Ronald D Moore, take the hint. Edward James Olmos is a fantastic director. Comedy fans, however, don't expect another 'Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down'. Instead, prepare for a episode nearly as dark as Blade Runner.
Many episodes this season have been going at a snail pace. The past two episodes (The season 3.5 premiere and now this) are the best two episodes this season since Exodus, pt 2. Like the excellent episodes of the first season, many surprises and plot lines are packed into these episodes. Hopefully this will be a continuing trend, as Galactica has been going down in a spiral of poorly made self contained episodes since season 2.5. A prime example in season three is the Passage, where fans are suddenly sprung with the idea that 'yeah, we're out of rations!'. No warnings in previous episodes, no discussion that maybe this was coming. Nada. Just sprung like that. I know serials are tough, and expensive, but seriously, that's what we watch Galactica for: the writing. And sadly its been more and more inconsistent since season 2.5.
Anyway, to the episode at hand. Excellent. Nice plot twists, questions of morality, awesome directing by Olmos, and actors finally given a chance to really play their roles. This is easily the most important episode in a long time for Baltar, in that it again puts him in a position of true insecurity as we saw in season one.
The cinematography is beautiful and absolutely stunning, with depth which we have not truly seen since early episodes and the mini series. The beautiful blue CIC of the mini series has become a cramped, incandescent dump this season, and finally (albeit briefly) we have a nice shot of it from above.
The episode also makes you question Baltar's sanity. Is it all a dream? Are Roslin and Adama really subjecting him to this torture? This is what we have expected from Galactica for some time and not been given. Oh, it's wonderful! Lastly, we get to see the long corridor with pictures of the dead. That room bore so much importance in the first season and mini series, and we have scarcely seen it in the past two years.
Galactica fans, if this has not convinced you to 'stay the course' and bear the bad episodes and proclaim Galactica's producers and writers completely over the deep end, then I don't know what will.
So say we all!