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By Jonathan Klotz
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Battlestar Galactica began sturdy with one of many biggest first episodes in sci-fi historical past, “33”, arguably one of many most interesting first seasons of all time, and although the ultimate season was controversial, it’s nonetheless hailed as top-of-the-line sci-fi reveals. That doesn’t imply it’s good, and also you don’t must look any additional than “Black Market,” from the again half of Season 2, for proof of how dangerous it may get. With humanity on the run from the Cylons, you’ll assume there are larger points than unlawful commerce, however that’s your complete focus of the episode, which may very well be faraway from the collection with nothing being misplaced.
The Black Market
President Roslin (Mary McDonnell) asks for the army to close down the black market that’s sprung up among the many colonial fleet, blissfully unaware as to how deep the corruption goes. The Commanding Officer of the Pegasus, Jack Frisk, is discovered murdered shortly after taking up the project with Apollo (Jamie Bamber) placed on the case. What Apollo finds is a small-scale conspiracy, with Frsk, Balter (James Callis), and Tigh (Michael Hogan) all concerned, which might carry slightly extra weight if Battlestar Galactica hadn’t revealed that Apollo frequents the black market companies of Shevron, a prostitute onboard a pleasure ship.
Tom Zarek (Richard Hatch) sends Apollo off in the direction of the pinnacle of the smuggling operation, Phelan, the place the true scale of the operation is revealed. Battlestar Galactica usually offers in varied shades of gray for its characters and forces the heroes into ethical conditions with no clear reply, however this time, Apollo is confronted with youngsters being trafficked. When he kills Phealan, he’s justified in doing so, although after all, the snake within the grass that’s Zarek steps as much as fill the void as the brand new head of the black market, which Apollo convinces Roslin is required for the betterment of the fleet.
No Affect On The Relaxation Of The Present
Outdoors of placing Zarek right into a place of energy throughout the civilian fleet, “Black Market” has no place within the grand story of Battlestar Galactica. Even the reveal of smuggling, unlawful items, and prostitution is undercut given the setting since if humanity is on the ropes, why does something matter if it falls into a gray zone of the legislation? Killing, kidnapping, and baby trafficking are completely different tales, which is why showrunner Ronald D. Moore caught these in.
A Missed Alternative
In an interview with SyFy, Moore explains the inclusion of kid trafficking sidestepped the ethical questions that Battlestar Galactica normally engaged in for an inexpensive answer to the issue. The plot falls aside when you understand the setting of the collection, however the episode had the potential to discover part of sci-fi that Star Trek stays away from, with the Federation not buying and selling cash for items. What’s life like for these on the underside of the ladder within the fleet? We noticed episodes that touched on it, however “Black Market” stays a missed alternative.
The legacy of Battlestar Galactica isn’t tarnished due to one out-of-place episode, nevertheless it does function a reminder that, if the remake ever will get off the bottom once more, there are many completely different areas of the universe for it to discover. In fact, “Black Market” continues to be a high-quality sci-fi episode, and it may rise up towards a number of the better of one other collection, however the bar for Moore’s darkish and gritty reboot was so excessive that it fell woefully quick. We didn’t want one more reason to hate Zarek.
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