I felt kind of removed from the characters this episode, and at first I thought it was because the focus was on Cally, whom I don’t really care for. But when I rewatched it, I realised that there were a lot of fancy directorial tricks going on that purposely distanced many of the characters. Conventional close-ups were few & far between, with characters shot from a distance, with their backs to the camera, with objects obscuring their faces, in extreme closeup with only part of their face visible, and frequently in profile or turning away. No doubt meant to reflect the fractured relationships and lack of trust between the characters, camerawork so unconventional it’s almost impressionistic is incredibly daring for a TV show…and frustrating to watch.

Cally had the bulk of the screentime, in the typical strategy of building up a relatively minor character so that her death at the end of the episode is meaningful. As a result, she did have a lot of more standard close-ups – mixed with flashes of memory & fuzzy-edged point-of-view shots. Given her unbalanced mental state, it was hard to know if we could trust what we were seeing, even as we knew that the truth was so much worse than she imagined. I almost felt bad for Cally, but really her character hasn’t had enough of a presence for me to care too much (yep, I’m cold-hearted) – though the bigger-picture implications are interesting.

Cally’s always been one of the most vehement Cylon-haters, so her finding out that her husband is a Cylon could only end with her death – I can’t see her talked into keeping quiet, even if she was in a more stable state of mind. The manner of her death was surprising, though – or, at least it would have been, had the previews not given it away. (I have to admit Tory had me fooled there; when she talked Cally down, I though maybe the previews had been a trick.) It looks like Tory is really embracing her Cylon nature: getting the baby from Cally, then airlocking her just when she thinks she’s safe is the sort of coldly calculating move we used to see a lot of from the Cylons. Not to mention, Tory’s apparent Cylon super-strength, when she casually sent Cally flying across the room. How might this new Cylon-ness play out in her role as Roslin’s aide?

Speaking of Roslin, even without any obvious help from Tory she seems to be heading down the road to Dictator Town. That Star Chamber justice system is exactly the sort of thing she would have strongly opposed in the past. Could Baltar winning his trial (after he already won the election when she owned up to fixing it) have been the final straw? Add in her belief that she’s the divinely chosen dying leader who will take her people to Earth, and the ticking clock of her cancer, & I think she’s willing to do whatever it takes to make sure her vision of the future comes to pass. Judging from the press conference & the Quorum meeting, her secretive behaviour is fast losing her support, & judging from her reaction, she doesn’t care beyond getting annoyed by the questions & bickering. The camera’s sceptical of her, too: the rapid cuts, quick pans, & odd angles of those scenes do not inspire confidence, especially when contrasted with the long – in both time & distance – shots of her brief scene with Adama when they have an honest though terse discussion about the Demetrius.

The junior Adama’s relationship with Madam President is not in good shape either, as their once-similar ideals have sharply diverged. I can’t help but wonder if they’re setting up for a rift in the government, with the Quorum siding with Lee. Lee, however, needs to lose some of his naivety, & fast. Zarek’s obviously using him as a pawn in some plan, & Lee’s fallen right into his trap. And, once again, the camerawork lets us know what’s what in the scene between the two of them by breaking a cardinal rule of filmmaking, resulting in both characters constantly changing places in the frame so their eyelines don’t match up, & it’s hard to tell who’s where.

Roslin might draw some consolation from the fact that Starbuck’s followers are similarly unhappy with their leader. She’s sending them in circles while she holes up in her cabin, trying to remember the way & dodging questions. She’s also dodging the camera, as her scenes are all weird angles & jump cuts; the only time we get more than a brief glimpse of her face is during her post-coital confession to Anders that she feels disconnected from her body ever since she came back. (What was it about that nebula that frakked everyone up so much? The Four, Starbuck, Roslin, even Cally…) Poor Anders – he desperately wants to connect with her, but she has literally turned her back on him.

By the way, what was Adama thinking, sending the cream of his crew on Starbuck’s mission? That’s quite the vote of confidence there. Helo, Gaeta, Sharon (where’s Hera?) … now that Lee’s traded in his tank tops & dog tags for a suit & tie, who’s left to defend the fleet if the Cylons appear?

…So, it’s just as well that the Cylons are too busy destroying each other at the moment. I thought this was an interesting storyline that got kind of abandoned. The inter-Cylon animosities have ramped up yet again, to the point where they’re trying to kill each other, for realsies. What was Six thinking, falling into that obvious trap of Cavil’s?