BSG: Razor

Like a lot of successful TV series, BSG got off to a strong start, then lost dramatic cohesion as the series progressed. It also suffered from a heavy-handed, political allegory—as if Michael Moore were the screenwriter. BSG: Razor marks a strong comeback to what made the show successful in the first place.

A few quick comments:

1.A lot of fans seem to like Chaves-Jacobsen in the role of Kendra Shaw. I can’t say that I share their enthusiasm. She labors valiantly with the part, but she comes across as what she obviously is: a pretty, petite actress who was originally cast for her delicate, China-doll looks, trying very hard to do a credible impersonation of a tough-as-nails gang girl. I think she copes about as well as a miscast actress can.

The miscasting is accentuated by the fact that her dramatic foil is Michelle Forbes, reprising the role of Admiral Cain. Forbes is a natural Tomboy, which is why she’s come to be typecast in these butch-femme roles.

Ironically, Forbes original ambition was to be a ballerina. Forbes is also better at the emotionally conflicted aspect of the role. One reason, I suppose, is that she’s a more seasoned actress, with more life-experience under her belt.

2.The lesbian liaison is probably another attempt on the part of liberal TV producers and screenwriters to promote their social views.

That said, the idea of a lesbian subculture in the officer class is a logical development of the coed military. Women proving that they don’t need men.

However, there’s a certain poetic justice in the fact that her girlfriend is a Cylon spy.

3.Which brings me to another point: in Razor, the male characters have been marginalized. The female characters take center stage. Traditionally, male characters have been the central players in action features. This, again, is probably another attempt to push a liberal social agenda.

4.Of course, back in the golden age of Hollywood, you had self-made women who naturally dominated the screen in star vehicles. But they weren’t playing Marines and Green Berets.

5.Ironically, Laura Roslin only gets a walk-on part in Razor. Between Cain, Kendra, and Starbuck, one of the strong female characters from the regular show, convincingly played by Mary McDonnell, is squeezed out.

Commander Adama has a few good scenes. Olmos, with his natural gravitas, was perfectly cast for this anchoring role. He has more stage presence than the pleasant, but lightweight actor who plays his rebellious son.

6.At the level of political allegory, the conduct of the “war on terror” has always been, to some extent, a debate between utilitarians and deontologists. Different people are temperamentally inclined to one position or the other.

Where survival is at stake, the utilitarians have the upper hand. And, in Razor, the utilitarians are firmly in charged. They are also motivated by an understandable appetite for revenge.

Deontologists view themselves as high-minded men of principle and guardians of civilization. They look down on the utilitarians as ruthless, unscrupulous Machiavellians.

By contrast, utilitarians view themselves as pragmatic realists. They look down on deontologists as suicidally naive utopians.

In BSG, there’s always been an unstable oscillation between the “civil libertarians” and the military. Secular ethics has no solution to this moral and practical conundrum. So it comes down to a power struggle.

This illustrates the need to have a well-rounded Christian value-system in which one ethical criterion doesn’t swallow up the rest.