Season one vs. Season two

John Beeler made a great suggestion:

I should take a look back and compare season one to what we have seen thus far of season two. In order to keep it fair, I thought I would compare only the first 10 episodes of each season (since at the time of writing this, that is all we have seen of season two). This means I am not factoring in the miniseries… I am strictly comparing episodes 1.01 – 1.10 to 2.01 – 2.10. Clear?

So let us dive right in shall we?

It is always hard to compare a first season to a second season. It is hard to match the exhilaration of getting caught up in something new… to be swept away by the positive buzz and excitement that surrounded the show. As I have stated in the past, no show has ever motivated me to start a fan site so that has to count for something pretty big. A good comparison for me then, is “Has season two motivated me to continue this site and stay involved just as much as season one has?” The answer is an apprehensive yes.

Why apprehensive? I think it is common to lose a little excitement for anything as the novelty wears off. If I look at my posting trend I can see that it has definitely slowed down and I have become much more selective in what I post. Maybe the fact that I turned my back on linking to spoilers has caused the slow down, but I do think there has been a very conscious effort on my part to read less… expound less… and participate less in the numerous communities that make up BSG fandom.

But this apprehension is also driven by the simple end of a series honeymoon. As the show moves from “new” to “established” it carries with it many difficulties. The writers might find themselves in plot threads they didn’t mean to start or character development they didn’t anticipate having to deal with. It is difficult in an episodic show to keep everything moving forward and grant all of the threads equal time. The older an episodic show gets, the harder this can become, and it starts to reflect itself in the quality of the show.

So speaking of quality, have the episodes 2.01-2.10 been as good as or better than 1.01-1.10? Well lets take a quick look at the episodes we are talking about:

1.01 33

1.02 Water

1.03 Bastille Day

1.04 Act of Contrition

1.05 You Can't Go Home Again

1.06 Litmus

1.07 Six Degrees of Separation

1.08 Flesh and Bone

1.09 Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down (draft title: Secrets and Lies)

1.10 The Hand of God

versus

2.01: Scattered

2.02: Valley of Darkness

2.03: Fragged

2.04: Resistance

2.05: The Farm

2.06: Home, Part I

2.07: Home, Part II

2.08: Final Cut

2.09: Flight of the Phoenix

2.10: Pegasus

I am not going to go into depth in all of these… I have to assume that you have seen them all. As I look back as season one, the episodes that immediately stand out in my mind as excellent television are:

1.01 33

It is the first episode of the show and it uses a simple plot element (every 33 minutes) to introduce a real level of tension into the situation. You really get to know the characters throughout this episode and although it is filled with tragedy, it ends on a positive note.

1.05 You Can't Go Home Again

There are so many great character moments in here between Apollo and his father… so many great lines that give me chills. Not to mention getting to witness Kara’s pure determination. The ending is excellent too.

1.07 Six Degrees of Separation

I just remember this being an amazingly fun Baltar episode. It also increased the level of intrigue related to the Cylons.

1.08 Flesh and Bone

This was probably one of the most significant episodes of the first season. It dealt with the issues of torture, but it also has lasting ramifications on the relationships of Roslin, Adama, and Kara.

1.10 The Hand of God

This was just a great action episode. It is a brilliant plan, executed perfectly by Apollo. When the covers drop away from the cargo ship revealing the Vipers, I got chills. Not to mention some great father/son stuff.

So what about the first ten episodes of season two? Are there as many good ones?

2.01: Scattered

This episode is just pure excitement. It is also interesting that Tigh is given a moment to shine making some tough calls to get the fleet back together. It also helped resolve the season one ending cliff hanger, so you can’t help but appreciate it!

2.03: Fragged

So many things happened in this episode with most of the exciting stuff on Kobol. Memorably we had the death of Crashdown, and the growth of Tyrol as a hero.

2.05: The Farm

I really liked the Anders character and what he means to Kara as well as the revealing of Cylon Simon.

2.08: Final Cut

I didn’t think I was going to like this, but I was pleasantly surprised where they took it. If I find myself jumping off the couch screaming “HOLY %$%#” than you know it is good stuff. Also, we were able to see the sides of characters we had never seen before and I really enjoyed the ending video that was put together about the crew.

2.09: Flight of the Phoenix

Finally we got to see the repercussions of the Helo/Sharon relationship. I also found the end of the episode to be very satisfying and very moving.

Honestly I didn’t set out for it to be this way but it appears that there are exactly five episodes in each season that are really memorable to me. I think what is most important in this list is not what I included, but what I left out.

There are some primary plot points in season two that I just didn’t get me as excited as I would have hoped. The entire Kobol story was so built up at the end of season one, that the reality of it (a hologram room mixed with a little prophecy) just didn’t do it for me. Also, the jury is still out on the Pegasus story line. It is a great direction, but I am not convinced that at the end of it all, the characters are going to be proud of their actions. You can allow yourself to be ruled by emotions, but not at the cost of sacrificing your survival. I feel like the more situations we see in season two, the calculated strategy that made them so successful in season one is giving way to Cylon-powers of Sharon.

In the end, it is hard to compare the two seasons because there are really two different dynamics at work. The first season was all about driving the characters forward. The plot threads from week to week were character based, not story based. The second season has, in my opinion, flipped. We end up seeing the character situations resolved more often from week to week while it is the story threads that end up spanning multiple episodes. Part of this is necessity since we the audience might get a little bored of seeing “the problem of the week” style issues in the fleet. However it is a balance I would like to see restored a little more. For instance the fact that Anders hasn’t even been mentioned… or that Simon hasn’t been mentioned… those are severe deficiencies in the character based writing. The reality of those situations in the minds of Kara, Helo and others has been substituted for outside elements like the Pegasus and all the problems that introduces. We didn’t need the introduction of an entire new set of characters to fully explore the ones we already had. That is what I mean by switching the focus from character to story. Instead of using what we had, new elements were introduced to make it all seem fresh and exciting. The first season didn’t need to do that. I do not think the second needed to either.

In conclusion if I had to pick which set of ten episodes is better, season one or season two, I would have to pick season one. The character writing was so much stronger and in the end, that is what really draws me to this show. I would really like to see the writers take us back into the fleet. So much was made of the always shrinking number of people in the fleet… 47,853 souls who where working together to survive and make it to Earth. That is the story I signed up for… the story of those people. I wouldn’t mind the writers going back to telling it.

Comments

[Patrick Calahan]

re: Pegasus

"I am not convinced that at the end of it all, the characters are going to be proud of their actions."

What does this have to do with whether or not it was good television?

'Pegasus' was one of the best episodes yet, hands down.

[The Box]

"Instead of using what we had, new elements were introduced to make it all seem fresh and exciting. The first season didn’t need to do that. I do not think the second needed to either."

This was spot on, dude. Totally agree.

Stuff I'm not sure I like:

THE BLACKBIRD STEALTH VIPER.
I dunno if you followed Star Trek: Voyager, but thee crew did something similar when they decided to build a pimped-out version of their space shuttle. It then became a device for stories on planets, something which seemed a bit too convenient to me. I hope we don't see the Blackbird used as this secret weapon they pull out regularly to win battles against the cylon or for lame reconnaisance missions.

SHARON
Not so much any particular Sharon, but teh very concept of teh Sharon model as one whose cover has been blown. I don't see how the current (pregnant) one is going to survive beyond her pregnancy without turning into Galactica's equivalent of Seven of Nine. The mini-series and Season 1 really did a good job of the whole paranoia thing when tehy discovered the cylons looked like humans now. I don't see how they could ever trust her. And if they did, well. That'd be too easy wouldn't it?

And, did I miss something or didn't they fly a Heavy Raider back into one of the ships when they returned from Caprica? Where's that ship? Why hasn't shit happened there?

[Trapper Markelz]

Patrick - The reason it has to do with whether it is 'good tv' comes back to what my primary contrast between season one and season two is.

In season one the characters did things based on their own internal motivations. Adama's choice to launch an all out attack on the Pegasus seems like such a far departure from his "military" mind. Although we have been seeing a much more emotional Adama, I still question whether that move is going to be good for his character. Adama's strength is his balancing effect on Roslin's more emotional and irrational following of prophecy and spiritual visions. Sure, in the past Adama does irrational things for "family" (You Can't Go Home Again) but he is essentially giving up all the moral high ground he has worked to sequester. From that aspect, I don't know if I am going to like Adama as much if it plays out how the cliffhanger leaves it. That is all I am saying.

I agree that Pegasus was a great "story" episode... I am just not sold on it being a good "character" episode... I reserve judgement until I see episode eleven. That is primarily why it wasn't included in my top episodes from the first half of season two.

If you read my write up of Pegasus, you will sense my conflicted praise. I did not like how many of the characters acted in the situation. We were set up by the writers to think of the entire Pegasus as this place of evil and debauchery. The bad apples were emphasized, but the rest of the crew (people like the Pegasus CAG and such) aren't doing anything out of the ordinary for a military situation. I feel like we were set up to cheer for the slackers (Galactica) and praising Starbuck and Apollo for "sticking it to the man" and doing there own thing. I expect more from character who we hold up as our righteous heros in the show.

That is why I say: "I am not convinced that at the end of it all, the characters are going to be proud of their actions."

I feel like the characters are being made to act how the story requires them to act... not how they would really act in those situations.

To contrast this, I believe Helo and Tyrol behaved perfectly in-line with their honorable and loyal characters... The results were tragic, but the entire situation was believable to me.

[Trapper Markelz]

The Box - As for the Blackbird, I understand your concerns... however Deep Space Nine did a similar thing with the Defiant and I think that was a great addition to the show. So I think it can be good or bad depending how the writers use it. They have to be careful not to use it as a fall back device... the secret solution to all their problems. To use DS9 as an example, they had a cloaking device on the Defiant for awhile and it seemed like they could seriously exploit that, however they imposed some strict limitations that made it believeable that they couldn't simply fly around invisible and untouchable whenever they wanted. Hopefully such limitations will also be a factor in the use of the Blackbird... for instance maybe only Starbuck is good enough to fly it... and it only fits one person... and it has bad fuel consuption so there is limited range... etc.

I totally agree with your points about Sharon. After using her to destroy that entire Cylon fleet, the writers are on some dangerous ground.

I also agree about the Heavy Raider. That thing seems like an offensive powerhouse, and would at least be worthy of a few research scenes by Tyrol and his crew (just like Kara's Raider).

[Carlos]

Oh I see, so Pegasus wasn't a memorable episode. Right, got it.

[Trapper Markelz]

Carlos - To me it will depend on how it all shakes out in episode 2.11... as it stands, I find myself less impressed with Pegasus than many seem to be. As cliff hangers go, Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II was way better.

[SuperTroy]

TM:To me it will depend on how it all shakes out in episode 2.11

Bingo, if "Resurection Ship" doesn't live up to the promise of Pegasus..... It'll affect my enjoyment of Pegasus.

A good buildup is less than satisfing if the follow through sucks.

[Carlos]

Trapper,

nah, you judge each episode on its own merits. If episode one is average but episode two is excellent, does that make episode one excellent too? No, it's still average.

Kobol Gleaming 2 was an excellent episode, but the follow up Scattered was good but less than excellent. Even if Resurrection Ship is average it doesn't keep Pegasus from being a tight ass script. If the follow through sucks, then it's the follow through that sucks, not the build up.

[Trapper Markelz]

Carlos - We might have to agree to disagree on that. Pegasus was good, but I just didn't like it as much as many people did due to what I feel is a departure from the characters. Also, it isn't like we couldn't see the confrontation coming from a mile away so as a cliff hanger, it wasn't nearly as effective as Kobol's Last Gleaming II.

I feel the five episodes I listed from season two in my commentary above were much more enjoyable as a viewer... but that is only my opinion.

[Carlos]

>>>Pegasus was good, but I just didn't like it as much as many people did due to what I feel is a departure from the characters.

What? give examples.

Yes, we knew that the confrontation between Galactica and Pegasus was coming-- just like we know what's coming in most movies ever made. You know the good guy's going to win, right? And you know he gets the girl, right? And you know the bad guy dies, right? Being kept in the dark about the final outcome is not the sole criteria (by a longshot) of a good script. A good script is determined by how it gets you from point A to point B. And in Pegasus that journey from point A to B was excellently done. I could go on about it specifically, but I think it speaks for itself.

[Trapper Markelz]

Carlos - See my response to Patrick in the comments above as well as my write up for specific examples and a more nuanced explanation of my trepidation over Pegasus... although that doesn't mean you will agree with it.

http://www.battlestarblog.com/2005/09/thoughts_on_peg.html

As far as your explanation of what makes a good script, since it is a creative process that hinges on the perceptions of the viewers, it is not so black and white. Sometimes a good script is how you get there... I call that a "journey story"... some scripts are about the big reveal... I call that a "destination story".

I honestly believe Pegasus was suppose to be a journey story (part of the reason why I don't think the cliff hanger was really a big deal) but at the end I just didn't like the journey... Apollo... Starbuck... Adama... Baltar... all great performances... but you had Apollo and Starbuck acting like spoiled brats putting their own interests first after what seemed like only a few hours knowing this crew and their intentions. You had Adama giving up his moral high ground about the "chain of command" that was reinforced the entire show. You had Baltar confessing his love for Six after numerous episodes of defiance against her. The worse part is that these character behaviors seemed directly related to the plot.

In a good script the plot and story devices are transparent and the characters act believably given the situation. It is my opinion that in Pegasus the fact that I was jarred by the character behaviors and found myself questioning the validity of their intentions that the writing failed in those instances. I only mention it because it rarely happens in other episodes on this show, so to me it was extra noticable.

[Carlos]

Trapper,

You said in response to that excellent review of Pegasus that "I also agree that the scene where Baltar professes his love for Six was very surprising and powerful. Great work by James Callis in this episode." Those were your words. Now, in my opinion that sounded like a positive comment about Pegasus. Now you say you were "jarred" by such character behaviours. Will the real Trapper please stand up!

But surprised? Jarred? Why? Not that there's anything wrong about a script that surprises you, but Baltar has been having sex with her everyday since before the mini series. You shouldn't have been surprised.

Yes, Apollo and Starbuck acted like two spoiled brats because as far as military discipline is concerned, that's what they are-- spoiled brats. Adama was willing to put up with it because they're all he's got. With the arrival of Pegasus, however, the rules have changed. The script was true to the characters and to the plot.

Why the change of heart Trapper?

[Trapper Markelz]

Carlos - You will also see above where I said: "Apollo... Starbuck... Adama... Baltar... all great performances..."

So in the case of Baltar yes, great performance, great work as an actor within the scenes he was given. But from a writing standpoint, I still didn't get his cross over into love. It just didn't seem real to me. Sure he has been having sex with her, but come on... you know Baltar as well as me... sex to him is purely hedonistic and detached. It is a big step for him to profess love. And the way the writers unvieled that just didn't work for me.

I think my feelings on the writing of the Pegasus episode and the second season as a whole have been consistent. This second season has been a different type of writing... a writing about plot and story instead of about characters. Early in the season I was open to this, but as it has progressed, I feel it has lead to sloppiness in the actions of the characters... they have become puppets to the needs of the writing...

It is funny you bring up Baltar because he is one character I feel has suffered the most. Look at his exposure in season two compared to season one. He use to be an active character on the show and a serious point of interaction amongst the crew... now he is a just a tool, showing up to offer some pedantic technobabble about Cylons or some worthless shifty look.

[Carlos]

Trapper,

I agree with you on Baltar. He's not being used to his full potential. I was watching Fragged last night and it was sad how buffoonish his role is becoming. He's lost that edge he had in the miniseries. I suppose having a cylon in your head will do that to you.

It's not only that Baltar has been having sex with her, but you have to consider that his entire life as he knew it has dissapeared, and Six is pretty much his only friend in the world now. You also have to consider that seeing Six on the floor beaten to a bloody pulp might awaken a side of Baltar that we haven't yet seen. Remember, these aren't cartoon characters. They are 3-dimensional, complex and "real" people here (or that's the idea).

[Trapper Markelz]

Carlos - I may be knitpicking a little bit on Baltar's confession of love. You are correct that seeing her in physical form as vulnerable as she is on the floor of the prison is going to bring to the surface a nurturing and protective set of emotions that he could perceive as love. I will have to watch that scene again... I was simply explaining my initial reaction to the scene...