Battlestar Galactica
These are all the original airdates.
1/21/07
"Rapture" (Part 2 of 2)
12/15/06
"The Eye of Jupiter" (Part 1 of 2)
3.11: On the algae planet, civilian crew and some military,
including Apollo and Dualla, are collecting algae and supplies for the fleet.
A Raptor lands on the planet at regular intervals to collect things
and get updates and stuff, and apparently, Starbuck has been piloting these
missions a whole lot. Dualla has noticed and mentions it to Apollo,
and he brushes it off in an "oh, that's Starbuck" kind of way. Dee
seems a little jealous, like she doesn't really buy that explanation. I
don't blame her. Lee goes to meet the Raptor and Starbuck, and as soon
as he gets inside the ship, they start making out. Guilty!Adultery!Squee!
Wow. I am surprised. Okay, not that surprised, but I thought
it would have taken a little longer for Lee and Kara to start cheating on
their respective spouses. I guess they just couldn't handle being apart
anymore. EEEE! Lee stops because he feels guilty. Kara
doesn't feel that guilty, heh heh. Lee says he wants to get a divorce,
implying that Starbuck should too. Kara isn't going there, and she
talks about marriage being a sacrament. "Divorce is different, this
is just bending the rules." Lee still isn't comfortable because it's
a big deal to him. "So I won't divorce and you won't cheat. So
where does that leave us?" she asks with a touch of sadness. "Trapped,"
he replies, equally sad. WHOA.
On the Cylon basestar, Baltar talks to Sharon, who is
with a crying Hera. Sharon says Hera is not well. Uh oh. On
the algae planet, Tyrol wanders off by himself, perhaps drawn by something,
and he finds ancient ruins of a temple. He wonders if this is where
the Eye of Jupiter, left here by the 13th tribe, would be. Then, the
Cylons suddenly jump into the system and don't attack. They want to
talk to Adama, so he reluctantly lets Baltar and a few Cylons come onto Galactica.
Yikes. Baltar is still trying to figure out if he's a Cylon.
On Galactica, the Cylons meet Athena, Adama, and Roslin. Athena
identifies the Sharon model as Boomer, the one who shot Adama and then was
killed by Cally. Athena and Boomer stay behind and have a tense exchange
in the hall about the baby that Boomer says is alive. Athena says she
knows where her loyalties lie: with the humans. She still doesn't believe
Boomer about Hera even though Boomer basically lays out the whole story for
her.
At the meeting, the Cylons says they want the Eye of Jupiter,
and they believe the humans have found it (even though they really haven't;
they've just found the temple, but not the Eye). Baltar does a lot
of the talking, and Roslin can't stand listening to him, so she leaves the
room. Give us the Eye, says the Cylons, and we'll let you go...and
give you Baltar. Baltar starts freaking out; this was not originally
in the plan. The Cylons go back to their basestar to give the humans
some time to think it over.
The people on the planet have to look for the Eye and
find it before the Cylons come, and things are tense. Anders is on
the planet too, and he and Kara have a very tense meeting. Apollo
orders Anders to command the civilians to help defend the temple against
the Cylons while Tyrol and the others look for the Eye. Apollo and
Anders start to fight, and Starbuck has to get between them. Anders
says something sarcastic about not wanting to get between "you and your Major."
He's very bitter. In the temple, Tyrol talks about being raised
in a religious home, but rebelling against it. Now he's confused, conflicted,
and remembering things his priest father used to talk about with relation
to the Eye. I have to say, even though we still have no idea how that
relationship happened, the Chief and Cally are pretty cute. :)
They discover that a star in the system is about to go
supernova, so they have to find the Eye and get the heck outta there before
they all die anyway. The Cylons are convinced that the humans have
the Eye, and the Cylon who pretended to be a priest before whose name I can
think of right now wants to wipe out the humans once and for all. Not
all Cylons are on board with that plan, but they plan to take the Eye and
then take out Galactica. D'Anna and Baltar believe
that they share a special destiny together, and when "Caprica" (that's what
they call Baltar's Six) wants to know just what the hell the two of them
have been up to, they basically kick her out of their spiritual destiny club.
Poor Six. She's totally confused and upset about it.
Anders makes a good speech to the civilian workers
about staying together and getting out in one piece, and Apollo tells him
he'd make a good officer. Anders is still bitter and implies that he
knows about Apollo and Starbuck's affair. The temple is called the
Temple of Five, and there's stuff written in the scriptures about the 'chosen
one' and other things I don't understand. Dee gives orders and plans
for the inevitable Cylon attack, and there is understandable tension between
Dee and Starbuck. I think Dee knows, too. Starbuck is supposed
to take the Raptor on a recon mission or something by herself, but she runs
unexpectedly into a bunch of Centurions already on the planet's surface and
gets shot down! Eek! Apollo and Anders fight about sending people
out to rescue Starbuck. Anders wants to go get her right away, and
Apollo can't take the risk of leaving the temple for the Cylons. Rescuing
Starbuck right then would endanger everything. But they're shouting
at each other, and Lee yells that "I have known her and cared about her a
hell of a lot longer than you!" So, I don't know what's gonna happen
on the planet with humans fighting and Cylons converging and Starbuck in
trouble. :(
Adama tells Roslin what Boomer told Athena, and it seems
like he didn't know about it? I have to go back and look at that episode
again, because I'm surprised that Adama acts like he wasn't aware of what
happened with the baby. She says it's all true, and he walks out on
her. He then tells Helo and Athena that it's true, and Helo is angry.
So is Sharon. Then she says she wants to see Hera.
Adama says he will nuke the algae planet to keep the Cylons
from getting the Eye. Will they really nuke it? The Cylons think
they're bluffing, but I don't know... D'Anna and Baltar get in a ship
and head for the planet and the Temple. Anders goes off to find Starbuck.
Will Lee be able to stop him? Will Tyrol find the Eye in the
Temple of Five? What's happening to Starbuck? Will Helo and Sharon
ever see Hera again? AAAAAHHHH! So many unanswered questions!
But it was a good episode. Not as good as the last two eps before
this one, but still really good. I wonder if the Chief will find the
Eye in time. I'm itching to see what it is. :D
12/8/06
"The Passage"
3.10: Because of tainted rations, the fleet is going
to starve soon if they don't find food immediately. Sharon is scouting
for a way through this violent radiation storm in space to get to this planet
on the other side that might have food. The pilots all pool their remaining
rations and share. Starbuck gets angry with Kat because she thinks
she's holding food back, but Kat denies it. They're all weak and starving
and very on edge. Plus, Starbuck hates Kat anyway, so where's the surprise
there? Sharon comes back, having found the planet, and she's pretty
sick but gonna be okay. There's plenty of algae for their food recycling
system, so they have to bring the fleet to the planet, but getting through
the storm is almost impossible. They devise a plan in which pilots
in Raptors lead fleet cruisers through the storm because navigation is impossible
for the larger ships by themselves. Apollo and Starbuck seem to be
okay with each other after the boxing thing, but they don't seem to be any
closer than normal. Hmm. A shady civilian from Kat's past runs
into her on Galactica, and he wants to know if the crew knows "who you really
are." She is very agitated and wants him to go away and shut up.
On the Cylon basestar, we learn that D'Anna has been "killing
herself" over and over so she can keep downloading and resurrecting again
and again because it has some kind of spiritual significance for her. Baltar
wants to know if he's a Cylon once and for all so he can "stop betraying
one people and be a hero to another." He asks a confused and distraught
D'Anna if she's seen his face before, and D'Anna can't give him and answer,
either because she truly doesn't know or she isn't willing to say. She
and Baltar go to the hybrid, and he puts his hand in the fluid. The
hybrid grabs him! And she starts babbling things about the Eye of Jupiter
that no one seems to understand. Weird.
Tigh is back in C&C, and the pilot ships have started
to lead civilian ships through the radiation storm, called the cluster, and
it's brutal. They have to make several jumps through the cluster and
find their civilian ship after each jump so they can give lead them to the
next jump. It's almost impossible to see anything, and Hot Dog loses
his fleet ship in the mess. They complete this process several times,
each time the radiation taking more of a toll on the pilots. Kat also
loses a ship in the cluster. Starbuck sees Kat and the shady guy, Enzo,
and becomes suspicious. Starbuck confronts Kat in one of the most intense
scenes I've ever seen between the two of them. Kat tells her the truth:
she was a drug runner before the Cylon attack. She transported people
and drugs, and Kat isn't even her real name. Starbuck says that smugglers
are how some Cylons were rumored to get into the Colonies, and says that
if Kat unknowingly (or knowingly) helped a Cylon, that makes her a traitor.
Kat is really upset and says she's not a traitor. It's so intense
that they are really, really close, all up in each other's faces, and Kat
is crying. She begs Starbuck not to tell Adama; she'll tell him herself.
Starbuck backs off, and I think she decided to let Kat tell the Admiral
herself. Whoa. I mean, there has always been friction between
those two, but that scene was unbelievable. They were so close at one
point, and there was so much anger and tension and emotion flying everywhere,
I was afraid Starbuck was either going to kill Kat or kiss her or something.
I don't think I breathed very much during that scene.
Kat is really getting sick from the radiation; her hair
is starting to fall out in large chunks. :( On one of the last lead
pilot procedures, Kat loses her ship again and they tell her to jump away,
but she doesn't because she is determined to find her ship. The radiation
levels will kill her, and everyone on Galactica is worried when time goes
by and she doesn't show. But then she jumps in, having found her fleet
ship and saved it. She's in very bad shape, and everybody claps for
her on the hangar deck, even Starbuck. In the infirmary, Starbuck visits
a dying Kat and apologizes. Wow. The emotional content of this
episode for Starbuck and Kat was off the charts. Starbuck has tears
in her eyes as she hands Kat a bottle of enough sleeping pills to get the
job done if Kat decides she wants to end things. Then Starbuck leaves
quickly so Kat won't see her cry. *sniffle*
Adama comes to see Kat and tells her he's making her the
CAG again. It's not said, but it's understood by both of them that
she's going to die soon, so making her the CAG is a beautiful, symbolic gesture
of honor and trust. She tries to tell him the truth about herself,
but he stops her. He doesn't need to know. He stays with her
and talks to her, telling her he always wanted a daughter, but got stuck
with boys, hehe. The pilots gather together to put Kat's name in the
CAG's spot on the rank chart. It's very sad. Starbuck goes to
the place on Galactica where people have put up pictures of dead friends
and loved ones, sort of a large memorial, and she puts up Kat's picture.
She even cries a little bit. And we see Lee watching her from
several feet away.
This was an amazing episode. I mean, really incredible.
We don't see it, but we're meant to assume that Kat died shortly after
being made CAG again. I am so sad. I was really starting to like
Kat. But this episode gets five stars from me. Seriously.
12/1/06
"Unfinished Business"
3.09: Wow. Oh, wow. This is one of my most,
most favorite episodes of BSG ever. This was definitely the most squee-worthy
episode I have ever seen. SO MUCH SQUEE. There was so much information
in this ep, this is gonna be kind of a long recap. The episode starts
with Helo and Apollo boxing in a ring, and everyone is cheering. Sharon
is cheering for Helo from the sideline, and Dualla is there for Lee. While
boxing with Helo (and it seems to be a bout of playful aggression between
them, not necessarily any real animosity), Lee flashes back to things that
presumably happened on New Caprica (NC): waking up alone on the ground, kissing
Dualla, seeing Kara.
Starbuck and Anders are in the barracks, apparently having
just had sex, and Kara gets dressed to go to the "dance." She's being
very detached with Anders, and he says, "I want you back. I want our
marriage back." She says something about not being ready, and he says
maybe she'll never be ready. "Maybe because I'm not what you really
want after all." (Perhaps because...Lee is what she wants?) She coolly
leaves and goes to watch the boxing. At first, she watches with a grin,
but the grin fades as she flashes back to waking up on the ground on NC with
someone male whose face we can't see (LEE???). She gets closer to the
ring and cheers on Helo and Apollo. Helo wins, but not by that much,
and Athena jumps on him to congratulate him. Hee, so cute. Kara
teases Lee as he goes to take his dog tags out of the running. "I'm
done, Kara," he says, sensing that her teasing isn't so good natured. She
comes up really close behind him and takes off her dog tags. She reaches
around in front of him and drops her tags in the box with the others. "I'm
not." The angry tension is off the charts, and Dualla watches them from
across the noisy room.
Half of this episode takes place on New Caprica, 8 months
before the Cylon occupation, so that makes it about three or four months
after discovering NC. Lee and Dee walk together and talk on NC, and
Starbuck and Anders tease them about making it so obvious. There is
going to be a celebration for breaking ground on the new settlement, so that's
why so many BSG officers are on the planet, including Adama. He sees
Roslin, and he tells her she looks nice in her oufit. "It's good to
see you, Laura." AWWW.
Back in the present, Laura and Bill watch the boxing ringside.
She knows lots about boxing and loves a good fight because her father
loved boxing. Bill explains that the rank-less tournament allows the
crew to work out things amongst themselves in a controlled way. Hot
Dog calls out Starbuck; he wants to fight her. Lee watches as Dee massages
his shoulders, and he briefly flashes back to NC again: seeing Kara and Anders,
and walking past them with a dark look. Kara looks upset too. (At
this point, I was freaking out; I had no idea what the heck had happened
between them on NC, and it was starting to look irreparable...little did
I know.) Starbuck easily beats Hot Dog, and then we see who I think
was Kat and Racetrack fighting. Kat beats Racetrack.
While all of this is happening, we flash back again and
again to the scene of Lee walking closer to Kara and Anders and eventually
passing them by. What is the significance? I wondered. On NC at
the celebration, Bill and Laura talk about the settlement, and she mentions
something about building a cabin. Honestly, the two of them are so adorable,
I'm thinking about making them Official. Apparently, Adama turned down
Tyrol and Cally's initial request to settle on the planet to have the baby.
Back in the present, Adama climbs into the ring and challenges
Tyrol in front of everyone. He is taken aback, but gets in the ring.
Adama hits him hard. In fact, I would feel comfortable
saying that the Chief was getting his ass kicked. Adama hisses at him
that he's a soldier, is this how he fights his enemies, etc. On NC
at the celebration, there is lots of dancing. Lee dances with Dualla,
and also with Kara. In the present, Lee and Kara catch each other's
eye, and the staring is blazing, angry. On NC, night has fallen on
the party, and Bill and Laura are lying side by side on the ground, watching
the stars (HEE!). She thinks maybe they (humanity) should try to enjoy
the time on the planet, like taking a break. She's almost lying on
his chest! She's definitely leaning on it, with her hand resting on
his chest. EEEEE!
In the present, the Chief gets up to fight, angry now.
Laura, on the sidelines, is worried, presumably for Adama. On
NC, the party has died down, and Lee brings Kara a drink. Anders is
passed out under a table, and Lee and Kara drink together. In the present,
Tyrol comes back into the fight with a vengeance, and he knocks Adama down.
Between rounds, Laura gets in Adama's corner and tells him he's crazy,
but if he's going to do this, this is how to win. Yay. Flash
to NC, Adama tells Tyrol that he and Cally can settle on the planet. In
the present, Tyrol beats Adama down finally, but he helps him up. In
the ring, Adama tells the crew that he let himself get too close to them,
get too much like their friend instead of their leader, and he won't let
this crew disband again. He's going to keep the family together and
strong now.
Laura helps Bill out of the ring, and Tigh (who has been
refereeing) says "this dance is over." Kara gets in the ring and yells
at Lee. She wants to fight him. "It's over, Kara," he says in
a dark, weary tone. She won't let it go. "So what? You
have the guts to try and frak another man's woman but not to fight one?"
WHA? Does that mean that-- "I wonder if Dee knew what she was
getting. Think she would've settled for sloppy seconds?" And Lee whips
around and punches Kara in the face. Oh, he'll fight her alright. They
get in the ring and start punching the sh*t out of each other. The
fight is raw and aggressive, and blood flows from both their faces. Flash
back to NC again: Lee and Kara walk around in the middle of barren nowhere,
and she says the spot they come to would be a nice place for a house. She
says she'll give up flying because the war is over, so the fun part of flying
is too. Lee asks her to walk him through the future life of Mrs. Kara
Anders, and she makes this surprised, unpleasant face. "I'm not getting
married." Lee wonders what, then, is the point? "You love him,
right?" "Where are we going with this?" asks Kara, and the subtext is screaming
that she knows they're heading into discussing the Lee and Kara relationship.
"Where are we going?" Lee asks back, and it's clear that he means "we"
in the "me and you" sense. He says this is the rest of your life, and
is this how you wanna spend it, and who you want to spend it with?
Fast-forward to the present: Starbuck and Apollo are still
trying to beat the crap out of each other. Anders and Dualla, side
by side, watch the fight. "Looks like they're trying to kill each other,"
says Anders. "That's one perspective," says Dualla in a flat, resigned
tone. Flash back to NC: Picking up right where the conversation left
off, Lee moves closer and closer to Kara before slowly leaning in and kissing
her. She's a little wary at first, but soon kisses back. And people?
This is a GOOD KISS. Then they make love on the ground, right
there in the open in the middle of nowhere on New Caprica. Afterward,
they're lying there, and Kara says, "Well, that makes things more complicated."
"Yeah," says Lee, but he's so happy that it doesn't seem like it's that
complicated for him. "What are we gonna do?" she asks. He props
himself up on one elbow so he can look in her eyes. "We accept it."
He says that in the morning, he'll tell Dee and she'll tell Sam. Just
like that? she says. "Just like that," he replies with a smile. "We
tell them how we feel, we shout it to the skies!" Lee declares, and she laughs
at him because she doesn't think he'll really "shout it to the skies." He
defiantly gets up, still stark naked, and shouts into the empty night as
loud as he can, "MY NAME IS LEE ADAMA, AND I LOVE KARA THRACE! AND
I DON'T CARE WHO FRAKKING KNOWS!" She laughs some more because she is amused
and surprised that he actually did it (and because I think she's happy).
He says she has to do it too, and he'll keep shouting until she does
(and he really keeps shouting). So she giggles and gets up to stand
next to him, and they both still have no clothes on. She falters once,
but then shouts out, "KARA THRACE LOVES LEE ADAMA!" And they're happy. And
they kiss some more. And Ellen is dying, dying, dying of the sad squee,
because she knows that something is going to go terribly wrong.
Back at the fight in the present, Apollo knocks Starbuck
down, but she kicks his leg out from under him and kicks him down too. On
NC, Lee wakes up in the dirt, alone. He looks around for Kara, but
she's not there. He wanders back to the settlement and runs into his
father, who tells him he missed all the morning's excitement. Lee thinks
he might mean problems "upstairs" on Galactica or with the Cylons, but Adama
says no. "Kara got married." Lee is shocked at first, and then
it looks like he has trouble getting his breath. He's clearly devastated.
He sees her walking with Anders a ways off (and this is the scene we've
been flashing back to in pieces the whole ep). Adama tells him that
Kara and Anders are settling on NC with a few others from BSG. In the
present, Starbuck and Apollo are still fighting, and now it becomes clear
why. Flash back to NC: Kara woke up with Lee, panicked, and left. Lee
walks to meet Anders and Kara, and Anders tells him how she woke him up,
found a priest, and dragged him down by the river to get married. "Can
you believe it?" Lee looks right at Kara, and only at Kara. "No, I
can't believe it," he says flatly. "It was my idea," says Kara, and
it looks like she's doing her best to hold back tears. Your idea, Lee
repeats with a touch of bitterness. Anders, sensing the vibe, asks
if they want a minute alone to talk, and Lee just turns to him and shakes
his hand to congratulate him. Lee wishes him luck, and, turning to walk
past Kara and away, says "you're gonna need it." He walks away from
them both, and immediately finds Dualla and kisses her. And my heart
broke for him.
Back in the present, Starbuck and Apollo are tired, but
they just keep fighting and remembering that scene the morning after, when
she married Anders because she was too scared to be so vulnerable with Lee.
They weakly swing at each other, fighting, fighting. Then the
grapple a bit until they just stop fighting and hold each other tightly. OMG,
the squee. They hold each other in the middle of the ring, bleeding
and bruised, and Anders and Dualla look on while the crowd starts to disperse.
Anders is irritated and says he's outta there, while Dualla stays to
watch with tears in her eyes, like she knows exactly what's happening in
that ring and why. Kara whispers into Lee's shoulder, "I missed you."
Lee looks like he's trying not to cry, and he whispers back, "I missed
you too. I missed you too." She smiles. And that's where
it ends. The final scene was so heavy with emotion that I very nearly
cried myself. It all makes perfect sense now. They love each
other, and they both know it, but she was too scared to take the risk, so
she married another, safer man. And broke Lee's heart. So he
found solace with another woman. But they still can't get over the fact
that they love each other, and they both know it. GUH.
11/17/06
"Hero"
3.08: I was very pleased to find that this episode
started with Laura Roslin fondly looking over the dossier that "Bill" gave
her two years before when all the craziness began. Then Laura remarked
that "Bill's" 45th anniversary of starting military service was coming up,
and she wanted to give him a medal. The fleet needs something like that,
and "Bill" deserves it. Apparently, Admiral Adama and The Presidentrix
are completely on a first name basis now. Squee. Unexpectedly,
three Cylon raiders jump into the area. Alert fighters, Starbuck and
Kat among them, are launched, and it appears that two of the raiders are
chasing and shooting at the third. Starbuck and Kat destroy the first
two, and are about destroy the third when it transmits to Galactica, and
Adama has it brought aboard. They get it onto the hanger deck, and
out spills a guy! Everyone is suspicious and pointing guns at him,
but Adama recognizes him as Bulldog (played by guest star Carl Lumbly of
"Alias," Dixon squee!), a pilot he thought was lost on a mission three years
before. The Cylons had him in captivity all that time. Bulldog
tells them that he saw the Cylons on his basestar getting sick, really sick,
and Adama and the others assume it's the disease from the 13th colony; it's
spreading.
Adama tells Roslin that three years before, while they
were both assigned to the Valkyrie (Adama's ship before Galactica), they
were sent on a mission to the Cylon armistice line supposedly to stop a Tauron
mining operation from getting too close to Cylon space, and Adama says that
the Taurons shot down Bulldog's stealth ship in cold blood, and Adama left
because he thought Bulldog was dead. It's insinuated that this is not
really what happened, but Adama isn't saying. "It's my mess," he says.
D'Anna has a bad dream where she gets shot on Galactica and wakes up...naked
in bed with Baltar and Six. Uhhhh, o-kay. Tigh gets on Adama's
case about not telling Bulldog what really happened three years ago. Stupid
Tigh, still all cranky about Ellen and making everyone miserable. Bulldog
comes to see Tigh, and Tigh tells him what really happened. Adama also
calls Lee to his office and tells him the truth. Actually, confesses
is probably a better word. Apparently, the mission that came down from
the top military brass was to go to the Cylon armistice line, take a stealth
ship into Cylon space, and gather evidence to confirm or debunk theories
and suspicions that the Cylons were building a military machine and were
massing for an attack. Bulldog piloted the stealth ship, and when two
unknown ships suddenly jumped into the area, one of them winging Bulldog's
ship and disabling him so he was floating helpless in Cylon space, Adama
made the hard decision to shoot Bulldog down so that he would not be detected
by the Cylons and an intergalactic war would not be started. However,
Bulldog ejected and survived in his ejector seat long enough for the Cylons
to pick him up. Crying, Adama admits to his son that he believes he
started the conflict with the Cylons. "I started it," he says. Lee
assures his father that it was not his fault: "You were one man." "It only
takes one." A heartwrenching scene, this one. The Old Man really
believed that he was responsible for the Cylon attack and near-extinction
of the human race. :(
D'Anna apparently has been having these bad dreams a lot,
and for some reason I do not understand, she orders a Centurion to shoot
her in the head, and she flashes through her lives and resurrects, blathering
something about there being something beautiful between life and death. No
idea what's going on there. Starbuck analyzes the video they have of
the three Cylon ships, and she notices something very wrong. Bulldog,
full of the truth and vengeful rage, calls Adama to him. Starbuck goes
to Tigh with her discovery: "They let him escape." Bulldog takes Adama
by surprise and beats him up, and then he tries to choke him with a pipe.
He's angry and upset about being left there to die, and Bill asks him
if they might not have let him escape. Bulldog can't handle that idea,
and so is about to kill Adama when Tigh arrives and saves Adama. He
tells Bulldog that the Cylons let him escape and let him think that they were
dying of the disease because it was a story the humans would believe. They
wanted Bulldog to come back and learn the truth so he would kill Adama.
The Cylons wanted Adama dead, and Bulldog was the means they had to
do it. That takes all the wind out of Bulldog.
Adama tries to give Roslin his resignation, but she won't
let him. She says that she's giving him a medal and he's darn well
gonna accept it because the fleet needs him. The fleet needs a hero
to look up to, and that's him. "It's not for you, it's for them." This
was an excellent scene between the two of them. He obviously still
feels so guilty and responsible, but she won't let him give up on all the
people counting on him. Love it. The medal ceremony is kind
of sad because everyone is so proud of the Admiral, and he still feels bad.
Bulldog is going to another ship, and when he leaves, he and Adama
salute each other, and it's the military equivalent of forgiveness. This
was a really good episode. I enjoyed it. HOLY FRAK TWO WEEKS
FROM NOW: A boxing tournament on Galactica? All the tension that now
plagues Apollo and Starbuck's relationship will explode in the boxing ring.
They showed a few brief moments of Anders and Dualla standing by the
ring, watching them fight. Anders says, "Looks like they're trying
to kill each other," and Dualla says, rather flatly, "That's one perspective."
I'm tentatively excited about this, y'all. :)
11/10/06
"A Measure of Salvation" (Part 2 of 2)
3.07: I am SO relieved. I'll tell you why in
a bit. So this episode picks up pretty much where the last one left
off. A bunch of Raptors with a bunch of people, including Apollo,
Athena, Racetrack, and Hot Dog, go to check out the dead basestar. They
actually board the thing and start poking around, stepping over dead Cylon
bodies. I was seriously freaking out for Sharon. They're trying
to see what they can get from the Cylon computer when a bunch of the "dead"
Cylons start waking up! They take prisoners and get the heck out of
there, and it's a good thing too because the basestar self destructs not
long after they get off. Doc Cottle quarantines everyone because they
don't know yet that humans are immune.
Meanwhile, Lucy Lawless (whose name is D'Anna, I finally
found out) informs Baltar that they are convinced that Galactica invented
the disease and Baltar was working with them to get the Cylons to the beacon
to kill them all. Of course they're wrong, but that doesn't stop them
from torturing Baltar to get the information they think he has. Six
is upset by seeing Baltar in pain. After much screaming, Hallucination!Six,
um, "helps" Baltar with the pain. I don't know if D'Anna believes Baltar
that he had nothing to do with it or not, but she eventually stops torturing
him. Cottle figures out that all the humans are okay, but he's still
not sure about Sharon. Helo was so worried, and it was adorable. They
prisoners they have are one Six, one Leoben, one Sharon, one Simon, and one
Aaron Doral. They already know about the beacon with the disease, but
Simon tells them about Baltar's whereabouts and the help he's giving the
Cylons. They are all shocked and angry, with good reason.
Apollo then has a brainwave and suggests that they use
the dying Cylon prisoners that they can't cure to wipe out the entire Cylon
race. They simply jump into Cylon shipping lanes, wait for the fleet
and a resurrection ship to show, execute the prisoners, and watch the disease
spread and kill every Cylon. Helo asserts that such a thing would be
genocide, and by doing it, humanity would lose a piece of its soul. He
says that it's wrong; what if there are more Cylons like Athena, who would
choose to be good? No one really listens to him, though. Doc
Cottle determines that because Sharon carried a half-human child, her body
was equipped with the right antibodies to fight the disease, and she is immune!
That is why I am so relieved. Helo was relieved too. He
was so happy, and there was lots of celebratory kissing. Those two
are so cute, honestly. Helo tells her what Roslin and the others are
talking about doing, and Sharon is devastated, but she says that she made
a choice to wear the uniform and be with the humans, and she'll keep her
word.
Admiral Adama says that Roslin has to be the one to make
the choice, and he is reluctant because he thinks Helo might be right: they
will lose a part of their souls if they do it. Roslin, however, it resolved,
and orders the plan into action. So, they jump to the appropriate place
and wait for the Cylons. Starbuck and the pilots get into Vipers to
fight off Raiders while they execute the prisoners. Can I just say how
elated I am that Starbuck got her act together and is back in a plane? So
happy. Anyway, the fleet, complete with a resurrection ship, shows
up to attack, and they're all set to execute the prisoners when they get
into the holding cell and find all the Cylons dead already. Helo tampered
with the oxygen, venting it and suffocating the Cylons long before the resurrection
ship arrived, so they died and didn't download. Realizing the plan
is shot, the human fleet gets the heck out of there. Helo goes to Sharon
and tells her that they'll be coming for him. "They're always coming
for one of us, right?" He did what he thought was right, and I love
him dearly for it. He tells Sharon that he can't live without her,
and she puts her arms around him and says, "I'll always love you, Helo." *dies
of the squee*
Adama and Roslin discuss what happened, and they call
each other "Laura" and "Bill"! Yay! They both suspect who was
responsible, but don't say it. Roslin wants to know who will be heading
the investigation, and Adama says there won't be one. "I'm closing
the book on this." "How convenient." Adama says that they determined
that the disease matches one that humans cured 3000 years ago, right around
the time that the 13th colony left. So at least they know they are
on the right path to Earth. "So are the Cylons," says the Presidentrix.
Ooooh. A good episode. Loved, loved the Helo/Sharon moments.
Oh, and there's no way Baltar can go back to the humans now. They'll
shoot him on sight. And I think that Adama decided not to investigate
the deaths of the Cylon prisoners because he's secretly relieved that Helo
did that. Helo saved them from making a huge choice they might have
come to really regret, and I think Adama knows that. Maybe he doesn't
feel right prosecuting Helo for something he's grateful for, deep down.
11/3/06
"Torn" (Part 1 of 2)
3.06: The Cylons want Baltar to tell them how to
get to Earth because they've decided they want it to be their new home.
Baltar panics because he doesn't know precisely and they will kill
him unless he proves useful, so he gives them what information he has on
a point in space that he worked out that could lead to Earth. Apollo
and Starbuck and others are back in Vipers and training, but Starbuck does
something careless and causes an accident. She manages to land the
ship okay, but Lee is furious. "You wanna die? I don't give a
frak what you do, Kara," but don't do it in one of his planes. Lee tells
her she's done flying. I doubt that. However, it's clear that
Lee is angry with her, and I wonder if it's only because of her carelessness
in the bird or because of how she flushed their relationship down the toilet
before New Caprica. Something to ponder. Anyway, Julia and Kacey
(the kid that Leoben told Starbuck was hers but wasn't) come to see Kara because
Kacey wanted to. Starbuck rebuffs them rather rudely. Sad for
the poor little girl. :( OH, HOLY CRAP. Lee is pretty again,
thank GOD. So very, very pretty.
In an interesting coincidence, Gaeta sifts through Baltar's
work tells Roslin and Adama that they should head for the same point in space
that Baltar told the Cylons to go to because it might lead to the path to
Earth. So the fleet heads in that direction. Six tells Baltar
about an ability Cylons have called 'projecting' wherein they can see the
world as they want to see it rather than how it is. Hallucination!Six
then implies that perhaps 'projecting' is the answer to Baltar's question
about who she is and what she is and why he sees her. "Am I a Cylon?!"
Baltar, panicking, demands. But he doesn't get his answer. Six
tells him that they never talk about the other five models of 'skin job'
Cylons. Baltar is trying not to freak out about the possibility that
he could be a Cylon.
On Galactica, Sharon gets a new call sign: Athena. I
love it. I think it's awesome. Now I can call her Athena and
distinguish her from the other Sharon, the one that was on Galactica and
shot Adama. Yay! Tigh and Starbuck, still angry and bitter and
messed up from the Occupation, stir up dissention and discontent amongst the
pilots and officers on Galactica. It's not pretty. Tigh scoffs
at the people who weren't on New Caprica during the Occupation, implying
that they're not trustworthy, and word of this gets back to Adama. He
lays down the law with Starbuck and Tigh, telling Kara that she better get
her act together and act like an officer or she better get the hell off his
ship. He even kicks her chair over! He tells Tigh to stay in
his quarters until he's worked through his crap, but it doesn't seem to make
a difference in Tigh's attitude. Kara, however, chops off her long
hair and puts her uniform on. YAY. I am so happy to see my Starbuck
back, I can't stand it. She even goes to see Kacey and Julia, and
it's very emotional when she gives Kacey a hug. Aww.
The other important thing that happened was that when
the Cylons sent a basestar to Baltar's suggested coordinates, it and all
the Cylons on it get infected with some sort of disease. Baltar goes
to check it out because he's human, right? He finds a probe on board
that the Cylons found floating space there and took aboard. It seems
to be the source of the deadly disease, and it also seems to be from the
13th colony! From us. Hmm. Athena and Racetrack
jump to the coordinates in their Raptor, and they are surprised and unnerved
to find the dead basestar there. They get the heck out of there, but
I am worried that Sharon might have the sickness now! And there's
no cure. If anything happens to Sharon, I'll be beside myself with
unhappiness. :( This was a good episode, and I am so happy that Starbuck
looks to be getting back on track. And there was no Anders! Weeee!
Although, I worry about the future of Lee and Kara's relationship...
10/27/06
"Collaborators"
3.05: Now that the remaining humans are back in
the fleet, the issue of punishment for Cylon collaborators has to be dealt
with. Unbeknownst to Roslin and most everyone else, Tom Zarek (currently
President by default since the Cylons have Baltar) authorizes a "jury" of
six people to secretly and quietly try, convict, and execute all serious
Cylon collaborators. Tigh, Anders, the Chief, and some other people
I don't know are the six. They "disappear" about twelve people, including
Jammer, who gets convicted and flushed out an airlock. Pleasant. They
finally come to Gaeta, and most of them are ready and willing to execute
him because they believe he sat back and did nothing while the Cylons created
death lists and killed people. None of them know that he was the informant
who continually gave the resistance important information.
Anders and the Chief are unwilling to convict him based
on circumstancial evidence, so Anders leaves the jury. Gaeta tries
to explain himself to Starbuck, but she isn't listening. She's having
trouble adjusting to life aboard Galactica after her imprisonment, and she's
just a tad angry. She and Anders aren't doing so well because of how
much she's changed (yay!). So the jury approaches her to replace Anders,
and she does. They all vote Gaeta guilty, and after much pressuring,
the Chief gives up and agrees. They are about to flush him out of
an airlock when Starbuck angrily taunts Gaeta to beg, to tell them all the
"crap" about being the informant and using the "yellow dog bowl" as the
signal. The Chief is all, "what?!" because he knows what that means.
He frees Gaeta and explains to the others that Gaeta was the their
source, that they wouldn't have known about the death lists or lots of other
things if it weren't for him. Gaeta quietly walks out. Poor Gaeta!
He did the best he could. Frankly, if he'd left Baltar, the
resistance would not have gotten any information from the inside. So
there. And that's pretty much it for the "jury."
Starbuck is still all messed up. Oooh, and Lee has
been working out! He's losing the weight, and we'll be getting the
pretteh back soon. HEE. Laura Roslin and Tom Zarek do this funny
switcheroo thing and basically trade places: she's President, and he's
Vice President. I feel much, much better now, don't you? :) Oh,
and Laura issues a fleet-wide pardon so humanity can start fresh. She
found out about Zarek's executive order to deal with collaborators and
wasn't precisely happy about it. So this is her solution. That's
pretty much it. Except that no one but the Chief will be Gaeta's friend
now. :( Sad.
10/20/06
"Exodus, Part 2"
3.04: First of all, I want to say how happy I
am with the result of this episode. So happy. :D Adama and
Galactica jump back to New Caprica while the "insurgents" blow things up
and create chaos on the ground. Because Sharon got the launch keys
for the ships back, they can get everyone to the ships and jump away from
the planet. Galactica does the frakking coolest thing ever and descends
toward the surface so it can drop off a couple Vipers to help the people
on the ground trying to get everyone out of Cylon detention. Galactica
jumps away just before hitting the ground. So awesome. The Cylons
realize that the situation has gotten out of control, and they decide to
set a nuke off and kill everyone. Gaeta almost kills Baltar, but doesn't.
Shoot dang.
Anders gets Starbuck out of detention, but she goes back
for the kid. When she gets there, Leoben is there and says he won't
let Starbuck take the kid unless she tells him she loves him and all that
crap. She angrily gives in and says "I love you" a few times, and
Leoben kisses her a lot. He's all, I will remember this moment forever,
and she's all, so will I. And then stabs him. That's my girl.
She grabs the kid, tells Anders she'll explain later, and they get
the heck out of Dodge. Baltar and Six go after Lucy Lawless to try
and stop her from setting off the nuke. They stumble onto baby Hera
and her dead mother, apparently killed on the way to their ship. Hera
is alive and crying, and Lucy Lawless wants to hold her. So now I guess
the Cylons have Hera. Uh-oh.
So while everyone on the surface is getting to ships
and jumping away, Galactica is trying to hold off four Cylon basestars by
itself. It looks like the end for the hopelessly outmatched ship when
Pegasus suddenly shows up and allows the severely damaged Galactica to get
away. Pegasus holds off the Cylons as long as it can before everyone
escapes in Raptors and jumps away. Pegasus rams into a basestar and
is thus destroyed. So now there is only one Battlestar left, and it's
Galactica. I have to say that I am so happy. I hated Pegasus
from the beginning. Roslin and her peeps get away on Colonial One,
and it looks like she's basically in charge. They find out that Hera
and her mother didn't make it, and I think they think they're both dead.
Baltar doesn't get off New Caprica; he stays with Six on the planet.
So Adama is a hero and everyone is okay.
Starbuck is just about to tell everyone who the kid with
her is when a young woman walks up and tearfully thanks Starbuck for saving
her daughter. HA! The kid was never actually Starbuck's. It
was just some little girl that Leoben kidnapped. Starbuck is sad, but
I hope she gets over it. She's much cooler without a kid, anyway. Lee
and Dualla are gross and sappy, and my hopes for Kara/Lee grow ever dimmer.
But at least the show is back on track. Battlestar Galactica
and the fleet, trekking through the universe, searching for Earth. Awesome.
One final happy note: Tigh poisons his wife to death before they evacuate.
So long and good riddance, I say. Next week: Collaborators are
being "disappeared." Ooooooh.
10/13/06
"Exodus, Part 1"
3.03: Tyrol and his people get there in time to
save Cally, Roslin, Zarek, and the others from being executed. Sharon
and the soldiers from Galactica destroy the ambushing Cylons, and the plan
proceeds. Adama prepares to jump back to New Caprica and tells Lee
to wait 18 hours for him to come back, and after that, he is to take the
fleet and continue the search for Earth. It was very emotional and
sad. Kara is really starting to freak me out. She is suddenly
all in love with the half human, half Cylon kid that Leoben says is hers.
It's weird. I have nothing against the kid, but it just doesn't
seem like Starbuck to me. I keep hoping that it's just part of her
plan to escape. Roslin and the resistance get ready to help Adama
from the surface as best they can. Sharon successfully infiltrates
the Cylon headquarters, but has to hear from Lucy Lawless that Adama lied
to her, that her baby is still alive, that they faked Hera's death. I
don't know if Sharon believed it or not, but it scares me, especially since
it's true, and it could jeopardize the now close relationship Adama and
Sharon have. I wonder how Helo would feel about it if he knew, too.
:( So, now everyone is waiting for the sh*t to hit the fan and for
Adama to get there. I have to say, Roslin looked so happy and relieved
to hear that Admiral Adama was coming back for them, I had to squee. I
remember that little kiss he gave her and how close they got last season,
and I'm sure she does too. Yay! Now, if only things can ever
be like they were before all this New Caprica nonsense. With everyone
married and suddenly having all kinds of children, I don't see how. It
upsets me.
10/6/06
"Occupation"/"Precipice"
3.01, 3.02: AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! That's how
I feel about that. There is so much going on, it's impossible to
cover absolutely everything. So I will just stick to the most important
things. Cylons occupy New Caprica. People are being detained
and tortured. Tigh is newly released from detainment, and he rejoins
the resistance, led by the Chief and Anders. Kara, unbeknownst to
anyone else (they just know she's missing), is in the captivity of Leoben,
presumably the copy that she tortured a while back. Galactica, Pegasus,
and the fleet have been gone for four months. Adama is running combat
drills, preparing for the moment when he will go back and try to retrieve
his people. Lee is pudgy, cranky, and soft. The resistance
fighters turn to suicide bombings to try and throw the Cylons off. To
make an example, the Cylons start rounding up resistance leaders and random
people, initially intending to detain them, but ultimately forcing Baltar
to sign an order for their summary executions. Cally is on the list.
Galactica makes contact with the resistance and sets up a meeting
point. Adama commissions Sharon (one Helo brought back from Caprica,
the one who had the baby) as an officer. That was awesome. He
sends her to rendezvous with the resistance and help get their ships back.
Ellen Tigh sells them out, though, and the rendezvous is ambushed
by Cylons. The episode ends with the Cylons preparing to execute people,
Laura Roslin and Tom Zarek among them. So that's all the business.
Here is the really crazy stuff. Chief Tyrol and Cally are definitely
very married and have a son. Sharon and Helo are married, so now her
name is Sharon Agathon. HEE! Not only are Starbuck and Anders
married (blech), but apparently Lee and Dualla are married too. Leoben
reveals to Starbuck that when they stole one of her ovaries when she was
held in the breeding farm back on Caprica, they made a baby after he fertilized
the egg. He brings out this blonde toddler kid who is supposedly Kara's
child! ACK! Crazy. I don't know what's gonna happen here.
I really don't. So much for Kara/Lee, then.