So another Friday night passes, and 3 of the 5 Sci-Fi shows I consistently follow (sorry Fringe, still need to catch up) are on.  Of course they put these shows on Friday night, thinking sci fi geeks have nothing better to do (which usually I don’t, but last night I did go out, so had to watch Dollhouse this morning)

Battlestar Galactica:
This episode is considered part 1 of 2 of the series finale, where this episode was the standard 1 hour episode (including commercials of course), next week’s part 2 of the finale will be 2 hours long.  The episode was good, it was all setup for next weeks episode though.  A lot of flashbacks to people’s lives on Caprica before the Cylon attack.  We learn about how Caprica 6 became involved with Baltar, Rosayln’s tragic loss, Apollo’s first meeting with Starbuck, and Sam’s life as a sports star in that wacky Pyramid game.  My only wish is that they had done these flashbacks earlier throughout the season, instead of the 2nd to last episode.

I’m still waiting for the long awaited reveal for Starbuck, which everyone is guessing that she is the boxed 7 Cylon Daniel.  I thought they would have done it weeks ago, but guess not.

In the end, the episode leads up to a hopefully huge battle between Humanity and the Cylon Colony for part 2 of the series finale.

Dollhouse:
This episode was written by Joss Whedon producing partner Tim Minear, who wrote one of my favorite Firefly episodes “Out of Gas”, and had the short lived TV series Drive with Nathan Fillion.

Echo is placed in a cult in order to get evidence and just cause for the ATF to break in and arrest the cult leader.  Overall I was pretty disinterested in the main storyline, but much more entertained by Topher and the doctor’s quest to find the reason behind Victor’s “man reaction”.  I thought that was a funny scene, and was more interesting than the cult storyline.

The preview for next week’s episode looks promising, and hopefully will deliver on what we’ve expected from Joss Whedon, because so far it’s been average to above average entertainment from Dollhouse.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:
As always, I’m probably one of the only people who appreciates T:SCC character development and doesn’t mind the slower pace of the show.  To me, what’s great about the show isn’t the action sequences, but the relationships that each character has with one another and how they are constantly at odds but in more subtle ways, much more like real life.

The return of John Henry was a welcome sight, and his side story with Agent Ellis and company was good. Shirley Manson never stops creeping me out, which in the context of the show is a good thing.

Flashbacks of Jesse, are setting us up to see why she is so against Cameron’s involvement with John Connor, and the death of Riley creates great tension between John, Sarah, and Cameron.

Next week is part 2 of this story arc, and looks to reveal the motivation to Jesse’s plot against Cameron. 

Overall, it was a good night for sci fi shows, and didn’t end with me screaming about how lame BSG was (like the week with the Dynasty soap opera plot with Saul, Ellen, and 6).

How did you guys like each episode?

- Dennis