The Bad...

Pacing...let's slap some lipstick on this pig and get 'er done! We began this season with two episodes of a frantic Starbuck screaming about Earth and then fzzzzzt! It feels like everyone's just ignoring the elephant in the room while we get Lee settled into his new job of agitator for the righteous and moral and play around with all the other puzzle pieces. Except the puzzle pieces we're dealing with aren't part of the picture on the box. What about plot holes, you ask? I've lost track and so I choose to ignore them.

I'm starting to get really cranky about how the storytelling time is being broken up and used so far--Did Lee really need two going away scenes? Yes we get it, Tory is embracing teh ev0l and making rather icky whoopie with Baltar! Oh, Noes! Cally is very difficult! And curious! Now let's kill her!--I think it's pretty inexcusable to give the Demetrius crew WHO ARE LOOKING FOR EARTH HELLO! two real scenes over the last two episodes. Meanwhile, Roslin is debating ethics and nary a word is spoken about the actual Fleet's continued search for Earth other than to point out that the press is naturally curious about where the shit ship really went, which is also a convenient way to reintroduce the long-neglected Quorum.

Going back to the puzzle pieces, I get there are plot elements they need to move around and get into play but breaking things up the way they did feels clunky and lopsided. Spending as much time as they did on Baltar (no matter how significant this development may end up being) is difficult for me to stomach because while I may enjoy him in small doses or as the occasional comic relief, I also feel a tremendous amount of distaste towards his character (though certainly not James Callis' portrayal of him...in fact he's done too good a job). Also, it feels sloppy to go from the intensity of Starbuck--questions of what she is and the demi-trust certain other characters seem to have placed in her and her seemingly impossible claim that she knows the way to Earth--to just shunting it to the back burner. If every scene is a vignet in a larger story couldn't they have mixed the sequence a little better?

Of course this is my personal feeling and shows where my interest lies in the story right now. It also apparently shows that I was once a great fan of Moby Dick and Melville.

The Good...

I will say I enjoyed this episode as an ideal actor's and director's showcase. EJO's hand is very obvious because he always manages to balance intense material with a hint of quirk and I think he has a sense of what makes for almost play-like intimacy, as an actor behind the lens. A good example of this is giving us the visual of Baltar being physically dragged back up to a standing position by Invisible-to-Everyone-but-Him-Head!Six. Some of the fade out shots and framing, particularly in the bar sequence were very nicely done, too (and I like how they played a strain of the Watchtower music zooming out from Tyrol at the bar). His deft and subtle touch might have imbued some of the more abysmal stand-alone episodes of season three with desperately needed life. (ETA: Oh wait! He did direct one. The Episode Which Shall Not Be Named aka Cheers Part Deux.)

Acting was pretty awesome all around, but I thought Aaron was the best I've ever seen him in the tense Joe's Bar scene. That was just utterly painful to watch, I mean like HURTS IN YOUR GUT. He wins for the night. Wins for being hateful, in pain, inflicting pain on others, alone and completely and utterly confused. Chief is so far out to sea he's invisible. Aaron really blew me away.

EJO and MM were great in their scenes together. I also really enjoyed the interplay between Tigh/Caprica/Ellen. It was a nice bit of ambiguitiy playing out there where it seemed like Caprica cottoned onto Tigh a couple times, but really didn't. I enjoyed the weaving of the narrative at the end between Baltar's resistance, beating and sermon and how this applied to Caprica and Tigh. Plus, I <3 Michael Hogan so I'm always excited for a little extra time for Tigh. I thought I saw Starbuck for a second there, but apparently no one wanted to wake her from her nap for the episode, especially not her precarioulsy situated Cylon husband.

Maybe I'm just cranky in general or maybe my expectations are too high. I don't know. I want to be head over heels with my show but instead I find myself thinking...well, next week will be better. Clearly I found plenty to enjoy in tonight's episode, even if it wasn't quite what I was hoping for in terms of story pacing, but I can't help but continue to wish that forward movement would be coming fast and hard at this point because there just isn't that much time left and there are still SO MANY QUESTIONS! Questions I was hoping wouldn't be answered in the form of what feels a little like Ron's juniour year poly-sci thesis. (Which is an odd thing for me to say, as one of the few who agreed with Helo's decision in Measure of Salvation.)

Next week's preview...

This may well prove to be the next week I've been hoping for and I have a feeling I'll be enjoying it quite a bit more because it looks like someone remembered Earth, Cylon civil war, the Pequod S(hit) S(hip) Demetrius and oh...what promises to be at least a full second or two of Callum Rennie in whatever capacity they choose to use him. While I'm not hugely excited to see he's once again adopted one of his less flattering fashion choices (hazard vest), I feel greatly encouraged that he appears to be alive, however briefly, with Ahab Starbuck around.