Sweet Galactica-y Goodness

The always-excellent Dan Hartland has another Battlestar Galactica piece up at Strange Horizons. It's not exactly a review of the second season--more a meditation about the 'one year later' leap, what it tells us about the writers' attitude towards the show and about Galactica's chances of survival.
The overall impression is not of a show confidently stepping forward towards a grand new format, but rather a series galloping full tilt from a paradigm it's not sure it can write very well anymore, heedless of everything it has set up. Having followed Galactica and expected some follow-through on the old issues, the viewer is instead presented with an episode which pays lip service to addressing them but in fact is merely getting them out of the way. It is a curiously unceremonious narrative, a nervy rather than a gutsy performance.
I find it interesting to note the difference between Dan's approach to a second season summary piece and mine. I discussed the second season's strengths and weaknesses, and had almost nothing to say about the reboot at its end. Dan concentrates on the shift forward and only touches on the season that preceded it. I think Dan is right when he says that the second season "ended by eviscerating itself". Once we acknowledge the reboot, there's very little left to say about the season itself--it has been bled of all significance and importance, and might as well not even have taken place. Which may very well have been the point.

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