2.17 The Captain's Hand

It was about time the Pegasus got looked at following the death of it’s previous leader. This episode showed us that the man in charge, Garner, an engineer, was holding the reins. However, when a routine procedure meant a couple of ships were lost looking for a possible distress signal, the decision about what to do became critical.

Just on its own there was enough meat from this plot to fill an episode. Friction between Starbuck and Garner. Apollo boarding Pegasus as a major, with his relationship to D in full swing and clearly eating jealously away on Starbuck. There were plenty of dramatic angles opening up. And indeed that was the case. Apollo figured the distress call was a Cylon trap, but Garner thought otherwise and launched the Pegasus smack-bang into an ambush.

Pow! The FTL drive was hit! The ship was stranded out there and taking heavy nuke hits and so Starbuck and her Vipers go out to hold them off whilst Apollo orchestrates moves from the command deck to try and get the ship out of the mess. It was all terrific stuff – classic BSG. And Garner went and did the right thing by fixing the FTL drive, sacrificing himself for the greater good; not a complete arse then!

So the upshot of all this was the crucial promotion to Apollo as Commander of Pegasus. So now there’s two ships with an Adama at the helm of both of them! Makes for an interesting divergence – will they co-operate, or will the decision of one come into conflict with the will of the other? It’s certainly a great direction for Apollo’s character to take, right at a time when he was starting to look a little flat.

But all of that was not the only thing going on this episode. With the appearance of a pregnant stowaway wanting an abortion, the issue of whether childbirth was mandatory came to light. There were zealous fanatics anti-abortion, and President Laura on the pro-life side. However, hearing that the human race faced extinction pretty rapidly Laura had no choice but to decree a new law that said abortion, or any impediment to childbirth, would be punishable.

A harsh direction, and a strict imposition. Gaius stated his case that such lack of liberty moved them one step closed to the Cylons, and so announced his intention to run for the presidency in opposition. It was a delicious moment for Gaius; the slimy underhand villain role suits him a lot better than the weedy, intellectual do-gooder.

It’s Laura vs Gaius. . . Game on!