Axiom’s Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

By John J. Joex

(THESE REVIEWS CONTAINS SPOILERS)

I got behind these last couple of weeks because of travel and a DVR snafu (which apparently impacted many DirectTV users), so I’m attempting to get caught up.  Probably just as well though, because I needed a little extra time for the Battlestar Galactica finale to sink in.

Battlestar Galactica (“Daybreak Parts 2 & 3”) – So they wrapped it up and it turns out that they made it to our Earth after all with angels guiding them the whole time.  Who was happy with that ending?  Apparently the reactions have been mixed so far according to feedback posted on the Sci Fi Wire site.  At first, I was happy with the ending, but the more I thought about it, the more it gnawed at me.  Okay, all along there’s been an underlying suggestion of divine guidance, so the angels (Starbuck, Harvey Caprica, and Harvey Baltar who apparently the real Caprica was seeing the whole time) should have come as no surprise.  But I guess the thing that did not sit well with me was that too much was left with little or no explanation.  For example, the Cylon Earth was dismissed after a few lines of gibberish from Anders that provided only a partial explanation.  In fact, too much was left unresolved about the Cylons (maybe the prequel series Caprica will deal with those questions).  And what was with “All Along the Watchtower”.  Do we just assume Bob Dylan picked it up from some ancestral memory?  Basically, it now seems that a lot of the series they just made up as they as they went along and they rushed to the ending without covering all their bases.  Sure, I understand that Sci Fi Channel executives dictated that the show would end after Season 4, but I did feel that those final ten episodes could have been more focused and provided a better sense of closure.  I’ll try watching it again in a couple of weeks to see if it sits better with me then.  And we still have Battlestar Galactica: The Plan to look forward to later this year which could give us some more answers as well.  In the mean time, enjoy the Top 10 BSG WTFs.

Kings (“Prosperity” & “First Night”) – We find out just how ruthless King Silas is as he plans to have David killed, fearing that he has drawn too much attention to himself (and perhaps become a threat to the throne, as hinted at in the pilot).  However, events change and Silas decides he can’t get rid of him yet.  But efforts are put in place to keep David apart from the princess.  This show really does hit the mark, in my opinion.  Sure, it has soap opera elements to it, but it plays off of these and its alternate reality setting to give us a mirror to our own world.  The political intrigue and manipulations of the monarchy could just as easily be found in the workings of our own “representative” government.  The series focuses on the lure and corruption of power without simply falling into the typical “power corrupts” clichés.  The characters are more complex than that and we see their good intentions along with their bad ones.  It’s unfortunate that Kings will not get a chance to delve too deeply into these concepts as the ratings almost surely indicate a quick demise for the show.

Lost (“He’s Our “You”) – A flashback episode that focuses on Sayid.  Life is good.  Sayid ranks just behind Locke (and Mr. Ekko) among my favorite characters.  This episode focuses on Sayid dealing with whether or not he really is a killer.  While the end of the episode provides an answer, it’s not just a black and white resolution (you’re never going to find one of those on Lost).  And of course if anybody was going to kill somebody and not care about the implications to the timestream, Sayid’s your man.  His decision to shoot young Ben fits perfectly with his character.  Now how will the writers deal with the paradox they have created?  The thought makes me cringe, but I will hold out hope that they have everything worked out (and that they are not making it up as they go like some shows around here).

Dollhouse (“Man on the Street” & “Echoes”) – Joss Whedon promised that starting with episode six of the series Dollhouse would change its direction some and start heading down the path he originally intended.  I can definitely sense a turning point and I felt these two episodes addressed a lot.  First we got a bit more of a justification for Ballard’s crusade to find the Dollhouse and we found out that more than one exists and that it has attained urban legend status (and I just knew that Mellie was an undercover Dollhouse active).  Then, we got a glimpse of how Echo got involved with this organization in the first place and an indication that it may ultimately be beneficial to her.  These two episodes really pulled the whole premise together and made this a much stronger series.  Unfortunately, I doubt the show will get the chance to expand on it past its initial thirteen episode order.

Heroes (“Cold Snap” & “Into Asylum”) – Finally we see Bryan Fuller’s name in the credits along with one of the best episodes this season (with Fuller bringing along Swoosie Kurtz from Pushing Daisies for good measure).  “Cold Snap” appears to have killed off two of the main characters (with Tracy meeting her demise and Daphne receiving a more fitting send-off).  We also saw the return of Micah along with Hiro getting back at least some of his powers (not the time travel ability, though).  “Into Asylum” stretched my suspension of disbelief a bit, as I have a hard time seeing Danko agreeing to work with Sylar.  Still, Volume 4 hasn’t lost me yet, though I don’t even want to think about the implications of that winking fragment of Tracy.

Supernatural (“On the Head of a Pin”) – For those of you who thought this show strayed during the first few episodes after its Winter hiatus, this episode brought all of that into focus.  The episodes that preceded it laid the groundwork for what happened here as Dean was called upon to use the torture techniques that Alastair taught him on his very mentor and as we found out how Sam has become so powerful.  This episode really took us on a wild ride and showed us why this show is great.  I’ll miss the “Hillbilly Ned” version of Alastair though, as well as Uriel.  But this showed that the writers aren’t pulling any punches as they move forward with the current story arc.

Reaper (“The Sweet Science”) – Sam must bring in a soul who it turns out is not all that bad.  Meanwhile, Andi takes over as manager of the Work Bench.  The series continues to follow its formula while playing around with it at the same time.  In the middle of Season 1, Andi’s new position would have just lead to the usual contrived, sitcom-style predicaments.  Now, they actually make it into an interesting turn for the series (for one episode at least).  And another thing the show has been succeeding at lately is being funny.  When it lagged last season, it was mostly because the laughs disappeared.  Now they come in rapid succession.  All in all, definitely no sophomore slump for Reaper to this point.

Life on Mars (“All the Young Dudes” & “Everyone Knows it’s Windy”) – Sam infiltrates the Irish mob then gets framed for killing the mob boss.  A couple of episodes that helped get the series back on track to some extent.  And did we really get the answer to Sam’s predicament or was that just another tease?  The faux killings of Ray and Chris at the end of “All the Young Dudes” were nothing more than an excuse to create a cliffhanger to bring us back, so teasing is the name of the game with this show.  Everything wraps up this week, though.

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Mar 17th – Kings Rules