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AIR-DATE: 20/10/06
Written by: David Weddle, Bradley Thompson
Rating:
The One Where: They
escape from New Caprica!
Synopsis
Having discovered
Ellen gave information to the
Cylons, Colonel Tigh has to deal
with her. He gives her a poisoned
drink, and she dies in his arms…
The insurgents start bomb
attacks, and launch one on the
detention centre. Galactica jumps
into the air above the colony,
delivers its ships, then jumps out
again. Anders rescues Starbuck
from her “home”, but she goes
back to look for Casey.
Galactica’s outnumbered by
Cylon baseships. With the jump
drive out of action and four ships
pounding them, it looks like
they’re goners… then Pegasus
turns up! Pegasus saves the day,
but at a cost – the crew abandon
ship before it explodes.
The Cylons evacuate, leaving a
D’Anna model to activate a nuke.
Yikes. Gaeta pulls a gun on
Baltar, but when Gaius offers to
stop the nuke, Felix gives him
one more chance.
Starbuck finds Casey – with
the Leoben Cylon. He makes her
kiss him before he’ll hand the girl
over. Starbuck does, but stabs
the Cylon in the guts mid-snog!
Gaius finds baby Hera, lying by
the dead bodies of her foster
mother and guards. He gives her
to D’Anna, who abandons her
plan to set off the nuke.
Back on Galactica, a woman
recognises Casey as her
daughter; a shocked Starbuck
hands her over.
Review
In many respects, this
episode leaves us back at the
start, with a solitary Galactica on
the run from the Cylons.
This big, action-packed
episode is technically superb and
often thrilling. The space battles
and the use of shaky handheld
makes events on New Caprica
feel very real, as explosions churn
up the earth and fill the air with
debris and dust.
Once again, it’s an episode
with some great two-handers
between actors at the top of
their game. Best of all is the
scene where Tigh disposes of his
own wife, even after she’s
explained that she betrayed the
insurgents to save his life. It’s
testament to the quality of this
series that though Tigh’s always
been pretty unlikeable, you feel
sorry for him even as he murders.
The final scene, which contrasts
Adama – held aloft by a cheering
crowd – with the grim-faced
Tigh, is magnificent. Even as it’s
celebrating victory, Galactica
sidesteps mere gung-ho
triumphalism by showing you the
other side of the coin...
Flawless, really. The one small
disappointment is that, having
set up the occupation storyline,
it’s over and done with in just
four episodes. Still, better to
leave us wanting more, eh?
Dialogue
Adama: “I
guess you didn’t understand
my orders.”
Apollo: “Well, I never could read
your handwriting.”
Ian Berriman
