First: curse whomever it was that decided to make us wait until January for the rest of season two.

Second, some thoughts:

• Cain’s Guilt: There is clearly more to the Pegasus’story than Cain has let on, and I think that whatever those details are will help explain her general motivations.
  
• Indeed, Cain’s general reaction to finding a fleet with 40ish thousand humans didn’t seem normal. There was never anything to indicate that the Pegasus crew or command staff was pleased that there were as many human survivors of the Holocaust as there were. They were pleased to have additional military assets, yes, but general pleasure over the number of humans who were still alive? None. This was underscored by the fact that Pegasus was willing to restock Galactica but was not willing to send supplies to the civilian ships. It was almost as if the civilian population didn’t really matter. Either this all plays into a back story that has yet to be fully revealed, or it was lazy writing to help up the tension level.

• Overall, even though Cain throws Adama a bone of congratulations after reading the logs, she really seems to have no comprehension of what the Fleet signifies, or what it has been through. Certainly she affords neither Adama nor Roslin any respect. Now, it could be that she was always an egotistical jerk, or she has been traumatized, or both.
  
• Indeed, to move outside the world of BSG into our own, I thought that there were some problems with the script. Specifically: the conflict between the two Battlestar crews was too immediate and too clichéd. That there would be that much immediate animosity given the fact that what we have here is the reuniting of two of the last remnants of humanity didn’t seem real on a program that has treated human emotions and responses to difficult situations as well as it has to date.

• Speaking of cliches–at this point I do not entertain the notion that Cain or any of the Pegasus are Cylons. That would be too trite, and rather disappointing. No, I think that the ultimate answer is going to be that Cain and her crew simply had a very different reaction to the attack, the Holocaust and their survival than did Galactica and the Fleet. Indeed, it gets back to Adama’s admission on Kobol to Roslin that had it not been for her, he would have gone after the Cylons and that he and his crew would have died.
• Clearly the response of the Pegasus’ crew has been to lapse more deeply into an extreme militarized existence, while Galactica’s situation, with a civilian government and population in the equation has lessened some of the more strident elements of the military existence.
• Of course, along those lines, both crews did see fit to employ extreme methods of interrogation, crossing the line into torture, with Cylon captures. Of course, Starbuck’s usage of beating and the bucket of water on Leoben pales in comparison, on several level, to the gang-raping of Pegasus’ Number Six. It is noteworthy, though, that also along with the thought above, part of what put a stop to Stabuck’s interplay with Leoben was the intervention of the President. Whether intention or not, I think that the writings are making a point in comparing the two Battlestars in terms of the mitigating influence that civilian control of the military can have. And again, the key role of Roslin is brought to light.
• It is odd and disturbing that that many of the Pegasus’ crew would be so into the whole gang rape activity.
• Clearly, Galactica’ exposure to both iterations of Sharon have tempered their views of how to deal with the Cylons (and I don’t just mean Tyrol and Helo). As a side note: given their fight in the previous episode, it was quite interesting, and logical, that Helo and Tyrol would go together to save Sharon.
• It is odd that the main goal of the Pegasus seems not to be consolidating and protecting humanity’s last remnant and exploring the whole Earth business, but rather they seem more interested simply in taking over—although that may feed into the whole guilt angle and the hyper-militarization angle. Still, it is odd. It is as if finding the Fleet didn’t really change the status quo all that much for Cain and company.
  

Fanboy Nitpick: why couldn’t Sharon fight off her attempted rape more effectively? Cylons, even the female one, have been demonstrated to be far stronger than humans—so handling three men shouldn’t have been that hard. Granted, there were also men with guns, but still—especially once help arrived, I was surprised she didn’t fight back more ferociously. I am also surprised Cain didn’t order Sharon transferred to Pegasus along with Tyrol and Helo.

Comments?

(Part of the OTB Sunday Drive).