Overall, a great episode information-wise.
Dean Stockwell's acting? Not so much.
In my opinion, Stockwell just didn't seem
convinced by the material. His being pi$$ed off at his "mother" Ellen, wasn't, well, very angry in an emotive sense, and for some reason, just about every word he spoke was drawn out. When people get angry and speak, the words
zip out. For Stockwell, just the opposite. Weird. I'm a huge fan of his, particularly his work on
Quantum Leap, but his last few appearances in the series have left me wondering what's causing his delivery to seem so
flat.
Cavil's a great character, but I'm starting to regret Stockwell's selection to play the role. This episode was THE moment for him to just unleash his rage regarding his very existence on Ellen. Instead, it came out as a whimper with really bushy eyebrows
trying to look enraged. The lines regarding the limitations of "human" flesh, and his desire to dance about the very stuff of stars were well written. There's a
lot that one could read between these lines, such as wanting too badly to ascend into the immortal, with none too subtle allusions to Lucifer or whatever demonic deity one would like to submit here, based on personal tastes. But man, their delivery! Awful. Really, really bad stuff here, Dean.
That aside...
Wow! So much to digest. I think that the brain injury was a great means to justify Anders' sudden reconnection with his Cylon history, and to try and get it out as quickly as possible before his memory's subordinated and/or lost.
Having the scenes with Ellen on the basestar was a nice device to temper the agitated data flooding out of Anders.
The posts here have really fired up my imagination. I'd like it if Daniel was Baltar, and that one of the models was Starbuck's father. But if that's the case,
and the rumor regarding her future encounter with a piano player are an indication that there is a model of Daniel in the fleet and he's the piano player, well, there's no way that Baltar could be a Daniel-model.
The head-Baltars and head-Sixes must be a manifestation of the other individuals visiting the heads of all the other models. Anders didn't describe the one he saw as looking like a Six, so that's interesting to contemplate...
There's definitely a bigger player(s) involved in all of this. Perhaps whatever it is they keep referring to as "god". Is it also responsible for Starbuck's return from the dead? The timeline doesn't seem to permit Ellen to be the one who intervened in the Cylon ship regarding Kara's fate, so...
Can't wait for the next one!
Seriously people, stop casually dropping in spoilers for future events. Last warning. - Karajorma
