BSG Gets "Good", And It's Awful

"Battlestar Galactica" was terrible last night. It was as though Aaron Sorkin decided to pen an extra pretentious episode of the West Wing, set on a spaceship in the distant future. Racism is bad! Let's all pat ourselves on the back for being such good liberals! Thank God(s) all the issues lined up nice and neat and no one actually had to think about anything!

Ordinarily BSG is so adept at reflecting contemporary socio-political issues. One reason is that the writers play around with parallels to modern politics, constantly undermining where viewers' sympathies are inclined to lie. In an article on Slate from last November, Adam Rogers described how this process worked in the BSG writers' room:

Then, the whole group [of writers] tries to figure out the Cylons' deeper motivations via a rapid-fire series of metaphors. The Cylons are Nazis, hell-bent on solving the Human Question. The Cylons are Jews, trying to defend Israel. The Cylons are U.S. troops in Iraq, caught off guard by an uprising.

Think about that. It raises a sensitive but incredibly informative question: What did the Nazi's have in common with modern day Israel? What do both entities share with U.S. troops in Iraq?

Does that make you uncomfortable? It should. It's also fascinating, and maybe the kind of question we should be asking ourselves more often. There are no good guys. History will judge all of us by what we do, not who we are. That's pretty powerful.

The wonderful thing about using fiction to understand reality is that you have the freedom to force your audience to confront its preconceived notions about the good/bad dichotomy. You can demonstrate that the good guys don't always act unselfishly, don't always do the right thing, and are often unsure of exactly what the right thing is.

You can also humanize the enemy, forcing the viewer to ask why this is the "enemy". This tactic is particularly sophisticated on BSG, where the enemy isn't human, but looks, feels, and acts human, right down to emotions like love and loyalty. Maybe this analogy is common place to longtime fans of science fiction, but I find it pretty novel.

So last night was disappointing in its predictability. Hopefully it was just a filler episode and an anomaly. Because unfortunately, there isn't another show on television right now that does what BSG does quite so well.

Babies Are Evil

They giggle. They smile for no apparent reason. They are filled with joy and wonder at the newness of the world. And they are harbingers of the apocolypse.

Babies. They look so innocent. That's how they suck you in. That's how they seduce you into betraying humanity. By being so fucking cute.

Ordinarily, TV shows use children as symbols of your run-of-the-mill innocence and hope. Or, in the case of many a sitcom, of shark jumpingness. Fortunately, the people over at Battlestar Galactica have the vision to recognize that there is more, ah, ambiguity in what babies represent. Sure, they're adorable. And they are the future... which is exactly the point. What do they have in store for us? What are they plotting under their soft skulls and downy hair?

Battlestar is filled with babies. Tiny bald ruiners of mankind. There's Hera, their leader -- half human, half machine, and all villain. Plus, you know she's pissed about her already receding hairline. Then there's Casey, the toddler the Cylons used to trick Starbuck into acting maternal (okay, actually that was very touching... but it's a fine line and I've got my eye on that kid). The Chief's and Callie's offspring hasn't yet caused upheaval, but I have no doubt that his dastardly ways will be revealed soon enough.

The point is, we should all thank goodness that Jack Bauer doesn't have to deal with baby terrorists. Even with the help of Chloe's baby tracking talents, Jack's stink eye is no match for some cooing little infant. Besides, he's gone all soft since he was released from the Chinese torture chamber. All it would take is one googly little shake of the rattle, and we're all as good as dead.

Luckily, Jack seems to be handling the usual array of Middle Eastern extremists with aplomb. I mean, if you overlook his waivering faith in his cause. I wonder if Jack's own experiences will give him pause the next time he has to rough someone up for information. If 24 is going to offer the audience something new and interesting this season, it's probably going to come in the form of a serious personal crisis for the show's hero.

24 has always thrived on keeping the audience guessing. But even unpredictability becomes predictable eventually. I haven't watched the show for a few seasons because the shine wore off after a couple go rounds. But if they can make the all-powerful Jack believably vulnerable, I might be hooked again. Send in the babies.


Golden Globes Update: Cheers to Grey's Anatomy, Alec Baldwin, and Hugh Laurie - all much deserved. And though I'm not a big Ugly Betty fan, America Ferrera deserves the win - she carries the show. Personally, I liked Mary-Louise Parker for Weeds, but she's an awards show standard and doesn't really need the encouragement. I'm far more upset that Jenna Fischer (The Office) was completely overlooked in the nominations. Are people ever going to get sick of the Desperate Housewives ladies?