After a week full of re-watching seasons 1 and 2 of Battlestar Galactica, seeing a brand new episode was thrilling and something that almost felt strange.
He That Believeth In Me was the premiere episode’s title for Season 4 of BSG, a title likely referring to more than one character in the show.
As always, please skip these recaps if you have not seen the episode as they are full of spoilers.
First you have Gaius Baltar, suddenly turned into a Jesus figure, who not only has a group of hot, young women believing in him, but also apparently the one, true God. He prays to God to give his life for that of a young boy Derek.
In the end, both live and it appears Baltar finally believes that God does exist and he is definitely part of his plan.
And then there is Starbuck, who appears two months after being thought dead, although only a few hours have passed for her. She has pictures of Earth, but her Viper is brand spanking new without an ounce of flight recorder data.
Why?
Lee believes in her, but no one else does. Bill Adama wants to, but can’t honestly bring himself to do it. In the meantime, the fleet is jumping and jumping, seemingly away from the direction Starbuck thinks they should be going.
In fact, everytime they jump, she feels the pain of it, realizing her feeling of knowing where Earth is diminishing.
We’re left with Starbuck holding a gun to the President’s head, likely an attempt to persuade her to change the direction the fleet is going.
In the meantime we have four newly aware Cylons who are still struggling with the knowledge of who they are. Tigh daydreams that he blasts Adama through the eye, while Anders can’t decide whether or not he didn’t shoot a Cylon Raider because he is just a nugget pilot, or was under control of the Cylons.
The Raider scanned him during the ensuing battle, and we don’t know what happened in that moment. The Cylon fleet suddenly bugs out of the fighting, so did they realize that the Final 5 are alive? Or did they pass information to Anders that he will be made aware of later?
I personally think the Cylons suddenly know that the Final 5 are with the humans and now they have to be careful. They can’t destroy them, so they run off, retreating.
The episode itself wasn’t exactly the thrill-ride I was hoping for, but it was still good nonetheless. I like the idea that Kara is the next clue to finding Earth, but I firmly believe she’s not a Cylon. She’s always been part of the overall path to find Earth, having a destiny, drawing the Eye of Jupiter, and I think she’s something else entirely.
The only hard part of the show for me now, as we near the end, is that things are growing complicated. There are now almost more Cylon characters than normal Humans it seems, and you almost have to keep remembering who is what.
We do seem to now know that the 5th Cylon resides in the fleet, which isn’t likely anything new.
Update: I wanted to make sure I added this in, because I meant to last night. I’m sure special effects over the years have gotten better, and maybe cheaper to do at a high level. All that to say the opening battle in this episode was top notch, awesome and beautiful to see. The graphics were crisp and clean and just looked soooo much better than they ever have.
I am so damn curious who it’s going to be. If you analyze the four we just discovered, two of them are second-in-command for leaders, the third essentially could destroy the ship on a whim if he felt like it, and the final one is married to Kara.
They are all positioned in important, key spots.
At this point, my two guess for the final Cylon are: Bill Adam or Gaius Baltar. I really see no other names that could bring the massive impact for fans if one of those two were the last one to be revealed.
So what did you think of the season premiere? Did you pick up any clues that I missed, any key plot points?
Who do you think the Final Cylon is?
OH MY GODS. DID YOU SEE THAT FRAKKIN EPISODE!!!!! Mo, dude, bro, bud… “The episode itself wasn’t exactly the thrill-ride I was hoping for”… are ya nuts!?!?!? Did you see the same show I did?!?!? The first frakkin 9 minutes was UN-BE-LIEVABLE!! I think they spent their whole season buget on that attack… AND then you think Tigh blasts a hole in Adamas head, and youre like “WHAT THE FRAK NO WAY DID THAT HAPPEN!!” Did you watch this show? Not a thrill ride??!?! That was like a season finally that episode…The Capn thinks you are becoming desensitized maybe.. crimany that show RAWWWWWKED =)
Oh and for the record..The fifth Cylon is clearly going to be Roslin.
One more thing, did you see that ROCKIN Ironman new trailer dog fight with the F-22’s?!?!? Holy….
..wasn’t exactly a thrillride…. reach over and whap your self in the head… =)
Well, I did forget to include the fight scene in my recap, but I agree, that was about the most kick-butt special effects I’ve ever seen on the show.
Also, my Direct TV feed of SciFiHD was a little static-y, so I was a bit annoyed by it
I’ll be rewatching it soon.
…dont forget the whap yourself in the head part… thats important =)
MAN , WHAT A SHOW!! Did I say that already?
Okay, there’s one way I could *possibly* agree that it wasn’t as big a thrill ride as possible. And that’s if you argue that the atmo-jump from “Exodus: Part 2″ was more jaw-droppingly awe inspiring than that opening battle, Anders’ scan, Tigh’s fantasy, Starbuck’s slipping hold of sanity, and…the list doesn’t end! This episode was a perfect mix of action, revelation, and reflection about everything that happened in the season finale. So on to a couple of my thoughts…
When I saw Anders’ eye turn red, I didn’t think the raider had scanned him and determined he was a Cylon, I actually thought some buried recess in Anders’ subconscious had delivered a command to the raiders to retreat. Sort of like Neo discovering he had control both in and out of the Matrix.
I have a new theory about the final four, but it’s probably whacked. Since it seems highly improbable that these incredibly well placed and high ranking people could have survived the attack on the colonies, Anders’ time on Caprica, New Caprica, and everything else the humans have gone through, I’m starting to think that the final four were actually transmitted on a carrier wave to specifically targeted individuals. That carrier wave being “All Along the Watchtower”. If that’s the case, the fifth may not be present yet (though Caprica 6 thinks they’re all nearby,) or the fifth may just have ignored the siren’s call.
Starbuck almost definitely got to Earth and back through a wormhole that opens in The Great Red Spot. It looks a lot like the mandala, and you couldn’t be more obvious with the “Eye of Jupiter”.
Finally, if anyone is musically inclined, check out Bear McCreary’s blog where he discusses the various themes he composed for the episode. He’s promised to go into a lot of detail this year, and I find his thoughts on the characters and motivations particularly interesting. Of special note in this week’s post are the lyrics for the newly revised Gaius Baltar Theme.
R.A. Porter’s last blog post..Friday Night Sketch War: Round Nine
Hmmm Mr Porter, I do like the eye of Jupiter wormhole theory, nice connection….