Battlestar Galactica - Season 4 Part 1 - DVD Review

Due to the inclusion of Razor on the Season 4 Part 1 DVD, I will be reviewing the feature-length special here as well as the first 10 episodes of Season 4.

So, Razor... I'm not going to lie, I found it terrible. Maybe because I was expecting the thing to center around Admiral Cain which it definitely did not. I really wanted to like it, but on reflection after it finished, I came to the conclusion that I just didn't really enjoy it at all. It seemed very choppy, and just like a bunch of scenes were thrown together around Kendra's unsatisfying story. The razor metaphor was also unconvincing and ridiculous considering the movie's disjointed and choppy plot. As an outline on paper, Kendra's story is very promising. Kendra Shaw (played by one of the many up-and-coming Australian's in Hollywood, Stephanie Jacobsen) joins Pegasus as a new lieutenant and witnesses Cain's shocking actions in the name of the fight, and slowly she begins taking part in the same acts. There is a great morality tale there, but somehow it got lost on the way. I know I could say, well if Ron wrote it and Rymer directed it would be so much better, but I doubt that would be the case. There are just too many thrown in scenes from the cutting room floor, and the whole thing was rushed. Perhaps the inclusion of a lot of the deleted scenes would have made it more coherent, but after being left so cold by the feature, I didn't watch them.

After a good beginning and a fantastic ending with season 3, I come to the final season. Battlestar Galactica is honestly the most inconsistent series I have ever watched in full. Episodes range from terrible to near-genius. It is a very strange thing. While other good shows can have short moments of decline, these moments are never actually 'bad'. However, with Battlestar whole episodes are terrible, and quite a number of them. The reason I think they stick out because the series has so much potential that is occasionally realised and hinted upon throughout the run of the show.

A perfect example of what Battlestar is capable of is the episode Escape Velocity. While this episode isn't held as one of the greatest by the fan community, it really is. There isn't a great deal of plot development or cool space fights, but the entire episode is a wonderful character-study. Jane Espenson's script is absolutely sublime - she also wrote The Hub which wasn't anywhere near as emotional, and some of the comedic notes didn't work for me. Those who know me, know that when something lacks plot and action there is a pretty good chance I will fall in love with it - as was the case with Dirty Hands. However, other attempts from Battlestar to have these 'character' episodes generally fail.

Standout episodes in the first half of season 4 for me were:
Escape Velocity
Faith
Revelations

I loved the scene in Faith with The Hybrid, the flashing mis en scène reminded me of the lodge in Twin Peaks, as well as the cryptic and prophet content of the scenes. Also notable is the cliffhanger for Guess What's Coming To Dinner? with the Hybrid jumping away with the President and Baltar as soon as she is plugged in.

At the end we are left with a very bleak mid-season, which is a great thing. I hope the darkness we have had hinted at us follows through until the end of the show. I'm sure there will be some kind of the decline before the end of the season, as usual, but no doubt they will leave us with the near-genius Moore dispenses occasionally.

True Blood - S02E07: Release Me

True Blood's second season is really starting to get down to business. The plots developing over the course of the season are starting to reach a climax, or the beginning of a climax. I have absolutely loved this season as every episode seems to be better than the last. Many fans think this episode is the best so far. I'll admit, it was amazing, but all of this season's episodes have been fantastic. Usually the developing of plots will be quite dull, until the entertaining pay-off starts to happen, but this is not the case with True Blood. I believe this is do to the subversive and unpredictable nature of the show - something that HBO seems to do quite well. Jason's whole time at the camp was extremely entertaining, as was the Maryann story which could have been obvious and predictable, but turned out to be ambiguous and subversive since her first appearance.

Speaking of which, the chase scene with Sam was genuinely creepy. The gross looking arm at the end of the scene was great too. The production values of True Blood are exceptional. Michael Ruscio directed this episode and Raelle Tucker wrote it. This is Ruscio's television directorial debut and due to his experience as an editor on HBO shows, he excels. Again, the end-of-teaser shots and cliffhanger endings are always great. Sam's reaction shots at the end of the teaser in Never Let Me Go and the cliffhanger ending of Hard-Hearted Hannah were absolutely fucking gold! Not even in a bad way - they were just awesome.

Another highlight was Andy Bellefleur. Every time I think he could not become more ridiculous he surprises me. Chris Bauer's portrayal of Andy becomes more camp and over-the-top every episode - I love it! His screaming in pain this episode was hilarious. It reminds me of Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm. He now uses all the ridiculous noises and movements that were only used very occasionally in the earlier seasons, all of the time. If you watch the show, you should know exactly what I mean.

It will be interesting how they keep the tension for another 5 episodes. Normally, I would have guessed this would have been about episode 9 or 10 in the structure of a season. But you know, this is HBO, not Dexter, so I will may well end up surprised by the 'structure' of the season. Obviously Jason isn't dead, as the gun would have sounded like a gun instead of a pop if they were going to kill him off. Gabe was a strangely funny character who will probably die, and rightly so. It should be interesting to see how Godrick stirs things up, and what Eric does about his fascination with Sookie. Some of Bill's flashback scenes were a little meandering, but others gave us some important information, such as: A vampire is never stronger than their maker, when Bill's conscience got the better of him, and Lorena does have some scrap of humanity left in her. Is another one of Jason's girls going to end up dead? If Sarah goes back to Steve, she will most likely end up dead. Considering Godrick is free, this seems quite likely. It sure would be satisfying to see Steve get ripped apart! But on the other hand it would be disappointing to see such formidable villains with such power killed so soon.

Dollhouse - S01E13: Epitaph One

I finally got a hold of the unaired thirteenth episode of the first season of Dollhouse. I am pleased to announce that it met my high expectations completely. You see, I had some back story on the conception of the episode. Basically, it saved Dollhouse from cancellation, as well as lifting showrunner Joss Whedon to near godly heights. Joss made this episode on a dramatically cut budget by utilising the sets they already had, and yeah, not as many fast cars and explosions. That's not to say there aren't explosions, because there are heaps! The plot-twist explosions, the ones that matter, not the fiery ones. I knew Joss could pull this off completely - he was working under those conditions at The WB and UPN for years. In fact, part of me thinks it may be liberating for him to work with a lower budget. There won't be as much pressure to deliver to FOX what they wanted for that large budget: eg. motorbike races.

This episode is mythology heavy, and will likely act as a guide until the end of the series, or up until a certain point at least. Some fans are upset by this - being told so much so quickly. But let me assure you, Joss knows what he is doing - there will be enough twisting and turning for everyone, you will see. The episode is set a decade into the future where the Dollhouse has become defunct. Throughout the episode we are given flashbacks as to how it occurred. It all seemed very inevitable - but now we really know. I won't give too much away, but the episode stars Felicia Day (The Guild) and a ragtag group of survivors. What they have survived is imprinting, they are still themselves. The technology has become way out of control and handled the wrong way, so that it eventually destroyed mankind. The new actors all did exceptional work, and the script was handled well by couple Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, while the story/idea was expertly crafted by Joss. Also, it seems fair that David Solomon should direct this episode as he did so for the unaired pilot.

I look forward to a stronger season two and for less engagement-of-the-week episodes.