We’ve had to wait an extra four months for the return of Battlestar Galactica [Sci Fi, Fridays, check local listings], but it was worth the wait. The special, Battlestar Galactica: The Story So Far, this week – and when the third season premieres, next week, it returns the show to its place in the ranks of the very best programs on television. It also begins four months after the Cylons discovered New Caprica and forced the government of the Twelve Colonies to surrender. Where to begin? The Leoben [Callum Keith Rennie] model has returned and taken Kara “Starbuck” Thrace [Katee Sackoff] away to live with him; the Brother Cavil model [Dean Stockwell] is advocating the reduction of the human populace to something more manageable; Lee “Apollo” Adama [Jamie Bamber] has gotten fat, and Gaius Baltar [James Callis] is now head of a puppet government. In short, things are going to hell in a handcart and there doesn’t seem to be anything anyone can do about it.
In spite of the odds, the Colonials have begun a resistance [see Sci Fi’s ten webisodes entitled The Resistance] and have begun striking back. As they escalate their strikes, things become very tense – for the audience as well as the characters. It even comes to a point where the resistance uses suicide bombers!
Throughout the first five episodes of the new season, characters share crises of faith; betrayals of trust; and sacrifice everything for what they believe. Some characters suffer more subtly than others: Kara, for instance, has a pampered existence that almost breaks her resolve. Lee has to learn when and where to take a stand [and lose a few pounds…].
Admiral Adama’s [Edward James Olmos] courage and wisdom lead him to hatch a plot that could almost be considered treasonous – but events bear out his belief and trust being well placed; Six [Trisha Helfer] struggles with her feeling for Baltar; Caprica Sharon [Grace Park] is tested by D’Anna Biers [Lucy Lawless], who has her own spiritual crisis; Baltar finds himself in an unusual position, and Felix Gaeta [Alessandro Juliani] finds himself a much despised man…
The first five episodes of Galactica’s third season resolve the New Caprica situation – as promised by showrunner Ronald D. Moore. These episodes are heartwarming and heartrending – Moore’s creative team has really put on a show here. You may come out of the experience echoing [but actually meaning] the clich