4.16 Deadlock

After the thrills and information deluge of the previous few episodes I guess it was to be expected that a ‘duller’ episode was going to present itself. For me, this episode had the feel of one of the first season shows – though maybe that was just due to Ellen Tigh being in it, and not only being in it but being manipulative and annoying.

It felt a little jarring how Ellen had lost her serenity and wisdom from her ‘awakening’ as a Cylon in the last episode. The moment she was back with Tigh and heard he was with Caprica Six petty jealousy – of the type she had condemned Cavil over in the previous episode – informed her behaviour and caused her to make some drastic actions. Notably: to force Tigh to choose between humanity and his Cylon kind, knowing it was no choice he would ever make.

It was hard to know whether Ellen was genuinely remorseful over how her actions ultimately caused the death of Caprica’s unborn baby. I am leaning towards the idea she was sorry, purely having been blinded by her pursuit of spite towards Tigh. Whatever the way of it, the baby is now dead and this, in effect, cancels out any discussions about the Cylons breaking away from the fleet, and also switches the focus back on Hera as being the most important child around.

This is welcome. After all the time and focus there has been on Hera, to have her crown of importance snatched off her by this unborn latecomer would have been an anti-climax. It still seems Hera is the key to a union of human and Cylon - the Cylons can't reproduce without them and the humans need their firepower and resources - and we may yet learn of the secrets of the opera house and the shared dreams Laura, Caprica and Athena had. It was heartening this did get a brief mention, assuring me that the writers haven’t forgotten about it.

Same goes for Gaius and his head visions of Six, who made a return this episode, too. Again, like in season one, Gaius here was a bit of a snivelling ball of insecurity – though there was a slight redemption in that he genuinely claimed to have enjoyed giving the food out. That his resolution of his leadership problems has handed large arms to his people, most notably Paula, then I can’t help but wonder if there is still a revolution on the cards. Paula had the look of a freedom fighter about her. . .

Adama meanwhile is looking more and more like a man losing the grip of power. By the end of the episode he has come to the realisation that the integration of Cylons has taken hold in more ways than just the use of their goop material to repair structural integrity – they have posted pictures of their dead in the remembrance corridors. The talks over drinks Adama shared with Tigh, usually the source of relaxed respite in previous seasons, here had an edge. Adama’s little speech about how his ship may look the same on the outside but would be markedly changed on the inside was, clearly, about more than just his ship!

Still, this episode was spinning its wheels slightly. Anders woke up. Gaius was back with his flock. Caprica’s baby was dead and Hera was the main focus. The fleet was all together, including Ellen, and they don’t have much direction. The stage for the grand finale, it seems, is primed – and there’s still so much to resolve!

4.15 No Exit

Whoa. Now this was the kind of episode where you really needed to be paying attention, where the show just dumps a heck of a lot of answers all in your lap, all at once, and expects you to swallow them up. So, let me see if I got it straight. . .

The Final Five were on Earth 3,000 years ago when the place started to go nuke crazy. However, these five had been involved in making resurrection technology. (A technology that had existed previously, but whilst on Kobol the Cylons had turned their backs on it before they parted ways with the humans for their respective colonies.)

So Tyrol, shacked up with Tory, along with Ellen and Tigh, and Anders seemingly along for the ride, all got nuked but then resurrected in their ship orbiting Earth. The sole survivors of their planet, they then set off to the colonies, for the other 12 tribes they parted from on Kobol, to try and inform the humans they needed to look after the Cylons they were destined to re-create. Unfortunately they didn’t have FTL drives so they travelled in such a way that meant they didn’t age, but 3,000 years passed. Good old relativity. They got to the colonies in time for the first Cylon war, which they intervened on and made the Cylons withdraw.

40 years passed, where the Final Five taught the Cylons (who had already been experimenting with human incarnations with their Hybrid) how to produce human models of Cylon. Ellen was apparently the chief designer, and imbued her creations with human emotions. She apparently made 8 models in all. ‘John’ Cavill was one of these, but rejected the body he had been given and turned on his creators.

Cavill killed the Final Five, and boxed up one of the models known as Daniel as he believed this was Ellen’s favourite. Then he orchestrated the attack on the colonies after resurrecting the Final Five, as human counterparts that had no memory of what they were, and inserting them into the human world. Apparently Cavill put the Final Five in positions where they would not be wiped out, or ensured their survival, and so continued the hunt of the human race after the attack as some twisted means of making the Final Five pay for what they did.

It’s a hell of a story.

Cavill knowing the Final Five all along was a shocking revelation, but one that works in hindsight. Peculiarly he has been present in most of their lives – whether it be counselling Tyrol, rescuing Anders from Earth, frakking Ellen. . . He was also the one that took Tigh’s eye! The only one he seems to have missed out is Tory. Still, this new information about Cavill sits just fine with previous episodes, enlightening his character and motivations regarding human and Cylon alike that we have seen since Season 2. Especially nice is the Boomer model that he involved in his ploy – we saw them together in earlier seasons and this episode emphasised the bond they had created between them.

It was also a nice payoff that this Boomer, ever the traitorous, impulsive model, was the one that whisked Ellen away at the end of the episode. I also really liked Ellen’s moment of awakening – from the shrieking human, to the calm serenity of the Final Five creator.

Daniel is an interesting one. I have to conclude that Starbuck is/was Daniel. Cavill apparently messed with the Daniel model – that liked to paint, like Starbuck – and perhaps that means he changed the sex of the model. Starbuck has always had masculine qualities (she originally WAS a man in the first Battlestar series so that works on a whole other level!). Quite what became of the Daniel boxed line, and if it is Starbuck how she was inserted onto Earth, or how she died and came back despite her ship and body being on Earth I don’t know. But this is the strongest plotline I think we’ve ever had to base conclusions on about her ever since she died and came back. (She’s still the harbinger of death, though, right!?)

Anders delivered much of the information due to the bullet in his brain he received in the last episode. I had the feeling he was not going to be around for much longer than this episode purely for the fact that he knew too much. (Liked how Tory was kicking herself for never asking him about “that song”!) By the end of the episode he was apparently brain dead – and with the resurrection ship destroyed it would at first seem he was doomed. But then Cavill did mention that Ellen had facilities somewhere, where she perhaps re-designed the resurrection technology during the 40 year armistice, so there’s a shot that Anders may resurrect in that facility.

If all that wasn’t enough, Apollo was officially appointed president and Adama conceded to allowing Tyrol the use of Cylon technology to save his knackered Galactica. Thematically I interpreted this as the integration of humans and Cylons being essential if they were going to survive – and I think Galactica’s got at least one last battle left to face in the shape of Cavill, whenever he catches up with them, so the old girl is going to need all the repairs she can get. . .

Unbelievably, we're now down to the Final Five episodes!

4.14 Blood On The Scales

It was a shame I had a week to wait in between this episode and the previous one – all of the momentum and emotion had kind of dissipated a lot more from my initial reaction. So whilst this episode did present the 'payoff' that the previous one had set up, it wasn’t quite the climax I would have had were I to have seen the two back-to-back.

That’s not to say it wasn’t a great episode, though.

The major portion of the show was concerned with Adama and Roslyn. Adama had been captured and was being forced into a trial that was little more than a sham. As he eloquently put it, when they rolled out Rollo Lamkin, they needed a pimp. I had no doubts that they were not going to be successful in executing the old man, but it was enjoyable to see his steely-eyed glare staring down those that intended to. Adama is just not a man to cross!

Roslyn, meantime, displayed some new-found allegiance from her Cylon Renegades. At first they were all too willing to abandon the fleet to save themselves, but she convinced them that being on the wrong side of Adama would not be a smart move and they had to show some courage and stand by. And then she delivered that terrific threatening speech about using every gun and bullet; there’s fire in her belly now! I can’t help but think that she, over the course of these two episodes, has not only reclaimed her thirst to lead the fleet, but also acquired the power to lead the Cylons, also. (At present the Cylons just seem to be kind of standing around. . . What are they doing?)

Less interesting, but pivotal, was that Gaius found his conscience. Even when a brunette Six was hellbent on screwing him, New Gaius was dismissive of it and wanted to return to the flock of his people; not because he liked them, purely out of a sense of obligation. That’s a major turnaround for him, and he needs something – at present his character is in a no man’s land with no real sense of purpose. With so few episodes remaining I am sure Gaius is going to be instrumental, but I can’t see how.

Apollo and Starbuck rescued the prisoners on Galactica and then they all marched off to rescue Adama from the firing squad just in time. Seeing Gaeta and Zarek get their just desserts wasn’t as satisfying as it could have been, perhaps deliberately. They didn’t seem sorry for what they had done – just accepted their actions had failed. There’s no doubt that Zarek’s slaughter of the quorum was probably one of BSG’s coldest moments, so he definitely had it coming.

That we never saw what happened with Anders, dragged away by Starbuck and Lamkin (for once he proved to be an enjoyable and worthy part of the episode rather than the irritation I’ve found him to be previously), makes me assume he’s going to be OK. Unless all the next episode is going to be about him on his death-bed! I’d hope not. But what was interesting was Starbuck showing she still cared enough about the guy; between her kiss of Apollo last episode, and this saving grace here, she’s clearly a woman with a mind to make up!

Lastly, there was that curious moment with Tyrol, having shut down the FTL drive. He gazed upon the opened fissures in the side of the ship. At first I couldn’t understand what the significance of this was – whether it meant some new crisis was emerging, or it betrayed knowledge of something that had gone on that I wasn’t seeing. Now I just think it’s Tyrol’s eyes being opened to how battered the ship has become over the years – and perhaps it’s an indication that it’s not set to last much longer.

Battlestar Galactica is breaking up, and the human race will need to find somewhere else to call home before too long. . .

4.13 The Oath

I don’t have anything intelligent to say about this episode. My reaction is not an intellectual one. This episode stirred up pure emotional and physical response that I don’t recall a TV show firing up in a long time. For almost the entire episode I was on edge, and getting angrier, and more tense.

Gaeta and Zarek’s coup attempt got under way, big time. With Zarek over on Colonial One, he was poised to assume the presidency just as soon as Gaeta had seized control of Galactica and its firepower (no doubt to use as a means to subdue unrest in the fleet – so much for democracy!). From the moment Zarek hit, and killed, that poor engineer (had his family taken from him by Kane and Pegasus, survived New Caprica and got finished off by treachery – poor engineer indeed) it was clear that there were to be no half measures.

The coup was going for the throat in its attempt to succeed. And it all happened alarmingly quickly.

The fake fire alarm moved people away from the arms lockers, Gaeta could filter communications and traffic in the CIC and, as stated, Zarek had Colonial One. Things were looking bleak. The moment the crunch came, and Adama narrowly-avoided taking a bullet, his unmasked fury at Gaeta and promise of no mercy was as terrifying as it was necessary.

Was there anyone I hated more than Gaeta right at that precise moment? It was great to have the nerd with a cold-heart (following his leg amputation most recently, but really the seeds were sown since New Capirica) be the man responsible. You just knew that anyone could beat the hell out of him, and that escalated the sense of powerlessness Adama and Tigh were put under.

I liked that Adama and Tigh actually got themselves free and armed independently. The expectation was that Starbuck (never been cooler than when she rescued Lee) and Apollo (reminding us there’s a soldier beneath the suit) would find them and help them out, but the two old men showed they’ve still got game when they need to bring it on and it was great to see.

(Amidst all this, Starbuck and Apollo shared a kiss. Their on-off romance just got rekindled, I think.)

Old vendettas from the Pegasus crew towards Helo and Athena served to ramp up the animosity, also. That guy threatening to rape Athena before knocking Helo out stirred up all those old feelings of anger that were generated from the Pegasus episodes of Season 2 (which were, in hindsight, one of BSG’s finest moments). By the end of the episode the fate of those locked in the brig still hung in the balance.

In fact, everything hung in the balance.

Gaius and Roslin had managed to escape on a ship (potentially having forged an accord with one another, and Laura should now have fire in her belly to resume her presidency), but Gaeta had ordered Viper’s after them. I can only hope that either ‘good’ Viper pilots against the mutiny, like Hot Dog, spot what’s happening and help them out. Or maybe Gaeta will have a change of heart and cancel the strike. It seems unlikely, but Gaius did try to appeal to his guilt by reminding him of his role in the death lists that were produced on New Caprica.

(Admittedly, this reference was kept somewhat oblique – but anyone who had seen the ‘minisodes’ would have learned that Gaeta was part-collaborator in the production of the death lists (despite him convincing himself he was helping the resistance).)

So the episode ended on a crunching ‘to be continue’. Adama and Tigh appeared to be in point blank range of a grenade blast, but I seriously doubt either one are dead just yet! Still, loved them standing side by side, guns readied, soldiers to the last. We saw Starbuck and Apollo sneak off up ladders, surely putting their part of a plan into action. I expect this coup to be quashed, for the likes of Gaeta and Zarek to be put against the wall, and I relish it occurring. But what next for the fleet is of most interest. How will they re-group for this? Where do they go?

Yet forget the intellectual ponderings for now. This episode evoked a primal response, and I frakking loved it. Thrilling tension with genuine emotional heft – I can’t imagine any other show even capable of producing such action-packed, nerve-shredding heights. I loved every minute of it.

4.12 A Disquiet Follows My Soul

This episode had the hallmarks of being a more introspective ‘reset’ episode to counter the barrage of revelations and surprises from the previous season opener. And yet, quietly, this episode delivered its own share of zingers that will surely resonate for the remainder of the entire show.

First up, Tyrol is not the father of his child! Well, I guess some people might have seen that coming. The importance of Tyrol’s child (tellingly I can’t even remember his name!), when compared to the importance of Hera, has never been made a big deal of. That was fine when Tyrol was considered human, but after he was ‘outed’ then his child should have come under a lot more focus.

That spotlight has been switched off, as Hot Dog turns out to have been the father. Presumably this happened on New Caprica, during the time period we didn’t see. It’s hard to know if Callie had been unfaithful, or if she had got pregnant shortly before her and Tyrol got together. It probably doesn’t matter either way, but given Tyrol’s new-found allegiance to his Cylon heritage it might be another shove towards him rejecting humanity.

It did come as a jarring moment, that Tyrol was suddenly speaking on behalf of Cylons to the fleet, and calling them ‘his’ people. It felt like his character had undergone a major transition we had not witnessed and I’m not sure it went over altogether believably. In the same respect, Tigh has also undergone a shift that felt a little jarring. Holding hands with Six whilst they looked at their unborn child on a monitor – given the last time we saw him he was wading out to sea and learning that Ellen was the Final Cylon this was a shift too severe.

It’s obviously the way his character was headed, and Tyrol – I just think perhaps one or two scenes for both of them to be breaking in this change wouldn’t have hurt. Either it was a problem with time available, or the insinuation was that quite some time had passed since the previous episode and we’ve been left to fill in the blanks. In that sense, I suppose, it works.

Laura, meanwhile, has got over her foetal-style surrender and switched it for liberation. Gone is the burden of being the dying leader and now she has turned her attentions to her own mortality and, quite understandably, hoping to find some measure of happiness with the time she has left. Adama, also, by the end of the episode has reached the same realisation about the time he has left with Laura. The closing image of them finally together, happy and content, is tinged with a melancholy regret that it probably should have happened sooner.

It also, I think, shows Adama in a position of weakness that looks set to be exploited by Zarek and Gaeta.

The opinion of not joining up with the Cylons was a fairly-argued point, I thought. Given the Cylons had been mortal enemies of the humans, and practically obliterated their species, for the majority of the human race to want the right to distance themselves and their ships was an understandable one. These people haven’t met the Cylons like we have – they are just a faceless enemy. The right for the captains to decide whether they had their FTL drives upgraded or not was taken away, and it did make Adama appear distinctly dictatorial.

A disquiet looks set to follow, with Gaeta marshalling a faction to potentially turn mutinous and hoist Zarek as their new leader. Given Adama, at this moment, appears to be in a position of weakness then I think Apollo especially, and potentially Starbuck, will need to make themselves available to support him. Quietly, the stage is being set for something seriously dramatic.

4.11 Sometimes A Great Notion

There’s been a big break between episode 4.10 and this one, even for me who had, until this point, watched the entirety of Battlestar Galactica in one mass lump. Whilst waiting for this episode, I have since watched the whole lot – from miniseries to Season 4 – on DVD again so had the chance to reconsider The Final Cylon, and the nature of Cylon-Human mythology, and wonder what the truth about other unsolved mysteries were, such as Starbuck’s scar from whatever was done to her in The Farm in Season 2. Given the inherent mystery surrounding Starbuck, that small detail may be pertinent.

Anyway, basically, I considered myself well-versed for when this last and final block of ten episodes began. And since both human and Cylon landed on a desolate Earth at the end of the previous episode it was never looking to be an easy finish. That proved to be an understatement.

It was quickly established that Earth was dead. The planet had no signs of life. Not only that, it was clearly a charred remain from a mass nuking that had, apparently, taken place 2,000 years previous. As Laura ironically noted, they had left one nuked planet to find another. Gaius established that there was still radiation in the water, and so the planet was not habitable.

Suddenly New Caprica didn’t look so bad!

The episode, then, was ultimately concerned with the ‘fallout’ of this discovery of a dead Earth. This was still a raw learning for humans and Cylon alike. The expectant faces that greeted Laura when she returned to Galactica told as much, and the brawling and drunken disconsolate people that were briefly glimpsed afterwards relayed the effect on the fleet.

Laura instantly curled into a ball, burned up her scriptures, very much defeated. It’ll take a major revelation to get her back on her feet. It took a more personal shock to almost conquer Adama. Namely: Dualla’s suicide. It is here I have to say that I had suspected Dualla as being the prime candidate for the Final Cylon. Her name has ‘dual’ in it, one of the first times we ever saw her she spontaneously kissed Billy (which reminded me of Six and her tactile nature) and, in this episode, her reaction to finding Earth was marked.

I reach two interpretations. One, that Dualla was a symbol of mankind’s broken soul. She found a dead Earth, dug up some burned artefacts, and her spirit was finished. We saw her near cracking up on the journey back to Galactica, but then she composed herself, decided on her course of action, and rekindled happiness through Apollo so she could go out on a joyful note. Then she put a gun to her head. One last taste of happiness before she ducked out of the misery and turmoil she sensed the human race were destined for. It absolutely works on that level, and the handling of her character in this episode was successful – and also triggered Adama’s own flirtation with suicide before Tigh, of all ‘people’, made him pull himself together.

My second interpretation is the part of me that isn’t willing to let go of the idea that Dualla, upon getting to Earth, also ‘triggered’ the Final Cylon inside her – and perhaps realised that she would never be the same again and killed herself as a means of properly awakening her true nature. I hang on to it, but at the same time I feel consigned to the idea that Dualla was both red herring and symbol and has now served her function. But I’m still not counting her out completely.

Fact is, this episode threw some other whoppers at us that I am struggling to discuss here sensibly. Like the fact that the remains on Earth were of Cylon descent – skin-job and centurion alike. The conclusion reached was that the 13th tribe were Cylon all along. Were they all Cylon? It seems like a major conclusion to reach given the small skeletal remains discovered. Were Cylon and human not living on the planet together? This question appears entirely pivotal to the ‘all of this has happened before and will happen again’ mantra that has been stated a few times.

And Starbuck was fulcrum to a knockout surprise that totally put her in the frame as the Final Cylon. Her ship and corpse were apparently discovered on the planet, suggesting that she herself, and her ship, were entirely ‘reborn’. Interesting that Leoben became fearful the moment this truth came to light, especially when Starbuck told him of what the Hybrid had said about her being the harbinger of death. Between Starbuck, and Laura / Gaius / Six / Boomer / Hera in the Opera House, there’s an enormous void-like mystery at the heart of the show yet to be uncovered.

Given all this, we were lead to believe that Ellen Tigh was the Final Cylon by Tigh’s flashback at the end of the episode. Now, again, her being the Final Cylon was another major possibility I had reached. Gaius and his test in Season 1 opened that door of possibility and kept it that way, and her presence in Tigh’s thoughts, mingled with Six, always kept her alive. Add in Deanna’s remark about how the Final Cylon wasn’t in the fleet then it gathered more credence.

And then there she was on Earth, in the past, dying, but telling Tigh it was all right and they would be re-united. Tigh believed she was the Final Cylon, but that doesn’t necessarily make it so. It was his interpretation, and I personally believe that it was a misinterpretation, and we as an audience have been thrown a massive red herring. Perhaps that’s just because of the sense of anti-climax to such a big revelation that is prompting this belief.

So, it was a melancholy and introspective kickstart to the final ten episodes. It’s only afterwards, on reflection, do I realise how substantial and effective it was. Adama’s new quest is to find an alternative to Earth, but I get the feeling we’re not quite done with the planet just yet. . .

4.10 Revelations

Crikey, this episode fairly rattled along and crammed so much, so quickly into its regular running time I couldn’t believe the thing only lasted 40-odd minutes. It was a terrific episode that delivered way more than I expected and took the show smack bang into deeper-in territory than I could have reasonably anticipated.

There wasn’t much pausing for breath. Deanna made her demands that the Final Four should give themselves up to the Cylons and Tori was first to reveal her identity. That made sense. Of all of the Four she has been the one most readily willing to embrace her new-found Cylon side. And she didn’t waste time in revealing herself to Laura, happily swatting her down by stating she was done taking orders from her. In many ways, given Laura’s imperious qualities as President towards Tori and others, she kind of had it coming.

Tigh set things in motion by admitting to Adama that he was a Cylon all along. Since the Cylons were threatening to execute the hostages (they stated they actually had executed one, but we never saw it and it was never mentioned so it was impossible to know if it really happened, though I think we’re supposed to assume it did) Tigh had to take quick action.

Adama had a bit of a nervous breakdown when his friend of 30 years dropped the bombshell on him. That kind of character moment really deserved more time and inspection, but this was an episode that wasn’t hanging around so such introspection would have to wait. I am sure we’ll get to know Adama’s full response in later episodes.

With Adama losing it, and Laura a hostage, it was left to Apollo to step up and take a hold of the situation. Finally, the purpose of his political plot and positioning as president had value! He threatened to flush Tigh out of the airlock (an act, I think, that Tigh was practically welcoming) to prevent Deanna from holding all the cards. Tigh quickly revealed Tyrol and Anders were also like him, and soon they were also in the airlock.

Tyrol didn’t say much during this episode, but he did have a wry smile on his face for most of the episode. I think, after Tori, he is the next in line to have embraced his new nature.

Prior to this moment the Final Cylons had all heard some more music and been drawn to Starbuck’s pristine Viper ship. It was left to Starbuck to check it over and discover that it now highlighted co-ordinates that almost certainly could lead to Earth. (I must admit, for a brief moment, I thought the Viper itself was going to be the Final Cylon! Given the Cylons are machines after all!) It was a terrific sequence when Starbuck made the dash to the airlock, whilst Apollo’s finger hovered over the button to flush Tigh away. The music and the editing really carried the excitement terrifically – I never got a secure sense that all was going to turn out well.

As it happened, Starbuck’s news about the direction to Earth prompted a truce between Cylon and human, as instigated by Apollo. Even the Final Four Cylons were granted a quick amnesty (something that was a little too quick and casually doled out to be realistic, but this episode, as I have said, didn’t have time to hang around). They were to go to Earth together. I honestly thought the show was going to end right there (given I had no sense of time, or how long the episode had left, when I was watching). But oh no. . . the journey was not yet done.

The startling revelation was that the Fleet, and the Cylons, jumped to the route shown and made it to Earth. The image of the planet and the ships approaching it was a marvellous sight to behold. Again, I thought the episode was going to end right there, but it wasn’t done yet. They landed on Earth, and we got to see Adama feel the soil in his hands and then the camera panned past the dulled, almost empty expressions of the other major characters as they looked around this new Earth. It was barren, and the structures of the previous civilisation were now in ruins. And there the episode ended. . .

So what to make of THAT? Is this Earth our Earth? That is, does the Earth we know and live on figure as part of the mythology of Battlestar Galactica? Is the Earth they have found our Earth, only a long time in the past or way, way into the future? (Personally I go with the future idea, given the use of the ‘All Along The Watchtower’ song from the Season 3 finale.) Are we viewers the descendants of the 13th colony that has now, perhaps, ceased to exist? Or at least exists on a more savage level? Or in very few numbers? Is there anyone left on Earth at all?

It was a heck of an ending, and there’s only ten more episodes to go. The bitch of it is I am, for the first time, having to WAIT for the next block of Season 4 to air before I get to see it. I’m not used to having to wait! I want to know NOW!

4.9 The Hub

What a wonderful episode. It was a pleasant turn up from the start when it went back to ‘two days ago’ and did what I had hoped, presenting the ‘other side’ of the base star story jumping away from Galactica. I never imagined it would produce an episode this damn good, though.

With the likes of Laura, Gaius and Helo around the Hybrid, the base star started jumping on the Hybrid’s command. It was doing this a lot, apparently in pursuit of an ever-jumping Resurrection Hub. This set up the main mission with the Cylons and the Viper pilots having to work together when the time was right to spring an assault – get Deanna off the Hub and then blow the thing to pieces. That, in itself, was worthy of a whole episode’s focus. In actuality it was just a piece of the busyness that this episode was packed with.

With each jump Laura was briefly transported to a bizarre fantasy, perhaps her own subconscious, perhaps something more. There she met that religious black woman who guided her around an empty Galactica and showed Laura her death bed. I got the impression this was more symbolic than any genuine future glimpse. And the meaning of it all, that Laura was eventually presented with, was that she had lost the ability to love at all, and thus as a leader of her people it meant her people would ultimately fail in their quest to save humanity.

Or something like that, anyway.

This would prove crucial to the fate of Gaius. Whilst he was busy talking to the Centurion (very interesting, and very Gaius, how he became aware to the awoken consciousness of the Centurions and so quickly sought to win their minds with his words) he was seriously injured. It came to the point where Laura was left alone nursing him, and there he confessed that he had given the passcodes that allowed for the Cylon attack to occur.

It was believable how Gaius had reconciled his guilt with a belief in God. The idea that God made everyone, and made everyone perfect, and thus Gaius absolved himself of the guilt by a belief that he had performed a necessary function of God’s will was convincing stuff. What he didn’t count on was Laura seizing the chance to coldly allow him to bleed to death. It was only for her re-connection with humanity, and love, through Adama in her visions, that made her realise the importance of behaving humanely and prompted her to rectify her actions and save Gaius’ life.

The actual mission to destroy the Hub was a success; a startling changing of the parameters for human and Cylon now that Cylons can be killed, permanently. Where the likes of Cavill and the hostile Cylons will move to next will be an interesting one – their trump card has been taken away from them. Surely they’ll have something up their sleeves. . .?

Deanna was taken into custody of Laura. The act of deceiving the Cylons by breaching the agreement was also a bad move; Laura reneged on the deal and denied the Cylons equal access to what Deanna knew. That moment when Deanna implicated Laura as the Final Cylon was priceless. I guess the creators of the show just could not help themselves kick in that little jaw-dropper as a joke, only to snatch it back. Just when you thought the mystery was revealed. . . Oh no. Not THAT easy. Deanna has self-preservation in mind now that she can die, and knows the only thing she has of value is what she knows – I doubt she’s going to give up that information easily.

Mind, I know that the next episode is the last before the show enters a break before its final run. This will actually bring me up to date with the real air dates of the show. For the first time ever I will experienced the frustration of regular BSG fans by having to WAIT for a new episode rather than having them all ready to watch. . . It would not surprise me if Deanna reveals at least one or two of the known (to us) Final Four right at the last moment of the next episode leaving the massive cliffhanger of what the likes of Adama, for example, will do about the knowledge that Tigh is a Cylon.

In the meantime this episode ended on an almost perfect note with Adama, on his solo mission, meeting the base ship and finding Laura. I was very happy the episode included this reunion. And it was well handled. They hugged and Laura admitted that she loved Adama. His response was priceless. “About time.” Almost a tragedy that time, for these two, is something they don’t appear to have too much of.

4.8 Sine Qua Non

As I learned during the episode the meaning of the title was about what people cannot live without. That is, what could be gone that would render life meaningless. This was a slightly subdued episode, dealing fundamentally in the fact that the base ship with Laura onboard, amongst others, had disappeared. Crucially we never found out here where it had gone to, which put us directly in Adama’s shoes.

There was much passing of roles and power in this episode. By the end of it Apollo had been sworn in as a stand-in President (ever since he became part of the quorum it seemed inevitable that would occur – though I thought it might have come after Laura’s death). Adama had gone solo flying on a hunt for the base ship, and Laura, and thus had left Tigh back in command of the Galactica.

Little did Adama realise he was putting a Cylon in charge! And Tigh is a Cylon with a lot to lose regarding Deanna exposing him for what he is, which may press him to make some hard choices later down the line. Mind you, he’s also been frakking Caprica Six too, with the revelation that she is pregnant coming out of the clear blue sky! Say what you like about the Cylons, they sure are a fertile bunch!

Lamkin once again made an appearance in this episode. Oh joy of joys, he remarked sarcastically. Fundamentally Lamkin was there to point out what was obvious – that Apollo in his quest for new leadership really was the only man for the job. Lamkin even postulated that Apollo had known this all along, in a repressed fashion, and made an interesting case about how Apollo always seemed to ‘fall in’ to roles of importance despite his apparent reluctance to do so.

One thing I totally didn’t get was the business with Lamkin’s cat. Maybe I missed something (I was slightly sleepy when I watched this episode, which evidently didn’t help). But one minute the cat was there, running around, and Lamkin was even talking to the thing. And then the next Apollo was shown the cat’s dead body; apparently it had been dead for weeks! What gives, man!? What was the deal with that frakking cat!? It felt like some kind of significant point was being made out of it but I'll be damned if I picked up on it.

And the Six that Athena shot wasn’t quite dead at the beginning of this episode, but died eventually without serving much purpose. But what she did see was the bright light of the apparent world after this world, so I suspect her role here in demonstrating that she was potentially going on to someplace else was the importance in keeping her around for this episode. Athena didn’t get much in the way of punishment for it though!

In effect this was a transitional, bridge of an episode – but given the importance of some of the changes – like Apollo’s presidency and Tigh’s command – it’s a massively pivotal set of changes. It was also good to see Tigh and Adama have a bit of a scrap, though I did half expect Tigh to flick out some Cylon strength like Tori has shown to possess. . . Adama has always perhaps been a little too tolerant of Tigh’s flaws, but then Adama appeared to be the first to recognise that his tolerance and closeness is his own key flaw, so it was a nice touch all round.

The real hook, of course, is what really happened to the base ship. That Raptor craft managed to jump back, but with a dead pilot and what looked like bullet holes in the hull suggests some form of battle took place. I don’t know if the ‘other side’ of the story is going to come in the next show, though that would definitely be my preferred kind of episode.

4.7 Guess What's Coming To Dinner

Battlestar Galactica has really started to fire on all cylinders, finally, during Season 4. After the more turgid lull of the opening episodes things have got going and seriously upped the ante from all directions. Indeed, what struck me during this episode was that the only character to really be suffering this season is Apollo. Stuck in the role as political do-gooder he’s completely out of the action and involved in banal, boring stuff. Maybe there’s a progression in store for him, but so far his plot is deathly dull.

This episode started with an enthralling moment as the new Cylon base ship jumped to where the fleet was whilst the Demetrius was left behind with a malfunction. Unable to communicate that the base ship was no longer hostile, a full-scale attack was launched upon it. It was only Tigh making a call to hold the attack (showing new-found sympathy for the Cylons, and perhaps a deeper understanding of things than the apparent) averted the disaster.

So now Galactica had a whole bunch of Cylons to contend with, chief amongst them being Six making a plea that they would show the humans where they could find and destroy the Resurrection Ship hub in return for the Final Five and the freedom to leave. There were some interesting discussions regarding mortality, and what that meant in terms of significance to life that the Cylons never had. Potentially, if this hub does get destroyed then the stage is very much set for a complete wiping of the slate of the Cylon race and for the humans to once again be the only dominant race: poising things ready to occur again as they once had, as the prophecy indicates.

Everything certainly suggests that there is going to be some form of truce, and perhaps a merging of Cylon and human, with the main Cylons eventually becoming extinct and the Final Five being the key components in the fate of the humans to start the cycle over again.

Mind you, the end of the episode showed the Hybrid being reconnected and her first command was to jump. Since the humans were planning to go against their word to the Cylons (and the Cylons likewise) whatever truce existed between them is certainly flimsy. How things fare from here depends entirely on where the base ship has jumped to and what level of co-operation on both sides is forthcoming.

All in all, the way is being made clear to make the journey to Earth. What’s more impending is the potential ‘unboxing’ of Deanna which will then allow her to pinpoint the Final Five. Tigh, especially, doesn’t seem particularly keen on that secret being let loose and he may have measures in mind to prevent it from ever happening.

Athena, meanwhile, went and killed Six due to her paranoia about the child going away from her. Given Hera has drawings focused entirely on Six – and thinking of Six and Gaius in the opera house during the second season, discussing how the child was theirs – it seems inevitable that this is going to be the way of it. Is this some kind of metaphorical union between Cylon (Six), human (Gaius) and the child (Hera) that points the way to the fate of everyone? Is Hera the Final Cylon? That seems a great and logical likelihood.

I’ve started getting excited about Season 4, properly, for the first time since the first episode. Now it feels like we’re getting into the thick of it. And where the likes of Starbuck and Gaius and Laura and Hera are all going to play into the grand scheme of things is an intriguing unravelling waiting to happen.