12.04.06
Episode 3.9: “Unfinished Business”
Written by Michael Taylor
Directed by Robert Young
Ever since the second season finale, fans have been wondering what happened to the characters in the year or so between the decision to colonize New Caprica and the Cylon Occupation. In particular, there were some obvious character shifts that needed to be explained. Adama was far too soft and unfocused, there was some tension between Lee and Kara, and Kara married Anders. So what brought about those changes, and what does it mean for the characters now?
Adama has been at the center of controversy, because many felt that the writers had destroyed the character or lost touch with who he was supposed to be. In some cases, that was an example of fans distrusting the writing staff, assuming that it was a mistake instead of a calculated story decision. In this case, it appears that Adama’s character shift was completely intentional.
The question is: does Adama’s decision to relax his military posture and adopt a softer policy make sense? It depends on whether or not it’s logical to assume that Baltar’s presidency broke his spirit. Before he came to respect Roslin, Adama felt that he was the only one capable of holding it all together, and that the fleet expected it of him. Once he allied with Roslin, that attitude was reinforced. So with Baltar’s ascension, did he come to the conclusion that it wasn’t his responsibility anymore? Did he feel as though his moral authority had been undermined or removed?
Roslin’s own decision to step out of the politics and find a new life might have played into that psychological shift. In this episode, we see their relationship more clearly. If the promise of New Caprica had been fulfilled, would Adama and Roslin have settled together, once and for all? This would explain why Adama was so out of character, even during and after the rescue. And it also confirms that some of his anger towards Lee was, in fact, transference of his own self-loathing.
Lee’s weight gain and general dissatisfaction with himself can now be linked to his decision to leave Dee and pursue a relationship with Kara, only to have it all fall apart. Dee is far from stupid, and she had to have known about the tryst to some degree. Lee wasn’t particularly good at hiding his emotions, and apparently by the time of the Occupation, he was treating Kara and Anders poorly.
Kara shoulders quite a bit of the blame. It turns out that her ambivalence with Anders never really disappeared, despite how it might seemed in the second season finale. She thought that rescuing Anders would exorcise her demons, but that never really happened. Kara is still dealing with some serious self-sabotaging issues, and she continues to lash out at the people who love her.
What makes this episode fun is the structure. A lot of information is covered in flashbacks as the characters beat the hell out of each other in a semi-regulated boxing match. What starts in the teaser as a means of blowing off steam quickly becomes deeply personal, despite what Adama might say, and by the final act, it’s hard to watch. Some of the characters seem to find themselves again, but the process is brutal. It’s a distinctly male/military way of resolving emotional interpersonal issues, akin to bitter enemies fighting in the schoolyard, only to become best friends. Time will tell if the physical scars will really help to strip away the emotional ones.
(As a sidenote: I also have a podcast associated with my various reviews called “Dispatches from Tuzenor”. Current episodes cover “Battlestar: Galactica”, so it might be something of interest. Go to http://entil2001.libsyn.com if you want to listen!)
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Rating: 8/10
eugene said,
December 4, 2006 at 11:20 pm
I was wondering what you would think of this episode. I’ve been a bit more bullish on the third season than you seem to have been, but most of your criticisms so far have made some sense.
I’ve not been aware of the controversy over the characterization of Adama. My sense was that by the end of the second season, by the election, he was already showing many signs of weariness. Let’s not forget he’d just come back from the near-dead, of course. The impression I’d always had was that he chose to do nothing to stop the colonization of New Caprica, to block Baltar, because he was exhausted, and lacked faith in his ability to lead the fleet. The fleet had made its choice, and as we saw in the flashbacks, there was clearly a part of Adama that was intrigued by the idea of settling down on the new planet - just as there always lingered a sense that this was but a temporary stop in the longer exodus.
So I have felt Adama has been drawn out very beautifully this season. At the beginning he was resigned to his fate, he felt he’d failed humanity and was going to sacrifice himself in an attempt to rescue them. Ever since he succeeded, he has been reliving his past failures, asking himself if he is worthy enough to be the leader he feels called to be. That’s where the previous episode, “Hero,” was so significant. He felt he failed humanity before, and the revelations in that episode were shocking, yet not surprising, and neither was Adama’s reaction.
Here he seems to have reached some sense of closure. He knows now what he must do. He took a beating physically, to match the mental beating he’d been giving himself. Tyrol gave him catharsis. Now Adama is ready to lead. And given his budding political and personal relationship with Roslin, there will be a lot of sparks and tension as he moves forward.
Although this episode was titled “Unfinished Business” I felt it could as well have been titled “Heartbreak.” We knew New Caprica had ended badly. Now we saw just how badly that hurt. The flashbacks were full of hope. We saw the fleet at rest, with faith in their future. From Roslin’s relaxed sense of peace, to the glow shown by Lee and Kara when they encountered each other, to the punch-to-the-gut scene of glow and love that the Tighs were experiencing, even to what must have been one of the few high points of the Baltar Administration (the groundbreaking), we see the fleet’s hopes soar and then begin to be cruelly dashed.
New Caprica has changed the series. I was initially unsure about that. But it has made for a richer, darker, deeper series. And we’re seeing just how frakked up the survivors still are about it. Maybe it was just me, but this episode felt very moving, and heart-rending in an authentic and completely believable way.
And there’s also the boxing. When the episode began, showing Helo and Apollo in the ring, I initially groaned and thought of “TKO,” one of the weaker offerings of Babylon 5’s first season. But it was done well. For an episode with such a tight focus on boxing and the events of New Caprica, it held attention well. Boxing can be and often is presented as cliche on TV, but in this case, they made it work.
This show seems to be firing on all cylinders this season. Absolutely stunning work.