That's why that scene with Kara didn't really work for me--I didn't believe Cain wanted Kara to kill her, but Cain's topic of conversation didn't make any sense outside of its ironic meaning RE Kara's assassination mission.

I will say, Cain did not fight very hard for her life at the end there, though. Just stood and waited for execution.

Cain's topic of conversation didn't make any sense outside of its ironic meaning RE Kara's assassination mission.

Cain starts out by confirming that Starbuck is tight with Adama, and then makes that little speech about how sometimes you have to do terrible things for the greater good. She's pre-justifying her reasons for having Adama killed. It's just that it cuts both ways, because Dramatic Irony Is Fun!

Cain could also be justifying her murderous, capital-punishment ways - i.e. her actions in the past.

I will say, Cain did not fight very hard for her life at the end there, though. Just stood and waited for execution.

That's what started me thinking. That and "Promise me, don't flinch."

I think Cain had some sort of elaborate tricky plot in which she and Adama both died and her acolyte took over both fleets.

Her acolyte Kara?

No, her acolyte, the guy she sent over to take out Adama and Adama's entire staff.

Oh, and I don't think Cain could have done anything to try to save herself from Gina (is that her name?) and I think she knew that. She knew she was trapped in a room, with a Cylon holding a gun on her. A Cylon who had previously killed a dozen (IIRC) of her men, and who (because of the torture) had even more powerful reasons to kill her. A Cylon who could have probably killed her in a few seconds even without the gun.

She's pre-justifying her reasons for having Adama killed. It's just that it cuts both ways, because Dramatic Irony Is Fun!

Okay, yes, but the part where she made Kara promise not to flinch? Cain wasn't just making pronouncements about how things should be there, or setting groundwork for Kara accepting that Cain had to make the hard choice to kill Daddy Adama, she was extracting a promise from Kara for no particular reason that I could see other than Dramatic Irony Is Fun.

ETA:

Oh, and I don't think Cain could have done anything

She could've tried, though. We're talking about a woman who was still trying to win the war with the Cylons on a grand scale; she couldn't grab for the gun? Try to convince Gina she was more useful alive than dead? Try to run away? Something, anyway. "Go down fighting" was such a big part of her character up to that point that it felt really telling to me that she didn't, at the end.

Spoilers for SG-1 Season 10 premiere are trickling out.

t sighs wearily

(I don't know what to make of Cain, which I take as a sign that the writers didn't know either. So I'm a neutral vote on that discussion.)

Topic for eggheaded discussion: the not-platinum Six is or is not a parallel to the plot in I Spit on Your Grave.

The basic scenario is horrifying rapes, followed by un-wishy-washy, systematic revenge. But the movie protagonist killed all of her attackers, starting with the dumbass followers and working her way up to the leader, whereas to date the TV version went straight for the leader (and that a woman).

(Wouldn't I laff and laff if, one by one, Pegasus soldiers showed up dead as Six continued to pursue her revenge. Not that (a) television can really show bathtub castration or (b) the writers are necessarily going to continue with this character at all. But, Joe Bob Briggs and I would find it funny.)

The movie's politics are messy and raw, empowering women to take up the tools of violence only after a thorough victimhood. The TV version has the complicating "I was a robot for the toaster empire" factor, but how much does it hew to its horror-exploitation movie forbear? How is it different?

Discuss.