Loss, payback and illusion music-style
Mar. 1st, 2009 11:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chaniWell, I am not a big fan of Starbuck's storylines because it's getting repetitive and boring (hasn't she ever been anything else than lost and messed-up since season 1? Her character has a pseudo-journey because of the mystery thing but zero development!) but "Someone to watch over Me" was definitely better than "Deadlock". The title of the episode could have been "The Great Bear".
Darn show!
BSG goes on studying the concept of family while carrying on the plot and making some character development. I'm mostly talking about Boomer and Tyrol here.
I couldn't care less about Kara's daddy issues. Her mother's issues were enough. But here she got drunk (AGAIN) and got all bothered by her past. Was it necessary? I am not sure, unless they really want to tell us something about that missing father and turn him into Number 7 making of Kara a halfbred. I must say that I'm not very interested in that stuff, and I don't watch BSG to find out what Kara Thrace really is.
Anyway first off, I must say that this episode was well directed, beautifully filmed. The montage of the Starbuck opening scene, and above all, the Tyrol's last scene in the fake house were great***. Aaron Douglas was terrific like he has been in the previous episodes.
Also I see the episode as a tribute to Bear, the BSG composer whose music has been so important on the show and whose blog is always insightful. Music is a character just like the ship. Methinks that the gods of music are the mysterious powers behind the curtain, the ones pulling the strings, the one Ellen and Saul wondered about. By the way, the Ellen/Saul scene in daycare was really a nice touch. It was like a meta scene, commenting on what was going on, suggesting a way out ("maybe Anders could help us"). I loved it. and I loved how thye made it: an aparté showing a childless married couple alone in a child room deserted by children. Feeling of loss indeed!
So the episode was all about loss and its consequences, how we deal with that feeling: illusion and payback. Illusion, through Kara's hallucination, the projection stuff Boomer shared with Galen, Helo thinking he was having sex with his wife, the box that hid Hera; payback through the extradition stuff, Boomer's revenge on the fleet that betrayed her, or so she thought, on Athena of course who stole her identity to seduce Helo and got what should have been her life. Payback is a bitch, payback is Boomer!
Some stuff was obvious: the drawing Hera gave Kara being notes, loose Boomer following her own agenda once Tyrol got her out of the brig, the piano player being an image of Kara's dad. As soon as Kara started telling him about her finding her own corpse on Earth, I was sure he wasn't real and she had made herself an imaginary confidant, someone who could talk back to her unlike Sam. I didn't see Dylan's piece coming out of the little tune though.**
On the other hand, I should have. The episode points out the physical connections between Kara and Sam, how she stroked his arm at the beginning and how she rested on his chest in the end, so her playing the Watchtower song makes sense. He was the one playing it on Earth. Is there a "play it again, Sam" joke hidden in there?
Maybe Kara Thrace's destiny was to marry Sam Anders after all!
The episode drew us, like Tyrol, into Boomer's head but what was happening in Sam's head? Was he the one projecting the piano player in Kara's head? I noticed that his eyes were no longer open at the end of the episode.
Nice Kara/Helo scene too. I noticed that the name of her a father was not Daniel but begins with a D., Dreilide Thrace. The recording was a live at the Helice Opera House*. We'll see.
I wasn't surpised at all by Boomer's mission because I had thought before that her saving Ellen might have been a trick planned by Cavil since it took a lot of time to prepare the surgery, yet I had dismissed the hypothesis because I favoured the idea of forgiveness.
Who's more frakked up and self-destructive, Starbuck or Boomer? In Starbuck's case it's getting old, but Boomer's journey is interesting because her embracing Cavil's views, an therefore rejecting humanity, makes the plot progress and is meaningful in regard to the main arc of the show.
What an awful situation for Athena and Helo. What a way to break a family! The scene in which she screamed in his arms and beat him was powerful. They have lost Hera again; and Boomer might have also managed to tarnish their marriage, damage their beautiful relationship. What a vicious cruel little Boomer. It's obvious she was reluctant towards the overtures Helo made first, and I guess she could have find a way to avoid the sex, then you can see her making her mind and kissing him passionately knowing that Athena would watch it all!
So glad that Tahmoh is back (and what a back! ;- P) but so sad for my favourite 'ship. I want tot hink that after all they have been through they can survive this and save the only not-dysfonctional family that exists on the show. They embody love and hope; hope cannot be destroyed. Laura should know better.
Will Helo remain the noble rock he has been so far? I hope so. We need a strong level-headed guy on this ship where everything is falling apart and everyone is a mess, drinking their sorrow away.
I'm not surprised that Helo was fooled and I don't see it as depreciating the Helo/Athena romance. After all he believed that Boomer was in the brig, Athena was the only Eight that should have been in the bathroom. By the way he must have been told that she was there and she was indeed, before Boomer attacked her. However I don't get that Hera didn't recognize Boomer. She could tell Athena apart from the other Eights when she was a baby. But Hera is a scary little girl so maybe she did know it wasn't her mother but didn't protest, following her own agenda (remember her bye-bye scene!). Now who's going to watch over Hera? Not Boomer, she was clueless last time and willing to kill the toddler, and Cavil must consider Hera the antichrist!
Now I'm torn between watching the preview for next week or remaining unpsoiled.
*ETA 1: Here's something funny and cool. Besides the obvious DNA connection, I made a quick search on Helice and found this on http://www.constellationsofwords.com/Const...s/LeoMinor.html:
Gazelle/Helice (Ursa Major): This constellation, Leo Minor, represents the footsteps of the Great Bear, Ursa Major, or a gazelle in the Arabic figuring, or the footprints of a gazelle... Helice was a common classical name for Great Bear (whose tracks represent the stars of Leo Minor). Helice is the Great Bear, Ursa Major, the name Helice is cognate with the name Helen... Female bears might represent the 'fallen woman' in society; bears have loud passionate 'love affairs' and then part company, leaving the female pregnant and alone. This was somewhat like the experience of Callisto, identified with Ursa Major, who was a hunting partner in Artemis' virgin group. After she became pregnant by Zeus she was cast out and turned into a bear (Ursa Major, Great Bear) for her sexual transgressions.
Hera was drawing stars, Kara said there were good stars...Great bear indeed! I told you it was a tribute to Bear McCreary!
**ETA 2: On his blog Bear explains that it isn't actually The Watchtower music but his music that we hear on the episode.
***ETA 3: I can't help quoting Bear's blog about the final scene:
.
Darn show!
BSG goes on studying the concept of family while carrying on the plot and making some character development. I'm mostly talking about Boomer and Tyrol here.
I couldn't care less about Kara's daddy issues. Her mother's issues were enough. But here she got drunk (AGAIN) and got all bothered by her past. Was it necessary? I am not sure, unless they really want to tell us something about that missing father and turn him into Number 7 making of Kara a halfbred. I must say that I'm not very interested in that stuff, and I don't watch BSG to find out what Kara Thrace really is.
Anyway first off, I must say that this episode was well directed, beautifully filmed. The montage of the Starbuck opening scene, and above all, the Tyrol's last scene in the fake house were great***. Aaron Douglas was terrific like he has been in the previous episodes.
Also I see the episode as a tribute to Bear, the BSG composer whose music has been so important on the show and whose blog is always insightful. Music is a character just like the ship. Methinks that the gods of music are the mysterious powers behind the curtain, the ones pulling the strings, the one Ellen and Saul wondered about. By the way, the Ellen/Saul scene in daycare was really a nice touch. It was like a meta scene, commenting on what was going on, suggesting a way out ("maybe Anders could help us"). I loved it. and I loved how thye made it: an aparté showing a childless married couple alone in a child room deserted by children. Feeling of loss indeed!
So the episode was all about loss and its consequences, how we deal with that feeling: illusion and payback. Illusion, through Kara's hallucination, the projection stuff Boomer shared with Galen, Helo thinking he was having sex with his wife, the box that hid Hera; payback through the extradition stuff, Boomer's revenge on the fleet that betrayed her, or so she thought, on Athena of course who stole her identity to seduce Helo and got what should have been her life. Payback is a bitch, payback is Boomer!
Some stuff was obvious: the drawing Hera gave Kara being notes, loose Boomer following her own agenda once Tyrol got her out of the brig, the piano player being an image of Kara's dad. As soon as Kara started telling him about her finding her own corpse on Earth, I was sure he wasn't real and she had made herself an imaginary confidant, someone who could talk back to her unlike Sam. I didn't see Dylan's piece coming out of the little tune though.**
On the other hand, I should have. The episode points out the physical connections between Kara and Sam, how she stroked his arm at the beginning and how she rested on his chest in the end, so her playing the Watchtower song makes sense. He was the one playing it on Earth. Is there a "play it again, Sam" joke hidden in there?
Maybe Kara Thrace's destiny was to marry Sam Anders after all!
The episode drew us, like Tyrol, into Boomer's head but what was happening in Sam's head? Was he the one projecting the piano player in Kara's head? I noticed that his eyes were no longer open at the end of the episode.
Nice Kara/Helo scene too. I noticed that the name of her a father was not Daniel but begins with a D., Dreilide Thrace. The recording was a live at the Helice Opera House*. We'll see.
I wasn't surpised at all by Boomer's mission because I had thought before that her saving Ellen might have been a trick planned by Cavil since it took a lot of time to prepare the surgery, yet I had dismissed the hypothesis because I favoured the idea of forgiveness.
Who's more frakked up and self-destructive, Starbuck or Boomer? In Starbuck's case it's getting old, but Boomer's journey is interesting because her embracing Cavil's views, an therefore rejecting humanity, makes the plot progress and is meaningful in regard to the main arc of the show.
What an awful situation for Athena and Helo. What a way to break a family! The scene in which she screamed in his arms and beat him was powerful. They have lost Hera again; and Boomer might have also managed to tarnish their marriage, damage their beautiful relationship. What a vicious cruel little Boomer. It's obvious she was reluctant towards the overtures Helo made first, and I guess she could have find a way to avoid the sex, then you can see her making her mind and kissing him passionately knowing that Athena would watch it all!
So glad that Tahmoh is back (and what a back! ;- P) but so sad for my favourite 'ship. I want tot hink that after all they have been through they can survive this and save the only not-dysfonctional family that exists on the show. They embody love and hope; hope cannot be destroyed. Laura should know better.
Will Helo remain the noble rock he has been so far? I hope so. We need a strong level-headed guy on this ship where everything is falling apart and everyone is a mess, drinking their sorrow away.
I'm not surprised that Helo was fooled and I don't see it as depreciating the Helo/Athena romance. After all he believed that Boomer was in the brig, Athena was the only Eight that should have been in the bathroom. By the way he must have been told that she was there and she was indeed, before Boomer attacked her. However I don't get that Hera didn't recognize Boomer. She could tell Athena apart from the other Eights when she was a baby. But Hera is a scary little girl so maybe she did know it wasn't her mother but didn't protest, following her own agenda (remember her bye-bye scene!). Now who's going to watch over Hera? Not Boomer, she was clueless last time and willing to kill the toddler, and Cavil must consider Hera the antichrist!
Now I'm torn between watching the preview for next week or remaining unpsoiled.
*ETA 1: Here's something funny and cool. Besides the obvious DNA connection, I made a quick search on Helice and found this on http://www.constellationsofwords.com/Const...s/LeoMinor.html:
Gazelle/Helice (Ursa Major): This constellation, Leo Minor, represents the footsteps of the Great Bear, Ursa Major, or a gazelle in the Arabic figuring, or the footprints of a gazelle... Helice was a common classical name for Great Bear (whose tracks represent the stars of Leo Minor). Helice is the Great Bear, Ursa Major, the name Helice is cognate with the name Helen... Female bears might represent the 'fallen woman' in society; bears have loud passionate 'love affairs' and then part company, leaving the female pregnant and alone. This was somewhat like the experience of Callisto, identified with Ursa Major, who was a hunting partner in Artemis' virgin group. After she became pregnant by Zeus she was cast out and turned into a bear (Ursa Major, Great Bear) for her sexual transgressions.
Hera was drawing stars, Kara said there were good stars...Great bear indeed! I told you it was a tribute to Bear McCreary!
**ETA 2: On his blog Bear explains that it isn't actually The Watchtower music but his music that we hear on the episode.
***ETA 3: I can't help quoting Bear's blog about the final scene:
The Chief, stunned and heartbroken, stumbles into their projected dream house. He finds his way into his daughter’s room, but she’s no longer there. The house is an empty shell, the façade it had always been.
The Sonata, lush and romantic on its own, provides painful, bittersweet counterpoint to the visuals. Kara’s father had given up everything he ever had so he could write this piece of music. And now it underscores the pain Tyrol experiences at losing the family he might have had if life had turned out differently. He falls to his knees, a broken man. But, the piano performance, fluttering through half-diminished chords like a butterfly, descends gently to its graceful concluding chord as we fade to black.
I only had the chance to write the last few minutes of Dreilide Thrace’s Sonata, but I hope that one day I have the opportunity to go back and write the complete work.
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