GWC Re-Watch Frak Party: Kobol’s Last Gleaming, Pt. 1 & 2
Holy Frak! It’s weekthirteen of our planned off-season re-watch of the entire “re-imagined” BSG canon, and it’s time to move on to the penultimate season one episodes “Kobol’s Last Gleaming, Part 1 and Part 2.” (Note: We’re combining them into a single week. Think of it as a GWC doubleheader.) So why not join us here for the GWC online frak party? There’s room for everyone, though you’ll have to bring your own snacks…
Feel free to jump in at any point with your comments on this week’s episode as the re-watch is by definition spoiler free. We’ll be in and out, but we’ll definitely take a look at your comments before we start next week’s podcast.
See you here all week!
Galactic Watercooler 
Modern Geek 
Save Eureka 
Eff This Week 
FitSmart
This is one of the first eps that I saw and I still get kind of distracted by Starbuck’s goatee of blood. And the cameraguy hiding behind the Arrow of Apollo’s case.
But seriously, this is one of my favorite episode. I love the awesome, awesome use of “Passacaglia” in the opening scenes. I love Adama telling Lee that he’s gotta butch up. I cringe everytime I see the Starbuck/Gaius frak of horrifying proportions. So awkward and well played.
Lee and Starbuck’s fight always makes me a little bit mad at the both of them. Mostly Lee because obviously, there’s nothing in his and Starbuck’s relationship, technically, at that point which would allow him to attack her about her sexual partners. His jealousy is obviously important to the story but yeah, he’s not her boyfriend or anything. It also makes me mad that Starbuck doesn’t really, really call him on it.
And the scenes between Starbuck and Roslin and Starbuck and Adama are so cool. Because there she is, being told that her father figure has been dishonest and this lady whom she respects but doesn’t necessarily trust implicitly, is telling her she has to go off on a crazy ass mission. And we can begin to grasp the depths of Kara’s religious belief even more than episodes like Flesh and Blood hinted toward.
Is she going completely out of belief though? I doubt it. I think it’s a combination of things.
And poor Adama at the end. Dude. I have to say though that I always find it kind of funny when he clearly uses his hands to vault onto the table after he’s been shot.
Thanks for everyone being so positive and encouraging about first time posters! My comments here are only about Part 1…
The opening sequence with the music and the personal drama going on with the Adamas, Boomer, Helo, etc. was phenomenally good in this episode–reminded me of those exciting West Wing intros (the good ones that made you anxious to see what would happen next) and the music choice was good as well.
Gray is totally correct in his observation about Starbuck and Apollo’s fight after she slept with Baltar…there doesn’t seem to be any grounds for his jealous? anger. Did we miss something?
One item that struck me was Roslin’s conversation with Billy regarding the truth of the prophecies. It brought up a question in my mind about whether Roslin actually believes in the gods or not. Is it possible to believe in the prophecies, but not have faith in the gods? I think she’s had a conversion moment or an epiphany or what have you, but I still think she is doubtful based on what she says to Billy. I wonder how many Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, etc. somehow believe in certain aspects of their religions, but still have doubts–I know I personally feel this way sometimes, nevertheless I, like Roslin, still go through certain practices/actions almost in the ‘hope’ that it is in fact true or at least has some positive effect. Perhaps ‘hope’ isn’t the best word choice…she thinks it’s true and wants to believe it’s true and so acts on what information she has.
On a lighter note, when Ellen presented Tigh with a bottle of the green Ambrosia, he acted like it was a rare find and something to be treasured, but ever since then it seems as if Ambrosia is everywhere–Baltar’s drinking a bottle (probably the whole bottle by the way he acts) at the card game and it was all over the place on Cloud 9 in Colonial Day.
Akron, yeah I was kinda wondering about that. O know there’s a tillium refinery ship but I don’t remember a space-born distillery / winery as part of the fleet. I’m guessing Ambrosia is similar to wine of some sort so therefore requires a fair bit of processing as well as the crop needed to make the juice to ferment. Then if it’s like scotch or rum we know that the knuckledraggers can create booze from a still: but is this ambrosia? I don’t think so.
In a black market economy any residual Ambrosia would be worth an absolute fortune, even by the end of Season 1!
I always wonder where they get a lot of the stuff in the BSG universe. They seem to have an unlimited supply of paper, not to mention enough pencils (as seen in a later episode) for Roslin to just go and break one
Wait: AirborneAce…didn’t you see the pencil factory ship?
Gray & AKRon – I totally hear you on the music at the beginning of the first of these two episodes. The whole five minute sequence is perfectly composed, with the music and the visual material combining seamlessly into what I can only call a fantastic composite work of art. Given the time constraints of the show the leisurely pace of this opening might have seemed like a luxury, even an indulgence, but it’s a risk that totally paid off. Without feeling like we’re being hurried along we’re given five minutes of beautifully realised pain, sex, violence, humiliation, despair and tragedy – genius, and very BSG. And the howling wind on Caprica is a great touch. The end of the world has never looked or sounded better.
Just rewatched Kobol’s Last Gleaming Pt Deux. I haven’t seen it since it aired. This might just be one of my favorite episodes if not my favorite. There is a certain beauty (not just the mountains of British Columbia ) in seeing the characters experiencing powerful, life-changing situations. Baltar starts getting introduced to his “destiny”. Helo deals with being the father of a cylon’s child (surprisingly well). Adama and Roslin find themselves on opposite sides of ‘duty’. Lee finds himself directly opposing his father, the military and the law itself. Sharon, well…for her there is now no denying what she is! Add ‘assassin’ to her title too. Starbuck revisits Caprica (shows little sign of emotion in seeing her planet ruined) to get an artifact that might or might not save the human race.
I am glad I saw this again, because all this time I was thinking that Baltar was supposed to be the father of the new generation, but I knew that didn’t jive with the fact it was Hera was Helo’s child. But watching it again, Head 6 told Baltar that he would be the “guardian and protector” of the new generation. She didn’t say “Father” in the Opera House. I thought though, in later seasons she talked about “our child”…I am still confused on that. Guess I will have to wait for Season 4 to play out.
Also, why didn’t the naked Sharons tell somebody on the basestar that Sharon Valerii had arrived? And when they saw the nuke it seems there should’ve been more concern about (even though they don’t die).
I must have missed that ship, and the recycling ship too
One more thing…..why does it seem the design (and can I say decor?) of the interior of the basestar is so very different than the spartan interior shots we see later in season 3? In this episode it seems they are going for a lower-budget version of “Aliens” / “Independence Day” alien design.
And going along with AirborneAce’s questions about their limitless resources, I have always wondered how Roslin keeps her roots from showing. I guess their must be a Clairol ship in the fleet somewhere too.
I think the Base Star can be explained by them being in a different part of the ship than in the later episodes, ie: a hangar area that can be accessed by a Raptor vs the bridge/command center area
And on the resources, I mean they show food and medicine shortages in the show, but they seem to overlook other shortages and seem to be a little gratuitous in the stuff that they use. I sure wouldn’t smoke my cigars/cigarettes all the time if I knew they were in finite supply.
Here’s another good point, how did the Pegasus expect to keep the fight going without any resupply. Cain stripped her fleet, but after they ran out of fuel/food/etc how would they keep going?
I think it was implied that Pegasus kept going by conducting hit and run raids on cylon facilities, whereas Galactica’s sole concern was protecting the fleet. Even Galactica got to the stage where they needed to attack a cylon tillium mine. Maybe Pegasus took it a step further by raiding for food as well. Given Pegasus was only looking after itself we know the Battlestars can recycle water indefinitely, although food would be a problem.
Oh WAIT! That’s something you could do with those pesky colonists!
Pegasus had it’s own Viper factory, maybe they had a soylent green factory as well!
gaf
Radio Picon,
The Clairol ship is just behind the waxing ship. You didn’t think Apollo’s chest was REALLY hairless, did you?
gaf
gafra: “Oh WAIT! That’s something you could do with those pesky colonists!
Pegasus had it’s own Viper factory, maybe they had a soylent green factory as well!”
Soylent noodles instead of crackers? They always seem to have plenty of noodles to eat.
“It’s people. Soylent Green is made out of people.”
Gray — The “Passacaglia” is just about the most beautiful piece of music I have ever heard in a television score. Maybe only that piece from the TNG episode “The Inner Light” that Picard plays on his flute comes anywhere near it. I know I’ve mentioned McCreary’s “Passacaglia” ad nauseam on these boards, but it is just so incredibly lovely… and it shows up in so many variant forms from then on, including as “The Shape of Things to Come.” One musical misstep in “Kobol’s Last Gleaming II”, I think, is the sudden musical sting after one of the Sharon models tells Boomer, “We love you, Sharon.” It makes me feel like I’m watching an old Twilight Zone. I half expect Rod Serling to step out, take a drag on his cigarette, and say, “Submitted for your approval: one Lt. Sharon Valerii, who didn’t know who she was — and who now wishes she’d never found out. For sometimes our unanswered questions are better –left– unanswered — and sometimes, our unpulled gun triggers are better pulled, as ‘Boomer’ has now discovered, way out here beyond the red line — in the Twilight Zone.”
(You’ll have to supply Serling’s inimitable diction and pacing for yourself in the above!)
Quoth Gray: “I cringe everytime I see the Starbuck/Gaius frak of horrifying proportions.”
I never noticed until the re-watch that we actually see her frakking Lee until she calls out his name. I sort of assumed it was Callis the whole way through, but the short hair in the first two shots of the frak is a dead give-away.
AKRon asks, “Is it possible to believe in the prophecies, but not have faith in the gods?”
I have known Christians who, in my judgment, seemed to place a lot more faith in the literal words of the Bible than in the God whom even they claim inspired the writing of those words. I am a Christian who does not believe that God is bound to the Bible. I don’t know how this analogy would translate into the BSGverse, though. As many have said in this forum, Scripture does seem to come literally true an amazing amount of the time, so I suppose, among the rag-tag fleet, all of my theological bets are off. 🙂
This seems like a good point to say that, even as a person of faith myself, I find Roslin REALLY REALLY SCARY in this episode. I didn’t the first time I watched it, but in the re-watch — dang, batten down the daggits, that woman is insane! How can someone so obviously intelligent as Roslin not bust a gut laughing when she tells Adama that the fate of humanity depends upon her finding that arrow? This is the first of several “Kai Winn” moments for Roslin (obligatory Trek reference from Mike P ). It doesn’t make Adama’s coup right or justifiable, as Lee says (Lee still rocking — You go, Capt. Apollo!), but I do sympathize with the good commander, not wanting religious mania to dictate policy.
Last post from me for tonight, I promise:
1) Anyone else catch Starbuck’s line as she jumps out in the Raider — “I’m bringing home the cat, sir?” Perfect bookend to the miniseries (and I suppose an anticipation of her last words to Adama before going off to supposedly meet her fate in “Malestrom”). Of course, in the original exchange, it was bringing “IN” the cat, not bringing “HOME” the cat (frak, I am such a geek), but I wouldn’t suppose there’s too much significance in that, right…?
2) Is there *really* a pilot whose code name is “Petard”? I wouldn’t have caught it if it weren’t for the subtitles. Petard? As in hoisted on one’s own? Man. Wonder if she was late when they handed out codenames. “Ok, you can be Starbuck… You can be Apollo… You can be Racetrack… You, oh, I dunno, you can be a small bomb used in medieval siege warfare.”
Sucks to be Petard.
3) Does Billy’s blind loyalty to Scary Religious Roslin a good thing or a bad thing? “We stand by our President.” Yeah, but no matter what? Even when the president is having hallucinations and a messiah complex? I suppose she is not as far gone as I have painted her tonight — she does recognize the need for no bloodshed, she does ultimately go quietly with Tigh — and I realize that Billy has had many more experiences of Roslin as a leader who makes sense (flash on Lilly with Picard in “First Contact” — second obligatory Trek reference from Mike P ). I can also imagine that Billy is having more inner conflict than he lets on. Wonder what was going through his head when he said that.
4) Does anyone else wonder if Boomer, consciously or sub-, sabataoged the bomb release mechanism in order to justify entering the Basestar? Or is that so obvious that I just overlooked it until this viewing? Has happened before. 🙂
5) Does Sharon’s insistence to Helo that she is Sharon parallel Tigh’s insistence that he is Saul Tigh in “Crossroads II” and, if so, to what end? We have speculated some around here that the final five are different because they have the capacity for self-determination. But Sharon is demonstrating that pretty clearly on Caprica with Helo. So maybe self-determination, the ability to go against one’s programming, is not what makes the final five Cylons different after all?
6) Is 2000 years enough time to have forgotten the location of Kobol? I mean, we are two millennia out from the events of Christianity’s origins, for example, but no one has forgotten where Bethlehem is. I suppose we don’t know the whole history of the BSGverse, and we also don’t know if their years are like ours (or are more like yahrens ) — but it was a minor nitpick I had.
Sorry to be so long-winded tonight, but what an awesome pair of episodes. Can’t wait to dive into Season 2!
(Note from Audra at GWC: Mike P – Our spam filter caught this comment the other day and I had to rescue it from the vault- our apologies. The filter is a little wonky sometimes, so we do our best to double-check it.)
So we have this dramatic confrontation with the Commander and the President wherein the Commander places the President under arrest for using a military asset without authorization. Is such a thing possible under Colonial Law or for that matter under United States Law? I thought civilian authorities were supposed to be in control of the military even in BSG. It seems that in BSG there is no such thing as the President being “commander in chief.” That said, I wonder if I was in Roslin’s position if I would have backed down as she did. She allowed herself to be placed in military custody and Commander Adama to become military dictator (yes I said it, dictator) without any civilian governement. The Vice-President was out of touch and possibly dead! I can’t imagine the sea of possibilities that would be going through my head if I was in Roslin’s position. I questioned Roslin’s faith in my previous post, but I dare say she demonstrates a great deal of faith at the end of part 2.
Some observations/thoughts/questions from my re-watch:
1) Starbuck gets her ass kicked by Six. This would seem to argue against Starbuck’s being a Cylon; otherwise, wouldn’t they have been more evenly matched? Unless the Final Five do not have the superior strength, speed, and endurance shown by the other models, which could be the case. Outside of Anders, who was a professional athlete, have any of the final Cylons demonstrated above-average physical abilities? Not counting Tigh’s apparently superhuman liver.
2) There seemed to be more of the white, illuminated drapes on the stage of the opera house in this episode than we see in Season 3. I went back and checked, and there are 6 drapes in “Rapture” and “Crossroads”, while there are 8 in “Kobol’s Last Gleaming.” Is this symbolic of something, or did they just misplace two of the drapes between seasons? A couple of things come to mind regarding the possible significance of the numbers 8 and 6, the first being that these are the Cylon models that have fallen in love with humans and betrayed their own kind. Given that Baltar presumably sees Hera at the convergence of the 8 drapes, could it mean that the Number Eight model will give birth to Hera? In which case, does the shift to 6 drapes signal that Number Six will somehow come to be Hera’s mother? Any other ideas about possible drape-number symbolism? (There’s got to be–numerology is way too easy.)
Jason, 6 drapes leaves 5 spaces between the drapes.
Pike, meaning they reduced the drapes just for the purpose of framing the Final Five? In which case, do you think the original number of 8 drapes (or 7 spaces) had any significance? There were 8 models at that point that hadn’t been revealed.
Mike P: “This seems like a good point to say that, even as a person of faith myself, I find Roslin REALLY REALLY SCARY in this episode.”
It’s ironic: Even as a person of doubt myself, I was totally on board with Roslin in this episode. Of course, if this happened in real life, I too would be really really scared. But for some reason in the BSG ‘verse, I trust Laura here.
By the way, loved the Rod Serling bit. Hilarious!
Jason, I’m pretty sure about the five spaces. I’m not sure if there was any particular significance to the eight drapes here (the number of Cylon/s/z unrevealed is an interesting thought, though.)
Maybe the most parsimonious explanation is that they started with 8 drapes for no particular reason, not knowing they would end up using the stage to present the Final Five as quasi-mystical beings, at which point they switched to 6 drapes, which is the number they would have used from the outset if they’d had the foresight. Still, my intuition is that 8 had some significance at the time, 12 being a much more obvious choice (12 colonies, 12 Cylon models, 12 serpents, 12 vipers, etc., etc.). The fact that there are 8 drapes and NOT 12 makes me suspicious!
Frak, I can’t believe I’m obsessing this much over drapes.
Heh. Anybody notice if the drapes had the corners cut?
Mike P-
Yeah, it is fantasy Lee for a while there. But it’s after the breathy, husky, climactic “Leeee” when it turns into Baltar that I cringe. The moments where he’s looking at her but through her and her face just goes blank and he like, scoots off her. That is the money shot of cringe! 🙂
And word to “Passacaglia” being one of the best. most evocative pieces of music. It elevated an already powerful opening montage to grand, elegant proportions. “Passacaglia” and any of it
s later variants always hit me hard.
I submitted one other post last night, but I see it that my daggit must have eaten it, so I will try again —
1) For those of you who, like me, think Roslin is scary-off-the-deep-end in this episode (I hear you, Jason, that in the BSGverse it all works out, and point taken): Does Billy’s loyalty to Roslin make you think more or less of him? I’m not sure it is a good thing to have a mad president surrounded by unflinchingly staunch loyalists. Sure, the coup is wrong, but so is Roslin’s authorization to use the Raider to go back to Caprica. (The Raider is military property; Roslin and Adama negotiated in the mini that all military decisions would be left to Adama.) Granted, I’m not sure what it would have been “bettter” for Billy to have done, and it may just be testament to Roslin’s charisma and ability to inspire others as a leader. Even so, it gave me pause this time around.
2) Is 2000 years long enough for the Colonials to have forgotten where Kobol was? I am assuming — and perhaps wrongly — that their years are similar to ours (and are not “yahrens” ), but c’mon. It’s been 2000 years since the time of Jesus (give or take a few), and nobody has forgotten where Jerusalem is. A small nitpicky point, but it bothered me. Two millennia isn’t all that long as a civilization’s memory goes, it seems to me.
3) Anybody else wonder if Boomer sabatoged the bomb release in order to have an excuse to dock with the basestar? Or has that been so obvious to everyone else that no one has felt the need to comment on it? Alas, sometimes the obvious escapes me! 🙂
4) I was struck by how similar Sharon’s insistent statement to Helo, “I am Sharon!” is to Tigh’s proclamation in “Crossroads II,” “No matter what, I am Saul Tigh…” Perhaps the ability to act counter to programming is not a defining feature of the final five models? Sharon’s arc in season 1 (i.e., the Sharon with Helo) is to reject her Cylon programming and choose to love Helo. (Although I suppose that was part of the overall Cylon plan overall, right? So I dunno, now I’m just confusing myself. Frak you, sophisticated subtle scriptwriters!!! )
5) Finally — sucks to be the pilot whose codename is Petard. I never noticed it but this time I did because my subtitles were on. Petard? As in hoisted by one’s own? Man, you know she regretted getting out of line when they were handing out call signs. “You get to be Starbuck…. You get to be Boomer… Oh, and you were gone, so we named you after a small mine used in medieval siege warfare.”
Ok, folks. I’m a first time poster to GWC(so welcome me and be nice to me)–but a big fan of the GWC podcast—listening to it religiously since the begining of Season 3.
I went to my local library and borrowed Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Disks #4 and #5 DVDs, so I’m all ready for Kobol Last Gleaming rewatch and commentary podcasts (by the way I love commentary podcasts, so I can’t wait).
Anyway, here’s a question I hope someone can help me with: Last weekend was the annual dance recital for my two daughters and one of the songs in the recital was “Suddenly I See”—so I’m sitting there watching the recital and thinking “Frak, where have I heard that song before”. It took me days to realize that I HADN”T heard it before, but I HAD heard Audra’s “reimagining” of the song as “Here in CIC”. So my question is, on which podcast did Audra do that song? My wife and my daughters will freak out when they hear Audra’s version.
Thanks,
-Thot
ThotFullGuy — welcome aboard! 🙂
Funny story about your recognition of Audra’s “reimagining” of the song. I actually *did* hear McCreary’s music from season 2 underscoring a piece on my local news about an unsolved homicide case. I am sure the producers wanted it for atmosphere, but still — it seemed somehow tacky to me (the use of the music, not the music itself).
Thanks Mike P.
Yeah, so the story gets even better: After the dance recital was over, I kept hearing Audra’s “Here in CIC” song over and over in my head. I got out of my seat and kept walking, not sure where my feet were taking me. Finally I ended up in a storage room backstage of the recital and four other Dad’s of girls in the recital were there—all drawn mysteriously to the same storage room. Then, in horror we all realized the shocking truth. “Oh, my Gods,” I said, “We’re all Cylons.”
-Thot
Welcome, AirborneAce and ThotFullGuy! (Radio Picon, I think I welcomed you one before. If not, welcome!)
AKRon – Great point about the ambrosia. I also thought it unusual when Baltar was just slugging it down when it’s supposedly a rare product. However, he is the VP right now, and maybe he and the top pilots have special access?
Mike P. – I thought I noticed that was actually Lee in the opening scene! I guess even during the re-watch I thought maybe it was my imagination. Great catch.
Jason Sez: 1) Starbuck gets her ass kicked by Six.
I’m gonna have to, um, ya know, disagree with you there…;) Sure, Starbuck takes a beating. But if one ends up impaled and the other one bruised, I’d say it was Six who got her ass kicked.
Re: Billy’s loyalty – I think Billy does a great job balancing his duties and his beliefs. He practically hollers at the president in KLG Part I about her idea to send the heavy raider back to Caprica. Once he’s made his views clear, he gets her a glass of water and makes it clear he’ll stick with her anyway. And ultimately, in the end, he decided to split with her because of moral issues he has with her political actions. So, I think his unwavering loyalty is honorable in that, as long as you’re within his standards of moral acceptibility, he’s all yours.
ThotFullGuy – Here’s a direct link to the “Here in CIC” song we did. Also, I have to remind everyone along with the link that the phrase “Here in CIC” originated with the 13th Cylon, and the song is based on KT Tunstall’s “Suddenly I See.”
Here ya go!
http://galacticawatercooler.com/2007/03/06/outro-music-here-in-cic/
Oops – Forgot to clarify: The phrase “Here in CIC” AND the concept of putting it to KT Tunstall’s song are both the 13th Cylon’s.
I used to hate that “suddenly I sing” song (the KT Tunstall version). But now? When I hear it 70 times a day on the radio, I smile and sing along with Audra’s words instead. Much, much better. Thanks, Audra!
Mike P…I think you have a good point about is 2000 years enough to forget where Kobol was. Well, I suppose it could have been more than 2000 years too, but still.
I tend to think a space-faring race would be much further a long technologically than the colonists are now, if they had been space faring for over 2,000 years. So I imagine there was a period of extreme dark ages, maybe they lost most of their technology and had to redevelop it. In that light I can see them forgetting where Kobol was.
thanks for the welcome Audra! But actually I am just Brian CC with a better nick! :))
Long time podcast listener and first time poster.
The scenes with Baltar visions on Kobol are among my favorites of the whole series. Leaving the colors of Galactica and Caprica to the green explosion of the forbidden paradise of Kobol. The religious tone and how the music work. Just wonderful. Gives me goose bumps every time.
Favorite vision though is the one with Adama in the upcoming episode.
i still hate this eppy. It all seems to convenient and redicolous to me. How easily they find kobol pisses me off..frakers
Audra said to Jason:
“I’m gonna have to, um, ya know, disagree with you there…;) Sure, Starbuck takes a beating. But if one ends up impaled and the other one bruised, I’d say it was Six who got her ass kicked.â€
Poor choice of words on my part. “Takes a serious beating†was what I meant. The intent was to raise the question of whether the Final Five have the apparently superior physical abilities of the Other Seven, not to disparage Starbuck’s status as a badass, which remains undisputed.
I will add my redundant but sincere props for “Passacaglia.” Also, after re-watching this first appearance of the Opera House, I’m more confused about what’s going on in D’anna’s visions and the visions in “Crossroads.” From this episode, we’re led to believe that Baltar is having a vision of the Opera House on Kobol back before it was ruined. In Season 3, D’anna sees the stage of the Opera House in the space between life and death. Which place are Six, Athena, Roslin, and Hera seeing in their visions–or are ancient Kobol and the space between life and death somehow one and the same?
Then there are the intersecting destinies. Not only are Roslin, Athena, Six, and Hera somehow linked, but the Final Five, Baltar, and D’anna are probably linked with them, too, since they’ve all been to the Opera House. That’s a lot of links if they’re all involved in Hera’s destiny. In this episode, Baltar and Six see the baby that we assume (but don’t have any firm proof of, I guess) is Hera on the stage in the white crib, but nobody else, and Six and Baltar’s actions, expressions, and the beautiful music in the scene create a tone of hope and promise. When D’anna goes to the stage each time she dies, she sees only the glowing Final Five, no baby. In the joint visions in “Crossroads,” the original figure foretold in Baltar’s vision in this episode, Hera, is actually there with Six and Baltar, so the original trinity that seems meant to be in the Opera House is reunited (though it’s questionable whether Baltar is there or whether we’re seeing Head Baltar–it’s really confusing because Caprica Six sees the vision but in the vision is dressed as Head Six was in this episode, yet Baltar is dressed differently in the “Crossroads” vision than he was in the “Kobol’s Last Gleaming” vision), but the Final Five are there now, too, looking down really, really menacingly from the balcony. Why is the apparent fulfilment of the vision in “Kobol’s Last Gleaming” so menacingly overshadowed by the Final Five in “Crossroads II,” in an episode in which the other visions, D’anna’s, are sort-of fulfilled in that four of the Final Five find out their own identities?
Plus, Athena and Roslin are in the Opera House, but only in the foyer areas; Six crosses between the Opera House’s seating area and the foyer to collect Hera, and Baltar is always in the seating area before the three go to the stage. Why the differentiation? Even D’anna got to go onstage; why can’t these two? If they’re being “shut out” of Hera’s destiny, why would the powers that be include them in the vision at all? The “Crossroads” visions are confusing enough to try to interpret on their own, but taking into account what the other visions of the Opera House mean requires an explanation for how so many destinies could be interwoven, and I can’t come up with one. Any thoughts? The only thing I can think of is that perhaps D’anna’s route to the Opera House is a red herring; she wasn’t destined to be there, so maybe the way she entered the Opera House isn’t supposed to fit with the others. That still doesn’t explain much, though. I was on board with Audra’s theory that the Final Five are good guys, but their creepiness in that last vision really makes me wonder.
Wow, Kappa.
Sucks I have to work tomorrow, but cool that I’ll be able to think about that post.