Guess What's Coming to Dinner?

"Guess What's Coming to Dinner?" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No.	Season 4, Episode 7
Writer(s)	Michael Angeli
Story by
Director	Wayne Rose
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.	409
Nielsen Rating	1.2
US airdate	16 May 2008
CAN airdate	16 May 2008
UK airdate	20 May 2008
DVD release	6 January 2009
Population	39,673 survivors ( 2)
Additional Info
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Previous		Next
Faith	Guess What's Coming to Dinner?	Sine Qua Non
Related Information
Official Summary
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Returning with the help of Demetrius, the rebel Cylon faction requests an alliance with the Colonials in order to plan a joint-attack mission against the Cylons’ vital Resurrection Hub. Meanwhile on Colonial One, Lee Adama and the Quorum express their mistrust of President Roslin and her secrecy regarding the new Cylon alliance. Aboard Galactica, Colonel Tigh struggles with the prospect of un-boxing the Threes in order to reveal the identities of the Final Five, and Gaeta copes with the amputation of his leg.

Summary

Teaser

• President Laura Roslin and Quorum delegate Lee Adama listen to a taped broadcast from cult leader Gaius Baltar, claiming Roslin is sharing of her hallucinogenic visions with Sharon "Athena" Agathon (currently on the secret and overdue Demetrius mission) and a captured Cylon in a brig on Galactica. Adama brought the recording at the behest of the Quorum, who demand an explanation, as the Fleet has heard the broadcast as well.
• When Adama presses Roslin for an answer, she asks him first how he thinks the Fleet would react to such information. Undaunted, he asks again. Roslin confirms Baltar's statement.
• On the baseship, Kara Thrace and the Demetrius crew lead a rebel group of Cylons back to the Fleet rendezvous as Sharon Agathon makes last minute jump preparations.
• Thrace warns Natalie and Leoben Conoy that the Cylons of their ship are on a path of no-return when they reach the Fleet, and that there aren't any guarantees when they approach the Fleet. She assumes Natalie will be the spokesperson in trying to avoid any hostilities.
• Karl Agathon looks at the unconscious and injured Felix Gaeta before his preps the final calculations for the jump.
• When Natalie brings up Hera Agathon in conversation as being beautiful, Agathon is shocked to find out that Natalie and other Cylons know the child's name.
• Demetrius misses the Fleet in its jump and must take a few moments before it can jump again, but the baseship does reach the Fleet, leaping right into its heart, where some of the Colonial ships have to scramble out of harm's way. Predictably, Admiral Adama and Colonel Tigh bring Galactica up to action stations, scrambling the alert Vipers.
• Agathon tries to contact Galactica but the jump damaged their wireless, leaving them without communication, and possibly vulnerable to attack.
• Saul Tigh carefully watches DRADIS as eight Vipers approach the baseship. Tigh orders a weapons hold, stunning Admiral Adama but stopping any attack. Seconds later, Demetrius appears and verifies with Galactica that the baseship is disarmed and under Colonial command.

Act 1

• Several Raptors filled with Marines launch from Galactica and enter the baseship. Colonel Tigh is part of the team. Thrace tells him, "They're with me." "Which one of them shot Gaeta?" he asks.
• Gaeta is rushed to sickbay in grave condition as Dr. Cottle yells out orders to his staff to bring a cut-down tray, suggesting an immediate amputation of Gaeta's leg.
• In the wardroom, Natalie explains that the Number Two, Number Eight and Number Six models believe that seeking out the Final Five is important, while the Number One, Number Four and Number Five models violently disagreed.
• When Adama asks Natalie of the seventh model, she explains that the Number Threes were boxed, and explains the process and why the D'Annas were boxed: they saw the then-forbidden faces of the Five. She tells that unboxing the Threes could give them information that could lead them all to Earth, since the Final Five are believed to have come from there. Kara Thrace, in uniform and standing with Sharon Agathon, confirms Natalie's comment.
• Natalie notes that the baseship can heal itself of its damage, but most of their Raiders were destroyed in the ambush by the dissenting models.
• Roslin pointedly asks why the Fleet should trust these Cylons. Natalie tells them that the boxing facility resides within the Resurrection Hub, a facility that controls all Resurrection Ships in existence. Natalie gives Roslin a reason to trust her and her renegade Cylons: Vengeance. The Cylon tells her that destroying the elusive Hub will destroy all Cylons' ability to download, making them all effectively mortal. When asked why they would do such a thing, Natalie simply says that she and her comrades are rebels and cannot go back in any case.
• Adama presses for the coordinates of the Hub, but Natalie says she will only take them to the Hub, not give the coordinates. As Adama orders the marines to escort her away, Natalie changes her mind, promising to give the coordinates if Adama gives his word that D'Anna will be unboxed and the Cylons will be allowed to leave with the Five once the Threes identify them. Adama grudgingly gives his word.
• Leaving the meeting, Adama asks Tigh how he knew to order a weapons hold at the moment of their attack on Natalie's baseship. Tigh hesitates but says he didn't know why. "What can I say, we got lucky." Adama orders a Raptor to the coordinates of the Hub to investigate.
• Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson and Skulls arrive in an asteroid-filled area, and find the massive Hub, which appears to be twice the relative size of a guarding baseship. "It's beautiful," Skulls comments. They take pictures and return quickly to the Fleet.
• In sickbay, a gory scene begins as Cottle preps to remove Gaeta's leg. Gaeta wakes and strongly urges to be numbed and not anesthetized, not wanting to wake up to find his leg gone. Cottle accepts. Moments later, a saw's blade is heard tearing through Gaeta's leg as his face registers shock. Samuel Anders, who shot Gaeta to stop him from jumping Demetrius hours before, looks on with regret from a distance.

Act 2

• The civilian Fleet returns to join Galactica. Adama, Tigh, Roslin and Karl Agathon discuss an attack strategy. With no Raiders and too few resources for Galactica to fight alone, Agathon suggests to use the baseship as a "trojan horse," entering the Hub's vicinity with half of Galactica's Vipers to blow the FTL drive on the Hub. Roslin ponders the idea that the Cylons will become mortal enemies.
• Tigh suggests destroying the Hub outright without resurrecting the Threes, reneging on Adama's word. Adama believes the Five could lead the Fleet to Earth but Roslin thinks the Five will be uncooperative after the Hub's destruction. Adama believes that the Five are like the rebel Cylons, but Roslin disagrees. Tigh is visibly agitated about the discussion, and again suggests destruction, putting trust in Roslin's way to Earth.
• Roslin suggests a compromise plan: Unbox the D'Annas, destroy the Hub, but hold on to the Five until they all get to Earth, then turn them over to the rebels, believing the rebels will be compelled to wait a bit longer.
• Deckhands and pilots prepare their fighters inside the baseship hangar with Cylons and humans working together.
• Tom Zarek reads a statement to the Quorum: "In 36 hours the Colonies will unite forces with insurgent rebel Cylons and their leaders in an unprecedented joint military operation". Zarek asks Lee Adama why the Quorum weren't consulted, but Adama doesn't know, no longer being in the military chain of command.
• Tigh, Tory Foster, Samuel Anders and Galen Tyrol talk about the unboxing of the Threes. Tyrol considers that they at least discover the last member of the Five, but Tigh darkly explains that such an action will only "crowd the airlock a little more." Tigh doesn't at all believe that the Colonials will see the Five in a good light.
• Anders does not respond to the others. He is distraught over the loss of Gaeta's leg, talking of how Gaeta sings all the time to cope with his pain.
• Foster meets with Roslin in an office refurbished for her to conduct presidential business while on Galactica while recovering from another Doloxan treatment and keeping close to sickbay. Roslin first pleasantly comments about Foster's positive change in mood any time she is aboard Galactica. Roslin asks Foster to find out who was sharing the rumors of the president's shared visions to Baltar, then sticks the dagger in, telling Foster she is very aware that she is sleeping with Gaius Baltar.
• Before Foster can say a word, Roslin tells her that there are enough reports of her visitations to "make her a charter member of his nymph squad." Foster confesses to believing in Baltar's spiritual message, but Roslin is feeling quite betrayed and turns her back on her to do other work, ordering her away.
• On the baseship, Natalie believes that the Colonials won't give the Five to them as promised. She suggests a backup plan of her own: Take hostages after the attack to ensure they get what they want.
• In sickbay, Gaeta continues to sing a sad love ballad as Lee Adama visits Roslin there. He tells her that the Quorum is considering a vote of no-confidence against her. Roslin refuses to cater to the representative's desire to feel involved. Adama describes that the representatives' faces appeared empty, resigned to just consider the no-confidence vote just to cope with the uncertainty. He suggests that Roslin compromise and tell them what she can about the attack to allay the Quorum's fears.

Act 3

• In bed but not engaged in sex, Baltar complains. Foster admits being tired of lying to Roslin, of how the rumors have affected the president and Foster's relationship with her, about the rumors of Roslin's collusion with the Cylons.
• Baltar explains the source of the rumors: Caprica-Six, who told Baltar (through his attorney) of the news during his trial. Baltar believes that Roslin is keeping everyone in the dark, believing that Roslin's concealing of information is worse than revealing it.
• Roslin meets with the Quorum with Admiral Adama. Roslin brings in Natalie to help emphasize how she trusts the mission's success. Natalie speaks: She tells of her own civil war and how things had began to change. Without a Resurrection Ship, time became a commodity, a realization that mortality is crucial to making humans whole. As the Cylon continues to speak, Thrace has flashbacks of what the Hybrid told her of her destiny and the belief that she is the "harbinger of death".
• As Gaeta keeps singing in sickbay, Baltar observes quietly in the background.
• Roslin experiences another vision of the Opera House, searching for Hera Agathon. Caprica-Six and Sharon Agathon also share the same vision. When Agathon wakes up, little Hera is there at her bedside and says a darkly prophetic "Bye-bye," suggesting the child knows she will be taken in some way.

Act 4

• A wide shot of the Fleet shows the baseship has nearly healed itself of its damage. On Galactica, Kara Thrace sees Roslin in sickbay, who compliments Thrace on her plan to unite the rebels and the Fleet.
• When Thrace asks if Roslin is having visions, the president is quiet. Thrace repeats what the rebel baseship's Hybrid told her some time before: "This shall it come to pass: the dying leader shall know the truth of the Opera House."
• Shocked at Thrace's knowledge of the dream's specific content, Roslin asks how the Hybrid would know about her dreams, but Thrace does not know. Roslin pleads with Thrace to help her determine the meaning of the dreams. Thrace accepts without hesitation and Roslin asks her to find Karl Agathon.
• Aboard the baseship, the Cylons are becoming agitated, unsure about the attack. Natalie tells of the feelings she had from the Quorum, their distrust. Natalie believes that the united Five may judge the Cylons for their duplicity with the Colonials, fearing that the Five will refuse to come with them.
• When Natalie suggests to completely abandon the project, to tell the Cylon Centurions to stand down, an Eight in attendance warns that the Colonials will never trust them again. Leoben warns her that the action may be at a point of no return. He tells Natalie to meet with Adama and stall for time while he deals with the Centurions.
• Roslin meets privately with Baltar, confirming the visions. When he asks why he was told now, she replies that he is part of the vision itself.
• In Sharon Agathon's quarters, Hera is drawing. Sharon picks up the drawings to see that Hera has drawn numerous number 6s and blond women on pages and pages. One drawing depicts a basestar. The final drawing is of Hera smiling and standing by one of the blond women. Distressed, Agathon turns to find Hera gone from her quarters and goes out to chase her.
• On the baseship, Roslin, Karl Agathon, Baltar, a Leoben and an Eight head under guard into the baseship and the Hybrid, as Cylon Centurions walk by an uneasy group of pilots.
• Natalie arrives on a Raptor on Galactica, obviously uneasy.
• Sharon Agathon chases Hera through the battlestar, but the child is elusive. When she stops to tell Tyrol, working within a corridor, he gives her a unsympathetic stare, but eventually follows her.
• Hera finds herself at a stop in front of Natalie, being escorted by Tigh and a squad of Marines. But Agathon is there immediately and draws her sidearm, warning Natalie away. Tigh keeps the Marines at bay, standing them down.
• At the deactivated Hybrid's pool, Roslin orders the Hybrid reactivated. When Baltar says, "Let God's will be done," Roslin tells him to "Shut up. It's time to get some answers."
• Agathon asks Tyrol to take Hera away, which he does. However, Agathon's visions of the Opera House and a Six's kidnapping of Hera are too strong in her mind. "You are never going to take my child," she says as she shoots Natalie.
• At the moment that the Hybrid awakes, she cries out "Jump!" The baseship disappears from the Fleet with the president and her entourage all aboard.
• Gaeta continues to sing in his bed.

Notes

• The episode title is probably a reference to the 1967 film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, which dealt with race relations between Caucasian and African Americans in America.
• The survivor count at the beginning credits (39,673) accounts for the deaths of Emily Kowalski and Jean Barolay in the previous episode, "Faith".
• Although it is a common Hollywood convention, a gunshot does not cause a person to fly backwards a large distance as shown with Natalie. The effect is achieved by pulling back the actors with a cable.
• The song Gaeta sings throughout the episode is called "Gaeta's Lament". The lyrics and the music were written by the episode's writer Michael Angeli based on a song his wife, Karen Angeli, composed. Series's composer Bear McCreary was responsible for the song's arrangement and for integrating the music throughout the episode. Actor Alessandro Juliani, who studied opera and performed the song live on set, also greatly influenced it. McCreary discusses the song in his blog.
• The book Roslin carries when she meets with Baltar in the Raptor is Searider Falcon, the same book Adama reads to her in "Escape Velocity".
• Just after the opening title, a Windows XP message box can be seen on one of the displays on the Cylon Basestar.

Analysis

• Samuel Anders is distraught over his actions on the Demetrius, notably those concerning Gaeta and having shot him in the leg that is later amputated. However, there is no indication yet that Anders will suffer any disciplinary procedures for the shooting, nor are any indicated for the alleged mutiny on the Demetrius.
• There is no overt on-screen reaction to the death of Cally Tyrol by the Demetrius crew nor any reaction to Galen Tyrol's demotion. However, they have certainly been told off-screen about both.
• Gaius Baltar is also drawn to see Gaeta, but the two do not interact; he is out of Gaeta's view and listening to him singing, suggesting that Baltar may have forgiven Gaeta for perjuring himself at Baltar's trial and for the earlier murder attempt.
• Natalie's philosophy concerning the Cylons' need for mortality in order to value life parallels Zoe-A's statements to Clarice Willow when destroying the latter's apotheosis heaven decades earlier in "Apotheosis".
• The Hybrid's prophecy that Kara Thrace is the "harbinger of death" takes on a new significance during Natalie's speech to the Quorum. Thrace begins to realize it may refer to the potential loss of immortality among the Cylons.
• During the Fleet's emergency jump sequence after the basestar suddenly appears, it can be seen that Galactica's bow gun batteries are still intact, though they have not been seen clearly in operation for some time. The scorching of the lower hull caused by the jump into New Caprica's atmosphere is also very clear.

Questions

Answered Questions

• Where does the rebel baseship jump to? (Answer)
• How many pilots are stationed on the baseship (Partial answer)
• How will the Quorum and Tom Zarek react to the loss of Laura Roslin? What about Admiral Adama? (Answer)
• Does Natalie survive her gun-shot wounds? (Answer)
• What will Adama do about Agathon? (Answer)
• Will Colonel Tigh face any consequences for failing to protect Natalie? (Answer)
• What will Adama and Tigh think happened to the baseship? Will they assume that the rebels intentionally abducted Roslin and the other humans aboard? (Answer)
• Does the Hybrid jump the baseship as an automatic reaction upon reactivation, or with intent? (Answer)
• What will the re-activated Hybrid tell Laura Roslin, if anything at all? (Answer)
• How will the now-sentient Centurions on the rebel baseship react to the large number of humans on board? (Answer)
• Is Samuel Anders among the pilots on the baseship? (Answer)
• What will Gaeta do after he recovers from his amputation? (Answer)
• How will the rebel Cylons react when they discover Natalie has been shot? (Answer)
• What is the meaning of Hera's drawings? (Possible Answer 1, Possible Answer 2)

Unanswered Questions

• Why does Sharon Agathon handle the communications from the basestar to the Fleet in the beginning? Another Eight could pretend to be her.
• Might the dying leader be the now-mortal Natalie?
• Will Sharon Agathon's shooting of Natalie further strain her relationship with the Cylons?
• Do William Adama or Saul Tigh know of the complete story surrounding the mutiny on the Demetrius?
• Why does Roslin ask Thrace to find Karl Agathon, specifically?
• Why does the Hub make random jumps for its own protection? Is it fear of the human fleet, or are the Cylons aware of a greater threat out there?

Noteworthy Dialogue

• Natalie negotiating with the Colonials:

Natalie: Madam President, you asked for a reason to help us? Vengeance. You destroy the hub, the Cylons lose their ability to download. All of us.

Laura Roslin: Why would you be willing to lose your ability to resurrect?

Natalie: We're rebels. We can't go back.

• Lee Adama talks to Laura Roslin about the Quorum of Twelve:

Lee Adama: I was with them. On the emergency jump. And I saw something in the faces of the delegates. Wasn't the anxiety of the waiting. It went beyond that. I was anxious; it was my first time. But they, they...they were empty. The Quorum had given up. And then it struck me, that after going through the same routine so many times, it was the only way that they could cope with the uncertainty; to presume the worst.

Laura Roslin: You felt their suffering. Now try holding their lives in balance every day.

Lee Adama: Talk to them. You don't have to tell them everything. I know how it works. Just talk to the Quorum. Let them put a face to this joint mission. Let them hear from the Cylon leader. Anything. Anything to put their fears to rest.

• Natalie speaks to the Quorum:

"In our civil war, we've seen death. We watched our people die. Gone forever. As terrible as it was, beyond the reach of the Resurrection Ships, something began to change. We could feel a sense of time. As if each moment held its own significance. We began to realize that for our existence to hold any value it must end. To live meaningful lives we must die, and not return. The one human flaw, that you spend your lifetimes distressing over – mortality – is the one thing...well, it's the one thing that makes you whole."

• Laura Roslin to Tory Foster about getting information from Baltar:

"I don't really care if you have to spend the night on your knees praying, or just on your knees. I want a name."

Guest Stars

• Richard Hatch as Tom Zarek
• Callum Keith Rennie as Number Two / Leoben Conoy
• Donnelly Rhodes as Doctor Cottle
• Rekha Sharma as Tory Foster
• Bodie Olmos as Lieutenant Brendan "Hotdog" Costanza
• Tiffany Lyndall-Knight as Hybrid
• Brad Dryborough as Lieutenant Hoshi
• Leah Cairns as Lieutenant Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson
• Colin Lawrence as Lieutenant Hamish "Skulls" McCall
• Jennifer Halley as Ensign Diana "Hardball" Seelix
• Colin Corrigan as Marine Allan Nowart
• Alexandra Thomas as Hera Agathon
• Andrew McIlroy as Jacob Cantrell
• Marilyn Norry as Reza Chronides
• Judith Maxie as Picon Delegate
• Donna Soares as Gemenon Delegate (credited as "Speaking Delegate #1")
• Iris Paluly as Tauron Delegate (credited as "Speaking Delegate #2")
• Leo Li Chiang as the tattooed pilot (uncredited)

External Links

• Composer Bear McCreary discusses the episode's score and specifically the song Gaeta sings: [1]

Re-imagined Series definition: the process of using the FTL engines to make an near-instantaneous apparent faster-than-light transport of a ship from one point in space to another

Galactica 1980 definition: When John Steadman asks if the Warriors know anything about these creatures, Dillon looks this up ^{(1980: "Space Croppers")}

Re-imagined Series definition: technology enabling travel across distances faster than the speed of light would permit, see: FTL