Battlestar Galactica‘You Can’t Go Home Again’
DVD Season 1
Brittany – TwoCents Reviewer
Brittany@thetwocentscorp.com
To the casual viewer of Battlestar Galactica, on the surface this show is what it is: The human race fighting a near perfect and near immortal enemy that comes back every time it’s killed. There are fights in space, intense moments when the fleet just barely gets away from the next nuke and leaders who say they know what they’re doing, but don’t really know anything about the situation they’re in. But for the more dedicated viewer; the one who has watched from the mini-series forward, by episode five you already know that this show is about relationships. ‘You Can’t Go Home Again’ explores one such relationship: the relationship between father and daughter.
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Battlestar Galactica
ReplyDelete‘You Can’t Go Home Again’
DVD Season 1
Brittany – TwoCents Reviewer
Brittany@thetwocentscorp.com
To the casual viewer of Battlestar Galactica, on the surface this show is what it is: The human race fighting a near perfect and near immortal enemy that comes back every time it’s killed. There are fights in space, intense moments when the fleet just barely gets away from the next nuke and leaders who say they know what they’re doing, but don’t really know anything about the situation they’re in. But for the more dedicated viewer; the one who has watched from the mini-series forward, by episode five you already know that this show is about relationships. ‘You Can’t Go Home Again’ explores one such relationship: the relationship between father and daughter.
Kara Thrace has been lost after a Cylon attack; lost on some planet after taking on eight raiders by herself. Just prior, she’d told the Old Man (her one and only father figure) that she’d been responsible for the death of his youngest son after passing him in flight school when she shouldn’t have. She passed him and he crashed; she killed him. Adama was so angry, so hurt, that to prove herself to him again she sacrificed herself to keep the fleet safe, perhaps knowing what would happen, but probably not. So now, he searches. Adama risks it all, everything, to find his daughter.
Starbuck is stranded on a planet with less than two days worth of oxygen. It’s nearly impossible to see, but her plan is to move to higher ground, hoping to be seen as the Viper pilots make low passes. Kara starts praying as she walks, asking the Gods for a break, and then it’s there: A Cylon raider laying broken and dead on the ground. She inches her way closer and realizes it’s bleeding, and she laughs. “Lords? I owe you one!” She’s just found her ride off the planet – if she can figure out how to get inside and pilot the machine. As she opens it up, she utters words that have become almost a mantra: “Are you alive?”
Adama is raging, screaming at Tigh for suggesting they do anything other than look for Kara. He yells that they’ve left enough people behind and that they will bring back their missing pilot. He’s determined. His last words were in anger at her over the death of his son, but the realization that a rescue might not happen is sinking in. He pulls the only Vipers left that are patrolling the fleet for security to go search for Starbuck. It’s a move that prompts the President to call Lee and she points out that now the fleet is defenseless. She points out that they have left people behind before, but Lee cuts her off. He’s just as determined as his father. According to Galactica’s count, Kara is out of oxygen, but the search continues. Adama’s grasping at straws and every option as everyone from the Colonel to petty officers try to convince him to give up. Finally, the President arrives unannounced and begs Lee and Adama to realize that they’re putting the lives of 49,000 people in danger. She doesn’t tell them to give up, she just asks them to clear their heads. Adama makes the call: The search is over.
Inside the raider, Kara rips out the brains of the operation, because clearly she has her own. She’s dangerously low on oxygen, and she starts taking apart wires, looking for air. She finds it, seals up bullet holes and starts looking for the main components of any ship: power, pitch, yaw and roll. Once she finds them, she takes off; able to fly anything. She is Adama’s best, after all. When the lone raider approaches the fleet, Lee sets out to destroy it and notes early that it’s better maneuvered than any other raider: “This bastard’s good!” The raider flies in formation with him, and just as another pilot is about to be launched, Lee reads the underside of the raider. It says ‘Starbuck’ in neon yellow and he whoops into the CIC. Their pilot is back, and she’s come home with a souvenir.
In sick bay, she lays with a pressure cast around her knee as Adama makes his way in to see her. There are little words exchanged as he bends to kiss her forehead. “You did good. You did real good.” They are words that Kara has longed to hear, and they both know there’s no reason to mention her past mistakes. He asks if she has any requests, and she replies that she could use a stogie. With a chuckle, he gives her his last one and leaves her to rest.
The whole episode was about love and loss, and when to give in. On Cylon occupied Caprica, just as ‘Sharon’ and Helo are getting close, toasters storm their hiding place and take Sharon. Or have they? Is she a hostage to be rescued, or is it all a ruse; a part of the plan?
What are your thoughts on this episode? Aside from wondering what Starbuck used to get her name on the raider’s wings, it leaves me speechless. It’s a very, very big shame that the show has never been recognized by the Emmys (and was in fact, ignored again this year after some of its finest hours yet.). What would you like to see reviewed next? Leave a comment or email me with your suggestions!