"Battlestar Galactica" Retro Recap: "Colonial Day"

Written by John Edward Betancourt

I think it is completely safe to say that there are few of us out there that are truly engaged and fascinated by the intricacies of politics. There's a lot that goes into running a government and most of us are just fine leaving the politics up to the politicians and there's wrong nothing with that. 

But once in a great while, something about the whole nature of politics catches our attention and one of those moments for me came courtesy of Battlestar Galactica. Yes, leave it to a science fiction show to make the political arena interesting, but that's just what the eleventh episode of the series, "Colonial Day" managed to do.

In fact the events of this particular tale revolved around the episode's namesake, as President Roslin decides to resurrect the Colonial government aboard the luxury liner Cloud Nine as Colonial Day draws near, and while this episode features plenty of action and adventure when it comes to a potential plot to assassinate the President, the best parts of this episode come from all the political posturing and behind the scenes strategy executed by Roslin as she deals with the terrifying prospect of seeing former terrorist Tom Zarek ascend to the Vice Presidency of the Twelve Colonies.  

This of course comes courtesy of Mary McDonnell's fine acting skills as she constantly evolves on screen from friendly diplomat to seasoned politician, ready to strike on a moment's notice to get exactly what she wants and I loved every single second of it. Because while much of the rhetoric in our modern world revolves around the personal agenda of our elected officials, this story features none of that. Roslin's agenda is for the betterment of the fleet and making sure that a wild card such as Zarek is never put in a position of that kind of power. 

Of course she gets what she wants when she finds the perfect candidate in Gaius Baltar, a decision that at the time seemed quite silly. But while this episode merely passed the time as we waited for the season one finale, it did a great job in keeping me enthralled because this went beyond filler...this was setup and while some of the plot threads were never resolved, like who killed the Assassin, even though it's implied it might be Ellen, this was a nice little self contained story that ended up laying for the foundation for an incredible journey for Gaius Baltar that would eventually take all of us by surprise. Until next time.

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