Battlestar Galactica Reviews: The Son Also Rises (Episode 3.17)

Reviews:
Episode Name: The Son Also Rises
Episode Number: 317
Written by: Michael Angeli
Directed by: Sergio Mimica-Gezzan
Original Air Date: 3/11/07 on SciFi Channel
Review Posted: 3/18/07

Brief review of Episode 3.17:

Following the surprise death of Kara, this episode gets off to a subdued start with Lee and Adama showing their grief. But Adama quickly acquires a new responsibility: he's one of five ship captains picked from a blind draw to serve on Baltar's tribunal. Speaking of Baltar's trial, his lawyer gets killed in a hangar deck bombing. Adama seems to be having a very difficult time controlling his emotions for the first time since he was recovering from his near assassination. This carries through much of the episode where Adama displays an uncharacteristic lack of control when speaking to Lee.

Meanwhile, Lee has Starbuck on the brain, including in an embarrassing moment in front of the pilots. This gives Adama the perfect excuse to ground Lee. Adama seems overly protective of Lee in this episode, which probably stems from his "daughter's" death while flying a Viper. However, he puts Lee in the position of protecting Baltar's lawyer, who happens to have connections to Joseph Adama. Although, Lampkin seems to be such a good liar that we wouldn't be surprised if he never really knew Joe Adama and simply used that as a way to manipulate . Basically, in the episode he turned Lee against Adama and Caprica Six against Roslin. Admittedly, both were not the strongest bonds in the first place to be broken.

Lampkin has an odd habit of bringing his (wife's) cat with him everywhere and of stealing personal items. His choice items for Roslin, Adama, Lee (which he didn't steal yet) and the prosecuting attorney Cassidy are spot on. Though mostly well-done, his kleptomania is also employed as a plot device to tie up the bombing storyline. After he seems to make deliberate decisions about what he took from others, he takes something from Kelly that he doesn't even recognize, but turns out to be a bomb component, although we can theorize that he did notice that Kelly had an unusual attachment to the item, which might be why he took it.

The whole storyline with the bombings seemed to go nowhere. Instead of it being a conspiracy, it's a lone culprit. Why did no one suspect Kelly? In a deleted scene, Athena and Cally decide to accuse each other, although that had more to do with overall personal dislike between the two. Kelly is third in command on Galactica and has been with Adama for a while and yet all that we got is seen is a short scene between Kelly and Lee and then presumably Kelly is off cooling his heels in the brig. For how long though? Until the end of Baltar's trial? Or has his underutilized character just been written out of the show in an underwhelming scene?

The episode basically serves as a prelude to the season finale with Lampkin serving as puppet master. Lampkin plays Baltar, wins over Caprica Six, and pushes Lee into full opposition to his father, who turns out to be on the tribunal and is not handling his grief over Kara very well. Oh, and Lampkin indirectly helps solve the bombings that put him in a sick bay bed setting the stage for Lee stepping in. Lampkin serves as much more than just a guest character. He's basically the star of the episode. The question is whether he'll be such a focal character in the finale, or mostly fade into a clichéd lawyer during the trial. It's most unfortunate that some of the best writing of the season turns up with a guest role.

Battlestar Galactica Items Available at eBay - Scroll for additional items