Signatur’d! (see below)
- David -
Sometimes I think I talk too much … 
Hope you got your coffee mess cleaned up.
I have no comment on Cally’s cabbage problem, though.
Well, I do. But it’s self-restraint day today.
Oh my! I feel so honored. You wanna come over for Beer Week?
Three things about this bit:
1.) I don’t buy that Galen actually feels that way. He was far too loving towards Cally (at least pre-“The Episode That Can’t Be Named”) for that to be his honest opinion of her. I think that whole outburst was him having a mental breakdown.
2.) After hearing Galen say those things about Cally, I’ve lost all respect for him. He was my second-favorite character now he’s ranked just above Tori.
3.) Adama’s demotion of Galen seems to have mainly been motivated by the comments Galen made about Cally. I wonder if Adm. Adama had a secret soft spot for her.
I have a tendency to read too much into things, but: Any chance ‘Chief’ had his blowout on purpose, so he could get out of the ratrace and pursue his own agenda ??
He doesn’t get a grief allowance?
I don’t know… I think he seemed to be speaking from the heart. While I’m sure he had feelings for Cally, I never got the sense that he truly loved her. While they had many tender moments, we did see that he appeared to spend a lot of time in Joe’s Bar since returning from New Caprica. I guess that probably stems from her taking issue with the amount of time he spent at work, which will clearly lead to strife because a) he does truly love his work and b) he feels he has a moral obligation to give his job his all (the remainder of humanity is relying on the operational status of the viper fleet). Yes, Cally was looking out for her family, but it was becoming more clear that she didn’t have her heart in the work to the degree he did (she originally just seeing it as a way to pay for dentistry school). I suspect that even without the Cylon reveal that their marriage did not have much life left in it.
That being said, I do think the rejection that came from her not being able to accept his Cylonness may have added to the vitriol of his words, but I don’t think it changed how he actually felt.
Did it strike anybody else as odd that Tyrol’s reading at the service included the line “The Lords of Kobol, as many and as varied as mortal men?”
Doesn’t that seem straight out of the Cylon playbook?
I got the impression that Tyrol didn’t ever know that Cally found out he was a Cylon. When he was talking to Tory in his quarters he said “she thought we were having an affair” not “she found out I was a cylon” That just seems weird to me.
I was thinking the same think when I was writing my previous post, but then I remember she clubbed him with the wrench (in the nursery, by Prof. Plum, sorry can’t help myself). I can’t remember if she called him a “frakking Cylon” or not when she did it, but I guess he could have inferred that a even given her mental state a wrench to the head would be a little excessive for flirting in the bar but about right for a cylon hubby…
Don’t be too sure about that…
Phil, I respect what you’ve said and especially the thought you put into it. In fact, that’s probably even what the writers are intending. I just don’t buy it, though. Galen showed genuine love for Cally in “A Day in the Life.” Him wanting to work together so it could be like old times was touching, but the scene at the end in sickbay with Cally in the hyperbaric chamber very much showed his love for her.
It really bothers me how the writers are treating the relationship between Chief and Cally. I always felt that their marriage was the most realistic one in BSG. Sure, they had their up and downs and, apparently, even some fights, but that’s pretty normal for any marriage. And I always felt that Chief had a very mature outlook on marriage as well. When he was talking to Lee in Joe’s Bar about marriage he basically said that, yes, he and Cally were fighting, but also that they would work it out.
Now Audra has mentioned a couple of times on the podcast that she never felt Chief had the passion for Cally that he had for Boomer. There are two problems with that. First, we didn’t really see a lot of the details of the Tyrols’ relationship so it’s really hard to say that there was no passion there. Clearly, there was enough for Cally to conceive a child (unless, of course, you think Chief wasn’t Nicky’s father). Second, passion isn’t a good foundation for a relationship. Passion almost always fades away over time, and if there is nothing else there, the relationship will fade with it. What a solid relationship needs is a willingness to put the needs of your spouse before your own and to forgive the mistakes of the other person. Of course, having a child alters that slightly, because now you must sacrifice your needs/desires for what is best for your children.
You are right that Cally’s heart was no longer in her job, but I think it is incorrect to imply that it was always that way. Cally was a very skilled deckhand from the very beginning of the series. If you recall, it was her idea to pull the part from Starbuck’s viper in the mini-series which allowed Starbuck to get into the fight. Cally was basically the Chief’s right-hand on the hanger deck. She was able to fix things the Chief couldn’t because she had smaller hands and she also seemed to have pretty good leadership skills as well. On New Caprica, it was a very pregnant Cally who acted as the Chief’s sergeant-at-arms during the union meeting and it was Cally who was running the deck during the Chief’s absence in The-Episode-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named.
Of course, after Nicky was born, Cally wanted to focus on being a mother to her son.
Would their marriage have survived had the Chief not been a Final Five? I think it would have, but there would have been some rough spots for a while.
I think it’s clear that he genuinely loved her. For one thing, they managed to have a child. The whole Athena/Helo storyline strongly implies (and RDM confirmed in his podcast) that love was a prerequisite for procreation (at least, cylon/human) in this universe.
Didn’t Starbuck say that when she was off getting her ship cleaned that she saw a gas giant, three stars, and a comet? I think that is what she is painting.
She was also confused about the time. I suspect she is conflating alpha centuri, Halley’s comet, and Jupiter.
(And possibly a SoL instead of a comet.)
I think that Specialist…can’t do it…Chief Tyrol loved Cally genuinely but also meant every word when he called her a shriek with dull vacant eyes and wearing eau de cabbage. While he loved her truthfully, there was a real part of him that felt like he settled and was a victim of a situation that limited his choices. However, that isn’t so much really about her but a projection of his anger about where his life turned.
His anger towards his lot in life is then exponentially increased after finding out that he is a cylon! That right there is a whole different level of mindfrak.
Worse yet, from his current knowledge, his wife went druggie on him, got nuts, and took her last spacewalk. That’s a whole lot of guilt and abandonment the chief has to face. Then, he also has to deal with being a single father all of a sudden which hammers a whole lot of resentment onto Cally. I foresee him having more moments of rejection/lostness with Nicky…thank the gawds there’s Uncle Tigh.
Was their a part of him that meant every single bitter word of his tirade? Of course! No real person in a real relationship hasn’t ever been angry at their partner nor have they never focused on their partner’s faults or smells. But that’s what make’s the character so compelling (good job writers on making such a complex character). Most of us don’t voice those ill-thoughts unless we’re drunk, emotionally stressed, and physically broken like the Chief.
Did he love her? Definitely.
Chief gets a pass on this one.
Good man. Agreed.
Didn’t she say three blinking stars?
Blinking can mean all kinds of things…
[Merchant of Venice]
What’s here? the portrait of a blinking idiot
[/Merchant of Venice]
IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN !
sorry, I just can’t seem to kill this.
and GR, you missed this ???