First, a few things about Islanded In a Stream Of Stars -
I was so excited to see Caprica Six and Gaius Baltar together in a scene again. For the first 2 years of the show they had a central role in the story. I knew not to hope for a reunion and have it all be sweetness and light but in the writer's ham-fisted way of making sure we knew that Caprica Six has grown and changed (we've had huge quantities of screen-time previously to know that, guys) the scene which could have resonated landed with a thud with a trite line or two from Caprica and Gaius--again rejected and feeling sad. Feh. You guys could have done better for both these actors! Disappointment!
So Chief went directly from almost being sucked out into space to...the brig? Gotta wait and buy the DVD's to know how it went down.
I've just now been catching up with Bear's Battlestar Blog. He is the composer for the unique and incredible music of Battlestar Galcatica.
In his comments about Islanded In A Stream of Stars, which I consider to be the most awesome title of any BSG episode, he says the following which was a sort of "wth?" moment for me.
One of the biggest challenges of Islanded was actually scoring two different versions of it. In addition to the version you just watched, I also scored an extended version for the DVD release. Not
only are many of the dialogue scenes expanded, but there are several
scenes that were cut entirely from the show that required substantial
original music. One of these scenes established that Tyrol is now in the brig for his role in Boomer’s escape and kidnapping of Hera. I was disappointed that this story point was cut from the episode, since Chief’s arc last week was so emotionally powerful.
So now we have the answer to "Where's Chief?" Damn, that's an awful ending for such a great character.
And he was so out of character in the previous eppy, "Someone To Watch Over Me." I've justified the rest of the Final Five acting oddly but when Chief clonked that innocent Eight over the head with a wrench in order to "save" Boomer? I was really shocked to the point of disbelieving as in I don't believe that Chief would have done such a thing. It hit an off-key note for me.
Every episode has it's gems, though.
Tahmoh Penniket, I agree with Bear, did his most outstanding work ever in a Galactica scene, this one with Edward James Olmos. Completely heart-rending. Completely believable. On Tahmoh's part.
This episode was directed by Edward James Olmos and boy, is he generous with his own screen time--to the detriment of the story. Do we have to hear him trot out the canned responses he uses depending on to whom he's asserting his worldly wisdom? Gawds! I so wanted to punch him in the mouth after he told Helo that "they" have both lost a child!
Eddie: In this story you lost an adult child--nothing like losing your child of age three, your adult child eff'd up and killed himself, Hera was kidnapped. Your adult son died when? Six years ago now? More? It is not even worth mentioning again that you lost Zack unless this line was squeezed in to somehow serve the planned for 2010 spin-off of BSG, "Caprica." (I know spin-off is not the exact term, OK?)
Over the course of this series, I've gone from sort of being in awe of Olmos's acting chops to seeing that he's barely a one-note guy. He can play extreme emotion well. And he uses his gravelly voice to great effect when barking orders or doing one of his "So Say We All" speeches. But the ego on this man, especially when they let him direct. He is among their weakest directors, hands down (and I will double check on this--it's been four years, after all).
Moving on.
One of the most consequential series of scenes continued to revolve around Hera, Athena (Sharon Valeri) and Helo's daughter.
The show opened with her playing in CIC (!) with these models of ships that I'm sure you recognize. Hera ran the battlestar into the basestar and that, coupled with what Adama said about Galactica going out with a bang (paraphrase) is a really heavy-handed hint about how, ultimately the Galactica will meet her end. I really hope it doesn't happen that way.
Chief helped Boomer escape after finding out that she would probably be executed by the rebels for treason.
What Chief failed to discern was that Boomer used him. All she wanted was Hera. Smart Chief got a case of the dumbs. Here, Hera and Boomer are projecting into Boomer's Barbie Dream House.
This is where Boomer ended their journey--where Cavil has hidden the Cylon "Colony."
It appeared that Boomer bonded with Hera whilst kidnapping her. Gotta take this with a grain of salt as Boomer/the Eights is/are as we keep getting reminded, unpredictable/unstable.

Above: the memorial service for the dead who did not get sucked out in space. It's always amusing to watch reactions to Gaius's egotistical rantings.
This time, after testing the blood on dead Kara's dog tags (at her request) he announced to the entire group assembled for the memorial the results: Kara is an angel. What a jerk!
Here are some assorted promo photos from the conclusion of the Battlestar Galactica series. Included are candid, behind the scenes photos so if the characters um, seem out of character--they are. ;)







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