Predictable, but Solid

As I said last week, The folks at the production staff at Battlestar Galactica would have a difficult time topping EXODUS part two, and that proved to be the case. COLLABORATORS was a good, albeit not great, episode with lots of interesting bits in it.



ONLY MINOR SPOILERS FOLLOW
Predictably, those that suffered under the year of Cylon Occupation are now getting their own back against open collaborators with the Cylon Regime. One (minor) character gets "spaced", and the kangaroo court (filled with people you might recognize) sets their eyes on Mister Gaeta, who had worked as Baltar's executive assistant. Predictable stuff happens, and predictably, he gets saved in the last nanosecond.

(Side note: Ronald Moore had better start thinking about HOW MANY PEOPLE IT TAKES to renew an entire human race.. what are we down to now? How many births are have their been? Can they afford to execute people, even scumbag collaborators?) My friend Peter Card (English Peter in BPD) sent me a link on a paper about DNA Sampling and "population choke points" such as is suggested by the show's 41,000 people (they updated the population stats). It makes for interesting reading-- postulating that the human race might have hit a choke point several thousand years back, and we now have so-called "modern man" as a result of the contracting of the gene pool.

My friend, BSG Ubergeek Don Pierce, suggests that perhaps a population explaosion is going on that we aren't seeing. Lots of people, cooped up on small ships with not a lot to do for months on end.. the predictable might be happening but we're not seeing it. I haven't really tracked that little "population statistic" that flashes just before the credits lately.

In any event, my favorite bits were with Baltar on the Cylon Ship, were he is kept under close guard. No longer pathetic, he's back to being a sniveling coward. I hope we see more of Cylon lifestyles in this season. Do Cylons have art? Interior Decorating? It doesn't look like it.

Maybe Gaius can teach them Feng Shui...

Near term predictions: Apollo will miraculously drop 40 pounds (see David Eick's vidcast "Jaime and the Fat Man"), and possibly take the XO spot on Galactica (Tigh is just a headcase right now, and an embarassment to himself). Starbuck will take the pilot seat again, and have trouble reclaiming her top dog status. The Cylon Baby will fade into obscurity again. For a while.

(speaking of predictions, check out the vidcast of the Cast predicting which one of the "Top Seven" will be offed this season. You know, if you are an actor playing a Cylon, it strikes me that you have a hell of a lot of job security on this show. "Oh, let's kill Boomer!.. uh, big deal.."