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Someone to Watch Over Me (Battlestar Galactica)
Encyclopedia
"Someone to Watch Over Me" is the seventeenth episode in the fourth season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica
. It aired on television in the United States and Canada on February 27, 2009. The survivor count shown in the title sequence is 39,556.
is depressed that her husband, Samuel Anders
, is still in a coma, with little good news from Dr. Cottle
concerning his condition. She has returned to a bleak daily routine after the events of her leading the fleet to Earth, when she had felt special, as if she had a purpose and knew what she was doing for the first time in her life. She is also plagued by nightmares of the body that was presumably her own, crashed on Earth
.
Thrace makes friends with the bar's piano player, and slowly reveals to him that her father used to play the piano too. During the process, she discusses her childhood and her feelings towards her father, who left the family and never contacted her or her mother again, much as the piano player did with his own family. Thrace assists the piano player with writing a new song. Eventually, he convinces a reluctant Thrace to play the piano too. The piano player shows affection towards Starbuck much in the same way her father did. Together they play a song she faintly remembers from her childhood, and eventually she realizes a drawing given to her earlier by Hera Agathon is not a drawing of stars, as Hera said, but a sequence of musical notes that matches the song from her memory.
Together, Thrace and the piano player reconstruct the song, which turns out to be the music the four of the Final Five present on Galactica heard throughout the events of Crossroads Pt. II. Saul Tigh
, Ellen Tigh
, and Tory Foster
, who were all lingering in the bar while Thrace and the piano player were reconstructing the song, confront her about the song's origin, to which she replies that she used to play it as a child with her father. When Kara turns to the piano player, he has vanished.
In the meantime, Sharon "Boomer" Valerii
is about to be extradited by the Colonial fleet to the rebel Cylons, who plan to try her for treason for siding with Cavil. They seek the death penalty; now that there is no Cylon resurrection available anymore, death would be permanent. Boomer tricks Galen Tyrol
into helping her to leave the Galactica by claiming that she still sees a future for them together. Through Cylon mental projection, she shows Tyrol a home she has "constructed" for them both, including their child.
She beats Sharon "Athena" Agathon and ties her up, putting her in a closet, just before Karl "Helo" Agathon
walks in on them. She has sex with him, while the tied up Athena watches through an opening, gagged and unable to speak. She then kidnaps Hera, escapes by stealing a Raptor, and causes damage to the Galactica by performing an FTL jump too close to the ship. The episode ends with Tyrol's devastation after realizing that Boomer tricked him and he has unwittingly helped her kidnap Hera.
viewing), about 100,000 more viewers than for the previous episode.
comments on Boomer's motives: "It's difficult to say someone who did that loves the Chief, and yet in her damaged way, I think she did and still does love him."
Due to the musical focus in this episode, composer Bear McCreary
was involved in production of the episode from the earliest drafts. While attempting to compose a new song together with Kara Thrace, the piano player (Slick) moves his fingers across the keyboard searching for a melody, a riff which Thrace recognizes as sounding similar to a classical piece called “Nomion’s 3rd Sonata, 2nd Movement” which in actuality is the opening fanfare to the original Battlestar Galactica
: a piece called “Exploration” written by Stu Phillips.
found that the episode was an excellent showcase for both Katee Sackhoff and Grace Park, and praised director Michael Nankin who "[infused] this episode with the qualities of a nightmare." Michael Saba of Paste Magazine called the episode an "exercise in building tension through omission" and felt the episode was "excellent". IGN
writer Eric Goldman praised the writers of the show for the plot turns in the episode, in particular the fact that Boomer's returning to the fleet with Ellen Tigh was in fact just a ruse. Goldman felt the subplot involving Kara was "a bit meandering" but that Katee Sackhoff
and Roark Critchlow
gave strong performances. Cinema Blend
felt the writers "threw a neat little curveball" with the Roark Critchlow piano playing character being Thrace's father. Marc Bernardin of Entertainment Weekly
felt the Boomer storyline was "awesome" but was less impressed by the storyline involving Thrace, feeling "that it didn't tell us anything new" and that the writers had written a very obvious ending to the subplot.
Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore as a re-imagining of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series created by Glen A. Larson...
. It aired on television in the United States and Canada on February 27, 2009. The survivor count shown in the title sequence is 39,556.
Plot
Kara ThraceKara Thrace
Kara Thrace is a fictional character in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica franchise. Played by Katee Sackhoff, she is a revised version of Lieutenant Starbuck from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series...
is depressed that her husband, Samuel Anders
Samuel Anders
Samuel T. Anders is a fictional character from the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series, played by Michael Trucco...
, is still in a coma, with little good news from Dr. Cottle
Dr. Cottle
Dr. Sherman Cottle is a fictional character in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series. He is the battlestar Galacticas Chief Medical Officer. The character is played by Donnelly Rhodes.-Character biography:...
concerning his condition. She has returned to a bleak daily routine after the events of her leading the fleet to Earth, when she had felt special, as if she had a purpose and knew what she was doing for the first time in her life. She is also plagued by nightmares of the body that was presumably her own, crashed on Earth
Sometimes a Great Notion (Battlestar Galactica)
"Sometimes a Great Notion" is the thirteenth episode in the fourth season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica. It aired on television on SCI FI and Space in the United States and Canada respectively on January 16, 2009 and on Sky One in the United Kingdom on January 20, 2009...
.
Thrace makes friends with the bar's piano player, and slowly reveals to him that her father used to play the piano too. During the process, she discusses her childhood and her feelings towards her father, who left the family and never contacted her or her mother again, much as the piano player did with his own family. Thrace assists the piano player with writing a new song. Eventually, he convinces a reluctant Thrace to play the piano too. The piano player shows affection towards Starbuck much in the same way her father did. Together they play a song she faintly remembers from her childhood, and eventually she realizes a drawing given to her earlier by Hera Agathon is not a drawing of stars, as Hera said, but a sequence of musical notes that matches the song from her memory.
Together, Thrace and the piano player reconstruct the song, which turns out to be the music the four of the Final Five present on Galactica heard throughout the events of Crossroads Pt. II. Saul Tigh
Saul Tigh
Saul Tigh is a fictional character on Battlestar Galactica played by Michael Hogan. The character was named Paul Tigh in early scripts, and was renamed due to legal issues, according to producer Ronald D. Moore. He is one of the main characters of the show.-Overview and personality:Saul Tigh is a...
, Ellen Tigh
Ellen Tigh
After she is killed for treason against the resistance on New Caprica, Ellen resurrects aboard a Cylon ship, where John Cavil holds her prisoner. However, by downloading into a new body, she regains the memories that Cavil had blocked decades earlier...
, and Tory Foster
Tory Foster
Tory Foster is a fictional character from the 2004 TV series Battlestar Galactica, portrayed by Rekha Sharma.-Character biography:Tory, like the other members of the Final Five, was originally from a planet called Earth...
, who were all lingering in the bar while Thrace and the piano player were reconstructing the song, confront her about the song's origin, to which she replies that she used to play it as a child with her father. When Kara turns to the piano player, he has vanished.
In the meantime, Sharon "Boomer" Valerii
Sharon Valerii
Number Eight is a female humanoid Cylon model on the television series Battlestar Galactica, a reimagining of the classic show of the same name. She is portrayed by Grace Park...
is about to be extradited by the Colonial fleet to the rebel Cylons, who plan to try her for treason for siding with Cavil. They seek the death penalty; now that there is no Cylon resurrection available anymore, death would be permanent. Boomer tricks Galen Tyrol
Galen Tyrol
Galen Tyrol is a character on the television series Battlestar Galactica. Tyrol is responsible for the maintenance of the Vipers and Raptors aboard Battlestar Galactica...
into helping her to leave the Galactica by claiming that she still sees a future for them together. Through Cylon mental projection, she shows Tyrol a home she has "constructed" for them both, including their child.
She beats Sharon "Athena" Agathon and ties her up, putting her in a closet, just before Karl "Helo" Agathon
Karl Agathon
Karl C. Agathon is a fictional character on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica TV series, portrayed by Tahmoh Penikett.-Background:...
walks in on them. She has sex with him, while the tied up Athena watches through an opening, gagged and unable to speak. She then kidnaps Hera, escapes by stealing a Raptor, and causes damage to the Galactica by performing an FTL jump too close to the ship. The episode ends with Tyrol's devastation after realizing that Boomer tricked him and he has unwittingly helped her kidnap Hera.
Ratings
"Someone to Watch Over Me" was seen by 1.657 million viewers (live viewing plus same day digital video recorderDigital video recorder
A digital video recorder , sometimes referred to by the merchandising term personal video recorder , is a consumer electronics device or application software that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card or other local or networked mass storage device...
viewing), about 100,000 more viewers than for the previous episode.
Production
Writer David WeddleDavid Weddle
David Weddle is an American television producer and writer, best known for episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , The Twilight Zone , Battlestar Galactica , and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation with writing partner Bradley Thompson...
comments on Boomer's motives: "It's difficult to say someone who did that loves the Chief, and yet in her damaged way, I think she did and still does love him."
Due to the musical focus in this episode, composer Bear McCreary
Bear McCreary
Bear McCreary is an American composer and musician living in Los Angeles, California. He is known for his work on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series.-Biography:...
was involved in production of the episode from the earliest drafts. While attempting to compose a new song together with Kara Thrace, the piano player (Slick) moves his fingers across the keyboard searching for a melody, a riff which Thrace recognizes as sounding similar to a classical piece called “Nomion’s 3rd Sonata, 2nd Movement” which in actuality is the opening fanfare to the original Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction television series, created by Glen A. Larson. It starred Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict and ran for one season in 1978–79. After cancellation, its story was continued in 1980 as Galactica 1980 with Adama, Lieutenant Boomer and...
: a piece called “Exploration” written by Stu Phillips.
Critical reception
Alan Sepinwall of The Star-LedgerThe Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...
found that the episode was an excellent showcase for both Katee Sackhoff and Grace Park, and praised director Michael Nankin who "[infused] this episode with the qualities of a nightmare." Michael Saba of Paste Magazine called the episode an "exercise in building tension through omission" and felt the episode was "excellent". IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
writer Eric Goldman praised the writers of the show for the plot turns in the episode, in particular the fact that Boomer's returning to the fleet with Ellen Tigh was in fact just a ruse. Goldman felt the subplot involving Kara was "a bit meandering" but that Katee Sackhoff
Katee Sackhoff
Kathryn Ann "Katee" Sackhoff is an American actress known mainly for playing Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace on the Sci Fi Channel's television program Battlestar Galactica. In 2004 she was nominated for a Saturn Award in the "Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series" category for her work in...
and Roark Critchlow
Roark Critchlow
Roark Grant Critchlow is a Canadian actor, best known for appearing on the daytime US soap opera Days of our Lives from 1994 to 1999 as Dr. Mike Horton. He also had a recurring role on the soap Passions. More recently he was in the TV movie The Perfect Husband: The Laci Peterson Story as well as...
gave strong performances. Cinema Blend
Cinema Blend
Cinema Blend is a website founded and run by Josh Tyler dedicated to news and reviews of upcoming and currently playing films, movie projects, Television Shows, and a newly founded Music section which covers album reviews, band interviews and daily news from the industry. It combines gossip from...
felt the writers "threw a neat little curveball" with the Roark Critchlow piano playing character being Thrace's father. Marc Bernardin of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
felt the Boomer storyline was "awesome" but was less impressed by the storyline involving Thrace, feeling "that it didn't tell us anything new" and that the writers had written a very obvious ending to the subplot.
External links
- "Someone to Watch Over Me" at Battlestar Wiki
- "Someone to Watch Over Me" at SyfySyfySyfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...