BSG 1.4 Act Of Contrition

This episode was always coming ever since Starbuck made her confession about being directly responsibly for the death of Zak Adama in passing him for flying despite his not being ready. This confession to Apollo had been delivered, but that was where it had ended. This episode handled that, by delivering this key confession to Commander Adama.

The punchline to that scene, with the Commander telling Starbuck to get out of his sight whilst she still could, held a lot of impact. Although you just know that he will go soft on her and like her again, because she’s the best pilot around and is far too useful for him to hate. But for that moment, the drama was, well, dramatic!

The episode was punctuated by flashbacks and flashforwards, some of which dragged a little bit but not much. It was fun watching the “nuggets” get a grilling as they go through training – it might even be possible that one of these nuggets becomes a more featured character so we can follow that journey, though I get the feeling that won’t be the case.

The ending to the episode certainly made up for it. The constant flashes throughout proceedings of Starbuck in peril, crashing down in her ship at an unknown time and place leant the episode an air of doom – so when the Cylons showed up during a training session the sense of something bad happening was extreme.

The episode ending on a ‘to be continued’ note (always a redundant phrase, I think, given a serial drama like this kind of show!) but it’s certainly something of a cliffhanger. Starbuck plummeting down to a planet having lost communications with the Galactica. I guess she’ll have to survive on whatever rock she has landed on for a while whilst a rescue mission takes place – but if the Cylons really have found the Galactica that rescue mission could become both highly-pressured and, indeed, considered more risky than just hitting the faster than light action and bailing. . .