Season 2, episode 19: "Lay Down your Burdens, Part 1"

Fenster

The beginning of the end

Barry Aldwell

There's a season 3, y'know

And even after season 2 ends, you get to watch the last 11 or so again on Sky

CuLT

Man, it feels like I'm catching every second episode or something, wtf happened to continuity?

The music is weird in this one too.

Only watched the first few mins so far, but I'm wondering what the hell happened since season one to make the show crazily all over the place.

Goodshape

Fairly great. Would be amazing but it was lot's of build-up really. Is next weeks 90 minutes? Looking forward to it either way.

ButcherOfNog

CuLT wrote:

Man, it feels like I'm catching every second episode or something, wtf happened to continuity?

Have to agree, it seems in this one that a lump of scenes were cut or summit. The story was mostly setup for next week.

Nukem

Things hotting up - i like it.
Music was a strange sorta mantra alright but i liked it. Cant wait til next week.

monkeyfudge

There really should have been a bit of a build up to the chiefs breakdown in previous episodes... but the scenes with Dean Stockwell really were the highlight of this episode.

I really don't see how they're going to wrap up all these storylines next week, looks like they're going to leave us hanging all over the place again.

Peace

monkeyfudge wrote:

There really should have been a bit of a build up to the chiefs breakdown in previous episodes... but the scenes with Dean Stockwell really were the highlight of this episode.

I really don't see how they're going to wrap up all these storylines next week, looks like they're going to leave us hanging all over the place again.

Is there only one ep left this season or something?

spooydermot

yeah dean stockwell was great,would be great to see him as a recurring character...I think he played his role similar to the the doctors character.

"maybe I'm a cylon, and I haven't seen you at any of the meetings"

User45701

Great episode again i knew it would just be a build up episode for the last one

OSiriS

I thought the first 5 mins were great, that music in the background of it all set a great tone. The pseudo-politics was rather irritating though.

GuanYin

spooydermot wrote:

yeah dean stockwell was great,would be great to see him as a recurring character...I think he played his role similar to the the doctors character.

"maybe I'm a cylon, and I haven't seen you at any of the meetings"

Future

you'll at least see twice as much of him in the next ep

ixoy

Odd music in this one, but that's happened before...

Anyway, again we have a character cracking up without any real buildup (e.g. Starbuck suddenly being a drunk a few weeks ago). Decent continuity would've spread this over a longer period but *shrug* BSG has been slipping a bit in this area lately. Now I know we haven't seen the Chief much so perhaps it could be taken it was occurring off screen but it all seems a leeeeetle sloppy. Still I'm almost willing to forgive it for the excellent scenes with Dean Stockwell.

Baltar for Prez! He got some decent scenes this week and his campaign makes sense so I enjoy this. And it's fun seeing the current Prez so peeved. She can be a bit too full of herself at time. A little humiliation is no harm.

Caprica was good but I never really got the proper sense of buildup that they were returning. Much like what happens in SG1, we're suddenly made to believe that they were always planning this for weeks on end, that it was a high priority, etc. but we don't actually have that much proof. It's kinda irritating...

I hope that planet has a little Cylon surprise on it...

I also felt there was a sense the episode was edited to fit into its slot. Maybe future podcasts/dvds will illuminate more on the issue.

Not too bad but still mostly building up for the extra long finale next week. Which, Lords of Kobol willing, I'll find on my hotel room in NYC on Friday

Barry Aldwell

Baltar is a legend

Zarek: "You're a genius"
Baltar: "And?"

tbh, if you forget the preconceptions, and the inside knowledge the viewer has of how much of a looney Baltar is (and the entire "Betrayer of mankind" thing), his campaign beats the crap out of Roslin's campaign. It's no surprise that

he's going to win

GuanYin

Listening to the podcast, seems like time was the biggest issue here. That said, I agree that it was a little unclear.

Dean Stockwell is an incredible actor. Second emmy worthy performance in two weeks on BSG (after Callis in Downloaded). Mere facial expressions from this guy make a scene.

Apart from Stockwells parts I didn't really like the ep, I reckon, like so many two part finales, part 1 is just the promo for part two.

That said, I don't think I like what happens in part two either.

Fenster

Dean Stockwell was easily the best part of this episode. Thankfully we'll probably be seeing much more of him in the future.

madrab

great build up episode for next week but i am irritated by the sudden appearance of the mission & the chiefs breakdown

it feels like we missed out on an episode, they should have mentioned something about this last week

& they have still never explainde how sharon can control the cylon tech through her arm-hole, does she have some hidden usb port up there or what? could they not use that as a check for cylons?

monkeyfudge

madrab wrote:

& they have still never explainde how sharon can control the cylon tech through her arm-hole, does she have some hidden usb port up there or what? could they not use that as a check for cylons?

That and how does an engine installed on just one ship allow all the others to jump along with it. Is that thing just plotting out the course rather than actually handling the FTL jump?

Goodshape

We did sort of miss out on an episode though.. with last weeks being about 80% cylon.

Barry Aldwell

monkeyfudge wrote:

That and how does an engine installed on just one ship allow all the others to jump along with it. Is that thing just plotting out the course rather than actually handling the FTL jump?

It's a navigational computer

Dunners

Did Helo or the Chief not say a good few episodes back that anyone could be a Cylon? I think it was after they beat the crap out of each other in the hanger deck, kind of explains the roots of where the nightmares came from.

Plus we've known for a long while that Starbuck has been itching to get back to Caprica so I don't find it too long a shot to go into a briefing about such a mission at the beginning of the episode.

There were a few jumps in the plot but I don't think there was anything too major. The only thing that really bugged me was the whole planet thing. We went from discovering it to charting it to the fleet knowing about it to Baltar using it in the debate in the space of about two minutes. Way too fast in my opinion.

Otherwise I thought it was another cracking episode from the BSG fold, can't wait for the season finale next week!

ButcherOfNog

Barry Aldwell wrote:

It's a navigational computer

yup, and it "discovered" that habitable planet by jumping a raptor to it .... i have a feeling that planet is baaaaad news.

Haruspex

Dunners wrote:

Did Helo or the Chief not say a good few episodes back that anyone could be a Cylon? I think it was after they beat the crap out of each other in the hanger deck, kind of explains the roots of where the nightmares came from.

I think the Chief has been pretty frakked up since Kobol anyway. Come to think of it he hasn't been in much of the second half of season two, so I guess it's plausible to assume this breakdown was going on in parallel with other events.

I don't think Michael Rymer has ever directed a bad BSG episode yet and this was no exception. I know Moore idolises him for helping to find the rhythm of the show and he pulls it off again in the first part, although as others have said - mostly scene setting for next week (which I'm apprehensive about).

Sometimes the story seemed a little "Kobol's Last Gleaming" to me - finding a planet; jumping back to Caprica; but I guess next week as Baltar says in the trailer for part two

the settlement should begin immediately on the new planet

, this does make it a different proposition entirely.

I don't know why but they seem to sometimes include deleted scenes in the "Previously on Battlestar Galactica" part. I'm pretty sure Starbuck never talked to Roslin about going back for the Capricans during "Ephiphanies". (Correct me if I'm wrong.)

Dean Stockwell was great, so yes, more of his character would be welcomed. I'd love to see scenes between himself and Olmos next week.

Stark

I noticed that deleted scene thing too. I thought it was an okay episode, it felt like mere setup in a lot of ways.

PS: I'm convinced Zarek is a cylon after those creepy scenes with himself, Six and Baltar. It was almost as if himself/Six were speaking every second line.

User45701

i dont think zarek is a cylon he has been around for far to long was in prisen for what 20years?

Stark

Yes, but in prison he was in isolation for 20 years. There's noone left who would know the real Tom Zarek other than what his public profile said. The cylons could have easily made the switch. Also note how together Zarek is for a dangerous terrorist who was locked in a maximum security cell for 20 years. You'd think he'd at least be a little bitter.

People like Adama, Starbuck, Apollo & co. are unlikely to be cylons as they have family and friends who would notice the difference following the switch.

Cina

I thought we were lead to believe that cylon models are created from scratch, not modelled on existing people? Sharon for example, it's been noted before that prior to the 2 years she spent on galactica she pretty much didn't exist, although I could be wrong ..

Fantastic episode, I agree with the majority in that they plot jumped a middle but you have to remember that the gaps in episodes in part 2 of S2 is far greater than the gaps in S1/S2 Pt 1. The entire first season only covers 60 days, and S2 Pt1 only another month or 2, S2 Pt2 has been 4 or 5 months so far. Obviously the main reason behind this was so that Sharon wasn't pregnant for another 2 or 3 seasons

Stark

Cina wrote:

I thought we were lead to believe that cylon models are created from scratch, not modelled on existing people? Sharon for example, it's been noted before that prior to the 2 years she spent on galactica she pretty much didn't exist, although I could be wrong ..

We were never told one way or the other. They left the question open at the end of "Six degrees of seperation" when Gaius asked Six had she been modelled after an actual woman (Shelly Godfrey) and she declined to answer.

jor el

I thought this was a brilliant episode for what it was, a builder upper. The music in the first 10 minutes kept everything in a kind of eerily peaceful state, that is until the Chief beat the head off Cali

Going back to Caprica has been mentioned on more than one occasion, plus Starbuck has had the odd flashback about the guy there too, so it's not like it came out of the blue. The Chief's downfall was a bit strange, though he has looked kind of haggard in the few episodes we've seen him in. Thoughts of Sharon, Cylon, Pregger Sharon, etc playing havoc with his mind I guess.

_CreeD_

I actually like the way they seem to jump along in storylines, not just from this episode but things like Lee Adama's relationship with Dee. It shows a universe that is moving along and developing even if we aren't privvy to each little detail. Every aspect does not need a long visible development to be believable imho. Yes it seemed to jump us right into the new mission but the story was still told clearly and succinctly, were any of you actually confused? No? There's only so much they can put into 40 minutes and this close to the end of season they don't have much leeway for the timeline.
Anyway, great episode, cannot wait for and yet dread this friday...

Scruff

thought it was an okay episode as BSG episodes go. Didnt like the music at all at the start though if anything it took from the seriousness of the pre-election campaigning and the briefing for the mission. Thought the chief's breakdown was a bit sudden. The planet did throw an interesting spin on the direction of the elections and possibly series 3.

Johnny Storm

This new planet. Only 20% of it can support life. Its extremely cold at the poles. So it could be called an ice planet. Maybe there's a gun on it?

Goodshape

Or maybe an ice-age Earth?

...just a thought.

Dunners

Goodshape wrote:

Or maybe an ice-age Earth?

Surrounded by a massive nebula? Nice idea but I think not.

Pugsley

Scruff wrote:

Thought the chief's breakdown was a bit sudden.

Disagree, he has been very edgy since Kobol, and when he was building the Blackbird you could see he was already losing it entirely, it may not have covered every stage of him going nuts, but it was by no means sudden imo.

Really liked this episode, there hasnt seemed to be nearly enough Baltar in S2 and he got a good bit of attention in this episode which he needed, cant wait for Fridays episode.

Airblazer

_CreeD_ wrote:

I actually like the way they seem to jump along in storylines, not just from this episode but things like Lee Adama's relationship with Dee. It shows a universe that is moving along and developing even if we aren't privvy to each little detail. Every aspect does not need a long visible development to be believable imho. Yes it seemed to jump us right into the new mission but the story was still told clearly and succinctly, were any of you actually confused? No? There's only so much they can put into 40 minutes and this close to the end of season they don't have much leeway for the timeline.
Anyway, great episode, cannot wait for and yet dread this friday...

definitely agreed with the above...if people want every detail of BSG to be mapped maybe they should watch 24..
It's kinda like LOST in that they seem to concentrate on various characters through the season..and this is a good thing

Calibos

Finally found my long lost cousins in the US. Heard about them for ages but never gave much thought to learning how to contact them. Finally decided to initiate contact and they were very nice. They sent episodes 10-19 the other day and I watched all 10 episodes yesterday. Wow. Can't wait for next weeks 1.5hour episode. Does the post usually arrive on Mondays?

Goodshape

Saturdays.











I mean, I don't know anything about that.

Peace

She's broadcast on friday evening in the US... actually more like 3am saturday morning here. My cousing usually pop it in the post when I manage to get out of the scratcher on Staurday morning/afternoon.