Adama and passivity

[lesbiassparrow]

I think way too much about BSG, mainly when I should be working on other things that have actual real life consequences.



I find it very interesting that Adama is totally removed from this mess that this season is becoming by reason of his injury. It's strange: it was his arrest of the president that resulted in the Roslin vs. Tigh, Civilians vs. Military facedown of the last episode, but he's detached from its ultimate consequences. It's useful for the narrative, because although it looks like things have become so irredeemably tangled that the various sides of the fleet will have real problems coming to a compromise, Adama isn't involved in the actual detailed fallout of his decision and can step in to calm the situation if needs be. And I'm still unclear as to what he intended by arresting Roslin - temporary measure from anger, or long range plan to depose a civilian government he either thought was dangerous or was too uncontrollable?

In the last season, he and Roslin balanced each other out. Now there is no one with the status to counter-weigh Roslin's authority - especially if she's become a prophetic figure with the added power that comes from that. (And I'm differentiating between authority and power - Roslin has authority while Tigh has power) Tigh is depending upon force, but that's only going to work as long as the Galactica is firmly under his control and his troops trust him enough not to blow the rest of humanity out of the skies because things aren't going his way. Baltar is surely totally compromised now his find-a-Cylon machine manifestly did not find the Cylon it should have.

My question is here: what result does Adama recovering have on Roslin's position? Will he bring back some sort of balance or does he skew things even further? And how strange is it to see a main male cast character in such a passive role for so many episodes.

ETA: I really like Reno 911. My tastes are so low-brow it's deeply shaming.

Comments

[nostalgia-lj.livejournal.com]

It's interesting starting from this point, like I are. All I have to go for Adama's motives with the Roslin thing is what Tigh attributes to him, and I think Tigh is in love with him loyal enough not to be a terribly reliable source. I mean, does he honestly know or think that Adama doesn't want dictator powers, or is it just that he sees martial law as the result of his own failure and thus something Adama wouldn't do because he's Just That Good? He strikes me as being quite passive because he's not confident enough to let things get murky or competent enough to cope with things that already are.

Roslin seems to be painting herself as a pawn of fate, but she makes the semi-passive thing work for her more because she doesn't lash out (or maybe she does, this is all based on what I've seen, which is the three eps so far this season). Which makes me think that she's utterly in control, and she sort of is, because to an extent she's chosen this role of leader rather than trying to get the hell out of Dodge. She's certainly a lot more comfortable with it than Tigh is with his own role.

I was surprised when it turned out that Baltar has an important actual job, because so far for me he's this crazy guy in the woods. Except I'm not sure how crazy he really is. I think he's getting there, maybe.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that Baltar does actually do anything important in his important job. He got picked because he was famous before the war or something and the alternative was mad Zarek who blew people up before the Cylons came. Since he got elected he's just sat around being sort of insane and rather useless.

That's a good point and Tigh's unreliability as a source. I have to admit I have harboured deep dark thoughts about Adama's motives and plans in the first season. Now he's just sort of lying there I find it harder to think of him as so Machiavellian. I got the impression last year that Adama kept Roslin on simply because he couldn't be bothered to deal with the civilians himself, but people have argued me out of that point of view.

I think Roslin is certainly more in control (and she doesn't lash out or lose her temper that I recall) despite being locked in cell and half out of her head due to drugs, which is rather impressive. But then Tigh is so obviously out of his depth that I think a wombat would also look in control compared to him.

[nostalgia-lj.livejournal.com]

Now I wonder if it's going to lead to some counter-mutiny by Roslin against Tigh, and then get settled back into some sort of equilibrium by Adama when he wakes up. I think it's important for Tigh's character that we aren't given any timeline for when to expect Adama to return to awakeitude, and I think if he'd known he only had, say, a day or two to wait he wouldn't have gone with martial law.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

What do you call a counter-mutiny? I bet there's a technical term. It would be funny if Adama woke up and said 'hey, that's exactly what I would have done. What do you mean it didn't work?' And then he and Tigh could confess their love for each other.

[nostalgia-lj.livejournal.com]

Together they shall rule the galaxy as lovers!

[meret.livejournal.com]

I find it very interesting that Adama is totally removed from this mess that this season is becoming by reason of his injury.

I bet EJO is *not* happy with how little screen time he had this season.

And I'm still unclear as to what he intended by arresting Roslin - temporary measure from anger, or long range plan to depose a civilian government he either thought was dangerous or was too uncontrollable?

IMO, he's never accepted the authority of the civillian government, especially where the military is concerned. He just pretended to in order to keep the peace. That's why Litmus is the only BSG ep I've hated. I haven't liked his character since he illegally dismissed that board of inquiry. (I think that was Litmus.)

[toronto-kid.livejournal.com]

I bet EJO is *not* happy with how little screen time he had this season.

I think he's doing a second project, while filming BSG, that involves flying to and from either location. Not sure what the second project is. One of the behind-the-scenes mpgs has him phoning in his lines for a rehearsal.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

I am ashamed to admit I'd sort of forgotten Litmus (I think you're right that is the episode). And it is interesting - not only for how he dealt with something that got in his way (and it was hard not to side with him because the board of inquiry *was* creepy) but also for how he refused to see the long-range result of his action. Wasn't he warned that this would turn out to be a mess and decided to go on with it anyway.

Maybe that's what we're supposed to see as his character - a man who makes sudden decisions and doesn't think about their consquences. I don't know. I think the thing that interested me about the injury was not just that it gets him out of the way but that it makes this very forceful character so passive. You can attribute all sorts of thoughts and wishes to him but you just don't know. While Roslin, backed in her corner, who should be also equally passive (what power has she now, really?) suddenly finds a way to break free and be this active and rather dynamic figure.

[jenavira.livejournal.com]

And I'm still unclear as to what he intended by arresting Roslin - temporary measure from anger, or long range plan to depose a civilian government he either thought was dangerous or was too uncontrollable?


This is the problem I'm having...because I'm not at all sure he was intending on declaring martial law, but that's sure as hell what it looks like when you arrest the President, isn't it? I suppose you could balance that with his fondness for Kara, his disbelief in Roslin-as-prophecied-leader, and his general tendancy to be a control freak, but...

It's a very strange situation, and I can't wait for him to wake up and see what's happened.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

As I said above to notalgia_lj, I used to have darker thoughts about Adama but for some reason I overcame them (I think I got persuaded out of them) but both of your points are making me think again. As you say, arresting the President looks like martial law. But you know, I don't think Adama is a man with long range plans as a rule. It's all 'go on and fight' 'go and rescue Kara and not worry about our reserves'. I don't think it's what he is good at really - that was shown by starting up the inquiry that then got out of hand and which he had to dismiss forcibly.

[jenavira.livejournal.com]

I think you're right -- I think it's very likely that all he was doing in arresting Roslin was taking the only way he could think of to regain control of the situation. He freaked out because someone not himself (or his chain of command) was giving orders to Kara and she was obeying them. And if he hadn't been shot, he and Roslin would have shouted at each other, she might have sat in the brig for a while, and and then he would have let her go. (She'd probably have to come back with something, but that surely wasn't part of his plan.)

Then again, I fully admit that I have a weird viewpoint because the first episode of BSG I saw was "Kobol's Last Gleaming part II" and that got me hooked enough to download the whole first season. My brain is in a weird place with this show.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

Then again, I fully admit that I have a weird viewpoint because the first episode of BSG I saw was "Kobol's Last Gleaming part II" and that got me hooked enough to download the whole first season. My brain is in a weird place with this show

Heh! I saw the first season pretty much as it aired (with a few missing eps that I made up later) and I still find it hard to keep things straight. I have no real idea what the timeline is for one.

[jenavira.livejournal.com]

Timeline? My grip of the timeline is so not even there.

I'm starting to think I should just re-watch the whole first season again, see if that helps.