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Battlestar Galactica Commentary: 4.3, "The Ties That Bind"

Before I get into the third episode of Battlestar Galactica's fourth season, "The Ties That Bind," I want to address all the talk about Apollo leaving the military.  I got  a comment or two on last week's entry, and a couple e-mails from readers.  After all the protestation, it still doesn't make any sense to me.  Don't get me wrong - his motivations for leaving the military all make perfect sense out of context.  He wants out of his father's shadow.  He feels he can contribute as a lawyer and a politician.  These are all fine reasons to change jobs at his age.

Unless there are only 50,000 humans left alive.  Unless you are still being pursued by your mechanized creations.  Unless you're a critical part of your civilization's defense in a time of war.

Apollo's Daddy Issues would have to be gigantic to justify such a move.  The writers have set it up this way.  Apollo leaves Adama for Zarek, who is essentially Adama's foil.  They're opposites in almost every way.  And a lot of Apollo's Daddy Issues have to do with the fact that he and Adama are simiar in so many fundamental ways.  Apollo, even angry at Adama, would find Zarek sleazy and opportunistic.  I'm not buying it.  He can't be a reasonable military man for two and a half seasons and then bail like this.

Or maybe I just find the Daddy Issues plot line to be droll.  Apollo is the sort of character that would just suck it up and give himself ulcers over his internalized rage.  I suspect this is all building to a final moment where Apollo becomes his father, since Moses won't make it out of the desert.

Everyone seems to be having identity issues.  Chief Tyrol can't seem to hold his family together.  He's spending a lot of time at the bar.  I suppose this is understandable behavior after you find out you are a Cylon.  Call it Toaster Discovery Syndrome.  When Roslin's assistant found out, she ended up sleeping with Baltar.

Apollo is confirmed as a member of the Quorum.  The press wants to know about Starbuck's mission, which Adama will not comment on.  They also want to know if Roslin s holding a grudge against Apollo for defending Baltar.  I always thought his defense of Baltar was an interesting way of demonstrating that Apollo has the potential to lead the fleet.  When John Adams defended the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre, it cost him dearly, in the short term.  In the long run, the act was recognized as a commitment to the principles on which the country was eventually founded, and John Adams ended up President.  I am betting that Apollo's actions will be viewed the same way by the fleet when the time comes.

Adama and Roslin have turned running the fleet into a cottage industry.  They appear to make decisions together, presenting a united from.  Roslin is covering for him on the Demetrius mission, something she is probably loathe to do.  She gives no indication that she'll stop covering for him, though, giving me the impression that running the fleet has become a domestic arrangement.  I suppose it has always been this way, as the interaction of their personalities has forged most of the crucial decision made on behalf of the fleet since the beginning.

We look in on the Demetrius itself.  Starbuck looks like an ancient Sea Captain, with charts and maps and a compass.  She is sweating like crazy, and the ship is creaking like it is being tossed back and forth by waves.  There's something romantic about casting Starbuck as Chris Columbus.  Ferdinand and Isabella have given Starbuck permission to strike out in a spare ship on a project i which few people have any faith at all.  I'm surprised the writers didn't call the ship the Pinta.

I hunted around for a classical reference to a ship called Demetrius, thinking I was missing the reference, but couldn't find anything.  Maybe one of you knows?

The crew of the Demetrius thinks Starbuck is going crazy.  Or that she's a Cylon.  The Demetrius set reminds me of the set of Aliens.  All it really needs is a slew of memorable one-liners from Bill Paxton.  The Demetrius has been out to see for 22 days, and the crew is idle and exhausted by seemingly purposeless course corrections.  You can almost feel the military discipline breaking down.

Maybe Starbuck isn't a Cylon.  Maybe she's a Kurtz.

The Ones That Look Like Us are trying to negotiate a peace.  Quantum Leap visits the rebel's ship and broaches the subject.  The rebellious models want the Raiders left alone and for Xena to be unboxed.  He agrees to leaving the Raiders alone, but unboxing Xena brings up the real issue: what is the ultimate goal of The Ones That Look Like Us?  Is the unification of all twelve models the goal?  What threats does that create?  I still think that they need to be very worried about the now unrestricted Centurions.  I saw one of them out in the hall asking about Sarah Connor.

Six even has to say "please" to the Centurion she orders to escort Quantum Leap off the ship.  That's worrisome.

Eventually, though, Quantum Leap brings news that the others have decided unity is most important, so they've agreed to the demands.  It has the feel of a trick to me, though.  It turns out to be a surprise attack, beginning with the rebel's resurrection ship.

Zarek and Apollo have their first real meeting since Apollo joined the Quorum.  Zarek is highly critical of the Adama/Roslin cottage industry.  He feels like too much is being done in secret, stamped "classified," and he's very curious about Demetrius.  He does say something interesting that goes to his motives, though.  He says Roslin isn't a tyrant because tyrants crave power for its own sake.  Roslin, however, just wants to save them all.  It appears that Zarek does have some faith in her.  His angle is a total mystery to me.  I fact, it is one of the most interesting plotlines, in my opinion.

In the first meeting of the Quorum, Apollo brings to light an executive order detailing a tribunal system completely controlled by the executive.  Roslin is visibly upset and is forced to put the executive order on the agenda for the next meeting.

Callie intercepts a note telling Tyrol where the four sleeper Cylons are meeting.  She eavesdrops on their conversation and finds out about her husband's recent discovery.  At least she knows he's not having an affair.  She hits him repeatedly with a very large wrench.  She walks into a launch tube with her child and calmly begins to open the airlock.  Roslin's assistant confronts her and tries to calm her down.  Callie eventually hands her the child, and when she does, the Cylon knocks her unconscious and opens the airlock. Devastating.