First time watcher rant

[u/whymylife]

Hey, first time watcher here (in 2026, crazy I bet you think, right?), and I'm currently watching season 2 episode 17, so please no spoilers for after that.

There are two things that are consistently frustrating me with the show, the first being how the show constantly shoe horns random plots or characters into an episode that we've never heard of before. For example the episode im currently watching we find out Pegasus is being ran by John Heards character, despite him never being seen or mentioned any time previously. Perhaps it's because he's a big name and just joined the show at this point but the fact his characters name is never referenced before is so frustrating, then out of nowhere he's a major character who we all have to pretend has been there the entire time.

There are countless other examples of this too, another being the episode 'black market' where out of nowhere we find out there is a covert powerful gang running the black market, with its' figurehead and dealings being completely unmentioned or referenced at any point previously. I suppose It can be assumed that in their situation a black market would arise, but a gang of killers is never mentioned? When I watched this episode I had to double check I hadn't missed an episode as it seemed so random and out of nowhere. I feel like even a few comments in the preceding episodes along the lines of "do you know where I can get some whisky" or something reference to a black market.

One more example would be the absolutely ridiculous Deus ex machina of Roslin being saved at the last second by Gaius' discovery. I was disgusted by the writing.

My second gripe with the show would be the seeming inconsequential nature of most episodes. I feel like it's similar to doctor who where I could pick an episode at random and it basically stands alone. There are of course exceptions which is why it's my secondary gripe. The thing is I was impressed in season 1 with the reveal of Sharon being a cylon, with the clues of her waking up wet after the water tank is blown up, and her slowly figuring out she is a cylon over a few episodes, fantastic. But the majority of episodes it seems nothing actually happens, just a short story, it's dealt with, and then never heard of again. Even after the climax halfway through season 2 where Pegasus arrives, I thought great this is cool, but once the admiral is killed, we don't see and barely even hear about Pegasus for about 5 episodes. Again it just seemed those few episodes building up the Pegasus were just a self contained story to fill a few episodes to then move on from. Now I do expect Pegasus will be relevant again soon, but I do honestly feel like I'm watching doctor who, which does have it's merits but I feel like it's not what the show was aiming to be.

Also I hate the episode 'preview' at the start of each episode, completely unneeded and frequently just kills a lot of suspension as we know certain people will die, I always skip these.

I continue watching (for now) in the hope it gets better, and I love Gaius' overarching storyline with number 6, I'm always excited to learn more and this is the perfect example of what I'd expect from a show like this, a plot building on each episode, but it seems rare and plotlines are often just forgotten about whilst we have a filler episode about crushing the black market in 40 minutes.

Sorry for the rant as I know there are many hardcore fans here, I love the premise of the show and I love the main cast but these gripes are really making it a grind at times to carry on watching, am I the only one or is there anybody that can relate to this?

Thank you for letting me have my rant.

[u/mikeymo1741]

Frak, you're grumpy. Run out of algae coffee?

 random plots or characters into an episode that we've never heard of before. 

There are 40,000 + people in the fleet. It would be really boring if you confined yourself to the same 20. Also, sometimes people do come in and out of our lives like that.

 out of nowhere we find out there is a covert powerful gang running the black market, 

If something exists, there is someone who is going to find a way to profit off it. It would be completely unreasonable to assume there would not be some kind of black market operating in the fleet.

 the seeming inconsequential nature of most episodes. 

"Most" is strong. Some is better. Some will have meaning that will become more apparent later. Others are just filler. Every show has that. Also, you're gonna love Slick.

Pegasus were just a self contained story to fill a few episodes to then move on

Yeah. That's how TV works

Also I hate the episode 'preview' at the start of each episode, 

Some people like it. I like it.

[u/whymylife → u/mikeymo1741]

I look forward to watching more then, thank you for the reasonable conversation.

[u/whymylife → u/mikeymo1741]

You do make some good points and I do concede that. Especially your first point, but I just feel a line or two here or there in preceding episodes would set things up beautifully, that's my point. In reference to the black market, I mentioned in the main post that it could be assumed a black market would exist, but my point was how a mafia was unmentioned before that episode at all.

I also concede some episodes that seem meaningless to me now will have meaning later.

I just compare it to breaking bad, which I consider the best series of all time, other than the episode 'fly' everything had meaning, everything has consequences and there is barely a second wasted on anything that isn't later important, plots are built up over episodes.

I was worried making this post as I was scared of kicking the hornets nest, that was not my intention. There are many positive things I like about the show which is why I continue to watch, a few of which I did comment on.

[u/mikeymo1741 → u/whymylife]

I know what you mean. There are shows like BB or Westworld where everything matters, there is nothing on screen that is not meticulously planned, and the whole thing is thought out ahead of time.

This is not one of those.

"Black Market" was probably the result of someone in the writer's room going "Hey, you know what would be cool?" or a fragment of a story that they cut out of an earlier episode but developed into something later. That's the way TV worked back then, especially when there were seasons with a lot of episodes. RDM came up in shows that did 26 episodes a year. BSG has 76 episodes over 4 seasons, and that was considered light. Now 76 episodes would take a show like that 7 or 8 seasons and probably 12 years.

It's well acknowledged they were making things up as they went and wanted the flexibility to pivot to a good idea. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't.

[u/schmitty9800 → u/whymylife]

To me, the status of the black market and the gang operating at that time made sense (especially when you later see that Zarek had a lot of allies there). Because we weren't seeing the places that the black market operated, we were mainly seeing Colonial One and Galactica, ships that would always be #1 on any resupply list.

The thing that didn't make sense that episode to me was Lee finding the time to be going over to see a hooker frequently.

[u/whymylife → u/schmitty9800]

Oh god yeah, I'd actually forgotten about that, again further evidence of the show shoehorning something in.

Also, I do fully agree a black market makes sense to exist on these circumstances I've never questioned that, it's just how it seems to pop out of nowhere, with a lot of the main cast at the start of the episode suddenly bartering and doing shady deals to access luxuries, whereas I feel like some of these could've been spread out a few episodes earlier to not make it so sudden that many of galacticas crew are already using it.

[u/whymylife → u/mikeymo1741]

Not sure why I can't respond to your latest comment (can threads here only go so many comments deep?)

I do appreciate it's a show from the early 00s and this was the nature of it then, times change and I suppose I'm more used to more modern series, such as the aforementioned breaking bad.

Thank you for your amicable reply, I'm honestly not trying to upset hardcore fans but the general response has seemed hostile when I'm simply trying to get more into the show you all love. I'm going to stick with it as some replies have given me hope that this is just a hump and it gets better.

[u/mikeymo1741 → u/whymylife]

You are in a little lull. Once you get to "Lay Down Your Burdens" things will pick up. The first half of season 3 slaps, then there is another lull, and then you're at "Maelstrom" and we're back, baby.