BSG 1.11 Colonial Day

This episode focused heavily on the democracy of the new civilisation, creating a quorum, or council of delegates, for the 12 colonies. During this quorum there arose the issue of a vice-president and, given Laura is terminally ill, she was well aware of the importance in the right choice of her successor.

Enter Tom Sterrick (or whatever he was called). It was good to see some continuity from the previous 'prison riot' episode with this character being called back into the thrust of things. And even though he was eventually thwarted, the episode was dangling unfinished plot threads (who killed the guy in custody?) and new angles (Tigh's wife, Ellen, and Tom appear to have some form of alliance forming) opening up.

This episode also faciliated Gaius to be next in line for president, giving shape to the Blonde Cylon's ambitions for him. Slowly but surely this bumbling genius has elevated himself to a position of high authority and popularity, and is almost surely intended as a puppet for Cylon manipulation.

At least this aspect to the show provides resonance and justification for why he is such an annoying man! And there's scope for him to break loose of the hold Blonde Cylon has over him and come good. And, obviously, there's scope for him to get really twisted and hatable and completely mess up the human's plans.

There was some fun interplay between Starbuck and Apollo here, setting up what I am sure will eventually become a more romantic relationship. It wasn't quite clear why Apollo was willing to get into a fight as easily as he did, mind, and the whole terrorist sub-plot was kept so elusive that, by the end, it was practically forgotten about and left in the dark. I can only hope that was intentional and will get picked up.

Surprisingly, the best part of the episode was with Helo and Cylon Boomer - finally revealed to get serious with their token 'five minutes' of each episode. Helo speculated about Cylons cloning humans, and assumed they definitely were still Cylons, and then he spotted another copy of Boomer, shot her, and made a run for it. It was a terrific sequence. The sense of confusion and fear and loss for Helo was perfectly handled in allowing him no dialogue or showdown confrontation with Cylon Boomer.

No, it was better that he did what any sane person would do. Run away. Where he goes to next is the most tantalising prospect this episode produced.