At least this filler was better than last weeks filler... I think Battlestar is at its best with 13 episodes... Yes, and I think the writers have written themselves into quite a corner:
- The fleet's civilian government and military get along fine - what a wasted opportunity to have Tom Zarek cede his constitutionally correct Presidency so quickly to Adama's fascistic threats!;
- The Cylons are no longer nearly the big bad evil threat they started out as 3 years ago. Number Six - the main instigator of the genocide of the human race - is cooperating fairly well with humans after volunteering to go over to the Galactica!;
- Baltar's in jail awaiting some form of justice, and that puts his narcissistic nutball personality out of commission from creating tension;
- Lee's fallen in line;
- The whole concept of "the mysterious final five cylons" lacks tension and intrigue;
- We are told every week at the intro that the Cylons "have a plan". Really? Well, two of the 12 models are cooperating with humans, one model is boxed, and the male cylon models are quite emasculated and hardly seen. Squabbling and introspection rules the day on the Basestars. What plan?!?!;
- The writers have created such detailed back stories for all the critical human characters that it will take a major story betrayal to suddenly say they're Cylons. (Dee, Gaida, and Cally aren't critical.) And even if they were, all of them have risked their necks fighting Cylons - what are they going to do, undergo a Sybil-like personality change? They've already played that plot out (well) with Boomer;
- What's a big airy sports bar - with a big viper hanging overhead, no less (!) - doing on a Battlestar?;
- What happened to the rest of the fleet?!? I guess it just exists on Gary Hudzel's (the special effects guru's) hard drive. It certainly doesn't exist in the writer's room.;
- What was the whole point of the "Eye of Jupiter" temple? That whole little story arc just didn't jell at all into a solid section of the BSG mythology for me.;
- Etc., etc.
I still take the time to watch the show, but a) I don't take the time to learn more via podcasts & such; b) I don't recommend the show to others, and c) if this gets any worse, I might just leave the show, and if someone says a particular episode rocks, I'll buy it for $1.99 on iTunes.
BSG is in tailspin. I hope they pull out.