BSG - Spoilers!

I really wanted to post more about each individual episode, but real life demands have gotten in the way and I haven't been able to devote as much of my attention as that would require. Instead, I'll do a quick recap:

Resurrection Ship, Part 2

Original airdate 1/13/06

Another outstanding hour of television, brings the Pegasus story arc to a close while setting in motion plenty of plotlines for the rest of the season.

This episode dealt with death - facing it, causing it and, in some cases, wanting it: At the end of RS Part 1, Starbuck and Fisk were each tasked with the assasination of the other's commander, a job neither of them was all that anxious to carry out; Apollo, faced with the knowledge that Roslin and his father are planning to kill Admiral Caine, has lost his hope and his naivete and attempts suicide; Gina begs Baltar to kill her, Baltar instead helps her escape and she kills Caine; the horrible beauty of the battle with and destruction of the Cylon Resurrection Ship and the disturbing sight of the thousands of Cylon bodies floating out into space; and finally, President Roslin's cancer has caught up with her.

Will Roslin die? Probably not, but on this show one can never be so sure. Did Dualla suspect that Apollo wasn't answering her radio call while he floated in space on purpose? I think so. Will she call him on that later? I liked that the space battle - a HUGE victory for the human race - was the background against which we got all of this character development, instead of the focus of the action. And since it's pretty certain that Roslin will not die, how will their moment of tenderness affect Adam and Roslin's future relationship? I think this was one of my favorite episodes of the season.

Epiphanies

Original airdate 1/20/06

This is the one where President Roslin does not die, and indeed is resurrected with and injection of some cylon/human hybrid blood. This is sort of a cop-out, but one I'll accept since we all knew they wouldn't kill her off and there probably wasn't any way of writing that that would have satisfied viewers. So how does her survival affect the prophesy? I think it referred to a "dying leader" - she was certainly dying, so I suppose it can still be true. We find out through Roslin's deathbed hallucinations/dreams/memories that she had a pretty bad last day on Caprica - finds out she has really, really terminal cancer, she breaks up with her boyfriend - who just happened to be the President - and the Cylons blew her world to smithereens, making her have to do an LBJ. We also see Baltar and Six in her dreams, making out around every corner. Is she really remembering them? Or is this her subconscious mind putting 2 and 2 together?

The hybrid blood of course comes from Helo and Boomer's baby, but only after Baltar comes up with the idea of using the blood in order to save the baby from termination ordered by Roslin. A termination that Boomer and Helo are naturally opposed to. We find out that Gina managed to not only escape Pegasus after killing Caine, but she has set herself up as the leader of a cylon-sympathizer terrorist group. After reading a not-so-nice letter the President has left for him "upon him becoming president after her death", even though she didn't die, Baltar is convinced by Six that the President doesn't appreciate him, is in fact afraid of him and he does something really stupid: delivers a nuclear warhead to Gina, in support of the militant group. Silly, silly Baltar.

Black Market

Original airdate 01/27/06

I'll start off by saying that this one really didn't do it for me. I find the Apollo character to be really BORING, and this one was all about Apollo. And some girlfriend (pregnant girlfriend?) who died on Caprica but who we never heard about before and some prostitute/single mother/current girlfriend he saves but who we also never heard about before. I know why we had to see all of this - to see the change in Apollo since he tried to kill himself - but still. Boring.

What did I like most? The scene between Roslin and Baltar. I can't recall much other than that. I guess I was just disappointed that they had to conjure up this run-of-the-mill storyline for Apollo when they could have just worked with the plotlines and charcter development they've already established. And it looks like we'll have more of the same next week but with Starbuck as the center of the story.

Still right up there with the best of television, but not up to the show's usual exacting standards.