Battlestar, you beast!

Due to a couple of weeks that have been both emotionally crappy and socially hectic, we had fallen behind in our Battlestar. This week, we caught up to see what had been going on. I really like how in the first season, Starbuck was defined as the bombastic, overly confident fighter pilot. I fell in love with her. I love her still, but I've really been appreciating that in this season, we've been watching her battle some demons. AND I liked that in the episode, "Scar," she has to eat crow when her commadre (whose name I forget, but whose hair I like) is the one who takes him down. However - and judging by the few glances I've taken at other blogs, and from talking to my honey, I'm the only one who was surprised by this - I was totally surprised that the writers let Billy bite it in the following epsiode, "Sacrifice." Yes, roll your eyes now, folks; I still didn't think it would be him. On the one hand, I want to give props to the writers for offing a high profile character, something usually only reserved for folks who are around for just 1 -3 episodes. On the other, I LOVED BILLY! He was so sweet and smart. He reminded me of my own beloved. And stupid "what's-her-name" didn't know how good she had it. Though she was right to warn Billy not to reach for the terrorist's gun; he didn't have any military training was her rationale. And now President Roslin is completely without anything resembling family. I love that lady. Even in the episodes when I hate her. I wonder when we're going to see Sharon have her baby. That'll be a cool period. I can't wait for that. For the moment, I think she's really with the humans.

Man, I love this show. I love it mostly because as a non-sci-fi geek, they've reeled me in. Hell, I remember, as a child watching the original Battlestar and thinking not only was it over-blown tripe, it was clearly a very bad Star Wars knock-off. I could smell that when I was 5! And I didn't want to like it this time around, but damn! Knock me over with a feather. Normally, I really can't get into sci-fi shows or anything that heavily militaristic, but this is really a human and political drama. Last season they pretty clearly established the whole philosophical grey area of the human-cylon conflict. This season, I think it's mostly inter-human politics and strategizing, which is also interesting. But I hope we get back to the whole "who is our enemy" theme. To me, that's the juice.

... btw, Niamh, I realize that in England you guys can pretty much only get it via internet downloads, so I'm sorry if I spoiled anything for you.