Ep 2 - Water

[Blade Runner]

Water





Season 1 Episode 2 "Water"

* Original airdate: 25th October 2004
* US airdate: 14th January 2005
* Production Number: 102
* Filming dates: April 30, 2004 - May 12, 2004
* Executive Producers Ronald D. Moore, David Eick
* Co-Executive Producer Toni Graphia
* Producer Harvey Frand
* Written by: Toni Graphia
* Directed by: Marita Grabiak
* Co-Starring: Michael Hogan, Ty Olsson, Grace Park, Alessandro Juliani, Tahmoh Penikett, Kandyse McClure,Aaron Douglas, Alonso Oyarzun, Nicki Clyne, Paul Campbell, Connor Widdows, Sam Witwer, Lorena Gale, Barclay Hope, Ron Blecker

Synopsis:
LT. SHARON VALESII awakens in the Galactica tool room; she's wet, dishevelled and her hands are covered in mysterious red stains. Next to her is her duffel bag and as she sorts through her belongings, she comes across a small-but-deadly explosive. Confused and nervous, Sharon attempts to return the explosive to the small arms locker at the other end of the ship. When she arrives there, she makes a startling discovery: six more explosive devices are missing.

Review
Boomer wakes up soaking wet, obviously unaware of what she’s been doing to get in that state. Looking through a bag at her feet she finds a bomb! Whilst furtively returning the bomb to the small arms locker on-ship she opens up a box of detonators to place the one from the bomb in her bag back in the locker, only to find that at least 6 other detonators are missing – cut to shots of bombs ticking away secreted in Galactica’s innards… I guess Boomer is living up to her name! (sorry)
So what’s been “rigged to blow” then?
Well after Herc rated my review last week as fairly spoiler-ific I thought I’d best not reveal too much here.
So what else is going on then?
Supplies are running short - tensions are running high (I’m sensing a theme here so far in this series!) and one of the causes of the short supplies (hey, I’m trying not to reveal too much here!) brings up the question of Cylon agents again; yeah, I bet you all wondered when they were going to bring that back into it, huh?
Sounds like possibly a more action-driven episode like the first one? Were you wrong when you suggested that this episode would be more character-driven stuff?
Hah! No! Whilst there is some action courtesy of the bomb element, this episode makes with the character-type stuff! The interplay between Commander Adama and the President is full of nuance. There’s even a moment of flirting between Baltar and Starbuck during a Poker game (or whatever it’s called round these parts – Pyramids, wasn’t it in the old series?!) and Boomer discovering herself doing odd things brings an edgy element to her relationship with the Crew Chief (I’m forgetting his name right now).
Do we see any more of Helo, back on Caprica?
Indeed we do – he receives a signal which his companion seems to take an untoward amount of interest in (again, I’m trying to keep this spoiler free, okay?)
What’s Good?
This is a fantastically paced episode – they’ve taken the time to drive forward more of the characters whilst maintaining the edge-on-the-seat stuff that makes this such a compelling piece of television.
What’s Bad?
Erm… I wish this was on BBC so that there were no bloody adverts – much like 24, I think this series would flow better without these constant interruptions! Other than that… not much at all that I can think of.

[Xenu]

This was my personal favorite episode so far; I loved all the little hints to Boomer's true identity & the paranoia that resulted in her when her programmed impulses became at odds with her...is emotions the right word?

The scenes with Helo on Caprica weren't as cool as the previous episode (which contained the coolest shot in the series so far, IMHO), but they raised more questions & were well-done. oh...and wet Boomer rocks

[Blade Runner]

here's another wet one for ya

img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/BSG/peeps/park2.jpg

[Blade Runner]

Screencaps of this ep have now been posted on the main site

[Crashdown]

Spoilers-ho! ...ish

Okay, sorry if this comes out a little incoherent, but I had this thought when I was half asleep.

Anyway, Boomer 'wakes up' with her soaking wet, with her bag with the bomb, towel and uniform in. I was kinda curious why she'd have the bomb there. Presumably, it's in preparation to plant it on the Raptor?

I was only semi-happy with this explanation though. After all, it wouldn't seem too bright of the Cylon personality (or however it works) to leave it where she was going to find it while acting out her human persona.

So, I was pondering a couple of alternatives, although in the long term, they're effectively pretty similair. THe first thing that I was thinking is that some trace element of her human personality remains behind when she starts acting on her Cylon personality and that this held on to the bomb, perhaps to try to warn herself? Some evidence for this bleeding of personalities could maybe be suggested by her apparent affinity for the Cylon Raider. Perhaps the two personas are having difficulty remaining compartmentalised and are slowly seeping into one another.

The other thought that I had doesn't actually make that much sense in hindsight, so nevermind

[Alan]

Crashdown said:

it wouldn't seem too bright of the Cylon personality (or however it works) to leave it where she was going to find it while acting out her human persona.

Good point!

Here's an idea: we know that Boomer's two personalities (human and Cylon) are starting to struggle. In particular, there is the scene later in this same episode where the Cylon personality wants to conceal the results of the water scan while the human personality wants to report it. The human personality wins, and then the Cylon personality tries to blow up the ship, and fails again. The human personality is rising into ascendance, perhaps?

So let's consider that opening scene again. I think the Cylon personality's plan was to have everything neatened up before the human personality ever woke up! The human personality wasn't supposed to be dripping wet, with a bag of clothes and a towel and some detonators. Rather, the Cylon personality planned to dry off, change clothes, hide the detonators, and then allow the human personality to wake up from a "nap" or something.

Instead, the human personality got control too early, and learned a bunch of stuff that she wasn't supposed to know.

[Xenu]

Just noticed on the Sci-Fi debut airing...Starbuck just quoted a Rush album!

"You know what they say, Grace Under Pressure....."

[Blade Runner]

Xenu said:

Just noticed on the Sci-Fi debut airing...Starbuck just quoted a Rush album!

"You know what they say, Grace Under Pressure....."

Yeah i noticed that too

[Big Brother]

Xenu said:

Just noticed on the Sci-Fi debut airing...Starbuck just quoted a Rush album!

"You know what they say, Grace Under Pressure....."

Well, the show IS filmed in Canada...

As for Crashdown's theory...it looked and sounded to me like six detonators were missing, not counting the one Boomer had left in her bag -- which she was shown putting back in the case. Tyrol states finding five sure and a possible sixth detonation point in the water tank, but his voice made it sound like he was only putting in that possible sixth point to cover for the sixth missing detonator he knows about. So Agent-Boomer had already planted the sixth charge in the Raptor, or else squirreled it away somewhere for later planting. Or perhaps the seventh detonator was a backup or was intended to be placed elsewhere.

Of course, the obvious point to be made is that, on a spaceship, I'm sure there was somewhere equally easy for a pilot to get to that would make 5 bombs plenty to utterly destroy the Galactica, rather than merely inconveniencing them. Maybe Agent Boomer doesn't have faith in the whole "awaken in a new body" thing, likes her life on the Galactica getting her Tyrolean Hat on, or otherwise simply is not ready to die? It didn't destroy the Galactica with the bombs, it didn't blow itself up in the Raptor, and it hasn't
taken Pilot-Boomer on a sleepwalk out the nearest airlock.

Or maybe the Cylon plan doesn't involve actually killing off the ragtag fleet after all. That makes me REALLY paranoid...

[Adama]

I give this episode a 5/5 aswell.

The Cylon/Human emotional thing was quite interesting to me.

[13thCylon]

This ep was great! Boomer's plight is a fantastic story! My friends & I have a lot of theories about what has happened & will happen to her! I cringe every time she is on screen now! Totally original concept, this is what scifi & BSG should have always been, compelling & addictive. Incredible start, Mr. Moore, BRAVO!!

[ViperPilotMomma]

Better to keep Agent-Boomer around in the fleet unless you're (well, the Cylons, that is !) going to kill them all off immediately or unless there's another agent in a more advantageous military level in the fleet (I don't count Baltar). She's positioned just right for their purposes - at her level, she can gain the Cylons valuable information being an officer in the know and yet still provide sabotage opportunities without raising too much suspicion (or so it seemed until the inner struggle occurred.)

Chew on this...
Junmping off Big Brother's paranoia, maybe the Cylons know something about the 13th colony that we don't. If the know for a fact that it does exist, maybe their channeling the fleet to it so they can wipe all out at the same time. After all, ya gotta have a plan...

VPM

[Mikou]

Alan said:

I think the Cylon personality's plan was to have everything neatened up before the human personality ever woke up! The human personality wasn't supposed to be dripping wet, with a bag of clothes and a towel and some detonators. Rather, the Cylon personality planned to dry off, change clothes, hide the detonators, and then allow the human personality to wake up from a "nap" or something.

Instead, the human personality got control too early, and learned a bunch of stuff that she wasn't supposed to know.

I think this explanation makes a lot of sense and jibes well with the scene on the Raptor.

I though this episode was brilliantly done. I had some fears about what might be done with Boomer. I didn't want her to become a stock villain. The show surpassed my hopes by giving her true conflict.

I do wonder, though, what would happen if she's in 'Cylon mode' and encounters one of her fellow crew members? That personality must retain a lot of the human Boomer's knowledge in order to be able to 'pass.'

The other part of the conflict that I enjoyed was Tyrol. I have to say that I had a feeling of dread throught the entire episode. He's worried that Boomer will be caught. I'm more worried that people are going to add up Tyrol's odd behavior and coverups and think that HE'S the Cylon.

Anyway, I thought Tyrol's internal struggle was conveyed beautifully. He loves and trusts her, but logic and reason are telling him that something is going on with her and it may be what he's trying to deny. I really look forward to seeing this play out.

I wish we could have seen a little of what was happening on the other ships, but then I remind myself that it's only the 2nd episode. So much has already happened, it's hard to believe.

5/5 on "Water."

[caseOrange]

Maybe we are starting to see weak spots in the bio-Cylons. The Cylons may have copied humans too well, and now we are seeing defects in the bio-Cylons: Boomer struggling with her inner Cylon; Six falling in love with Baltar, to the point she has mentioned having a child with him.

Although these instincts are not thought of as "weak" to humans, they are flaws in the natural killing tendency of the Cylons towards their enemies (humans).

[caseOrange]

Sorry to make two posts in a row, but i just remembered something from "Water" that i wanted to mention.

In the episode, Apollo starts having "flashbacks" from when he blew up the Olympic Carrier. He's riddled, so it seems, with guilt over blowing up a commercial vessel with (supposedly) 1,300 people on board.

His guilt can be easily resolved. On "33", right before he shoots down the carrier, he looks through the windows of the vessel and says that he doesn't see anybody. We are even given a close-up camera shot of the windows to prove that no one is there. i would think that if there were really 1,300 people on board, we would have seen somebody.

This leads me to two different resolutions:

1) Apollo has blocked that part of the mission out of his mind, for whatever reason. Through hypnotherapy (or some sort of psychological treatment) he will remember this, and his guilt will recede.

Or,

2) A la M*A*S*H, it is the Hawkeye "chicken-or-a-baby" episode. In other words, for those who haven't seen the referred to M*A*S*H episode, when we see the empty carrier we are seeing it through Apollo's eyes. There really are 1,300 people on board, waving at him (or doing whatever), but he has subconsciously blocked out the image so that he can gather up the stones to shoot down the carrier .