This is the final fleet-centered single episode. The premise sets up quickly: Ortega (Frank Ashmore, genre b-list player; best remembered as Martin in the original V, or as navigator Victor Basta in Airplane!) a taco magnate and never-before-seen lifelong rival of Starbuck, who turns up murdered shortly after a conspicuously public series of confrontations that begin on the Triad court. That he was murdered by Starbuck's surely pilfered weapon leads to a very speedy trial.
As is usually the case in SF legal dramas, one of the other characters, regardless of their expertise, takes over as the defense. Here it's Apollo (is this the origin of Lee Adama's legal aspirations?), who also assumes the role of private dick. Investigating Ortega's background since the flight from the Colonies, he uncovers a Perry Mason-suitable web of intrigue.
Ortega had at least three people who wanted him dead. He sold passage off Caprica during the exodus, denying women and children in favor of men who could pay. Strangely, he continued blackmailing them once underway, even though he had as much to lose as they did. One of them, though, Charybdis (presumably brother to Scylla), is a war criminal wanted for aiding Baltar's treason.* Baltar, who now resides on the prison barge and can easily pick him out of a lineup. We have a suspect and we have motive. Framing Starbuck is just the icing on the cake.
Using Baltar as bait and an equally Perry Mason-ish defense tactic, Apollo draws the real killer out of hiding to make a fully contextualized confession that's broadcast to very courtroom where the verdict is about to be reached.
* Like Ortega, Charybdis was never mentioned before, and it seems far-fetched that Adama can supply the man's biography and degree of treason, which here is the computer sabotage not too far from Gaius Baltar's crimes in the remake.
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Pros: In the tradition of SF commentary on contemporary issues, it takes a stab at the inanities of the plea-bargain and media sensationalism of the justice system.
Cons: Poor Boomer, stuck with the short end as usual.
Then: B
Now: C
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Episodes 17 & 18: Greetings from Earth
Battlestar Galactica's third act starts here with the series' final two-hour story. WoRP, Apollo and Starbuck encounter a NASA-style shuttle carrying six hibernating humans. Exhibiting spectacularly bad first-contact protocol and familiarity with lower-technology spaceflight for the audience's benefit, part one spends the better part of three acts with various Galactica factions arguing the morality of whether or not to wake any of the apparent family (two adults, four kids). Apollo is at his most sanctimonious yet, arguing constantly to let the ship continue on its way, equating the seizure of the vessel with piracy, and feeling no responsibility for helping bring it aboard the Galactica in the first place!
We also bid farewell to the weaker links of the cast: we get our last look at Athena, whose role in the series has been usurped by the more interesting duo of Cassi and Sheba. She isn't even a viable love triangle component for Starbuck; last week she was resigned to his choice of Cassi, and was even amicable with her! Now, an Adama scion is reduced to acting as schoolmarm for Boxey and his peers. Not coincidentally, it's the final curtain for Boxey as well. Muffett, thankfully, has remained absent since his heroic, blackened turn in Fire in Space.
Later, the family has been moved to decompression chambers, though for meta-reasons, they're unconscious throughout. Apollo hatches another cockamamie scheme to put the ship back on course, with he and Starbuck (as usual) escorting them to their destination and Cassi as a ridealong.
Destination: Paradeen! Refuge for a few survivors, home to Sarah's father and his two comic-relief androids; perhaps Terra is close to inventing their own Cylons... Muffett would be proud of the way Vector (Ray "Scarecrow" Bolger) and his "son" Hector (Bobby "nothing so memorable" Van) bumble through situations, sing and dance, and get in wacky trouble. Like when they withhold the fact that Sarah's father has died, and show her the grave as a special welcome surprise! While bad, Sarah's reaction is a little worse: she curses "All of you! Drunk with your sciences!" Later, feet cold with the idea of having Michael really be the man of the house, she goes berserk on the laughably-open-to-the-elements Viper cockpits to force her new crush Apollo to stay.
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| No real-world parallels here. no sir. |
Where were the sturdy menfolk and the two song-and-dance androids? Searching the city ruins for Starbuck, who, in one of the lamer jeopardies of the series, got lost. Bushwacking the Easties nets our heroes a ride back to the fleet, and since we're approaching the last few minutes of the episode, hasty goodbyes are said. Sarah decides that if you squint, Michael looks enough like Apollo to give cohabitation a try.
Will the Eastern Alliance send more ships to find out what became of their missing destroyer? Not. Our. Problem.
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* This point might be fine if there's no instant translation; unfortunately Michael just had a short conversation with Apollo outside. Thankfully, the scene aboard the shuttle is cut almost immediately before anyone can embarrass themselves further.
Pros: Realistic post-holocaust world, with survivors hardscrabbling out something of a life.
Cons: Half its running time is moral debate, the return of lame android comedy relief, and isn't this a mission Boxey actually should be sneaking along on?
Then: B
Now: C
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