SPOILER ALERT: Review of Battlestar Galactica episode Crossroads (part 2).

I have to say a huge thank you to Lee Adama for finally observing that which I’ve been saying for a long time now.  Ever since they nabbed Baltar and wanted to kill him for consorting with the Cylons, I have been noting the full presidential pardon that Roslin gave to all “collaborators” and screaming, “doesn’t this apply to Baltar too?”

I think it was pretty obvious that Baltar wasn’t going to be airlocked.  He’s too popular a character and if he’d died then Ron Moore and David Eick would have been throwing away some great potential plotlines.

Don’t get me wrong.  I believe that Baltar is guilty as sin.  Sure he made mistakes, but his mistakes that were mentioned were brought about by his weakness of character.  Lee says that if he hadn’t surrendered that the Cylons would probably have nuked New Caprica and been done with it.  More likely, though, they would have killed Baltar and then delt with his replacement.  Sure there was nothing he could have done, but he could have done more than he did… if that makes any sense.  And weakness isn’t an excuse for breaking the law, nor is it a desirable trait for any of the fleeing remnants of humanity.

Truly, though, I think they are missing the big things that Baltar did that was bad.  In this episode, it seemed that Baltar was being tried only for his alleged crimes on New Caprica.  As far as I’m concerned, his conduct there was about what one could expect from anyone in that situation.  But there are larger things to look at.  Like, how did the nuke get to Cloud Nine from his laboratory?  Speaking if which, where is the Cylon Detector that he was supposed to have finished, or at least nearly finished?  Also, didn’t he clear Boomer in her Cylon test, only to be shown that she was, indeed, a Cylon?  And here’s a biggie: how is it that he came to be with the Cylons up until the algae planet and was still alive?

The argument could be made that collaborating with the Cylons on New Caprica was inevitable, and in some instances was done for the greater good of the humans.  But, to do so on old Caprica, where he was instrumental, albeit unwittingly, in the original attack on the Twelve Colonies.  As well, how could the Cylons keeping him alive be in any way seen as for the greater good?  It would be obvious, to any outsider, that he had to be giving them something, information most likely, or else they would have just offed him.

In any case, kudos to Jamie Bamber for some fine acting, even though he seemed to almost lose his American Accent a few times.  And I applaud Lee Adama for being one of the few old-school good guys.  Throughout all of the series so far, he hasn’t done a single thing out of character, and his ethics and morals have been constant and unwavering.  Sure, he’s prone to bouts of losing his head from time to time, but always for what he believes is right.

Even that other bastion of purity and principal, Felix Gaita, took the stand and totally perjured himself.  For shame, Gaita, for shame!

Now, we skip to the end.  We have apparently been shown that the most instrumental men in the resistance on New Caprica are somehow part of the Final Five Cylons.  But they’re apparently getting their instructions through Jimi Hendrix songs.  Which begs all sorts of questions.

Are they Cylons?

I don’t know.  There are literally hundreds of directions Moore and Eick could take this.  I am more worried about Starbuck, frankly.  She is apparently in cahoots with a Cylon fleet, which we have yet to discover what that is all about.  The Cylons don’t seem to want to attack, or else why would Starbuck be okay.  Have they all been to Earth?

But Kara is strangely serene when making her reappearance.  She says that it’s really her, but we saw her ship implode.  So either she ejected and was picked up by Cylons, or else she is a Cylon and resurrected.  Either way, Lucy, you got some ’splaining to do!

All in all, it was a fascinating episode.  There are many storylines that are left open for us all to drool about until next year.  Not the least of which is the idea that Baltar didn’t want a mistrial because he wanted out of the cell, but he is about to find that his freedom isn’t going to be any better.  But he is becoming a cult leader, which may splinter the fleet.

Then there is the storyline about the opera house.  Yes, this is the same opera house that Baltar first imagined on Kobol.  We know that “Head Six” is only in his imagination, but he still saw it.  Now Caprica Six, Sharon “Athena” Agathon, and President Roslin are all seeing it as well, and it’s also where D’Anna was taken in her vision in the Temple of the Five (where she recognized and apologized to one of the Final Five).  There is clearly some mass hallucinatory stuff going on for all these people to be having the same delusions at the same time.  If we figure that Tigh, Anders, Tyrol, and Roslin’s aide (what’s her name?) are 4 of the final 5, then who is the fifth?  If it’s Starbuck, then that means that two humans are sharing these delusions: Baltar and Roslin.  But if those four aren’t Cylons, then that means that they, as humans, are also sharing in a co-delusion, which is coming to them in Jimi Hendrix songs.

So, as usual for this series and its season and mid-season finales, we are left with far more questions than answers.  And it’s a looooong way to 2008 when the 4th season will kick off.  I can’t hold my breath that long!

Noted continuity error:  Did anyone notice that in the huge pull back at the end of the episode that the camera pulled back from Starbuck and Apollo, through the human fleet, then through the Cylon fleet?  Shouldn’t the Vipers be headed TOWARD the Cylons?

This entry was posted on Monday, March 26th, 2007 at 12:52 pm and is filed under Battlestar Galactica, SciFi, TV.