"Battlestar Galactica" The Oath (TV Episode 2009) Poster

(TV Series)

(2009)

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10/10
Oh Jeez...
dcluefield1 February 2009
Excellent episode. Period.

Oh, yes, mutinies are SO incredibly rare. Right, of course. And we've all lived through the collapse of human civilization, and have experienced the sort of chaos that accompanies the complete breakdown of hope.

C'mon guys. Let's stop supplanting the show with our own private ideas of where the plot SHOULD go. It's not your story to tell. That's one of the things about this show that has held my attention (and I assume EVERYBODY's attention) for four years--the fact that it never goes where you EXPECT a space adventure to go (which is true of all great stories). I love it. I love that we get to earth, the shining hope and dream of mankind, only to find that it is a complete letdown.

The socio-political fallout of such situations--that is what Battlestar Galactica has always been about.
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10/10
Blood on the decks
Tweekums12 February 2012
Warning: Spoilers
As this episode opens things seem normal but it isn't long before Gaeta and Zarek's coup d'état is underway; first they take the hanger deck so Zarek can return to Colonial One then during a supposed fire and system failure Gaeta's people seize the armoury and capture those Cylons they can find along with Helo. From his position in CIC Gaeta is able to block any calls to the Admiral and give plausible excuses to and of his queries... until it becomes clear to Adama what is going on then Gaeta orders his and Col. Tigh's arrest. They manage to escape and arm themselves but there are few others to organise the fight back; not surprisingly Starbuck and Lee are amongst those few! Meanwhile President Roslin has made her way to Baltar's group so she can use his wireless to address the fleet. Here she also meets Tyrol who has an idea of how to get her and Adama off the ship.

This was one of the most exciting episodes to date even though there were no space battles; this is because the fighting on board Galactica had a very claustrophobic feel to it and it was hard to tell who was good and who was bad. The idea of a coup seemed believable at this point in the story; Gaeta is bitter about losing his leg to a Cylon and Zarek has been after power since day one and with moral at rock bottom after the discovery of a dead Earth it wouldn't be that difficult to find people wanting a change of leadership. The acting was great this episode; it was good to see Edward James Olmos and Michael Hogan get some action scenes for themselves rather than just barking orders in CIC. Alessandro Juliani also put in a fine performance as Gaeta; although after his character's actions in this episode I don't see him lasting till the end of the series! The final scene had distinct similarities to the end of 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' I can't wait to see how Adama and Tigh get out of that predicament!
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10/10
Great episode, maybe the best of Season 4 ... 'till now!
sasho_k13 February 2009
I love Battlestar Galactica. It's the only SF show i watch and get excited about. My taste says that the first two seasons were amazing and slightly better than the third one. The first part of the fourth season was not disappointing at all but will it be remembered as the best season, we'll see. It depends on the final 10 episodes. I believe in Ronald D.Moore and his ability to write inspiring stuff, i am sure he wont disappoint us. But do not expect anything, you might not guess what is coming next. This episode is the direction i hope the final episodes will follow, it got action, it got thrills and it got some conclusions that i hope will lead in a great ending of this series.
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8/10
Eh?
moodyiv1 February 2009
Look, to the two other comments, history is full of instances where this exact thing has happened. Alexander the Great had to rethink his push East because his men were about to mutiny. Now show me a greater leader than Alexander the Great? Military men will most definitely act in that manner because they have in human history. The writers are more than likely tapping the rich historical resources to get an idea of how humans act in this situation. Not to rip the show off but it has happened before (in real life) and it will happen again. I think perhaps, with the tone of the two comments that, you are taking a bit too much interest in the characters. What I mean is, I actually yelled at Gaida when he told Adama that he was relieved. Yes, Gaida is a little turd and Zarek should have been put down long ago but even though I hate the episode because of my undying devotion to Adama, as an objective observer it was good, I just hated watching it.
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8/10
Enjoying it
trevormd16 February 2009
I think this episode and season is great. I like that the show is moving in an actual direction now, not just sitting in space running over and over. I don't think that the idea of mutiny is that far-fetched. Imagine if last year President Bush had told the troops, and the whole country, that we were going to ally with Al Qaeda so that we could get gas for the entire country under one dollar per gallon. Do those of you who think this episode is unrealistic really believe that situation would go over our country just fine, with no one rising against our leaders for that decision? Do you think that our Iraq veterans, who have seen their friends fall in battle against Middle Eastern terrorists, would be perfectly fine allying with them for some free gas, regardless of how charismatic our leader was? I don't. I for one am enjoying this season and looking forward to how it keeps moving on.
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9/10
"I could do this all day" (dialog STARBUCK)
A_Different_Drummer25 February 2015
The year was 2009.

It would be some time before the catchphrase "I could do this all day" became associated with infomercials. At that moment it time it was the signature line for a revitalized Starbuck as the mutiny gave her something to live for.

Or perhaps I should say ... something to live for .. again.

In the overall arc, you could say that for a few episodes BSG had been coasting on past glories.

The coasting stopped here.

This was a slap in the face for viewers who were falling asleep and a reminder of what the series is like in full flight.
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10/10
Very well done and very real
adlvcolt2 November 2009
When a society loses hope and sense of a good future, society collapses. The social structure becomes empty and the sense of order is gone. It happened in the past and I can give a "live example". Argentina went under a crisis in 2001 and today there is no real sense of order since everything was seriously affected, politics and the economy. The Argentina society accepted whatever made feel better by politicians after the crisis , not meaning it was good in the long term. The "mutiny" in 2001 was done by its own political class because the economics were bad and not believed the presidency. So if you put a bunch of people in an extreme situation like this episode portraits with no hope(the earth is gone) and disbelief, mutiny is likely to happen.
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10/10
Great episode
charlie-54-77921928 January 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I'm not sure if this is intentional but I am in support of the mutiny. Adama is a dictator, Starbuck is a complete nut job, and the president lies more than even a regular politician.
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8/10
The first great episode of S4, but still hampered by less than stellar writing
cj27033 March 2014
Warning: Spoilers
This is the first episode from Season 4 that I actually really enjoyed, it took me back to previous seasons in that way. It's also the first episode I'd give 8/10 this season, as it's been a disappointing season.

The situation came to a climax here but it was still hampered by the unbearable and ridiculous sense of moral superiority that the pro-Cylons have (Adama and the gang). First of all, this season has sidelined all of them or made them annoying, so I don't honestly care about any of them anymore, Starbuck, Lee, Adama, Roslin, Tigh, they all kinda suck now. Secondly, allowing the Cylons ACCESS to the fleet's hyperdrives?!?!?! That's insane!!! They annihilated over 50 billion people, all that remains is less than 0.0000001% of humanity and just because some Cylons are playing nice, all of humanity is supposed to let their guard down?! It's just idiocy. Especially after Cylons played nice on New Caprica and... abducted and tortured people. As well as kidnapping and executing humans on their ship just an episode or two before this one! History shows that Adama should have more sense and it's yet another example of the bad writing that has plagued season 4. The writers' strike really did a number on BSG.

And the fact that they didn't actually acknowledge that (well, Lee did for 10 seconds but that wasn't nearly enough and it seemed shoehorned in rather than natural), and thought that they were right and we had to follow them as they stupidly and predictably fought free, weakened the overall episode. I want to see them all sentenced and executed if I'm honest, how awesome would that be!! To show how much has happened and how far they've fallen. It's not like they're likable anymore, Starbuck has been annoying as hell for over an entire season, Lee's political direction has been completely uninteresting and his betrayal of Roslin ruined his likability, Adama hasn't really done anything this season, nor Roslin, and Tigh has been given far too much time, to the point of irritation on the part of the viewer. How many times has he given that same shocked look in this season lol? If a drinking game were invented around that, swift death would overcome all that play it.

This episode could have been greater if the pro-Cylons acknowledged that okay, maybe it's not right to let the Cylons near their technology but the cold blooded murder of innocent men and women on Galactica is wrong, so then we can kind of root for both sides, even though we want Felix to win because he's so clearly right.
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5/10
Losing the plot.
Moviefile31 January 2009
Well I was hoping the series would go out with a bang but it's looking more like the writers are floundering. Mutiny in reality is a rare thing, because any commander worth their salt has learned how to lead. You lead by example, by the book and because your experience and track record recommend you to your superiors and to your subordinates. Inspirational leaders are less common because they require something more both in themselves, and in those they command. If you lack experience in the military field I recommend you read this page which provides a good overview: http://www.socialaffairsunit.org.uk/blog/archives/001249.php

All I will say is that in my view, regardless of the seeming hopelessness of their position there is no way that a successful charismatic leader such as Adama would be removed from his command by mutineers. The fact that the arch mutineer is Mr Gaeta is beyond belief, no one in their right mind would follow him anywhere, he is a whiny malcontent whose military career prospects would be extremely limited even if he had not lost his leg. The fact too that he is allied with Zarek would make for little prospect for stability or a proper command structure, and it is infantile to imagine that long serving and experienced personnel would not realise this. The idea that they would rise up and murder their colleagues is mad, as military law is explicit and there would be no prospect of any amnesty or commutation. As characters Zarek and Gaeta are weak venal and uninteresting and should be pushed out of the airlock forthwith.

Shame, I had enjoyed the series up to now, but it really does appear that the writers have lost their way.
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3/10
the slide continues
a6663338 February 2009
The mutiny is about as believable as a 3 dollar bill. it looks like an excuse to bump off a few more characters (after giving them 15 minutes of fame), inject a stream of violence and cursing and fill in a few episodes. It is difficult to take the idea seriously, let alone watch it. I will not go into a long explanation of that but some of the other comments have made some solid points that I would concur with.

The worst of it is that at this point, there is little reason to care about any of the characters with the possible exception of Athena (who seems to have faded into insignificance anyway). It is difficult to recognize a coherent character in any of them, so what is there to like? That is, unless you call being abusive and manipulative of everyone around the same thing as coherence.
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1/10
not up to the same level as the rest of the series
ut8t530 January 2009
Warning: Spoilers
OK, we already had enough of hatch/zarek, but apparently Moore wants to focus on hatch and gaeta. frankly, the idea of a mutiny is a little hard to suspend disbelief - we are talking about career soldiers here, who have followed a popular admiral after the demise of their entire civilization, with only their duty and loyalty holding them together - the entire crew is going to rally behind some pis-ant gimp junior officer? give me a break Moore. you clearly do not have a grasp of the military mind, and you have abandoned the characters that you built over the last few years in some soprano like attempt to frak with your fans. gaeta should have been shot about ten minutes into his little farce. aside from this, these first few episodes have not lived up to the first half of season 4, which had been as good as the last half of season 2. disappointed my friend.
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