The name of the first episode of the second season of Battlestar
Galactica is called "Scattered", and it’s an apt description of the dire
situation these characters find themselves in. Starbuck is back on Caprica, on a
personal mission to find the Arrow Of Apollo for president Roslin, where she
meets up with Number Six. Laura Roslin is herself sitting in the Galactica brig,
along with Lee; both were placed under arrest by Adama for trying to raise
sedition within the fleet. Baltar is trapped on Kobol in a desperate fight for
survival with Chief Tyrol, Cally and several others, and Adama himself is in
critical condition after being shot at close range in the chest. This leaves the
Galactica, as well as the entire fleet, under the shaky command of Colonel Tigh,
whose floozy wife has got him drunk on booze as well as power. Michael Hogan
really gets to shine as Tigh, who does some pretty despicable things without
completely becoming a villain. Under his command, a squad of Marines open fire
on rioting unarmed civilians, killing several of them, and an attempt by Tigh to
discredit Laura while she languishes in jail badly backfires. The vastly
underrated Hogan expertly plays Tigh as the flawed, all too human being that he
truly is.
Meanwhile, on Caprica, Starbuck discovers the presence of a resistance movement
that’s hell-bent on fighting the Cylons wherever they may be, and she makes a
solemn promise to them that she might not be able to keep. The way to a planet
called Earth is eventually discovered, but the Galactica isn’t out of the woods
yet. All of the ten episodes have something great to offer, but the standouts of
this bunch are "Valley Of Darkness", which is a scary story that has the
Galactica being boarded by a squad of Cylon soldiers; "The Farm", where Kara
discovers what the Cylons have been up to on Caprica; "Final Cut" which stars
Lucy Lawless from Xena as a TV news reporter investigating a massacre by the
Galactica’s Marines; "Flight Of The Phoenix" which shows the Galactica crew
getting behind Chief Tyrol as he builds a new fighter, and "Pegasus", the first
part of a major story arc that introduces a new Battlestar--as well as some new
problems--to the fleet.
Battlestar Galactica 2.0 only contains the first half of the second season. The
first ten episodes--which aired in the summer/fall of 2005--along with Ron Moore’s
pod cast commentaries on selected episodes and some deleted scenes are all that
this set offers. If this sounds like a rush job, it is, because Universal got
this DVD set into stores just a few weeks shy of the premiere of the latter half
of the second season on the Sci-Fi Channel in January 2006. But while I’m not a
big fan of TV seasons being split up for their DVD release, it was still hard
for me to resist this set, thanks to the marvelous storyline from Ron D. Moore
and his talented writing staff, as well as the superb cast who bring their words
to life. And until we hear otherwise, this will be the only edition featuring
these episodes out on DVD. Still, it would have been nice if they had decided to
wait until the entire season was done before releasing a DVD set.
--SF
Main Review Page | TV Reviews |Email Me |Buy This DVD Right Here!
