Deathwatch: Who’s next to go on Battlestar?
Posted by Dan
April 24th, 2008 at 11:40am
In Battlestar Galactica
Last week’s episode of Battlestar Galactica saw the demise of a perfectly logical character. That is, a character that was important enough to draw a reaction from viewers, but not important enough to seriously impact the show as we know it.
The Battlestar writers did a pretty good job of keeping us guessing as to how Cally’s death would play out, what with the suicide-with-half-cylon-baby/no-Tory-is-here-to-help/no-Tory-is-here-to-murder fake outs. It’s probably the biggest moment Tory has had in the entire show, including being outed as a cylon.
It was a pretty shocking moment and I was sad for a minute. Only a minute though, due to her innocent, little girlish appearance. Eventually I realized that Cally was kind of a pain in the ass and the actress who played her wasn’t that great (did you see that scene with the doctor?).
This brings us to the whole issue of who’s going to drop dead this season. Speculation is rampant and bleak. Even Edward James Olmos is hinting that no one makes it in the end. And while I don’t necessarily expect everyone to end the series with babies and puppies and wood-burning stoves, I think that the theatrics of an everyone-dies-in-the-end conclusion might be a bit much — even for Battlestar.
So, who’s going to stick around for a while? I expect people to drop like flies all season, but the questions are who and when. Here’s a round-up…
(for the record, when I list cylons, I’m talking about their current body)
Gaius Baltar - Baltar’s death would be the most satisfying and longest overdue. He’s survived the attack on Caprica (saved by Number Six), survived the presidency on New Caprica, time with the Cylons, a trial on the fleet and avoided being killed by the masses afterwards. The very fact that he’s so awful is reason enough for the writers to keep him around, plus with his whole new guru storyline I expect this to take a while to play out.
Tigh - Tigh is another one who’s “had it coming” for a while, mostly through being unpleasant to any and everyone.
Adama - Wouldn’t that be a kick in the head to have them kill off the old man prematurely? To have them kill Adama and then see people scramble to replace him and cope with the loss in leadership? The more I think about it, the better idea it seems.
Apollo - No effing way.
Helo - Helo has always been a bit peripheral to the whole Starbuck and Apollo Awesome People Fan Club Superstar Show. Hell, he spent the first season in the woods. He could be a mid-season death that makes people sad, but doesn’t change the season’s trajectory too much.
Roslin - Roslin will die in the last episode or not at all. For a woman who was supposed to be dead meat in season one, this would kind of make it all come full circle. I can’t imagine they’d off her beforehand with a cylon attack or some such nonsense.
Anyone else have thoughts on the way the rest of the season will play out?
Gaius Baltar cannot die. Dying is too easy. He is only truly punished by continuing to live. (Loved his self-hallucination, by the way! Where is Caprica Six, btw? The only other one to have Baltar hallucinations?)
I don’t think any of the new cylons are going to die, not for a while, at least. I think Helo is a decent guess — poor Helo.
It’s really bugging me that they haven’t mentioned how Kara’s ship is supposed to contact Galactica once they presumably do find earth. I don’t need much, just a little line: “Oh, then we’ll send out the interstellar flare,” or whatever. I can’t shake the thought that they’re floating around, permanently cut of from the rest of humanity, and it’s hard to enjoy all the crazy that’s going on there.
I think Anders is going to die, and I think Starbuck is going to be the one to kill him.
Tory is going to start to lose it and kill more people as well.
I was also bugged by the lacking instructions for a rendez vous with Starbuck’s ship. It’s one of those small things in a show that you know isn’t going to affect the plot, but it totally could and bugs you to death anyway. It’s like watching a comedy movie and the dad leaves his kids alone in the store while he makes a phone call or something. You’re thinking, “those kids could get kidnapped!!!” but you know it’s not going to happen because it’s not that kind of movie. In this case, Battlestar is not that kind of show, but it’s still frustrating.
Mikey, we are so related.