Open Thread

I had a great time meeting you all, Benson, Simon, Montrose Morris, cobblehiller, SenatorSt., Mr. B, DIBS, Shawn Anderson. Thank you for organizing it, Biff. It was really fun. Oh, also JohnIfe and cmu and chicken….. what a great time.

A bit late, but have a great trip to my hometown, Benson! Go to El Cuervo Taco Shop or El Indio for some real Mexican food if you can find a moment.

I am really looking forward to BSG tonight, and I am stuck at work, possibly for many more hours. If I miss the finale I will be super duper pissed off.

I’m thinking maybe jumping near a black hole means time travel.

Okay, MM, is this enough (non-fans can skip):
The most important thing I see happening is Desperation—to Finish—the Show. Look at this entire season, one melodrama after another, it could be the National Enquirer Season:

Anastasia Kills Self After Lovely Date With Ex-Husband!
Kara Finds Her Own Body, Burns It, Tells Nobody!
Leoben Vanishes After Kara Turns Her Wrath On Him!
Tom Murders Entire Quorum In Fit Of Pique!
Bill Drinks! Bill Drinks Again! Bill Drinks…
Boomer Screws Unsuspecting Husband of Twin!

I went back to view a few random eps from past seasons that I have recorded, and am struck by how much more nuanced the writing is (with some obvious exceptions like Blackmarket (?)) and how much more beliveable the characters are. Now we seem to hurrying along to the finale, lurching from one dramatic moment to the next, throwing aside any continuity the characters had. Maybe everybody will die in a blaze of glory at the end.

Just in this last episode (2 weeks ago):

Kara’s endless interaction with Slick…too long, too slow to resolution (which itself was telegraphed anyway) and, basically unnecessary. There’s enough issues unresolved with her, her Viper and her body that introducing another element is plain stupid. And the FF coming over didn’t add anything either. What exactly are they doing anyway? Leaving to form their Utopian society? Not leaving? Trying to make Anders better? No, not if Cottle ridicules them?

Adama’s whiny “she put two bullets in me!” (cue the violins)…besides the fact that this “she” was probably not the same as the other “she”, personal revenge is hardly something the head of the fleet should imply in a legal situtation. Practically everybody else has been forgiven (oh, I’m forgetting Gaeta, but that would raise another rant), why not Boomer?…I get it, she’s another plot device in the making. I’ve come to hate this Adama, the sodden drunk who’s using up all that scarce toothpaste and who, in any realistic situation, would’ve been placed on “administrative leave” and someone competent taken over.

Roslin is even worse. That scene where she humiliated the Chief was SO unnecessary and cruel. She and/or Adama could’ve easily taken the Chief aside and explained their motivations, such as they are. Come to think of it, the whole being tried-for-treason thing is yet another plot device which sets off the entire second part of this farce. I thought Roslin would be a tower of strength after that great scene of her throwing away her pills, running through the halls and defying her cancer a couple of eps ago, but here she is, all wishy-washy and bitchy again. It’s as if the writers were kept in isolation from each other so they don’t know what the others did with the characters.

I won’t even begin on Ellen, that other temporary Tower-of-Strengh who devolved into Raging Jealous Bitch last time and now is Super Supportive Spouse (maybe I’m reading too much into her only line). These radical flip-flops do not show complexity of character; it’s Multiple Stereotype Syndrome.

Boomer: How much better would it have been if Boomer had been the driver of the situation and had planned to kidnap Hera all along, instead of the way it was portrayed, with all that ambiguity as to her motivations? Chief could’ve probably known nothing about the extradition; his feelings for her kept hidden until it was signed and Boomer somehow got him to the brig and told him. In his shock at her imminent trial/death, he’d been that much more receptive to the Cylon projection she’d deliberately devised; it would also have been a better opportunity to get with the mandatory naked-Grace-Park scene if she’d frakked the Chief there, thereby eliminating all that Boomer-Helo stuff (even though I thought that was OK.) Boomer would then have fulfilled her “perfect machine” transformation to bad guy more organically and believably.

I could go on. I think the writing sucks this second season. I’m dreading the last episodes. But there’s no question I’ll be raptly watching.

Nite THL. And nite all – I’m off to fight with the cat (there was no cat discussion today!)