3.3 Exodus - Part 1

I was tricked once again! At the end of the first episode of this Season I thought that Gaeta had been killed only for it to not be the case. And at the end of the previous episode I thought that Laura and Zarek had been killed, but then the episode re-lived that build-up and once more cut away from the shooting, and then flashed up ‘One Hour Earlier’. . .

I thought to myself, Hello! There’s more going on than I realised.

Indeed that was true. Tyrell, driven by pursuit of Callie, had formed a small posse to ambush the execution squad. And it was close, for sure, but they made it. Laura, Zarek, Callie – all safe! And in that moment the tide changed; instead of this season’s relentless oppression hope had finally broken through. Tyrell informed them Adama was coming and a rescue mission was underway.

Really this episode, the first of a two-parter, was all about building up what I hopefully look forward to being a tremendous escape from New Caprica. The place feels spent. Even the Cylons are getting sick of it, squabbling amongst themselves and threatening to nuke the whole place as a last resort.

Cylon Boomer took a pivotal role here, when she went undercover to get launch codes. She was confronted by Cylon Xena, who told her that her child had not really been killed and Adama had lied to her. Luckily Boomer didn’t wholly believe her (though doubts certainly persisted) and shot her in the legs.

That whole fortune teller business with Cylon Xena felt like it had been dropped in from another, lesser show for me. I liked that Cylon’s had dreams, and given they have talked about how they can see wondrous things, and have shown prophetic qualities of their own, would it have been so bad to allow Xena to merely dream a vision of the child still being alive rather than have it relayed to her by some gypsy woman!?

For now that issue is probably being put on hold, but when Cylon Boomer no doubt eventually finds out about the deception she is going to be one pissed off problem for Adama to watch his back about.

Fundamentally most of the pieces on the board are good to go when Adama and Galactica come calling. Tigh has his traitorous wife to deal with, of course, but perhaps a bigger problem is Starbuck. Imprisoned, seemingly bonding with her child, and with no awareness of the rescue mission, as things stand it’s difficult to envisage how she may make the escape with the rest of humanity.

Either word will get to her during the next episode and she’ll make a fleeting dash (perhaps taking her child with her), or Anders will come and get her, or she’ll just be left behind and live with the Cylons. Gaius, too, bitter and self-pitying as he is, will be stuck with the Cylons, too, surely.

Fingers crossed, then, that the escape mission goes well. Some good tidings for humanity are much-needed – I’m not sure I could take how depressing it would be if the mission failed!