conceits

Friday night marked the end of another season of Battlestar Galactica. We’ve constantly been kept on the edge of our seats, wondering what would happen next. The situation has been, to say the least, grim for what’s left of Humanity and, along the way, it has faced unpleasant issues, not the least of which is what defines a human. There’s little black & white out there in space, but lots of grey, with people who make decisions that can turn out to be bad ones, but trying to deal with things the best they can.

And yet, and yet…

I was bothered by the recent episode where President Roslin makes it illegal to have or perform an abortion. Yes, they had to address the issue that they will become extinct if they don't do something about their stagnant numbers. But the solution was not the only one available. In fact, it’s downright stupid. Yes, it probably was put there so that Roslin’ll be sorry she went down that route. But... The solution feels like it was imposed by the show's creators upon the character of Roslin. She's not stupid and yet she doesn't see the consequences of forcing people into her solution instead of giving them the choice and providing them with the support that’ll be needed after birth if they do as she thinks they should. It’s possible that she publicly talked the talk to ensure her political survival, but she maintained that façade when alone with Adama. Aside from the doctor (1), not a single person appeared to object and point out her decree’s consequences would be, not even Starbuck when she comes back from her mission to Caprica. I'm sure that Starbuck, one of their best pilots and one who’s saved their you-know-what many times, would appreciate being forced to stay in the family way all the way, should contraceptives fail her. Oh, as for those, you might as well forget it because we will make them illegal next, dear...

But that was a few episodes before the finale and something that major just disappeared from the overall plot. It wasn’t even brought up at all during the Election, which pretty much demolishes her doing this for her own political survival. In fact, the Election’s big issue was whether or not they should settle down on an inhabitable planet that a nebula might hide from the Cylons. When they do settle down there, the story jumps forward one year and still no sign that freedom of choice had become an issue at all. Then again, everything that had been building up, like the deck Chief beginning to worry that he might be a Cylon, just became moot, due to what feels like a last-minute decision by someone behind the scene.

Bad storytelling. To me anyway (2)… I know, I know, Life is not a good storyteller. Sections of Life’s story go on too long. Or characters appear who don’t further the narrative. Or you have incompetent leaders who keep their jobs in spite of their obvious lack of qualifications. And things happen that’ll yank everything sideways, for example two planes being crashed into the World Trade Center.

But stories are not Life. They are conceits, meaning we pretend and accept that they are Life.

The more I think about the season finale, the more I’m annoyed. But, obviously, I'll be watching the show when it comes back in July. If nothing else, I’ll want to see what happens to Humanity now that President Baltar has surrendered to the Cylons.

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(1) I missed part of the last half of the episode, but I’ve read enough about it elsewhere to understand that only Baltar later objected. Considering that he facilitated Humanity’s genocide by the Cylons, do we need to delve upon what motivates him?

(2)No, I’m not a storyteller, nor have I ever played one on TV, but I am married to one. And I’ve been reading stories for 45 years, since I was 5. As for Galactica, people HAVE dropped things, and I mean, just dropped things, when those became inconvenient. Remember the Cylon-detection test that Baltar was working on? Gone. Remember Roslin’s mystical Visions that led them to Kobol? Gone, once the plot had what it wanted out of them.