Battlestar Galactica

Hero was a very intense and outstanding episode of Battlestar Galactica and I really enjoyed watching because we meet Bulldog, and learn more about Admiral Adama's past and his part in perhaps provoking the Cylons into attacking the Colonies. It was also great to see more of the Cylons and how they are progressing. The President had a touching tribute for Admiral Adama, which also became his personal punishment. There was action, drama, intrigue, along with character and plot development. I look forward to watching the next episode!!!!!!!!!

This episode does not flow well with the history that came before. Suddenly the Cylons were a known threat and we were running missions to gather information, etc...and Adama is blaming himself for the Cylon attack?



Also- the Cylons figured by letting their POW escape it would obviously conclude with the death of Adama? VERY far fetched....even more so than usual.



not a good episode. and that's all i have to say, even if i have to say it more than once in order to reach the minimum review length of one hundred words.



Not a good episode.



Not a good episode. Period.

Ok - I do not know.. maybe it will lead something else as it showed some potential but as it, stand alone, it was quite a waist of time is main line development.



It's always good to have come char development and looks back into the past to get more deep into the char but with all the else going on - there has not been that kind of episode so far.



I think the whole Adama worrying that he started Cylon war was little.. naive - maybe when using Roslin words and I think even unbelievable as I did not get much of his self doubt. I hope this will be one of its own and we do not have that kind of slow episodes anymore. The only bright light was the thing going on in cylon side.. specially that D'Anna and her visions.

One thing I noticed in Season Three is there is a lot of flash backs into previous episodes. While I don't like the most of them, the time during the Truce is an interesting one. It does bring up a lot of questions of who started hostilities and who is responsible. It brings to question the amount of control as a person and as a leader of a mission when given orders. Which do you follow, which ones do you break. I say about half of the episode is very interesting. The other part for me just dragged on. While I cant blame them for the ending, I wasn't surprised one bit. It resonated the main theme of season three of single episodes.

Episodes wholly centered on one character tend to be amazingly good (STTNG's "Frame of Mind," BSG's own "The Farm," etc) or God-awful (too many to count), depending on the authors' grasp of the character and his/her role in the show's big picture. From this point of view, HERO is an excellent episode, for it fully captures the essence of Adama as it relates to the overall quest: a hardened man with very heavy responsibilities who keeps quiet and whose feelings run very deep. Many plots would achieve the goal to develop his character, and this one has nothing to envy to any other.



The episode beautifully intermingles three strong personalities: Adama, Bulldog, and an ever-wonderful Tigh, whose rich and multilayered character has alone benefited from the horribly hurried New Caprica storyline. The parallel was clearly and cogently laid out between Adama's coming to terms with his errors, Bulldog's coming to terms with his past, and the further step in Tigh's recovery. All three threads are perfectly collected and capped off in the final two intense scenes. It must be noted that once again the authors use outer changes to symbolize inner ones, in this case with Tigh's new eye patch and his wearing of the uniform. The bruise left on Adama's eye also symbolizes the scar that has been burdening him for years, and which now, again symbolically, has resurfaced. Quite great.



What the episode can be accused of is the usual for any TV show: it is too quick and suffers from a few organizational mishaps. For example, the discovery of the truth behind Adama's black ops was hasty and convenient, like a deus ex machina coming up from beneath the stage at just at the right time. What the frak was Kara doing looking over those tapes anyway?! And how the heck did Bulldog learn to pilot a raider (presumably in the heat of the moment) when it took Starbuck, the best pilot, several hours to do so? Moreover, the timeline itself of the episode is unclear, as it could have happened in two hours as in two weeks... which isn't a good sign. Clearly enough, when focusing so much on characterization one loses sight of some other requirements that are however also pivotal to good screen-writing.



So despite a few shaky parts and a below-average moral resolution with a pretty useless Roslin (who, after having been my favorite character throughout season one, is getting worse with every episode), HERO doesn't deserve the "low" ratings it gets. Let us also remember, of course, that only BSG fans can consider 8.2 a low score, spoiled by the show's near constant greatness!

Episodes wholly centered on one character tend to be amazingly good (STTNG's "Frame of Mind," BSG's own "The Farm," etc) or God-awful (too many to count), depending on the authors' grasp of the character and his/her role in the show's big picture. From this point of view, HERO is an excellent episode, for it fully captures the essence of Adama as it relates to the overall quest: a hardened man with very heavy responsibilities who keeps quiet and whose feelings run very deep. Many plots would achieve the goal to develop his character, and this one has nothing to envy to any other.



The episode beautifully intermingles three strong personalities: Adama, Bulldog, and an ever-wonderful Tigh, whose rich and multilayered character has alone benefited from the horribly hurried New Caprica storyline. The parallel was clearly and cogently laid out between Adama's coming to terms with his errors, Bulldog's coming to terms with his past, and the further step in Tigh's recovery. All three threads are perfectly collected and capped off in the final two intense scenes. It must be noted that once again the authors use outer changes to symbolize inner ones, in this case with Tigh's new eye patch and his wearing of the uniform. The bruise left on Adama's eye also symbolizes the scar that has been burdening him for years, and which now, again symbolically, has resurfaced. Quite great.



What the episode can be accused of is the usual for any TV show: it is too quick and suffers from a few organizational mishaps. For example, the discovery of the truth behind Adama's black ops was hasty and convenient, like a deus ex machina coming up from beneath the stage at just at the right time. What the frak was Kara doing looking over those tapes anyway?! And how the heck did Bulldog learn to pilot a raider (presumably in the heat of the moment) when it took Starbuck, the best pilot, several hours to do so? Moreover, the timeline itself of the episode is unclear, as it could have happened in two hours as in two weeks... which isn't a good sign. Clearly enough, when focusing so much on characterization one loses sight of some other requirements that are however also pivotal to good screen-writing.



So despite a few shaky parts and a below-average moral resolution with a pretty useless Roslin (who, after having been my favorite character throughout season one, is getting worse with every episode), HERO doesn't deserve the "low" ratings it gets. Let us also remember, of course, that only BSG fans can consider 8.2 a low score, spoiled by the show's near constant greatness!

I really enjoyed this episode! i like episodes that show more of Adamas past, thats why i have my fingers crossed that "Caprica" will get developed after season 4 of BSG ends!



We see the return of Daniel "Bulldog" Novacek, thought by Adama to have been dead for the past 3 years, but he got captured by the Cylons and held prisoner, untill he escapes!, during the episode we find out that Adama was set to command a Black-Ops mission on the Battlestar Valkyrie to spy on the Cylons to see if they were a threat, Adama sent his most trusted pilot Daniel "Bulldog" Novacek, Bulldog is sent out in a Stealthstar, but his cover is blown when he gets 2 clicks into Cylons territory, and to prevent risking the whole fleet Adama gives the order to shoot Bulldog down and leave no evidence that they were ever there.



But Bulldog ejects and gets captured, for 3 years he thought he was shot down by the Cylons, untill Tigh tells him the truth about what Adama done, and we find out that the Cylons let him escape on purpose, hopeing he would have 3 years of built up anger and kill Adama for them!



Great episode! loved the story and the characters, and hope to see more of Daniel "Bulldog" Novacek again soon!

Surely it has always been at the back of our minds that something must have given before the Cylon attacks, there would have been more to it than a bunch of bitter vengeful toasters taking 40 years to build an army then randomly picking a day and a time to exact their revenge???



Reality says otherwise, look at the world around you, small incidents can put into effect catastrophic things, Franz Ferdinand anyone? But can you really blame the angry student who shot Franz for the deaths of tens of millions in the following few years. The first world war was just waiting for its opening shot.



Neither can Adama be blamed for humanities downfall.



Do people really believe that because Adama stepped over the armistice line that the cylons went from peace-loving robots to genocidal megalomaniacs?

The pieces were already in place, maybe Adamas mistake meant that the Cylons realised now that they were found, that the time they had been waiting all these years for was Here....the time is NOW.



People aren't all good, and neither all bad, Adama is better than most, but he has a dark past, he was part of a military machine, the military is never just about defence.



The means dont always justify the end.



This episode was a perfect example of why BSG is closer to our reality that almost any other show out there.

It is a shame that the producers aren't better at script selection and acceptance. I am getting SO tired of them sending us back and forth-to and fro, and just completely messing up the brilliant story that COULD be. A lot of the writers don't respect the essence of this show and just go crazy with plots and twists without respect for what is supposed to be the core of this series. I can't believe after 2 seasons, they now have me doubting the validity of the fleet and makes me second guess, at least to SOME degree, who's side I'm on. I mean, now we are supposed to believe that the Cylons may have had a legitimate reason to attack in the first place? Wow, that is a REAL slap in the face for all who really wanted the fleet to succeed and be victorious over the cold and heartless Cylons. It's like they let a Cylon write an episode and now we have possible justification for all they have done so far. My God-one COULD say if he or she wanted, that this is ALL Adama's fault! ..and He's supposed to be one of if not our Biggest Heroes on the show! Even though he was following orders, they showed in the flashback that he WILLINGLY accepted the mission. So what happens after we learn this damaging, incriminating evidence against Adama? He gets a freakin' medal! You've gotta be kidding. I mean, if humans made a pact with the Cylons to stay away and then humans broke that agreement first, then within the rules of war, the Cylons had every right to respond with force. What the hell are they doing? Now instead of Good vs. Evil, we have, in a way, Evil vs. Evil-With us rooting for the fleet because, well, we know them well, we are more familiar with the human characters, and I guess because we too are human. But other than that, you could root for either side now. I know I wouldnt root for the Cylons but after THIS episode, I couldn't condemn anyone who DID. Also, there was not ONE episode up to this point that would even suggest that any of this ever happened. Adama never once even hinted through a look, a sigh, or otherwise that this could all possibly be HIS or the other Admirals' fault. Now just because dude shows back up, he wants to resign. C'mon, now. If I were a producer on this show, I would have looked at this script, had a good laugh, threw it in the trash and said "ok, now give me a script I can use on THIS show!" Damn!! just when I think they get the show back on track, they come with some serious Bull Crap episode and mess it all up! Not only a Bad episode, but DAMAGING!

Flashbacks, back to the past and muss things up a bit? Although this storyline somewhat works and all, it was not necessary. Just a lot of filler and we go back to pre Cylon hostilities.... It's like going back nad making Star Wars A New Hope special edition.... and having Greedo fire first. OK, i liked the Bulldog character (even if he turns out to be not what you think...) but this is an episode that did not need to be written. Though Adama didn't know everything, it still should have had impact on his thoughts and attitudes up till this point..... just plain silly.

Well, that's what they did isn't it?



They took us back before the Cylon attack and gave us new events. Events that we had no recollection of...events that...the characters have no recollections of...Until NOW!



What? Tigh didn't know? Adama didn't remember? He never thought to say anything before? Now we have to look back at his every action in the series to date, and determine why he hid such a secret, cause whatever explanation they thought they gave is not effective or good. And since the episode, has this revelation changed anyone? No. Should it have? Yes.



I'm straying away from the whole timeline frak up involving the Valkyrie/Galactica command thing. Mainly because I'm sure there's a logical explanation for it, just not in the episode as it stands.



Bulldog wasn't even effective character. Okay, I was, interested for a short period of time about the possibility of his staged escape. Unfortunately this was all pretty much a tie in to the sick base ship story. And...here's my issue there...if the cylons were getting sick and dying, how could the Raider's continue to follow him? Were they not effected? I can't remember clearly... So, I'll leave that as a question.



Just... I don't know, there are too many plot holes and believability to justify this. It's not even a really good story. Other characters for other reasons would have made better choices. And to completely disappear into the fleet at the end? What a waste. I was very disappointed in this episode. I felt a tragic sense of loss of direction during this outing. And... I just really don't understand Adama anymore.



This episode should not have been made.

A pilot from Adama's old command comes back and lands at galactica. The appearance of the pilot haunts Adama of the things he did in the past. He might have initiated the war that caused the destruction of the 12 colonies. Carl Lumbly guest stars as the pilot bulldog that worked on a top secret operation that might have ignited the war between the cylons and the humans. This episode reveals something in the past that looks really interesting. It adds to the Galactica myth, Baltar's storyline is very interesting as well. We're not sure if his bad, crazy or just confused.

I failed to see the importance of this episode to the season as a whole. The stuff that happened was real random sometimes. I appreciate that it shows that maybe the Cylons were not completely at fault for the attack of the Twelve Colonies and in fact were spurred into initiating what they did due to Adama's actions when he commanded the Valkyrie.



The award was pretty silly; I saw it as something to just tie in the fact that Adama had commanded a battlestar before Galactica... a tad pointless because there wasn't really any sign of a civilian uprising in the last couple of episodes.



Tigh seemed to be surprisingly lucid this episode. He had a more than a few "inspiring" one-liners that was a bit OOC. Plus that new camaderie with Starbuck... sure they endured heck of a lot of frack from the Cylons on New Caprica but surely that's not reason to erase, what, four or so years of mutual animosity?



And the resignation? What the frack? The events of this episode was quite left field most of the time.

While I enjoyed watching the episode it really messed up the series timeline and Adama's character.



From the miniseries is has seemed like he's commanded the Galactica for a very long time, his officers and crew have the utmost respect for him, and he'd kept the old girl running as he desired ("I will not allow a networked computerised system to be installed aboard this ship under my command. Is that clear?").



Now he's only been their for a year prior to the attack, But Gaeta said it had been an honour to serve with him for the past three years and Tyrol had been under his command for over five years during season ones 'Flesh and Bone'. In Colonel Tigh's flashbacks during Scattered Adama was promoted to Major soon after his reinstatment (Tigh seemed surprised to hear 'Major Adama' from the MP's), he really wasn't on the fastrack over the next 15 - 20 years!



They should have changed the storyline in someway to say that Adama and Tigh were taken off Galactica to lead the stealth star mission and because is was a complete FU that set the Galactica decommissioning in process in order for the legendary Adama to dissapear quitely.





I understand sometimes you have to drop continuality in order to get 40 minutes of story across, but this one punch to big a hole in the series. Did (executive Producer) Ron Moore not read the screenplay on this one?

Battlestar Galactica has been having a fantastic third season so far, and then all of a sudden this episode came along. What the hell happened? Not that this was a horrible episode; I love Carl Lumbly and I thought he did a great job. It's just that the episode as a whole wasn't entirely cohesive, and in the end it left me feeling unsatisfied. So many questions were brought up and not answered, and some scenes, especially the D'Anna ones, felt choppy and incoherent, thus I had a hard time following.



What was with the threesome? How did Gaius win D'Anna over (nevertheless Six who has been pretty anti-Gaius these past couple of episodes)? Why did D'Anna keep having dreams in which she died? Does she want to die? Why did D'Anna, or another version of her, leave Bulldog's cell door open? Did she really think that he would kill Admiral Adama? The Cylons hold Bulldog prisoner for three years and that's the best plan they can come up with?



It was interesting to go back and discover the (possible, although not probable) cause of the Cylon attack. I know having to shoot down a pilot would wreck Adama up pretty bad, but also feeling responsible for the genocide of the entire human race in addition to that must have been a huge burden for Adama to carry around. Roslin was right, though. Adama was taking the blame for something that had already been set in motion long before his mission; he was simply a commander following orders. Roslin's suggestion that the Admiralty provoked the Cylons was a shocking idea.



I'm glad Tigh and Adama have finally reconciled. They have been friends for way to long to stay broken apart. I also loved Starbuck this episode. She appeared very pulled together and stable, and I sure am glad; I had enough of the sulky, vengeance-seeking Starbuck.



Final Notes and Quotes



- Survivor Count: 41,421. One more than last week. That must be Bulldog.



- Where did Bulldog leave to at the end of the episode? Did he find family on a colonial ship?



- Adama was only on Galactica one year before the Cylon attack? From the miniseries I got the impression he'd been in command longer.



- The yellow dome D’Anna was in during her dream was the same one Six and Gaius were in when Six announced to Gaius that they were having a child. Same creepy music was playing as well.



- Tigh: (to Adama) “So are you here to talk to your friend or to your XO? Last time I checked I was neither.”



Tory: (holding a painting of Gaius) “Is there really any place left in the universe deserving of such a rare and distinguished item?"

Roslin: "I was thinking, put it in the bathroom right over the toilet."



Final Rating: Good concept, faulty execution. 2 out of 4 stars. And we have to wait two weeks for boxing? Ergh.



- Tim Bronx

Find this and many more reviews at: www.motionpicturereviews.com

The Teaser I thought was exciting and compelling as a raider was hunted down by two others. After Starbuck shot them down, Adama orders her to bring the raider in. Inside they find Bulldog played by Carl Lumbly from Alias. Really good acting by these two companions as they finally meet eachother.



Next Bulldog explained how he escaped to Adama who seemed more serious than he had to. It was great foreshadowing to show that he had caused the whole incident. Lucy Lawless was also great as she terrorized Bulldog in his cell in flashbacks. She spoke to him in such a fashion that you actually felt like she would kill him.



The next scene with Adama, Roslin, Tory and Bulldog was also interesting and kudos to the set design of the other Battlestar. Even though the outside was an exact copy of the Galactica you really felt that it was a different ship. It was interesting to see that Adama did not trust Roslin but his son with what really happened but it added to the mystery of what did happen if he wouldn't even tell her.



Number Threes dream was also very realistic. For a moment I thought it was the 3 in the fleet who was in Galactica and was shocked to see it was actually a dream of Caprica Three. The way she said fire and everything started burning was also a shock. As she left, you saw that she had just slept with Baltar and Caprica Six. It seems that she is tyring to figure out what love really is from when she was eluded to it by both Caprica Six (in Precipice) and Baltar (In a Measure of Salvation). Next her own suicide by telling the Centurion to kill her was quite a shock and the dreams she had, left me wondering what her hidden messages from god were all about. They clearly showed that Hera is very important to the future of both mankind and the cylons.



It was nice to see Tigh again, since he was missing from the last episode. His conversation with Adama was priceless as he showed that fire and grief he still had from the consequences of New Caprica. He questioned Adama over how Bulldog will cope with finding out the truth. Adama seemed to be in a world of his own. The suspense was building. What did he do? His next scene where he thought of Ellen obviously showed that he was still grieving and his comment when Bulldog came about the drink, "You have no idea". Michael Hogan did a superb job in the scene and his acting has really stood up a notch this season.



Adamas talk with his son finally revealed what had happened. He had shot down Bulldog to make sure that the Cylons did not detect him over the Armistice Line on a recon mission to determine if the Cylons would launch another strike. The flashbacks were enthrilling and so was Adamas storytelling. Jamie Bamber was also great as Lee reacted to what his father was saying. You felt like you should be angry at Adama but you really couldn't. Carl Lumbly's reactions with Michael Hogan were great aswell!



Bulldogs attack of Adama wasn't really a surprise after and it was interesting to see that Starbuck conciled in Tigh over the infomation to do with that Bulldogs escape might not have been an accident and that they let him go. In the end, Tigh came to save the day and stop bulldog from killing Adama and in my books released his sins and took his first step to get over the events on New Caprica. I hope to see him back in the CIC again.



Overall, I thought that the episode was a superb demonstration of how to base an episode solely on the characters involved. It was interesting and compelling viewing and it continued what a great season it has already been.

There is enough to think about without the addition of this suspect storyline involving Odama\\\'s last command, and the possibility that Odama may, in some way, be responsible for the Cylons decision to \\\"pre-Bush-whack\\\" the Colonial home worlds. There are still open-ended storyline\\\'s from the episodes to date. The only good thing about this episode was the introduction of a good pilot (Bulldog) that may be needed later in the show. Good episode, but confusing addition to the historical record. They will have to drop this idea and never speak of it again, or write more bad episodes to explain themselves.

There are pipes that grace the engine room of the original NCC-1701 on "Star Trek." They are labeled, "GNDN," which stands for "Goes Nowhere, Does Nothing."



If I were to give a true classification to "Hero," that's exactly what I would have to say ... the episode goes nowhere and does nothing.



David Eick decided to try his hand at putting together an episode on his own, and unfortunately, he thought he was writing for the original series or something. I mean, what we ended up was a good concept, but just poor execution with plot holes so big, even Zak could fly through them.



Carl Lumbly's Bulldog really did nothing for me. I didn't relate to his emotions or anything else. What would've been interesting as a drawn out episode about his long captivity, even in a flash back, would've probably helped. But I really didn't feel it. It was as if they pulled Apollo's hooker girlfriend with the kid out of mothballs and changed her gender.



None of the actions made sense. When Adama had Bulldog out there, why did he feel the need to blow up his ship? I mean, there are no aliens in the show, and the only people who would be crossing the Cylon border would be ... well, Colonials. So it's not like they were going to keep their secret.



And considering the fact that the Cylons would've already have had to be building their war machine and planning a complex attack, why would Adama -- who is supposed to be this amazing war strategist, think that one surveillance mission barely over the armistice border would start the conflict? Sure, such a move is an "act of war," but I think career military people above anyone else would respect that "act of war" is just dramatic, and that it usually takes a lot more than that to provoke a potential enemy.



When Bulldog took over the Raider, how did he know how to fly it? How did he kill what was there first? When Starbuck flew her Raider, the creature inside the ship was already dead.



Once he got into the Raider, how did he know where to go? What did he use to program the ship? Did he have a nice little computer interface like Starbuck did?



Bulldog knew the risks of such a mission. He knows what would happen if he were compromised, as apparently it means you get shot out of the sky. Why was he so angry and shocked then by what Adama did?



And don't even get me started on that stupid award ...

Let me get this out of the way: this episode seems to contain a fairly major continuity error, and I couldn't stop thinking about it as I watched it. "Bulldog" ostensibly disappeared one year before the attacks, while Adama was commanding the Battlestar Valkyrie. Yet, we were previously informed that Bill had been in command of Galactica for two years before the Cylon attacks. I choose to pretend that they were both simply confused on the matter, because, to be fair, a lot had happened since then. Maybe the podcast will clear things up.



So, it looks like Col. Tigh is starting to pull himself together. Just give the man a few more crises to work through, and he'll be back to his old self. Now I'm trying to find a way to be excited about that. Stil, even as he is, I can't help thinking that he'd make a better XO than that traitor to the human race they have in there now. Adama must be slipping in his old age; there was a time when he never would have let such a suspicious visitor stroll freely about the ship. I guess he let his feelings get in the way of that one. But seriously, forty-five years? That's a long time to be in the service. What does that make him, mid-sixties?



I'm not really sure how Adama can feel so guilty for what he did. Sure, he tried to kill one of his own men, but can he really blame himself for starting the war? If the Cylons go to war over one stray pilot, then it was really only a matter of time. But next time he tries something like that, he might consider sending a pilot who isn't wearing the insignia of the Colonial Fleet. Just in case.



All in all, they didn't come off too bad in this one. Kara got to feel clever again, they got themselves another Cylon Raider and one more dude in the fleet, and the good Colonel started down the long road to reassimilation. And no one died.

So Kara notices that the 2 pursuing cyclon ships had easy shots, but let Bulldog get away. Alarm bells go off in her head and she goes to Tigh. Odd choice, but alright. Tigh runs to break up a fight btwn frustrated Bulldog and dont-give-me-a-chance-to-explain Adama. OK, but whys this the end of it? Is the explanation supposed to be that the cylons predicted Bulldog would beat up Adama? A) Thats ridiculous (and could they even know Adama was involved in prior incident). B) If so, would it have been worth sacrificing 2 cylon-ship-beings? And (C), the glaringly painful plot hole/question, How did Bulldog (or cylon accomplices) know where BSG was? If he could find them on an alien ship he has to control by spitting/sucking through a flesh tube, why the heck couldnt the cylons themselves who are a little more familiar with their own equipment?

2nd, perplexingly unfinished episode in a row. Id rather they throw a rerun on or even broadcast the webisodes instead of putting shows on that havent had time for a proofread and closer-to-final edit.

Hero has a lot of good attributes. One of the key features of BSG's success is for the pace to be taken deliberately out of a scene , to allow characters to contemplate and ponder, and for the viewer to be allowed to think his/her away around the plot. The writer doesn't have to explain everything in a mad-dash race to the final act, as opposed to say, 24, where, in an effort to prevent the viewer going out to make a cup of coffee or a sandwich, the plot races along at Mach 3, with eveything spoon-fed to the viewer. Hero is a perfect example of the correct use of pace in a television drama - there are occasional moments of pause and silence, and moments of intense speed (such as Tighs utterly realistic intervention when interrupting Bulldog).



I watched Hero with headphones on and was struck by the sheer beauty of the soundtrack (something that really is worth a regular Emmy itself). Bulldog was played by a superb Carl Lumbly, possessing a suitably haunted and malnourished look throughout the episode that was perfect for someone helpd prisoner by the Cylons for three years. Hopefully we will have cause to see Bulldog in a future episode - he would be a perfect contrast and foil to Ms. Thrace. This was also an episode where Lucy Lawless managed to impose herself a little more than usual (not a word from Baltar throughout) but in a plot development that raised more questions than provided answers.



However the episode was dominated by Edward James Olmos, and too a slightly lesser degree Michael Hogan both of whom finally had the chance to do a little more than say a few words in the CIC. Olmos was superb, finally being given the chance to "open up a little" and show just why he is such an inspiration to the extraordinary array of young acting talent that BSG has acquired. Hogan in the meantime was able to match Lumbly - as a person who knows only too well the very depths of despair.



I have only two critisisms; 1) Some of the plot questions need to be addressed prior to a shooting script being finalised. This week the question of how Bulldog found the fleet could have been answered (perhaps his stolen Raider could have been pre-programmed to the vicinity of where the Cylons thought Galactica might be at present).



Last week in 'Salvation, a few simple lines would have helped solve many folks obvious query; Lee:

So why didn't the Cylons blast the base ship when they knew it was infected?



Athena:

It's not the Cylon way - without the Resurrection Ship, dead would have really meant dead...and no-one would have given that order.



or,



Athena:

A base ship could never open fire on another base ship. Lee (raising an eyebrow)

Oh yeah, why's that then?



(which opens up the plot for a revelation with the hybrids)



OK, a bit amateurish I know, but you get the idea. 2) This is the 2nd episode where the Laura Roslin character has been employed to tidy things up - this time persuading Adama to not resign. In Collaborators Roslin comes up with the compromise required to sort out the problem with the Cylon sympathisers - incidentally a plot thread that appears to have been abandoned. This tendency needs to be avoided.



So...Hero was a return to form. Not the best, and there are worrying lapses in script editing that keep appearing in this Season. And BSG needs as side-plot, not just Baltars adventures. Perhaps something like having a Viper or Raptor crew stranded behind when the Galactica has to jump rapidly to avoid destruction. Last Season had Starbuck on Caprica, and The Chief etc on Kobol. BSG needs a similar parallel plot to pursue.

Perhaps, third season most boring episode. Till now the series followed a logical line, but in this time they lose it. A few examples:



At start three raiders one of them chased by the others. How did those raiders find human ships? If they could find humans whenever they want, so why did not baseships attack?



How did \"Bulldog\" make a proper radio connection with Galactica? Starbuck had used the same raider before and she was nearly taken down by Apollo, while she had no radio conn.



How did they capture the video of the fight between raiders from that angles?



We have seen allied ship landings, but is it possible and easy to land a disfunctioning raider? (Kay was nearly got killed once)



We have learned new things, like threesome is not a problem for Cylons and they can not control their dreams. With a brilliant season opening BG series pull my expactations to higher level. This filler episode is just like a suiside, I hope it will not repeat, cause I don\'t want this series fade out so soon.

The whole premise of the episode was strange to begin with. I don\'t buy that Adama was only on Galactica for three years - it\'s not consistent with previous statements. He\'s supposed to be an old warhorse that believes the Cylons could attack at any moment. He has a great affinity for Galactica (even thinking it could best the newer Pegasus). The comments in the past about him never allowing a network on the vessel leads you to believe that Galactica wasn\'t a demotion, but it was his ship for a very long time and he preferred the older vessels.



Then the whole concept of the stealth ship - crosses into the armistice line, is the Dradis of the stealth and this Battlestar so inferior that when a ship appears at the edge of the Dradis, suddenly it\'s in weapons range? The whole thing was written to fail - it\'s like a really bad Kobayashi Maru scenario. Suddenly one appears, shoots, disappears, then two more appear. Makes no sense.



What bothers me the most is that this episode is starting to feel like Galactica has moved from its serial roots and is now trying to become a regular old sci-fi show where every episode focuses on a different thing and there is no longer a continual strain throughout the series (except for the occasional plot device).



Let\'s hope I\'m wrong.

I love BSG but i think after Exodus, its been a little slow. THe show is trying to go off track too much and its a little troubling. Do the cylons have a plan? we don't know. But what we do know is that Adama led a secret attack on a different battlestar a year before the Cylon invasion? First of all, Adama should have been on Galactica for much, much longer than one year before the attacks.



I think the episode is fine in itself, but its the direction that has me worried. Are they still running? Are the cylons just at arms length now, playing with their heads? Where's the sort of urgency, the desperation, the life-or-death everyday decisions that we've seen from the previous two seasons, where danger was always around the corner and the crew had to deal with it? I really hope they bring back the excitement and continue the story instead of going for a stroll on memory lane. (like the next episode... about boxing? come'on)

The first time I watched this episode, I was not pleased. I thought it violated some basic aspects of the established continuity, especially in terms of what the Colonies knew about the potential for a Cylon strike. I also found the whole situation with Bulldog to be overly contrived. After all, it makes little sense for the Cylons to send Bulldog back to the Colonials at this point. Why wouldn’t they try to destabilize things prior to this point?



I was also annoyed by the timeline issues. If Adama has been in the fleet for 45 years, then he’s running up on 65 years old at this point, and I never would have expected that. Also, based on the information contained within the episode, he would have been assigned to Galactica about 2.5 years before the Cylon strike. So how could he have been on the Valkyrie a year before the strike? It all felt a little sloppy and ill-conceived, an attempt to blur the lines of responsibility for the genocide.



However, I had an opportunity to watch the episode a second time, and I realized that the writers were focusing on something a lot more interesting. As Roslin points out rather clearly, Adama is shouldering the blame for something that had already been in motion. Recalling the mini-series, the Cylons had been infiltrating the Colonies for years before the strike. More to the point, the Valkyrie incident proves that the Cylons were preparing for the strike. They found the stealth Viper so quickly that they were either patrolling the armistice line to eliminate any “spy planes” or they had a mole within the Admiralty. For that matter, the Admiralty’s plan could have been contrived to supply the Cylons with a handy justification, if things went awry.



So it’s quite possible that the Cylons knew who Bulldog was and that his “rescue” would do an awful lot to shake everyone’s confidence in Adama if the truth came out. It still seems a bit odd that they would use such a plot, especially one that could be so easily debunked, but the Cylons have been seriously affected by recent events and they seem to be reaching for a greater purpose.



D’Anna, after all, seems to be touching on something unusual and unexpected within the Cylon subconscious. It would appear that her discussion with Baltar shook her to her core, and perhaps that opens up the door to revelation. It’s interesting that she encounters something metaphorical in between life and death, especially since she gets a glimpse of five unseen figures. Could these figures be related to the five remaining Cylon models?



The writers reach for a connection between Bulldog’s escape from the Cylons and Tigh’s escape from the cage of his own self-loathing, but it doesn’t quite come together. For all that, the episode does give Adam and Tigh a reason to sit down and work out some of their issues, and that’s a neat bit of progress for the character arcs. Much like Adama in the second season, Tigh is trying to figure out how to deal with the world again, and it’s a long and fascinating process.



Unlike some of the weaker episodes of the second season, this is the kind of episode that challenges assumptions and focuses on character without frustrating the audience or falling apart under inspection. It’s now clear why Adama was so concerned about the prospect of a Cylon return in the mini-series, and it once again echoes the underlying question: are the survivors worthy of that survival? The answer, thankfully, remains unresolved.



(As a sidenote: I also have a podcast associated with my various reviews called “Dispatches from Tuzenor”. Current episodes cover “Battlestar: Galactica”, so it might be something of interest. Go to http://entil2001.libsyn.com if you want to listen!)

A classic BSG episode. Bringing many questions with it. Did Adama start the war? Did the colonies want the war to happen? How did Bulldog survive? Will Sol start wearing Ellen's Clothes Around the Galactica? So many things happening in one episode and they still manage to tell each story really well. The Xena storyline looks like it will be going a lot farther than I originally thought. Her desire to die so she can see what she believes to be heaven. Bulldogs return sparked a much needed Sol-Bill reunion and also tarnished Adama's perfect image to if not to all viewers than atleast me. He has been the only character who has almost always remained strong and made the right decision for the fleet. We learn he hasn't always made the right decision. I was scared when he may have resigned but knew Rosalin wouldn't allow it. Lee's faith is as shaken as my own and who knows where that will lead but atleast he's not fat anymore. What will be the consequences for Helo, that was not even looked at cause even though Adama said let it go I'm sure some of the crew would put two and two together and be a little angry. I hope Sol gets off his ass and stops crying soon cause I get it; with the eye and Ellen thing but come on he's a stronger character than that. All in all a very shocking episode which left me with a lot of questions that I know will be answered as I have complete faith in the creators of this amazing show.

This makes at least twice now in the course of the series that the Cylons have seen fit to target Adama for elimination. They tried to kill him in the end of season one and failed and now they've tried yet again and, for the moment, failed. Watching "Hero" I began to wonder juts why the the Cylons fear Adama so much. Do they see him as the real authority and leadership of the Colonies? And do they think removing him from power will somehow make it easier to finish off humanity?



I have to wonder why Adama and compay were so quick to release Bulldog back into the thriving masses of the colonies. It seems like there were a lot of coincidences involved in setting him free and getting him to the fleet. So his only purpose was to somehow find out Adama had betrayed him three years before, shooting down his ship instead of letting the Cylons see him and violate the terms of the peace agreement? So, did the Cylons somehow get information out of Bulldog? Why did they hold him prisoner for so long? Was their plan this far-ranging and thought-out? Did they know they'd need Bulldog again someday and, thus, keep him alive for three plus years in a cell until the time was right? And how exacty did they plan for all of this?



Meanwhile, back in the fleet, we have Adama questioning his role in, perhaps, starting the war. I think if you're the Cylons, having Adama's doubt come to the surface is a better way to go about destroying him than killing him. Kill him and you rally the fleet behind a matryr. Destroy his standing and reputation, that he's worked hard to build over the past 45 years of service and you do more toward demoralizing the fleet. Remember how Starbuck reacted when she found out there was no Earth and had her faith in the Old Man shaken? Now imagine the entire fleet has that same experience and can blame Adama for the war instead of the Cylons. That could be interesting, if the show decides to go there. I'm not necesssarily sure it will.



I found it interesting that Adama would bring in Lee to confess the sins of his past to. This is intereting, esp. given how contemptious the father/son dynamic between these two has been in previous weeks. I guess no longer having Tigh to talk to, Adama has to find someone. And he sure isn't, at that point, going to confess to Roslin, though he later does. I did like how Tigh realizes that Bulldog escaped too easily and has been sent to find out the truth and take out Adama. Seeing Tigh come to Adama's defense was one of the better scenes of the episode.



Let's face it--the second and third acts of this one were riveting, real tour-de-force acting jobs by everyone involved. The first and fourth acts--not as much. It was all about set-up and some pay-off, though once you've had Tigh pointing a gun at Bulldog and defending the Old Man, it's all downhill from there. That said, the new eye-patch for Tigh was awesome.



And over in the Cylon camp, D'Anna is having strange dreams still. She's also participating in apparent three-somes with Six and Baltar, who is officially classified as the luckiest man in the entire frakkin' universe. Her dreams are intereting, but also interesting is that she kills herself and experience the life flashing before your eyes moment. To see how far she'll go to experience this is intriguing and it makes me wonder about the comments made by the Cavill model a few weeks back about the pain of downloading. Is this part of it? A taxing of the resources that make this possible?

We open with a recap that shows Adama speechifying from very early in the series about not being able to escape the things that you create. Which will obviously be important later on. :)



The show starts with a bloody, pain-filled face, then we cut to Laura cleaning out old files and crap - seems like she's cleaning up Baltar's presidential files, including a big painting of his face which she suggests they hang over the toilet. :) She also found some history on Adama. His former command was the Valkyrie, and I'm guessing that this pilot comes from that command. Laura wants to commemorate Bill's 45 years of service.



Aside - My wife is very upset. ;) Naming Adama's old ship the Valkyrie violates the Roman/Greek naming conventions. From Wikipedia: "The word "valkyrie" comes from the Old Norse valkyrja (plural "valkyrur"), from the words "val" (slaughter) and "kyrja" (to choose). Literally the term means choosers of the slain." I wonder why the writers couldn't pick one of a bazillion million Roman or Greek names? Kind of lazy and shows a lack of attention to detail. Odd, because BSG has always been very attentive to little details like that.



Cut to CIC and we have two raiders chasing a third raider. Starbuck, up in one of the alert fighters, says she doesn't know or care why the one is being chased by the other two.



OK Writers, this is ridiculous. Raiders chasing raiders should feel pretty god-d*** familiar to Starbuck. She stole a raider and flew it up to Galactica, remember? Why do TV writers insist, even on this show, on treating us like we\'re stupid. Back to the show.



CIC picks up a signal and Adama recognizes the callsign of the pilot - Bulldog. He doesn\'t look real good, but I suppose years in Cylon captivity will do that. He does manage to recognize and salute Adama though.



Back from commercial, we see a flashback to Gods only know when, some bigwigs having a "meeting that never happened" with Adama. Clearly they are planning something to do with a stealth ship being stealthy on a stealth mission that never happened. You were never here. In fact, you're not reading this right now. Obviously the implication here is that Adama was ordered to do something that sparked the war.



Cut to the doc's office and Bulldog is 100% human. When Adama asks him how he escaped, he drops some smartass comments (very Starbuckian) before explaining that they Cylons got sick. We're given the impression that the "lymphocytic encephalitis" is spreading.



Flashback to Bulldog killing a D'Eanna model from inside his cell. The D'Eanna was taking delight in playing with his head and this seems to have somehow led to his escape. Shouldn't the base star be sick too? Since all Cylon technology is made of the same material, could the cell itself get sick or something?



Cut to Adama's quarters, and we're going to get an explanation as to what the mission was. Seems that the Tauron colony was drilling for ore too close to the Cylon DMZ. Adama and Bulldog are selling a story that the Taurons shot him down, and with no signals from Bulldog's ship, Bill left thinking he was dead. I'm not buying it. That's not the real mission at all. No way Laura buys this.



"So, you gonna tell me what really happened?" That's my girl. :)



Cut to a D'Eanna model "apparently" walking around Galactica. I'm betting it's Gaius' D'Eanna and she's dreaming. HA! Yes. She woke up in bed with Cap Six and Baltar. Even when he steps in **** he comes out smelling like a rose. Bastard.



Back to Galactica, and hey look, Drunky McDeadWife is playing games with his eye socket as Adama walks in to Saul's quarters. Basically he's here as Adama's conscience. He knows whatever secret Adama is hiding, and he specifically said "Have you told HIM what you did." Him meaning Bulldog, I assume. After the break, Saul is feeling up his dead wife's lingerie when Bulldog comes a'knockin'. Bulldog (name - Danny Novacheck) and Saul is 'bout to get drunks like skunks. They are about to, as my gran-momma used to say, get s***faced like two dirty a**h**** My gramma had a mouth like a sailor and never made a whole lot of sense. Anyway. while they chat and drink, Adama is chatting with Lee. Saul is about to drop the secret on Bulldog...and we cut to Adama telling Lee that he shot Danny's ship down to prevent detection, so that the Cylons would not find out they had crossed the line. The mission was designed to ascertain the likelihood of a Cylon strike, which means someone had theories before the attacks on the 12 Colonies.



Flashback to the old mission - They were supposed to sneak over the armistice line, gather intel and jump back. When the Cylons detected the flight, they shot at Bulldog. Adama ordered Bulldog's flight destroyed to avoid an all-out war. I'm pretty sure that by that moment it was too late. Adama could have made a different decision here...after all, it was pretty obvious that two "unknown" ships had done the damage to Bulldog's Viper, and it wouldn't take a genius to figure that those two unknowns comprised a Cylon patrol. Command is, of course, full of these moments though. You decide in an instant who lives and who dies and try to never look back and second-guess your decisions. If you keep looking back all the time, you'll freeze when you need to make the next decision. In the moment, Adama decided. Right or wrong, that was the call he made.



Back to Saul and Danny. Saul tells Bulldog that he's always known the truth deep down, that Bill left him there for the Cylons. He's right, of course. He also told him that surviving can be it's own death sentence, something Tigh knows all too well.



Adama and Lee drop the nugget that two ships were following Bulldog, and that all these years he's been lying to himself by pretending it could have been the Taurons. It's a nice piece, because the line that Saul just delivered to Bulldog applies right here to Bill - deep down he's always known the truth. Adama then tells Lee that he believes it was this mission that started the war, that sticking his nose over the line proved to the Cylons that humanity was the warrior race that the Cylons feared them to be. Lee takes the position that the Admiralty, the military were to blame, they ordered Adama out there. That is absolutely true, but:



It was an illegal order, plain and simple. One Adama chose to follow. It broke the treaty with the Cylons, and no Admiral has the right to make that call. Bill could have refused it. They would have sent someone else, certainly, but he could have refused it. Then he never would have been in the position to have to make a decision about Danny in the first place. If there is anything to second guess in all of this, I think that's where he should be concentrating. The mission happened, you can't change that...but you can learn from the decision, and since right now Adama is the ranking military officer in all of humanity, he can learn to never put someone else in that position.



Back to the base star. Xena Warrior Cylon is ordering a Centurion to kill her so she can be reborn. It seems like she's experimenting? I got the impression that she tried to retain her consciousness during the resurrection process. Has no other Cylon every experienced an "in-between" place? Is it possible that what she saw was simply the ability that Cylons have to project a vision of reality for themselves? Maybe she saw what she wanted to see. I'll be curious to see that more fully explored.



Back to Galactica - Starbuck is watching tape of the dogfight and notices that the Cylons chasing Bulldog were intentionally missing his ship when firing on him. Quick cut and Danny calls Adama for a meeting. Kara goes to Saul with her theory that the Cylons let him escape. They're here to kill Adama, people! Starbuck figures out that the virus story is bull****. Meanwhile, Danny attacks Adama when he opens the door to his cell, ties Bill down and starts pouring his soul out. Adama picked up that the Cylons left the door open to Danny's cell. Cylons don't leave doors open. Ever. Tigh shows up in the nick of time and gets his gun knocked away, but the old drunk bastard is tougher than steel...he beats Danny's ass in about two seconds flat. So. Drunk or not the man can be a soldier. He then proceeds to give a speech that really does not apply to Danny at all, but rather to himself, about how a man gets used to losing his dignity in a bottle.



"So how do you put away that bottle, Saul?"

"I dunno. One day you just decide to get up and walk out of your room."



Saul's back. Maybe not today, but soon. :)



Back from commercial and Adama is trying to resign. I don't see Laura allowing this. She makes a good point, that the military may have sent Bill out there to provoke a war that they wanted. They say that if you give a man toys, he will want to play with them.



Roslin tells Adama that his penance is to stand up knowing his own shortcomings and give the fleet the hero they need. I can actually see that making sense. She knows better than anyone that Bill Adama has a conscience, maybe more of one than she does. The things he has to do eat away at his soul, decision by decision, day by day, year by year. He stands on that wall, or at that line, and he does the things that need doing. She sees this, and she knows that doing his job will be more of a burden to his conscience than any punishment could ever be. Or maybe she knows he'll learn something from this and be a better Admiral to the fleet than the Admiralty was to him.



Cut to Danny leaving Galactica, and Adama stops him. Like the complicated man that he is, he gives Bulldog his uniform back. I'm not sure if this means he's in the fleet as a Viper jock, because that would mean he's not leaving Galactica, which he did. So...loose end. If he does come back...is he a better pilot than Kara? I see a lot of friendly rivalry developing between those two if he comes back as a jock. Could make for some great banter and funny moments. Plus, I mean, he was captured by the Cylons, she was captured by the Cylons, she stole a raider, he stole a raider...



Dude, it just hit me. She's not going to stay with Anders. She might actually click with Danny though, and he would understand her a lot more. Yes? No? Am I crazy?



Adama's Quarters - Door knocks. Saul enters. "I hear you won a medal?" "Yeah they give 'em out for anything these days." Come on, guys, you two need to patch the s*** up and get back to work. I guess it starts with a drink together, although why you would pour a drink for a boozer that can't control himself is beyond me. Maybe Adama is going to accept Saul - drinking problem and all - just as he always does. I suppose that when the chips are down, when it matters, Tigh does his job. Does anyone really have the right to ask for more than that?



(* Written the next day *)



Something is bothering me about last night's episode. I think the writers are playing soap opera time dilation games. Think back - Adama was commanding Galactica, which was being decommissioned the day of the Cylon nuke attack. Adama was retiring. At that time, Adama was portrayed as having been in command of Galactica by choice due to her lack of network technology. It was also implied that he'd been there for some time.



Now flash forward to Boomer's shooting of Adama. Remember, it was only weeks after the attack on the 12 Colonies. What was the one thing everyone kept saying? That Sharon had served on the ship with all of them for the last two years and how could she betray the Old Man after all that time together, etc. Again, directly implying that Adama was in command of Galactica and of Boomer for at least two years prior to the nuke attack.



How does that reconcile with the timeline we were given last night? If Bill Adama was so against networked, modern Battlestars, what the hell was he doing commanding one just a year before we know he was in command of Galactica? The lesson about technology would have been one he learned over 37 years earlier during the first Cylon War. Think about it. Cylons weren't heard from for 40 years. Adama was commanding the Valkyrie 3 years before the nuke attack. So the last time anyone fought a Cylon was 37 years earlier. Are we meant to think that sometime between losing command of the Valkyrie and taking command of Galactica, Bill's preference for non-networked Battlestars became common knowledge? Are we meant to think he didn't develop the preference until then? That makes no sense, but neither does seeing Bill Adama in the CIC of a modern, networked battlestar.



Was he made to switch over to the old ship as punishment? If so, that's no punishment at all since it was already established in many, many episodes that Adama preferred a non-networked, old-school technology ship so as to be unhackable to the Cylons.



As near as I can tell, no matter how you look at it, we have some sloppy writing here. Again. Dammit, I expect better from this show! Let's have some asses wiggling, I want some perfection! /morrisday



And now, the open letter to the show:



Dear Battlestar Galactica production team,



We realize it must be maddening to work so hard on a show and the morning after it airs, wake up to find hundreds of people online finding dozens of little flaws in your baby, questioning your skill and generally second-guessing everything you do. We nitpick your show because you set the bar so high. We nitpick because we love. We nitpick because you are better than the average continuing dramatic series, and we nitpick because we know for a fact, based on past performance, that you are capable of reaching the standards that you have taught us to expect.



We also nitpick because of shows like The X-Files, which were once glorious and fell prey to their own ponderous weight and the egos of their creators. It would be a crime against television history to let the re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica become a mere shell of what it once was. As fans, we urge you to be diligent and nitpick as hard as we do, and for the same reasons, because you know what you have can be great.



It's all in the details. The big things will generally take care of themselves as they must to service the main story. Keep a close eye on the details.



Love and financial support,



The Fans.

A welcome return to form after last week and this seasons first true stand alone episode. To be honest I\\\'d been a little disapointed by last weeks show, what with it\\\'s many plot holes and next to zero follow up on serious actions by certain crew members(Helo), so I was very interested to see what they did this week. The returned pilot Bulldog played his part great. He was a man trying to do many things at one time such as be his old self and fit in with Adama as well as sort through all that had happened to him and how he had ended up there in the first place. He wanted to hold onto the idea that the Cylons had been the ones to shoot him down and that he had not been left behind but there was sometthing in the back of his mind that told him that may not be so. He played this great. Tigh, being the one that confirmed it was great. Bulldog did not want to hear it, but knew he had to. Adama playing off his newly confessed guilt was a nice touch and Roslins orders to more or less get off his but and deal with it for the better of the fleet was a fine example of an actor not needing a ton of screen time to make a huge impact on a episode. A welcome return to form for battlestar after an off week. I\\\'ll be honest, I\\\'m a little nervous about this weeks episode titled \\\"unfinshed business\\\".

This was an awesome episode. After the Exodus arc the stories dropped a bit. At least I thought so. But this put the bar right back up at the top (where I believe it should be for this show). It provided great insight into Adama\'s life before the Galactica, and explained why he is on the Galactica now. It was always a little odd to me that such a good commander was in charge of a ship that was about to be decommisioned. Unless every ship captian in the fleet was as good (or better) then Adama. But I somehow doubt that. This ep also did a good job of working out all of the small things into the story. It also got Ty out of his depression, well at least for a bit. Hopefully Ty will start to remake his life now. He has lost almost everything, but through it all Adama was still hoping (as was I) that he would pull it together. Apollo was shocked to learn that they knew the Cylons could have been a threat before the attack. (very well done I thought) The kicker was Roslin telling Adama to just accept the medal at the end. It was just a perfect ep I thought.