's complaints and then goes "yeah, no, totally not happening, la la la, go away." Okaaaaaaaay... and then there's Dualla, who's apparently a-okay with someone potentially poisoning a whole ton of her fellow Sagittarons, which seems very un-Dualla-like, and Starbuck and Apollo, who are usually Helo's good friends, who seem to be restricted to making crass remarks and then inexplicably mooning at each other in a way that might actually seem like the most realistic thing in the episode if it weren't so totally random and out of context.
Tigh, also, is a jackass in this episode, but I sort of chalk that up to "approximately normal, if slightly more obnoxious than usual." The one moment that actually made me happy in the whole episode was Helo punching him. We haven't had someone punch Tigh since Starbuck way back in the first season, and I figure it's good for him at least once every season or so. Even Tigh doesn't escape the random changes in character, though! Apparently he's Bestest Buddies Ever with this Doctor Roberts guy suddenly, even though we've never seen or heard of him before. Um. Okay?
The bit with Hera being sent to Doctor Roberts when she's sick. Seriously, this bit was the part where I just freaking gave up on the episode. It made no sense whatsoever. Doctor Roberts is apparently really really super busy with the refugees - why are we suddenly taking Hera down to him? Why is she not being taken to Coddle? Oh, because it's a plot device? Oh, okay, I guess since this episode is already shit that's okay, then. But wait, are we meant to believe she caught the same virus that the refugees have? I thought they said earlier that you could prevent contagion just by washing your hands? Oh, and after that they said that inoculated people (like Helo) couldn't pass it on!
(...In a related but completely random question - who the hell is watching Hera during the day, anyway? Sharon asks Helo to make sure to check in on her. Where? With who? What's Sharon doing all day anyway? As near as this episode shows, she's... doing laundry? I realize that she's probably out on rotations with the other pilots, but... I don't know, this whole episode was so strange to me that I started latching onto really bizarre little bits and pieces. And also getting confused about minor details because I spent a fair bit of the episode shouting at the TV or griping at The Boy.)
And let's not forget poor Helo. Who finally gets an episode that's actually focused on him, as he has not had since he was stranded on Caprica... and it sucks. Like, even for him. He's all crazy and moody and inexplicably angry about Sharon being a Cylon all of a sudden! And I realize he's under stress, but... wtf? You would think that if he was going to get all irritable about the Cylon thing, he'd have done it quite a while ago.
Redeeming features: Umm.... head!Gaius was in it for a little bit! Just for one tiny little scene, though... and even him and Caprica looked kind of like they'd rather have just been left out of this episode. Other than that... Helo had his shirt off a lot? (And actually his pants, too.) Which I'm okay with, although I was a bit horrified to discover that he's one of those actors who inexplicably think they will look better if they wax their chest. No... no, you'll just look like a weird Ken-doll-man, which really, I'm guessing, is not what you're going for. Ummmmmmmm, oh, and makeup remembered to make his poor hand all red and bruise-y a while after he punched Tigh. Which, of course - he punched Tigh. That goes on the list. And... oh, and they didn't kill Dualla. Which was a very good thing. And they didn't break up Helo and Sharon, either, for which I am also very, very grateful.
So yeah. Please tell me that's the worst of the series?
But my goodness that episode was poor. I mean really. On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is "let me spork my eyeballs out, please" and 10 is "please let me feel this happy for the rest of eternity," that was about a 3. And, keep in mind, I say this as apparently the one person in the universe who counts Karl Agathon as high among their favorite characters.
Straight from the beginning, we launch from the "previously" into "what's new in this episode!" in such a way that it's completely unclear what's going on. Seriously, I kept asking The Boy "are you sure we didn't skip one?" And then I double-checked before writing this. We didn't. But the whole thing with Helo being put in charge of the refugees... am I wrong, or did that come out of absolutely nowhere? Did I miss that bit in a previous episode, or what?
As for the episode proper... seriously, this writer wins an Emmy or something next season? Are you sure it was for this show? Because I'm fairly sure he wasn't even writing for this show this time, they just scribbled out the names and a few relevant proper nouns and passed it off to the actors (who, frankly, looked like they were struggling with the horribleness of the script about as much as The Boy and I were). That scene down in the new bar, where Helo and Apollo and Starbuck and Dualla are all talking? I seriously felt like we were watching pod-people, not the crew of the Galactica. Did the poison Dr Roberts was using on the Sagittarons get into the air supply and act as some kind of crazy personality-altering drug on everyone else, or what?
(Incidentally, where are the Librons? Are they hiding? Have we ever mentioned them? Represent, people! ...Although in fairness I think we've always avoided mentioning the Scorpio...ons, too. Er. For exactly that reason, I'd imagine. It's hard to come up with a version of that name that wouldn't be "Scorpions." Scorpons? No... that might actually sound worse...)
Doc Coddle (or however the hell that's spelled) is played as a total moron here, and a complete jackass, which, despite his exterior, is something I've never seen in him before. Grumpy, yes, cantankerous, yes... incompetent jackass? No. Likewise Adama, who hears Helo's complaints and then goes "yeah, no, totally not happening, la la la, go away." Okaaaaaaaay... and then there's Dualla, who's apparently a-okay with someone potentially poisoning a whole ton of her fellow Sagittarons, which seems very un-Dualla-like, and Starbuck and Apollo, who are usually Helo's good friends, who seem to be restricted to making crass remarks and then inexplicably mooning at each other in a way that might actually seem like the most realistic thing in the episode if it weren't so totally random and out of context.
Tigh, also, is a jackass in this episode, but I sort of chalk that up to "approximately normal, if slightly more obnoxious than usual." The one moment that actually made me happy in the whole episode was Helo punching him. We haven't had someone punch Tigh since Starbuck way back in the first season, and I figure it's good for him at least once every season or so. Even Tigh doesn't escape the random changes in character, though! Apparently he's Bestest Buddies Ever with this Doctor Roberts guy suddenly, even though we've never seen or heard of him before. Um. Okay?
The bit with Hera being sent to Doctor Roberts when she's sick. Seriously, this bit was the part where I just freaking gave up on the episode. It made no sense whatsoever. Doctor Roberts is apparently really really super busy with the refugees - why are we suddenly taking Hera down to him? Why is she not being taken to Coddle? Oh, because it's a plot device? Oh, okay, I guess since this episode is already shit that's okay, then. But wait, are we meant to believe she caught the same virus that the refugees have? I thought they said earlier that you could prevent contagion just by washing your hands? Oh, and after that they said that inoculated people (like Helo) couldn't pass it on!
(...In a related but completely random question - who the hell is watching Hera during the day, anyway? Sharon asks Helo to make sure to check in on her. Where? With who? What's Sharon doing all day anyway? As near as this episode shows, she's... doing laundry? I realize that she's probably out on rotations with the other pilots, but... I don't know, this whole episode was so strange to me that I started latching onto really bizarre little bits and pieces. And also getting confused about minor details because I spent a fair bit of the episode shouting at the TV or griping at The Boy.)
And let's not forget poor Helo. Who finally gets an episode that's actually focused on him, as he has not had since he was stranded on Caprica... and it sucks. Like, even for him. He's all crazy and moody and inexplicably angry about Sharon being a Cylon all of a sudden! And I realize he's under stress, but... wtf? You would think that if he was going to get all irritable about the Cylon thing, he'd have done it quite a while ago.
Redeeming features: Umm.... head!Gaius was in it for a little bit! Just for one tiny little scene, though... and even him and Caprica looked kind of like they'd rather have just been left out of this episode. Other than that... Helo had his shirt off a lot? (And actually his pants, too.) Which I'm okay with, although I was a bit horrified to discover that he's one of those actors who inexplicably think they will look better if they wax their chest. No... no, you'll just look like a weird Ken-doll-man, which really, I'm guessing, is not what you're going for. Ummmmmmmm, oh, and makeup remembered to make his poor hand all red and bruise-y a while after he punched Tigh. Which, of course - he punched Tigh. That goes on the list. And... oh, and they didn't kill Dualla. Which was a very good thing. And they didn't break up Helo and Sharon, either, for which I am also very, very grateful.
So yeah. Please tell me that's the worst of the series?
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no subject
Date: 2010-10-26 05:57 am (UTC)The annoying thing about this episode is how interesting it could have been. The central question was worthwhile: when you have limited resources, how do you chose who gets access to them? (Shit, this isn't what we base entire political systems on or anything.) And we could've gotten more on the colonies! I would so totally read a book on colonial history, and we get so little of it on the show. Grrr.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-26 12:59 pm (UTC)I'm still pissed that Felix Ancala didn't win for directing Exodus. WTF.
The annoying thing about this episode is how interesting it could have been. The central question was worthwhile: when you have limited resources, how do you chose who gets access to them?
This is what I think actually trashed the episode. I don't think Angeli is the kind of writer who's able to take a theme or concept and turn it into plot, so it became this whole melodramatic crappy out of character piece of crap. I think when he's given character stuff to work on, like in Six of One, he does well. But I think he is just incapable of generating plot out of a thematic logline in a subtle way - it's the same problem with Black Market, which I assume was given to him in the same fashion.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-26 03:59 pm (UTC)Hell, even the secondary question (what do we do about people who refuse medical treatment, particularly in cases of contagious disease?) is worthwhile and very serious - if it weren't, we wouldn't have babies dying of whooping cough in California and Australia because herd immunity is so low. And I think that's what really peeved me about this episode - it's a subject that I care a lot about, but they mangled it so badly that I was embarrassed to even be there watching it.
And the poor actors. My god, the poor actors. In a few scenes you can actually see them desperately trying to play these horrible lines for something decent, and it's still falling flat. Eugh.
I would so totally read a book on colonial history, and we get so little of it on the show. Grrr.
Me too. But nooooooo. *sighs*
no subject
Date: 2010-10-26 06:02 am (UTC)Yeah, one tiny moment of head!Baltar can redeem a lot.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-26 04:01 pm (UTC)I think... I think in the long run there are probably still episodes that I will dislike more (if only because I am a wimp and will inevitably suffer bad feelings about some episode along the road because of bad things that happen to someone), but this one was just so badly-written that I can easily see it being the technically worst episode.
Yeah, one tiny moment of head!Baltar can redeem a lot.
And yet... :P
no subject
Date: 2010-10-26 01:03 pm (UTC)I think the Helo being in charge of the refugees thing? Was a previousLIE. (I wish I could claim I came up with that term, but I did not, sadly.) The show did that a few times; they would edit in things into the previouslies that had been cut from prior episodes; whether they put together the "previously on BSG" before the final cut of an earlier episode was done or whether they just went ahead and put in cut material, I don't know. I think the latter, which is kind of stupid and borderline insulting. "This moment wasn't important enough to keep in the episode, but it is important enough to later base important things on and we'll need to refer to it for the later episode to make any sense, except you won't have remembered seeing it, obviously, since we cut it, so you'll start worrying about if you missed an episode or hallucinated something."
no subject
Date: 2010-10-26 04:06 pm (UTC)Pretty much where I'm at. The Boy was very angry about this episode, and I sort of patted him on the shoulder and told him "It's over now. And if that was the worst then it's all better from here!"
I think the Helo being in charge of the refugees thing? Was a previousLIE.
That was the impression I'd gotten as well, and I did actually catch them using material out of a cut scene earlier, in the episode with Kat (they refer in the actual episode to a conversation between her and Adama that was cut from one of the earlier episodes, which we just happened to catch because we watched the deleted scenes on that one episode), and I've caught them using slightly different wording before, too, I think, but this was the first time it was an actual full scene that had been cut, in the "previously". Grrrrrr. There was so much dross in this episode, would it have killed them to just edit that scene into the actual episode at the expense of, say, that hideous and pointless scene with everybody in the bar? Or a few seconds shaved off each interminably long, lingering shot of sick Sagittarons? Effective time usage, people!
...This is the problem with the show being so good overall - when they screw up, it's all the more obvious and frustrating. :P