There wasn't a need for a character-centric episode with the most boring character on the show, Apollo. To top it off, they prop the idea they need a black market. How stupid. I didn't care about Apollo's past never-before-mentioned broken up-romance. To top it off the end was as soapy af, with Shevon telling Apollo that he wants her(the woman in the past) and not her. 5/10
10 Reviews
OK but too many plots strands appear out of nowhere
Tweekums4 May 2011
Warning: Spoilers
As a stand alone story this wouldn't be too bad; the problem is that it is part of a series and several plot lines come out of nowhere even though one would assume that the events had been going on for a little while. Shortly after President Roslin orders a clamp down on the black market Commander Fisk of the Pegasus is murdered in his quarters and it soon becomes apparent that he was involved in the black market. Apollo is ordered to investigate and the trail leads him to the Prometheus; this ship is the centre of the black market and everybody in the fleet appears to go there for their hard to get necessities yet nobody in command appeared to know about it which seemed more than a little far fetched. In a secondary plot Apollo is involved with a prostitute who he seems to be using as a proxy for a woman he lost on Caprica who had never been mentioned before despite how important she appeared to be to him.
Despite its several flaws the episode did have some strong points; guest star Bill Duke was suitable menacing as Phelan, the leader of the black market, and there were some tense scenes including one where it looked as if Apollo could get seriously hurt and the confrontation between him and Phelan.
Despite its several flaws the episode did have some strong points; guest star Bill Duke was suitable menacing as Phelan, the leader of the black market, and there were some tense scenes including one where it looked as if Apollo could get seriously hurt and the confrontation between him and Phelan.
weakest episode of a great series
kamas71610 June 2012
Warning: Spoilers
I'm not really sure what happened with the writing here. A few of my favorite episodes (Pegasus, Resurrection Ship 1 & 2) had some great drama (even though I hated Cain, that was the role she was supposed to play) followed up with a series of clunkers like Epiphanies and Black Market. The first thirty minutes are pretty atrocious. Fisk was a character I thought could be quite interesting, but his part is pretty short lived. The subplots with Apollo and the prostitute and the flashback of Apollo and his girlfriend go nowhere. After this episode they don't seem to exist. The first 30 minutes I would rate a generous 5 stars, mostly for cinematography and technical specs. The last 15 minutes bump it up about 1.5 stars for the simple fact that Bill Duke was brilliantly cast and that we finally get another little surprising glimpse of Apollo reaching down and finding a pair of balls again. I say surprising because Apollo always seems to be riding the Idealist Railway instead of the looking down the Realist Track.
Worst episode of the series... by a mile or twenty
emailgershman19 April 2009
Normally when shows I love have subpar episodes, I'll moderate my criticism with something like a "well, even a bad 'Dexter' is tons better than the best 'CSI: Miami.' " And BSG was so spectacular week in, week out that I never expected the show would come up with something that is just awful in general. Unfortunately, "Black Market" is about as bad as any one-hour drama you're likely to see on TV. It's just plain awful. The producers try to dress it up with a flash-forward at the start, but it's just an awful idea (BSG goes film noir!) executed even worse. Granted, exec producer Ronald Moore graciously acknowledges some of the weaknesses on the podcast/DVD commentary, but if he was being honest, he would have copped to the fact that this whole plot line should have died in the writers' room. Characters act out of character, the black market "heavies" seem like their moonlighting from an episode of "Walker: Texas Ranger" ... heck, even the sets don't look up to snuff. This episode kicked off a stretch of shaky hours ("Scar," "Sacrifice") before returning to form.
Surprisingly Bad
LilacWorm8 February 2022
This feels like it was written by a highschooler who drastically overestimates how "cool" their dialogue sounds and how "mysterious" their plot is.
This episode is as generic and empty as TV gets, which would normally land it at a 5/10 if it didn't get in the way of an otherwise excellent show. Because of this episode, an interesting character is now gone, Apollo suddenly has weird out of character plot strands attached to him, and generally characters talk like they are parodies of themselves.
It's honestly a stain on the show.
This episode is as generic and empty as TV gets, which would normally land it at a 5/10 if it didn't get in the way of an otherwise excellent show. Because of this episode, an interesting character is now gone, Apollo suddenly has weird out of character plot strands attached to him, and generally characters talk like they are parodies of themselves.
It's honestly a stain on the show.
Frakking Stupid
hankstir-5294625 January 2022
I watch quite a bit of sci-fi so I know how to use my imagination to account for a certain, usually, great amount of holes and shortcomings, but I just don't have enough for this one. This one was just frakking stupid.
Black Market
Prismark1016 February 2022
After a trio of hectic episodes. BSG crash lands with Black Market.
It looks like another production team suddenly took over the show.
President Roslin is concerned about the growing black market and how people have to trade to get urgent medical supplies.
The black market is rampant on the Pegasus and Apollo is sent to investigate after Commande Fisk is murdered.
Apollo has flashbacks of some woman he lost in Caprica and he gets comfort by regularly seeing a prostitute.
In his investigations Apollo just barges in and treats Baltar as a suspect even though he is the Vice President.
Eventually he confronts a man called Phelan who seems to be calling the shots.
I have no doubt that a black market would be operating in this type of situation. This episode had plot elements that came out of nowhere such as Apollo's girlfriend in Caprica and him seeing a prostitute for so long.
With Apollo nearly getting garrotted. Did Phelan and his mob think that Adama would just let this lie. I was surprised Adama did not send troops with Apollo to clean up the black marketeers.
A very flawed and silly episode. It looks like the producers were contemplating a spin off show called Apollo Investigates!
It looks like another production team suddenly took over the show.
President Roslin is concerned about the growing black market and how people have to trade to get urgent medical supplies.
The black market is rampant on the Pegasus and Apollo is sent to investigate after Commande Fisk is murdered.
Apollo has flashbacks of some woman he lost in Caprica and he gets comfort by regularly seeing a prostitute.
In his investigations Apollo just barges in and treats Baltar as a suspect even though he is the Vice President.
Eventually he confronts a man called Phelan who seems to be calling the shots.
I have no doubt that a black market would be operating in this type of situation. This episode had plot elements that came out of nowhere such as Apollo's girlfriend in Caprica and him seeing a prostitute for so long.
With Apollo nearly getting garrotted. Did Phelan and his mob think that Adama would just let this lie. I was surprised Adama did not send troops with Apollo to clean up the black marketeers.
A very flawed and silly episode. It looks like the producers were contemplating a spin off show called Apollo Investigates!
Awful
juansemorales26 September 2020
This is why I don't watch procedural shows
danrfedewa8 May 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This felt like a knock off police procedural show. The story introduced new elements that we had never seen and asked us to care about them. The ending was atrocious. He shoots the leader and no one shoots back? The show was stalling cause it probably had too many episodes this season. This episode didn't push the story forward much at all, minus the small interaction between the president and vice president. Glad that none of the episodes will be as bad as this one.
What happened to Paya?
kbenko7 February 2008
This was a pretty interesting episode--we don't often get to see much of the survivors' life outside the most powerful military and political spheres. Still, it left a lot of unanswered questions for me. Who was the woman Lee was remembering? What happened to Paya after the end of the episode? What was Zarek doing on Prometheus at the end of the episode? He appeared to be just there, not doing anything at all. Why show that? Actually I don't want to ask people to post spoilers. If someone who's seen the whole series could just tell me whether or not these questions will be answered in future episodes, I would appreciate it. Thanks!
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