Overall, I really enjoyed the premiere of Important Things with Demetri Martin, though I think the sketches are not nearly as well constructed or timely (ha) as the quick punchlines or drawings. But I'm a sucker for ironic comedy, and no one's better at it than him. Each episode will focus on a different topic/theme, and the premiere looked at timing.
Sketches:
Amanda Peet did a brief guest appearance during the first sketch in which Martin plays an actor who can only act angry off camera. The scene paid off at the end when, after the producer secretly filmed Martin's genuine frustration, Martin goes after the cameraman, screaming, "That was a personal moment!"
The "guy who is too early for a rave" went on for too long. This is one of those sketches that could benefit from a page from Trigger Happy and Robot Chicken; sight-gags should only last 5-10 seconds long, especially for that shock value. This scene lasted for maybe thirty seconds (forty-five?), and that was too long.
The De Beers mock commercials were funny ("Engagement Appreciation" ring, "We are Deep Into Ring Debt" ring), mostly because the thought of a "Just Do It to See What Happens" ring is amazing.
The sketch were the rookie cop enters the wrong apartment and opens fire... not funny. Even with the ice cream bit at the end. I also didn't particularly like Timeline Gigolo sketch. Mary Magdalene? Black Tuesday? A potato famine? Betsy Ross? Surely there are funnier events in history he could have explored.
Drawings:
Millisecond Millivanillisecond -- amount of time Milli Vanilli was popular Millenivanillium -- amount of time during which you can make Milli Vanilli jokes
I bought a clock, and the big hand broke off it. I didn't want to throw it away, so I added "ish" to every number. (2ish... 3ish... 4ish...)
Unfortunately, I didn't find the multi-tasking song-and-drawing number to be interesting. The visual jokes weren't very good... and is it just me, or did Martin skip a couple of pages? It certainly showcased his talent (a guitar, harmonica, keyboard, and bells?), but the jokes themselves weren't that funny.
I wonder if there were any Goths in Gothic times. It would be like, "You look completely appropriate. You don't look sad or lonely at all."
I hate meeting babies. [There was more to this joke, but this line alone was hilarious.]
I think a good place to be during an earthquake would be in bed with somebody. If you timed it right, you would seem like the biggest stud in the world. "How was it?" "He ruined my apartment."
[On onion rings] I hate it when I take the first bite and the onion's like, "Fuck it, I'm going!" "Be patient, onion!"
[my favorite joke from the show] "Timing is everything." That's a cliché... now. But if I said that a long time ago, I would've been original. Think about it.
Tonight is the premiere of Demetri Martin's new Comedy Central show Important Things. It comes on at 10:30pm, which gives you a half-hour of post-Lost brain-melting before you switch over to Martin's observational comedy. (On skydiving: "It's just showing off while you fall.")
Friday night is the premiere of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse. It comes on FOX at 9pm (following The Sarah Connor Chronicles at 8pm). Of course, you'll need to switch over to Sci-Fi the awesomest awesome that ever awesomed -- Battlestar Galactica -- at 10pm.. Friday nights are a sci-fi geek's wet dream, so if you plan on going out, make sure you set your TiVo.
And on Saturday night, Alec Baldwin will be back to host Saturday Night Live's Valentine's Day episode. Baldwin should make up for Steve Martin's surprisingly unfunny episode from two weeks back.
[Via The New York Post.] According to co-star James Pickens Jr., who plays the chief, Katherine Heigl and T.R. Knight are leaving Grey's Anatomy. With this news, I hope that Izzie Stevens dies (because allowing her to survive a fatal disease would be copping out), but I wonder how George O'Malley would be written out. Perhaps he gets a job elsewhere? There has been talk that Denny might come back, so perhaps when Izzie "crosses over" she'll be visited by him again, though I doubt the writers will handle the scene with intelligence. Sometimes I feel like the Grey's writers are better at the guests' storylines than their own stars'.
At any rate, I'm happy with this news, not because I dislike either actor (I actually adore Katherine Heigl) but because the show's character relationships are becoming too convoluted and the cast is overcrowded.
However, a well-placed ABC source tells us, "There's no way [Pickens] could know that, because nothing has been decided yet. Nothing has been written and [Heigl and Knight] are still working out what will happen next season with the network."
According to inside sources who work on Grey's, it is likely that Heigl and Knight will make an exit at the end of the current season. Both have asked to leave the show. However, ABC needs to sign off on letting them out of their contracts, which has not been done.
Because my brain is spending so much time thinking about Lost and Battlestar Galactica (I'm either the coolest chick you know or the dorkiest), I have fallen behind on my episode reflections. Instead of going back and looking at individual episodes, I've offered some general thoughts on my favorite (and least favorite) shows below. In no particular order...
The Office: The post-Super Bowl hour-long episode (above) is honestly one of the funniest episodes of any television. The cold open alone is worth the price of gold. It also had an extended title sequence with the other secondary characters (Creed, Kevin, Meredith, etc.), but it seems like they've gone back to the shorter titles with the half-hour episodes. At any rate, "Stress Relief" has some gut-busting moments, like Dwight channeling Hannibal Lecter, Creed's declarative statement "I saw you in the parking lot! That's how I know you!", Dwight's "You don't have any land" insult, and one of the sweetest Jim-Pam interactions ever. And Ed Helms was nicely spotlighted with how unperceptive he is. Noting that he could never be a movie critic because he doesn't read into them that deeply: "I could be a food critic. That food is bad. I could be an art critic. That painting is bad." Last week's episode, "Lecture Circuit, Part I," brought closure to the Pam-Jim-Karen triangle (Karen is pregnant -- and married to a guy who looks like Jim!), and it ended on a note that suggested Holly (from HR, the one with the perfect breasts) might be coming back. I didn't care for Andy's storyline this week -- although, someone talking in third person is annoying, but Andy referring to himself as the Nard-Dog in third person is hilarious. This season has really been hit or miss with me, but when the show is strong, it's stronger than anything else out there.
House: This is one of my "passive" shows, a show that I watch with little consideration or care. I don't care for Thirteen or her relationship with Foreman (they have the worst chemistry ever!), but it is interesting to me that Thirteen was given the placebo drug for her Huntington's treatment. I just wish Foreman hadn't switched the placebo to the real treatment in the same episode that he discovered this. He should have wrestled more internally -- going to every other doctor is a dumb idea because any of them could, and should, turn him in for even thinking about switching the drugs -- for more than thirty minutes of one episode. Cuddy's baby storyline is RIDICULOUS and poorly constructed. She wants a baby but adoption's harder than she thought... she finds a crack baby and becomes its foster mom... then she struggles between work and home and doesn't know if she wants a kid... I'm sorry, but it really aggravates that shows keep representing this struggle between motherhood and a career. I'm not saying that this struggle doesn't exist -- because it does -- but every show dealing with a baby storyline uses this plot. And besides, Cuddy has resources to not be burnt out. She may have to be at the hospital a lot, but I'm sure should could take a lot her work home, and she could hire a live-in nanny if she needed to. It's a stupid obstacle to put between her and House. As for that couple's pairing... they're actually a nauseating couple to me. Verbal foreplay does not mean they would be good as a couple. This isn't the 1930s, folks. No self-respecting woman would be attracted to House's childish antics, and it certainly wouldn't be Cuddy. Maybe it's because I don't like her character (her clothes are two sizes too tight and she's poorly developed, especially in how she deals with House), but I don't consider Cuddy to be House's equal. Bring back Stacy. Bring back his ex-wife. That pairing was amazing.
Chuck: Last Monday was their first episode back after a long hiatus, and they came back with a 3D episode, no doubt trying to pull in new viewers. I won't go into the episode because, although funny at times, it didn't move the plot anywhere and acted as a reintroduction to the show and its characters. I love this show and am glad it's back. Monday is the new Thursday with its lineup of high-profile shows at the 8pm timeslot -- HIMYM, Gossip Girl, House, Chuck -- and I would choose Chuck every time. Besides the fact that I'm in love with Zachary Levi and Adam Baldwin is the biggest untapped comedic talent ever, the show is extremely well written and there's always something/someone to laugh at. Sadly, tonight's episode was preempted because of Obama's address, but it should be back next Monday and I will go back to posting episode commentaries on them. I'm looking forward to Scott Bakula's upcoming stint as Chuck's dad. (When did Bakula get old enough to play a 30-year-old man's father?)
Kid: "In the Christmas episode, when Casey's toe got shot off, did he get a robotic toe?" Schwartz: "He does now, as of today." Fedak: "It's actually a toe and a missile." Kid: "Does that mean he's like Darth Vader?"
Grey's Anatomy: My biggest problem with this show is that I would never let any of them be my doctor. Cristina is the most competent, and Meredith can spout off ridiculous medical terms, but the former has horrible bedside manner and whenever the latter's in surgery, she's preoccupied by her own unwillingness to be happy. The others are all idiots, and the new interns lack any credibility. They are caricatures of middle-schoolers; they're either sheepish or giggle like school girls at an embarrassing surgery. I'm supposed to believe these people are adults? But... I do enjoy the show. It's another one of my "passive" shows (that I used to be die-hard about, but no longer am after that unfortunate Gizzie mishap), but I'm almost guaranteed to cry during one of the episodes. This season specifically, the episode with Bernadette Peters broke my heart. (A woman with a 30-second memory window had to be retold over and over that her husband died.) I didn't mind the Izzie-Denny storyline because I do like Denny. I feel like, and I hope this was intentional, the Denny-apparition is not the same as real-world-Denny. They talk to and treat Izzie differently; Denny-apparition's repetition of "I'm here for you" was creepy from the beginning, and it seems like Izzie is heading towards a brain cancer storyline. I'm thrilled that Meredith and Derek are finally settling down and past their obsessive behavior, and I do like the development of Cristina/Hunt and Lexie/Sloan. I still find Lexie to be incredibly whiney and annoying, but she's bringing out the best in Sloan and I'm glad he's no longer a two-dimensional sex-obsessed jerk. And... George? Is he leaving the show? He's all but disappeared this season, which, honestly, I'm okay with because I've never cared about George. Speaking of George... Melissa George's stint needs to be over soon.
One last thing: I really, really love the addition of Dr. Arizona... Something, but her interaction and kiss with Callie in the bar restaurant was very poorly done. First of all, we've never seen these two interact with each other, and the writers think they can mask this or overlook this by adding a line like "People talk, and there are people who care about you"? There are rumors and so this adult doctor (really one of the only adult characters on the show) puts the moves on someone she doesn't know? This was just a quick-fix to get past the firing of Brooke Smith as Dr. Erika Hahn, and it made me lose all respect for this new character that I initially enjoyed. Her interactions with Bailey were phenomenal, and they work well together. Speaking of Bailey... would somebody give Chandra Wilson an Emmy already? It is well past due.
Secret Diary of a Call Girl: Another "passive" show. I really need to stop watching this. Even with the addition of Callum Blue (The Tudors, Dead Like Me) as Hannah's boyfriend Alex, she's a boring character. Why does he want to be with her? Because she's sexually explicit? What about her dodgy behavior and her inability to put down her defenses is appealing to him? She's not just guarded; she's absent. She dodges him and his questions. Hannah is a very strange character; she's not fleshed out at all. And as I've mentioned before, I don't think Billie Piper is particularly attractive, but whoever is doing her makeup is not helping. Since Piper was five months pregnant while filming this, we get a lot of close-ups on her face, so why paint her face like she's a clown? And why isn't her friend Ben in these episodes more? Grrr. Season one ended on such an interesting note; why is season two dragging its feet?
United States of Tara: I just can't get into this show. It's not personal. It's not enlightening. The storylines aren't very interesting (in fact, they're quite boring). The actors don't have chemistry together, and the family dynamic is awkward. The actors seem to exist separate of one another, at least until a scene calls for them to be in the same room with one another. I just don't buy them as a family. Not in the way they act or talk to each other. I love Toni Collette, but she just doesn't have strong material here. And her character's son isn't just gay or stereotypically gay; he's "hip gay." As in, his maturity is too advanced for his high-school age (his in-class comments on films are entirely unbelievable -- I should know, I teach film to college students), and it's like his sexuality is idealized in this bizarro version of what it means to be the "perfect homosexual." Bah. I just don't like any of the characters. I gave up on this show three episodes in.
30 Rock: I'm just not feeling this season at all. I think the biggest problem I have with this show is that the situations themselves aren't funny. The situations are mediocre -- like Jenna auditioning for the Janis Joplin biopic or Liz going on a date with Peter Dinklage or Jack dating Salma Hayek -- and then they try to cover this up with one-line jokes. Most of the time these jokes are fantastic (though nothing as quotable as "Son of a married couple!" or "Live every week like it's Shark Week!"), but because they comprise most of the comedy, the episodes don't seem very cohesive. I know I'm in the majority, but bring back Will Arnett. He brought the right amount of ridiculousness to the show. Tracy is sort of the child, and Jenna is the idiot, but Arnett's character was the man-child, and he plays those characters so well (see Arrested Development). I'm also a bit annoyed by all of the guest stars because I don't feel like they're incorporated very well into the scripts, though I am enjoying Jon Hamm's guest spot as Liz's hunky neighbor. I may be biased, but his first episode was last week and we rarely saw much of him. Again, the situation wasn't very funny -- the entire episode was set up so that he'd be accidentally roofied -- and I felt like he wasn't given strong material. But I think this Thursday's episode shows promise. We'll see. I'm just disappointed overall this season. Liz is becoming as silly as the secondary characters, as is Jack, and I don't know if there are enough "adults" on the show to make me believe that they are actually able to produce TGS every week.
Over the weekend, my friend Adam and I went to see the film Coraline, a stop-animation children's fantasy based on a book by science-fiction/fantasy author Neil Gaiman. Visually, the film is amazing -- better, I think, than either The Corpse Bride or The Nightmare Before Christmas. (I can say this because Coraline is made by the same team -- Laika -- headed by director Henry Selick. It's not a comparison of artistic genius, but more of a comment on how stop-animation has evolved and survived in this world that is so reliant on CGI effects.) In fact, the opening title sequence may be my favorite part; we see a doll being ripped apart and then sewn into the Coraline doll that follows our protagonist throughout the narrative. It's slightly creepy because we only see the machine-like hands of the sewer, but it's also kind of whimsical in the way that the doll is constructed and then sent out the window.
The basic plotline of the film is this: A young girl, Coraline (not Carolyn or Caroline!), moves into a new house with her dismissive and boring parents. They would rather write a book on gardening than pay any attention to their daughter. One night, Coraline finds a secret passage into an alternate world where her "other mother" is nurturing and kind, knows how to cook, and plants a garden in her honor. But not everything is as peachy as it seems, and, as the poster warns, be careful what you wish for.
Overall, I enjoyed the film -- at least well enough to recommend it to anyone. The highlights for me included the opening title sequence (in which see machine-like hands sew together a doll in Coraline's likeness), a song by They Might Be Giants (which can be heard in its entirety on iTunes), and Coraline's initial exploration into this alternate world. In one particularly enchanting scene in the alternate realm, Coraline attends a performance by Mrs. Spink and Forcible, the other attendees being their hundreds of dead Scottie dogs in angel costumes. This universe is very inventive, and I found myself envious of a candelabra that dispenses mango milkshakes and a garden of tickling snapdragons. And in an aerial view of the garden, we see that it too is in the likeness of Coraline, where the bridge of a pond because the bridge of Coraline's nose. (Does this repeated image of Coraline mean that this girl is narcissistic? If I were surrounded by a world that was that interested me, I would be completely creeped out.) Perhaps this ambiguous border between seduction and terror is what discomforts me about the movie. This world is supposed to be enticing, but the entire time I'm thinking Get out of there!
Two other things that bothered me: One, during the climax of the film, Coraline goes on a hunt around her "other mother's" house to find the souls of previous children (which is odd in of itself), and it becomes blatantly apparent that they had children's video games in mind. Even the animation changes; not drastically, just in the fluidity and mobility of the camera's movements. As Coraline goes on this hunt, so do we, and it's like we're playing a video game. I didn't find this very appealing because, first, I don't care for video games, and second, if media genres are going to intersect, the hybridity should be seamless. And two, the other thing that bothered me is that there was no strong resolution at the end. Spoiler alert: Her parents don't exactly treat her better. We see them in the garden offering drinks to neighbors, but do we really get a sense that they care about Coraline or will pay any attention to her in the future? I kind of felt like she was trapped in this world of nonexistent love, but that's okay because the alternative is so much worse. Umm...
Its look and mood may remind adult viewers at various times of the dreamscapes of Tim Burton (with whom Mr. Selick worked on “Nightmare”), Guillermo del Toro and David Lynch. Like those filmmakers Mr. Selick is interested in childhood not as a condition of sentimentalized, passive innocence but rather as an active, seething state of receptivity in which consciousness itself is a site of wondrous, at times unbearable drama.
The governing emotion, at the beginning, is loneliness. A smart, brave girl named Coraline Jones, voiced by Dakota Fanning, has recently moved from Michigan to an apartment in a big pink Victorian house somewhere in Oregon. She is at an age when the inadequacy of her parents starts to become apparent, and Coraline’s stressed-out, self-absorbed mom and dad (Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman), who write about gardening, barely look up from their computer screens when she’s in the room. And so, like many a children’s book heroine before her, Coraline sets out to explore her curious surroundings, interweaving the odd details of everyday reality with the bright threads of imagination.
I'm taking Gaeta's death a bit harder than I could have predicted. I really identified with him... he acted on principle... and I find Gaeta's lament on a loop in my head...
Alone she sleeps in the shirt of man With my three wishes clutched in her hand The first that she be spared the pain That comes from a dark and laughing rain When she finds love may it always stay true This I beg for the second wish I made too But wish no more My life you can take To have her please just one day wake
Warning: Spoilers for last night's episode are to be found throughout this post.
"It stopped."
In the last few moments of "Blood on Scales," Battlestar Galactica broke my heart and I cried. Last week I said "The Oath" was my favorite episode of this season, but I think that award goes to this week's phenomenal ending to a tripartite narrative. I've divided my commentary by characters because, in a well-constructed pairing, this episode was just as much about the characters as it was the plot.
Kara:Last July, I complained about Katee Sackoff's joy at getting to use a gun on the show. I thought it was a fairly unintelligent answer -- compared to James Callis, everyone is intellectually inferior -- but now I understand. After a season of being stranded and essentially physically impotent on New Caprica and another season on an insane chase towards Earth, I now get why Sackoff was so happy to have a gun back in Kara's possession. Some random traitor takes a leak at the urinal, and kick-ass Starbuck comes up behind him and slams his head into the wall. (Let this be a lesson to you men; when involved in a coup, think twice before using the bathroom.) On the one hand, this scene is just awesome, but on the other, it's an exciting storyline for an actress. I also want to note that there was something visually engaging about Kara and Lee's pairing. Kara is in her military uniform, whereas Lee is in his civilian uniform. And yet their conversation and banter is familiar, as if they were never separated by these two worlds.
Roslin: Good Gods, Mary McDonnell was absolutely brilliant in this episode. In general, her acting is hit or miss with me. Sometimes I think she's too ambivalent in regards to Roslin's decision-making process, and other times I feel like her delivery is flat. But she's really been putting everything out there these last few episodes (her book-burning breakdown in the premiere, her rejecting cancer medications after that, and her sleeping with Bill Adama were exceptional), but her outright refusal to give up gave me chills. After Zarek (wrongly) informs Roslin that Adama has been executed, McDonnell delivers this speech: "No. Not now, not ever. Do you hear me? I will use every cannon, every bomb, every bullet, every weapon I have down to my own eye teeth to end you! I swear it! I'm coming for all of you!" I really thought that last week's kiss was a goodbye kiss, so I was pleasantly surprised to see these two reunite at the end of their separation. (And on the note of their separation, I thought this episode did an excellent job of pacing Roslin's scenes on the Cylon basestar in conjunction with Gaeta's scenes in the CIC. That was strong tension-building at its finest.) When Adama and Roslin do reunite, McDonnell does not play straight joy or relief; she mixes in hints of terror and fear, hopeless and despair. Her gentle patting on his shoulder -- in a moment where she can't even look him in the eye -- is so tender and personal that I really found myself caring about her.
Adama: After speaking with my friend who is a veteran, I have a better understanding of Adama's role in the coup. I was looking at this in terms of a civilian, some random person in the fleet who doesn't see one lick of sense in joining forces with a race who killed 50 billion (!!!) of our people. But I think the writers sat down in a room and consciously decided to avoid analyzing Adama's control from outside the military. Practically speaking, if BSG were to tackle civilian thoughts and fears, it would take much, much longer than the series has time for. Artistically speaking, it's a more interesting story to explain the coup from within the military. It's about honor and the uniform. It's about respecting your commanders and taking orders without question to ensure that the ship continues to run. When Gaeta first arrests Adama, the commander's first words are in response to Gaeta being a traitor to his uniform, that he -- that both of them -- had to declare an oath. So this narrative trilogy is less about an uprising in politics and more about an uprising within the military itself.
I bring this up because I was uneasy about Adama's complete disregard for Gaeta's questioning. Was Romo Lampkin just decoration and was Zarek going to find Adama guilty during his "trial"? You betcha. But Adama not explaining himself, not justifying his actions made it seem like he was in the wrong, that he's running a totalitarian regime where no one questions his authority. But in this military world, that's exactly how it needs to be. As my friend explained to me, soldiers cannot just go around demanding answers from the commanding officers. They need to trust and accept their decisions without judgement or skepticism. If Adama starts answering for himself now, he loses his Barthesian "commander-ness." So I was misreading Adama's decisions based on Adama-as-man, rather than Adama-as-commander. And it's very clear that the writers did not want to focus on Adama's relationship to/with civilians (where Adama-as-man would be explored), but rather this idea of trust and loyalty within a structure that needs to survive.
But it is extremely interesting to me that, as a commenter elsewhere noted, "It really is startling to have a not-altogether-unsympathetic character act out of principle and die for it at the hand of the series lead." Adama executed Gaeta. Gaeta, the officer who always tries to do the right thing. Gaeta, the man who wanted to kill Baltar for his shady dealings with the Cylons on New Caprica. And Adama -- our beloved, supposedly morally righteous hero -- killed him.
Lee: As mentioned above, Lee is wearing typical black slacks and a blue button-up Oxford shirt throughout most of the episode, including the final scene where Gaeta and Zarek are executed for their crimes of treason. This is visually significant because you have this well-dressed man with a gun in his hands and the ability to assess situations quickly. Lee is working within two spheres -- the military and the law -- and it isn't until this episode that this dichotomy really becomes a thematic focus. While in the Quorum, and even during his stint as Baltar's lawyer during the season three finale, Lee tried bringing his military knowledge to the political realm, but he never truly had the opportunity (or reason) to showcase his military skills in politics. With Zarek's merciless massacre on the Quorum, Lee is sent into survival mode first, kick ass mode second. Once he is able to secure his life as stable, his first and only order of business is to find and save his father and he does this by carrying a big, scary weapon around the halls on Galactica.
During Gaeta's execution, it's very intriguing having Lee's presence in the room. Whereas Adama's presence represents the world of the military -- and Baltar's presence marks a civilian presence -- Lee is between the two worlds. He is a man of law (truth, justice), but he is also a man of structure (loyalty a la the oath, getting the job done). I don't think that Lee's face should be read as anger, but rather disappointment. Here he was thinking that these two conflicting powers could reconcile their differences, and they couldn't. He's disappointed that Zarek was not the leader he thought he was, and he's disappointed that political order is falling apart. (How can there be a democracy without the Quorum of 12?) He's also disappointed because, like Gaeta, he's a man of principle, and just last week he mentioned that there was some truth to Zarek's concerns.
Baltar: First of all, thank the gods that he admitted he was putting on a religious show (presumably as a means of securing his own survival). Baltar is a creature of habit, as I will discuss in a moment, and I simply did not buy that our scientifically-minded atheist would all of a sudden become a prophet. Even with Head Six telling him there was one and only God. So I'm happy that Baltar admitted to this scam. Second, Baltar's main purpose in the narrative of the series is to run. It's how he's stayed alive. He runs. Some may call this cowardly, but not all humans are noble. I would run, too. Some people would call it selfish, but I don't think there's anything selfish about wanting to live. One of the people I watch BSG with hates Baltar, but during his speech discussing his need to go back to Galactica to save his followers, she said, "Okay, finally I like him." But it's not just this switch of personal behavior that's interesting. What's intriguing about this revelation is that, after having sex with one of the Six models (Lida), he still feels awful and lonely and regretful. Normally when Baltar runs (or is being tortured by D'Anna), he rely on either an apparition or a real-life Six model to make him feel good through sex. But not this time. Even sex will not cure him of his regret. I think Baltar is finally realizing that it's lonely at the top, and even though his followers were strange, he was surrounded by people, and I think Baltar was reminded of his love for the spotlight, his need for people to pay attention to him. And this is in no way a selfish realization. He just realizes that there's more to life than surviving yet another day just to have sex. There are other people. There are other situations outside of him. And I truly think it's this revelation that leads to the beautifully shot coffee scene with Gaeata.
Writer Michael Angeli (see previous post) intended for viewers to think Gaeta got off on the charges. After all, we are in Gaeta's quarters. But between Gaeta's topic of conversation and Baltar's near-tears reactions, I don't think anyone was fooled. Regardless of Baltar's profound pity for Gaeta, Gaeta's reflections on his past -- his love for architecture, then science -- indicated that the end was looming for him, and it really spoke to the logical nature of his character. Gaeta's reflections gave us a further insight into who he is, how got to this point in his life, and what his life was like before Galactica. It's a very touching scene, and Gaeta's complete resolve during this scene really makes you empathize with him. It's also a humanizing scene for Baltar because, following the scene with the Six model Lida, you know that Baltar respects Gaeta. He respects this man who acted on principle, even though it would most certainly lead to his demise. He's sitting across from the man who took to the stands to ensure that Baltar was found guilty (and who later tried to kill Baltar), and he respects Gaeta's rational understanding of the situation. Unlike Baltar, Gaeta doesn't run, he doesn't hide his head, and he doesn't beg for forgiveness. Gaeta knows what he did was wrong (he dishonored the oath), and that has a price. And for the first time, possibly ever, Baltar-the-Coward understands the logic of action and reaction, and he respects Gaeta's stoic acknowledgement of this natural law. There has been no character on the show other than Gaeta who I think is an equal to Baltar.
Gaeta: Alessandro Juliani, my Gods, you broke my heart. During the episode, I thought the cuts to Gaeta's throbbing leg were a bit overdone. We get it; his leg hurts. We get it; there's turmoil on the ship, and the leg gets progressively worse. We get it; Gaeta can't receive better care for his leg because Dr. Cottle is too busy tending to the Cylons. We get it. But then the episode ends on this moment of complete acceptance, and it tore my heart right out of my chest. "It stopped." The pain stopped. The mutiny stopped. Gaeta's life stopped. Everything stops. The absence of Gaeta's leg symbolizes a sort of phantom honor (in the same vein as a phantom limb), in that the absence of his leg is a constant reminder for all the times he sacrificed for his ship. Hell, the secret council (made up of two Cylons and a Cylon's wife) almost airlocked him for being a Cylon coconspirator, when really he was leaking them information from the Cylon camp. Anders shot him in the leg because he tried to save their ship instead of waiting for Kara to come back. Throughout the series, he tried to do the right thing -- the honorable, moral thing -- and what does he have to show for it? Nothing but phantom honor. When his leg was taken, the real pain set in. Gaeta's never really been angry that they took his leg. It was the situation in which his leg was taken that aggravates and disgusts him. When that leg was taken, his honor was taken, and now he's just running on the last bit of gas he has. He's putting all of his chips in. He's acting on the ghost of honor.
When Gaeta and Zarek exchanged smiles before their execution, it was like looking at two sides of the same coin. Both thought that they were right (and I happen to agree with Gaeta, as a non-military citizen), but Zarek knew there was going to be bloodshed whereas Gaeta had a more idealized vision. I don't think Zarek is necessarily evil (killing the Quorum should be seen more as killing democracy than killing eleven individual bystanders), but he understands the necessity of killing the opposition, where Gaeta is still trying to give Adama a proper trial to answer for his crimes. It's two sides of the revolution -- violence and moral high ground -- and both sides lead to death. And then comes Gaeta's line...
"It stopped." This line certainly could have been referencing my heart. This line could have been talking about time, since Gaeta's entire character narrative replayed in my head as if time had stood still. This line was a remark on Gaeta's calmn before the darkness. It was about his acceptance of the consequences, his complete resolve.
First Callie, then Dualla, and now Gaeta. Ron Moore, stop breaking my heart. I only have a few pieces left.
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