Whazzup with the Prez?

[Imagination]

Today's question - when Colonial 1 is targeted by a missile, Roslin mutters "where's our escort?" so she WAS concerned about getting killed.

When the two Cylons next show up and Apollo urges a quick retreat as they have no defenses, Roslin refuses to leave. Now, is this because Roslin has gathered the rag tag fleet and is now the leader of them ALL and wants to face the same destruction as they do, or is because she had to respond this way to set up the scene with the energy coils that follows?

Some of you know stuff in the script that wasn't aired, (not me), but this plot point seems inconsistant writing unless it was pure set up (even then, it seems poor).

[sihirvyth2]

The energy coil thing was the cliffhanger for the first night, and could have been done regardless of what Roslin's reaction was. Moore could have written it so the Cylons snuck up on them and didn't have a chance to retreat. I mainly just saw it as Moore's attempt to portray Roslin as growing into becoming a strong leader.
There were a few scenes that had the characters make tough choices that may not have been the right choices. The Tigh/Tyrol fire scene was another example.

[Dogface]

Originally posted by Imagination
Today's question - when Colonial 1 is targeted by a missile, Roslin mutters "where's our escort?" so she WAS concerned about getting killed.

When the two Cylons next show up and Apollo urges a quick retreat as they have no defenses, Roslin refuses to leave. Now, is this because Roslin has gathered the rag tag fleet and is now the leader of them ALL and wants to face the same destruction as they do

In a sense. When she was upset about not having an escort, she was just the Secretary of Education on her own plane. If an escort showed up and everything was saved, well, she's just the secretary of education--and nobody was hurt by her pique. Later, there were others who looked to her for leadership. Were she to abandon them then, she could never have lived down the situation. She would forever have been branded coward, forsaker, and merciless, even if there were nothing she could have done. The only thing that makes her later abandonment of civilians in the least bit acceptable was that it was a sacrifice made so that at least all who could get away did get away. She was saving more than just her skin--she was saving everybody who could be saved at all.