“Maelstrom”

“Maelstrom” is a very unique episode. It is both brilliant yet overdone. Dramatic, yet boring. Emotional, yet stale. In short my feeling on it is one of confusion. We open with Starbuck’s listless dreaming of painting the Eye of Jupiter, being interrupted by Leoben and making passionate love to him.

Following advice from Help, Starbuck goes to see an oracle. She catches a glimpse of a little beaten girl in a mirror and we can deduct, it’s a young Starbuck. As she enters the oracle’s tent, she finds a small winged figurine of Aurora. Yolanda Brenn the oracle lets her keep it and goes right into the reasons Starbuck has come to visit her. She repeats word-for-word Leoben’s remarks of Starbuck’s destiny, making them seem suddenly more real. She tells Starbuck that it all means that her mother, Socrata Thrace, is trying to tell her something important. Starbuck storms out angered.

Through some reminiscences we learn that Starbuck once provoked her mom into slamming her hand in a door. Shaking her head clear, Starbuck goes on patrol with Hot Dog. In the clouds of a gas giant, Starbuck catches sight of a Cylon Heavy Raider and gives immediate chase.

Dradis is blinded due to radiation and no one else sees the ship. Hot Dog loses sight of Starbuck. In orbit, Admiral Adama listens to Starbuck and orders to abort the refuel and to prepare for a jump. Starbuck dogfights the Cylon through the clouds, eventually entering a swirling storm into which the Cylon dives.

Suddenly, the clouds take on the red, blue and yellow colors of the Eye of Jupiter. Starbuck maintains her pursuit even as she risks being crushed by atmospheric pressure. As she moves in for the kill, she catches glimpses of her apartment between flashes of lightning and the outline of her mother standing in the room.

It shakes Starbuck’s focus and she quickly returns to Galactica. Back on board, we learn that there is no Viper damage, and nothing on her gun cameras. Starbuck remains convinced of what she saw, while everyone else questions her sanity. I know it’s necessary to the story, but given the implausibilities yet proof of fantastical tales of Starbuck since the beginning of the show, everyone jumps off the Starbuck bandwagon pretty quickly.

Case in point, Admiral Adama himself discusses it with Apollo. Apollo then finds Starbuck sitting in Memorial Highway staring at the pictures on the wall. They share a moment of clarity and human emotion as they see all of their dead friends. It’s truly a connecting moment of the series as she remembers Kat and he remembers Duck and his wife. They promise to put each other on the wall in the proper place if they go before the other. The moment is broken as Starbuck observes dripping candle wax taking the pattern and colors of the Eye. As she walks away Starbuck passes by Admiral Adama and she gives him the figurine for his model ship.

She prepares herself for her next mission when she again sees herself in her seat. She is visibly shaken to her core, and sits down at the base of her Viper. Everyone gives her a wide berth until Apollo sits next to her. He sets her straight, and offers to fly her wing…and to trust him.

As they move into the sky of the planet, Starbuck catches sight of the Heavy Raider and sets off too engage. Again no one sees it on her scope. Apollo loses Starbuck in the gasses and it’s one on one. Her cockpit is punctured and she passes out as her Viper goes into a spin. She falls unconscious and wakes up in her apartment on Caprica, Leoben by her side.

Leoben tells her he’s there to help her change the past. She finds herself with her mother and we see a glimpse of Starbuck’s past with an overdemanding, unable to satisfy mother berating Kara for being 16th in her class of about a 150 or so instead of first. We also find out that her mother has terminal cancer. She tries to offer support and sympath, and her mother turns it back around on her again. Starbuck storms off vowing never to return. It’s great to see some of these origins of one of the more intriguing characters and it’s not difficult to believe that Starbuck came from such a past.

Leoben then brings her to her mother’s deathbed, giving Starbuck a second chance at being with her mother as she dies. She sits next to her mother and notices that her mother is holding a scrapbook full of her childhood drawings. They share a moment together.

Starbuck comes to the realization that Leoben is not Leoben to which he almost smugly replies, that he never claimed to be. It’s enough to make the audience keep guessing.

Reality comes charging back and she awakens in her cockpit to Apollo begging her to come back. She calmly tells Apollo that she’s not scared anymore and that she’ll see him on the other side.

Apollo doesn’t accept that and again begs for her to pull up. Starbuck in pure peace, whispers, “just let me go… they’re waiting for me”.

And Starbuck’s Viper explodes.

Unlike many death sequences or implied death sequences, this does have some weight. It is quite powerful, but for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on, it doesn’t have as much as it should. Is it because we feel the swerve, or is it because the build up was too quick. I believe that it’s the latter.

We end with Adama tearfully smashing his model ship.

I loved this episode and yet I hated it. If this is a confusing review, I apologize, but it was a confusing show. Much like a lot of Season 3.

C+

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