A Brand New Segment

What I learned tonight watching Battlestar Galatica

Season 2, Episode "The Black Market"

So, I have lost direction. And I have decided to go to my number one source for inspiration: Battlestar Galactica.

"The Black Market" is an episode about The Black Market. The people in the fleet are struggling with the simple issue of supply and demand. There are criminals withholding crucial drugs and other supplies in exchange for sex, money, and whatever else of value.

The underlying story is about Lee Adama and his continuing spiral downwared into depression. Lee is paying a prostitute (she has a heart of gold and a child) for something a little more then sex. The prostitute reminded Lee of the girl he left behind on Caprica. (This girl became pregnant and Lee rejected her and his unborn child.)

The Admiral places Lee in charge of investigating the death of the Pegasus Commander, a fat man deeply involved in the Black Market. Lee needs forgiveness. He gave up on a potential family before the Attacks, and now he believes that he will gain some sort of peace of mind if he saves his prostitute and her daughter from the evil men of the criminal underground.

Lee eventually kills the bad guy...but does he feel better about himself? That is the question.

Quote from the Episode:

"It's hard to find the moral high ground when we're all standing in the mud."

I learned a few pivotal things from this episode.

1. Lee is wicked awesome and beautiful (why is he paying for sex?)

2. Not everyone can be saved...the reality of the situation is that people are in charge of their own paths. You might think that you are saving someone. But whether or not they want to be saved is not up to you.

3. Poor Lt. Dualla. She has it bad for Lee. And in this episode she at least confronts him and forces him to pick a side. Either he wants a relationship with her or he doesn't.

4. Stupid President Roslin believes that she is better then everyone else and doesn't have to get her feet muddy by allowing the Black Market to continue. She never wants to realize that life in space is not like it was on Caprica and the other Colonies. Not everything is black and white. Moral superiority doesn't have a place in the fleet. Everyone has had to make some allowances.

5. Life is hard when you are put into an impossible situation (such as running away from deadly cylons week after week). I have learned to think through things a little more. To see things from alternate points of view. You don't have to agree with everything a person does or believes, but you can't change the way that people think or how they are going to respond to situations. Everyone has the same basic right to choice.

Well, I will talk to you later.