Back. Every Time I Go Away...
Dec. 28th, 2008 07:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lls_mutantHope everyone had a good Christmas. We're back from my sister's, which was uneventful in a very pleasant way. A nice Christmas was had by all, and we all ate WAY too much. Between my sister's lasagna on Christmas Eve and my brother-in-law's Christmas dinner and all the desserts... POP. Wow.
I swear, every time I go away a Gaeta spoiler pops up. Last time it was the Gaeta/Hoshi thing. This time, Amazon accidentally leaked all the webisodes, except #9.
So let's talk webisodes, shall we? I'm debating how much I liked them. On the one hand, it was Gaeta, and I love Gaeta. On the other hand, I thought the writing was honestly a bit sloppy. Yes, I know that they're webisodes, but still.
First of all, I guessed the killer from the beginning. Now, granted, I don't think it took much to guess the killer. There were only so many people it could be, and once you offed the pilot8, that pretty much did it in. I don't really mind, actually, especially because I'm pleased. For one, I hated the idea of another Eight/anyone romance, and especially Eight/Felix. Eight already has Boomer/Chief and Helo/Athena. Helo/Athena is awesome, and may stay no matter what. In fact, they most both die or both live. Got that? And I'm fine with Boomer/Chief, and wouldn't mind if Boomer came to her senses (really, sweetie- Cavil?????) and got back together with him, although it's probably not happening. But come on- no more Eight romances. (I must admit, I still wouldn't have liked Gaeta/Six or Gaeta/Two, but it would have been different, at least. And I also must admit that the Eights are the most sympathetic in the viewer's eye.)
I don't get why it had to be a romance, though. Okay, I do. We must DESTROY GAETA, apparently. Which, hey, I can get behind perfectly well. But still.
Speaking of romance... Skiffy really blew that one out of proportion, huh? Honestly, would it have killed them to let Gaeta kiss Hoshi goodbye at the end? Or be a little more sympathetic? I mean, I get that Gaeta is not as in love with Hoshi as Hoshi obviously is with Gaeta. (Because Hoshi is head-over-heels smitten, and Gaeta is in a very bad place and has been since he lost his leg.) But "You found me and you saved me, so I'll protect you?" The dialogue in that scene bugged me a bit. Not that Gaeta essentially left Hoshi so much (although I think they kind of left the door open on their personal relationship, and it would be easy at this point to believe that the feelings are still there), but "Well, I'll protect you because I have to." It didn't have to be a big flowery speech. Hell, just kill the "You found me and you saved me, so..." part and keep the "I'll protect you." See? It doesn't change ANY of the intent, it doesn't make Gaeta look any more in love, if that's what they wanted to avoid, but it doesn't make him coldly dismiss what they obviously had together.
My theory of how the relationship went, and I am so working into my Dee-Hoshi fic, is as follows: not long after New Caprica- maybe a couple of months- Hoshi and Gaeta started sleeping together. Gaeta was completely upfront that for right now, it was just sex. But Hoshi fell hard, and eventually, Gaeta started falling, too. I mean, people fall in love at different rates, and one thing I did see in the webisodes was that while I didn't fully believe that Gaeta loved Hoshi at that point, I do think he very much cared about him. I kind of like the idea that if it had been left alone, Gaeta would have fallen in love, and they would have ended up together for a long, long time. But then Gaeta got sent on the Demetrius mission. The separation was okay, but when he lost his leg... he just went haywire emotionally. I mean, something like that takes time to recover from. From the webisodes, Hoshi was obviously convinced that they could, and honestly? I think Felix might have believed it, too. Or at least hoped for it. But yes, it did strain their relationship. I also really think that Felix left Hoshi because he wanted to protect him. He knows that what he's doing is a minimum of career suicide, and likely actual suicide. I can see him not wanting Hoshi mixed up in this- it fits his character.
However, of course, this is all speculation within the script. The other truth is that Gaeta must leave Hoshi at the end because Hoshi/Gaeta was added for the webisodes, and there's likely no hint whatsoever of it in the actual show, although we may see a point where Gaeta either protects or doesn't kill Hoshi. I listened to the commentary for episode 5, and it sounds like JE wasn't completely thrilled about the Eight/Gaeta relationship, either. I'm glad she fought for the idea that Gaeta was at least bi. I don't really like the tacked on nature, but I feel like she's fighting fire with fire. Because the Eight/Gaeta thing feels so tacked on, what else can you do? Honestly, I felt like one of the writers was Tonksing Gaeta. (I just wanted to use my new word.)
I'm also wondering if that pity frak line in the You Will Know the Truth clips is directed at Dee. In the promo pictures for Sometimes a Great Notion, she's dolled up. I wonder if that's exactly what she was planning on offering (even if she didn't identify it to herself that way). I also noticed in the promo pictures the brass are all standing in the lab. I can picture poor Gaeta getting accused of being the reason Earth is a shithole :)
Anyway, I do need to see Webisode 9 and really, Season 4.5 before I decide how much I liked these. My gut, however, is that they were a bit weak and redundant- which, hey, they were webisodes. Now, I know I am totally biased, but I really don't think we needed more reasons for Felix to hate the Cylons. He clearly hated them on New Caprica. What I really would have liked to see (and remember, biased) is more why he chose to trust Zarek as opposed to why he chose to not trust the Cylons. And of course I think they should totally use my backstory ;) But on the other hand, they've been swinging so far with trying to make the Cylons sympathetic, I'm glad to see that they remember that the Cylons pretty much wiped out humanity. I'm also not quite sure about the whole "I chose you to survive" thing (I really need to see #9 on that one though), and why she needed to get the names from Gaeta kind of eludes me.... but hey.
Other random thoughts:
-It was definitely the hair on Hoshi that was making him look so dorky. I thought he looked better with it grown out, but he looks even better in a flight suit.
-It would have been interesting if the Narcho thing had panned out. I think they would have had to change some of the dialogue, because I can't see Narcho giving the "There's something in the universe" speech. I'm writing Gaeta/Narcho right now, and I think I might go up to the end of the webisodes, and re-write the permission scene and the last scene to sound a little less corny. Hoshi can get away with that. Narcho can't.
-However, given what we've seen of Narcho, I also have a hard time believing he would love Felix as much as Hoshi does. But hey.
-Michael Hogan kicks ass. First in that scene were he realized that Hoshi was in love with Gaeta, and then in the scene where Gaeta says "You're a Cylon, sir," and he pretty much looks like he's been slapped. Amazing acting without saying a word, and yeah- Gaeta totally burned his bridge with Tigh right there.
Must geek more at some point.
I swear, every time I go away a Gaeta spoiler pops up. Last time it was the Gaeta/Hoshi thing. This time, Amazon accidentally leaked all the webisodes, except #9.
So let's talk webisodes, shall we? I'm debating how much I liked them. On the one hand, it was Gaeta, and I love Gaeta. On the other hand, I thought the writing was honestly a bit sloppy. Yes, I know that they're webisodes, but still.
First of all, I guessed the killer from the beginning. Now, granted, I don't think it took much to guess the killer. There were only so many people it could be, and once you offed the pilot8, that pretty much did it in. I don't really mind, actually, especially because I'm pleased. For one, I hated the idea of another Eight/anyone romance, and especially Eight/Felix. Eight already has Boomer/Chief and Helo/Athena. Helo/Athena is awesome, and may stay no matter what. In fact, they most both die or both live. Got that? And I'm fine with Boomer/Chief, and wouldn't mind if Boomer came to her senses (really, sweetie- Cavil?????) and got back together with him, although it's probably not happening. But come on- no more Eight romances. (I must admit, I still wouldn't have liked Gaeta/Six or Gaeta/Two, but it would have been different, at least. And I also must admit that the Eights are the most sympathetic in the viewer's eye.)
I don't get why it had to be a romance, though. Okay, I do. We must DESTROY GAETA, apparently. Which, hey, I can get behind perfectly well. But still.
Speaking of romance... Skiffy really blew that one out of proportion, huh? Honestly, would it have killed them to let Gaeta kiss Hoshi goodbye at the end? Or be a little more sympathetic? I mean, I get that Gaeta is not as in love with Hoshi as Hoshi obviously is with Gaeta. (Because Hoshi is head-over-heels smitten, and Gaeta is in a very bad place and has been since he lost his leg.) But "You found me and you saved me, so I'll protect you?" The dialogue in that scene bugged me a bit. Not that Gaeta essentially left Hoshi so much (although I think they kind of left the door open on their personal relationship, and it would be easy at this point to believe that the feelings are still there), but "Well, I'll protect you because I have to." It didn't have to be a big flowery speech. Hell, just kill the "You found me and you saved me, so..." part and keep the "I'll protect you." See? It doesn't change ANY of the intent, it doesn't make Gaeta look any more in love, if that's what they wanted to avoid, but it doesn't make him coldly dismiss what they obviously had together.
My theory of how the relationship went, and I am so working into my Dee-Hoshi fic, is as follows: not long after New Caprica- maybe a couple of months- Hoshi and Gaeta started sleeping together. Gaeta was completely upfront that for right now, it was just sex. But Hoshi fell hard, and eventually, Gaeta started falling, too. I mean, people fall in love at different rates, and one thing I did see in the webisodes was that while I didn't fully believe that Gaeta loved Hoshi at that point, I do think he very much cared about him. I kind of like the idea that if it had been left alone, Gaeta would have fallen in love, and they would have ended up together for a long, long time. But then Gaeta got sent on the Demetrius mission. The separation was okay, but when he lost his leg... he just went haywire emotionally. I mean, something like that takes time to recover from. From the webisodes, Hoshi was obviously convinced that they could, and honestly? I think Felix might have believed it, too. Or at least hoped for it. But yes, it did strain their relationship. I also really think that Felix left Hoshi because he wanted to protect him. He knows that what he's doing is a minimum of career suicide, and likely actual suicide. I can see him not wanting Hoshi mixed up in this- it fits his character.
However, of course, this is all speculation within the script. The other truth is that Gaeta must leave Hoshi at the end because Hoshi/Gaeta was added for the webisodes, and there's likely no hint whatsoever of it in the actual show, although we may see a point where Gaeta either protects or doesn't kill Hoshi. I listened to the commentary for episode 5, and it sounds like JE wasn't completely thrilled about the Eight/Gaeta relationship, either. I'm glad she fought for the idea that Gaeta was at least bi. I don't really like the tacked on nature, but I feel like she's fighting fire with fire. Because the Eight/Gaeta thing feels so tacked on, what else can you do? Honestly, I felt like one of the writers was Tonksing Gaeta. (I just wanted to use my new word.)
I'm also wondering if that pity frak line in the You Will Know the Truth clips is directed at Dee. In the promo pictures for Sometimes a Great Notion, she's dolled up. I wonder if that's exactly what she was planning on offering (even if she didn't identify it to herself that way). I also noticed in the promo pictures the brass are all standing in the lab. I can picture poor Gaeta getting accused of being the reason Earth is a shithole :)
Anyway, I do need to see Webisode 9 and really, Season 4.5 before I decide how much I liked these. My gut, however, is that they were a bit weak and redundant- which, hey, they were webisodes. Now, I know I am totally biased, but I really don't think we needed more reasons for Felix to hate the Cylons. He clearly hated them on New Caprica. What I really would have liked to see (and remember, biased) is more why he chose to trust Zarek as opposed to why he chose to not trust the Cylons. And of course I think they should totally use my backstory ;) But on the other hand, they've been swinging so far with trying to make the Cylons sympathetic, I'm glad to see that they remember that the Cylons pretty much wiped out humanity. I'm also not quite sure about the whole "I chose you to survive" thing (I really need to see #9 on that one though), and why she needed to get the names from Gaeta kind of eludes me.... but hey.
Other random thoughts:
-It was definitely the hair on Hoshi that was making him look so dorky. I thought he looked better with it grown out, but he looks even better in a flight suit.
-It would have been interesting if the Narcho thing had panned out. I think they would have had to change some of the dialogue, because I can't see Narcho giving the "There's something in the universe" speech. I'm writing Gaeta/Narcho right now, and I think I might go up to the end of the webisodes, and re-write the permission scene and the last scene to sound a little less corny. Hoshi can get away with that. Narcho can't.
-However, given what we've seen of Narcho, I also have a hard time believing he would love Felix as much as Hoshi does. But hey.
-Michael Hogan kicks ass. First in that scene were he realized that Hoshi was in love with Gaeta, and then in the scene where Gaeta says "You're a Cylon, sir," and he pretty much looks like he's been slapped. Amazing acting without saying a word, and yeah- Gaeta totally burned his bridge with Tigh right there.
Must geek more at some point.
