rivendellrose | well, THAT was unexpected...

Definitely entering the approach to the end of another season. Buckle your seatbelts, make sure your luggage is safely stowed and that tray tables are in the upright and locked position. You may wish to put your head between your knees.

Maelstrom

I walked into this one saying "shit, Kara's going to have a head!Leoben, isn't she?" ...and walked out saying "...I can't believe they killed Starbuck."

Of course, that wasn't my first reaction. My first reaction after her viper fricking blowed up was "So... I guess we know who's one of the final five Cylons now." o_O Because... well. Because we're bad people and watching this after it's come out on DVD, and we've already bought one of the season 4 sets and, um, Katee Sackhoff is totally on the cover.

Granted, Tigh's left eye is still on the cover of S3, but I'm pretty sure they don't have to pay royalties to it for using its image, so... we should be safe. For a certain definition of "safe." A definition that involves "holy frak, Starbuck is either one of the last five Cylon models, or something really weird is about to happen."

That said, I still had a mini-panic when I noticed they'd removed her name from the credits for "The Son Also Rises." Niiiiiiiice move, guys. Way to freak the hell out of everybody watching the first time through. Because, honestly? Even being 98.9% certain she'll be back... ouch. Despite all her fuckwittery and dumbass behavior through the last three and and a half seasons, I've never got over feeling about Starbuck pretty much exactly as I did in the initial viewing of the pilot - she's totally annoying sometimes, but also so absurdly charming and adorable that I can't help but love her anyway. I could go on about what a fascinating character she is from a technical standpoint and how interesting her arc is and all that, but, really - I've known people like this in real life. People who annoy the hell out of me until they turn the charm onto me personally, and then I can't help smiling, joining in on whatever's going on, and vaguely thinking something like "...Hang on, I'm sure I was mad at you a minute ago. You're not allowed to just grin and make me totally forget that! That's not fair!" And that, to me, is Starbuck. I can't hate her. I just can't.

And, more to the point, I just hate seeing how gutted everybody is over losing her. Especially Daddy!Adama. ♥

Fairly sure other things happened in this episode, but I can't actually remember what they were anymore. Oh, except that apparently Helo and Sharon are taking Hera to a psychiatrist... which struck me as very odd until I realized that it was almost certainly understood they'd be the ones talking to the doctor. Still - good to know they haven't forgotten her or started pretending she'll be totally normal after her various ordeals.

Another reason not to worry about Starbuck being dead - I remember now that Leoben referred to her leading the way to Earth, specifically, and, yes, I get now that with the connection to the little figure we're meant to take that she's Aurora. Interesting. It wouldn't have occurred to me to count Aurora among possible gods for people to be associated with, honestly - she's so minor, doesn't figure prominently in any of the mythology, etc. It's a nice touch, though.

The Son Also Rises

Mark Sheppard! ♥ Mark Sheppard is a skeezy lawyer this time, instead of a skeezy small-time criminal, but he's still Badger at heart. I keep picturing his Very Fine Hat. ♥

Turns out Zarek was right about the assassination attempts... awkward. I find it interesting that the assassin turns out to be one of Our People who's tired of sending pilots out to die... so he's going to blow up the whole deck crew and a few viper pilots, along with the vipers themselves? Um. Logic, not one of your strong suits, Mr Kelly. Aaanyway.

Unsurprisingly, Mark Sheppard is a manipulative bastard of a lawyer. Not only has he managed to turn Lee against Daddy!Adama (not exactly a tricky proposition in any situation, but jeeeeez, I had sort of thought we'd got past this whole teenage I-hate-my-dad funk of Lee's - and, seriously, fighting over which of them misses Kara more? WTF, boys? Do we not have better things to do, please?)... but he's also being a total jerk to Caprica. I hope she kills him. ...Not really, because then I suppose they'd execute her right away, but still. The whole puppy eyes "he wanted you to have this pen even though it's the only pen he'll ever have and they won't give it back to him, because he'd do anything to be with you again!" thing? How stupid do we think Caprica is, anyway? My hope is, not anywhere near that stupid. Note to Caprica: I realize you love the little rat, but Gaius is not worth it. At all. Just give it up. Seriously.

I adored the lawyer's klepto habit. Nice way of bringing some extra mystery in, solving the assassin issue, and giving the lawyer a really interesting background... ah, as well as making him more sympathetic to stupid Lee, who falls for it hook line and sinker. Dude, you watched him play both Gaius and Caprica like fiddles - can't you see he's doing the same thing to you? No? Clearly not. *Sigh*

Also, I have a request: Can we please not have a random character be nasty to Sharon every single time the Cylons are brought up, just for a little touch of emotional blackmail? Last season it made sense. Earlier this season it was getting on my nerves, but I could still understand it. End of this season? Please, can't we just drop this already? It's getting tiring. At least the other pilots seem to trust her now.

...And, for the record, the more I defend her, the more I will be pissed the hell off if she decides at some point to betray that trust. :P

Looks like the next two episodes are the trial, judging by a picture of Lee in a suit. Did he just happen to have one in a box on the ship somewhere, or what?

...Oops, and I just saw the preview image on IMDB for the last episode of the season. That would be Starbuck. Okey-dokey, then! I'd wondered if they were going to wait until the beginning of next season, but apparently it'll be end of the season finale!

*Sighs* I know I should be lighting candles and thanking my lucky stars that I wasn't along for the roller-coaster of the first-run, but... it kind of makes me sad that I don't get to really experience the whole "OH MY GOD IS SHE REALLY DEAD??!!!" thing. Sick as it is, I really enjoy getting caught up in that stuff. Woe.