Battlestar Galactica Review - Fragged
This review is a bit late since things at work have been pretty busy but here goes nothing. First, the normal recap of the show.
Doc. Cottle works against the clock to save Commander Adama’s life. Yes.. Adama’s life is still in jeopardy folks. BSG is going to milk this baby for all it’s worth. Meanwhile, Col. Tigh’s burdens get heavier as he has to deal with the political ramifications of imprisoning President Roslin. The Quorum of Twelve arrives on Galactica and want to see Roslin. At first Tigh won’t allow them but his wife insists that he show them Roslin. Why? Because she believes Roslin has gone mad. The truth is, she’s suffering the effects of her illness and desparately needs medication. Her cell guard ends up getting her the medication that she needs - just in time to see the Twelve. Col. Tigh’s plan backfires as she readily admits that she is dying and she will be the one to lead them to Earth. Tigh’s control of the ship and fleet is slipping ever more.
Meanwhile, Captain Adama leads a rescue mission to Kobol in the hopes of recovering the survivors of the crashed Raptor. They don’t realize that there are also Cylon survivors on the planet who are in the midst of setting up a surface to air missle battery. The SAM site would be used to shoot down any incoming Colonial forces. The survivors on the planet see this and Crashdown is determined to lead a futile mission to destroy the Cylons. Chief Tyrol begins to doubt the lieutenant’s ability to command but decides to go alogn with the plan. However, a confrontation escalates between Crashdown and one of the remaining survivors and it is only resolved when Baltar shoots Crashdown dead from behind. Chief Tyrol and company manage to disable the SAM site and Adama’s rescue team destroys the remaining cylons and saves the stranded crew.
– the review –
Fragged was an interesting episode in the scheme of things with BSG. It starts out somewhat slowly but ends with such a bang that you’re left wondering what the impact of everything.
The episode revolves around two major plot points - the Raptor crew on Kobol and the legitimacy of President Roslin’s administration. I’ll start with the Raptor crew first. A rescue mission was going to happen sooner or later but it really isn’t until this episode that we see the existence of the Cylons on the planet. Sure it was mentioned that Cylons were on the planet but no one actually saw them on the screen. How did these Cylons actually land on Kobol? Were they the stranded Cylons from the destroyed Base Star? Did they come from that loud bang we heard in episode one of this season on Kobol? Oh well.. a small plot hole if you ask me. The center piece of the drama on Kobol was not so much the Cylons themselves as much as what the effects of having the Cylons on the planet are. Here’s the basic breakdown:
* Realizing the Cylons are on the planet, Crashdown theorizes that they are going to shoot down any BSG rescue mission with their SAM site
* This results in Crashdown leading an attack party
* A small mutiny occurs as everyone wonders whether Crashdown is fit to lead
* A confrontation occurs and Baltar of all people takes action by killing Crashdown (shoots him from behind no less!)
* Chief Tyrol later covers up for Baltar’s killing by saying Crashdown died in the line of fire
The whole storyline on Kobol was leading up to this point - the death of Crashdown at the hands of Baltar. Why is this so important? This is the first real instance of Baltar actually taking a human life. The first real instance where he stands up for himself and is also justified by his peers. The killing is quietly accepted and it reinforces all the notions that Number Six is providing to Baltar (one of them will betray them etc etc). Not only is Number Six correct but every one feels Baltar made the right choice to kill Crashdown. I can see how this paves the way for Baltar’s ultimate demise in this series. He’ll begin to see that whatever the humans are doing is wrong and he will see the need to stop them - especially if he feels that he is an instrument of God - something that Number Six likes to emphasize with him.
The military drama leading up to this point felt like a plot point lifted straight out of Saving Private Ryan. Do you listen to your commanding officer even if you feel the mission is foobar? Do you say “Yes sir” or do you disobey the chain of command? Pretty boring stuff except that the ending wasn’t expected.
The B plot revolved around President Roslin and her public admittance of having a fatal disease. The missteps of Col. Tigh actually ends up helping Roslin with her cause and gives everyone both hope for where they are going and misgivings for what the crew of BSG are doing to her. It’s somewhat hard to believe that a person like Col. Tigh could be so extreme in decisions. On one hand he has the sensability to let Adama lead the rescue mission. Yet he has no tact when it comes to politics and people. It’s a bit too extreme in terms of character development for me but hey - people seem to like it nevertheless.
The real impact of what happened with Roslin is that religion is now front and center with the show. We as viewers of the show already knew that but the storyline wasn’t all the way there yet. The fleet wasn’t aware of Roslin’s deadly disease; nor did they associate the scriptures to what is happening to them now. However, now the scriptures and religious text become front and center for both the human plight and the Cylon fight.
