Wednesday, 18 February 2009
Isabel tackles the failings of BSG in its fourth Season.
~
My relationship with Battlestar Galactica has been in decline for a while now. It began to plummet with every step Laura Roslin took up Mount Sanctimonious and the second half of season four has pretty much killed it stone dead.
To set the scene... the Cylons have a civil war, the essentially nice half join forces with the humans to run away from the essentially bastard half and find Earth. They, along with the Final Five Cylons (or four, whatever) do just that only to discover it's a nuclear wasteland. President Roslin and Admiral Adama manage to alienate the entire fleet by refusing to explain what the hell is going on and then asking them to allow the Cylons to install a load of Cylon technology in the fleet's ships. This, not unsurprisingly, causes their miraculously-still-existing patience to snap entirely. Tom Zarek and Lieutenant Gaeta lead a mutiny to overthrow Roslin and Adama (who, to alleviate a general concern that they listen to nobody but themselves, have spent the past two days shacked up in bed together instead of trying to do ... well ... anything).
I know the ton of praise that is heaped at the show seems to view this as a deeply brilliant example of moral complexity; Adama and Roslin are making the right decision to ally with the Cylons while Zarek and Gaeta's objections are perfectly reasonable. I really like the idea of the storyline - that Roslin and Adama are at fault for alienating the fleet but that Zarek and Gaeta's mutiny ultimately becomes a bloody and savage mess, and they have no clue what to do once they do have power. However, it's entirely ruined by the infuriating portrayal of Roslin and Adama as obviously Good and Zarek and Gaeta as obviously Bad...
Roslin and Adama's decision to join forces with the Cylons is blatantly the right thing to do - the audience, unlike the fleet, have seen all of the compelling reasons for the alliance, are privy to the decision making process and, by that point, know more Cylon characters than human ones anyway.
In contrast, Tom Zarek and Lieutenant Gaeta are presented as misinformed and initially sympathetic, but never as anything other than blatantly wrong. However, Roslin and Adama are entirely responsible for the way the situation escalates the way it does. There is absolutely no reason why Roslin couldn't spare a few words, or at least put in an appearance, for the Quorum. The Cylons stopped trying to infiltrate the fleet a season and a half ago, most of them are card carrying and pregnant good guys, and the bad Cylons have adopted a strict policy of blowing up humans on sight, not trying to spy on their press releases. All the inflammatory information finds a way to the rest of the fleet anyway so surely, surely she could tear herself away from her existential angst and answer a few questions to, oh say, stop a mutiny.
As it is she lets the nihilistic and beaten dregs of humanity stew in the dark with absolutely no information about what the bloody hell is going on, and about as much control over their situation as a five year old strapped into the back of a hot, sweaty car and being driven across France.
The Mutineers are made up of faceless minor characters and Tom Zarek (who we know is a bad guy because Adama has never trusted him) and Lieutenant Gaeta, a man also of questionable moral fabric, especially after his stint as Gaius Baltar's chief of staff. And, let's face it, his mental condition is far from stable since he lost his leg (plus we suspect he might very well be a bad guy because Starbuck doesn't trust him). So basically it's two supporting and already-shifty characters against the rest of the cast.
Moreover, any legitimacy they might have had goes out the window as soon as their plan takes effect. Zarek kicks it off by gleefully and unnecessarily murdering a red shirt by bashing him over the head with a spanner (and when the man's back was turn as well, the dastardly coward!). He and his troops then turn into trigger-happy maniacs in the space of less than five minutes and start to beat up pregnant women. They try to kill or lock in a cage every other character in the show, and finally shoot a strong-jawed and noble Everyman soldier so that Adama can put on a fine display of moral outrage.
Lee Adama's sympathy for the Quorum's concerns (they all get brutally murdered by Zarek anyway so I guess they learned their lesson in the end) lends their cause some genuine criticism of the Adama/Roslin administration. But then Zarek tries to have him shot in the head as well.
Gaeta, much in the style of Peter Pettigrew, flinches his way through the scenes, quite obviously regretting his foolish decision to go against Adama, before being overthrown and achieving moral absolution and peace (his leg finally stops hurting) by being killed by a firing squad when Adama does get back in power and decides to execute everybody who rebelled. But that doesn't matter because he did at one point refrain from shooting in cold blood a hopeless Zarek-flunky. Because he's noble. Ah well, at least Gaeta's prosthetic leg didn't randomly beat him to death of its own accord.
It's telling that, by this stage, Gaius Baltar - as in his-ego-caused-the-destruction-of-most-of-humanity, cowardly, human-rights-abusing-president turned cult leader and religious extremist Gaius Baltar - is the only character I could still stand.
Laura Roslin has actually turned into the worst parts of Albus Dumbledore (so pretty much all of them then) combined with Harry's I AM THE CHOSEN ONE complex. Resident of a moral highground the likes of which few of us could scale? Check. Messiah complex? Check. Blatant 'this is what you should think about thee story' mouthpiece for writers? Check. Unconvincing flaws that aren't flaws at all but desperate attempts to say 'ooh what a complex character'? Check. Infuriating praising with faint damnation of character with said flaws? Check. So smug I want to punch her in her smug smug face? Most definitely.
After her crazed vision quest led what's left of humanity to a nuclear wasteland (although I'm sure, irritatingly, it'll be proved to be the right thing to do before the end of the series) I genuinely couldn't work out whether her grief-stricken comatose state was unbearable guilt for having led humanity on a self-indulgent quest of faith to a nuclear wasteland, or the unbearable ego-check of being faced with the possibility that she is not, in fact, The Chosen One (although, once again, it's a safe bet that she will be by the end of the series).
The truly gutting thing about it is that I used to love, love, Roslin. She was great when she was the 33rd in line teacher who had just been diagnosed with breast cancer who found herself president of an entire civilisation that didn't even know if it still was one. Any of her vulnerability and even her bravery and strength have gone and have been replaced by a wall of I know I'm Right egomania and an impressive ability to block out absolutely everything but the Right Thing To Do (including the people for whom she is supposedly doing the right thing for).
All of that, and all of her utter insufferability, would have been worth it - well, actually, I dunno, a playstation 3 would be worth it but not much else - if her sense of self and her Chosen One demented politics were undermined by the destroyed Earth. One episode later, however, and she's back to being a sanctimonious bitch and heroically forgetting absolutely everybody she's been elected to speak for, showing us all what a deeply human and complex creation she is by doing some transference-jogging and bonding with Adama. And that's not my sarcastic 'heroically', that's the show's 'she IS both correct and justified' heroically. I don't have a problem with Roslin, very humanly, wanting to bury her head in the sand or at least under the duvet, I think it's a nice moment, but it's definitely not a heroic moment, and one that grates when the show is bending over backwards to portray her and everything she does as unquestionable wonderful.
Even if I could get over my titanic dislike of Roslin (and Starbuck, Adama, and Tori for that matter) the whole business with the Final Five is just a bit silly. Everything, right from their revelation (which included some hilariously ridiculous eyebrow acting from Saul), is just silly. Said revelation was a complete cheap shot, and you could practically hear the writers whooping - 'you didn't see that one coming!' Well, no, but that's because it doesn't make any sense as you've chosen four well rounded, interesting characters who until now have had complicated and interesting stories which all completely conflict with the idea that they are anything but very unglamorously human which is far more interesting than them being millennia-old Superbeings with grand fates (except for Tori who is apparently of the Veruca-from-Buffy school of acting which involves leaning forward, putting your chin down, and trying not to blink, all the time).
The fact that they are apparently now over two thousand years old (and for some reason Saul's alcoholic, capricious, and general train-wreck former wife is some all-knowing power among them (cough)), and the thirteenth tribe were Cylons means that humans didn't create Cylons, or at least, our humans didn't. Which is a real shame, because I really liked the 'God created Humans created Cylons' power scale held by the Cylons which was both interesting and creepy as their fight with humans seemed to start because they basically decided to cut out the middle man.
To be fair, however, I have yet to see the rest of the series, or even the few most recent episodes. Maybe it will redeem itself massively, or maybe I am missing the point entirely and Roslin and Adama's twattishness is intentional and it's just that my consuming hate of Laura Roslin is colouring my viewpoint. As it is though, I am thinking that perhaps I should just cut my losses and run - I still haven't seen The Wire which has replaced The Sopranos as the show that everybody I've ever met (and probably ever will meet) is shocked and appalled that I've not yet seen. Should probably go do that - five whole seasons of Laura Roslin-free television.
To set the scene... the Cylons have a civil war, the essentially nice half join forces with the humans to run away from the essentially bastard half and find Earth. They, along with the Final Five Cylons (or four, whatever) do just that only to discover it's a nuclear wasteland. President Roslin and Admiral Adama manage to alienate the entire fleet by refusing to explain what the hell is going on and then asking them to allow the Cylons to install a load of Cylon technology in the fleet's ships. This, not unsurprisingly, causes their miraculously-still-existing patience to snap entirely. Tom Zarek and Lieutenant Gaeta lead a mutiny to overthrow Roslin and Adama (who, to alleviate a general concern that they listen to nobody but themselves, have spent the past two days shacked up in bed together instead of trying to do ... well ... anything).
I know the ton of praise that is heaped at the show seems to view this as a deeply brilliant example of moral complexity; Adama and Roslin are making the right decision to ally with the Cylons while Zarek and Gaeta's objections are perfectly reasonable. I really like the idea of the storyline - that Roslin and Adama are at fault for alienating the fleet but that Zarek and Gaeta's mutiny ultimately becomes a bloody and savage mess, and they have no clue what to do once they do have power. However, it's entirely ruined by the infuriating portrayal of Roslin and Adama as obviously Good and Zarek and Gaeta as obviously Bad...
Roslin and Adama's decision to join forces with the Cylons is blatantly the right thing to do - the audience, unlike the fleet, have seen all of the compelling reasons for the alliance, are privy to the decision making process and, by that point, know more Cylon characters than human ones anyway.
In contrast, Tom Zarek and Lieutenant Gaeta are presented as misinformed and initially sympathetic, but never as anything other than blatantly wrong. However, Roslin and Adama are entirely responsible for the way the situation escalates the way it does. There is absolutely no reason why Roslin couldn't spare a few words, or at least put in an appearance, for the Quorum. The Cylons stopped trying to infiltrate the fleet a season and a half ago, most of them are card carrying and pregnant good guys, and the bad Cylons have adopted a strict policy of blowing up humans on sight, not trying to spy on their press releases. All the inflammatory information finds a way to the rest of the fleet anyway so surely, surely she could tear herself away from her existential angst and answer a few questions to, oh say, stop a mutiny.
As it is she lets the nihilistic and beaten dregs of humanity stew in the dark with absolutely no information about what the bloody hell is going on, and about as much control over their situation as a five year old strapped into the back of a hot, sweaty car and being driven across France.
The Mutineers are made up of faceless minor characters and Tom Zarek (who we know is a bad guy because Adama has never trusted him) and Lieutenant Gaeta, a man also of questionable moral fabric, especially after his stint as Gaius Baltar's chief of staff. And, let's face it, his mental condition is far from stable since he lost his leg (plus we suspect he might very well be a bad guy because Starbuck doesn't trust him). So basically it's two supporting and already-shifty characters against the rest of the cast.
Moreover, any legitimacy they might have had goes out the window as soon as their plan takes effect. Zarek kicks it off by gleefully and unnecessarily murdering a red shirt by bashing him over the head with a spanner (and when the man's back was turn as well, the dastardly coward!). He and his troops then turn into trigger-happy maniacs in the space of less than five minutes and start to beat up pregnant women. They try to kill or lock in a cage every other character in the show, and finally shoot a strong-jawed and noble Everyman soldier so that Adama can put on a fine display of moral outrage.
Lee Adama's sympathy for the Quorum's concerns (they all get brutally murdered by Zarek anyway so I guess they learned their lesson in the end) lends their cause some genuine criticism of the Adama/Roslin administration. But then Zarek tries to have him shot in the head as well.
Gaeta, much in the style of Peter Pettigrew, flinches his way through the scenes, quite obviously regretting his foolish decision to go against Adama, before being overthrown and achieving moral absolution and peace (his leg finally stops hurting) by being killed by a firing squad when Adama does get back in power and decides to execute everybody who rebelled. But that doesn't matter because he did at one point refrain from shooting in cold blood a hopeless Zarek-flunky. Because he's noble. Ah well, at least Gaeta's prosthetic leg didn't randomly beat him to death of its own accord.
It's telling that, by this stage, Gaius Baltar - as in his-ego-caused-the-destruction-of-most-of-humanity, cowardly, human-rights-abusing-president turned cult leader and religious extremist Gaius Baltar - is the only character I could still stand.
Laura Roslin has actually turned into the worst parts of Albus Dumbledore (so pretty much all of them then) combined with Harry's I AM THE CHOSEN ONE complex. Resident of a moral highground the likes of which few of us could scale? Check. Messiah complex? Check. Blatant 'this is what you should think about thee story' mouthpiece for writers? Check. Unconvincing flaws that aren't flaws at all but desperate attempts to say 'ooh what a complex character'? Check. Infuriating praising with faint damnation of character with said flaws? Check. So smug I want to punch her in her smug smug face? Most definitely.
After her crazed vision quest led what's left of humanity to a nuclear wasteland (although I'm sure, irritatingly, it'll be proved to be the right thing to do before the end of the series) I genuinely couldn't work out whether her grief-stricken comatose state was unbearable guilt for having led humanity on a self-indulgent quest of faith to a nuclear wasteland, or the unbearable ego-check of being faced with the possibility that she is not, in fact, The Chosen One (although, once again, it's a safe bet that she will be by the end of the series).
The truly gutting thing about it is that I used to love, love, Roslin. She was great when she was the 33rd in line teacher who had just been diagnosed with breast cancer who found herself president of an entire civilisation that didn't even know if it still was one. Any of her vulnerability and even her bravery and strength have gone and have been replaced by a wall of I know I'm Right egomania and an impressive ability to block out absolutely everything but the Right Thing To Do (including the people for whom she is supposedly doing the right thing for).
All of that, and all of her utter insufferability, would have been worth it - well, actually, I dunno, a playstation 3 would be worth it but not much else - if her sense of self and her Chosen One demented politics were undermined by the destroyed Earth. One episode later, however, and she's back to being a sanctimonious bitch and heroically forgetting absolutely everybody she's been elected to speak for, showing us all what a deeply human and complex creation she is by doing some transference-jogging and bonding with Adama. And that's not my sarcastic 'heroically', that's the show's 'she IS both correct and justified' heroically. I don't have a problem with Roslin, very humanly, wanting to bury her head in the sand or at least under the duvet, I think it's a nice moment, but it's definitely not a heroic moment, and one that grates when the show is bending over backwards to portray her and everything she does as unquestionable wonderful.
Even if I could get over my titanic dislike of Roslin (and Starbuck, Adama, and Tori for that matter) the whole business with the Final Five is just a bit silly. Everything, right from their revelation (which included some hilariously ridiculous eyebrow acting from Saul), is just silly. Said revelation was a complete cheap shot, and you could practically hear the writers whooping - 'you didn't see that one coming!' Well, no, but that's because it doesn't make any sense as you've chosen four well rounded, interesting characters who until now have had complicated and interesting stories which all completely conflict with the idea that they are anything but very unglamorously human which is far more interesting than them being millennia-old Superbeings with grand fates (except for Tori who is apparently of the Veruca-from-Buffy school of acting which involves leaning forward, putting your chin down, and trying not to blink, all the time).
The fact that they are apparently now over two thousand years old (and for some reason Saul's alcoholic, capricious, and general train-wreck former wife is some all-knowing power among them (cough)), and the thirteenth tribe were Cylons means that humans didn't create Cylons, or at least, our humans didn't. Which is a real shame, because I really liked the 'God created Humans created Cylons' power scale held by the Cylons which was both interesting and creepy as their fight with humans seemed to start because they basically decided to cut out the middle man.
To be fair, however, I have yet to see the rest of the series, or even the few most recent episodes. Maybe it will redeem itself massively, or maybe I am missing the point entirely and Roslin and Adama's twattishness is intentional and it's just that my consuming hate of Laura Roslin is colouring my viewpoint. As it is though, I am thinking that perhaps I should just cut my losses and run - I still haven't seen The Wire which has replaced The Sopranos as the show that everybody I've ever met (and probably ever will meet) is shocked and appalled that I've not yet seen. Should probably go do that - five whole seasons of Laura Roslin-free television.
Themes: Damage Report, TV & Movies, Sci-fi / Fantasy
~
bookmark this with - facebook - delicious - digg - stumbleupon - reddit
~
Oooh, I should totally get round to checking out The Weire.
Haha, internal consistency was a definite casualty of later episodes.
I agree with you about Starbuck-type female characters. I think my problem with her is that the show and actress play her as if the only way to be a strong female character is to essentially act like a man. I read an interview with the actress who plays her where she said "I wanted to base her on a strong female role model but I couldnt think of any, so I based her on my brother" (at which point i pretty much wanted to punch her).
Also, there's an awful point in season three where they kind of imply that all starbuck wants deep down is to be a mother and wife and everything else is just an act to protect herself. vomit.
I really wish TV shows would stop pretending to have big secrets too. It was clear from day one that they didn't know what the hell the deal was with the Cylons, and if they'd kept it that way the series would have been awesome.
This is one reason why I still enjoy BSG. That change has come over the course of the seasons and she has gone from that reasonable person to this other thing.. all in pursuit of this one goal. Then everything falls apart. Everything changes.
The final 5 have been a good selection in my mind. It throws a new light on everything from the earlier seasons. All your preconceptions are flipped. Every action they've taken against the cylons that you've cheered as unquestionably right is now an act against their own race. Their past loyalties and decisions they've made all come into question again...
The latest episode also started to explain why the final 5 were in the situation they were in, as well as filling in a lot of other bits of backstory. I have high hopes that the writers have a plan.
Lastly, yes, the wire is great. I wasn't that taken with it to begin with, but it grows. After a long gap, I've just rewatched the first season and, if anything, it's better the 2nd time around.
Yes, you're dead right. What's doubly annoying about this is it's not only that she "acts like a man" but that's fucked up about it. So she's promiscuous and aggressive and drinks too much, but secretly she's wounded and abused and Just Needs To Be Loved As A Woman. ARGH!
I really wish TV shows would stop pretending to have big secrets too.
Is this inherited from Lost, d'you think?
Also, hello there to Bitterlittleman - I have known people have stuck with BSG more patiently than I have, and I do accept that there might still be good stuff in there but I can't get past the disappointment to see it. You're right, though, BSG has never been a show frightened to change its format, which is admirable.
Did anybody watch Razor btw? I bought because I'm a huge fan of Ensign Ro Laren, err, I mean Michelle Forbes - and I actually thought it was decent. Not a return to form or anything but decent.
People like that exist, and that's the character. Perhaps its heavy handed, but is it unrealistic?
This is a good point. It's not the realism of the portrayal that bothers me it's perhaps what lies behind it, if that makes sense? Like I say I've only watched a season and a half of BSG but I don't think we're meant to despise Starbuck (which I do). I think we're meant to sort of fancy her (which is fair enough), I think we're meant to admire her a bit and I think we're meant to forgive her destructiveness because she's messed up.
"The final 5 have been a good selection in my mind. It throws a new light on everything from the earlier seasons. All your preconceptions are flipped. Every action they've taken against the cylons that you've cheered as unquestionably right is now an act against their own race. Their past loyalties and decisions they've made all come into question again"
Hmm, I definitely agree that their revelation as cylons does throw their actions into a new light, but I'm just not sure that its a better one - Saul's decision to kill his wife for instance is to me somewhat diluted if a.) she comes back and is unkillable anyway and b.)Its so obviously a ironic blow against his own race - I kind of liked the idea that he was such a very messy, very human character...
"People like that exist, and that's the character. Perhaps its heavy handed, but is it unrealistic"
Think I agree with Kyra on this one... I agree that Starbuck is a very realistic, and well acted for that matter, character - however what I dont like is what the show is trying to say with her...
"Lastly, yes, the wire is great. I wasn't that taken with it to begin with, but it grows"
haha - i'm on season one episode five at the moment - beginning to REALLY get into it... good stuff...
Glad it's not just me who reacts badly to Starbuck, because I have read/heard some quite positive things about her.
For instance, the show is very good at writing speeches which make both sounds of a moral dilemma sound plausible, or which criticise our heroes for their failings. However, right from the off these dilemmas/criticisms are basically just undermined by the way the characters are treated.
The second time Zarek appears, he says it's kind of ridiculous that the fleet retains the pre-Cylon social organisation. The problem is that this is entirely true but, for the purposes of the show's conceit we just need to entirely ignore this (which sometimes sits uncomfortably with the show's gritty realism). This awkward problem is resolved by making Zarek a devious bastard. The same applies when Admiral Cain criticises Adama's nepotism and sentimentality.
I think Guy's comment is spot-on:
I find this applies especially to the abrupt changes in direction, which are clever but never allowed to grow organically out of the show's established reality. From one episode to the next, the show's writers decide that we're meant to like Cylons after all, or the Cylon's plans/personalities are just different. Characters do things because the situations the writers want to create demand it of them.
Regarding Starbuck: I actually quite liked her depiction right up until the third season, when they have a gratuitous sequence of episodes in which she is abused and humiliated by Lee Oben. This is supposedly related to her destiny, but when we discover what her destiny actually is, this excuse is revealed as complete bollocks.
@ Isabel: Did you finish The Wire yet?