orichalcum

Non-spoilery haiku:

Yay! BSG's back,
The theme: Who do you believe?
I still hate Cally.



So, one of the notable changes in the opening montage is the absence of "And they have a plan." And indeed, my biggest worry about the overall arc plot currently is that the Cylons' "plan," if any, is starting to resemble Luke's from Return of the Jedi.

So...you, the humanoid Cylons, are going to split up into two groups 60 years ago, and program one group not to ever think about the others. During the middle of the first Cylon War, despite the fact that you have humanoid Cylon technology, you'll still fight only with Centurions, and essentially lose, but meanwhile have planted humanoid Cylon sleeper agents, just in case.

When the Second Cylon War begins, you'll arrange for at least 8 different models to be on the ships that happen to get rescued or survive, despite having planned a complete takeover, and with 3 of those models presumably being unaware of an imminent attack. Another sleeper model will have scheduled high-altitude training for his Pyramid team so that he can escape and wait for an unlikely rescue to infiltrate himself with surviving humans.

Your Plan is....To convert humans to the worship of God? In which case, Gaius Baltar seems a dubious instrument. To find Earth and destroy it? So why blow Kara's cover by giving her a shiny new ship? To make as many human-Cylon babies as possible? Why not spend the year on New Caprica forcibly impregnating every woman of childbearing years you can find?

You see my point. Maybe Ron Moore will eventually reveal how this all makes sense. But I'm increasingly skeptical.

I actually quite liked the episode, especially the first 38 minutes or so. Kara so wants to be Daddy's Good Girl bringing him a big prize, and instead people practically spit at her. Even at her most alcoholic, Starbuck was always a focus of envy and a role model of sorts; now, she's somehow the enemy. I understand Roslin's perspective, but I wish they'd give her some of her humanity back - especially if she's moved in with Bill now.

Lee and Anders were both awesome; I think this odd dynamic could actually work.

Still don't get why Tory's a Cylon; adding her as a significant character and virtually eliminating several others annoyed me, although the Four are in general great fun. No way they're going to keep their secret, though, if they keep shooting each other Meaningful Glances and having whispered conversations on the hangar deck all the time. At best, people will totally think that Anders and the Chief are having an affair, and then both Cally and probably Gaeta will throw tantrums. (Still the best line from last season, btw, was Baltar's: "This man tried to stab me in the throat! And he missed! Butterfingers!")

Anyways, it being the beginning of the final season, I'll throw out a few predictions and random thoughts:

Kara as Cassandra works very nicely, especially since mythologically Cassandra only stops being believed after she rejects Apollo's romantic advances.

I think that the Final Cylon is Zak Adama. It fits a lot of things - Leoben telling the truth when he said "Adama is a Cylon;" Lee beginning this season by asking "what if Zak came back to us as a Cylon?", the last Cylon having made connections to Kara Harbinger of Destiny as well as to the Adamas, and even the "Z"ness of his name. Zak's been haunting this series from the beginning, and I think that his reappearance would tie everything together very nicely.

So, are either of the married Four going to tell their spouses? Kara's already told poor Sam what her reaction would be; I can't imagine it going over well with "Shoot first; ask questions later" Cally. Still, that's tough. And hey, can Nicholas be milked for cancer-vaccine this time around?

I wonder if there's interesting significance to the names (I suspect not, because I suspect Moore is pulling a lot of stuff out of his arse these days, but still). Galen Tyrol. the Cylon named after a famous doctor, is...a machine doctor, a mechanic. Saul, Sam, and Victoria are all monarchs, and Saul and Samuel are Biblical monarchs (and somewhat complex ones.)

What did other folks think? Am I as crazy as Baltar, but lacking the hot harem who want to do my every bidding and the divine healing mojo?