oes

 

Battlestar Galactica: Season 1-05: You Can't go home again :

by ernestborg9

Following-on from “Act of Contrition” this is again very much a character-driven episode in which the action is secondary to the developing and changing dynamics between the principal players. As with “Act”, it is also one where Edward James Olmos is able to demonstrate his range and power as an actor: never has so much fury been portrayed on-screen with a single wide-eyed look as when Adama confronts Tigh. Of equal measure is the way in which Adama’s public loss of control in CIC is handled. Here is a man who is perhaps the closest thing to a deity his crew are ever likely to meet. Throughout the mini and the series, his demeanour has always been one of calm, understated authority. Never has he so much as raised his voice in public to achieve his needs. Where Tigh is bellicose and strutting, Adama is the calm eye at the centre of whatever raging storm of crisis might otherwise engulf CIC.

Until mid-way through this episode, where Adama’s outburst almost drives us from our seats in surprise, and signals a very subtle shift in dynamics: his personal involvement is now clearly affecting his ability to command; his decision making is becoming increasingly subjective – but the bellicose Martinet in Tigh shifts as well, becoming more objective, the more reasoned voice of command. For the first time we really get a glimpse of the officer buried within; and Tigh grows accordingly in stature.

But the show is not all Olmos’s. Mary McDonnell also gets a chance to stretch her character away from the “ex-school teacher” and slightly insecure politico we’ve seen to date. In “You Can’t Go Home Again”, Roslin fairly blossoms into leadership, demonstrating she can be shown – but not necessarily lead. Her confrontation with Adama and his son is a marvel to watch. Until now, she has played a finely balanced game with them both, realising that she needs each of them to support her position, while also being aware of the gulf lying between the two of them, and the need not to broaden it. But here, confronted with a Lee Apollo fresh from his new-found convictions first seen in “Bastille Day” and closely allied to his father – both of them operating out of personal loyalty, she demonstrates that while she may need them both, she doesn’t rely on them. The developing trust connecting her to Adama and the respect connecting her to Lee may suffer strain and breakage as a result, putting a wobble into the spin of the three-way relationship, but she’s not going to pussyfoot. The needs of the many DO outweigh the needs of the one, and it is time Adama and Apollo realised that.

Indeed, it is in this that Thrace’s dilemma on the moon is very much a secondary consideration to the story and the audience. What holds here is the way the dynamics between the characters ebb and flow. Adama and Tigh draw apart, Roslin and Lee draw apart, but Adama and Lee - perhaps for the first time in Lee’s adult life – draw together, forcing Tigh and Roslin into an uneasy alliance as Roslin arrives aboard the Galactica. How will this affect their future relationships? Will Roslin be able to confide in Lee Adama? Will Lee and his father finally come to an understanding allowing each other into their respective worlds as father and son? Will Tigh be able to reconcile his friendship and respect for Adama with his abrupt – and wholly unwarranted – dismissal from CIC?

And what of Tigh and Lee Adama? But – most importantly of all, how will the CIC crew regard Adama in the future? Can there be no repercussions after all that we’ve seen? Perhaps. Forgiveness was very much in evidence throughout the last act of the episode: Adama to Thrace, Roslin to Adama, Adama and Tigh. But – the episode title pretty much says it all: you can’t go home again, and a lot has been said in this episode - as in “Act” - that simply can’t be ignored. RDM has avoided the “reset” button so far; it’s going to be interesting to see if he can continue to avoid it in the future, and allow the shift in dynamics between the characters to play itself out over time.

Elsewhere in the episode, we finally get an interesting peek at what might be happening on Caprica. Now, I’ve already come up with one idea around this (“Bastille Day”) that may have been pretty soundly blown out of the water; so I’m going to don a flak jacket, life vest and tin hat now just in case…

I’m now convinced that, for the time being, any ideas that the Cylons want to use Helo to get to the Galactica are WAY off-course. Rather the reverse is true: they want him to stay right where he is - with Valerii. Possibly even in the fallout shelter for now. And I feel safe in saying the reason is not to find some “Colonial resistance movement” as has been theorised on some bulletin boards. While the actual reason seems to remain unclear – it seems like it may have something to do with sex. Or rather, procreation; in viewing the Helo / Valerii scenes, I could not help but get the impression poor old Karl C Agathon was in a honey trap, but had yet to take the bait and fully spring the trap.

My evidence for this flows from both what is said and – equally importantly – what isn’t as we visit Caprica. Witness:

Helo scans the airwaves, failing to find any other signals. Valerii makes a comment about them being the only two people left on the planet, and the way she says it makes it hard to keep the words “Adam and Eve” from popping into one’s head – especially with all the other religious motifs that have surrounded our insight into Cylon aims (even if they are from “Six’s” perspective)

When Helo suggests they pack up and leave the shelter, Valerii’s look is, for a moment, distinctly odd, and she challenges him with, “Unless you can think of a reason to stay here”, which comes close to being sultry in its undertone. Helo takes this to mean remaining in the fallout shelter, which he refers to as “home”. But they are in many ways already “home”: on Caprica, and Valerii’s comment seems tilted in this regard – seeking if he has identified a reason to stay on Caprica (i.e. her). Disappointment is almost evident when he states they should move on

Almost no sooner is the decision made than Cylon Warriors turn up. Conducting a house-to-house? Possibly – but the timing of their arrival coming so close after Helo has confirmed a desire to get off the planet is mightily coincidental

In the ensuing fire fight, the Cylon Warrior makes – frankly – a piss poor showing of trying to capture or kill Helo, settling instead on simply shooting up the place and ending the usefulness of a range of kitchen appliances and tools.

When Helo comes-to, Valerii is gone, and he’s no longer thinking about leaving the planet – he’s only concerned with what has happened to Valerii.

So it seems clear that, whatever the Cylons are doing with Helo, it is about engaging an emotional response towards Valerii – and it goes beyond the natural response of comrades. We’ve seen it several times now in the last few episodes: their hugging and sudden embarrassment on first hearing the “Colonial signal”; his need to physically comfort and protect her on finding the rat-ravaged body in the city; etc., but this is the clearest indication yet that they are happy to keep Helo on Caprica for the time being.

To what aim is this interest? Well – that’s open to debate. But: before her apparent destruction on Caprica, Six expressed what amounted to a need to be loved by Baltar. Since then – although we have NO direct indication that the “Six” in Baltar’s head is anything more than a guilt complex – she has raised the subject of procreation. Now we’ve had Helo thrown into a situation with Valerii where hormonal instincts could overtake training. They’ve even “found” what amounts to a cosy little nest in the form of the “fallout shelter”. Even the “signal” they picked up was received at a time when Helo might just have easily opted to try and storm the “captured” Raptor in an attempt to get off the planet.

So, are the Cylons hooked-up on the ideals of procreation? Is Helo a guinea pig in this regard? I don’t know – but it seems to fit.

One thing is certain: Valerii is going to have to have one hell of a plausible excuse for getting away from the restaurant. There was only one way out of the fallout shelter, and no sign of a second fallen Cylon – so she didn’t get her gun from the shelter and shoot it. And if she had, why hadn’t she checked on Helo’s condition. “I thought you were dead,” would hardly be a plausible excuse. “I ran away”? From an armed Cylon? Again, not totally believable, even if said Cylon was ending the useful existence of several dozen pots, pans and assorted kitchen items. Helo must question why he wasn’t recaptured since the Cylon obviously “had” him; and as such, any explanations given by Valerii concerning her “escape” have got to be real hummers if she’s to avoid raising question marks in his mind.

And what of Baltar’s “Six”? In some respects, this episode sees a subtle delineation between her and the Cylons. Previously, she has referred to them as “we” – implying she is still a part of them. Here she refers to the Cylons very much in the third person: “they”. Could this be indicative that she is indeed just a part of Baltar’s own mind? Again, the way James Callis plays his side of the scene in front of Roslin is nothing short of fascinating in its possible meaning. His actions and responses are highly suggestive of a man lost in his own private world – putting “Six” soundly in the realm of being a part of his own imaginings.

BUT – and there is still a but - her comments could just as easily be an indication that – as some form of “download” in his head - she is becoming increasingly isolated from her original operating parameters, and thus less readily identifying herself with the Cylons. Thus, the issue is not all that clear-cut. That said, the gut-level reaction to Baltar in this scene is highly suggestive that “Six” is a creation of his own mind, rather than an actual entity occupying a part of it – implant-wise or otherwise.

And what of the Cylons themselves? In this “You Can’t” holds perhaps the most surprising revelation of all: the Raiders are bio-mechanical constructs. Until now we’ve been given the impression the majority of Cylons are mechanoid. Now we find that not only are the humanoid Cylons organic – Raiders are partially organic as well.

What does this mean? Are all Cylons bio-mechanical? Probably not, as Helo puts a shot straight through the head of a Cylon Warrior. Were there any organic matter to be contained therein, one would expect blood and/or gore to exit the wound. This does not appear to be the case.

Does it mean that the Cylons have developed bio-mechanical capabilities themselves, and used them first in a basic form with the Raiders, before going on to develop the humanoid constructs?

Or does it mean that the very first Cylons developed by the Colonials were actually bio-mechanical in nature, rather than pure androids?

A hint towards this latter point is actually given in one of the “behind the scenes” featurettes that can be downloaded (at least in the UK) from the Sky One website. In it, one of BSG’s production designers refers to the original Cylon Warriors, stating that the humanoid Cylons are directly descended from them. This seems to imply an evolutionary process may be at work in the Cylon ranks.

Are we now seeing a reflection of that through “You Can’t Go Home Again”? If so, it puts the entire Cylon situation – including their original rebellion – into new light. If the Cylons have always been bio-mechanical in nature, it certainly puts a new angle on the conversation between Six and Doral on Caprica (“Bastille Day”) when they both refer to the Cylons as humanity’s children – as indeed the Six on Caprica did when talking to Baltar in the mini.

Of the entire episode, the Thrace / Raider thing was perhaps the most niggling. Both deeply fascinating for revealing more about Cylons than we’ve previously known, but by parts equally annoying given the ease with which she patched the ship and got it flying again – and with enough skill to survive a dogfight with Apollo. Although, having said that, the one thing that is questionable about Lee Adama is his accuracy with Viper guns – given his inability to actually hit the Astral Queen when he opened up on her in “Water”…

In many ways, “You Can’t” was as contrived as “Act” – but with the difference that the contrivances were somewhat more subtle and the story – for the most part – flowed a lot better than “Act” in that the core story is completely character driven, and the Helo interlude actually appeared to add dimension to the Caprica situation. Maybe the Cylons are finally informing the writers of their plan!

The major niggle is the whole Thrace / Cylon Raider thing, as mentioned above. Here is clearly a case of form fitting reason: her escape is engineered to serve the purpose of a) revealing more about the Cylons to us, while at the same time delivering a Raider into Adama’s hands (any odds we’re going to see it used in the upcoming “daring attack on a Cylon base”?). As such, the whole thing clunks somewhat as the wheels of the episode turn.

A minor complaint is the idea of Vipers carrying parachutes. Until now, the Viper has been portrayed as a space superiority fighter. True, in the original series, the Viper was clearly atmosphere-capable, but there has been much debate over the capability of the “new” Viper – particularly with regards to the engine design. Now we find that the Viper is atmosphere-capable – but the idea that it carries a parachute pack when deployed in deep-space operations seems a little odd. One can only assume that, given the backpack Thrace wears appears to have been incorporated into the Viper’s seat, the Colonials decided to cover all eventualities and simply incorporate a parachute into the seat / backpack combination.

Overall, another powerful episode in terms of character drama, and one better-framed overall that “Act” – as enjoyable as that was. Hence “You Can’t” sees the rating bounce back to 4 out of 5.

Things we learn in this episode:

-Cylon Raiders are bio-mechanical in nature, and their biomass uses a breathable, oxygen-rich mix suitable for humans

-Vipers are atmospheric-capable - indeed, it appears they may have been regularly used in the atmospheres of Colonial worlds, given they appear to be equipped with a parachute

-Vipers can be refuelled in space (and presumably in relatively calm atmospheres)

-Colonial flight suits are capable of full life support, both planet-side (Starbuck) and apparently in space (Hotdog). In the case of Vipers, the back section of the pilot’s seat appears in effect to be a life-support backpack that detaches from the rest of the seat following ejection

-Raptor cabins can apparently be depressurised and repressurised (Hotdog’s rescue), adding to their versatility

-Non-oxygen atmospheres play havoc with Viper and Raptor engine systems, suggesting they are designed to operate in an O2-rich atmosphere

-Roslin has the same image that the pilots touch when leaving the Ready Room

-Colonials play pool!

-Baltar is requisitioning something that requires the president’s authorisation – the use of one of Galactica’s nukes for his research?

-William Adama is not above letting personal feelings rise above professional requirements.

A good 4 out of 5.

      back to episodes