nBSG: "Dirty Hands"

[Gil Hamilton]

It's not like Adama went through with it, and he was clearly bluffing anyways. There will be no "fatal accidents" - the Chief is going to let this go.

It may be hard to let go, Adama may have been bluffing, but it went like this:

Tyrol: "Look, Captain, we are on strike until you do something about these shitty conditions, things aren't right here and we shouldn't have to live like this."
Adama: "Ah, no. You are going to go back to work or we're calling this a mutiny. Than means we are going start executing mutineers. Starting with your wife and then your deck crew."
Tyrol: "We have a kid!"
Adama: "Tough titties, call it off or Cally gets it and then the rest of your deck crew gets it."
Tyrol: "Fuck. Hey Cally, get everyone back to work."
Cally: "We won?"
Tyrol: "*lying to his wife about how Adama just totally schooled him and didn't give in to a single demand* Yeah, we won."
Cally: "Squee! I'm so proud of you!"
Tyrol: "Fuck, fuck, fuck."
Adama: "Now go have a good cry to the President. Later, I'm out."

The only reason the episode resolved somewhat peacably at all was that Roslin decided to give a shit and let them have a union. She could have easily done the same thing that Adama did. I don't think the Chief is going to forget what Adama did there though, particularly not after Baltar was fucking with his head about the Adamas and the Admiral threating to have his wife executed.

[phongn]

I meant that the Chief would let it go professionally (as opposed to personally) - I was unclear on that point.

[Steven Snyder]

I am noting a profound change in the demeanor of Dr. Baltar.

The person that President Airlock dragged out of his cell screaming at was very different from the person that thanked Lt. Gaeta for allowing him to face his own personal demons. And I am seeing the latter personality in this episode, not the former.

It is as if he has a new and profound sense of confidence, for the first time it appears that he is at peace with himself. I recall the awkwardness and the begging he did on the Basestar when his life was in peril, but here...here he is strikingly calm and collected.

I think Adama's little interrogation technique has backfired on him.

[Quadlok]

To all those people saying things to the effect of 'wtf why aren't they scared shitless that the Cylons are coming to get them?' Have you considered that Joe Blow on the fleet doesn't think the Cylons want to kill them all anymore? They didn't kill them on New Caprica, and they've had at least a couple chances since then and didn't pull the trigger, so I think it is reasonable to assume that many among the general populace feel the pressure is off.

[Uraniun235]

- Why the hell would people read Baltar's work or even give any weight to his work?

Maybe because ad-hominum is a fallacy? If he is making good points, it doesn't matter who he is.

Ad-hominem only applies to logical arguments, not to the veracity of the data and the premises those arguments are founded on; thus, if (for a hypothetical example) Baltar were to say that as Vice-President he witnessed "policies designed to ensure Caprican supremacy" and that therefore these policies were representative of class warfare within the Fleet, it would not be unreasonable to question whether his interpretation of those policies is correct, or even if he's telling the truth about having witnessed any said policies in the first place.

[NeoGoomba]

It doesn't look too different from one of the stages of uranium processing.

Ah thank you very much.

[Skylon]

To all those people saying things to the effect of 'wtf why aren't they scared shitless that the Cylons are coming to get them?' Have you considered that Joe Blow on the fleet doesn't think the Cylons want to kill them all anymore? They didn't kill them on New Caprica, and they've had at least a couple chances since then and didn't pull the trigger, so I think it is reasonable to assume that many among the general populace feel the pressure is off.

Then why did everyone on New Caprica make for the nearest spaceship when the evacuation began? They may not think the Cylons want to kill them all, but they sure as hell don't want to live under Cylon rule.

After New Caprica I think it just felt like the workers may have traded one dictator for another. They were being worked to death on New Caprica, or locked up. Now the same thing was happening when they were back on the road to Earth.

A big error on Roslin's part was locking up the refinery chief as soon as he said he'd read Baltar's book. That had to give everyone New Caprica flashbacks (and hey, once in a cell, it gave the guy flashbacks literallly).

[xerex]

1. Baltar was president once, there must still be a core of people predisposed to listen to him.

2. Related to the above, remember just how FEW people were actually involved in the resistence ? Tigh kept complaing about that. Remeber the collaberators ? The Caprica Police ?

3. Sure they're grateful not to live under the Cylons anymore, that's a far stretch from agreeing with everything Roslin and Adama do. For some of them it may even seem that there is little differnce between Cylon tyrany and human 'state of emergency' .

4. and since Zarek is now part of the establishment, maybe there was a void in the opposition that Baltar is able to fill ?

[HSRTG]

This was entertaining, apart from Chief/Cally angst, which I fast forwarded through. Adama got to be the badass we all know and love, plus there's potentially a new Hotdog in the making. I do like that the well-intentioned guy got smacked down for once. The Chief really did deserve that.

[Gandalf]

I enjoyed it, though I thought it all ended too soon. Though I guess the labour issues will be a running theme as the fleet becomes more and more run down.

There's a shitload of buildup to Baltar's trial, I'm thinking it'll be the season finale.

[Quadlok]

Then why did everyone on New Caprica make for the nearest spaceship when the evacuation began? They may not think the Cylons want to kill them all, but they sure as hell don't want to live under Cylon rule.

After New Caprica I think it just felt like the workers may have traded one dictator for another. They were being worked to death on New Caprica, or locked up. Now the same thing was happening when they were back on the road to Earth.

Its much like what went on in the Biblical story of Exodus (and hey, isn't the in universe term for this event the 'second exodus'). Anyway, things were shitty back on New Caprica, but now they're basically wandering in the desert for 40 years and people are going to start romanticizing the conditions they were so eager to escape origionally. And, again, the fact that in the Colonial's dealings with the Cylons since New Caprica, nothing went apocolyptically askew, is more than enough of a pretext for tired, burnt out people (some of which were already known to have believed in the possibility of Human-Cylon peace) to grab onto and say that the threat has subsided.