Battlestar Galactica Review - Resistance
It took me some time to actually sit down and write something about “Resistance” - perhaps it’s because I’ve been resistent in doing so? Ok.. bad pun there but in all seriousness, I had a hard time figuring out what I wanted to say about this episode. Why you might ask? Because quite frankly, it was a rather boring episode. Yes it did set up several story lines that are important for BSG but it could have been done in a better way. First off, you can read the synopsis of “Resistance” here but the short end of it all is:
* Col. Tigh’s martial law imposement causes a split within the fleet and ships start denying Galactica’s request for supplies. This results in an armed conflict where several citizens are shot to death accidentally.
* Commander Adama decides to lead the resistance against Col. Tigh’s martial law imposement and leads President Roslin to safety
* Baltar uses Sharon’s love for Chief Tyrol to reveal that there are eight other Cylons aboard the fleet
* BSG Sharon is killed a la JFK Oswald style
* Kara and Helo run into other humans that are initially rather hostile at first but end up helping their cause in the end
Ok.. with that said, the episode set up several paths for BSG. On one hand, we find that there are human resistance groups on Caprica (and presumedly on the other 11 colonies too) that are managing to fight off the Cylons SOMEHOW. On another path, we find out that there are MORE cylons around the fleet and that there were actually many more models than what we’ve already seen thus far. Finally, we see a confrontation being established between father and son as Commander Adama decides that he can not follow the course set forth by Captain Adama and Col. Tigh.
The problem that I have with this episode is that all these storylines could have been told in conjunction with the other episodes thus far. We didn’t need an entire episode just dealing with these passages because in doing so, it made for a boring and in many ways pointless episode. I remember feeling rather empty as the episode ended asking myself.. umm what was the point to that?
Perhaps, it’s not so much the episode these days that’s bugging me as much as how the storylines are being dragged out a bit too far. I love story arcs - don’t get me wrong. They’re great and we know how effective they can be from other shows. Without story arcs, you end up having episodes that are self contained much like Star Trek Next Generation episodes. The key to arcs however is the pace.. and the pace of BSG has slowed significantly. Perhaps things will pick up over the next few episodes, but I’m seriously losing some interest right now. Let’s move it people!
