Review: Battlestar Galactica 4.07
by Paul Talon on May.17, 2008, under BSG, Reviews by Paul Talon, Television
“Guess What’s Coming To Dinner”
Despite the need to insult the viewer’s intelligence and lead them around by their noses, “Guess What’s Coming To Dinner” was a step back in the right direction for BSG. There were certainly some missteps, but at least the overall story started moving forward again.
We open with the Demetrius and the wounded basestar preparing to jump back to the fleet. Just in case you aren’t aware of what is about to happen, they spell it out for you by commenting that it’s good they’re jumping back with the Demetrius or else the fleet would blow them out of the sky.
The Demetrius fails to jump leaving the basestar alone jumping in the middle of the fleet. And guess what else? The basestar’s comm is broken so of course they can’t communicate with the fleet. It really is needless drama because you know it’s going to get worked out before the basestar is destroyed. It’d be one crappy story if it was, and quite a way to lose Starbuck, Anders, Athena, and the rebel Cylons.
But the intriguing thing is why it stops. With no clue or indication, Tigh suddenly calls out a weapons hold. Lazily though, it’s never explained why Tigh called for it. Heck it would have been better just for the Demetrius to show up right before they fired, rather than right after Tigh stopped it.
Or it would have been even better to skip this sequence altogether.
The rest of the episode is very intriguing though. The idea of the Cylons and humans working together is certainly interesting enough. The reveal to Adama that the Final Five are within the Fleet makes it even more precarious of an alliance.
As six reveals the religious implications of the Final Five and the boxed number three, they also offer the Fleet a bonus for helping them unbox the three. The boxing facility is in the same area as the resurrection hub. The hub provides the power for all the resurrection ships everywhere. If the Cylons were to lose this hub, they would permanently lose the ability to resurrect anywhere. It’s too big of a target to ignore.
It’s a great look into the mistrust and disloyalty of humanity as both sides plan to screw over the other until Six makes an impassioned plea to the quorum about mortality and how it defines life. It’s a very intriguing speech, that has some resonance. It’s been awhile since BSG had such a monologue.
After this speech, Six wants to nix their betrayal, but Leoben and Sharon say the Centurions already have their orders. They try to stall so that they can maybe fix it.
Athena has a dream about Hera and a number six taking her into a room with Baltar. She wakens to find her staring at her. Just as suddenly Hera is wandering the ship, and Athena is looking for her. Hera finds her way, of course, to the number Six who is trying to work with the fleet. Hera goes to hug her and Athena finds them together. Wildly she takes out her sidearm and shoots Six in the head.
It’s a bit overly dramatic, even for a mother with crazy prophetic dreams, but I’ll wait to see how it progresses before I judge this moment.
The two subplots differ greatly. One is intriguing, especially because it leads to a cliffhanger in the main arc, while the second is just ridiculously overblown.
We’ll start with the ridiculously overblown. Gaeta has to have his leg amputated and it is noted that when he feels the pain of the phantom leg or a twinge, he sings to focus on something else. He actually does have a nice voice, but I have no idea why this becomes a running part of the episode. A one time bit or two would have sufficed, but each time it happens, it just gets more and more annoying, especially as they tie it in at the end.
The other subplot involves President Roslin and her shared dreams with Six and Athena. Baltar begins to report this in his sermons which have a great distribution. Unfortunately it leads to very soap opera angle, where he said – she said, rules the roost. Apollo worries about the effect on the people, Roslin is mad at Tory for sleeping with Baltar, Tory is mad at Baltar for ruining her relationship with Roslin, and it’s a vicious cycle.
The good portion happens at the end when Starbuck tells Roslin of what the Hybrid said regarding the dying leader and the opera house. Roslin decides that’s enough to go over to the Hybrid and hear this for herself personally.
They plug the hybrid back in and…they jump.
It’s an intriguing end to the episode, I must admit, because I do want to see what happened. Overall, it’s a episode that while flawed, does begin to right the ship a tad. Now if only the writers would realize the intelligence of it’s audience. The big overall story is decent, the little connecting portions of the tale need a whole lot more polish.