Episode Reviews: 316 - Dirty Hands

[The Admiral]

Episode Review: 316 - Dirty Hands

Warning, spoilers follow……

After a couple of sub-par episodes that dealt with a little too much domestic drama, Battlestar Galactica get back on track in a big way with “Dirty Hands”.

Tyrol finds himself embroiled in a labor dispute that threatens to stop the fleet in its tracks while Baltar’s smuggled out political manifesto spreads discord.

The show starts with a near catastrophic raptor accident caused by contaminated fuel. Workers at the Tyrilium processing ship have been working in near slave like conditions, and machinery is breaking down with no downtime for maintance. President Roslin’s responds to the problem with a heavy hand, jailing the ringleaders of an attempted strike. Tyrol is sent to the Tryilium ship to get things back in hand. The condition on the ship gets to him, and he starts to dear for the future of the fleet. As he was the leader of the workers union on New Caprica, people expect answers from him.

We also get a little background how stratified colonial society really was…and how nothing has changed now that remnants of humanity are crammed into a few decrepit ships. Balter points out in his manifesto that people from the richer colonies form the fleet’s ruling class - officers and administration - while those from poorer colonies do the grunt work.

It was the details that really stood out in this show. We saw Cally slowly recovering from the decompression sickness she suffered after being exposed to space in the previous episode. The tyrilium processing ship operated mote like a 19^th century English coal mine, with small children around pushing wheelbarrows full or ore.

When Tyrol calls a general strike, Adama’s response is immediate and harsh, unless the strike is called off, the striking ringleaders would be executed. A bit harsh perhaps, but effective, as the strike is called off.

What was particular effective about this show is the portrayal of an exhausted humanity on the knife edge of extinction. There are no days off, no relief and no margin of error for mistakes.

[ripcain]

The one thing I had a hard time with this episode was how Baltar's manifesto has any creditability left in the fleet. He pushed the disastrous settlement on New Caprica and collaborated with the Cyclons.