BSG: More About Dualla in Sometimes a Great Notion
spoilers for “Sometimes a Great Notion” (4.11)
I already wrote a post on this latest episode of Battlestar Galactica. In an email conversation with a friend though, I had the opportunity to restate much of what I thought about Dualla’s choice and action. I liked some of the additional points that came up so I’m going to set them down here.
If you’ve already read the other one, much of this is going to be similar.
In many ways, I think Dualla was a good choice. She’s always been so stable, capable, and professional that the impact of seeing someone like that break has more emotional impact.
Her mind has always been her own. She defied her family and her home planet to join the military. She helped Roslin escape from the brig and rig an election. She chose to do all these things and did them well.
She married Lee knowing full well what was what. She ended their marriage without that much of a fuss. She serves, supports, and does her best–every time.
I mean, the fleet literally communicates through her. Also, it was her and Billy that made Bill Adama decide that escape was the best course of action.
Earth was a shock and a destruction for everyone. But Dualla died as she had lived. She funneled what was left of her enthusiasm and hope into the man she thought could save the future. She decided on what her final state of mind should be. She planned and carried out her plan–so capably.
She was a great big symbol–of hope and family for the Adamas, of connection for the fleet, and the professional stoicism of all those nameless people in the crew and on the civilian ships. As the other characters in the show had their breakdowns and failures, Dualla kept going.
But now, we know what this news has done to her. And we can see what this news has done to all those others mourning in the halls of Galactica.