Season 4: Sometimes A Great Notion - 1/16/09

[genji2000]

• Episode broadcast at 10pm EST/9pm CST Friday 16 January on the Sci Fi Channel
• Live IRC chat on the Battlestar Forum, starting an hour before and lasting an hour after
• Additional content to be available on SciFi.com following broadcast
• Episode broadcast at 9pm Tuesday 20 January on Sky One in the UK

Please note that this thread is a spoiler zone. Do not read this thread if you don't want to be spoiled. With that in mind use the spoiler tag if these things apply:

• Future events that are revealed as part of the 'Sometimes A Great Notion' broadcast (e.g. promo clips, previews, etc.)
• Future episode related plots that are known to tie in with this episode or might happen from this episode

Please Note: This episode is scheduled to run three and a half minutes longer than advertised due to additional content following the episode. If you are recording the episode on your DVR you will have to take this into account.

Questions - From the Battlestar Wiki Episode Page

• What was the source of the nuclear attacks on Earth?
• Was Ellen Tigh able to resurrect after her death in "Exodus, Part II"?
• Was Ellen Tigh aware of her Cylon identity?
• Was Ellen Tigh the one who Number Three apologized to in her vision?
• What is Kara Thrace?
• Is the corpse found in the field the "real" Kara Thrace? If so, how and when did her Viper get to Earth? And how did so much of her Viper and body remain relatively intact after seemingly being completely disintegrated in the gas giant?
• Why does Thrace keep the dog tags and wedding ring found on the body?
• Will Thrace or Conoy tell anyone about their discovery? How will others respond to this information?
• How will the other Cylons respond to the discovery of the identities of the Final Five?
• How did the Final Five come to be living in the Twelve Colonies 2000 years after their deaths on Earth, without their memories and unaware of being Cylons?
• What similarities and differences exist between the method by which the Final Five were reborn and the Significant Seven's process of resurrection?
• Did Thirteenth Tribe Cylons have any influence on the development of the Significant Seven 2000 years later, or was it mere parallel evolution?
• How did the Significant Seven come to be aware of the existence, though not the identities, of the Final Five?
• Are there other survivors of the Thirteenth Tribe besides the Final Five?
• Does the presence of children among the Thirteenth Tribe indicate that they reproduced among themselves?
• If the Thirteenth Tribe reproduced biologically, did the Final Five have Cylon parents, grandparents or other ancestors on Earth?
• Did Baltar's Cylon detector successfully identify Ellen Tigh in "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down"? If so, why did Baltar withhold that information from Number Three during their search for the Final Five?
• Should Number Three remain behind on Earth, who will take over as the leader of the rebel Cylon faction?

[Arista]

Originally Posted by genji2000

Please Note: This episode is scheduled to run three and a half minutes longer than advertised due to additional content following the episode. If you are recording the episode on your DVR you will have to take this into account.

Thank you!

[pagad]

Good picture, that. We're Tyrol. The rocks are the episodes. We haven't quite touched them yet, but we're so close. The finale...is at the top.

[genji2000]

Galactica Sitrep has listed the various ways to watch the show on TV (US, Canada, UK) and the Internet.

[Shane]

Ok. Let me just say this... I very confused by this Episode. So confused I have to watch it again.

[Stairway]

Good, very good. Dark and tragic, yum. And I'm also thankful the series didn't end like this cause then it'd be another BSG TOS ending.

[navalspacefanatic82]

is it me or did this episode bring up more questions than answering existing ones from the previous seasons? great, great episode with some very dynamic acting...specially EJO...and a nice way to start the end. hopefully the episodes from here on out don't get rediculous bogged down by answering everything that needs to be tied up.

[Aurora]

I, too, must rewatch for clarity. The Starbuck thing...that was really worth the wait. There's got to be a time travel element to all that...



EDIT: I also discovered how addicted to this forum I am, when it wasn't there after the ep! Thanks for everything mods!

[CalUK1986]

I was disappointed in Ellen being the final one, but overall the episode was good. The main thing I am confused about now is Starbuck! I reckon she must be a hybird of something, she had to come back to life somehow!

[BSGfan-atic]

Aurora wrote:

The Starbuck thing...that was really worth the wait.

I am in total agreement. I thought her discovery of the wreckage of her Viper and the remains of her original body was one of the most amazing moments of the series. Leoben, the fanatical believer in Kara Thrace's destiny, suddenly having all his preconceptions and beliefs shattered. Kara suddenly realizing that, yeah, all the doubters on the Demetrius were at least half right - she might not be a Cylon, but she isn't quite an original human, either. What is she now, some sort of demigod. Died on Earth, but taken by the gods up to the heavens and given new shape, at the cost of forever being cut off from other humans, and even from Cylons, maybe?

Stairway wrote:

Good, very good. Dark and tragic, yum.

Dualla's suicide was one of the saddest events of the whole series. It all came out of nowhere. She was so happy at the end of her date with Apollo, I thought she was just ducking back into the officers' quarters to set out a pair of boots, so they could then have make-up sex. It totally took me by surprise when she put the gun to her temple. Thus passes one of the most endearing, charming, and most beautiful characters of BSG. Big sigh, with sniffles and a quivering lip...

I was not so satisfied with the revelation of Ellen Tigh as the last of the F5. It seemed too rushed, as if they realized that they only had so many minutes left, and they had to shoehorn it into this episode. Also, the fact that the main landing party came down to exactly the spot where Tyrol, Tigh, Ellen, and maybe Anders, all died when the city got nuked. I hope that in the deleted scenes, they show how it was that they decided to come down to that location.

Ahhhhhh, at long last the hiatus is over, and we can breathe again!!!

[Aegis]

The episode had all the elements that make BSG great (subtlety, pacing, soundtrack, etc.), but I honestly can't see how they are going to resolve the problems surrounding Starbuck (among other plot points).

Since we know who the fifth and final cylon is, then how did Kara come back to life?

I suspect that the method of bringing her back will be plot device for further blurring the lines between human and cylon, but all we can do at the moment is wait and speculate.

[Pnutmaster]

I was not so satisfied with the revelation of Ellen Tigh as the last of the F5. It seemed too rushed, as if they realized that they only had so many minutes left, and they had to shoehorn it into this episode.

Same. I was eying the clock the entire time, thinking, "where's our Ellen and Tigh stunt-double scene..."

Also, the fact that the main landing party came down to exactly the spot where Tyrol, Tigh, Ellen, and maybe Anders, all died when the city got nuked.

Overly convenient, indeed. I'd buy it if the Final Five were the ones to say, "land...there." Had a Hand of God moment, if you will.

You know what really bothered me? Ander's acting, and the need to blatantly say to the audience, "omg look at these facts they contradict the knowledge of the characters!".

Overall, I wasn't a huge fan of this episode, but the Starbuck scenes redeemed it for me("Don't look for it, Taylor. You may not like what you find.").

Ahhhhhh, at long last the hiatus is over, and we can breathe again!!!

The inhibition's been lifted

[Andromeda]

I loved this episode. It brought a few things together for me... I've wondered if Ellen were a cylon since she first came to play. I had really hoped there were a possibility that the five were ancient beings. I'm excited to learn more about Starbuck. More than anything, any episode that assults me with questions and inspires crazy theories is my kind of episode!

Originally Posted by BSGfan-atic

Also, the fact that the main landing party came down to exactly the spot where Tyrol, Tigh, Ellen, and maybe Anders, all died when the city got nuked. I hope that in the deleted scenes, they show how it was that they decided to come down to that location.

It may be because of budget limitations. I read something about that in an interview with Ron Moore from the Chicago Tribune site.

[OldManRivers]

At first, I was (especially after the webisodes) afraid Gaeta would be the Final Fifth. Then, this ugly revisiting of Lee and Dualla's relationship, scared the bejeebus out of me. The sadness, the despair, the wretched agony of their leaders being so terribly wrong.

Dee killing herself just blew my away. And that was at the 50% through the episode mark. Admiral Adama going to Tigh, just turned my skin inside out into a insideout skin suit.

Where do we go from here? How do we survive? What comes next?

Is there hope? Is there faith? What is going to happen to the human race.



In all my predictions, I have been right about 2 things. The first, that we would reach earth by mid season 4, and my second prediction (which was months ago) that Ellen Tigh was the Fifth. It would explain why she wasn't there in the room, and that I kind of had a feeling it had to be a woman (Otherwise it would be 7-5 in Cylons ranks).

I just feel such utter despair for what we've seen. I have no idea where to go from here, and that makes this so much more exciting for me. I have not known any show to do anything like this, venturing into new territory.

I'm excited.

[ThPrime]

Reminded me a lot of earlier season four. I really liked what I saw. I'm slightly jarred by what I didn't see.

Above average strong writing. Some more best of series performances. Mr. Eddie goes way out into left field foaming at the mouth, somehow it works. Mr. Eddie goes to eleven. Since Katee had very few lines, everything had to play on her face. Hard to do and she did it. If you dislike Roslin (again) it might be because Mary McDonnell is doing a good job of making her unsympathetic (again). Don't touch me. Michael Hogan is the anchor that makes it all work. Because he's going to be the one that makes Ellen Tigh as the final Cylon work, less so Ellen Tigh herself.

I though the choice of killing off Dee was timid. The writing and performances of her swan song were all excellent. But if this trend continues, you can nearly predict the order of character death by the amount of total lines each had in the first ten episodes. Cally, Dee... Better duck and cover Hot Dog.

At times, season four is out to prove BSG is a character driven drama by dropping any pretense of a consistent plot. This episode might have the honor of being burdened by the least amount of plot of any in the series, yet somehow in some ways it is one of the best episodes.

For example. The only sign of activity on an entire planet is a Colonial emergency locator beacon. Only one instrument can detect the fading signal, the pristine Viper's directional finder. The raggier taggier fleet has just crossed half the galaxy to reach this planet. Finding that one sign of activity with that one irreplaceable instrument is entrusted to... Kara Thrace and a Leoben, the two least trusted people in the entire fleet. Meanwhile, Cylons are super efficiently excavating 250 skeletons from around the planet. Kara's unverifiable military report that the dog ate her homework is accepted unquestioningly.

That's a tar pit of disbelief. With follow through like that, why shouldn't these people deserve all the ensuing chaos to come. Pay no attention to the speed bumps, just try to enjoy the ride. Problem is, this show has consciously made itself into a serialized mythos show. Doesn't consistency matter in that case.

Originally Posted by navalspacefanatic82

is it me or did this episode bring up more questions than answering existing ones from the previous seasons?

That it did.