'Battlestar Galactica' Retro Recap: 'The Son Also Rises'

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

​When it comes to losing someone in our lives, it’s important to note that people grieve in their own respective ways. Some people confront their pain head on in the hopes of moving on quickly, while others bury themselves in work or a hobby to sort through their pain, and some people, simply wear their heart upon their sleeves and struggle as the pain shatters them to their core. That matters because, none of those methods are wrong in the slightest, yet, people sometimes feel compelled to offer their two cents on how others should recover and that quite frankly, is rude…and risky.
 
Because it can make someone feel like a failure when they are told they need to ‘suck it up and deal’ with their respective pain, and if someone close to them has the nerve to say something that bold, it can damage a relationship or push people away and it just so happens that all of this was explored in the next episode of Battlestar Galactica, because ‘The Son Also Rises’ put grief front and center in this tale since everyone aboard the ship was dealing with the loss of Starbuck. And, oddly enough, two of the examples I made mention of a moment ago were featured in this story as well. Because while the Admiral let his duty as the fleet’s commander help heal his heart, his son was struggling mightily with the loss of dear Kara.
 
In fact, it came to the point where Lee outright called Racetrack, Starbuck, in the middle of a briefing and Lee’s struggle to cope, combined with the assassination of Baltar’s lawyer, prompted the Admiral to reassign Lee to the new attorney’s security detail, all in the hopes of focusing Lee by way of a simpler task and well, that gambit did not pay off. Because the new lawyer, a man named Romo Lampkin, kept Lee on his toes, something he simply wasn’t ready for and because of this, another assassination attempt was nearly successful, once again putting Lee in the crosshairs of his father, and dear old dad continued to challenge his son’s mental fitness and push for him to get his act together and that turned out to be a poor choice on the Admiral’s part.
 
Because Kara’s death more or less left Lee questioning everything about his life, leaving him listless and confused and without purpose, and unfortunately for the Admiral, spending time with Lampkin gave Lee the opportunity to explore and embrace law, something he had always flirted with as a boy, and when given the choice to return to the flight deck as Galactica’s CAG, he chose to stick with the law, much to his father’s disdain. But the key here, is that Lee was in essence, mocked and pushed when it came to his grief, since his dad more or less decided how best for Lee to cope with his pain and he ended up pushing his son away once again in the process and well, all of this was downright brilliant.
 
Because often times in television land, when a character is faced with grief and loss, they work through it quickly and we’re off to the next story. So, to see both of those hardships presented in realistic fashion was refreshing to say the least and I appreciate the fact that it didn’t pull any punches in showing just how much this stuff can impact our day to day lives. Plus, it’s clear now that the Admiral’s attempt to have his son deal with such matters the same way he does will have an adverse effect on their relationship going forward. But in the here and the now, we’ve arrived at the end of season three, and with it comes the trial of the century, and a big surprise, so if you’ll excuse me…it’s time to hit play on the remote and indulge in the next episode. Until next time.

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