Lucy Lawless - Battlestar Galactica
D'anna Biers / Cylon Number Three
Season 2 - Episode
18
Downloaded Review
Review by MaryD
ausxip@gmail.com
Story So Far |
Quotable Quotes |
MaryD's Review |
Lucy Bits
Story So Far: “On Caprica, the
reincarnated Number Six (Tricia Helfer) and Sharon (Grace Park) are
hailed as Heroes of the Cylon for the key roles they played in the
near-destruction of the human race. But these are tortured heroes.
Number Six’s thoughts are haunted by Baltar (James Callis), just as she
haunts his thoughts on Galactica. And Sharon has so fervently embraced
her love for Tyrol (Aaron Douglas) and the fake human life the Cylons
created for her undercover mission that the Cylon leadership – D’Anna
(Lucy Lawless) and Doral (Matthew Bennett) – are thinking of ‘boxing’
her (putting her consciousness into cold storage). Meanwhile, the human
resistance – under the leadership of Kara’s lover, Samuel Anders
(Michael Trucco) – is preparing to strike a savage blow, however futile,
against the Cylon occupation.
“On Galactica, the captive Sharon gives premature birth to Hera, the
child she conceived with Helo (Tahmoh Penikett). As the infant fights
for life, she becomes the focus of intrigue, as President Roslin (Mary
McDonnell) and the Cylons hidden amongst the fleet fight to gain control
of this newborn symbol of hope… or harbinger of human extinction.”
Quotable Quotes:
“God loves me.” Thwack and down goes Three when she gets hit by Six
with a rock. I’d say God wasn’t loving her all that much. Yep sure looks
that way to me.
“Humans don’t respect life, like we do.” Hello pot, this is the kettle!
You nuked billions of humans! Three has a VERY short memory. Memo to the
Committee: Gotta work on Three’s memory for the next download.
"Life is Short, but the next ones not. Let your heart adrift and your
soul will get caught." Who knew Baltar can be such a poet.
MaryD’s Review
Battlestar Galactica is one of those shows that starts off with a bang
(literally) and gets better and better. This episode is just wonderfully
written, beautifully acted and a great addition to the series. Added to
this great series is the addition of Lucy Lawless, beloved by many as
Xena Warrior Princess and now as Number Three (or D'anna Biers from a
previous episode Final Cut).
Before I begin this review I want to make an observation (which will
lead some people into thinking I have no life). Number Three wears
yellow A LOT. Or a pukey green. D'anna Biers wore yellow or a pukey
green on Galactica. Caprica has a yellowish tinge (I hope that's not
nuclear fallout) to it. Is the Cylon colour a pukey green or yellow?
Number Six wears red A LOT but as we learn Number Six isn't a true blue
Cylon. She's been infected with too much human contact which might
explain the red outfits instead of the yellow. Something to think about.
Okay onto the review:
What happens when a Cylon dies? Do they go to Cylon heaven? Depends if
you are Number Six or Sharon (Boomer) aka Number Eight. You go to the
Cylon version of hell and you’re threatened with being “boxed” if your
memories are tainted. Not a nice way to spend eternity.
A quick recap on Six: after the nuclear holocaust on Caprica by the
Cylons, Six dies saving Baltar from the explosion (I can only guess
that’s how Baltar survived). She gets reborn into a new body. Something
weird happens and she can see Baltar – he’s her subconscious. Nifty.
Your enemy is your inner voice. Except that Six loves Baltar. How human
of her.
A quick recap on Eight (aka Sharon): Oh what a tangled
web. Let’s start with Sharon who turns out to be a Cylon (who didn’t
know she was a Cylon sleeper) and she shoots Commander Adama (bad girl).
Galactica Sharon then gets shot by Cally (bad girl but understandable).
We won’t go into Caprica Sharon and Helo’s baby here. Galactica Sharon
(aka Eight) gets reborn and is none to happy to find herself with the
Cylons and in a gooey bath surrounded by Herself, Six and Three.
Both ladies are royally screwed up – both loved humans and pay a
terrible price. They know they did the wrong thing. One can see her
lover and the other has serious guilt issues.
Enter the ever wonderful, talented Lucy Lawless. We first saw Lucy as
D’anna Biers, the scheming, arrogant, annoying fleet reporter in Final
Cut. She was such a fantastic character and you knew she was coming back
at the end of Final Cut. We saw Three, Six, Eight and Five in a viewing
room watching D'anna's story.
We now get to see Lucy Lawless as Number Three; a member of the ruling
Cylon Welcoming Committee for Screwed Up Cylons (or is that Cylon
Welcoming Committee for Newly Downloaded Cylons). Three shows her
caring, sharing, loving Cylon side by reassuring the newly Downloaded
Cylons that everything is okay. They are heroes of the Cylon. Everything
will be okay. Trust her. (Heh yeah but would you buy a used planet from
her?)
Our "heroes" are having a tough time adjusting to life especially Number
Eight who can't get over being a Cylon, shooting Commander Adama and
betraying her friends and lover. Number Six can't get over Baltar. It
doesn't help that he pops up when she least expects him. I like this
Baltar.
Six is seen admiring the work being done on the park until she is
reminded by Baltar that many died in that very park. He had to ruin the
moment <g>
Six’s musings are interrupted by Three when she comes over and sits down
on the bench next to Six. Three strokes Six’s ego (do Cylon’s have
egos?) that she is a Hero of the Cylon when she destroyed the Human
defences during the Cylon initial attack on Caprica. We see a whole lot
of Cylon models (Threes, Sixes, Fives and Eights) walking about or
sitting down. Six is known as Caprica Six and is revered after
accomplishing a difficult mission.
As a hero of the Cylon, Three asks Six to help with a small problem they
are having with another hero of the Cylon, Eight (who insists on keeping
the name Sharon). Sharon is having major problems adjusting to the fact
that she betrayed her friends and her lover.
Can Six save this tortured Cylon and help her come back into the fold.
Or does she have a bigger plan.
Six and Eight discover they have a mutual love for humans and that can
get in the way of the murdering Cylon way.
The question is did Three know about Six and her phantom lover and
that’s why she was sent to “help” Eight? Was this a ploy to uncover them
both?
Meanwhile nearby, the resistance on Caprica (led by Anders, Starbuck’s
lover) blows up the café with all the cylons causing Three, Eight and
Six (now we really see who is the odd number out…sorry, couldn’t resist.
I had a severe case of déjà vu to my high school math class) to get
stuck under the collapsed building. They were saved by the stairwell.
Six suffers a broken, mangled leg and Three kindly offers to hit her
over the head and put Six out of her misery <g> One way to deal with a
broken leg, the Cylon way.
In a Cylon version of truth or dare, Six and Eight realize that they
were grouped together for a reason and because they are Heroes of the
Cylon, their voices will be heard louder than Three or any other Cylon.
Is that what the Cylon leader(s) fear?
Lucy Lawless comes into her own here. She knows
how to play bad (boy, does she know how to play bad) Three is a
fanatical fundamentalist Cylon. Believes in the cause, knows what is
right, abhors what is a corruption of the Cylon way. Six and Eight are
corrupted in her eyes.
Three's metamorphosis from eager helper of the two heroes to snarling,
gun brandishing, dirty and bloody Cylon is remarkable. Three puts up
quite a fight and we all know how well Lucy can fight.
The image of Three brandishing a gun and snarling at the very unlucky
Anders is a sight to behold. Hell yeah! Oops I’m not supposed to be
rooting for the Cylon, am I? Ahem.
We see once again how Eight and Six show their love for humans by how
they both try and stop Three from shooting Anders. Three's reasoning for
wanting to shoot Anders (other than he's a human) is “Humans don’t
respect life, like we do.” Not like Cylons who murder billions of
people, no sirree. Eight and Six "convince" Three to interrogate the
human instead.
Three was “restrained” by Sharon but I got the feeling that Three could
have easily brushed off the pesky Cylon but she didn’t. Another ploy to
see what Six and Eight had in mind? Looks that way since the two damaged
Cylons played into Three’s hands by revealing their true feelings once
again. No doubt on the next download Six and Eight are going to get
boxed, never to see the light of day.
Lucy played Three to perfection. She was bad, she was slightly mad and
great covered in dirt. The subtle changes from carer/helper to a Cylon
without fear of death was remarkable. You get the feeling for a very
brief moment that Three felt compassion for Eight's plight. Three truly
believes that Eight is a damaged machine who believes she is human. A
damaged machine that can't "infect" the rest of the Cylons, thus the
need for her to be 'boxed'.
When Eight reminds Three that she not a murderer (another Cylon with a
SHORT memory). Lucy’s play on Three’s reaction is perfect, a subtle
shake of the head and you know what’s she’s thinking. <g>
The opportunity arises for Anders (who I bet can't believe his luck at
being stuck with three Cylons in an underground car park) to grab the
gun that Three so graciously left on the ground for him. IN all the
brouhaha that follows, Anders loses the gun again and Three picks it up
and utters the line:
"God loves me" Heh. Yeah right. I fully expected Three to say "Go ahead,
make my day" by the look she was giving him <g>
Six’s recuperative powers are pretty cool since she managed not only
stand up on a broken, mangled leg but also pick up a good sized rock and
thwack Three on the head! Not once, but twice but I guess that was
because Six was injured. or maybe because Three has a tough head.
So we have Six and Eight now in the resistance against the rest of the
Cylons. I bet Three won’t be forgetting that when she’s downloaded.
Bring on Season 3 where we find out if Three can be One.
Bet she's gonna have one hell of a headache
when she downloads....