lifeonqueen (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lifeonqueen) wrote2007-03-05 02:31 am
lifeonqueen) wrote2007-03-05 02:31 am
Entry tags:
Battlestar Galactica, "Maelstrom"
I give myself a C on the accuracy of my spec' for this episode. The question is do I watch out the last four episodes to see what lies "through the next door" for Starbuck? "Maelstrom" knocks it out of the park but without the chance of seeing Starbuck in each ep, Katee Sackhoff's performance shining like gold through the dross of the last couple of scripts... Battlestar Galactica just doesn't hold much appeal these days.
That said, I'll still be surprised if Starbuck is gone for good. And I do get why Moore and co. would choose Starbuck as the major character to be killed off. Her death is the one that will hammer the other characters hardest, which makes it the right choice dramatically. That said, Starbuck's a vital character (in a way that Lamb on Veronica Mars, to quote a recent example, was not) - it's not Battlestar Galactica without Starbuck and Apollo.
Just ask the guys that made Galactica 80 (*shudder*).
Ron Moore - you've got an episode to make this work for me. I don't like being the unhappy cranky fangirl but, if you make this stick, I'm gone.
On the bright side, if the rest of the season continues to suck the way the four episodes between "Eye of Jupiter" and "Maelstrom" sucked, Moore's just saved me $50 on DVDS.
ETA: I'm sure that Kara's relationship with her mom (aside - I thought it was a very interesting choice that she called her "Momma" instead of "Mom" - I'm thinking it's a deliberate choice on the writers' part or Katee Sackhoff wanted an extra layer of distance between Starbuck and herself for those scenes. "Momma" strikes me as a bit 'countrified' and indicative - along with Socrata's crack about Kara being the first to make officer - in this season that's become so focused on class and privilege, that Kara's origins are as humble as dirt) and the history of abuse is going to come up a lot in discussions about this episode. It's not an easy subject at the best of times and there are strong arguments on both sides as to whether adding childhood abuse to Starbuck's history added depth to the character or whether it's just one more rehashing of the genre stereotype that tough chicks must be damaged in some way. So I don't expect that anyone will feel particularly neutral on this aspect of the ep - although I expect everyone to agree that Katee Sackhoff owned those scenes.
My perspective is shaped by my own history and both conversations between 'Buck and her momma were familiar to me as the back of my hand. Although my relationship with my own parent stopped far short of split heads and broken hands - although sometimes not far enough - I thought the writers managed to show in two fairly short scenes how badly Starbuck loved her mom and how badly she wanted her approval and how impossible it was for her to believe her mom thought she was anything more than a fuckup.
Violence is about forcing your will on someone else, breaking them down, making them smaller than you. When you turn violence on a child, your child, it goes further - you don't just make them small, you make them nothing. Socrata Thrace made Kara believe she was nothing - and there were no words that could undo what her fists taught. And because Socrata was a flawed teacher, Kara literally has to be born again in order to achieve the destiny that the gods (God) have laid before her.
Too bad we all don't get that chance.
That said, I'll still be surprised if Starbuck is gone for good. And I do get why Moore and co. would choose Starbuck as the major character to be killed off. Her death is the one that will hammer the other characters hardest, which makes it the right choice dramatically. That said, Starbuck's a vital character (in a way that Lamb on Veronica Mars, to quote a recent example, was not) - it's not Battlestar Galactica without Starbuck and Apollo.
Just ask the guys that made Galactica 80 (*shudder*).
Ron Moore - you've got an episode to make this work for me. I don't like being the unhappy cranky fangirl but, if you make this stick, I'm gone.
On the bright side, if the rest of the season continues to suck the way the four episodes between "Eye of Jupiter" and "Maelstrom" sucked, Moore's just saved me $50 on DVDS.
ETA: I'm sure that Kara's relationship with her mom (aside - I thought it was a very interesting choice that she called her "Momma" instead of "Mom" - I'm thinking it's a deliberate choice on the writers' part or Katee Sackhoff wanted an extra layer of distance between Starbuck and herself for those scenes. "Momma" strikes me as a bit 'countrified' and indicative - along with Socrata's crack about Kara being the first to make officer - in this season that's become so focused on class and privilege, that Kara's origins are as humble as dirt) and the history of abuse is going to come up a lot in discussions about this episode. It's not an easy subject at the best of times and there are strong arguments on both sides as to whether adding childhood abuse to Starbuck's history added depth to the character or whether it's just one more rehashing of the genre stereotype that tough chicks must be damaged in some way. So I don't expect that anyone will feel particularly neutral on this aspect of the ep - although I expect everyone to agree that Katee Sackhoff owned those scenes.
My perspective is shaped by my own history and both conversations between 'Buck and her momma were familiar to me as the back of my hand. Although my relationship with my own parent stopped far short of split heads and broken hands - although sometimes not far enough - I thought the writers managed to show in two fairly short scenes how badly Starbuck loved her mom and how badly she wanted her approval and how impossible it was for her to believe her mom thought she was anything more than a fuckup.
Violence is about forcing your will on someone else, breaking them down, making them smaller than you. When you turn violence on a child, your child, it goes further - you don't just make them small, you make them nothing. Socrata Thrace made Kara believe she was nothing - and there were no words that could undo what her fists taught. And because Socrata was a flawed teacher, Kara literally has to be born again in order to achieve the destiny that the gods (God) have laid before her.
Too bad we all don't get that chance.