2.14: Black Market

[McHorde-Trooper]

2.13: Black Market

From TV.com:

The Pegasus' new commander (Fisk) is murdered by black marketeers, and Lee is charged with solving the crime. Roslin seeks to stamp out the black market by introducing new trade regulations.

 

[Dave]

The actor playing Fisk must have been happy about this development - you get a chance to play a new major character in an incredibly popular series, then three episodes on you get garrotted - easy come, easy go...

I thought this was a great episode, one of the best, but it was very hard to follow at the start with all the flash forwards and flash-backs within flash-backs. At first I thought I had missed one episode somehow.

Good to see Adama and son back on speaking terms, and Baltar and Tigh shown up for what they are. Tom Zarek actually came out of this looking reasonably good.

 

[Brit Chick]

It was a good epsiode. What was the deal with the hooker - I assume thats what she was. to start with I thought she was the same girl in Apollo's memory flashback but I guess not.

They are lining up something with Dee and Apollo tho I think - poor Billy....I like him !

My opinion of Tigh hasn't changed I've always thought he was drunk waste of space and Baltar, could this be him becoming more like the Baltar in the original series - the real villian of the piece

Nice they keep the characters moving along, and nice to see Admiral and Apollo relaxed with each other again

 

[Stargod]

I just didn't get the Dee and Apollo thing...it just came out of nowhere. I thought it was especially insulting to Billy since he was the boy in love who was always there for her. At least Tye is an honestly played character, true to the bottle and his questionable ethics. I just can't stand it when the people who usually should know better and are ahead of the curve on social matters end up in these precarious situations. Lee should have known better than to get involved with a hooker. Especially given the sensitivity of his position as son of the Commander of the fleet, and as a leader. Seems most the entire leadership of the human race is lead by the socially inept and undeserving, how comforting! At least this episode, I have to say, they stuck to one topic and kept the storyline going long enough to make it enjoyable.

 

[Whitestar]

I just didn't get the Dee and Apollo thing...it just came out of nowhere. I thought it was especially insulting to Billy since he was the boy in love who was always there for her. At least Tye is an honestly played character, true to the bottle and his questionable ethics. I just can't stand it when the people who usually should know better and are ahead of the curve on social matters end up in these precarious situations. Lee should have known better than to get involved with a hooker. Especially given the sensitivity of his position as son of the Commander of the fleet, and as a leader. Seems most the entire leadership of the human race is lead by the socially inept and undeserving, how comforting! At least this episode, I have to say, they stuck to one topic and kept the storyline going long enough to make it enjoyable.

From what I heard, Ron Moore expressed his unhappiness with this episode on the DVD commentary. This episode was quite cliched and predictable. But to add further insult to injury, the scene where they showed children being held prisoners was quite revolting. I understand that the show is attempting to portray the negative aspects of human nature and that humans probably deserve to die, but I thought the writer/s were going a bit too far in this particular case. Still, its one of the best science fiction shows on the tube today.

 

[Brys]

I agree that it was not a very good episode (by BSG standards), but I think the problem with the children as prisoners scene was over the top and completely unnecessary - it lacked any emotional power and there was no real reason for putting it in. It also didn't make much sense - why would they be on display, and also it would have made a more interesting villain who knew what limits there were. He was already quite close to being an ambiguous villain, but it seemed they were trying to make this episode quite straightforward. Along with Scar, I think Black Market's one of the worst season 2 episodes.

 

[McHorde-Trooper]

It was a very gritty unoriginal story. It's like they were trying to pull of some kind of film noir / detective show.

They should have come up with an original path into the black market.
It should have been something strange and compelling or . . though it would have been really risky . . something funny.

At least for once you could at least figure out where the episode was going and it got there.

. . Still, its one of the best science fiction shows on the tube today.

I whole heartedly disagree, but maybe I should use a different thread to discuss my reasons.

 

[TJR357]

I didn't like this episode; having Apollo have something with a prostitute out of nowhere was stupid and is not in line with his character at all.