Review: Season 3 Premiere, "Occupation/Precipice"

Source; IF Magazine

Can an excellent show get even better? The answer is yes!

Is it possible to make something fantastic even better? Frakk yes! The third season premiere of SCI FI Channel’s BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is even better than Season 2. Picking up some four months after the last season cliffhanger, we find the last remnants of humanity living under Cylon rule. This is basically one big Holocaust analogy with the humans in a gulag being randomly taken and tortured and some never returning to their homes and families. Four months in which the rest of the fleet with both GALACTICA and PEGASUS have been trying desperately to form a plan of rescue for the people stuck on New Caprica. Baltar, still the president is now only doing what the Cylons tell him to do, and he has become the most despised human in existence.

AND THAT FOLKS…is just the first few minutes. If you’ve been watching the Resistance pod casts then you know some of the back story leading up to the premiere on the SCI FI Channel on October 6th from 9-11pm PST (yes this is a 2 hour premiere). Now as to the rest of this review I’m going to do it without giving away spoilers, instead I will simply speak in vague terms as a BSG fan, and leave the watching and experiencing of the premiere to you good people.

Let me start by saying time has not been kind to the Colonial fleet. The faces that we have known and loved for the last couple of seasons have gone through some rough changes and the hair, makeup, and design of the new season certainly makes everyone look wasted and tired.

With the new season we get a slightly more in-depth look into the running of the Cylon hierarchy, and new system that GALACTICA Boomer and Caprica Six have been trying to implement since the move to live in harmony with humanity.

Lucy Lawless returns in her recurring role as D’Ana Biers, and adds all kinds of fun into the mix. Lawless is in one of her best roles since her career defining XENA, and it seems like she is enjoying herself.

Of course, as with any police state situation, people are divided. Some work with the Cylons, and some stay completely loyal to the Colonial fleet. This particular situation creates some interesting dynamics within the beaten down humans.

Also, look for a bit more of mystery and intrigue with the Cylon/human child. This storyline which sort of disappeared a bit last season will have big developments in the new season.

If you are a fan of the show, and react with emotion to the situations that your favorite characters are put into, then keep a box of Kleenex handy. This is one of the most emotional episodes yet, and there will be more than one occasion to shed a couple of tears for beloved characters.

The tension throughout the season premiere is thick, and of course it doesn’t end there, but continues into the next episodes…this is some of the best writing from the staff on this show yet.

If you caught the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: THE STORY SO FAR special on NBC a few weeks ago, and have not been a fan of the show, that special brought you up to date and now is the time to get on board with the BEST human drama out there on TV (that just happens to have robots and spaceships in it).