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Reviews
Battlestar Galactica: Black Market (2006)
Worst episode of the series... by a mile or twenty
Normally when shows I love have subpar episodes, I'll moderate my criticism with something like a "well, even a bad 'Dexter' is tons better than the best 'CSI: Miami.' " And BSG was so spectacular week in, week out that I never expected the show would come up with something that is just awful in general. Unfortunately, "Black Market" is about as bad as any one-hour drama you're likely to see on TV. It's just plain awful. The producers try to dress it up with a flash-forward at the start, but it's just an awful idea (BSG goes film noir!) executed even worse. Granted, exec producer Ronald Moore graciously acknowledges some of the weaknesses on the podcast/DVD commentary, but if he was being honest, he would have copped to the fact that this whole plot line should have died in the writers' room. Characters act out of character, the black market "heavies" seem like their moonlighting from an episode of "Walker: Texas Ranger" ... heck, even the sets don't look up to snuff. This episode kicked off a stretch of shaky hours ("Scar," "Sacrifice") before returning to form.
Battlestar Galactica: Scar (2006)
Better than "Black Market," but still weak and simply off-putting
I agree with the commenter who said the characters seem "off" in this one. While the vast majority of BSG episodes are phenomenal, this one never works. I never bought the tug-of-war between Starbuck and Kat--it seemed to come out of nowhere, a consistent problem with this stretch of late Season 2.5 episodes (like the preceding "Black Market" and the following "Sacrifice"). I commend Ronald Moore for admitting on his commentaries that these episodes are far from BSG's finest hour. As for "Scar," it's not a bad concept, but it is poorly executed. (And the acting is just plain hammy at times.) Still, it probably gets more credit than its due from fans simply because it's MUCH better than the mind-blowingly awful "Black Market," which was poorly conceived AND executed. Thankfully, BSG soon rallied with much better shows in the grand tradition of Season One and the first half of Season Two.