Lay Down Your Burdens - Part I by Luke Hung
We open to Chief Tyrol spasming on the floor of what appears to be the flight deck. It looks like he’s drunk and having a nightmares, but what the hell do I know. Elsewhere in the fleet, Baltar and the Prez are going through their pre-debate rituals. Baltar’s is telling himself and Holo-Six how he’s going to get slaughtered by Roslin. Holo-Six, for her part, is trying to bolster Baltar’s flagging confidence with religious assurances, but he’s not buying what she is selling so she switches into beating him up – again. Now this is Baltar’s sub-conscious doing this to him, so it’s pretty clear what he likes in his women. Conversely, Roslin’s pre-debate ritual is to manically rip and toss index cards about her room. Adama is in her stateroom or in retrospect, I guess it could be his stateroom and he adds to her compulsive disorder by saying his father used to break pencils. Roslin likes that idea and starts breaking pencils too. Clearly this scene is only one step from the pinnacle of writing and acting perfection so McDonnell decides to add giggling uncontrollably. This scene is so uncomfortable it hurts my eyes and ears, make it stop please.
Aboard the Pegasus, Starbuck is giving a pack of Raptor pilots some pretty disheartening news about a mission with an expected 20% casualty rate. Because of this risk, the mission is volunteer only. Gaeta gets a few lines and sets up the rest of the mission; they are going to Caprica using the navigation computer/brain from the Cylon heavy bomber because it has outstanding range. How are they going to integrate the heavy bomber’s system to the Raptors? Easy using one Sharon Valerii and in she walks to the briefing room. The pilots look offended and Starbuck has to put them back in line, but one thing is clear. If Boomer stops being useful, she is in a lot of trouble. Commander Apollo comes in gives a very brief pep talk and directs the pilots to the presidential debates.
Ever wonder what the candidates say to each other when they are shaking hands? Well clearly Moore thinks they say what I think they say, which is ‘you suck’ and ‘f-off,’ and that’s pretty much what Baltar and Roslin say to each other. It would have been funny, but the scene lacked something. It just felt awkward, distant, and disjointed. Meanwhile, Sharon, having finished filling her role as the target of mass hatred, is being returned to a cell on the Pegasus with Helo following. She looks overwhelmed and depressed. Helo tries to talk to her, but she gets all prophetic and states that she feels something dark coming. Well, I could have told you that. If something dark weren’t coming there wouldn’t be a show, now would there?
Back to Tyrol, whom Cally finds rolling about the deck asleep, she wakes him and for her efforts gets a vicious beat down. She gets out one half scream before he pummels her into bloody unconsciousness. Ouch, the women on this show get the absolutely worse treatment I have ever seen. Cut to the intro.
We return and Tyrol is now seeing a priest, he states that his father was a priest and he doesn’t really believe in therapy. This priest is played by Al (Dean Stockwell), Dr. Becket’s guide from Quantum Leap. That was a great show, canceled before its time. We later find out the priest’s name is Cavil. He is all matter of fact and point blank with Tyrol and he puts the blame for Cally’s assault squarely on Chief Tyrol’s shoulders. Whose only responses are “You sure you’re a priest?” and “thanks for the pep talk.” Heh, funny, but what did he expect; he beat the girl who probably secretly loves him into a pancake. I don’t think that puts you first on any anyone’s sympathy list.
Back in her office, Roslin receives a report that indicates that she is beating the tar out of Baltar. Which is something he probably likes deep down. Baltar in his lab is receiving the exact same information. Tom Zarek attempts to strategize with Baltar, but he is such a cry baby that he refuses to accept any of Tom’s plans. Holo-Six encourages Baltar to listen while leaning on Zarek’s shoulder. Richard Hatch does a great job not moving or responding in any way to a hot blond draping herself all over him.
Starbuck’s little rescue mission takes off and 20 Raptors wink out of space. Before they go you get a touching moment between Adama and Kara, and a grim one with Sharon hooking herself up to a Cylon brain. On the very first jump, the rescue team loses a Raptor. They continue to plow on, and Racetrack (pilot of the missing Raptor) finds herself in a nebula.
Back to the Tyrol subplot, he continues to receive counseling from Cavil (he will always be Al to me). The chief tries to lie about a recurring nightmare he’s having, but Cavil calls him on it. A three year old could have told you he was lying. In the dream Tyrol climbs to the top of the hanger deck and leaps off. Long story short, Cavil interprets the dream, as Tyrol secretly wanting to kill himself because he’s afraid that he’s a Cylon agent, like Sharon.
In other news, Racetrack, frustrated that they already lost the rest of the rescue team takes a minute to blame her co-pilot. He responds with a don’t blame me you gave me the coordinates. In those intervening moments, the Raptor gets close enough to a habitable planet concealed by the nebula. In a bunch of minor scenes we learn that the planet is moderately habitable, but relatively well hidden. None of the command officers seem to like it for more than a rest and re-supply stop, but you can see that the lesser officers seem a little more enthusiastic much like the general population.
Even Baltar hates the idea of inhabiting the planet, but Holo-Six and Zarek senses an opportunity. Zarek encourages Baltar to use the planet as a political issue. He indicates that the masses are easily manipulated, and the reality of a habitable ‘safe’ planet is better than the dream of an ideal world. Baltar who only moments ago looked down on the whole idea of settlement flips for no other reason but to win an election. For the second time, and in this case, in full awareness, he risks all of humankind for his petty desires. Boo, boo, hiss to you Baltar, you too Zarek for giving him this moronic idea.
On the rescue mission 18 Raptors, I guess they lost only one more on the way; make the final jump to Caprica. They are jumping just over the surface to avoid detection. In a nice special effect clip, deep space is replaced by a dusky landscape and the screaming noise of the Raptors’ engines straining to avoid crashing into the surface. All seems well aside from one Raptor being lost. Well, its not really lost because they know exactly where it is. It jumped inside a mountain. That can’t be good for the Raptor or the mountain, but mostly for the Raptor. A line from Man of La Mancha is particularly appropriate for this circumstance, “it doesn’t matter if the rock hits the pitcher or the pitcher hits the rock. It’s going to be rough on the pitcher.”
In their final debate, Baltar seems to have the upper hand and twists one of Roslin’s monologues making him appear courageous and Roslin appear fearful. He gets to interrupt one of her statements and the debates end before she gets to follow up. I’m not sure that was just. They do the typical end of the debate handshakes and Roslin tells Baltar to “Frack himself.” Well that was a little bitchy, she was much nicer when she was winning.
Meanwhile on the rescue mission, Starbuck runs into Anders’ band that apparently were moving their camp following a Cylon raid. There aren’t many of them left. They joyously meet and hug. Notably Sharon doesn’t look too pleased, its like midnight on New Years Eve and she’s got nobody to kiss. Actually that probably a good thing, if any of the militants saw her they probably shoot first and never ask questions. On the upside, her lack of emotional investment allows her to be the first to hear the incoming rockets. They run to cover, but can’t make it to the Raptors.
To be continued.
Overall the episode was a C
Acting: C, I didn’t like McDonnell’s manic laughter, but that was about it. Everything else she does is great. Sackhoff was slightly better than normal. No one else was any different than his or her normal good selves, but the dialogue was a little weak. I could make some bad things up, but that just wouldn’t be fair.
Plot: C+, Maybe I’m a little cynical. I don’t care that much about Cally or the Chief for that matter, so plot line C meant nothing to me. I mean they had 32 episodes and a mini-series to make them important so it’s too late now. I guess the presidency was plot A, and the political maneuvering was interesting, but only Baltar really made any decisions. Roslin was just dragged along. The planet was a curious development, but if its there just to cause Roslin problems it is inane, if there is more behind it, it may be productive so I’ll reserve judgment for now. On a side note, I read the boards before I finished writing my recap, so I know many thought this episode was great. Well I didn’t.
Action/Episode Energy: C, I just couldn’t get on the beat of this episode. It was all over the place. The only scenes that had any momentum were the ones of the rescue mission. There seemed to be too much setting up of the next part to really get the blood flowing.
