Battlestar Galactica - Season Two

Not that season one was bad in any way, but I think season two was a big improvement, mostly because when I wrote up my post for last season there was really only the one candidate for best episode, and this season has several because of some really cool, high tension storylines.

I haven't really changed my opinions of which characters I like and dislike (although Col. Tigh's wife Ellen is easily worse than he is, but I knew that last season). Even as Starbuck went into a disastrous downward spiral and President Roslin's approval ratings dwindled as she made some difficult decisions, I still liked and respected them as characters, and that is a testament to the show's writers. I suppose I dislike Gaius a little since he is so shady and tends to be morally grey a lot of the time, but he also provides comic relief so I don't hate him. We're also given two more Cylon models and a look into their motives. I was puzzled last season when they seemed to place a lot of emphasis and both love and God, both of which should be irrelevant to a machine, but here it is explained... sort of.

One thing I will say that bothered me slightly is that some of the romantic relationships seemed rushed, like we were only given a short time to see two people fall in love and then were suddenly supposed to just go with it (which I did, because there was no other choice), Lee and Dualla especially. But only a minor complaint, because I am loving this show.

Best Episode: For me, one of the coolest parts was in the season finale, "Lay Down Your Burdens: Part 2", when we jump a year ahead and see where everyone is at, because I've always liked seeing the shocking differences between then and now when you saw nothing in the middle (like in The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time when you go back and forth, or like My Generation should have done better but didn't). However my pick for best episode - and I'm going to cheat a little here - is "Pegasus" and "Resurrection Ship" Parts 1 and 2, a three episode arc in which the Galactica finds a lost battlestar from the fleet, but the commanding officer outranks Adama and a civil war ensues because she is a cold bitch trying to take over the fleet, and seeing the crew of the Pegasus is almost like a Bizarro version of the Galactica crew. Awesome stuff.