The Captain’s Hand, 2 x 17 By Luke Hung
We open with a glamour shot of the Pegasus, with her name and Raptor training mission in computer print along the bottom. Nice image with shadows forming from the twin binary stars in the background. I must concede that, in this incarnation of Battlestar Galactica, we never get deprived of the big special effect. A set of extras on both the Raptors and the bridge of the Pegasus set up the interference section of the plot with some dialogue and I predict bad things for the Raptors on the training mission. Ok, that is not a big leap; a blind man could see that coming.
On the Galactica, Apollo is doing the Dirty Sanchez with Dualla. Fine, I concede Jamie Bamber is ripped, but he still shouldn’t get all the chicks. I mean he gets more tail than Captain Kirk. Come on, let Sulu get a little Orion Slave Girl. But noooo, Kirk was greedy SOB had to have all the honeys, in his favor, at least Kirk didn’t whine. Kirk was the space James Bond, Pierce Brosnan version. He wasn’t quite as debonair or disaffected as Sean Connery, but he was much better than Roger Moore. Don’t even mention Timmy Dalton or that other guy, George Lazenby. Hey, that’s who Apollo is. He’s a Timothy Dalton - Bond. He gets all the chicks and the audience is going huh? How did that happen? What was I talking about? Battlestar Galactica, right. Sorry about that went on a tangent on my tangent.
Dualla, who looks hot and sweaty… in the good way, notices that Apollo is now a major. Congratulations, Apollo, I guess it’s easy to get promoted when every other officer is completely incompetent in one way or another or Starbuck. He is also being transferred to the Pegasus to act as XO and to baby-sit Starbuck who is more than the new Pegasus commander seems to be able to handle. Meanwhile on the Galactica landing bay a cargo container has drawn the attention of the deck crew. Marines are on the way, but Tyrol is inpatient. In a few tension filled moments he finds an attractive pregnant teenager locked within. She asks for Dr. Cottle. Wow, can you order that over the Internet? The shipping costs must be murder.
Back on the training mission the Raptors pull away from the fleet to get away from the interference and start sending back garbled semi-panicked messages. They soon after disappear. We also get our first shot of the new Pegasus Commander, Barry Garner. I’ve seen this guy before, John Heard. Well I know he’s not going to last. Not famous enough to add to the cast, too famous to let lie around as a full time extra. Plus he always plays a bad guy, a weasel, or a well-meaning incompetent. I’ll let you guess which one he is this week.
As Lee arrives, Starbuck meets him in the hallway and they exchange pleasant banter all the way to the bridge where Garner is waiting. Garner informs Apollo of the two missing Raptors, which have been gone for an hour, surprising Starbuck. Garner has some choice words for Kara, because she wasn’t monitoring the situation and she storms off. Actually Garner and Starbuck are parallel characters, not opposites as it appears. Both want to do the heroic thing, but where Starbuck is spontaneous, talented, and lucky, Garner is methodical, pedantic, and ill-fated. She probably embodies everything he hates, from that girl in high school that wouldn’t go out with him, to that girl in college who got better grades without studying. Hell, I hate Starbuck sometimes too, but mostly because I can’t have her.
Starbuck decides that shit rolls down hill and since she can’t yell at Apollo or Garner she takes it out on her pilots. They inform her that they have been told not to cooperate with her at all. Starbuck make some comment about Garner being “barely competent and paranoid,” and stalks off. Shame on you Starbuck, that’s how rumors get started. Back to Garner and Apollo and he is bitching about Starbuck again. Also it appears that he has moved into the Commander’s Quarters. That is not a good idea. That room is so jinxed. During the interchange out comes Garner’s engine room background and his hatred of “hotshot” pilots. The dialogue also fixates on his need for organization. Hmm, important plot element? I think so.
Cut to Roslin, she looks angst filled as she stares at a picture of Billy. Her new aide-de-camp sets out her campaign schedule. Yes, Roslin there is work to be done and “many miles to go before you sleep.” She is informed of her very strong political position and notes that her only real rival is a convicted terrorist. She didn’t knock on wood, so that’s going to bite her in the ass. And in the very next scene, Zarek the aforementioned terrorist, informs Baltar that he knows he can’t win, but a delightfully smarmy Baltar can. Baltar begs off stating that he doesn’t like politics, but we know the wheels are turning. Now, that’s immediate gratification.
Apollo walks into the pilot’s briefing room. After questioning where Stinger (Pegasus pilot) is, Starbuck leads the remainder in some Garner bashing. She’s clearly trying to build popularity by trashing the teacher, which is made easier because Garner hates pilots and is a little wimpy. Lee does his XO duty and puts a lid on their seditious talk. Properly chastised, Lee doubles up on, where are his missing Raptor pilots, a question that no one has an answer for. He both dresses down and puts Kara in charge by stating, this is something she supposedly does best, so get him the answer. Cue the jeopardy music.
Back on the Galactica, Rya, the pregnant girl, wants to be considerably less pregnant. Adama for his part, wants to know how she knew to ask for Cottle. Cottle denies nothing and says he does what they want without asking questions. Adama awards him no points for his answer and sends him back to the blackboard. Apparently the girl, actually I should call her woman, is Gemenonise (sp) and that planet doesn’t take kindly to abortions. An entire planet of Republicans, well that’s one solution. Additionally, it’s relevant to the other plot line, the Gemenonise are a key backer of Roslin, her being the prophet and all.
Adama does his best fatherly impersonation and states that Rya’s parents and the Gemenons want her back. Rya is extra reluctant now. “Do you know what they will do to me,” she queries? I don’t know? Stoning, except there are no rocks. Cottle offers that given the circumstances she could be considered a political refugee. That garners him an Adama stare down set on stun. Cottle audibly gulps and decides to flee. No one is immune to the Adama stare. But the damage is done and Rya is now asking for political asylum.
On Colonial One the Gemenon representative, Sarah?, states that under Gemenon law the girl (back to girl because she’s under age) is the property of her parents. Ouch, property? That’s a little 14th century isn’t it? Sarah, not so subtly drops that her people, her voters want this. Roslin states that she the Colonies were pro-choice before the attack and the fleet is pro-choice now. The G-Rep is less than pleased and Roslin dismisses the indignant representative. Adama now alone with Roslin, suggests that population of the fleet doesn’t go up that often and leaves it at that.
Aboard the Pegasus, Starbuck and Pegasus extra #1 work through the last transmission of the lost Raptors. She hypothesizes that the Raptors received a distress call and were not making one and jumped to it. Starbuck and Apollo take this to Garner who places all the blame of this mission at Starbuck feet. Who me? Starbuck asks. She knows she’s a screw up, but she likes to have actually been responsible for the things she gets blamed for. Apollo tries to get everyone to a place quieter and Garner drops the “barely competent and paranoid” comment she made in front of half the squadron. I told ya, that’s how rumors start. Starbuck feebly tries to backtrack, but Garner’s on her like a pit bull. She tries plan B and enlists Apollo to intervene on her behalf, but he does an excellent impersonation of a mime. With no defense remaining Garner relieves her and orders her back to Galactica “let Adama deal with his pet.” True that.
Next scene, Apollo gives Starbuck a little more shit over her attitude and she’s happy to hear it. She says “poor Lee your life is so hard,” and Lee counters with “since I got shot?” Oh, that’s below the belt, but the refs didn’t see it and the fight goes on. Actually that blow took the fight out of both of them and they stare out each other sadly. A recon flight of Raptors searches the last known position of the missing craft and pick up a fragmented and breathy message. I would call it a distress call, but you couldn’t make out that much of what was said. Garner decides to jump the Pegasus to the source of the message and Apollo offers the Kara trap theory, can you say Kobayashi Maru? I can, but Garner cannot.
Garner tries to okay his plan with Adama, who without aid of Kara thinks it may be a trap. That is three main characters telling you not to do something, rule 147 seems to come to mind. Garner bluffs that the trap was considered, but everyone thought it was unlikely. Adama asks Adama if he agrees. Nope he doesn’t, in fact he goes as far as to mention Kara agreeing with him and we all know that Adama will back Lee and Kara every time, especially if they are on the same side. Garner looks betrayed, which he was and sends Apollo off.
Meanwhile, Roslin is seen asking Baltar about the demographic projections for the fleet. Holo-Six makes an appearance and comments that Roslin must be desperate if she is coming to Baltar for help. She is desperate, but not in the way Holo-Six and Baltar thinks. He gets all superior and states that he researched this long before anyone asked. He spares Roslin the reading of the report, giving her the answer to the question she didn’t ask, within the next 18 years the human race will be extinct. I question his “sparing” her the reading of the report. Perhaps this was an elaborate means for Roslin to make a political mistake over an issue that didn’t really exist and create an opening for someone. Irrespective of the of Baltar motives, Roslin after learning this information decides to revoke freedom of choice by executive order.
On the Pegasus all hell is breaking lose. The ship has gone to condition one and the pilots are scrambling to prepare for a combat launch after completing a jump. Apollo sends Kara to the flight line after calling her the best pilot in the fleet and off she goes gleeful in his pronouncement. Apollo then rushes to the bridge and asks what is the status of the ship. He knows the answer but wants Garner to admit he’s defying a direct order, which he does, before doing anything. Apollo tries to relieve Garner but get arrested for his efforts.
The jump goes without a hitch and its quiet, too quiet. Garner orders the missing Raptors collected and the rescue ships find only dead bodies. No sooner does the rescue team announce that the Raptor crews are dead then three Cylon Base ships jump in. Rule 147, Garner, can’t beat 147. Nukes are inbound almost immediately and kablow. Predictably the FTL drive is down and fleeing is not an option. Cut to an exterior shot and the Pegasus anti-spacecraft guns are creating quite the display. Vipers are in the ‘air’ and engaging the Cylons with Starbuck in command. Back on the bridge Garner is more involved with trying to get the engines back on-line than commanding the ship.
Apollo quickly convinces his guard they both have better things to do and returns to the bridge. Garner recognizes he is out of his depth and decides to head to engineering. He places Apollo in command before he goes. Garner proves the single most underutilized maxim of promotions, “people rise to the level of their incompetence.” If a person is good at what they do, they get promoted. Sometimes this works and the person is good at the next level (which will get them promoted and the process starts all over), but sometimes it fails and the person can’t what they are assigned to do and they either are incompetent or get fired. See the wise thing would be to reward a person for the skill they demonstrated and keep them at the job they did so well but nobody is happy with that plan. Management wants more production for more money and the employee wants more power for good work.
Apollo tentatively gives some orders, but get more assertive as the engagement progresses. Adama waits in a different sector, ignorant of the goings on, and unwilling to place the Galactica in the same jeopardy he thinks the Pegasus is in. I personally was trying to run scenarios in my head on how the Pegasus to be destroyed and Apollo and Starbuck still survive. I mean its Battlestar Galactica, not Battlestar G and P. Anyways the battle continues to go on as Garner makes his way to the engine room. He meets a dirty engineer who explains that there is a coolant leak. Ah, a coolant leak is preventing the ship from jumping. It’s always the coolant or ra-di-ation.
The engineer argues that there isn’t enough oxygen in the compartment for an individual to make the repair and now we all know Garner is dead. We kind of suspected it when he appeared, then we thought it was possible when he took the commanders quarters, then it was made likely when he appeared so over his head, but now - yeah it’s a guarantee. The battle is going poorly for the Pegasus, on the plus side she damages one Basestar, but on the negative side the other two are coming to get some. The Vipers are running out of ammo and just before all is lost Garner gets the coolant levels back on-line. Unfortunately, the air is gone, the engineer calls to Garner, get out of there. Instead of escaping, Garner gasps his last breath and you can see the last wisps of air pass his lips. SPOCKKKK!!!!. The Pegasus recalls her Vipers and jumps out of there.
Back on Galactica, Adama is reading Lee’s after action report. Lee takes a positive stance on Garner, but Adama notes that Kara was not quite as generous. Blah, Blah, Blah, and in the biggest surprise of the episode to me, Lee is promoted to commander of the Pegasus. Huh? I guess there really aren’t any competent officers in the fleet. Look at the jump, a week ago he was a captain, he goes through major, and colonel to commander in the span of seven days. The only person I can recall who actually was promoted that quickly, excluding dictators, was Custer and we all know how that turned out.
Plot line B continues as Sarah rails that Rya has not been returned to her parent or prosecuted under the new executive order. I hate people like Sarah, who much like Kat, aren’t happy with winning the battle, they have to rub it in your face and take all of your toys at the same time. Roslin states that she has granted Rya asylum and since her abortion occurred before the executive order so there were no laws broken. Starbuck and Apollo talk a bit. She congratulates him on his promotion and they look like they are going to kiss, but they don’t. Its Ross and Rachel, won’t those crazy kids just make up. No, they are on a break probably for about three more seasons.
Press conference time as Roslin defends her anti-abortion stance. Baltar, smoothly cuts in and defends Roslin decision, while undercutting her ethics at the same time. Nicely done evil genius and with that he steals the rest of the press conference by announcing his candidacy for President. Holo-Six does a slow applause and so do I.
Overall the episode was an A-
Acting: A-, I couldn’t find a bad performance. Mary McDonnell, Olmos, and Callis were impressive. The dialogue was tight. James Heard gave a quality performance, but there were better guest stars, specifically the last three. Bamber was good and Sackhoff was strong. She is much better when the writers don’t make her seem like she is trying too hard to be cool. When you are great, you know it. You don’t have to announce it.
Plot: B+, The plot wasn’t fantastically predictable and given how much tv I watch, if they can keep me less than five minutes ahead of the episode they are doing well. They lose a little with the Wrath of Khan ending. Sorry, but if you are a head writer from Star Trek that is just lazy. Furthermore the Apollo promotion was not logical, but I’ll call it a wash because it surprised me. If you are going off the Pegasus for the next CO, Tigh is your man or that Major that was Tigh’s XO when Adama was laid up. A newly frocked Major is not the typical military call and would definitely rub some people the wrong way. The political moves were nice, people made sense, and Baltar got to do some heavy lifting so that was good all around.
Action/Episode Energy: A, Not the edge of your seat tempo that would normally characterize and A grade, but there wasn’t a moment where I wondered what time it was. The only thing I was concerned about was if they had enough time to wrap of the episode, which they did. No complaints here, Good Episode.
