(no subject)
Dec. 23rd, 2009 09:03 pmFinished S2 BSG. Hm. And still talking only about TV.
# The major plus is that the story is really fascinating (albeit still a bit too religion-heavy for my taste), but so far I can't even make an educated guess where it's ultimately headed, so no comments on that. S2 was a bit uneven, though. The arc with the Pegasus especially was very good, but the episodes between that and the finale were rather filler-ish.
# What I'm still a bit meh about is the characters. Roslin gives me the really creepy theocracy vibes 90% of the time. The mixture between genuine belief, the willingness to use faith to manipulate and to let the end justify almost every means, as well as a complete lack of scruples and self-reflection makes her character really problematic to me, and not in the interestingly ambiguous shades-of-grey way, but in the way of much of what came out of the USA during the Bush II years. If you need someone like Gaius Baltar to make you look better, you have a problem.
Baltar... Before I watched the last two episodes of S2 I wrote that I wanted Baltar to either finally redeem himself, or fall really hard, and I must admit the end of the season was very satisfying in this respect. If someone had it coming it was him. He is (was? maybe his downfall will finally result in a be a bit of character growth?) nothing but a vain, egoistical child that even or especially a Cylon should have better sense than to love. I never wanted to be the Vice President. That is, until this very moment. Giving Nr. Six the nuclear warhead, because Roslin's letter hurt his vanity. What is he, five? The first and last time I had a bit of sympathy for him was with Nr. Six in the cell on the Pegasus, because what happened to her genuinely shocked him, and for once made him think about someone other than himself. But even then it's rather obvious that his ego makes him pick the woman whose saviour he can be over the one who makes him feel powerless, and when barely a couple of episodes later he insisted on pushing himself on her, knowing she's been been tortured, repeatedly raped and severely traumatised, because he 'can't help himself' that quenched any spark of sympathy pretty fast.
I rather love Sharon (and I'd really like to see her and Helo's relationship work out *is a closet romantic*) and Starbuck, and I have quite a bit of probably not really justifiable sympathy for Tigh, but I haven't yet managed to make myself care much about either of the Adamas or any of the other characters.
# Is this a problem with the text, or is it my own issues talking that even with this show and all its gender equality and strong female characters I still have occasional issues with the way they're written? Rationally I'm aware that with the Cylons almost wiping out the human race they need to be careful, but somehow the show completely fails to sell this moral dilemma, because the way Sharon is treated never made me anything but intensely uncomfortable. And does Adama even realise that it's not much of a step from calling someone 'it' and a 'thing' to 'you can't rape a machine'? So it's nice that he apologises for that and all, but really a bit beside the point. Number Six, tortured, raped. Yes, she was a Cylon, but so far we've also had three male Cylons, and while Leoben was also beaten and tortured, he was never in such a vulnerable position for such a length of time as Sharon and Nr. Six; in fact he always gave the impression that he was ultimately in control of the situation. No sexual abuse, either.
Then there's Starbuck, who is, yes, generally awesome, and if I had once of those fictional-characters-I'd-sleep-with list, she'd be right up there, but also the abused child, which makes me feel more than a bit uneasy about some aspects of her relationship with Adama, most noticeable 1.4, when Adama more or less pushes her into that near-suicide mission, and knowing her and how badly she wanted his approval, should also have known how his words would affect her; guilt ridden and afraid of failing. Almostraped turned into a breeding machine by the Cylons. Her arc is always on the verge of being very painful to watch for me. Cally, bruised, her jaw wired shut, telling Tyrol that she forgives him and loves him. Now at least before that episode I never doubted that Tyrol was a fundamentally decent guy, but like with Sharon, like with Nr. Six, these are images that override the context. Admiral Cain, who, despite what Starbuck said in the end, was more of a psychopath than not, and certainly without the conscience and humanity that Adama with his books and carpets and sheer old-fashionedness personifies. Roslin, who needs Adama as a moral corrective quite a bit.
But maybe that's just me...
# The major plus is that the story is really fascinating (albeit still a bit too religion-heavy for my taste), but so far I can't even make an educated guess where it's ultimately headed, so no comments on that. S2 was a bit uneven, though. The arc with the Pegasus especially was very good, but the episodes between that and the finale were rather filler-ish.
# What I'm still a bit meh about is the characters. Roslin gives me the really creepy theocracy vibes 90% of the time. The mixture between genuine belief, the willingness to use faith to manipulate and to let the end justify almost every means, as well as a complete lack of scruples and self-reflection makes her character really problematic to me, and not in the interestingly ambiguous shades-of-grey way, but in the way of much of what came out of the USA during the Bush II years. If you need someone like Gaius Baltar to make you look better, you have a problem.
Baltar... Before I watched the last two episodes of S2 I wrote that I wanted Baltar to either finally redeem himself, or fall really hard, and I must admit the end of the season was very satisfying in this respect. If someone had it coming it was him. He is (was? maybe his downfall will finally result in a be a bit of character growth?) nothing but a vain, egoistical child that even or especially a Cylon should have better sense than to love. I never wanted to be the Vice President. That is, until this very moment. Giving Nr. Six the nuclear warhead, because Roslin's letter hurt his vanity. What is he, five? The first and last time I had a bit of sympathy for him was with Nr. Six in the cell on the Pegasus, because what happened to her genuinely shocked him, and for once made him think about someone other than himself. But even then it's rather obvious that his ego makes him pick the woman whose saviour he can be over the one who makes him feel powerless, and when barely a couple of episodes later he insisted on pushing himself on her, knowing she's been been tortured, repeatedly raped and severely traumatised, because he 'can't help himself' that quenched any spark of sympathy pretty fast.
I rather love Sharon (and I'd really like to see her and Helo's relationship work out *is a closet romantic*) and Starbuck, and I have quite a bit of probably not really justifiable sympathy for Tigh, but I haven't yet managed to make myself care much about either of the Adamas or any of the other characters.
# Is this a problem with the text, or is it my own issues talking that even with this show and all its gender equality and strong female characters I still have occasional issues with the way they're written? Rationally I'm aware that with the Cylons almost wiping out the human race they need to be careful, but somehow the show completely fails to sell this moral dilemma, because the way Sharon is treated never made me anything but intensely uncomfortable. And does Adama even realise that it's not much of a step from calling someone 'it' and a 'thing' to 'you can't rape a machine'? So it's nice that he apologises for that and all, but really a bit beside the point. Number Six, tortured, raped. Yes, she was a Cylon, but so far we've also had three male Cylons, and while Leoben was also beaten and tortured, he was never in such a vulnerable position for such a length of time as Sharon and Nr. Six; in fact he always gave the impression that he was ultimately in control of the situation. No sexual abuse, either.
Then there's Starbuck, who is, yes, generally awesome, and if I had once of those fictional-characters-I'd-sleep-with list, she'd be right up there, but also the abused child, which makes me feel more than a bit uneasy about some aspects of her relationship with Adama, most noticeable 1.4, when Adama more or less pushes her into that near-suicide mission, and knowing her and how badly she wanted his approval, should also have known how his words would affect her; guilt ridden and afraid of failing. Almost
But maybe that's just me...