SEASON 3 -- ''Torn''

Source: IF Magazine

Well, things just keep getting more and more interesting on this show. BSG is consecutively one of the best-written dramas on TV with unexpected twists and turns happening in almost every episode.

Is Batlar a Cylon? Probably not, or if he is, it’s certainly the easiest way to keep him in the series as a pivotal bad guy if they need to kill him. All of the revelations on the Basestar between Baltar and Six have been quite enlightening. So the Cylons live in a constructed fantasy world where they project what they want to see so they can be at peace and happy. Machines with a need for creature comforts, who knew?

Lucy Lawless was particularly bitchy in this episode. Be honest, how many of us watching just love to see her get down and evil? I think that this role/roles (since every model of Cylon has multiple versions) has opened a whole new acting door for our favorite Miss Xena. Not only is she proving on BATTLESTAR that she can be sexy, evil, and intelligent, but there is also a sort of underlying scared vulnerability to the character that only cracks to the surface every so often.

Colonel Tigh, how many times can this man get wasted before he suffers alcohol poisoning? Tigh is at his best when he is drunk and belligerent, and this episode had plenty of that. I can understand why he has all of these messed-up emotions regarding New Caprica, but he’s the one who made the decision to put Helen down like a mad dog. She’s probably a Cylon anyways. Think back to the first season conversations when she turned up suddenly alive after the initial Cylon attacks. So we may be seeing more of her.

It’s interesting as well in this episode to see just how far Baltar will go for self-preservation. Killing a number six model, even if she had brown hair was a bit of a cross over to the dark side for the former president/good doctor. His stubborn refusal to tell the Cylons about the canister on board the infected Baseship leads me to believe that the rest of his time with the Cylons will not be as comfy as it has been to this point.

Plus in this episode the fourth type of Cylon, the Hybrid was introduced. DUNE fans raise your hands if you thought the Hybrid was basically a Guild Navigator. This newest model Cylon that folds space and controls the day-to-day functions of the massive basestars is a truly disturbing cyborg creation. More machine than human, and the fact that the TRON MCP line “end of line” was used more than once was a geek moment to savor.

All of this ends with Athena (the new Boomer on GALACTICA) finding the remains of the Cylon basestar infected with the virus and making some Biblical quote right before the dreaded “to be continued” that this series is so good at doing. It keeps me tuning in that’s for sure!