Review: Battlestar Galactica - The Son Also Rises
Written by Michael Angeli

Starbuck is dead!? How will we ever manage? Apparently pretty well. After sitting through the first episode without Starbuck, I've realized how little the character meant to me. I don't want to sound like a total jerk--Katee Sackhoff is a good actress and certainly added some flair to the show--but I for one will not be losing any sleep any time soon. Especially with Gaius Baltar's trial about to commence.

In episode 318, The Son Also Rises, Gaius Baltar's lawyer is assassinated by a terrorist bombing. In his place, the President assigns Romo Lampkin (Mark Sheppard) to represent "the most hated man in the fleet." Tasked with protecting Lampkin, Lee (Jaime Bamber) begins to grow increasingly interested in the practice of Colonial law.

This was a weird episode last week. A science fiction show only because of the setting, I thought I was watching Boston Legal in space at times. Even the larger than life Romo Lampkin seemed like a character out of a David E. Kelly drama. Risky? For sure. But I'd say that this is probably one of the most memorable episodes of season 3 in my mind.

At the core of The Son Also Rises' success is guest star Mark Sheppard. I don't know where he came from, but he delivered such a powerhouse performance in this episode that I was caught totally off guard. The way he and Bamber worked off one another was classic. These scenes were easily some of the best written and edited scenes of dialog in recent memory.

Also of note in this episode was the inclusion of Anders. I had feared that with the booting of Starbuck, the Anders character would be dragged along with her. But it seems now that he and Apollo will at least be coming to some kind of an agreement on the death of the woman they both loved. I would certainly not be surprised if Anders signed up for Viper or marine training in season 4. Get a uniform on that old boy.

Rating: 9 / 10 "Is that a cat?"