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First, IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE ENTIRE SERIES, DO NOT WATCH THIS because it relies upon major revelations throughout the series; watching this beforehand will ruin not just the plot, but much of the wonderfully executed drama of not simply the most politically insightful show in American history but also one of the most moving.
Second, this is far better than the previous made-for-TV movie, "Razor" because it contains actual dramatic innovation and some truly great dialogue.
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
Why the plan makes sense:
I liked the conceptualization of the plan not being fully coherent but actually makeshift. There is a tendency in most fiction to imply that the enemy is more capable of orchestrating and coordinating events to an almost inhuman level of preparedness. This is the kind of thinking that led to the persecutions of innocents during McCarthyism and the Red Scares of the 20th century as well as the present-day atmosphere of the War on Terror. The idea that the cylons were simply doing what they could to destroy the humans is all 'the plan' ever should have been. However, I wonder if even the notion that Cavil was behind every attack on Galactica might be too much. There is a certain amount of satisfaction in leaving certain mysteries, especially whether Ms. Godfrey is real or Head Six transformed, unexplained.
For this reason, sometimes the most dramatically fulfilling story elements are those both introduced in "'The Plan"' and having no strong relation to events beyond it. Illustrating this fact is that we finally see the Number 4 cylon model (Simon) developed via two copies more fully than in the entire series to great effect.
Cavil:
For the most part, what lends "'The Plan"' its power is the Number Ones and their struggle to see their plan come to fruition. For many of the episodes not written by Ronald D. Moore, who introduced the character in '"Lay Down Your Burdens Part 1'," the Cavils were a shadow of what they were under his penmanship. Except for a brief scene written by Mark Verheiden in "'Eye of Jupiter'," the Cavils have remained as uninteresting as most of the cylon race in Seasons 3 and 4. They only came alive again in scenes specifically written by Moore in "'No Exit"' and again in the finale. It''s a huge comfort to see that writer Jane Espenson is up to the task of reinvigorating the character in a way I had previously thought only Moore could. His every word and movement were a joy to watch, and it was the right decision to focus the story on his model; I just wish that there were even more of him. The ultimate explanation for the Cavils'' actions could have used more elaboration, but was thoroughly satisfying because it was psychologically rooted and, therefore, dramatically powerful.
What I particularly enjoyed about "'The Plan"'' and what was the main driving mystery that viewers of the show had yet to uncover ' was how the Cavil who lived on Caprica came to see things differently than the Cavils (if they were any different) who would appear after '"Lay Down Your Burdens.'" Rather than deplore humanity, the Cavil from Caprica delivered a message from the cylon race that it would stop pursuing the fleet and leave the survivors of the attack on the colonies alone. Until this story, it was unknown whether this Cavil was simply carrying out his orders or expressing something in which he truly believed. In this story, we learn, from the outset, that he had indeed internalized this message of peaceful coexistence, but what is left in the air until the end is how and why he came to this conclusion. Rather than being converted by some forced and sudden love of the humans ' which seems to happen somewhat implausibly to Ms. Godfrey ' Caprica Cavil is persuaded more by practicality. He is also forced to look into his psychological motivations more deeply than it is revealed the other Cavils, including the one on Galactica, have done. In this sense, Cavil's journey has an element of relatable realism to the human condition, as human history is full of self-delusion and denial or unawareness of psychological motivations, and that's what makes this story more a blessing than a curse to the overall story of Battlestar Galactica.
Visual presentation and directing:
Even on the more superficial terms of special effects, there is something beautiful in the first several minutes to how the cylon ships are shown moving into place and how the various colonial cities are depicted. Moreover, director Edward James Olmos has done a fantastic job of matching new scenes to a specific timeframe in the older footage from the series' past episodes. So, footage filmed several years apart flows seamlessly within a given scene.
The use of insurgency as plot device and political commentary:
I didn't much care for the insurgency storyline on Caprica because it failed to yield as much political commentary as 'Occupation'/'Precipice', which attempted to explore the causes for and issues involved in insurgency and collaboration across human history and into the present. I also tend not to enjoy action scenes much or that particular aspect of Anders' character, which was quite macho in Season 2. What I did like was the notion that Anders drew upon the idea for engaging in hit and run attacks from a movie. As is often the case on our culture, much of our knowledge of 'the other' is derived from popular culture and not academic works and, in times of crisis, we draw upon this entertainment for lessons on how to comprehend this 'other' and how to behave. The fact that the 'bad guys' in the film had used guerilla warfare and that humanity could, too, in resisting the cylons was, however slight, a moment of political insight. By referring to the reasons for terrorism in this way, the viewer is made to question whether this was necessarily a 'bad guy' approach at all ' as the US and Israel often hypocritically infer of their enemies' terrorist actions, while they use supposedly 'civilized' means of unjust laws and overwhelming force to kill hundreds of thousands more in more brutal and just as indiscriminate fashion.
Another great element was a comment on the nature of heroism that made me think about things in a whole new light. At one point, Anders tells Caprica Cavil that, once he began leading his team in fighting the cylons, he realized that it was much more difficult and terrifying than he had expected when he had rallied them to wage guerrilla warfare. He tells him that he instinctually wanted to run away -- to not live up to his battle cry rhetoric. However, what kept him forging ahead was that one of his team members would have seen him retreat and that he wanted to avoid the shame of abandoning the very task he had pushed them to undertake. In this light, he was driven more by a desire to protect his image than the kind of personal ambition for glory or doing the right thing by the human race. I've never seen this explanation for heroic acts expressed this way in fiction or history, but this was a very honest and realistic and human set of motivations and feelings that I could imagine myself experiencing. I absolutely love it when I learn something new about human nature.
Forced dramatic coherence:
One of the essential ingredients that the best of Battlestar Galactica has maintained in its storytelling is how random life is ' how unexpected. Yet it is difficult to craft engaging drama from complete randomness, so a balance between realism and coherence must be struck to give the program its power and often has been. While 'The Plan' didn't suffer from as much cute tidiness and forced dramatic coherence as '"Razor'," it still had those problems of tilting too much toward coherence. The most egregious mistake was made in an effort to have an interesting dramatic moment between Chief Tyrol and Giana (played well by Lymari Nadal) upon their realization that Boomer and the Simon she loved had carried out their missions so poorly because of their love for the humans. While Tyrol and Giana were ashamed to be associated so intimately with cylons, they found comfort in their loved ones' 'humanity' because it meant that they weren't simply hateful of the human race; indeed, many of those cylons ' beyond those specific Number 8 and Number 4 copies ' are shown in this movie to be reluctant to execute their orders to hurt or put into disarray Galactica''s crew because of this fact.
This was a real addition to the program's storyline by making sense of mysterious story elements without taking away from the show's consistency. However, their bonding should have ended there. A mistake is made in overdoing the parallels between Tyrol and Giana by having her confess that she is not only suicidal over finding out her husband's identity, but has fantasized about killing herself by 'swan diving' from the upper section of the hangar bay. Through flashes, we are reminded that this is exactly what Tyrol had been dreaming about in "'Lay Down Your Burdens Part 1'." This is simply too convenient and completely unnecessary; while both characters might feel suicidal about their shame about loving cylons, it is highly unlikely they would think of committing suicide in the exact same way in the exact same place. Still, I enjoyed the tender way that Tyrol instinctually kissed her and especially the way they both understood that it was a lapse in judgment and how she consoled him as her comrade afterward.
Similarly, a wonderful bit of texture given to the Leoben character had his model obsessively begin to listen to Starbuck's chatter over the radio. However, this was taken a bit too far and made too self-consciously referential to things to come, when he paints a mandala similar to that Starbuck had painted as a child and when he even sees the same visions she would; an error was even made in having him see a vision of himself as the angel that simply took his form (and was not him) that would speak to Starbuck in "'Maelstrom'."
Over the top humor:
One upsetting aspect, which is a definite holdover from Jane Espenson's history of writing Joss Whedon-style humor on '"Buffy the Vampire Slayer'," is the tendency to have over-the-top humor. In one scene, a Doral (Number Five) assumes that no one in the fleet will recognize him because he has a teal colored blazer unlike the red one worn by the Doral copy that was labeled a cylon by the humans in the miniseries. In another scene, an irritating version of Number 6 uses the word 'hum' as a sleazy and forced double entendre, which Joss Whedon shows do far too much. These kinds of attempts at humor lessen the show because the levity doesn''t arise naturally from a context that should respect both the tone of the scene and consistency of the characters (Doral isn''t that stupid) and lacks originality (I could see that oral sex joke coming a mile away).
Structural and pacing problems with the story:
There is a dramatic problem inherent in the structure of the story that seems insurmountable. In many instances, the story is not as gripping as it might be due to having to provide the viewers with context of events by employing footage from Season Two and especially Season One. The dramatic potency of the mostly excellent first and second season episodes is lost by only using portions of those scenes. However, it would have been far worse to use more of this footage because the narrative drag would have been even greater; on the other hand, I cannot imagine not using some means of reminding viewers which incident taking place in past episodes that given cylon activity relates.
Conclusion:
So, while this is a mixed bag, it is considerably more welcome than not as an addition to the series for humanizing the series, which I have always thought was a commentary on humanity's tendency to dehumanize ("They're not like us!") and homogenize ("They're all the same!") "the other", whomever that might be throughout human history and into the present. In doing so, the show has long demanded the audience to realize that, therefore, we - including our heroic leaders - are just as capable of kindness and cruelty as our adversaries.
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Customer reviews
Adds To The BSG Universe, Best For BSG Fans (See The Series First At Least Through Seaon 2), Cylon Point Of View
Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2017
And they have a plan... But only one? I'm a BSG fan and I loved the series and have noticed that the Cylon "plan" evolves dramatically through the seasons. The Plan I think attempts to give more depth to the Cylons by presenting the it from their point of view from before the mini series through the second season.For me The Plan provides supplemental background for the BSG universe. Unless you're a fan or knowledgeable about the BSG universe this probably isn't so interesting. BUT, I think most BSG fans will find it interesting and entertaining when considered a background feature. It can feel like a rehash of events from already seen episodes. Still I found this look at the series through the end of season 2 interesting.The Plan is formatted as a standalone feature length video (1h 55m) and it kept my attention for the whole time. I don't think it's a good as the main series on it's own, but as I said, I see it as a supplement adding depth to the main series arc.I liked The Plan and I'm giving 5 stars because it was just what I was expecting and added to my picture of the BSG universe.
Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2017
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