Harbinger of death, you say?!

Finally, I can talk about Battlestar Galactica: Razor, which utterly rocked!

So, Starbuck is the herald of the apocalypse, hunh? Sweet! It sounds as though the oft-referenced special destiny that Kara Thrace (Katee Sackhoff) has to look forward to is to bring about the destruction of mankind. That is, if you trust the words of an old guy in a vat who claims to be God and knows he's about to get nuked. And that was a nice touch, I might add - it's not every day a repentent sinner gets to ask forgiveness from the same sack of deific bones she's about to kamikaze out of existence.

As cool as that was, I'm left confused about why "God" told Shaw (Stephanie Jacobsen) all that he did, then didn't allow her to send a warning back to the Pegasus. Sure, it's a tasty morsel for the audience to chew on, but I have to wonder about how it serves the story. Of course, the whole "God" issue raises numerous other questions as well. Is this guy-in-a-vat the God that Number Six keeps talking about? Do the first seven cylons know he was killed? Uh, was he killed? I mean, if he's really God, it doesn't seem that a piddly little nuke is going to have much impact on his day.

The revelation that Adm. Cain (the absolutely rockin' Michelle Forbes) and Gina (Tricia Helfer) were involved was a nice touch. Aside from that fact being thrown in as smoothly as a het relationship might have been, with no particular emphasis on them being two women, I thought it added some gravity to what we already knew happened (Gina being imprisoned, raped & tortured, then finally killing Cain). Finding out they were knocking boots, then seeing Cain actually issue the order to have Gina raped as part of her interrogation, did more to illustrate Cain's emotional state than any call for revenge could have. Ahh, young love.

I liked Kendra Shaw and I didn't have a problem with the introduction of a completely new character. Of course, it helped that she's terrifically hot and has that tasty Aussie accent. Her attitude and disposition could have made her a repeat of the Starbuck character, but I liked that her personality was distinct enough to keep that from being the case. Though she shared Starbuck's disdain for weak leaders, Shaw had a clear respect for those she felt were deserving, a trait I'm not sure Starbuck exhibits very often.

I really liked finding out that Shaw was not only complicit in the execution of civilians, but actually fired the first shot. She quickly learned from Cain that there was no room to fuck around and that being at war meant making some awful choices.

I definitely got a kick out of the old school centurions and I liked the fact that they were worked into the show as more than just museum pieces. The few episodes in which we gleaned any information about the hybrids gave us no indication that they were created by crossing captured humans with cylon circuitry (as I recall), so that was pretty exciting.

I was pleased to see Steve Bacic's name in the credits, then a little bummed when we found out he was Cain's original XO. However, knowing his fate didn't lessen the impact of seeing his death played out. In fact, I found that scene to be even more intense in light of their established relationship. When they were discussing shore leave, he invited her to visit his family, and even addressed Cain more than once by her first name, a liberty I doubt she encouraged in any but those she most trusted and respected. Well, it was a shame to see him offed so brutally, but Col. Fisk's reaction and his subsequent adherence to Cain's orders were priceless. Fisk was a character I actually kind of liked, dirty & weak though he was.

On a side note, I have a crush on Sgt. Mathias, so it was nice to see her in Razor, kicking ass as usual. If you're not sure who Mathias was, she was the one trying to get the nuke's detonator working on the cylon ship at the end.

Finally, the commercial toward the end of tonight's broadcast, for the March debut of season 4, is promising. Though the WGA strike shut down shooting earlier this month, it appears that they've got at least enough material to start the season. My guess is that the rumours of SciFi splitting the season between '08 and '09 will be confirmed, out of necessity. Well, Razor certainly set the stage for exciting things to come and March can't arrive too soon!