Editing Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II

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:''Everything turns on its head as the survivors vote for a new president -- and vote for their fate.''

*Eighteen hours later, they emerge to find that the Cylons have disappeared.  [[Cavil]] -- who suddenly appears behind them -- announces that the Cylons have left the Twelve Colonies and that humanity is spared.

*[[Kara Thrace|Starbuck]] returns to ''[[Galactica (RDM)|Galactica]]'' with the resistance fighters, much to the delight of Admiral [[William Adama]].  She mentions the Cylon retreat from Caprica as Brother Cavil, leaving the Raptor, confirms it.  He also says he has a message, but is attacked by Chief [[Galen Tyrol]], who declares a "[[Code blue]]," claiming Cavil is a Cylon. Incensed that Caprica-Valerii did not reveal Cavil's true nature earlier, Admiral Adama orders both Caprica-Valerii and the second Cavil to the brig.

*The ''Galactica''-based Cavil (from last episode) is brought to the brig, claiming he's not a Cylon, but changes his tune upon seeing his "brother", as he calls him.  Caprica-Cavil then talks about the fact that the “war heroes” ([[Caprica-Six]] & [[Sharon Valerii|"Boomer" Valerii]]) have convinced their kind that the attack of the colonies and the pursuit of the fleet were mistakes.  Caprica-Cavil's mission was to relay the message that man and Cylon will go their separate ways.  Both Roslin and Admiral Adama are less than trusting regarding the message.

*In the brig, Caprica-Valerii is completely disillusioned and nihilistic, declaring that since her [[Hera Agathon|child's]] death, nothing -- not Adama's trust or [[Helo]]'s -- matters to her. A frustrated Helo insists that he's not giving up on her, but she seems disinclined to listen.

*Election Day has arrived and Baltar has an apparent five thousand-vote lead over Roslin with only a five ships left to tally.  On ''Colonial One'', Foster activates her alternative victory plan with a call to ''Galactica.''   

*Admiral Adama, now sporting a [[Adamastache|mustache]], walks the corridors of a near-empty ''Galactica'', which is quickly falling into disrepair.  Over half of the crew have moved down onto the planet, leaving the ship so short on crew that they barely have enough pilots to fly training missions, much less form up [[Combat Air Patrol]]s.  The long absence of the Cylons has left both the remaining crews aboard the [[Pegasus (RDM)|Pegasus]] and the Galactica rusty, causing them to take a long time to go to [[Action Stations]].  Adama asks Tigh to retire from duty to join his [[Ellen Tigh|wife]] on the planet. Tigh reluctantly agrees.

*Thrace runs into the Tighs as [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]], now a union boss, is making a speech to begin a strike, with a very pregnant Cally by his side.  Col. Tigh mentions to Thrace that ''[[Pegasus (RDM)|Pegasus]]'' keeps a store of backup medical supplies and that Commander [[Lee Adama]] might spring some for her.  Thrace disagrees, which prompts Tigh to state that Lee Adama should be over her harsh neglect of Adama's friendship after Anders' arrival a year before.

[[Image:Baltarsurrender.JPG|thumb|"On behalf of the People of the Twelve Colonies, I surrender."|125px]]

**In fact, several ships from this list are mentioned by name in later episodes. For example ''[[Faru Sadin]]'', ''[[Chrion]]'', ''[[Thera Sita]]'', ''[[Demetrius]]'', ''[[Cybele]]'', ''[[Inchon Velle]]'' and ''[[Pyxis]]''.

**French has appeared in the show before. In "[[The Hand of God (RDM)|The Hand of God]]", Six uses the French word for momentum or surge, ''élan''. In "[[Pegasus (episode)|Pegasus]]", Captain [[Cole Taylor|Cole "Stinger" Taylor]] uses the phrase ''esprit de corps''.

*This is the first episode in which all five [[Final Five]] Cylons appear together in one way or another.

*Baltar's arrogance seems to have led to corrupt rule during his year on New Caprica; he replaces Roslin's modest desk with a more elaborate one, replaces the population count whiteboard with a portrait of himself, and keeps a harem aboard the grounded ''Colonial One''.

*It is ironic that the obligations of duty keep Lee Adama aboard ''Pegasus'' while everyone else goes planet-side. He is a reserve officer, and promised to build his pilots a bar as soon as they found a habitable planet.

*Apparently, Thrace's comments about Lee Adama and Dualla have taken their toll on their relationship.  Whether the comments escalated is unknown, but, from Dualla's expression of annoyance when she hands the receiver to Adama when Thrace calls, it is clear that the three never reconciled with each other (See "[[Unfinished Business]]" for the answer).

*Her commission at that time is peculiar.  She was not a flight student, nor was this a typical "battlefield commission" of an outstanding sergeant in recognition of outstanding leadership; she was a so-called "desk jockey" who rarely supervised or led anyone.  Moreover, her commission came at a time of a massive demobilisation of the colonial military.  In real-world militaries, reductions in force typically result in many officers being forced to accept enlisted rank as a condition of staying in service, rather than enlisted personnel being commissioned.  There are at least two explanations.  Adama could have commissioned her in order to ensure her silence about the details of the rigged election which, despite his lack of involvement in, he wished to leave forgotten and unexamined.  As a lieutenant, she had much more to lose by talking about it and was reassured that she would not be made a scapegoat.  Alternatively, Admiral Adama knew of the seriousness of Dualla's relationship with Lee and made her an officer before they became public.  A commissioned officer - particularly a ''commanding'' officer and the son of the supreme commander - openly and notoriously bedding a junior enlisted soldier would have been severely detrimental to discipline and morale, and not something to which Adama could have turned a blind eye as he had the the Tyrol-Valerii coupling.  Exactly who would have had the legal authority to grant commissions at that point is also not known.  In the real-life United States, regular commissions (vice temporary "battlefield" commissions permitted under special circumstances in war zones) are issued by the President, with the consent of the Senate (to be sure, it is essentially a "rubber stamp" processing of the list provided by the individual services, but that was not so much the case in the era of a small standing military).  It is possible that [[Felix Gaeta]], as senior advisor to the President, arranged for the commission as a gift to his fomer collegue; this is made less likely, however, by his disapproval of the election fraud.

*The events of the Cylon invasion of New Caprica parallel the German invasion of France, with the Fleet's escape a parallel to the Allied evacuation of Dunkirk and Baltar's surrender a parallel to Petain's surrender. The Cylons marching into New Caprica City is also reminiscent of German troops marching into Paris. If the parallel continues, Baltar will establish a puppet regime under Cylon rule akin to [[Wikipedia:Vichy France|Vichy France]] while Colonials still loyal to humanity will establish a resistance movement.Ron Moore has actually said in the podcast for this episode that it is inspired by Vichy France.

*After a year, everyone still lives in tents. Shortages of medicine abound, the military is of no use, and labor conditions are apparently intolerable. Baltar's administration is apparently as incompetent as Roslin feared, when she said he was ridiculously unqualified and had no idea how to be president.  

**It is not clear whether these conditions are the result of administrative incompetence or the inherent difficulties of colonizing a marginally habitable planet.

***Tory Foster points out that Baltar was winning the election because he was "holding out hope for breathing real air, growing real food, sleeping in a bed instead of a bunk. Living in a house instead of a ship". Hopefully the irony of this wasn't lost on Baltar voters who even a full year later are sleeping in hammocks and living in tents.

*The population of New Caprica City is given as 39,192. There were just under 50,000 people in the Fleet before establishing the settlement, so that gives a figure of roughly 10,000 accounting for the deaths on ''Cloud Nine'', deaths due to accidents and the relatively harsh conditions on New Caprica and the people remaining on the ships in orbit (offset, of course, by births during the first year). At this point it can't be determined how many people died as the result of the nuclear explosion.

**Later it is established, that roughly 2,000 people escaped on the civilian ships and that both battlestars were at half-strength. This makes it possible to put the casualties of the explosion and the year of life on New Caprica at about 5,700 to 6,200 (net of births). See the "Precipice" section of [[Survivor Count]] for details.

*Any "industrial" vessels - such as the mining ships, tanker ships, repair ships, agricultural ships - would have landed on the planet and been debarked, dismantled, or converted to form the foundation for industrial efforts. Some of the vessels in the Fleet that left [[Ragnar Anchorage]] were not designed for prolonged interstellar journeys, and were basically running on a hope and a prayer, and would have been rendered promptly upon finding a more permanent home. The nineteen-or-so ships seen are, more than likely, the last space-worthy vessels in the fleet that are not needed (or capable of landing) planet-side.

*In the podcast for "[[Resurrection Ship, Part II]]" Ron Moore comments on how everyone assumed that ''Pegasus'' would be destroyed by the end of the episode, and thus he thought it would be a good twist to keep ''Pegasus'' alive as another ship in the Fleet. Speculators mistakenly assumed that the nuke that Baltar gave to Gina in "[[Epiphanies]]" would be used to destroy ''Pegasus'' (keeping in tune with the assumed destruction of the [[Battlestar Galactica (TOS)|Original Series]] ''[[Pegasus (TOS)|Pegasus'']]).

* The Cylons were slightly over a light year away, according to the Number Five at the surrender. The radiation from the nuclear explosion on ''[[Cloud 9]]'' would, of course, only be traveling at the speed of light. There is inconclusive evidence whether the Cylon download process is limited to the speed of light or not. While it is likely that it is, an FTL capability in this area would indicate that [[Gina]] didn't manage to download. It should be noted that comments by the writers and subsequent episodes point out that she is truly dead.

*Initially it remains open whether Roslin's threat to 'airlock' two Cavils was actually carried out. This is answered in a [[List of Deleted Scenes (RDM)#Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II|deleted scene]]. During their drinking scene, Tyrol tells Cally that the execution happened the previous night.  

*Where is Caprica-Valerii? ([[Occupation|Answer]])

*Were the Quorum of Twelve killed on ''Cloud Nine''? ([[The Ties That Bind|Possible answer]])

*Why have the Cylons returned after suggesting that they were willing to go their "separate ways"?

*Will the Adamas resort to Cain's tactic of conscripting civilians to fill the gaps?

*Are the Cylons that appear at the end representative of the whole Cylon race, or are they a faction that broke off after the two "Cylon Heroes" began to speak out against the war on the humans?

**Could the Cylons be fortifying New Caprica to protect the humans from hostile Cylons? There should still be some, that Number Three in "Downloaded" was pretty fanatical, and if the political winds have changed as they so often do...

**Is there a Cylon civil "cold" war?

**Could the occupation of New Caprica be a compromise between pro-human and anti-human factions, with war breaking out between them after it fails?