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rambling pointlessness about Blood on the Scales.
A few notes on strategy. Er, and later stuff.
This has sort of been sitting in my head for a little while, and I meant to type it up before the episode aired, but it's ok I didn't as I havea few more things to add on in the end.
Spoilers, obviously, for Blood on the Scales.
Kara Thrace, love her though I do, simply cannot take back the Galactica on her own. (not while Ron is certain Adama is The Hero, at least). Her options are limited, once she realizes the civvies are arming themselves.
1. Get to CIC. But that's out, 'cause Gaeta hung up on her, and might be compromised.
2. Get to the flight deck, look for help. This one is more feasible, and has the added bonus of running across Lee, who can help.
3. If Adama has been taken, he's gonna be in the brig. Get to the brig, spring him.
4. Find the president, get her to safety (Tyrol had that thought, too, which is why I think he had the raptor shit planned, GODDAMN, I love that man again).
(here's where my memory of the timeline's a bit screwy. I know they get Mom and meet up with Dad and Tigh and head for the safety!Raptor, but I don't remember what order, and I don't think it's that important--)
As they found everyone outside the brig (and Adama and Tigh discovered the brig wasn't easy to get into--which means THEY were there to try springing any loyal to Dad and the Cylons and the hobbits and Caprica), they went from "save Adama" to "save the Pres and get both off the ship"
From there, if they're still on "take the ship back" mode, the next logical step is freeing the prisoners--except that's not true.
Instead, Lee and Kara go from sekrit raptor to a stop on the flight deck to witness Zarek coming in and discover that Adama and Tigh have been recaptured. Which means, rescue time again!
Now. Much as my 'ship side is all "And she went to save Sam!" I think he was only part of the equation. The big thing was Adama, so he could take back his ship.
So, prison break. And on the way out, Kara stops for a little more ammo, because she might need it, y'know.
I have actually seen more than one person saying Sam was stupid for stopping to get himself armed so he could help with the counter-mutiny.
Stop and re-read that sentence again, and ponder that.
Sam, a good fighter, ex-resistance member (AND LEADER) of TWO resistances, and pilot, is stupid for stopping to arm himself so he isn't just dead-weight and slowing them down or having to cower in a corner. I do not care what happens next. We're talking about him being smart and arming himself.
please note how Kara tells Lee to go on, she and Sam will catch up, because she knew (without looking), that Sam had stopped to arm himself, too
Now comes the bad luck. Kara and Sam are too busy to notice the marine until too late--Kara sings out, and Sam assumes she's got it covered and continues what he's doing (at that point, he couldn't have DONE ANYTHING--and I'm not sure he could have ducked, given how stiffly he was moving). Kara fires a second too late (let's be clear, here, I AM NOT BLAMING KARA, so get that thought out of your heads, NOW).
And the bullet ricochets off something, losing enough energy that it doesn't kill Sam on impact.
Yadda yadda, Kara tells everyone to leave and go save Adama/go hide out with Baltar's harem. And they leave her with Sam (Lee, for the record was all, "he'll bleed out!" and panicky that his boyfriend was injured).
I'm getting distracted here, because, seriously, I know I am not unbiased. At this point, I can't be. Still, if I stick someone else in that situation--Lee being shot or Chief or Helo or Sharon--I can't actually imagine Kara leaving them to die alone.
But I can still imagine everyone else leaving them (not Sharon or Karl if it was Sharon or Karl, obviously). Because at this point, they still need to free the old man and save him from gods know what. And stopping to take an injured person to Cottle is going to slow them down and could cost them the ship.
One of the episode-reaction posts I came across was lamenting about how Kara went from shooting things and being crazy-awesome to being taken out of the action and being reduced to just a waste of space that was All About Sam.
And I don't know. Are there more people who think that way? Who are upset that Kara is now 'reduced' to lugging her dead-weight husband to Cottle?
I'm also confused, because I don't actually see Kara saving Sam as a destruction of her awesome.
Hell, I don't know about the rest of you, but I kind of think if Kara had just walked away from Sam, leaving him to die, that my opinion of her would be in the crapper. To me, a strong woman isn't just someone who can shoot a gun and kick the bad guys in the head. A strong woman is someone who stands up for what she believes, who uses her own resources and brain to keep those she loves safe and whole.
A strong character is someone who will die for those they love.
Now, Kara's motives may not be that sparkling clean. Kara may just be all guilty about her treatment of Sam, but... I can't really see it that way.
And to put the shoe on the other foot, Sam would have done the same--he shot Gaeta, after all. And that wasn't because of military chain of command. That was in support of Kara. (and if Kara were the one shot, how many people would be screaming about her being a 'damsel in distress in need of saving'? hrm?)
So. Really, I'm ok with the fact that, the second Sam was shot Kara's priorities changed from "save the ship" to "save Sam". Kara doesn't know what she is, she doesn't know what will happen in the future, she just knows that she can't leave Sam.
It's a logical follow-through of what she's been dealing with over the last few episodes.
And it's not like she made everyone help her save Sam. She sent them off to liberate the Admiral, because she knew that one more person wasn't going to make that much of a difference especially if her head wasn't in the game.
This has sort of been sitting in my head for a little while, and I meant to type it up before the episode aired, but it's ok I didn't as I have
Spoilers, obviously, for Blood on the Scales.
Kara Thrace, love her though I do, simply cannot take back the Galactica on her own. (not while Ron is certain Adama is The Hero, at least). Her options are limited, once she realizes the civvies are arming themselves.
1. Get to CIC. But that's out, 'cause Gaeta hung up on her, and might be compromised.
2. Get to the flight deck, look for help. This one is more feasible, and has the added bonus of running across Lee, who can help.
3. If Adama has been taken, he's gonna be in the brig. Get to the brig, spring him.
4. Find the president, get her to safety (Tyrol had that thought, too, which is why I think he had the raptor shit planned, GODDAMN, I love that man again).
(here's where my memory of the timeline's a bit screwy. I know they get Mom and meet up with Dad and Tigh and head for the safety!Raptor, but I don't remember what order, and I don't think it's that important--)
As they found everyone outside the brig (and Adama and Tigh discovered the brig wasn't easy to get into--which means THEY were there to try springing any loyal to Dad and the Cylons and the hobbits and Caprica), they went from "save Adama" to "save the Pres and get both off the ship"
From there, if they're still on "take the ship back" mode, the next logical step is freeing the prisoners--except that's not true.
Instead, Lee and Kara go from sekrit raptor to a stop on the flight deck to witness Zarek coming in and discover that Adama and Tigh have been recaptured. Which means, rescue time again!
Now. Much as my 'ship side is all "And she went to save Sam!" I think he was only part of the equation. The big thing was Adama, so he could take back his ship.
So, prison break. And on the way out, Kara stops for a little more ammo, because she might need it, y'know.
I have actually seen more than one person saying Sam was stupid for stopping to get himself armed so he could help with the counter-mutiny.
Stop and re-read that sentence again, and ponder that.
Sam, a good fighter, ex-resistance member (AND LEADER) of TWO resistances, and pilot, is stupid for stopping to arm himself so he isn't just dead-weight and slowing them down or having to cower in a corner. I do not care what happens next. We're talking about him being smart and arming himself.
Now comes the bad luck. Kara and Sam are too busy to notice the marine until too late--Kara sings out, and Sam assumes she's got it covered and continues what he's doing (at that point, he couldn't have DONE ANYTHING--and I'm not sure he could have ducked, given how stiffly he was moving). Kara fires a second too late (let's be clear, here, I AM NOT BLAMING KARA, so get that thought out of your heads, NOW).
And the bullet ricochets off something, losing enough energy that it doesn't kill Sam on impact.
Yadda yadda, Kara tells everyone to leave and go save Adama/go hide out with Baltar's harem. And they leave her with Sam (Lee, for the record was all, "he'll bleed out!" and panicky that his boyfriend was injured).
I'm getting distracted here, because, seriously, I know I am not unbiased. At this point, I can't be. Still, if I stick someone else in that situation--Lee being shot or Chief or Helo or Sharon--I can't actually imagine Kara leaving them to die alone.
But I can still imagine everyone else leaving them (not Sharon or Karl if it was Sharon or Karl, obviously). Because at this point, they still need to free the old man and save him from gods know what. And stopping to take an injured person to Cottle is going to slow them down and could cost them the ship.
One of the episode-reaction posts I came across was lamenting about how Kara went from shooting things and being crazy-awesome to being taken out of the action and being reduced to just a waste of space that was All About Sam.
And I don't know. Are there more people who think that way? Who are upset that Kara is now 'reduced' to lugging her dead-weight husband to Cottle?
I'm also confused, because I don't actually see Kara saving Sam as a destruction of her awesome.
Hell, I don't know about the rest of you, but I kind of think if Kara had just walked away from Sam, leaving him to die, that my opinion of her would be in the crapper. To me, a strong woman isn't just someone who can shoot a gun and kick the bad guys in the head. A strong woman is someone who stands up for what she believes, who uses her own resources and brain to keep those she loves safe and whole.
A strong character is someone who will die for those they love.
Now, Kara's motives may not be that sparkling clean. Kara may just be all guilty about her treatment of Sam, but... I can't really see it that way.
And to put the shoe on the other foot, Sam would have done the same--he shot Gaeta, after all. And that wasn't because of military chain of command. That was in support of Kara. (and if Kara were the one shot, how many people would be screaming about her being a 'damsel in distress in need of saving'? hrm?)
So. Really, I'm ok with the fact that, the second Sam was shot Kara's priorities changed from "save the ship" to "save Sam". Kara doesn't know what she is, she doesn't know what will happen in the future, she just knows that she can't leave Sam.
It's a logical follow-through of what she's been dealing with over the last few episodes.
And it's not like she made everyone help her save Sam. She sent them off to liberate the Admiral, because she knew that one more person wasn't going to make that much of a difference especially if her head wasn't in the game.
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Because, honestly, in the end? They only needed four people to save Adama. And none of them were Kara or Sam, anyway.
no subject
Right? That'd be bonus fire power on Kara's part, but Sam was already moving mighty slow. But anyway, it wasn't like she was prevented from being an asset by something stpuid. She wouldn't hace been much EXTRA help and also Sam got shot.