Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down (Rewatch)

[bazzyb]

This poll and thread are now open for votes and comments. You may also wish to consider this episode for the season one awards, see http://www.battlestarforum.com/showthread.php?t=1595 (http://www.battlestarforum.com/showthread.php?t=1595)

When voting or posting a comment you may wish (or not) to state whether your rating i.e. Exellent to Poor is based on the quality of BSG in general, TV in general or otherwise

[bazzyb]

I know that RDM admitted to it in the podcasts but the return of Ellen was a stretch too far (unless she was a cylon of course) I would have been happier if it had been revealed that Ellen was around but didn't make herself known to Glactica as she did not wish to reconcile with Tigh

[Batman316]

I know that RDM admitted to it in the podcasts but the return of Ellen was a stretch too far (unless she was a cylon of course) I would have been happier if it had been revealed that Ellen was around but didn't make herself known to Glactica as she did not wish to reconcile with Tigh

Totally agree. Unless she is a cylon there was no need for the 'storyline' behind her appearance. I never bought into it, even now. It seems to be a little unrealistic.

Ellen appeared 'a week ago'. Just appeared on the ship? The Cylons do better cover stories than that so 'What gives?'

Is she a cylon? or is her background a 'writing error'? I tend for the writing error, something that seemed a good idea at the time but didn't pan out as intended.

that being said, a solid episode

[Shadow Rider]

I love the dinner scene in this episode...I thought it was hilarious!

[Neakal]

I think the factthat Ellen's appearance is a strech combined with her manipulative character simply worked (to good effect) to ask whether shes a Cylon. I don't think she is but her unfeasibility of her backstory works in that way.

Overall I like this episode. I always liked Ellen due to her manipulative personality and frak everything (and everyone) up attitude and while this one was both a comedic and a relationship episode, I did not mind either one of them. Combined with the air of paranoia, I think it worked fine. And what Shadow said. Dinner scene was hilarious :p

Two speculations: I think Ellen was with a boyfriend in the Picon Airport (Starport?), being her usual self and cheating Tigh and it was this boyfriend that carried her to the Rising Star but somehow he didn't make it or they fell out after they left the Colonies. I feel so because Ellen seems unwilling to give any clues about her "unknown hero" and also, if people are running for their lives in the face of a planetary nuclear bombardment, few people would sacrifice the time and energy to carry a random woman.

Second speculation is: A lot of people I saw in the internet seem to think that Baltar discovered shes a Cylon but (like he did to Boomer) he did not publish the results. I find that a strech. Combined with the discoveries in Crossroads and Revelations, it would mean Baltar knew from start a member of the Final Five and knows about the Final Cylon. No. I believe he simply didn't run the rest except making sure the machine gave a negative result in the presence of the President and Commander. His speech with Head-Six doesnt disqualify that. He simply says "I will never tell". Because he doesn't know himself.

That being said, she has some very similar traits to Sixes. But then, a lot of people would have personalities resembling real humans.

[genji2000]

Dreadful. Truly dreadful. Possibly the worst episode in the entire series.

"She thought you might be a Cylon."

"I know."

{Both turn to glare the schoolteacher down}.
Just rubbish. That's all.

Redeeming feature - Tigh and Adama - "good call".

Tigh is rubbish in this episode. Ellen is rubbish in this episode. Thank gods they redeem themselves later.

I thought sacrificing the dramatic potential of fear and paranoia carefully built-up over the preceding episodes for the sake of a "Boo!" joke and some Carry-On-type double-takes was wasteful and detrimental to the remainder of the season. It's obviously not that scary if the Cylons look like us now; it's all a bit of a giggle really.

However! Excellent scene between a Six and a Five on Caprica discussing tha nature of love.

There is so much that is good about this episode but it is all swamped by painful dreadfulness.

"Don't frak with me, either, Ellen."

For frak's sake.

/v.poor

You know that thing about how Ellen 'suddenly' appeared, having been 'unconscious' (-ly shafting some young closeter in the fleet) for three weeks? I really could not care less.

[Spongey]

Yeah, I agree that Ellen's introduction does not seemed very well fleshed-out. In general, BSG is one of the best-written shows I've ever been obsessed about, but this sudden, and fairly unexplained "amnesia" excused just seemed rather lame.

As far a Ellen's character and effect on the overall storyline, I understand how she helped flesh out Tigh's character, as a kind of passionate, but masochistic and somewhat self-destructive person (very similar to Starbuck). But I personally could never really stand her. And the lame intro didn't help much, either.

[Zod]

this is definitely my least favourite season 1 episode by far and is an episode I havent watched for some time. I see why now.

like most of you, the whole ellen thing really left me befuddled and worried when it first aired. After an incredible run of episodes, i feared the worst when i watched this episode and thought (wrongfully!) that the show was going the wrong way.

I have never been a big fan of ellen, but I can see why they brought her into the show, to give Tigh another dimension and I sort of forgave her crapness when the New Caprica episodes aired. it's a shame they didnt write her like that all the way through the series.

[JohnMatZ]

This was the First episode to have a podcast by RDM. I will be watching it with the podcast.

First I dislike the character of Ellen Tigh more than any other character on any show I have EVER watched. She has No redeeming quality from what I see. I do not like how how she is manipulative, deceiptful, amoral. I really think that her appearance negatively effects tigh in the days ahead. I guess the fact that it is all about ET is why I don't like the character. Now I see why that scene in the miniseries "how is your wife" had such a huge impact on the story. Tigh couldn't help but love his wife but man is she screwed up.