The episode opens with some character development: Apollo and Dualla discussing the futility of Galactica's mission to save the colonists left behind on New Caprica and Tigh discussing what is to be done about his wife's betrayal with Anders. Anders tells Tigh that his wife has to die for what she did, and that it would be best if Tigh did it, a rather disturbing suggestion, particularly since she will have no opportunity to repeat the error until and unless the escape from New Caprica fails. Nonetheless, in one of the most brutal scenes I've seen on television, Tigh poisons his wife, telling her he loves her even as she dies in his arms, taking a piece of him with her. Kate Vernon's performance as Ellen Tigh is a tour de force; she will be missed.

We cut to Colonial One, where Baltar is lecturing the Cylons on their arrogance in assuming that humanity would accept their help after what they did to the colonies. D'Anna explains the Cylons' motives very clearly: they fear that if humanity is allowed to develop without the influence of the Cylons, eventually they will attempt to get revenge for the near-genocide of humanity. To which Baltar responds, "Blood for blood. It has to stop somewhere." Their argument is interrupted by a series of explosions outside: the raids intended to distract the Cylons long enough to get the colonists out have begun.

Things now happen very quickly. Maia and Hera are dispatched to their ship with two armed guards. Anders leads a rescue attempt on the detention center. Galactica spoofs the Cylon sensors with drones designed to present the appearance of two battlestars, drawing off the Cylon raiders. Baltar gives in to despair on Colonial One. Leoben cold-cocks Starbuck to keep her in dentention while he goes out to help with the insurgent attacks. And Roslyn heads for 'her ship': Colonial One. Roslyn's determination to leave on Colonial One is a great moment, reminding us of the strength she has as a leader.

With the Raiders drawn after the feint, Galactica drops directly into New Caprica's atmosphere, launching Vipers very low in the atmosphere before jumping back into orbit, a courageous move that inflicts major damage on Galactica but adds the Vipers' considerable firepower to the insurgency and effectively wipes out the Cylons' ability to fight back. Anders finds Starbuck in the detention center, but she goes back in after Casey.

Galactica is badly damaged, the spoof has been discovered, and two additional base ships jump into orbit around New Caprica, too many base ships for Galactica to stand up against for long. With her jump drive damaged, Galactica appears doomed. Adama looks about CIC and tells his crew, "It's been an honor."

And in a surprise move that everyone knew was going to happen, Pegasus jumps in-system, drawing the base ships off Galactica to give Galactica time to get her jump engines back on line. Apollo orders his ship to square off with the base ships, a rather illogical move as it dooms the Pegasus.

On New Caprica, the Cylons abandon the planet, leaving D'Anna behind to detonate a nuclear device to destroy the settlement. Why they would bother, since the colonists are already mostly away, is not explained, making it appear more a ploy to generate suspense than a real problem. The Cylons offer to take Baltar with them, admitting that he was right about the humans and that they were wrong. Baltar instead stays behind, only to be faced by Gaeta, who has come to kill Baltar for his role in nearly destroying humanity. Baltar tells Gaeta that he is the only one who can stop D'Anna from detonating the nuke, then begs Gaeta to kill him, pressing Gaeta's weapon to his head. Gaeta lowers his pistol, telling Baltar he has a chance to redeem himself, and Baltar runs off with Number Six in search of D'Anna.

Galactica pulls in her fighters and prepares to jump back to the fleet, while Apollo orders Pegasus to abandon ship, putting her on a course to ram one of the base ships. While it's a dramatic scene, Apollo's insistence on going straight up against the Cylon base ships has destroyed half of the Colonials' firepower. Again, it's dramatic, but from a military perspective it's a very bad decision.

Starbuck returns to her cell in the detention center to find Leoben holding Casey's hand. He insists that she tell him she loves him in order to get Casey back, then kisses her several times. She returns his kisses before stabbing him to death, taking Casey's hand and fleeing.

Baltar finds Maia's body with those of her guards, killed while trying to escape. By some miracle, Hera has survived, and D'Anna arrives to see Baltar holding the child. She asks Baltar to let her hold the child, and while she is holding the child, Baltar lifts his pistol to kill her. Number Six tells him that he needn't bother, that D'Anna will not detonate the nuke now.

Roslyn lifts off in Colonial One, having reclaimed the mantle of president, ending the human presence on New Caprica and closing out the insurgency arc way too soon for my personal preference. Starbuck returns to Galactica where a woman almost immediately sees her and takes possession of Casey, saying that the girl is her daughter, having been taken by the Cylons several weeks before. That certainly makes sense, as Casey was clearly too old to have been Starbuck's child, but the experience has clearly marked Starbuck. Adama and Apollo meet up on the hangar deck, with Apollo explaining that he disobeyed his orders because "I never could read your handwriting." Tigh is back as well, and he is clearly still devastated from killing his wife, speaking briefly with Adama before walking away alone while Adama is lifted up on the crew's shoulders and feted for having successfully rescued the people of New Caprica. Roslyn learns that Hera and Maia did not escape, her aide tearfully apologizing for having failed. And the story ends with Adama shaving his mustache, a symbolic end to the New Caprica storyline.

All in all, the story was very strong, with some good character development for Tigh and lots of action. While the Pegasus making like the cavalry in an old western was predictable (as Amanda and I were watching, I actually counted down 3...2...1 and it appeared on screen), it still was pretty well done, although the decision to destroy Pegasus, as I noted above, was terribly reckless by Apollo. Granted, they were pretty much guaranteed to lose a battlestar, but Pegasus was the more modern ship and his tactics ensured they would lose one and could have lost another had Galactica failed to fix her jump drives. An understandable decision from an emotional standpoint, but a terrible one from a military standpoint.

Now the question is, what do they do next? I am disappointed that they closed out the insurgency arc so quickly, as I really think it had a lot of potential, although I suppose it was the only way they could really go on without abandoning the fleet for long stretches of time, making Adama and Apollo marginal characters in the series. Still, they appeared to have lost much of their strength in making fleet episodes by the end of season two; if they haven't improved markedly, season three could fall off drastically the rest of the way.

For now, however, it should be noted that they've started off on a very high note. I look forward to next week's episode.

Posted at October 21, 2006 10:06 PM

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