Yes, I’m still on a bit of BSG surge. Y’all know how it is! It’s
something that’ll take a while to kick. Now that I remember, there is Caprica
to look forward to…. (sigh)… and now I think my problem has cleared up by
thinking about that show. I’ll touch upon “One Frak to Live” one day, but not
today. I’ll probably get to something else like a certain movie crossover
starring a knight and some amphibians next.
Before I get to Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, I wanted to
touch upon my favorite episodes of the series. It’s been a while since I’ve
done some favorite lists. It took me a
long while to get to this and this is going to be a tough list to do. I’m even
including the mini-series and movies here as well. You gotta count them since
they were pretty much glorified two-parters. Since ranking these will be too
tough, I’m just sticking to chronological order for this one. I’m also
including 14 episodes (as well as two-parters) since I couldn’t stop at 13. So,
how do I not rank most of Season 2’s episodes on here?
1. The Miniseries - While it’s not the actual pilot (“33”), this is the mini
that started it all. Here, the 12 Colonies of Kobol are wiped out by their
robotic creations, the Cylons. In order to look for a new life, the survivors
set their course toward the mythical 13th colony, Earth. the mini
took things from the original show and added a lot of modern context. Our
characters are not as altruistic as they were on the 1978 series. The Cylons
are also deadlier since they can blend in better. Throw in explosions, good
action, and great acting to the mix and you get something that made you want
more. Thankfully, we got that.
2. The Hand of God – In this episode, the fleet is running
low on supplies. Since the Cylons have a fuel depot close by, Adama decides they
finally need to go on offense. This one brought some good character moments for
folk like Lee and Kara, who was sidelined at this point. It also gave a nice
moment for ‘ole Gaius Baltar. Finally, we got some good action in that final
bout.
3. Kobol’s Last Gleaming Parts 1 and 2 – This was the season
finale to Season 1. Here, things have gotten pretty heightened with political
and military sects of the fleet. There’s a mission for the fleet to attack the
Cylons. Then, there’s Roslin crazy plan to send Kara back to Crapica (I might
as well call it that now) to find the Arrow of Aethna. A lot of stuff happens here and many plot
lines either end or get much deeper. It’s a finale that definitely kept your
attention until _______ got shot by _______.
4. Scattered – This takes place right after the Season 1
finale. As the title says, the fleet is pretty much scattered after the events
of “Kobol’s Last Gleaming.” It starts off an arc for that part of the season. Since
Adama is… out, Tigh has to take charge and I think it’s here where I began to like
him more. Yeah, he was still an ass, but you get that he was trying to make the
best of a bad situation. Add the
Galactica being separated from the fleet and you get a good hour of television.
5. Home – This is a two-parter that basically brings an end
to the small arc “Scattered” set up. All roads lead to Kobol, the birthplace of
the 12 Colonies. Roslin’s running on the visions and prophecies she’s gotten
and Adama, who was out for a bit, realizes the fleet needs to come back together
and mend some fences. We get some nice
moments for everyone here like Kara, Lee, Sharon/Athena, Tom Zarek, Adama, and
Roslin. It’s also one of the few episodes where the fleet actually got some
hope in their bones for their trip to Earth.
6. Pegasus – This episode started off a small arc for the
show. The Pegasus, another Battlestar
that was lost in the war, finds the fleet. It’s led by Admiral Cain (Michelle
Forbes) and it has seen its own action. While this does seem good at first,
things escalate as the two crews’ cultures clash in major ways. I wanted to
stick the Resurrection Ship two-parter on here, but I’m already giving it
enough love. Just know that this episode and the next two are the show at its
best. Everyone had a good moment to shine here.
7. Downloaded – This is the first episode that shows the war
from the perspective of the Cylons. It follows Boomer (the Sharon that involved
with Chief Tyrol) as she gets adjusted to her new life on “Crapica.” We also
run into Caprica Six (Baltar’s lady) and we also see what Anders was up to. We
also find out that the Cylons are as diverse as their human creators since some
actually have remorse about what was
done to humanity. It’s an episode that definitely gives the Cylons some much
needed depth and it’s one that can’t be missed.
8. Lay Down Your Burdens – This two-parter literally set the
show on a new course if only for a bit. While Kara heads back to Caprica to
save Anders and other survivors, the fleet finds a habitable planet. This all
plays into the presidential election where Roslin is facing off against Baltar.
Then, we’re thrown a curveball since Baltar’s sworn in and the fleet colonize
the planet. The last few minutes in the episode set up some much for the third
season of BSG. Even with that ending, it was a great two-parter itself with the
election shenanigans going on.
9. The Occupation Arc (Occupation, Precipice, Exodus parts 1
and 2, Collaborators) – Yeah, I had to lump all of these together. While “Collaborators”
isn’t exactly a part of the arc, it might as well be since it’s the epilogue to
the whole mess. The Occupation messed a whole lotta folk up. Kara was with the
creepy Leoben, Tigh lost an eye, and the rest of the ones on New Caprica were
losing hope and lives. We get the fleet at its lowest and we have Adama taking
some pretty bold moves in “Exodus”. Everyone, even Lee in his fat suit, gets a
moment to shine in these five episodes.
10. Crossroads – While Season 3 started strong and had a somewhat
weak middle, it definitely ended strong with “Crossroads.” We had the fleet getting
even closer to their destination, the reveal of four new Cylons, and the trial
of Gaius Baltar. One thing I’ll credit these episodes and the previous one (“The
Son Also Rises”) the character of Romo Lampkin (Mark Sheppard). He brought some
life to those court proceedings. As usual, things go for a loop toward the end
when Starbuck shows up out of nowhere. This helped bring a nice season to a
good shocking end.
11. Razor – While Razor wasn’t a part of the show proper, it
did do some new things. We got to see how Lee’s command of the Pegasus went since
we really never saw that on the show. We got a new character named Shaw who was
Admiral Cain’s protégé and we end up seeing how Cain’s rule was on the Pegasus.
The main push of the episode is when the fleet run into older models of Cylons
and this brings on flashback from the original Cylon War. Add some good action,
good characterization, and you get something that helped during the Season
break.
12. Sometimes A Great Notion – If there were any Season 4
episodes to put on here, this would be the one. This episode occurs after “Revelations,”
the episode where the fleet finds Earth. Let’s just say that things didn’t go
well. What we get is a pretty depressing but good episode. Everyone here ends
up going through some stuff and not everyone makes it unfortunately. When this
one character I liked ended up… “going away,” I had to go out the room during
that moment. It was also an episode that made me see how far Col. Tigh had come
during the whole show. Guess where he’ll be on my favorite character’ list.
13. Mutiny Arc (The Oath, Blood on the Scales) – This was
probably going to happen in the fleet eventually. Now that the fleet knows
about Earth and has the Cylon rebels a part of the fleet, some folk want Adama
and Roslin to pay. What we get is some familiar characters staging a coup on
the Galactica. Gaeta and Zarek lead the opposition and it’s interesting to see
where all that would lead to.
14. Daybreak – Finally, there’s the three-part series
finale. In the episodes, the Galactica stages one last mission to save someone
and stick it to the regular Cylons. Yeah, I know that folk tend not like this
one, but I’m not like most folk. I felt this brought the show to a good
conclusion. I still don’t agree with every decision that was made (“Seriously, RDM,
what was up with Starbuck?”), but it was nice to see the fleet get one final
win. We also get to see everyone together for one more time, and I feel like it
did stick its landing unlike most finales.
……………………………………………………………………
Well, that’s all I got for this list here. If you have any favorites of your own, let me
know. Next time, I’ll finish up the BSG talk with The Plan as well as an extra
post giving my final thoughts on the show as well as my favorite charactes. Until
then, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.
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