Thoughts on Black Market

Truth be told, I have been putting off writing my thoughts on “Black Market” for almost two days now. In all honesty, I was quite disappointed with this one. It isn’t fun to write about an episode you didn’t enjoy. I do a pretty good job of keeping this a fan site, not a critical review site. I love this show… I love seeing it succeed. Sure, there are ways that I wish the episodes would go sometimes and I don’t always agree with where the writers are taking the characters, but this week, I don’t know what happened.

Maybe I am still watching in the shadow of Resurrection Ship, Part II. That episode was everything I have come to expect from this show. To have it followed up with Epiphanies was a little bit of a damper… although compared to Black Market, Epiphanies was a hell of an episode.

I am betting not all of you will agree with my assessment. I will do my best to explain what I found so disappointing. If you disagree, feel free to leave comments.

Disposable characters
Killing Fisk ticked me off. One of the things I was always surprised with in this show is the level of detail given to every character, no matter how minor or small. Remember back in season one? We knew the names of the viper pilots. Remember watching them burn up in Hand of God? There were entire episodes that focused on people like Crashdown and Socinus. When they died, you felt something because no matter how small, you knew them.

Secondary characters have been suffering a lot lately. Remember Cally? Dee? Billy? Gaeta? Ellen Tigh? Where the hell are these people? Why would I possibly care about some Apollo bed buddy we just met or some random crime boss, especially when you know they will never be back again? I think I complained about this back with the episode Pegasus… there are so many good stories to tell with the people you have, why do you have to add an entire ship of new people? You can’t tell me they couldn’t have come up with a black market story involving Zarek, Ellen, Dee and the criminals from Colonial Day that would give Apollo the same opportunities in the story.

Neglected stories
It isn’t just the treatment of secondary character that has me disappointed, it is also the treatment of the plot threads. Here are a few off the top of my head:

• What is up with the Pegasus crew and Adama as Admiral?
• Is Kara still the CAG?
• Hello! The nuke!!
• The other Cylons that Sharon said were in the fleet?
• Earth anyone?
• The heavy raider?
• The aftermath of Roslin’s abortion attempt on Sharon?
• The prophecy?
• What is the quorum of twelve up to with all this?
• Ellen Tigh anyone?
• Giaus as the father of the child?
• The Cylon detector?
• You can’t tell me they haven’t found a Simon in the fleet…

I am sure you could all list a lot more that I am forgetting. The simple point is that there are some great stories to tell. Black Market just really came out of no where. Sure, it adds some realism and texture to the fleet, but it could have easily been a B-storyline and accomplished the same thing.

Apollo
The only moment in the episode that really had me involved was the showdown with Phelan. I honestly didn’t know if Apollo was going to shoot or not. It was definitely the more interesting decision to have him go through with it. It shows he is already falling far from his previous moral sensibilities. Apollo is rapidly giving up on the idealism so prevalent early in the show in favor of pragmatism more befitting Zarek. I have always thought Apollo and Zarek would become good buddies, but Apollo’s moral compass always got in the way. Maybe now the time is right.

It is good that Apollo is getting more screen time. His relationship with Adama and Starbuck allows for great character interaction, but this episode is a long ways away from the awesome work done in You Can't Go Home Again or Hand of God.

Conclusion
That is all I am really going to say this week. I don’t know really where else to take it. I never thought it would happen, but this was the first episode in the entire series so far that I just didn’t like. It felt out of place… not in the good and quirky way that Tigh Me Up Tight Me Down did, but in a very unneeded way that I hope is never repeated.

I remember reading an article with Ron Moore where he described the final season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and how he was disappointed that they got a little too inside people’s heads near the end… as writers they got too involved in the complexities of the characters and veered away from simple, powerful storytelling. While I never understood what he was talking about with DS9 (I thought the season was fine), I think I now understand what he was talking about.

Just a side note, I did enjoyed the scenes with Roslin and Baltar, although I don’t think they went far enough. Normally after a scene like that I would expect some sort of internalization between Baltar and Six where she twists his mind into acting against her or something. That is a larger critique on this episode: Everything is too clean in the end. There is no big hook to draw you into next week. When the episode ended, it didn’t leave me excited for more… I just saw credits… and all I could think was “Huh?” That is never a good sign.

Principal MVP of the episode goes to Jamie Bamber’s role as Apollo, if only because this was his episode and he struggled to succeed where the writing tended to fail. I do appreciate that he went through with Phaylen’s execution and also stands up to President Roslin, so that counts for something.

Secondary MVP of the episode goes to Richard Hatch as Tom Zarek. There is not nearly enough Zarek in this season. Maybe someone will see me awarding him an MVP and give him more to do. Hell every secondary character who has been neglected in season two earns the MVP. You know who you are. They need to bring all those people back…

Additional Resources

• Official episode synopsis
• Episode 2.14 podcast commentary
• Battlestar Wiki page for 2.14

Comments

[Matt]

I tend to agree with you on this one.

The black market angle is creative and worthy of exploration, but this story was out of nowhere. I didn't believe the black market existed b/c I had never heard it referred to before. Likewise, I didn't care about his odd relationship w/ the call girl (the original BSG would have called her a "socialator," I think)--or the flashbacked relationship he left behind on Caprica--because I had no time to know either. Ron & Co. forgot to lay the foundation on this episode, and it just didn't work for me. There's always next week!

[Aragorn]

seconded. This episode could have been considered something of a breather, and definitely added just a little bit more texture to the fleet, which was, and will always be one of the better elements of this series. Black Market as a concept was excellent, as it’s this kind of story that makes BSG so unique: every human interaction, every minor character with a name, every ding on the BSG its self has some level of importance in the story arc.

But this storyline… just kinda came out of nowhere. I mean… from what I gather in the preview, we’re going to get a story that focuses on Kara Thrace. But I am thinking that the main difference will be that now is a perfect time for a Kara Thrace Story. In the past episodes, we’ve been handed some good scraps on Kara’s back story. We have the sense that behind all her heroics lies something of a fuckup, we know that she has endured child abuse, but also is a bit of an artist/poet, and all combined with her experiences with Cain, and Caprica… basically it has the makings of a great story… because it was being set up.

Black Market on the other hand… kinda hit me like a brick wall. I’m glad Lee finally got some air time, but there wasn’t enough setup for this story. Just h is near death experience, and two seasons worth of watching him take the moral high-ground. And you’re right trapper, characters just came out of nowhere. Suddenly we’re finding out about a blonde that was in his life, and then there is a mobster, and a hooker out of nowhere. I did actually like his interaction with the prostitute (can’t remember her name), and Bamber’s performance was excellent (cause those starry-eyed looks were just painful to watch), but it missed a lot of opportunities to follow-up on pre-existing story lines and issues. Up until now, BSG’s peripheral episodes (tigh me up, colonial day, final cut) have all basically ended in some major plot element, or some great bowel clenching final scene. Black Market… just lacked pizzazz.

[Mister Goodman]

It was fun hearing Ron Moore explaining on his podcast why he thought this episode sucked. I don't actually agree with him that this was the worst episode of Galactica. There were a number of strong elements to this episode, while I thought last week's episode suffered from a serious case of the stupids.

On the up side:
* Killing Fisk. I actually like the actor, but I also like being surprised, and I certainly didn't expect this. We don't know anything about whoever is next in the chain of command, which has to make one nervous.

* Rosalin asking Baltar to resign. It was logical, but it sure blew up in her face.

* Finally a little insight into the fleet's economy. I know *I* wondered where Baltar's been getting those cigars.

* The whole noir "everyone's dirty" thing, best exemplified by the scene with Lee and Tigh.

* Tom Zarek!

* Forward motion on the Lee/Dee thing. Good to see her back with Billy at the end... for now.

On the down side:
*The flashbacks to the girl Lee left behind added nothing to the episode. Of COURSE Lee had unfinished business with someone left behind. That's probably true for most of the fleet. And of COURSE the hooker was an attempt to fill a void in his life. The dots are connected just fine without the flashbacks. But if they really wanted to show that character, one scene would have done the trick fine.

*The easy ending. The baddie just trusts that an army officer he barely knows isn't going to shoot him. Not so much as a "if anything happens to me, the kid is toast."

*A lot of stuff was just fuzzy. "You should have told me about the girl." Um, was Adama asking for updates on Lee's sexlife? EJO is pretty much the master of deadpan, but I didn't really get this.

* The President just sort of shrugged at the end. What happened to her famous stubbornness?

At least there were no real lasting consequences to this episode's misteps. Not like Baltar going nuclear because he didn't like the contents of a letter (with a nuclear weapon easily traced to him).

[Aragorn]

Mr. Goodman.

in regards to

"*A lot of stuff was just fuzzy. "You should have told me about the girl." Um, was Adama asking for updates on Lee's sexlife? EJO is pretty much the master of deadpan, but I didn't really get this."

Well it wasn't demonstrated as well as it could've been, but I think that the crew pretty much got the point that something changed in Lee, and that he was heading down a destructive path (falling in love with an escort). I assume it was just adama saying that he needed to open up.

[Sci-Fi]

The episode was pretty much standard detective/murder story. However, many of the elements needed more setup and a coherent plot so the casual viewer doesn't have to guess or "fill-in-the-blanks". I really didn't see too many setups for future episodes. So as a stand alone episode, it was lacking the punch and vitality viewers have come to expect from this series.

If one read all the spoilers and rumors about the episode, then they would have known that the blonde on Caprica was Lee's main squeeze and she was possibly pregnant. But for the casual viewer, it was more like who was that? And why haven't we seen something about her before in another episode? They never explained how or why Lee decided to leave her, just that little runaway down the stairs but no chase from Lee. For a series that prides itself on realism, the hooker spelling it out for Lee in public after Phalen was killed was over-the-top. And Phelan's men just stood there frozen. If anything it seemed like the writers were trying to tarnish the squeeky clean Lee image to give the charater more depth. They really didn't accomplish either one.

Unfortunately, RDM and the writing team decide to eliminate Fisk and Phelan. Both of them are complex characters that could have been used in future episodes as bad guy subsitutes for a Cylon attack/threat or some action taken by a Cylon spy/agent. Could always bump them off later if the story arc called for it.

Zarek obviously gained control over the black market and thus the RTF's economy at th end of the episode. But it could have been more interesting if Phelan was still around and made the viewers choose which one they liked that week. Underworld power plays are always interesting and could have given the main cast a week off so the viewer could experience what happens on the other side.

Why does Roslin want to shutdown the black market? It's not like she didn't know about its existence. What is there to be gained? Why not just plan a raid and confiscate all the supplies? Where would they run to anyways if they tried to escape?

Roslin asking Baltar to resign was a bit out of character for her. A bit of shrewd negotiating and building up Baltar's ego could have resulted in Baltar wanting to go back to his science lab. If Baltar refuses then the end result would still be the same. It would have made Baltar look like he has chosen to take the darker path instead of some bruised ego trip that motivates Baltar to prove he can be an effective VP and future President.

Adama seemed to find out what was happening and knew about the hooker Lee was seeing. Did he make a prior deal? After all, he did end up supporting Lee's recommendations.

The concept for the episode was good. It was the execution of it that failed. RDM freely admits he had major problems with the episode and accepts responsibility. And some thought it couldn't get worse after last weeks episode that showed Gina's "Clark Kent" disguise fooled everybody in the fleet. #6's photo along with all the other "known cylons" should have been spread widely in the fleet. Witness the manila envelope on the President's desk. Oh well, maybe next week.

[oopla]

THe problem with this episode is that there isn't Helo and Sharon to cut back to on caprica. So that ultimate;y there was nothing to grab us, just a dead crime boss, a one-shot hooker, a one-shot child and Baltar becoming a little more isolated from everyone else.

I would have re-cut this into a two parter with the previous episode to allow the elements of the two stories more time to develop in the viewer's minds before resolving them.

Right now it seems to be setting up our characters to have to fight an uphill battle for the season finale of Lay down your burdens. There are rumors that starbuck might turn to alcoholism under stress. The lost nuke seems like a way for the Pegasis to be removed from the story.

[Kim]

i agree with the comments about the story and characters being from out of nowhere. i felt like there was a lot of rushing to get this story told in the alotted time. i didn't care about the blonde in lee's past or the hooker in his present.

what i am fascinated by is the roslin/baltar dynamic. presumably, if the fleet found out she was "cured" by being injected with cylon blood, there would be an outcry for her resignation. or at least a LOT of suspicions about the effects of the procedure on her mind/loylaties, etc. so, in a way, baltar has something to hold over her. so the fact that she has something to hold over him makes it an interesting stalemate. if she fails and is impeached or something, then he ends up as president. pretty high stakes for her!

[Josiah]

This episode didn't quite measure up, but there were a few things definitely worth mentioning.

I've often wondered how incredibly dull it must be for civilians who don't get to fight cylons. It was interesting to see what some of them do to pass the time.

And Phelan's line to Apollo about how it's no surprise they didn't create a utopia after the attacks I think reasonates with what Sharon said to Adama about how the Cylons believe humanity doesn't deserve to exist.

In addition to the baby, the Cylons might also want to see if the fleet doesn't tear itself apart. So far, aside from opposing genocide, the humans have not unanimously staked out any kind of high moral ground. Everyone has proved capable of resorting to a kind of "ends justify the means" mentality. I wouldn't go so far as to say the show fails to reveal any redeeming qualities about the humans, but the Cylons certainly could put together an impressive list of grievances.

[Grant]

I agree completely. I was really disappointed with this one.

[vincent formosa]

I think all the above comments are valud about the episode coming out of nowhere and there were too many left field elements, particularly regards lee's background on caprica and the fact we hadn't heard a peep about this girl he left behind before.

but my main beef with this episode was the killing of Fisk.

all that great setup on pegasus and resurrection ship gave us a commander of a battlestar with one hell of a conflicted background and quite a bit to make up for.

why couldn't a pegasus crewman have been chopped instead? fisk would still have been discovered re black market goods etc, but then if he'd lived, Lee would have had something on him for future storyline tension.

zarek, little screentime but worthy.

I almost get the feeling that as shady as he is, he is almost starting to beleive in roslin, particularly after his reluctance to dirty his hand down on kobol during the HOME two parter.

[Bob in North Dakota]

A contrary opinion...

This was a very good episode. So..it didn't push along the plot line very much, but we've been spoiled in that regard the past few weeks.

It shows how post-traumatic stress syndome plus human greed plus shortages of everything, is tearing apart the people. No, it wasn't a "likeable" episode, but I suspect it was an important set-up for the plot line to come.

Roslin is planning something...that is why she asked Baltar to resign. That was the main push forward in the plot line, not the death of the head of the Pegasus.

I wonder...how has she been changed by the Cylon transfusion?

Bob

[Trapper Markelz]

Bob - I appreciate your contrary opinion... although I don't think it is as contrary as you think. I don't feel that anyone is discounting the importance of the Baltar/Roslin scene... or even the depth of the Tigh/Apollo scene... or the comment on the pragmatism of a supply/demand market system amid forced military-communism... Regardless of this, it was the quality of the storytelling, the forced way these issues were suddenly thrust upon us, that I take the largest issue with.

BSG is a great show and we rarely comment on the mechanics of the storytelling because it is so often invisible behind the issues, characters and situations that engage us. The fact that in Black Market the story was so jarring and warrented comment is the only reason that I do so.

I do agree that there are many great moments in Black Market and that they will probably end up being important... that still doesn't forgive the fact that this episode didn't feel up to the quality that we have come to expect.

[Amanda]

I'm a little late on this. I won't say much about the episode other than I didn't care for it. As a huge fan of the original I had hoped that the prostitute would have taken on a "Cassiopeia" role like in the original. Or at least be named Cassiopeia. I know Cassiopeia was in love with Starbuck in the original, but I don't really see Kara falling in love with a prostitute anytime soon. Maybe this mystery girl he was having flashbacks of is Serina and somewhere out there is their child Boxey. Did I mention I was a huge fan of the original? I love when they make a connection to it. Oh...the scenes with Apolo and Zarek give me chills. I love seeing them together.

[Zot]

I'm with Trapper and the majority opinion on this episode. I was disappointed. I hate being negative about a show that I consider to be a cut above pretty much everything else in its genre, but I definitely rate Black Market as the least engaging BSG episode I've ever seen. I was already worried where we were going with Epiphanies, but Black Market didn't have much impact on the overall plot ark to me. What's more, it served to damage the sense that things happen for a reason in BSG. I too would like to see a return to a lot of the openended plot threads that Trapper mentions in his post... that's one of the main reasons we keep watching after all.

[Erwin]

I actually enjoyed this episode quite a bit. Sure, it wasn't great, and it kinda hit me with his blonde that came out of nowhere... there are better ways to indroduce some lost love than that.

What i liked though were two things:
- Giving the fleet a bit more color: It was that Star-Wars-Dirty-Cantina-thing that i really enjoyed being added to Galactica. A little bit like the lower decks on good ol' Babylon 5. A nice setting for future gangster- and noir-stories.

- Apollo going to a hooker: Don't misunderstand me, but i thought of Apollo most of the time as the standard hero with some father-sone issues and that's it. They really shattered this image a bit. He doesn't get the prettiest and toughest girl on the ship, no Captain Apollo goes to a hooker! It was also good to see that things like this happen in the Galactica Universe. I don't want to promote prostitution, but face it: There are a lot of guys with needs to be satisfied, so it's only a logical explanation to have this in the fleet. Makes it believable.

So after all, this episode wasn't great but it added some really interesting aspects to the fleet and to the character of Apollo!