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| "The Face of the Enemy" An episode of the Re-imagined Series | |||
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| Special Episode | |||
| Writer(s) | Jane Espenson Seamus Kevin Fahey | ||
| Story by | |||
| Director | Wayne Rose | ||
| Assistant Director | |||
| Special guest(s) | |||
| Production No. | |||
| Nielsen Rating | |||
| US airdate |  12 December 2008 through 12 January 2009
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| CAN airdate |  {{{CAN airdate}}}
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| UK airdate | 
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| DVD release | |||
| Population | 39,650 survivors ( 1)
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| Additional Info | |||
| Full Credits | |||
| Episode Chronology | |||
| Previous | Next | ||
| Revelations (Chronological: Sometimes a Great Notion) |
The Face of the Enemy | Sometimes a Great Notion (Chronological: A Disquiet Follows My Soul) | |
| Related Information | |||
| [[IMDB:tt{{{imdb}}}|IMDb entry]] | |||
| Listing of props for this episode | |||
| Related Media | |||
| Photo Gallery | @ BW Media | ||
| Promotional Materials | |||
| Online Purchasing | |||
| Amazon: Standard Definition | High Definition | |||
| iTunes: [{{{itunes}}} USA] | |||
"The Face of the Enemy" is a webisode series featuring Felix Gaeta and two Number Eights who, along with a handful of humans, are stranded on a Raptor and mysteriously begin to die one by one. These events take place six to nine days after the discovery of Earth, between the episodes "Sometimes a Great Notion" and "A Disquiet Follows My Soul," although the webisodes were released prior to the first airing of "Sometimes a Great Notion".
The series is not included on the Region 1 box set for "Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.5" (episodes 12-22) or the "Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series" box sets. Although listed on the distributor's website for the Region 2 DVD box set of "Battlestar Galactica: The Final Season" (episodes 12-22)[1] the series is absent from the released version.[2]
Summary[edit]
Episode 1[edit]
- Release date: December 12, 2008
- Running time: ~4:11
A blood-covered Felix Gaeta is in a Raptor adrift in deep space, nine days after the events of "Revelations". Flashbacks of a list of names being written on a pad, a Number Eight cutting into her palm, a pair of needle-nose pliers, and a struggle inside the Raptor segue to three days before (six days after "Revelations").
Over his protests, an exhausted Gaeta is ordered by Colonel Saul Tigh to take a week's leave aboard the Zephyr to recover. On his way to the hangar bay, Lt. Louis Hoshi catches up with him in the hallway, gives him morpha for his pain, then kisses him goodbye, evincing a romantic relationship. Joining Gaeta on the flight are deckhand Brooks, two Number Eights, and the Raptor shuttle flight crew, Lt. J. "Shark" Finnegan and "Easy" Esrin.
With the Raptor 15 minutes away from the Zephyr, DRADIS picks up hostile Cylon contacts and the Fleet is forced to make an emergency jump. The Raptor completes its jump, but discovers that the Fleet is nowhere to be seen.
Episode 2[edit]
- Release date: December 15, 2008
- Running time: ~3:42
Shark broadcasts on wireless to any ships that might be nearby, Easy says she entered the right coordinates, and Gaeta's stump starts to act up. A worried Brooks suggests jumping back, thinking the Fleet might have left a Raptor behind for a little while, but the Eights don't think so, since that could give away their position to Cavil's ships. Gaeta is sure that the Fleet knows that they are missing and sent someone back to look, but that they can't find out because the jump drive isn't responding. Brooks begins to pray to Poseidon, puzzling the Eights since they are a long way from water, but Brooks replies they are in a ship after all. Shark discovers that the drive isn't responding because they have jumped over the red line and are thus unable to jump back to their starting point. The Eight in a Cylon flight suit ("Hard Eight") says she suspects as much, since she doesn't recognize the star patterns. Gaeta sits at the aft workstation and determines that the FTL computer's calculations were corrupted. Shark reasons that getting back to the Fleet is not impossible, just harder, and as Hard Eight and the others continue their discussion, the other Eight ("Sweet Eight") asks Gaeta if he recognizes her.
Back on Galactica, Hoshi is clearly worried for Gaeta. The DRADIS contact was a false alarm, the Fleet has jumped back to their original coordinates, and there has been no sign of the missing Raptor for two days. He asks Tigh for a Raptor and a pilot to search for the missing Raptor, explaining that just as something in the universe led them to Earth, he knows he can find them. He stops short of revealing just how close he is to Gaeta and instead asserts that there has been too much loss already. Tigh agrees to Hoshi's request, but will have to run it by Admiral Adama.
Back aboard the Raptor, Shark determines how long they can last out there. The limiting factor is the air supply; since the Raptor was on shuttle detail, the CO2 scrubbers were not fully functional. They have only 20 ½ hours with the air thinned out to 68% of ship-normal O2, so everyone must limit their exertion and sleep as much as they can to stretch out the supply. Easy points out that at that oxygen level people experience memory loss, irrational behavior, depression and dizziness.
Episode 3[edit]
- Release date: December 17, 2008
- Running time: ~2:42
Brooks offers to take a look at the Raptor's CO2 scrubbers and opens a side panel. Meanwhile, Gaeta recognizes Sweet Eight. A flashback to 15 months earlier on Cylon-occupied New Caprica shows the two meeting in a tent, with Gaeta looking over a list of names and handing it to the Eight. Gaeta looks concerned as Sweet Eight leaves the tent.
Brooks finds a loose connection, but has trouble reaching it. Hard Eight offers to take over, and Brooks hands her his pliers. She reaches it, then stiffens as she is electrocuted. Esrin kicks her free, and Gaeta checks for a pulse before declaring her dead. Brooks is stunned, exclaiming, "My gods, I was just doing that! I was just doing that same thing!" Sweet Eight calls attention to the pliers. Gaeta finds that the insulating grip has been stripped off and asks, "Who did this?"
Episode 4[edit]
- Release date: December 22, 2008
- Running time: ~3:12
Shark examines the pliers and observes they are old and that the grips wore off, but Sweet Eight suggests that it wasn't an accident, that "someone didn't like the idea of a machine breathing their air." Brooks points that the pliers were his and he was the one who was supposed to have been killed, but Sweet Eight replies not unless he was the one who stripped the grips and questions how he could not have noticed the bare metal. Gaeta quashes the growing argument, saying it was an accident, and asks what to do with the corpse. Sweet Eight wants to jettison her, noting that she will otherwise begin to decay and corrupt the air, and that the oxygen in the cabin can be sucked back into the tanks with only a little loss. As flight suits are broken out and put on, Sweet Eight whispers to Gaeta that she has an idea how to get them home, that she will tell him when the others are asleep, and asks her him to trust her.
In a flashback to New Caprica, Gaeta writes down a list of names and what look like serial numbers for Sweet Eight. He tells her he hasn't seen some of these people in a long time, and they may already be dead. Sweet Eight reassures Gaeta that the Number Ones keep good records, and if some of them are locked up, she can find them and get them out, and reassures him that they can do this.
Back in the Fleet, Lt. Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson and Hoshi launch from Galactica in Raptor 1029.
Episode 5[edit]
- Release date: December 24, 2008
- Running time: ~4:42
The crew jettison Hard Eight's body. Afterwards, they settle down to sleep. Gaeta, apparently in pain, touches his stump and injects himself with a dose of morpha. Sweet Eight sees this but pretends to be asleep. Gaeta falls asleep as well and flashes back to New Caprica again, remembering Sweet Eight telling him she managed to get some of the people on his list out of detention. Others, she says, were already dead. She is particularly upset about a child whose fate is still a mystery and begins crying. Gaeta reassures her that they've done good and slowly leans in to kiss her.
In the present, Sweet Eight wakes Gaeta while the other three still sleep and proposes her plan. She will hook into the Raptor's systems much as Sharon "Athena" Agathon once did on the rescue mission to Caprica (TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I"), in order to determine the corrupted memory address that made them jump to the wrong location. However, she is afraid that the others will think she is sabotaging the ship, so she asks Gaeta to cover for her while she works. Gaeta accidentally jars Brooks, who doesn't move. The two notice that Brooks has died of an overdose of Gaeta's morpha. Shark and Easy wake up and accuse Sweet Eight of having killed Brooks. Easy aims her pistol at Eight, who is shackled. Gaeta protests, but Eight tells them that she understands.
Episode 6[edit]
- Release date: December 29, 2008
- Running time: ~4:06
Raptor 1029 jumps into empty space on the first leg of Hoshi and Racetrack's search for the missing Raptor. They are disappointed to find nothing within DRADIS range, and make a second FTL jump to continue the search.
Back on the stranded Raptor 718, Easy and Shark are apparently asleep in the cockpit with the chronometer between them indicating the occupants’ available air supply counting down from nine hours and twenty-five minutes. A sleeping Gaeta dreams of Hoshi, then of his recent experiences aboard the Raptor. He awakes to find that Sweet Eight has freed herself from her bonds. When she asks if he’s going to restrain her again, he says his intention was to free her. After Eight cautions him against waking Shark and Easy, Gaeta hands her a scalpel and agrees to her earlier plan to physically interface with the Raptor’s systems. Eight slices open her palm and Gaeta helps her plug a data cable into the wound. Once Eight is connected, she says that the low oxygen levels in the compartment are making it difficult to project. When Gaeta asks what she is projecting, she replies, “You know where I am.” A flashback shows Gaeta and the Eight back on New Caprica, where the Eight gently kisses Gaeta. Back in the present, Eight attempts to do the same, but Gaeta interrupts her by saying he’s involved with someone. Though Eight tells him that she’s pleased and that he deserves his current happiness, the two kiss passionately until the Eight abruptly gasps, saying that she has found the Fleet. She then tells Gaeta to prepare for a jump, as she is about to take the Raptor home.
Episode 7[edit]
- Release date: December 31, 2008
- Running time: ~2:06
Aboard Raptor 1029, Racetrack mentions to Hoshi that she had hoped he and Gaeta would get together and was glad they finally did. Hoshi mentions Gaeta’s drive to do the right thing, which Racetrack inadvertently makes an offhand remark in response about the rarity and mortality attached to such a well-developed moral core and quickly admonishes herself for it. Hoshi absolves her of her slip of the tongue and encourages her to continue the search.
Raptor 718 completes its jump. The countdown on the occupants’ air supply reads eight hours and eleven minutes. Gaeta checks the rear console and finds to his chagrin that not only did the jump drain nearly all of the Raptor’s power reserves, but that neither the Fleet nor any other vessels are in DRADIS range. Gaeta surmises that the Fleet may still be nearby, but out of the Raptor’s DRADIS radius. Eight says she will send a pulse that will alert the Fleet to their position and estimates a ten-hour window for rescue. Gaeta heads to the cockpit to wake Shark and Easy, but is horrified to find them both dead, their throats slashed open. His hands are covered with their blood from his attempts to wake them. Gaeta then looks accusingly at Eight, whose only response is to silently meet his gaze.
Episode 8[edit]
- Release date: January 5, 2009
- Running time: ~3:06
Raptor 1029 completes its third jump, and, again, Racetrack and Hoshi see no sign of Raptor 718. Racetrack offers to plot another jump, and Hoshi agrees, but then asks Racetrack if she thinks it's crazy to continue the search. Racetrack reluctantly says she does, and adds that if Gaeta was in their position, he would also call off the search for Hoshi once it became clear that further searches were futile. After an uncomfortable silence, Racetrack finally asks if Hoshi wants to call off the search and return to Galactica. After a few seconds of pained consideration, Hoshi says yes.
Back on Raptor 718, Gaeta begins to piece everything together, realizing to his horror that Sweet Eight was responsible for every single death, an accusation Eight responds with sedate confirmation, claiming that she did it to give the two of them more air. She then says to an increasingly frantic Gaeta that she killed them all to protect him from his own desire to kill them all. Gaeta angrily denies Eight's words, tearing the data cable out of her palm. She then affirms that Gaeta is a killer at heart, that he was when he gave her the list of names.
Another flashback to the tent on New Caprica shows a sleeping Gaeta oblivious to Sweet Eight handing the list to another Eight, instructing her to kill everyone on it.
The flashback ends, as the realization draws over Gaeta's face.
Episode 9[edit]
- Release date: January 7, 2009
- Running time: ~3:41
Gaeta listens in horror as Sweet Eight reveals that she had most of the people on the lists he gave her killed, leaving only enough of them alive to make him think she had saved them all, fooling him into thinking he was doing some good by collaborating with her. She states flatly that in a war, a basic tactical maneuver is to kill the people your enemy values. She also forces him to acknowledge that Baltar knew what Gaeta and "his Eight" were doing all along. In a flashback to the Season 3 episode "Taking a Break From All Your Worries" where Gaeta interrogates Baltar before his trial, the words Baltar whispered to him which triggered Gaeta's attack are revealed: "I know what your Eight did." In a rage, Gaeta in the present mimics the Gaeta in the flashback – he picks up the scalpel and stabs Sweet Eight in the neck just as he stabbed Baltar.
Episode 10[edit]
- Release date: January 12, 2009
- Running time: ~5:36
As the last survivor aboard the ship, Gaeta tries to kill himself with an overdose of morpha but fails to inject the second dose. He starts to sing when suddenly the cabin is illuminated from outside. He is hailed by Raptor 1029.
Back on Galactica, Tigh tells a recovered Gaeta that the incident will not be investigated, as Admiral Adama does not wish to jeopardize the alliance with the Cylons. Gaeta bluntly asserts that the alliance should not exist at all, and requests to speak with Admiral Adama directly, on the grounds that the Colonel is a Cylon. Tigh agrees reluctantly, and invites Gaeta to a meeting of senior staff later that day to discuss the alliance. Gaeta leaves the CIC and meets Hoshi in the corridor. Gaeta insinuates gloomily that he has a plan and that something important will happen soon.
Notes[edit]
- This story reveals that Gaeta is bisexual, as he is shown being romantically involved with both Hoshi (who in turn is also revealed to be either gay or bisexual as well), and one of the Number Eights.
- According to Jane Espenson's writer's commentary, Gaeta and Hoshi's relationship ends at the end of episode 10.
- Espenson's commentary highlights some changes that were made to the script during development.
- Gaeta's present human lover was changed from Noel Allison to Louis Hoshi, because Sebastian Spence was not available.
- Gaeta's Cylon ex-lover was changed from a Number Six to a Number Eight.
- The two Cylons onboard were changed from two Sixes to a Six and an Eight when it became known that Grace Park would be available, and then to two Eights when it became known that Tricia Helfer would not be available.
- Using two of the same model made it more practical to kill off one of the Cylons first, because scenes with multiple copies are difficult to shoot. Espenson says that this was retrospectively a blessing, because it made the conclusion that "Sweet Eight" is the killer less obvious.
- "Sweet Eight" would originally have said that humans can delude themselves, but Cylon brains record only the truth. This was changed to a line about the similarity of human and Cylon brains after Grace Park pointed out that Eights have been some of the most self-deceiving characters on the show.
- Felix Gaeta has a metal prosthetic leg.
- The two Number Eights are nicknamed "Sweet Eight" and "Pilot Eight" in the commentary by Jane Espenson, the latter being the one in a Cylon flight suit. However, the script for this webisode lists "Pilot Eight" as "Hard Eight."[3]
- "The Face of the Enemy" takes place between "Sometimes a Great Notion" and "A Disquiet Follows My Soul". Although shot after the conclusion of the fourth season, the events depicted in these webisodes help to explain Gaeta's animosity toward the Cylons in the latter episode.
- Flashback footage from "Taking a Break From All Your Worries" is incorporated, and this story reveals what Baltar whispered to Gaeta during the earlier episode.
- All Ten episodes are available in HD and Standard Definition from iTunes.
- This story takes the form of a murder mystery.
- The events on the Raptor directly lead to Gaeta teaming up with Zarek for an eventual failed mutiny and coup.
- An error was made during webisode 6. While "Sweet Eight" attempts to plug a cable into her arm, Gaeta says "Oh, God," rather than "Oh, gods."
Analysis[edit]
- Note: some of the following comments are based upon the fact The Face of the Enemy was webcast before the broadcast of "Sometimes a Great Notion" in which these facts are already in evidence as that story takes place prior to this one.
- The rebel Cylon basestar is still with the Fleet.
- Saul Tigh has returned to duty, despite being outed as one of the Final Five Cylons.
- It now does not appear unusual to have Number Eights (besides Sharon "Athena" Agathon) aboard Galactica, or for them to be riding aboard Colonial shuttles.
Questions[edit]
- What is Gaeta's plan? (Answer)
Official Statements[edit]
Not yet available.
Noteworthy Dialogue[edit]
- Louis Hoshi and Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson discuss continuing the search for the lost Raptor:
- Louis Hoshi: Is this crazy?
- Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson: Yeah. I'm sorry, but yeah... But look, he [Gaeta] wouldn't give up on you. Eventually, if it didn't make sense anymore, he'd have to. He'd understand.
Cast[edit]
- Alessandro Juliani as Junior Lieutenant Felix Gaeta
- Grace Park as "Sweet Eight" and "Hard Eight"
- Michael Hogan as Colonel Saul Tigh
- Brad Dryborough as Junior Lieutenant Louis Hoshi
- Leah Cairns as Junior Lieutenant Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson
- Michael Rogers as Brooks
- Jessica Harmon as "Easy" Esrin
- William C. Vaughn as Lieutenant J. "Shark" Finnegan (credited as "Finn")
- James Callis as Gaius Baltar (flashback footage)
References[edit]
- ↑ Unknown. "BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - THE FINAL SEASON [DVD]", Playback, Unknown. Retrieved on 2009-06-06.
- ↑ Charles Packer. "DVD Review: Battlestar Galactica - The Final Season", Sci-fi-online.com, Unknown. Retrieved on 2009-06-14.
- ↑ See: Sources: The Face of the Enemy.