#rip me bsg blogging in 2022

[curioussubjects]

unfinished business is the only episode and kara thrace is the only character

bonus:

[curioussubjects]

The Torn-Up Road: Part II Previous: Part I

Next: Part III • Part IV • Part V

[curioussubjects]

The Torn-Up Road: Part IV

Previous: Part I • Part II • Part III

Next: Part V

[curioussubjects]

The Torn-Up Road: Part III

Previous: Part I • Part II

Next: Part IV • Part V

[curioussubjects]

The Torn-Up Road: Part V [feat. Maelstrom (good ending version)]

Previous: Part I • Part II • Part III • Part IV

[curioussubjects]

The Torn-Up Road: Part I

Next: Part II • Part III • Part IV • Part V

[curioussubjects]

im reading in the whole world again, and this time it's ~worse because i know what's coming so i've pretty much been on the verge of tears for the past hour as i read it (i just got to chapter 7, things havent even gotten that intense yet lmaosobs)

[curioussubjects]

battlestar galactica caps are like dark dark weird frame dark why would you film a scene like this weird frame weird frame dark you know what you need an extremely awkward close up of a FACE so dark you can't actually see anything at all why center your characters' faces when you can focus on stairs instead lmao you want coverage of both characters in this scene? hah! you get reaction shots only perish

[curioussubjects]

this is the most unhinged image i have ever created you're welcome

(click for full size and maximum impact)

[curioussubjects]

forgot to let y’all know last night i survived watching scar but only barely. why are pilots the way they are why bensmoking.jpg. very excellent kara episode though i would like to give her a hug and a blanket. highlights are her scenes with helo and the toast scene at the end. my girl!!! cares!!! so much!!! kara is love shaped yall ksdjhfklasd

bit salty about how they decided to go about framing kat and kara’s antagonism, though. kara isn’t tigh. i feel like frustrated concern would be more in line with what kat and kara’s relationship probably is rather than outright hostility. didn’t like that, especially with how if kat is starbuck’s mini-me that mark didnt hit very well at all....meh. 

alsoooo ok ok helo telling kara she’s been ~off since anders and like....WHERE. someone point me to WHERE because i didn’t hallucinate final cut, pegasus, resurrection ship, and flight of the phoenix, did i? like those episodes happened? 

lee & kara: *experience suicidal thoughts/ideation as a result of trauma from being at war for 6 months, scarcity, being refugees, oh and also surviving genocide via nuclear holocaust*

black market & scar: it’s about their love for these randos actually in addition trust me. look at this dee-related drama with this simmering guilt over an ex. no deets though. but it’s bad enough to warrant sublimation via sex worker. these are real people so real naturalism at its finest. remember sam anders? no? well take a gander at this. kara’s been totes suffering. pining away lovesick. it’s not about kara keeping her promise to rescue the resistance, no it’s about her deep love for this man she spent [checks notes] 5 days with. naturalistic sci-fi boys and girls (gn).

also scar: reilly died because he didnt conquer his fear // what about us // there is no us // [press x to doubt] // it’s the alive guys you have a problem with // starbuck didnt die despite not conquering her fear but it’s ok she has a reason to live 

speaking of: more thoughts on the quadrangle of doom under the cut.

incidentally i think i figured it out why the quadrangle of doom is bothering me so much more than normal (as in for that type of story): i’ve said it before i think that a huge issue i have with how bsg tells its story is its lack of denouement with character plots, which makes the continuity really jarring. 

and it’s particularly bad with how bsg handles lee and kara’s romance. it’s like...one would IMAGINE that black market would feature kara in some way, likewise for resistance and the farm with lee. but they they don’t feature at all in those plotlines. lee isnt thinking about kara and kara isnt thinking about lee. as a viewer i can only figure well ok so pilots isn’t actually a thing, and the show is going in a new direction with kara/sam and lee/dee. that’s fine. i mean it isn’t because pilots, but technically bsg doesn’t owe me pilots (or dee/billy.......). so. it’s fine, i don’t have to like it. 

except then i gotta ask myself what was the point of colonial day? of home? of scar? it’s so strange because the conventional signs taken as a whole would lead one to believe that lee and kara are the main pairing. but when looking at some of these episodes it’s like pilots are an afterthought that gets brought back for pointless drama. black market stands on its own without pilots just fine, obviously. and scar doesn’t need pilots either, but lee is still asking “what about us?” and kara is yelling back “there is no us.” and damn like......at that point? im confused by lee’s question and agreeing with kara (not that she’s being totally sincere in that moment, but i only know that because i’ve watched ahead). im not agreeing with her because i want to! but because the narrative isn’t giving me enough to fill the gaps. that, and i don’t find [handwave] repression to make sense here at all with lee and kara’s history with each other. 

idk i find myself screaming at my laptop for the show to just pick one. pick a struggle bsg omg. your use of romance tropes is BEWILDERING who’s in charge of this im getting my time machine. 

yes i realize this is pointless griping because of unfinished business (and maelstrom most of all rendering this whole thing moot in the worst possible way fight me rdm you demon from the depths). 

*gathers my 5 children close to protect them from this narrative*

[curioussubjects]

what inside my brain has been looking like these past 5 months lmaosobs

dear dad or god or whatever // what started this mess // full size

[curioussubjects]

watching black market now and what is happeninggg???

lee has a whole gf experience sitch with shevon that has been going on for who knows how long, while having some weird flirtation with dee that’s serious enough for her to confront him (for...why?? whys is dee cheating on billy?????), oh and just ~btw lee had a gf in the before times who was pregnant i guess?? but APPARENTLY that history was pressing enough that shevon is a sublimation of it? maybe dee also? or is dee the shevon to kara’s gianne hee hoo

AND YET kara is sir not appearing in this movie despite lee kissing her earlier in the season??? and it never being mentioned again?? but that’s just not relevant to whatever clusterfuck we got happening here no sir [shout out to scar waiting in the wings with the steel chair]. also lmao hold on what does this mean for the daybreak flashbacks im yelling what’s the timeline here skadhflaksdj

but whatever the lesson here is that a thriving black market is crucial for the survival of the fleet lmfao????? anyway someone introduce lee to communism

oh and gaius is an antagonist now because roslin rightfully called him selfish in a letter and it hurt his fee fees for some reason 

[curioussubjects]

who’s ready for the captain’s hand?? not me, but here we goooo

mandatory whinging about lee/dee: wah don’t like it why this bleh etc etc (they are very cute though, as individuals)

1. karaaaa baby i missed you 

2. lee out here telling lies about knowing how to handle kara thrace. HAH. though tbf he didn’t sound like he believed what he was saying either lmao

3. laura looking at that picture of her and billy my heart

4. ngl watching this forced birth storyline rn with roe v. wade about to be overturned in the grossest way possible is not great, folks. straight up not having a good time here. especially with the girl being literally referred to as “property of her parents.” and frankly i don’t think this is the abortion episode bsg needed. there’s no reason for abortion to be a religious issue in this ‘verse. if rdm wanted an edgy abortion episode so badly i think the route of government control due to repopulation concerns would be much more appropriate. fucked up, yes, but a more likely concern in their situation, rather than copy+pasting the forced birth as an imposition of religious belief onto others. like being religious doesn’t automatically mean anti-choice. it never has.  at least adama makes a mention of the “we better start having babies thing” not that it mattered in the end beyond justifying cognitive dissonance. 😩

5. baltar im sorry you got a personality transplant and that you won’t get better until season 4-ish. rip.  6. add this episode to the evidence pile of kara thrace has adhd thanks (”you should see the way my brain works sometimes” my beloved) 7. oh yeah lee is totes mad because kara shot him by accident. yep. suuuuuuuure. 100%. lee say you’re sorry right now look what you did you made her sad 😭😭  8. eeeee lee is such a precious little bean taking command of pegasus with his little face 🥺🥺

9. kara’s little laugh in the viper im soft 🥺🥺❤❤

10. father issues via battlestar command only in bsg *finger guns*

11. oh. ohh. PILOTS. what was that scene in the bunkroom im SEVERELY UNWELL OVER IT OMG legit almost cried my sweet babies with the HANDS and the EYES and the FACE JOURNEYS. and kara, oh kara she was so sad and so scared she lost her best friend 😭😭 but it’s just gonna keep happening because it’s not about bucking authority and getting away with it or being shot. it’s about the extended hand holding and the GAZING and the bittersweet hugging. it’s about the *thing* they wont talk about ugh ugh. it’s about baltar and sam and dee and zak. and it’s about being scared of risking it all and losing and and 😭😭😭 someone hold me im on the floor  

12. many thoughts head full (of pilots)

[curioussubjects]

OK I WATCHED SACRIFICE

justice4billy, first of all (& hugs for roslin omg that bit when she fixed his hair my heart 😭😭).

second of all: i cannot CANNOT believe the first cheating buffoon was dee of all people this is Very Rich. also, dee, bby, i actually really do like your character but whyyy are you dumping billy for lee. especially since she already knew lee and kara had some messy bullshit going on. the instant karma there OOF. 

no but really im actually surprised in my lj spelunking i never saw folks talk about dee cheating before anyone else did, instead i mostly saw folks complaining about pilots-related infidelity wank. sometimes...missing out on a fandom’s heyday....is better.

anyway, thoughts and prayers to samuel anders for being the only well-adjusted member of the quadrangle of doom. free yourself legend. 

this show cracks me up though using gd ellen as authorial mouthpiece: 

“well it's hard, you know? to choose the people we fall in love with...to love only one person at a time. people like us are more complicated.”

bsg if rdm understood polyamory lolsobs. not that i think pilots could handle polyamory considering how intensely focused they are on each other. 

in other related and unsubtle news: sure is interesting how lee decides to get in the middle of a gunfight (for why??) and ends up getting shot by kara, who as a result unlocks another level in trauma and guilt. and then!!! kara watching lee from the shadows in sickbay while dee is there!! much to think about!!! (also violence) 

and speaking of lee: incredible high int low wis rep lmfao i love my idiot son he’s SO jhkjhkjh

LASTLY, my favorite part of the whole episode was kara in civvies. 10/10 outfit i am looking. also marry me.

---

 the captain’s hand is next...eventually bc im still not over scar. pilots 😩

[curioussubjects]

you cant go home again my beloved 

the found family

lee and kara wiggling their wings at each other

kara having mad adhd

kara

[curioussubjects]

Y’all ngl I haven’t gotten around to watching Sacrifice yet because I simply lack the emotional structure for all that pilots tomfoolery (also as as a Kara stan it’s straight up not a good time, especially once s3 kicks in).

So, instead of watching, I did THIS: a timeline! it’s mostly WILD SPECULATION because of the timeline discontinuity issue with season 2, but I think it overall makes sense? Kinda helps put stuff in perspective, at least.

Many thanks to the wiki for having its own timeline compiled, so all I really had to do was try to fill in the gaps for science. 

THAT SAID: I didn’t add much pre-mini stuff because by all accounts it doesn’t make sense, especially how familiar Kara and Lee are with each other if they’d only had spent a weekend together or so (as the story bible establishes) -- how is it familiar that Lee finds her in the brig during the mini? we-just-don’t-know.gif. 

Dates and episode titles between brackets indicate that the information is purely speculative and based on extrapolation. 

Second thing: this timeline is centered on pilots generally because I wanted a better sense of the time frame I was working with for fix-it fic purposes. As such, this timeline also doesn’t go past the events of Maelstrom. 

Under cut for length.

Mini & Season 1

Zak’s funeral: -2 years (last time Kara and Lee see each other before Mini) Kara is reassigned to Galactica: -2 years Mini: 0-2 Colonial Day party: 49 Kara jumps to Caprica: 51

Season 2

Kara & Sam meet: 53 The Farm: 61-62 Astral Queen reunion: 62 Flight of the Phoenix:

Start: 84

End: [~160]

Pegasus & The Resurrection Ship: 

Start: [170]

End: 176-177 (Lee’s spacewalk)

Black Market:

[Start: ~178 

End: 210?]

(start date would make sense for flashbacks with Shevon based on Lee’s mental state and relationship with Dee)

Epiphanies: 189

Scar:

[Start: ~190

End: ~218]

(28 days of a mining operation, present day starts during day 28, assumed to star soon after Epiphanies because why not)

Sacrifice:

[Start: 225

End: 226]

(probably close after Scar based on the progression of Lee and Dee’s relationship) 

The Captain’s Hand: [~230] 

(likely that the Pegasus wouldn’t be without a commander too long after the events of Black Market, and Baltar’s population trends calculation timeframe -- see The Captain’s Hand entry)

Razor:

[Start: 231

End: ~250]

(start date based on when Lee assumes command of Pegasus, and end date is a rough estimate on when it would make sense for Kara to be transferred back to Galactica and plan the resistance rescue mission) 

Resistance Rescue Mission Brief: 269 Kara & co. jump to Caprica: 270 (New Caprica planet found) Kara & co. jump to Galactica: 282

Season 3

New Caprica settlement start:  ~300 Unfinished Business flashbacks: 420/421 Cylon Invasion: 660 (fleet jumps away) Kara’s kidnapping: [678] (counting back 4 months from when exodus starts) Contact with fleet established: 795 Kara and Kacey meet: 796 Galactica returns to New Caprica: 797 Exodus from New Caprica: 798-80

Torn: 850 Unfinished Business: 950

[Lee and Kara’s affair start: choose your own adventure]

[Food stores contaminated: ~960?] (based on how low food stores are when algae planet is found)

The Passage: [1020] (based on how low food stores are when algae planet is found)

The Eye of Jupiter & Rapture: 

Start: [1023- algae harvest start] (operation set up estimate)

End: 1038 (Mandala shows back up in Temple of Five)

(note: 49 days between Rapture and A Day in the Life)

Taking a Break from All Your Worries: [at least 1059]  (no earlier than ~3wks, so Kara’s burns heal fully, unlikely much longer than that because of how long it would take for Kara to confront Lee over his avoidance of her)

The Woman King: [~1080 ]  (likely not long after TaBfAYW or before ADitL due to Baltar’s trial proceedings)

A Day in the Life: 1087  (49 days after Rapture)

Dirty Hands: [1108]  (several weeks after Baltar gets a lawyer, so ~3weeks?)

Maelstrom: 

[Start: 1115

End:  1118]

(day 4 of refueling operations, fuel complications during Dirty Hands, ~1 week? + date range would roughly mark ~6 months since the boxing match in Unfinished Business and that’s nice) ------

Some much to think about (approximate) time lapses:

Mini - Maelstrom: 3 years and 3 weeks

Mini - Home: 2 months and 2 days

KLG - Home: 11 days

Home - Scar: 5 months and 5 days

Unfinished Business - The Eye of Jupiter: 3 months

Scar - UB flashbacks: 6 months and 23 days

UB flashbacks - Cylon Invasion: 8 months

TaBfAYW - (end of) Maelstrom:  2 months