And so it begins......

first of all I won’t be comenting on downloaded, it was late in the evening when we watched it and to be honest, i fell asleep!!

so, lay down you burdens part one,

I’m gonna comment form my experiences on the gatecast first of all, having recorded over 100 eps i tend to notice cinematography there is a beautiful tracking shot from overhead (crane shot) of chief tyrell and a wonderful introduction to Dean Stockwell goes on for like twenty seconds.

Coming back we see some nice moments with President Roslin and Adama, the whole pre debate ritual and also a remarkably clean shaven Baltar, it’s the most well groomed I’ve seen him in the series so far.

The truly shocking moment was the wake up of the severely messed up chief tyrell and his beating of poor Dualla, whcih form his confinement in the room with Dean I am thinking he confessed to.

Dean’s priest really is a straight shooter though, he tells it like it is and tyrell seems surprised, guess it’s different from the approach his father (also a priest) took. hee hee, beautiful exchange between starbuck and Adama “did I ever say thank you” “no, but that would be a first wouldn’t it”

It’s an ill wind etc, they have found a planet which supports human life, Giaus seems initially sceptical but then he realises that this could be the issue that wins him the election. to quote roslin’s aide, the idea of stopping, laying down their burdens, it’s nice to see the episode title quoted in the dialogue.

wonderful interaction between Dean and Tyrell though it’s beautfilly written dialogue “becuase I’m a cylon and i’ve never seen you at any of the meetings”

Once again we come back to the debate between Baltar and Roslin isn’t it all about the politics and blatar’s covering witht he usual bull answer while he thinks about an response before debunking the president’s response with frankly what is a devastating answer, she does try and respond but as the Aide said people vote with their hopes, not with the facts. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, this show is the west wing in space, it’s not about the sci fi elements it’s about the politics and the human interactions. ohh and roslins’ funal contribution to the debate “why don’t you go frak yourself”, 'nuff said.

once again we gert a rare postive feelings, it’s amazing how uplifitng the sense of a win can be we sometimes forget the unremitting negativity “you think I was gonna leave you here”.ohh and not somuch a win, lotsa eplosians and horrible painful death.

and oh frak me, end of episode, what a cliffhanger.
Phaze
on the “to quote pernnfan what of frak me, you knew it was a two parter” ID

Just a point that must needs be made… it wasn’t Dualla that Tyrol beat the living daylights out of, it was Calee (sp?).

After Downloaded, which was an episode that I truly enjoyed despite the delay in my posting about it, this wasn’t all that gripping an episode. It didn’t grab my attention and keep me locked to the screen as previous eps have done, and I am really not sure why. I have to say, there is a lot of darkness and politics to this show, which isn’t so much something you see all the time in the sci fi fandom.

In so many ways, Lay Down Your Burdens Part 2 is a reward for watching the entire series up to this point.

I envys yous! Enjoy.

Funny I loved Downloaded…I found it eye opening…and to me it trashed my theory of “somehow 6 downloaded into Gaius’ head” theory…because how the hell was Baltar in HERS then? Plus it was cool to see the OTHER side and see a bit of the “humanizing” of the Cylons as well as the hints of dissension being planted