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Warning: Meta Ahead
Ok, you knew it was coming:
The Teaser
Like whoa, I could write a whole post just the teaser, it was so awesome.
My favorite moments of the teaser apparently involved a lot of yelling :)
Somehow, I was totally chagrined to see the big Wheel-in-The-Sky ship get blown up. I don't even know why. I don't even know its name, but I was like "Oh noes! They blew up the Wheely Ship!" It was ambiguous though, so I'm still holding out hope that it didn't get utterly destroyed.
Speaking of which, the battle scenes, from a technical standpoint, were so absolutely BEAUTIFUL. The group of folks at my house watching included a friend who owns his own animation/special effects studio, and even he was gaping. I think they've decided its the last season so they've deciding to zero out the CGI savings account. But the teaser wasn't just CGIgasmic, it was genuinely exciting! And I loved Roslin for thinking of the captain and 600 souls on the Pixis, just like that, as soon as it blew up. That's the Roslin I loved from S1. In fact, there felt like so many little callbacks to Season 1 in this episode, like they were resetting the clock. This was further reinforced for me when Adama said, "We're back where we started all over again"
Kara's Return:
Wow, Lee's hug was INTENSE. I'm not really a K/L shipper, but wow, that hug was satisfying. It was a like an eight-year-old's hug. And yet, Sam's hug was even better. I didn't think it was possible, but Sam, Sam. I have a feeling I'm going to fall in love with him all over again. I stopped paying as much attention to him during New Caprica because somehow, I didn't find him all that interesting then, but I think he's the new Cylon I'm going to care about most. (Incidentally, after seeing next week's trailer, my new theory is that Sam's moment with the Raider is why Cavil wants to "lobotomize" the Raiders. I'm kind of wondering if the fact that neither Anders nor the Raider could shoot each other suggests that they are in some abstract sense "brother Cylons" on a similar level. If so, it also suggests to me the fascinating idea that the Final Five are either tools to be eventually used against Galactica, like the Raiders; or else the Raiders were once not predisposed against the humans and at some point, extraordinary efforts were made to turn them to the Cylon side.)
What the hell could be up with Kara's viper? Somehow that's what make me wonder if this is more a case of more earthly beings intervening than it is ephemeral god-like beings. But who? What?
It was so painful to watch Kara be on the outside. She's so used to being listened to and respected that I think it's actually harder for her not to be taken at her word than it would for the average person. She's like the head cheerleader in high school suddenly turning into the nerd, although she's got all these men on her side - Lee, Anders, Helo. She's lashing out in such destructive ways - knocking out Sam, telling him she'd put a bullet through his head if she found out he was a Cylon. She's even yelling at Helo and Adama! Oh, and note to Kara? Why, why, why did you pull that gun on Roslin? That is so not going to help your cause, girl.
It made me frustrated with her, in the way I sometimes get very frustrated with Baltar, actually.
Speaking of Kara/Roslin: I'm really wondering what to make of the fact that both of them seem to be experiencing the same nasty headaches whenever they jump the ship. Remember her headache during the season finale right after they jumped? Is it the same thing? What does that mean? Are they both the same?
Baltar:
Wow, they managed to do such a creepy job with Baltar's entrance into the Den Mothers of the Apocalypse safehouse/abandoned storage hatch. Gods! The way every single one of them wouldn't meet his gaze? And I was so thankful to see that Gaius seemed just about as creeped out as me. Where the heck did that photo of Gaius come from, btw? Anyone recognize it? It looked sort of like early New Caprica-era Gaius, but I didn't recognize the background. Oh, and I've seen it before in trailers, but it's the first time I got to see the Baltar shrine in all its tacky, schizoid, hippie commune/Christmas-display-gone-awry glory? I just about died laughing every time it showed up on camera.
Ok, don't know her name yet, but I totally LURVE the crazy cool-crowbar wielding stylings of the new standout member of the Den Mothers - God Gave Me the Power to Smite Them!Girl. The way she stormed out of that head talking about how she felt God's love coursing through her, with Gaius trailing after her - I suddenly got a flash of S1 Head!Six. I suspect it might have even been deliberate. The camera work in that scene seemed to be a purposeful callback. And the way she smugly cuts him off in the middle of one of his trademark Gaius rants with "None of the other ships will have you" was truly awesome to behold. Even the head of the Den Mothers looked taken aback.
Um, was Den Mother Tracy there supposed to be a teenager? She looked awfully damn young (even younger than SmiteThem!Girl, who Gaius noted was "very young"). And so the fact that Gaius had sex with Tracy therefore creeped me out. I mean, I know he's been in the brig for MONTHS and he's probably pretty rough and ready, and plus, well, he's Gaius; but still, somehow I'd given him more credit than to take sexual advantage of a naive girl in the throes of existential doubt. I mean, she was definitely going all Lolita on him, and he's not one to say no to sex, but one thing about Baltar I've always kind of respected was that he seems sexually attracted to women, and powerful women to boot. The powerless and naive seem to bring out his more gentle, less manipulative, less sex-hound side (or has it just been 13 months and I'm viewing him through ridiculously rose-colored glasses?). I don't know. I found it disturbing somehow.
Then, I don't know what to make of the redemption track they've very suddenly put him on. Was it Derek's mom's remark about "I guess the One True God doesn't want him to live" that turned him around? Because before that, he was definitely in survive-at-all-costs mode. And that made sense, given how ludicrously self-centered he'd behaved right after the not guilty verdict. Are we to take it that Gaius is at one of his low points when he finally becomes a halfway decent human being? Will it last? I so want to believe in him, I really do, but it's too early in the season and oh, I've been burned before.
Incidentally, I am so glad they are making Baltar funny again, even amongst all the gloom and doom of his situation. He was full of lovely snarky remarks. And James is definitely bringing back the rolly-eyes move ("Oh, yes, I'm praying for his recovery...") to his Baltar repertoire, and for that alone, I could hug him. Oh, and when Derek's mom tells him that her son has viral encephalitis? Gaius' eyes bug out at the word viral. To me, that was pure S1 cowardly dog Baltar. Like, OMG! Are you telling me this boy could give me encephalitis?!?
Gaeta
He didn't get a lot to do this episode (because he almost never does), but I was all sorts of psyched for his scene with Kara. He got to be snarky and yo, it was the first time he has interacted with her since she was about to AIRLOCK him! I was like, "Whatever else he might be thinking about her Cylon-ness or not, he's also not forgotten about the godsdamn Circle".
Besides, when I think about it, poor Gaeta's had a pretty rough day of it so far: He perjured himself for nothing; he's just been through a massive Cylon attack where they lost at least one whole fleet ship and maybe another (not clear on whether the Wheely Ship got wasted or not); then he's forced to work in close quarters with the person who kicked him in the chest and told him to beg, and maybe turns out to be a Cylon (and let's not forget that he has some VERY personal painful memories of being forced to work with Cylons). From his perspective, I can see how he must have all along seen Kara Thrace as a bit of a bully and a rule-flouter (two qualities I think he'd hate) and see her behavior in this episode as the ultimate example of that: From his point of view, she's essentially trying to bully everyone into believing her crazy story about Earth and she wants everyone to just believe her without proof (flouting the rules).
But you know the irony of their interaction is that she's now in the same position that he was only a few months before. She's the one on the outside now; she's the one who apparently has saved the Fleet with her route to Earth, but nobody wants to believe she has good intentions. I'm not sure whether or not Gaeta can see that right now, or if even worse, he can see it, and he's kicking her when she's down anyway because it's revenge for the Circle. Whatever was going on there, the scene was so heartbreaking and painful for me to watch. He's shutting her out in her time of vulnerability the same way she did to him when he returned to Galactica and in a way, it seems like it's a LOT harder for her to deal with. I'd like to think that Gaeta's hostility to her is based on a knee-jerk hostility towards the Cylons, but I fear for his soul a little in that moment, because I have to wonder on some level he knows exactly what he's doing and feels justified in doing it because she may be a Cylon and he can tell himself that she's a machine not worth caring about.
On a shallow note, still love the fuzzy, curly Gaeta hair. :) Give him more to do, writers!!
Like whoa, I could write a whole post just the teaser, it was so awesome.
My favorite moments of the teaser apparently involved a lot of yelling :)
- When Racetrack yells at Anders to take his thumb off the transmit button
- When Gaeta yells out (he sooo sells it) that they lost the Pixis
- When the Chief yells generally at the deck: "Come on! Your mama's not gonna save you today!" I still wish they'd used Aaron Douglas' "Drop your dicks and pick up your sticks" adlib though. That would have been pretty awesome.
- And my #1 favorite moment: When the Chief yells at Anders, totally against military protocol: "Anders, get the frak in your Viper!"
Somehow, I was totally chagrined to see the big Wheel-in-The-Sky ship get blown up. I don't even know why. I don't even know its name, but I was like "Oh noes! They blew up the Wheely Ship!" It was ambiguous though, so I'm still holding out hope that it didn't get utterly destroyed.
Speaking of which, the battle scenes, from a technical standpoint, were so absolutely BEAUTIFUL. The group of folks at my house watching included a friend who owns his own animation/special effects studio, and even he was gaping. I think they've decided its the last season so they've deciding to zero out the CGI savings account. But the teaser wasn't just CGIgasmic, it was genuinely exciting! And I loved Roslin for thinking of the captain and 600 souls on the Pixis, just like that, as soon as it blew up. That's the Roslin I loved from S1. In fact, there felt like so many little callbacks to Season 1 in this episode, like they were resetting the clock. This was further reinforced for me when Adama said, "We're back where we started all over again"
Kara's Return:
Wow, Lee's hug was INTENSE. I'm not really a K/L shipper, but wow, that hug was satisfying. It was a like an eight-year-old's hug. And yet, Sam's hug was even better. I didn't think it was possible, but Sam, Sam. I have a feeling I'm going to fall in love with him all over again. I stopped paying as much attention to him during New Caprica because somehow, I didn't find him all that interesting then, but I think he's the new Cylon I'm going to care about most. (Incidentally, after seeing next week's trailer, my new theory is that Sam's moment with the Raider is why Cavil wants to "lobotomize" the Raiders. I'm kind of wondering if the fact that neither Anders nor the Raider could shoot each other suggests that they are in some abstract sense "brother Cylons" on a similar level. If so, it also suggests to me the fascinating idea that the Final Five are either tools to be eventually used against Galactica, like the Raiders; or else the Raiders were once not predisposed against the humans and at some point, extraordinary efforts were made to turn them to the Cylon side.)
What the hell could be up with Kara's viper? Somehow that's what make me wonder if this is more a case of more earthly beings intervening than it is ephemeral god-like beings. But who? What?
It was so painful to watch Kara be on the outside. She's so used to being listened to and respected that I think it's actually harder for her not to be taken at her word than it would for the average person. She's like the head cheerleader in high school suddenly turning into the nerd, although she's got all these men on her side - Lee, Anders, Helo. She's lashing out in such destructive ways - knocking out Sam, telling him she'd put a bullet through his head if she found out he was a Cylon. She's even yelling at Helo and Adama! Oh, and note to Kara? Why, why, why did you pull that gun on Roslin? That is so not going to help your cause, girl.
It made me frustrated with her, in the way I sometimes get very frustrated with Baltar, actually.
Speaking of Kara/Roslin: I'm really wondering what to make of the fact that both of them seem to be experiencing the same nasty headaches whenever they jump the ship. Remember her headache during the season finale right after they jumped? Is it the same thing? What does that mean? Are they both the same?
Baltar:
Wow, they managed to do such a creepy job with Baltar's entrance into the Den Mothers of the Apocalypse safehouse/abandoned storage hatch. Gods! The way every single one of them wouldn't meet his gaze? And I was so thankful to see that Gaius seemed just about as creeped out as me. Where the heck did that photo of Gaius come from, btw? Anyone recognize it? It looked sort of like early New Caprica-era Gaius, but I didn't recognize the background. Oh, and I've seen it before in trailers, but it's the first time I got to see the Baltar shrine in all its tacky, schizoid, hippie commune/Christmas-display-gone-awry glory? I just about died laughing every time it showed up on camera.
Ok, don't know her name yet, but I totally LURVE the crazy cool-crowbar wielding stylings of the new standout member of the Den Mothers - God Gave Me the Power to Smite Them!Girl. The way she stormed out of that head talking about how she felt God's love coursing through her, with Gaius trailing after her - I suddenly got a flash of S1 Head!Six. I suspect it might have even been deliberate. The camera work in that scene seemed to be a purposeful callback. And the way she smugly cuts him off in the middle of one of his trademark Gaius rants with "None of the other ships will have you" was truly awesome to behold. Even the head of the Den Mothers looked taken aback.
Um, was Den Mother Tracy there supposed to be a teenager? She looked awfully damn young (even younger than SmiteThem!Girl, who Gaius noted was "very young"). And so the fact that Gaius had sex with Tracy therefore creeped me out. I mean, I know he's been in the brig for MONTHS and he's probably pretty rough and ready, and plus, well, he's Gaius; but still, somehow I'd given him more credit than to take sexual advantage of a naive girl in the throes of existential doubt. I mean, she was definitely going all Lolita on him, and he's not one to say no to sex, but one thing about Baltar I've always kind of respected was that he seems sexually attracted to women, and powerful women to boot. The powerless and naive seem to bring out his more gentle, less manipulative, less sex-hound side (or has it just been 13 months and I'm viewing him through ridiculously rose-colored glasses?). I don't know. I found it disturbing somehow.
Then, I don't know what to make of the redemption track they've very suddenly put him on. Was it Derek's mom's remark about "I guess the One True God doesn't want him to live" that turned him around? Because before that, he was definitely in survive-at-all-costs mode. And that made sense, given how ludicrously self-centered he'd behaved right after the not guilty verdict. Are we to take it that Gaius is at one of his low points when he finally becomes a halfway decent human being? Will it last? I so want to believe in him, I really do, but it's too early in the season and oh, I've been burned before.
Incidentally, I am so glad they are making Baltar funny again, even amongst all the gloom and doom of his situation. He was full of lovely snarky remarks. And James is definitely bringing back the rolly-eyes move ("Oh, yes, I'm praying for his recovery...") to his Baltar repertoire, and for that alone, I could hug him. Oh, and when Derek's mom tells him that her son has viral encephalitis? Gaius' eyes bug out at the word viral. To me, that was pure S1 cowardly dog Baltar. Like, OMG! Are you telling me this boy could give me encephalitis?!?
Gaeta
He didn't get a lot to do this episode (because he almost never does), but I was all sorts of psyched for his scene with Kara. He got to be snarky and yo, it was the first time he has interacted with her since she was about to AIRLOCK him! I was like, "Whatever else he might be thinking about her Cylon-ness or not, he's also not forgotten about the godsdamn Circle".
Besides, when I think about it, poor Gaeta's had a pretty rough day of it so far: He perjured himself for nothing; he's just been through a massive Cylon attack where they lost at least one whole fleet ship and maybe another (not clear on whether the Wheely Ship got wasted or not); then he's forced to work in close quarters with the person who kicked him in the chest and told him to beg, and maybe turns out to be a Cylon (and let's not forget that he has some VERY personal painful memories of being forced to work with Cylons). From his perspective, I can see how he must have all along seen Kara Thrace as a bit of a bully and a rule-flouter (two qualities I think he'd hate) and see her behavior in this episode as the ultimate example of that: From his point of view, she's essentially trying to bully everyone into believing her crazy story about Earth and she wants everyone to just believe her without proof (flouting the rules).
But you know the irony of their interaction is that she's now in the same position that he was only a few months before. She's the one on the outside now; she's the one who apparently has saved the Fleet with her route to Earth, but nobody wants to believe she has good intentions. I'm not sure whether or not Gaeta can see that right now, or if even worse, he can see it, and he's kicking her when she's down anyway because it's revenge for the Circle. Whatever was going on there, the scene was so heartbreaking and painful for me to watch. He's shutting her out in her time of vulnerability the same way she did to him when he returned to Galactica and in a way, it seems like it's a LOT harder for her to deal with. I'd like to think that Gaeta's hostility to her is based on a knee-jerk hostility towards the Cylons, but I fear for his soul a little in that moment, because I have to wonder on some level he knows exactly what he's doing and feels justified in doing it because she may be a Cylon and he can tell himself that she's a machine not worth caring about.
On a shallow note, still love the fuzzy, curly Gaeta hair. :) Give him more to do, writers!!
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Oh, do I detect some Kara/Gaeta shippage in this meta?
I, on the other hand, loved bitchy!Gaeta. Bitchy!Gaeta is my soulmate.
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And yes, there was some Kara/Gaeta shippage there. I can't help it ever since I wrote that story with them on Cloud Nine. :) They're so not obviously right for each other, it pushes all my don't-tell-me-what-to-do buttons. Which is why I'm also like one of only two people in the fandom who have ever tried to write a Baltar/Roslin pairing. ;)
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The chapters I saw had involved them just having run into Cavil, and I think they didn't know he was a Cylon, maybe? If you want to direct me to the beginning of the story, I'll definitely bookmark it.
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This is my table - I got it from fanfic100 and i have vowed to finish. You just start with prompt one "beginnings"
And no... they didn't know he was a cylon....
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Never alone in an interest on LJ. ;-)
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And she wasn't exactly being patient either. And Gaeta was needing to explain really basic astronomy terms to her and make sense out of her description.
On an aside, I don't think he lied for nothing - I think he lied to accomplish a task -to stop Baltar.
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And ahem I'd like it to be known that all along, when everybody has been all disappointed with Felix for "senselessly" breaking his moral code with the perjury, I have been saying from Day One that Felix sees it as this ironically noble gesture - breaking his own moral code in order to stop the greater evil - Baltar. I think he did it because he wanted to ensure that Baltar was held responsible for his crimes. I also go a step further and have as my own personal canon that Dee talked with him a bunch about this and helped him come to the conclusion that lying on the stand was the right thing to do for justice. (Remember her whole little speech to Lee about "the system is broken"?)
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And there's a minor side point that his honest testimony that Baltar was forced to sign would likely get Felix more of the silent treatment and the "Felix is Baltar's bitchboy" attitude from his ex-friends.
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The reviewer for EW pretty much captured my thoughts about Baltar, saying that one of the pleasures of the show was "watching Baltar fail to suppress his perpetual state of horny self-absorption." Ding! I agree that he felt more like S1 Baltar last night; I appreciated the reintroduction of humor in his character...and humor at all.
My Bill/Kara heart was breaking last night, just as my Bill/Laura heart was swelling. I do think Lee's question to his father (Is she still staying in your quarters?) was meant to be somewhat pointed. I still remember the Laura/Lee sparks from S1, and I can't say I've never thought about a threeway there....mmmmm.
Anyway. Gaeta remains hot. Give him more to do!
And "Wheely Ship" is now the official name of that vessel. I felt similarly distraught at its demise!
Colonel Tigh
Re: Colonel Tigh
Somtimes Ron Moore has a habit of saying, "You know what? Who cares? It's just true. Accept it and move on." But that's usually for little details that only the really attentive fans get up in arms about. Usually (mind you, usually) for the big stuff, he pulls some kind of explanation out of his ass. ;)
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My head's still way too AHJHFKJHJDJSJSJS to properly reply to this (I watched it today) but I like your commentary. :D
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"Oh noes! They blew up the Wheely Ship!"
Everyone misses the Wheely Ship! I wonder if they know how attached we all were to it. Someone should write a letter to the PTB to include a shot of it in one of the last eps so we know if it's okay.
Wow, Lee's hug was INTENSE. I'm not really a K/L shipper, but wow, that hug was satisfying. It was a like an eight-year-old's hug
I watched it with subtitles. She said, "It's okay, it's okay. Me too." Me too. Sigh. I am sorely resisting the urge to use the new hug icon for this commment. Oh them. And Sam was sweet too. Poor confused Cylon.
my new theory is that Sam's moment with the Raider is why Cavil wants to "lobotomize" the Raiders.
When did Cavil mention lobotimizing raiders? I missed that. What do the seven have against raiders, anyway? I think there are some weird Cylon/Cylon hiearchial issues going on and it doesn't bode well for them.
Remember her headache during the season finale right after they jumped? Is it the same thing? What does that mean? Are they both the same?
Roslin is so adamant, that it speaks almost of denial. Deep denial. And she keeps meeting with Caprica too. Hmm.
somehow I'd given him more credit than to take sexual advantage of a naive girl in the throes of existential doubt.
It was disturbing and yucky, though naive!girl didn't seem harmed by it. I never give him that much credit, though. I always thought he might have slept with Boomer way back in KLG1 if 1) Head!Six hadn't been right there taunting him about it, and 2) He hadn't only recently slept with Kara and that hadn't gone so well for him. I thought he might have done it, but he impressed me then with not going there. What was even yuckier for me was them bringing the dying child to him and naive!girl while they were both naked. He even asks, "Where are my clothes?" The fact that sex before the altar didn't faze them is very weird. Who are these people?
Ah, poor Gaeta. I'm just glad they didn't forget him. And his issues. And he spoke! But I still worry about him. Maybe it would have been better if he hadn't spoke and was just ignored. Safer.
Interesting point about Gaeta and Kara. Sigh. What is he becoming? Well, I don't think he hates Cylons because he was kind to Sharon when they brought her into the CIC long ago in restraints. No, it's because he hasn't forgotten the Circle. Shoot, I havne't forgotten the Circle. Kara's one of the popular kids that picked on him and not so popular now, eh? And you know what? It shows the audience that, damn it, they need people like Gaeta! What if she had airlocked him? Where would they have been with the Eye of Jupiter without him? Who would be plotting jumps right now, or even there to argue with her about how to get to Earth?
I like Gaeta's snark. :-) Means he's less traumatized. And maybe he (or they) will see Kara's changed, is less sure of herself. She wouldn't kill him now. I think.
I'm just glad to have a scene with them to even discuss!
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Interesting point that Gaeta's snark means he's less traumatized. Upon further reflection, I have to agree with you on some level, but he's still definitely messed up, because that's when he snarks/shouts. He lets it build and build and build, and then BAM! (Witness the Baltar stabbity incident.)
Yeah, I really hope we get an explanation about who these people are. Why has Baltar not asked this question yet? He's a smart guy.....
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We had a crowd of 35 out to our party on Friday, and Baltar's rolling eyes got a huge laugh. I agree, it was nice to see him return to S1 form, in so many ways. Gotta wonder how many of those cult members he's going to go through by the end of the season...methinks many, many...
I'm pretty sure the wheely ship survived the battle....there was a shot of it in the next segment, albeit with a gaping hole in the wheel. I cheered.
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I'm glad you had such a successful party. I wished I could have been there! Maybe there'll be another chance before the series ends completely...
Oh, and I love that I've gotten people on my flist to start referring to it as the Wheely Ship. ;)
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If you haven't signed in for awhile, they changed the settings a few days ago, so even I'm confused, but I'm sure we can sort it out. Email me and we can arrange a time to google or skype chat and work out details.
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I've gone in and taken a look. I'm not sure what you meant by "the cut". Do you mean the space where you can type an "excerpt", which seems to be a place to summarize the content of the post?
If you want to chat on gchat, I'm unfortunately not going to be around much, but I'll probably check email a few times tomorrow, so feel free to ping me anytime you see me on there.
Thanks again!
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Girl, you know I'm all over your stuff about Baltar and Gaeta, so I'm not even gonna waste your time by outlining it.
But more to the point, I too am in potentialy unhealthly love with the cult member I have taking to referring to as Sister Ninja. ("GOD GAVE ME THE POWER TO SMITE THEM!!" Bitch crazy.)
Also,
Sister NymphoTracey...I thought she was young adult, college-aged...but then, I'm in college. So, uh, there you go. For what it's worth, I was mainly relieved that he clearly didn't intiate that situation: it was all her (one of the things I loved about that scene, actually: when she starts unbuttoning his shirt and he's like "WTF"), really.Plus, I go on about this more in my post, but I get the feeling that a lot of these "cultists" might be former sex-workers...or at the very least, very open-minded about the idea of a big hippie love-in. Notice how no one (except him, of course) gave half a damn Gaius was camped out naked in the middle of the floor?
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I do want to know where these cultists come from. My friend
And also, I found it interesting that Head!Six was not upset by Gaius' frakking another woman, like she usually is. I mean, he didn't initiate, but still she's a little crazy-scary in the jealousy department, you know? Also, what up with her looking all power suit? I found it really striking and liked it, but I'm wondering if it's signaling some change in how Gaius sees her, or in what her purpose will be this season.
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Gaius and Rusty need to meet.