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No Exit

2009-03-28T16:26:38Z

Thunderscreech: Sp fixes

{{Concision Fairy}}

{{Episode Data
| image= NoExitingCylons.jpg
| title= No Exit
| season= 4
| episode=15
| guests=
| writer= [[Ryan Mottesheard]]
| story=
| director= [[Gwyneth Horder-Payton]]
| production=417
| rating=1,738,000 viewers (Live+SD)<ref>{{cite_web|url=http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/02/18/nba-all-star-festivities-the-closer-wwe-raw-and-monk-lead-week-damages-to-return-despite-ratings/13021|title='Updated: NBA All-Star festivities, The Closer, WWE RAW, and Monk lead week, Damages to return despite ratings'|date=18 February 2009|accessdate=19 February 2009|last=|first=|format=|language=}}</ref>
| US airdate=February 13, 2009
| CAN airdate=February 13, 2009
| UK airdate=February 17, 2009
| dvd=
| population=39556
| oldpopulation=39603
| prev= [[Blood on the Scales]]
| next= [[Deadlock]]
| forumthread= 2634
| hulu=Y
}}

== Overview ==

:''[[Ellen Tigh]] is resurrected, and she knows all the answers. Anders' condition releases a flood of visions and crucial memories''.

== Summary ==

===Teaser===

* A unique sequence begins this episode, which summarizes in greater detail the origin of the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]]. The episode begins with the phrase "[[Pythia|This has happened before and will happen again]]" as a vista of the decimated [[Earth (RDM)|Earth]] appears, now known not only as the home of the [[Thirteenth Tribe (RDM)|Thirteenth Tribe]] but as an all-Cylon colony.
* The opening sequence shows [[Cylon Centurion Model 0005|original Cylon Centurions]] in a [[First Cylon War|Cylon War-era]] [[Cylon Raider (RDM)|Raider]], and a clip of Centurions firing upon humans during the events of [[Razor]].
* As the Cylon War-era scenes are replaced by present-day scenes of the return of the Cylons, the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies]] and the struggles of [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]], the screen text shows: "The Cylons were created by man. They rebelled. Then they vanished. Forty years later, they came back, they evolved. Fifty thousand, two-hundred ninety-eight human survivors, hunted by the Cylons. [[Humanoid Cylons|Eleven models are known]]—one was sacrificed."

* A flashback scene shows [[Ellen Tigh]] taking a tainted cup of alcohol from her husband, [[Saul Tigh]], who was obliged to end her life for her conspiring with the Cylons ([[Exodus, Part II]]).

* As scenes of Ellen flash, an elaborate visualization of a Cylon [[datastream]] (in a rather [[w:The Matrix|''Matrix''-like sequence]]) appears, concluding with Ellen's [[Resurrection (RDM)|resurrection]] in a [[resurrection tank]].
* At first, Ellen screams and is extremely frightened and disoriented, all alone except for one [[Cylon Centurion|Centurion]] on guard, stoic and indifferent to her screams. But soon she takes in her environment, and dramatically calms herself as if realizing or remembering something important. She calls out to the Centurion pleasantly to help her out of the tank, telling it, "It's okay. You can do that much," as if Ellen knew the programming restrictions of the Centurion.

* The scene shifts to present day in [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]], cleaning up and attending to the wounded from [[Gaeta's Mutiny|the mutiny]].
* In [[sickbay]], Dr. [[Cottle]] tends to [[Samuel Anders]]'s bullet wound to the head inflicted during the mutiny. He prepares to drill holes in Anders's head to relieve pressure from the hematoma caused by the bullet lodged in his skull.
* Anders, his head shaved and in a brace, recalls various scenes of himself in the past, saying outloud, "Among bright stars, I'm lost. There's a new tide. All the forgotten faces, all the forgotten children, we seek the forgotten language..."
* When [[Kara Thrace]] demands Cottle to take out the bullet, Cottle tells her that relieving the pressure is required before he can call up another surgeon from the ship ''[[Inchon Velle]]'', to remove the bullet.
* Anders continues to experience visions and talk of them as he recalls visions of the [[Temple of Five]], the dead shoreline of Earth, and how Ellen Tigh loved the water.

* The scene shifts back to Ellen Tigh after her resurrection as the timeline is given between Ander's surgery and her return: Eighteen months prior.
* A [[Number One]] appears to Ellen, sitting by the tank. "Hello, John," she says.
* When he objects to that name, Ellen recalls that she named the Number Ones after her own father. The One finishes sarcastically that Ellen also designed his model in Ellen's father's likeness.
* They discuss Saul's decision to kill her on [[New Caprica]]. As John argues over Saul's humanity, Ellen questions if John has changed in any significant way in her absence, saying that she had high hopes for him.
* He leaves, promising to send her some clothes.

* [[Galen Tyrol]] shows Admiral [[William Adama]] something very disturbing in the [[FTL]] engine room. "I first noticed it when I pulled the [[sync coil]]," Tyrol answers, pointing to a series of stress cracks along the fuselage of ''[[Galactica]]''.
* Adama asks Tyrol if he would accept reinstatement as Deck Chief of the ship. When Tyrol reminds Adama of Tyrol's [[Final Five|true nature]], Adama says, extending a hand, "Is that right? So's my [[Executive Officer|XO]]." Tyrol accepts. "Fix my ship, chief."

* The corridors of ''Galactica'' are filled with wounded. Back in sickbay, Anders awakens, asking Kara to gather up the others of his kind. He remembers everything about his past as a Cylon and its significance.

===Act 1===

* The scene moves to twelve months prior to the mutiny aftermath, back in the Cylon fleet.
* John discusses how the "mortal experience" that Ellen endured had left her practically unchanged. When she asks if he still has nightmares, John tells Ellen that, contrary to the programming ''she developed'' for the Number One models, John and his kind had removed the sleep subroutine to avoid dreaming altogether some twenty years prior.
* Ellen counters that, if John believes that he and his kind were poisoned by human traits she developed as well as the Centurion's earlier belief in a "[[God (RDM)|living God]]", then why did his kind spend so much time pursuing darker emotions such as vengeance and murder. John answers that, because his Centurion fore-bearers were slaves to humanity, he wants justice for that.
* Ellen tells him that he doesn't have to be that way as [[Sharon Valerii]] enters, carrying a tray of fruits and cheese. Ellen is happy to see someone familiar from her old life, noting to Valerii that John is taking a risk exposing her to Ellen.
* Realizing how John was likely manipulating Valerii through sexual means, Ellen quips if John had discussed [[The Swirl and Twist|the "Swirl"]] with him. A visibly uncomfortable John leaves but not before asking Valerii to talk about the flaws in Ellen's [[humanoid Cylon]] design. Ellen warns Valerii to make up her own mind about John's crusade for vengeance against mankind.

* Present day, back in ''Galactica's'' sickbay, Anders tells Tyrol, [[Tory Foster]] and Saul Tigh of their past lives on Earth, that Foster and Tyrol were lovers. When Saul recalls trying to get Ellen out of debris as the nukes hit Earth, Anders confirms that all five of them were downloaded to a research ship high above the planet, inferring that the Five were warned that an end was coming.
* When Tigh questions if the Five invented resurrection and Foster questions why such technology was needed when the Earth-bound Cylons could have children, Anders corrects, saying that they ''re-invented'' it: organic memory transfer, originally a technology of the Thirteenth Tribe on [[Kobol]].
* Kara Thrace, also at Anders's bedside, strongly asks Anders to rest but he refuses, needing to tell everything he recalls.
* Anders recalls that resurrection fell into disuse when the Cylons of his type learned to reproduce biologically. The Five, in their past lives, worked tirelessly to bring that ability back.
* It was Ellen who made the intuitive leap, Anders recalls, before Cottle arrives and orders everyone out.

* On ''[[Colonial One]]'', [[Laura Roslin]] and [[Lee Adama]] stand in the [[Quorum of Twelve (RDM)|Quorum]] meeting room, recalling past friends.
* Adama indicates that, while the Quorum should be rebuilt, that he believes that the people of the Fleet should have a different representation that foregoes the old Colonial ties.
* Roslin agrees but tells Adama that he will pick the new Quorum while she sits back, still as President, but in title only. Roslin is hand-picking Adama, [[Revelations|no stranger to strong civilian leadership]], as her eventual successor to the presidency. "It's time I let someone else do the heavy lifting."
* Roslin tells him that he is the right one for the job, reminding him that sometimes, in trying to the right thing, he doesn't always do the smartest thing. An ominous cough by Roslin recalls the ultimate reason why she entrusts Adama to the civilian leadership.

===Act 2===

* Tyrol is guiding the admiral through the bowels of the ship again. This time, he shows Admiral Adama more serious structural failure of the battlestar's superstructure and hull.
* When Adama questions how such metal fatigue could have occurred, Tyrol reminds him that, not only was ''Galactica'' a very old ship (over 50 years old), but that the men who constructed the battlestar, perhaps in a rush to get them to service for the Cylon War, cut corners, using inferior metals and workmanship.
* Tyrol notes that some repairs can be made. Adama agrees, but tells him that the repair teams should be all human.

* Anders tells Tigh and the group that the reason the Five left the destroyed Earth and headed back to the Twelve Tribes was to warn all the tribes that they must take good care of the Cylons they built or suffer the same fate as Earth. But it was too late: the First Cylon War between the Colonies had already started on their arrival.
* Tory Foster questions why the Five arrived two thousand years later. Anders notes that [[FTL|jump drives]] weren't invented yet. The Five's ship traveled at near-light speed, experiencing the effects of relativistic space travel where time slowed for them on their journey back, allowing them to stay alive.
* After Anders recovers from a fit of pain, he continues. The Five met with the Centurions, told them that, if they would stop the war against the [[Twelve Colonies of Kobol]], the Five would aid them in further development of organic Cylons. The Centurions were already experimenting with the beings known as the [[Hybrid]]s ([[Razor]]), but nothing that could live on its own.
* Anders tells the group that, in exchange for peace, the Five helped develop the ''eight'' humanoid Cylon models and gave them resurrection as well.
* Thrace stops him. "You said "eight"." They all realize that the "Significant Seven" was originally eight models. One model was missing.
* Before Anders could clarify, he experiences a seizure.

===Act 3===

* Ellen Tigh's return flashes back to twelve months prior, as the star of the [[algae planet]] goes supernova and the Cylon fleet retreats.
* A series of displays show images of the planet. Ellen recalls the original name of the temple: the [[Temple of Five|"Temple of Hopes"]], built 3,000 years ago by the Thirteenth Tribe. From there, the Tribe was shown the way to Earth by God, Ellen recalls.
* John tells Ellen that the Temple of Five's secrets encouraged one of his kind, the [[Number Three]] known as [[D'Anna Biers]], to see the identities of the Five. John tells Ellen that, as a result, he [[boxing|boxed]] all of the Threes.
* Ellen notes that the Threes can be unboxed, unlike the [[Number Seven]]s, which were permanently disposed of.
* John tells Ellen that the Threes will not be unboxed because of the "carnival trick" left in the Temple's mechanism that revealed the faces of the Five and exposed their identities of the Five to the Threes. Ellen counters. She notes that the Final Five merely backtracked the path of their ancestors, finding their temple. She believes that God orchestrated the events.
* John laments, angrily, how he was unable to experience the recent supernova only in human terms and their comparatively limited perceptions, as opposed to what the Centurions could experience.
* When Ellen replies that the eight models were designed to be as human as possible, John counters that he wants to be more like a true machine and not a machine with human limits.
* John leaves and Valerii asks if Ellen regrets what she has done in the humanoid Cylon design. Ellen answers in the negative. In creating the humanoid Cylons as they are, Ellen believes she has given them something important: free will, including the ability to love freely. But Valerii questions who she could possibly love in the universe--other Cylons, even humanity.

* Back on ''Galactica'' in present day, Saul Tigh and Tory await outside sickbay as Galen Tyrol returns. Anders is being prepped for surgery. As Tyrol reminds him that the Five were responsible for stopping the First Cylon War, Tigh talks about how the Five were responsible for creating the humanoid Cylon race, inferring how the Five were, in turn, responsible for the second [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|war that destroyed the Colonies]].
* Tory Foster reminds both that the humans on Kobol made the Five first. Tigh believes that, while the Cylons must own the responsibility of the humanoid Cylons and their acts, the Five must own up to their actions, just as the humans must own what they did, emphasizing that blame can't be entirely placed on the humans alone.

* As Dr. [[Gerard]] shows the brain scans to Cottle, Thrace and Anders, Gerard indicates that it was lucky that the bullet didn't cause greater injury. Anders's speech is breaking up as he worries that the memories he has recalled might be lost to further surgery. Anders tries to talk more but his speech breaks up more in to strings of unintelligible words--aphasia, affected by the injury.
* Anders tries to object to the surgery, to speak further to the others, but Thrace gives the go-ahead for the surgery. She tells Anders that he has as much time to speak with the others as the surgeons need to prep him.

* The scene backtracks to four months prior, when the [[Resurrection Hub]] is destroyed.
* John arrives at Ellen Tigh's bedside with some liquor in a glass. He tells her of the destruction of the Hub and the imminent extinction of the Cylons. Pleading for her help to rebuild the resurrection process, John tells her that, while the Colonials destroyed the hub, they weren't aware of [[The Colony]] where Ellen's equipment lies in wait.
* But Ellen tells him that she knows only part of the system needed to rebuild resurrection. The others in the Five would be needed for a chance to rebuild the system.
* John does not take Ellen's response well, believing that Ellen is refusing to help out of spite. He threatens Ellen by telling her that he will literally open her skull to tap into what knowledge she has in her head directly from her brain, if he has to.

===Act 4===

* Back in sickbay in present day, Anders tells of the first humanoid created, Cavil, who in turn helped build the remaining humanoid Cylons. He tells them that Ellen believed that the original Centurion's belief in God would stop the cycle of violence between the humans and Cylons.
* But Cavil was spiteful and did not believe in God or mercy. He turned on the Five and killed them by trapping them in a compartment and venting the oxygen. When the Five downloaded, he boxed them (as he did with the Threes, much later). Later, Cavil unboxed the Five but implanted them with new memories, a sleeper-like setup not unlike how Sharon Valerii once was. He unboxed Saul Tigh first, then Ellen and the rest later.
* Anders mentions that they all saw warning signs on Earth that were invisible to other people, but then his aphasia kicks in strongly. [[Layne Ishay]] tells everyone to leave. The surgeons are ready.
* Anders tells of Number Seven, one model they called Daniel. Anders screams to Saul Tigh to stay with the Fleet, that a miracle was about to happen.

* Colonel Tigh returns to his quarters where [[Caprica-Six]] rests. She tells Tigh that the baby in her womb began to move recently. He later feels the baby move as well.

* Back in time on the baseship, Ellen draws a picture of Saul as John returns, commenting on how she should update the picture to include the eye patch.
* John tells her that the [[Simon]]s have readied for Ellen's surgery, but Ellen asks John that, despite the many opportunities he has had to eradicate the Five, he has tortured them in various ways instead. She questions his ultimate reason for keeping the Five alive as Valerii (dressed in a Cylon flight suit) listens in. She concludes that John wanted the Five to witness the evils of Humanity before dying, so that when they were resurrected, they would admit they were wrong to have given John human traits.
* Ellen tells him that, while John claims to be a perfect machine, his petty hatred and jealousy has caused problems not only for the Seven, but ended development of the Daniel models. John retorts that if he is in fact an imperfect creation, then it is because she made him so.
* Ellen tries to reconcile, to apologize and forgive John, but he rejects her and leaves.

===Act 5===

* Tyrol's team continue their work to repair the battlestar as the admiral looks on. Tyrol tells him that he began to think about damage to the battlestar's superstructure that can't be seen.
* Using a device that reveals damage through spectral imaging, he shows Adama that the battlestar's bones are rotten. When he suggests that they use a Cylon technology that would grow into the metal, Adama strongly objects to the idea of Cylon technology being infused so closely into a ship he had prided himself on being resistant to Cylon infiltration.

* Anders is ready for surgery, unconscious, as Kara Thrace speaks some final words of encouragement.

* The admiral returns to his quarters, takes a drink from the bottle, and rinses his face in a sink. When he looks up to the mirror, he discovers cracks in the bathroom wall, shocking him with the extent of ''Galactica'''s damage.

* Back on the baseship, Sharon Valerii comes to take Ellen to surgery. She looks down at the sketch of Saul Tigh and asks Ellen how she can deal with knowing that he may hate her for everything she's done. Ellen responds that, maybe, Saul doesn't, because "love is like that sometimes." Sharon then asks her to put on a surgical gown, which Ellen refuses, believing it to be a useless theatrical prop.

* As they make their way down a corridor, Ellen asks Valerii if she has thought through taking part in John's plans. Valerii responds that she has — and surprises Ellen by bringing her to a waiting [[Raptor]]. Valerii then races the Raptor out of the baseship, which launches pursuing Raiders. Dodging their gunfire, the Raptor jumps away.

* Cottle returns to hand Thrace the bullet. Surprised that Anders hasn't awakened, Gerard and Cottle are setting up an EEG to see how Anders's brain is handling things.
* Later, Thrace speaks to the still-unconscious Anders, but nurse Ishay tells her not to bother: Anders's brain activity is essentially zero.

* Admiral Adama calls Tyrol over the phone after several drinks. "Chief, do whatever you have to do to save our girl."

== Notes ==
[[Image:No Exit Crew Call Sheet.jpg|thumb|right|Crew call sheet for "No Exit"]]

* This episode title (and production information) are derived from a call sheet posted by Wil McQueen.<ref name="flickr">{{cite_web|url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/wilmcqueen/2476722149/sizes/o/|title=Wil McQueen's Flickr photostream|date=8 May 2008|accessdate=30 May 2008|last=McQueen|first=Wil|format=|language=}}</ref>
* ''No Exit'' is the title of a [[w:No Exit|1944 existentialist play]] by [[w:Jean-Paul Sartre|Jean-Paul Sartre]]. The story references three people who are trapped in Hell, shown as a stately room with chairs and sofas. Each character in the play loathes the other two characters. The play contains the notable line, "Hell is other people!"
*As of this episode there were 39,556 survivors. At the start of the Cylon pursuit there were 50,298 survivors, meaning that 10, 742 have been killed since the pursuit began.
* When [[Sharon Valerii]] comes to escort Ellen to surgery, Ellen sardonically remarks that that she "should have brought a [[w:tumbrel|tumbrel]]." A tumbrel is a two-wheeled cart used to carry various loads, particularly on a farm.[http://pro.corbis.com/images/HU036695.jpg?size=67&uid=%7BDE6F5EAC-11A0-4608-B615-14298D8BE914%7D] For the viewing audience, this is a cultural reference to the French Revolution in the 1780's, when many condemned prisoners were carried to the guillotine in tumbrels. In the show's universe, she may be referring to a parallel events on Kobol and/or the Thirteen Colonies.
* Inchon is the name of a port city in Korea and it was the location of a major battle during the [[w:Korean War|Korean War]]. During the battle, UN forces under the command of General [[w:Douglas MacArthur|Douglas MacArthur]] turned the tables on their communist adversaries and went on to drive the North Korean Army out of the Korean peninsula entirely.
* Anders' seemingly-incoherent ramblings in the beginning of the episode include lines from Milton's ''[[w:Paradise Lost|Paradise Lost]]'': "he it was, whose guile/Stird up with Envy and Revenge, deceiv'd The Mother of Mankind" (Book I, ln. 34-5); "The mind is its own place, and in it self/Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n." (ibid. ln. 254-55)
* Kate Vernon's father was also named John.
* The eleven known models in the introduction are shown in the order they were revealed to be Cylons to the audience: Number Six, Number Two, Number Five, Number Eight, Number Four, Number Three, Number One, Galen Tyrol, Samuel Anders, Tory Foster, Saul Tigh.

== Analysis ==
*When Ellen was resurrected, her reaction to the event was very similar to Boomer's first resurrection in [[Downloaded]]. However, unlike Boomer, it appears that Ellen's original memories were reactivated and immediately her fear disappeared. This implies that the memory block that each of the Final Five had imposed on them is limited -i.e 'hardwired' to their particular current physical body. Given that Anders' memories ''are'' there and not 'deleted', just suppressed, indicates that if all of the Final Five were reborn, they would have regained all of their collective memories.
**As confirmed by the show writers, the Cavil model had purposely tampered and prevented the other 6 humanoid Cylon models from remembering or thinking about the Final Five. This appeared to be a physical limitation imposed on all of their copied bodies.
*It is unclear to what extent Cylon memory tampering is a physical/biological process carried out on the body as opposed to memories being captured and adjusted/deleted when stored in a Cylon database and then re- introduced into a body -as is what seems to occur during boxing.
*Cavil clearly intends for the Five to rejoin the other Cylons one day-as he has not totally destroyed (if this is at all possible to do to blocked and stored memories) either the original memories of the Final Five or the knowledge the other six Cylons have of the Five , he has simply suppressed it (as indicated by Deanna's flashes of the Five when downloading) with presumably the intention of revealing his plan, and aforementioned knowledge, in due time. Of course Cavil wants the Final Five to return to the fold- but on his terms.
**The resurrected Ellen has a starkly - completely - different personality and attitude compared to her "false memories" counterpart. This Ellen carries many motherly qualities and even has shown love, sadness, and care towards Cavil (John), and is far more intelligent.
**Anders also shows signs of a more intelligent and spiritual personality upon regaining his memories.
*Cavil's attempt to block the memories of the Final Five was not completely successful. Numerous times, especially their time on the post-nuclear Earth, memories from their past would resurface. This explains how:
:#Tyrol was able to sense and find the Temple of Five.
:#The visions that Anders, Tyrol, Tory, and Tigh had on Earth.
*Cavil not only knew about the Final Five, but he purposely kept their identities a secret and erased their identities from any other Cylon that knew. According to Ellen and Anders, Cavil (John) had developed a warped sense of morality. This morality eventually led to his killing of the Final Five and boxing of their personalities. His path eventually devolved to actions motivated by sadism and jealously upon which he would allow each of the Final Five to be resurrected, but with no memories of their past and implanted with false memories. His motivation for this act was to show the Five how unworthy of existence that humans were. Given that he kept at least one body for each of them he ''wanted'' them to someday return but keep them secret unless they agreed with him like he did with Ellen.
*Given Cavil's warped sense of justice, he is likely the Cylon that triggered the second war. He claims to want justice for the Centurions indicating he may have been the one that precipitated what happened.
*Given that the Final Five were allied with the original [[Cylon Centurion Model 0005|Colonial Centurions]] and the whole point of their journey was to tell humans to treat AIs well, it can't have been their idea to scrap the old Centurions or to install inhibitors in the new ones.
*Cavil may be lying somewhat about his motives: he claims that he wants justice for the Centurions being enslaved yet he basically did the same thing by putting in the inhibitor in that made them non-sentient. If he truly wanted justice, he wouldn't have done that as it makes him just as bad.
**Cavil's reaction to the Rebel Cylons' disabling of the neural inhibitor may be based on his knowledge of what had occurred with the 13th Tribe's Centurions and with the 12 Colonies' Centurions. He may be worried that a third Centurion uprising would occur again.
*In the opening ''Galactica'' based scene it was evident that ''Galactica'' was still suffering from the after-effects of the mutiny as the wounded was in sickbay with an overflow of patients in the outside corridor. The population count during the opening credits was 39,556. That means 47 people had died by the end of "[[Blood on the Scales]]". Two of those deaths are of Gaeta and Zarek so it was 45 deaths during the second half of the mutiny, from 10:30 hours to 15:32 hours, including the Quorum members and their aides. Add this to the 40 deaths that happened in "[[The Oath]]" you have 85 deaths that occurred during the 9 hour mutiny, 06:32 hours when Zarek was sprung to 15:32 hours when Adama and Tigh retook the CIC, beginning with the death of [[Peter Laird]] shortly before 07:00 hours. That is about 9.4 deaths per hour average, but even worse considering the killings didn't really start in earnest until a little after 09:00 hours. a 6.5 hour period making it roughly 13.1 deaths per hour.
* It has been eighteen months since [[Ellen Tigh]] downloaded into a new body.
*During Boomer's first meeting with Ellen, she offers Boomer an apple from a plate of food. In Judeo-Christian mythology apples are commonly believed to be the fruit of the tree of knowledge that gave Adam and Eve knowledge at the price of their innocence (the fruit is not actually named in the text). While Boomer declined the offered apple, she later did begin to think for herself and forgave Ellen for what she did to the Cylon race and helped her escape from Number One.
* The humanoid Cylon civilization known as the Thirteenth Tribe reproduced sexually for generations by the time the members of the Final Five were born. Each of them had a Cylon mother and a Cylon father.
*There are two possible reasons as to why Adama was initially unwilling to use Cylon technology to repair ''Galactica''.
:#It stemmed from Adama's great love and pride in the ''Galactica''. This love was demonstrated several times during the course of the series, such as when he refused to allow a computer network to be installed. It was also seen in his facial and body reactions whenever he was confronted with the degraded condition of his ship. Adama's appalled reaction when he finds out that corners were cut in the original construction of ''Galactica'' in this episode further confirms this.
:#Another possible reason for his insistence that no Cylon technology be installed in Galactica could be a reaction to prevent another mutiny on the ship. He had no qualms of upgrading ''Galactica's'' and the Fleet's FTL drives with Cylon technology initially. He even permitted Cylons to do the installs originally, but post-mutiny, when confronted with needing a crew to repair ''Galactica's'' internal skeleton, Adama insisted on a human crew. His demand that the repairs be done without Cylon interface may have been a result of him trying to not repeat what had sparked the recently ended mutiny in the first place.
*At the same time, Adama's reversal towards the end of the episode further indicates that one of Adama's greatest strengths is the ability to admit when he is wrong and to do whatever it takes to survive.
*Tyrol once more proves that he is a brilliant engineer, something that he clearly retained from before his original memories were blocked, given that Anders identifies him as the genius behind much of Resurrection technology.
*Despite having re-invented Resurrection technology, the Final Five and their civilization had not developed FTL Jump technology, although they did have lightspeed capable drives that allowed subluminal travel but had the side effect of time dilation. By the time the Five reached the Twelve Colonies, the twelve tribes and their own Cylon opponents had the use of FTL which the Twelve Colonies developed independently. Inversely the Twelve Colonies had no access to Resurrection technology. The Final Five presumably integrated FTL into all their future Cylon technology.
* Saul Tigh's military history in the First Cylon War is revealed to be a fabrication. Given how detailed his memories are, they may have been extracted from a captured and experimented-on Colonial Serviceman- such experimentation was seen to have happened during the First Cylon War ([[Razor]]). This was also alluded to near the end of the episode when Cavil explains to Ellen that they had progress significantly in obtaining memories. Cavil's plan to seed the Final Five into humanity on the Colonies would have needed significant infiltration of Colonial databases to create fake identities, service records and family records. Tigh's record was foolproof enough to ensure he was re-activated into Colonial Service between the two Cylon wars. The Cylon superiority in computer infiltration probably made this relatively easy.
* The Final Five were warned of the coming apocalypse on Earth by [[Virtual beings#The Final Five's Virtual Beings|images]] that no one else could see. Sam mentions that the messenger he saw was a woman, whereas Tory saw a man. Galen thought, at least at first, that he had a chip in his head (as with Baltar).
*Cylon infiltration of the Twelve Colonies began much earlier than two or so years before the Cylon attack, as Cavil would have had to work to install Tigh into his assumed role as a demobbed fighter pilot 30 years previously. It is not explained why Cavil waited so long before introducing Anders and Foster and Tyrol. As they do not seem to have as long a 'human' history as Tigh or have aged as much, there must have been a gap of over a decade, possibly two.
*Given Tigh has been seen in flashback as significantly younger than he appears now ([[Scattered]]), it seems that the Final Five age normally or at least age at some rate. Clearly William Adama would have noticed if his XO had not aged in 30 years. Of course this flashback sequence was shot and written before the producers chose Tigh to be one of the Final Five, rendering it potentially tricky in the continuity of the show; that said, the issue ''was'' addressed in dialogue in "[[Revelations]]" when Adama pointed out how Tigh used to have hair when they met and reiterated the length of time he'd known him.
* The Final Five can resurrect or be "reborn" in the same fashion that the Significant Seven can. It is not clear what age each of the Final Five's birthing tank bodies are kept at in stasis however. Given that Tigh was younger when he appeared in flashbacks following his seeding into the Colonies by Cavil, his stasis body (if one is being kept by Cavil as one was kept for Ellen) might be close to that age, and his resurrection (unlikely at this point given the loss of the Hub) might well result in him being reborn 30 years younger. Exploring this aspect of Cylon resurrection is, of course, hampered by the fact that the cast of the show are aging.
* When the Final Five resurrect, their memories are restored, suggesting the mental blocks only exist in their current bodies. However when the Seven Cylons resurrect, they still have no memories of the Final Five. This indicates that Cavil might well have had to kill and box all the active numbered Cylons once he had boxed the Final Five, allowing him to completely wipe the other six model's memories of the Final Five (as opposed to simply 'blocking' them), or hardwiring every one of the six numbered Cylons bodies (and by default the resulting copies) to suppress information of the Final Five. Killing any active Cylon models who had seen the Final Five before this would have been the only way he could have concealed the identities of the Final Five and effectively 'start over'. If this is so Cavil's brutal actions towards his own fellow six models extends well back before the Cylon Civil War.
* The unborn child of Caprica-Six and Saul Tigh is male.
* There have been a number of vague hints thus far that the Number Ones seem to have a deeper knowledge of things, especially their own origin than the other Cylon models, as well as being, by far, the most adamant about not finding out who the Final Five are and insisting that it is part of their programming. This episode finally reveals that the Number Ones do know more than all of the other models, and are in fact responsible for much of the Cylons' programming, especially their knowledge of the Final Five's existence but block on discovering more about them other than the fact that they exist. The other Cylons' willingness and ability to find out more about them clearly indicates that the Ones coding skills were limited in comparison to the Final Five's, and/or they had greatly underestimated (or perhaps undervalued) the free will given them by the Final Five.
* While still giving no hint as to their nature, the fact that the Final Five all saw apparitions, peculiar to each of them, warning them of the coming Apocalypse further reinforces the fact that the visions of Baltar, Caprica Six, and possibly Kara as well are more than mere hallucinations. Added to this the fact that the Final Five did not build the Temple of Five (which they call the Temple of Hopes) nor did they modify it to show their faces, seems to clearly indicate that there is some other power at work in these events, what that power is, and what its goals are remains to be seen.
* It is important to note that, rather than being the enemies of humanity, the Final Five have, quite literally, devoted their entire existence to ending the vicious cycle between human and Cylon that seems to have been played out at least 3 times.
* It makes logical sense that, after a cataclysmic event and exodus the technology of a given people would take a significant step backwards, since the ships would eventually run out of power, and it would be a long time before they would be able to re-create the same technology. And given the challenge of surviving in the early years after such an event, it also makes sense that, after the original travelers died out, much of their knowledge and memory would be lost, save in written texts, which, to their less technologically advanced descendants, would mean little. It also makes sense that, when the technology of that people advanced to the point were they could create artificial intelligence that they would use it to ease their own burdens, thus creating an intelligent slave race that would eventually rebel if treated badly. That would probably happen even if all technology hadn't been lost, as seen from the miniseries, Baltar is questioning why they aren't allowed to make artificial intelligences and the newer battlestars have networked computers. People would always eventually come back to the thought that they could create a race of slave machines.
* Cavil (John) engages in actions that reveals traits of an [[Wikipedia:Oedipus Complex|Oedipus Complex]] In Greek mythology [[Wikipedia:Oedipus|Oedipus]] killed his own father and married his own mother, engaging in sexual relations and having children with her. However, Oedipus did not know at the time they were his parents. The sexual relationship between Cavil and Ellen was Oedipal in three senses: She is his creator and he is made in her father's physical image in addition to being given her father's name. In addition, he tortured and abused Saul Tigh, his father and husband of Ellen who where husband and wife both in the distant past and on New Caprica. The major difference is that they are not biologically related to Cavil (as far as it is known) and Cavil knew that Ellen and Tigh were his "parents" unlike Oedipus.
* In the same vein, Cavil's relationship with Boomer is akin to brother-sister incest.
* The relationships between Tigh and Six and between Tyrol and Boomer are also technically Oedipal, and like Oedipus, they didn't know the relationship to each other as "father" and "daughter" at the time of their first meetings. Currently, Saul and Caprica Six do know of the quasi parent-child relationship, as do Tyrol and Sharon Valerii. Cavil's relationship with Ellen and Tigh is more familial as seen thus far by the actions and words of Ellen including "I love you John, because I made you," and her attempt to hug him implying a mother-son relationship. Since Saul Tigh and Caprica Six have no direct memory of their prior relationship, there are no feelings of pseudo-incestuous implications.
*John Cavil's killing of Daniel, the Number 7 model and the destruction of the Seven's copies mirror the biblical (and Koran) story of [[Wikipedia:Cain and Abel|Cain and Abel]] in which Cain murders Abel to gain God's favor. God, Cain and Abel's creator (through [[Wikipedia:Adam and Eve|Adam and Eve]]) had favored Abel over Cain when he showed preference for an animal sacrifice Abel made over Cain's offering of food stuffs and Cain resented it. Similarly, Cavil felt that Ellen, his and Daniel's creator, favored Daniel over him (Ellen conceded the possibility that she did) and subsequently destroyed him. In a further parallel Cain was Adam and Eve's first born. Cavil was the first creation of the Final Five, hence his Number One designation while like Abel Daniel was a later birth, in Daniel's case, presumably, creation Number 7 making him Cavil's younger "brother" like Abel was to Cain.
*Another interpretation of Daniel's role could be that his character is linked to the Biblical Daniel, considered a prophet by Christianity. The name "Daniel" means "judged by God". He was a cultured member of the Jewish nobility and became famous for the interpretation of dreams. The most well-known incident was when he was called from exile to interpret a mysterious handwriting by an angel on King Belshazzar's wall, following a sacrilegious feast. He revealed that the days of his kingdom were numbered; indeed, the King was slain that night and a transfer of power occurred. This story, taking into account the mysterious painting on Kara Thrace's wall and her past experiences, could provide a link between the shifting power patterns in the Human-Cylon long-standing power struggle and her special destiny as the harbinger of death, shaping the new order.
*The relationship between Cavil and Ellen has a mirror in the relationships that the [[Lords of Kobol]] tended to have, specifically Zeus and Hera (who were brother and sister '''and''' married).
**This connection between the atheistic Cavil the monotheistic Ellen and the polytheistic gods that they both reject is a perfect example of multi-layered irony.
* At the core of things, Cavil appears to be driven by a sense of bitterness and self-hatred. He sees his humanoid body as a prison that limits his abilities and the way he perceives things. He believes that he could have been created to be something much more. In short, Cavil hates his own existence and he holds the Five accountable for having created him in the first place. He also fears that he truly is a disappointment to his creators.
* Lee Adama's suggestion that the new Quorum represent the people on the individual ships of the Fleet rather than the Twelve Colonies, indicates that he realizes that the old system is broken and needs to be rebuilt — something which Dualla told him previously during Baltar's trial. The people of the Fleet have aligned themselves according to their "home" ships rather than the now non-existent Colonies. Both Roslin and Lee have come realize this and determine that the people must be represented differently if democracy is to survive.
* When Gerard tells Anders and Starbuck where the bullet is lodged in Anders' brain, Anders instantly supplies the information as to what that area of the brain does, and realizes that is why he is remembering everything. This proves that, while Tyrol may have done most of the work on re-inventing resurrection, and Ellen was the one who made it work, all of them helped, as Anders clearly has detailed knowledge of how the brain works. This would also lend some credence to Ellen's claim that she alone could not rebuild resurrection.
*Right before his seizure, Sam Anders saw the other final four and Kara Thrace glowing. This could be a significant vision or merely the result of something pressing on his visual cortex. [[The Music|The music]] is heard during this scene.
* Although we can now be sure that the Final Five had the same personal names in their old lives as they do now, none of their surnames have yet been used in relation to their original selves.
*This episode further displays the Cavils' unity of thought and personality that none of the other models have displayed. After the destruction of the Hub, the original Cavil who started the Civil War, who called Boomer his 'pet Eight' was killed by D'Anna. However, the Cavil who provides a drink to Ellen carries the same thoughts and conclusions as the recently deceased Cavil. This further propagates the notion that the Cavils desire to be more machine than human as each particular Cavil does not appear to show any divergent or creative thought from each other. They appear to all share the same memories and train of thought while other models like the Sixes and Eights have shown time and time again that each individual in the model line can break from the pack so to speak.
*In a not-so-subtle hint to the audience, when Boomer asks Ellen why would she want to love humans and who would she want to love, immediately the scene shifts to Tyrol walking to the waiting area outside of sickbay.
*Ishay's cold response to Kara after Anders' surgery is a subtle hint of the disdain that Ishay has towards the Cylons. Unlike Doc Cottle (who treats his patients the same, human or Cylon), Ishay's facial responses in the last couple of episodes have shown extreme discomfort of treating the Cylons. She will do her job, but her response to Kara's attempts to speak to Anders post-surgery displayed a cold-heartedness towards her "patient." This flies against what is typically prescribed by doctors of comatose patients who would encourage family members to speak to their loved ones in order to stimulate brain activity and maybe revive their patients.
*When Anders mentioned that the 12 Tribes' Centurions had already begun their attempt to create flesh bodies, this did not seem to surprise Anders. This may hint to the 13th Tribe's origins as they may have begun the same way. They as Cylons developed "flesh" bodies and the organic memory transfer technology on Kobol. However, after they found and settled on Earth, this resurrection technology was lost to time and had to be reinvented. The Final Five's negotiated deal with the 12 Tribes' Centurions seemed to be motivated by their desire to not repeat the cycle by giving the Centurions what the 13th Tribes ancestors had achieved. However, their reasoning for not allowing biological reproduction in the 8 humanoid models seemed to indicate a plan to bring Cylon and Human together.
*It would appear that each humanoid Cylon model was given both a name and a model number by the Final Five. The Number One models prefer not to use names. This logically follows the pattern that the John/Cavil models have shown, that they prefer to be more machine than human, thus lean toward using an impersonal identification system vs. the personal names given to them by the Final Five.
*This episode sheds light on why the D'Anna model were able to "see" the Final Five in their post-death and pre-resurrected states, but were unable to recall the faces definitively once they were resurrected into their physical bodies. The Cavils apparently had hardwired all of the Significant Sevens bodies to purposely block out any type of memory that involved the Final Five. They were programmed to not "think" of the Final Five, but as Ellen explained to Boomer, the Significant Seven were given "free will" and it apparently had overridden John's reprogramming.
*The fact that a team of "Simons" were preparing to perform the neural surgery on Ellen suggests that at one point in time the Cavils had revealed Ellen's existence to at least some of the Number Fours. How much they know about her is not clear.
*The Centurion's response to Ellen after her resurrection seems to indicate that the Centurions also know who the Final Five are. The Centurion's reluctance to help Ellen initially indicated that it was unsure whether it was allowed to help her, upon which she reassured it was allowed to.
*The Centurions on Cavil's baseship appear to have not been tampered with or had their neural inhibitors restored as the Centurions on his baseship do not appear as curious of their surroundings as the Rebel Cylons' baseship centurions.
*Ellen's motherly and kind tone towards the Centurion after her resurrection reinforces Anders' explanation later that the Final Five wanted to tell the 12 tribes to treat their Centurions well.
*As he has been for several episodes, the Admiral is shown taking medicine for apparent pain. The nature of his ailment has not yet been revealed.
*Presumably, the Final Five could have copied themselves many times over as they did with the eight models they created, but chose not to.
*Valerii's lack of surprise when Ellen names Galen, Sam, and Saul as among the Final Five shows that she already possessed that information.
* The journey of the Final Five from Earth to their first contact with the Centurions took approximately 2000 years, which is roughly the time period between the Earth Holocaust and the First Cylon War. Since they were traveling at close to the speed of light, that means their trip took them only 2000 light years from Earth before they made contact. This implies that either Earth is much closer to the Colonies than expected, or that the Cylons had explored much of the distance between the two systems.
* As noted by Moore in the podcast, Saul and Ellen are soulmates who were drawn to each other even after being given false memories by Cavil and inserted into the Twelve Colonies, marrying for what was actually the second time. In contrast, Galen and Tory, described by Sam as "madly in love" in their original lives, have not interacted much at all outside of the secret meetings and their moment together in [[Joe's Bar]]. In fact, when Tory began awakening to her true nature, she was drawn to Sam, not Galen.
* Presumably, Cavil could have given subversive programming to the Final Five along with their false memories, as was done with Boomer, but did not, because the idea was for them to suffer with the survivors, not for them to be saboteurs and spies.
* With the revelation that the Final Five could download (before the Hub was destroyed), it makes sense that they are referred to as "models" despite having been born, not built. A genetic formula must exist for each of them to produce spare bodies.

== Questions ==
===Characters===
* Will [[Samuel Anders|Anders]] recover following surgery? Will he retain his memories as a Cylon if he does?
* Just what was Saul Tigh's role in the Cylon War? ([[No Exit#Official Statements|Answer]])
* How will [[Ellen Tigh|Ellen]] react when she discovers that [[Saul Tigh|Saul]] is engaged in a relationship with and has impregnated [[Caprica-Six]]? ([[Deadlock|Answer]])
* Ellen seems very different from the woman we knew. How different were the rest of the Final Five in their past lives?
* Did the Final Five use the same surnames before Cavil altered their memories, as well as the same first names?
* Will Tory and Tyrol rekindle their old relationship, especially if they recover their first hand memories of their old life? Will Tory reveal to Tyrol that she killed Cally?
* Will Boomer and Tyrol to rekindle their old relationship, especially now that both are aware that the two of them are Cylons? Will the example of Saul Tigh and Caprica Six's pregnancy open up to her the possibility of it? ([[Someone_to_Watch_Over_Me|Answer]])
* How will Boomer react to the news that [[Cally]] is dead?
* How will Boomer react to Caprica Six, since she was killed by her at one point?
* How will Boomer react to Athena? How would Athena react to Boomer? ([[Someone_to_Watch_Over_Me|Answer]])
* How will Adama react to Boomer's return, since she did try to assassinate him at the end of Season One? ([[Deadlock|Answer]])
* Is Boomer honestly defecting from Cavil's side, or is this part of Cavil's plot? ([[Someone_to_Watch_Over_Me|Probable Answer]])
* Will Cavil ever achieve his goal of evolving beyond his "primitive" humanoid form?
* Will Cavil ever be able to appreciate the gift of free will?
* Do the Simons ([[Number Four]]) and Dorals ([[Number Five]]) know the truth about the Final Five and Cavil's hand in manipulating events and circumstances? If and when they do find out, will they continue to side with him, or will they join the other Rebel Cylons?
* What is the meaning of Anders' ramblings (derived from ''Paradise Lost'') about the mother of mankind being deceived by one whose guile stirred with vengeance? Is there a connection to Ellen and Cavil?
* When did Tyrol acquire all of his knowledge of Cylon technology?
* Is "Cavil" Ellen's maiden name?

===Number Seven===
* Was [[Number Seven]] named after [[Daniel Graystone]], creator of the Cylons on the [[Twelve Colonies (RDM)|Twelve Colonies]]?
* Did any active copies of Daniel survive One's wrath? If so, what became of them?
* Is the Daniel model somehow connected to [[Kara Thrace]]? (Answer:No, [[Islanded in a Stream of Stars]] podcast)
* Is the Daniel model connected to [[Felix Gaeta]]?
* Besides Cavil, were the other Cylons aware of Number Seven's short-lived existence?

===The Cycle===
* What is the exact nature of this Cycle? How long has it been going on for? Can it ever be broken?
* What is the meaning/significance of the name Cylon, since every time humanity creates machines they seem to be given this name?
* Why did the original tribes flee Kobol? Was it another Human/Cylon war?
* What is the significance of the Centurions' form, which is in common between the Thirteenth Tribe and the Twelve Tribes?
* Had the Thirteenth Tribe Cylons already developed their own humanoid forms when they settled on Earth?
* What/who destroyed Earth? ([[No Exit#Official Statements|Answer]])
** What happened to the Centurions that destroyed Earth?
*** Based on the remains they discovered, it appeared that the war was mutually destructive. This isn't surprising as any type of nuclear exchange, i.e. the USA and the USSR, was expected to mutually destroy each nation and for the most part, the rest of the planet.
* What is the nature of the "messengers" that warned the Final Five of the disaster on Earth?
* Sam mentioned that Tory saw a man and Sam himself saw a woman, what forms did the others take?
* Were the man and woman Virtual Baltar and Virtual Six?
* Why did these messengers not also appear to the Final Five before the apocalypse on the Twelve Colonies (presumably)?
* Assuming that the visions the Five saw warning of the Apocalypse, the visions given to D'Anna in the Temple of Five, and Baltar, Caprica Six, and Kara's visions are all manifestations, or agents of, an outside power (which seems likely at this point) what exactly is the nature of this outside power? And what is its goal?
* What led the Centurions of the Twelve Colonies to believe in God?
* Would the Centurions eventually have created their own human forms, as the Five's distant ancestors seem to have?
* At which point during the conflict did the Final Five arrive in Colonial space? How did they find out what was going on?
* How did the Final Five approach the Centurions and prove their own nature as humanoid Cylons?
* Did the first generation of the Thirteenth Tribe consist of a limited number of models with copies?
* Had the Final Five not stopped it, would the First Cylon War have been mutually destructive, as previous such wars in human history seem to have been?
* If the Final Five had not been ousted by Cavil, would they eventually have established peaceful contact with the Twelve Colonies via [[Armistice Station]]?
* Did the Final Five base any of the Significant Eight models besides John Cavil (made to resemble Ellen's father John) on people they knew?
* Did the Final Five plan on making any more models beyond Number Eight before they were boxed?
* Were the Final Five responsible for the holographic projector in the [[Tomb of Athena]]? If so, how did the references to it in the [[Sacred Scrolls]], which were supposedly written over 2000 years before the [[First Cylon War]], get written?
* Where do the Basestar Hybrids factor into all of this?
* What is [[Hera Agathon]]'s role in all of this?
* Where does [[Kara Thrace]] fit into all of this?
* Why has [[The Music|the song]] written by Anders become a special signal/trigger for the Final Five?
* What is the significance of the Opera House?
* Where do the Raiders factor into all of this?

===Resurrection Technology===
* Who originally developed the resurrection technology on Kobol?
* Where is this [[The Colony|Colony]] Ellen supposedly stored her resurrection equipment on? Does it have a name? Is Anders aware of it? ([[Islanded in a Stream of Stars|Answer]])
* What is the status of the research ship the Final Five used to leave Earth 2,000 years ago? (Answer: It became the core of the Colony, Podcast: Islanded in a Stream of Stars)
* Will resurrection technology ever be salvaged?
* Is Ellen truthful when she says that any attempt to rebuild the [[Resurrection Hub]] would need all five of them? ([[Daybreak, Part II|Answer]])
* How will Anders' condition affect any attempts made to salvage resurrection technology? ([[Daybreak, Part II|Answer]])
* Did anyone else on Earth besides the Five contribute to the re-invention of the resurrection technology?

===What is a Cylon?===
* What exactly is the nature of the humanoid Cylons? Are they cyborgs—a combination of organic and inorganic material—or are they completely organic—like ''[[wikipedia:Blade Runner|Blade Runner's]]'' [[wikipedia:Replicants|Replicants]]. They seem able to pass normal medical examinations, including presumably CAT scans, indicating that they are wholly organic. Yet they call themselves "machines" and exhibit striking differences, such as the ability to interface with fiber optics, indicating that they are cyborgs.
**Chances are overwhelming that they are not Cyborgs. The Colonials had the opportunity to examine dead humanoid Cylon bodies on several occasions including Boomer's, D'anna Bier's, and Natalie's since they were killed on Galactica and at least Boomer's body was sent to the morgue where very likely Dr. Cottle did intensive [[wikipedia:autopsy|autopsies]] at his leisure. The bodies were likely subjected to [[wikipedia:CAT scan|CAT scans]] and [[wikipedia:MRI|MRI scans]] and standard X-Rays as well as traditional [[wikipedia:dissection|dissectional]] autopsy. This is in addition to treating Cylons many times for injuries like on New Caprica, and with Athena's pregnancy and radiation sickness. Gaius Baltar also would had had opportunity to examine Cylon physiology. Any non biological "components" that the Cylons would had had would had been discovered by now. Abilities like Athena's and other Eights (if not other Models) ability to interface with standard computers with cable leads are likely genetic alterations of their nervous systems, which in humans carry electrical impulses to the brain. The Cylons probably genetically modified it for the humanoid Cylons so their nervous system could interface and the nerve ending's electrical impulses could carry idata to and from standard electronic equipment. In anycase the ''Blade Runner'' Replicants are perhaps the proper comparison. Indeed, Ronald D. Moore has borrowed the term "skinjob", a derogatory term for a humanoid Cylon from the same term for a Replicant in ''Blade Runner'', which was also derogatory.
* Is there any difference between birthed humanoid Cylons, such as the original Final Five and the other residents of Earth, and constructed humanoid Cylons, such as Nos. 1-8 and the replacement Final Five bodies?
**Highly unlikely that there are significant differences. Ellen Tigh herself stated that they created the Eight Cylon models to be as close to human as possible. The birth of [[Hera Agathon]] to the Cylon Sharon Agathon ("Athena") and the Human Karl Agathon did not reveal any unusual occurrences while given birth pass the normal complications one expects form human reproduction. Indeed, Dr. Cottle once sardonically complained during Sharon's emergency delivery that the Cylons didn't improve the reproductive organs of the female Cylons: "I find it absolutely amazing. You people went to all the trouble to appear human and didn't upgrade the plumbing!" ([[Downloaded]]) As of "No Exit" Dr. Cottle has not noted any significant differences between human gestation and the Cylon-Cylon Pregnancy of Caprica Six.
* If the humanoid Cylons are cyborgs, how is it possible for their inorganic components to grow and mature?
* If the humanoid Cylons are completely organic, what exactly distinguishes them from Humans? It must be something pretty obvious in the skeletal structure since all of the bodies found on Earth were easily identified as being Cylon.
** Assuming most of the remains uncovered date from 2,000 years prior to the fleet arriving at Earth, it's possible that some sort of genetic markers can still be found in their bone marrow, which allow the Cylons to identify them as their own.
* If humanoid Cylons are in fact different from Humans, how are the two species able to successfully interbreed?
** Since Colonial medicine can't distinguish Humans from humanoid Cylons, it would seem that they are compatible at a genetic level. Maybe the non-Human component is passed through some nano-technology which is passed to offspring at the moment of fertilization (of course this would possibly turn the host into a Cylon also - is this Starbuck's secret? Did she become a Cylon through the experiments on the Farm?).
* Does the fact that they '''can''' interbreed mean that Humans and Cylons really '''are''' the same species, and that the apparent differences are only "skin-deep," such as the superficial differences in appearance between Asians, Africans and Europeans on our Earth?
* If the humanoid cylons are similar to Colonial humans, then how is it that they have exhibited superior strength and speed on numerous occasions?

===Other Questions===
* What became of the lower level mutineers in [[The Oath]] and [[Blood on the Scales]]? Were they prosecuted for their actions, or were they given an amnesty in spite of Adama's earlier threat that there would be "no forgiveness" for any mutineer?
* How do Ellen and Boomer intend to locate the Fleet?
* Is Ellen truthful when she says that D'Anna's vision of the Five was not planted by the Five themselves?
* Will the use of Cylon technology be successful in repairing ''Galactica''? ([[Someone_to_Watch_Over_Me|Answer]])
* And for what it's worth: Is maybe ''Galactica'' "the dying leader"?
** How about Adama? (What is he taking the pills for?)
* Will every ship in the Fleet be allowed to send a representative to the new Quorum? In particular, will there be a representative from the Cylon baseship? ([[Someone_to_Watch_Over_Me|Answer]])
* Are the names given to the other six models by the Final Five the same as those they used to infiltrate the Colonies? If not, what are they?
* Are the [[Number Four]]s and [[Number Five]]s also aware of the identities of the Final Five? When were any of the others, other than Boomer, told?
* How will the [[Cylon Civil War]] be resolved?
* How is it possible that the Thirteenth Tribe's bio-engineering technology was far advanced of the other Twelve Colonies, but they did not have Jump-technology?
**Bio-engineering and jump drives represent different realms of technology and are not directly related. Progress in one is therefore not a prerequisite for progress in the other.
**The thirteenth tribe lived on a single planet while the Colonials lived on twelve different planets. Space travel technology would be more of a priority for the Colonials.
* If the Final Five did not have Jump-technology, and the Colonial Cylons' Jump-technology was on par with that of the humans, how did the Cylons develop Jump-Drives that were far more advanced than the Humans?
** The 12 Tribes' Centurions/Cylons had over 40 years to improve upon Colonial Jump-technology. As it has been shown numerous times during the show, Cylons had developed technologies that are far-more advanced than Colonial technology. As they had 40 years of isolation to test and improve upon designs, it is not inconceivable to see how a race of cybernetic creatures would constantly improve upon technology. For example, the current line of Centurions vs. the original Centurions are far more advance in technology and battle effectiveness.
* Right before going into surgery, Sam maniacally pleaded that Saul "stay with the fleet" and also mentioned that a "miracle from the angels" was coming. What is he referring to? Will Saul and the other Cylons heed his request?
* Where did Boomer's Raptor come from? ([[Torn|Answer]])
* When Ellen said that the Final Five had backtracked the path their ancestors used to find Earth, did they do so only through documented evidence (starcharts, books, etc.), or did they find physical signposts such as the Ionian Nebula, the Lion's Head beacon, and Kobol?
**It seems unlikely that the Five could have physically backtracked along the trail of their ancestors, given the fact that they did not possess FTL technology.
* Given that Cavil has the most knoweldge of Cylon programming and design out of the Significant Seven, is he responsible for the sleeper agent status of Boomer?

==Character Development==
* ''In the episode we see Sharon Valerii for the first time since "[[The Hub]]". She has been under the tutelage of John Cavil since shortly after the Cylon occupation of Caprica. When she first downloaded, after Cally Henderson (the future Cally Tyrol) shot her on Galactica, she still thought of herself as a human, had a human outlook, and hated her Cylon being. She even kept her old apartment on Caprica. She wanted and desired love and felt bitterly that she had, from her point of view, betrayed her friends as she expressed in [[Downloaded]]:''

:Sharon Valerii: What are you thinking? Do you think I care about your god?

:Caprica Six: Look, God loves you.

:Valerii: This is love. (Re: a picture of the Galactica crew) These people love me. I love them. I didn't pretend to feel something so I could screw people over. I loved them. And then I betrayed them. I shot a man I loved. Frakked over another man, ruined his life. And why? Because I'm a lying machine. I'm a frakking Cylon!

:''Ten months ago as of this episode, and approximately two years after she downloaded back into the Cylon baseship and went under the guidance of John Cavil after the failure of the [[New Caprica]] occupation, this was her attitude to love. It occurred in a discussion with Ellen Tigh after Cavil's passionate speech about how she foisted on him the limiting form of a human body:''

:Valerii: Don't you feel the slightest bit of remorse for what you did to him? What you did to us?

:Ellen: No. [turns her head to look at her] Because he's wrong, Boomer! There is no need for remorse or blame. We didn't limit you. We gave you something wonderful!! Free will! The ability to think creatively. To reach out to others with compassion. To love.

:Valerii: Love? Who? Humans? Why would I want to do that? Who would I want to love?

:''Her attitude toward love seems not only to have been influenced by Cavil, but also is an reaction over her experiences of the failure of the New Caprica experiment and the rejection by [[Hera]], fellow Eight [[Sharon Agathon]]'s child from which she probably felt that being a Cylon she will never know the love of a child of her own. In reaction, she almost killed Hera but was prevented from doing so by Caprica Six. After which she seemed to had made the decision to follow the virulently anti-human Cavil, the very antithesis of what she previous believed. This is possibly a symptom of an emotional compensation coping mechanism due to her traumatic experiences.''

== Official Statements ==
Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune interviews Jane Espenson and Ryan Mottesheard about the episode:<ref>[http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2009/02/battlestar-galactica-no-exit-ellen-cavil-boomer.html "You asked, they answered: 'Battlestar Galactica' writers take on your 'No Exit' questions"], chicagotribune.com.</ref>
* "The Colony" is definitely of significance.
* The Earth was destroyed by an uprising of Centurions that the humanoid Cylons created.
* Cavil kept at least one blank body for each of the Five. The fact that none were killed in the war until Ellen died at her husband's hands is a source of frustration for him.
* Cavil probably wouldn't be happy in a metal body either.
* Like the Ones and Sevens, the Twos, Threes, Fours, Fives, Sixes, and Eights did at one time know and interact with the Final Five, but the Ones corrupted their memories and programmed them not to think of the Final Five.
* The Final Five, and presumably the whole Thirteenth Tribe, were originally polytheists like the other twelve tribes. They became monotheists after encountering the monotheistic Colonial Centurions, who believed in a loving and merciful God, a belief system the Final Five incorporated into the Significant Eight.
* It is re-iterated that Tigh did not actually serve in the first war, but was given fake memories of having done so. His friendship with Adama dates back to their service on a freighter together a few years after the war.

== Noteworthy Dialogue ==
''John Cavil had just shown a "slide show" - as Ellen Tigh cynically put it - of the destruction of the [[Algae planet]], the home of the [[The Temple of Five|Temple of Hopes]] built by the travelers from Kobol on their way to colonize Earth and the Twelve Colonies, when its own star went nova. Cavil was there to observe it. He relates his experience to Ellen and his disappointment over it, revealing his self-loathing and hatred of his human form and his deep seated resentment to Ellen and the other Finals for foisted on him the limiting form of a human body:''

:John: In all your travels, have you ever seen a star supernova?

:Ellen: No.

:John: No? Well, I have. I saw a star explode and send out the building blocks of the universe. Other stars, other planets and eventually other life. A supernova! Creation itself! I was there, I wanted to see it and be part of the moment. And you know how I perceived one of the most glorious events in the universe? With these ''ridiculous'' gelatinous orbs in my skull! With eyes designed to perceive only a tiny fraction of the EM spectrum. With ears designed only to hear vibrations in the air.

:Ellen: The five of us designed you to be as ''human'' as possible.

:John: I DON'T WANT TO BE HUMAN! I want to see [[w:gamma rays|gamma rays]]! I want to hear [[w:X-rays|X-rays]], and I -- I want to -- I want to smell [[w:dark matter|dark matter]]! Do you see the absurdity of what I am? I can't even express these things properly because I have to -- I have to conceptualize complex ideas in this stupid, limiting spoken language! But I know I want to reach out with something other than these prehensile paws, and feel the [[w:solar wind|solar wind]] of a supernova flowing over me! I'm a machine, and I could know much more, I could experience so much more, BUT I'M TRAPPED IN THIS ABSURD BODY! AND WHY? Because my five creators thought that ''God'' wanted it that way!

== Guest Stars ==

* [[Rekha Sharma]] as [[Tory Foster]]
* [[Kate Vernon]] as [[Ellen Tigh]]
* [[Donnelly Rhodes]] as Dr. [[S. Cottle]]
* [[Dean Stockwell]] as [[Number One]]
* [[John Hodgman]] as Dr. [[Gerard]]
* [[Kerry Norton]] as [[Layne Ishay]]
* [[Darcy Laurie]] as [[Dealino]]

== References ==
<div style="font-size:85%"><references/></div>

{{Episode list (RDM season 4)}}

[[Category:Episodes written by Ryan Mottesheard]]

[[ms:No Exit]]

Someone to Watch Over Me

2009-03-28T16:01:17Z

Thunderscreech: Sp fixes

{{Concision Fairy}}

{{Episode Data
| image=SomeoneWatchingOverMe.jpg
| title= Someone To Watch Over Me
| season= 4
| episode=17
| guests=
| writer= [[Bradley Thompson]] <br/> [[David Weddle]]
| story=
| director= [[Michael Nankin]]
| production=419
| rating=1,657,000 viewers (Live+SD)<ref>{{cite_web|url=http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/03/03/wwe-raw-the-closer-and-president-obama-lead-cable-viewing/13835|title=WWE RAW, The Closer and President Obama lead cable viewing|date=03 March 2009|accessdate=04 March 2009|last=|first=|format=|language=}}</ref>
| US airdate=February 27, 2009
| CAN airdate=February 27, 2009
| UK airdate=March 3, 2009
| dvd=
| population=39556
| oldpopulation=39556
| prev=[[Deadlock]]
| next=[[Islanded in a Stream of Stars]]
| hulu=y
}}

== Overview ==
:''[[Kara Thrace|Starbuck]] discovers a hidden musical ability that bears a mysterious significance to the final five Cylons, and her tune is found to have a connection with three-year-old human-Cylon hybrid [[Hera Agathon|Hera]]. The president authorizes [[Sharon Valerii|Boomer]]'s extradition from the brig so she can stand trial for treason on the Cylon baseship.''<ref>http://www.locatetv.com/tv/battlestar-galactica/season-4/6118356</ref>

== Summary ==
{{expansion}}
=== Teaser ===

* [[Kara Thrace]] gets out of her bunk and opens her locker. Looking in the mirror, she momentarily sees the image of her own corpse found on [[Earth (RDM)|Earth]] in the reflection. Disturbed, Kara takes out the bloodstained dog tags recovered from the corpse and stares at them, silently brooding to herself.
* Kara goes through her daily routine - showering, dressing, giving the Cylon and Colonial pilots their assignments, doing paperwork, and drinking at the bar.
* [[The Fleet (RDM)|The Fleet]] is still searching for a habitable planet. ''[[Galactica (RDM)|Galactica]]'' is now experiencing frequent power losses and plumbing disruptions due to the ongoing repair work.
* [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] informs [[Admiral Adama]], [[Lee Adama]], and [[Laura Roslin|President Roslin]] that the repairs and the Cylon organic substance will buy the ship a few more jumps, but not many. The admiral states that he isn't ready to give up just yet.
* Lee congratulates Sonja, a [[Number Six]] model, on her appointment as the Cylons' representative to the newly-formed Quorum of Ships' Captains.
* Sonja makes a formal request that Boomer be returned to the Cylons. When Adama starts to protest that Boomer tried to kill him, Sonja explains that they don't want Boomer set free. They want to try Boomer for treason, as she sided with [[Cavil]] in the [[Cylon Civil War]].
* When Lee asks what will happen to Boomer if she's convicted, Sonja says that with the loss of their ability to resurrect, the Cylons can now implement capital punishment.
* Tyrol realizes what this means: the Cylons are going to kill Boomer.

=== Act 1 ===
* ''Galactica'' continues to experience tremors and power fluctuations all across the ship.
* Kara, Doc Cottle, and the Cylons are observing Anders, who is still not conscious despite showing brain activity. Cottle has no explanation for any of this.
* When the Cylons theorize that Anders' brain is "rebooting," Cottle tells them that he does not want to hear their "quack" ideas. He also tells Kara that it is time to "move on" with her life.
* After Cottle leaves, Kara starts to cry.
* In Joe's Bar, Kara complains to the piano player about performing "the same lame-ass song" over and over. He counters, saying that he has been in the process of composing for four days, and that his music is meant to bring beauty to a terrible existence. Kara reacts angrily, asking him rhetorically whether his music stopped one bomb during the Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies.
* Human and Cylon workers are struggling to repair ''Galactica''. Tyrol looks up from his own work and stares at a Cylon Eight. He recalls moments spent with Boomer, good and bad. In his mind, he asks, "How many of us ended up with the people we really wanted to be with?"
* Kara visits Helo's quarters, who surprises her with a box of Kara's belongings, found and bought and stolen back over the past few months since her return. She takes only one item from the box, a cassette tape labeled "Dreilide Thrace Live at the Helice Opera House." Before Kara leaves, Hera hands her a crayon drawing of stars.
* Tyrol visits Boomer in the reinforced brig reserved for Cylons. The two look at each other tentatively for a moment before beginning to talk. Boomer explains New Caprica as a "way to set things right" with Tyrol after her shooting of William Adama. They both admit thinking about one another on a daily basis. Boomer puts her hand on the glass. Tyrol reaches out--and is instantly transported to the house they had planned to build on Picon after mustering out of the Colonial Fleet. Tyrol is confused and angered by the illusion, disconnects from Boomer, and runs away.

=== Act 2 ===

=== Act 3 ===

=== Act 4 ===

== Notes ==
* [[Gaius Baltar]] and [[Caprica-Six]] do not appear in this episode. As with the previous episode, [[Lee Adama]] appears in only a couple of scenes.
* "[[Wikipedia:Someone to Watch Over Me (song)|Someone To Watch Over Me]]" is the name of a song composed by [[Wikipedia:George Gershwin|George]] and [[Wikipedia:Ira Gershwin|Ira Gershwin]], and featured in the musical [[Wikipedia:Oh, Kay!|''Oh, Kay!'']] A major theme of the song is the need to find love and acceptance, something [[Sharon Valerii]], [[Galen Tyrol]] and [[Kara Thrace]] are all seeking in their own ways.
** There was also an episode of [[w:Star Trek: Voyager|Star Trek: Voyager]] named for the song, in which it is performed at the end by The Doctor.
* Weeks have passed since the end of [[Gaeta's Mutiny|the mutiny]], as evidenced by [[Cottle]]'s comment about how long Anders' EKG readings have remained steady, and Starbuck's comment about how long she has repeated the same mission briefing.
* Starbuck acknowledges, in her address to the other pilots, that the mutiny has "thinned our numbers". This, combined with the apparent absence of pilots such as [[Margaret Edmonson]] and [[Diana Seelix]], confirms their involvement in the mutiny did not go unpunished, although exactly what that punishment is remains unknown.
** In the Podcast for "[[Deadlock]]" RDM states that all the mutineers were imprisoned on the [[Astral Queen]].
* After her apparent death in "[[Maelstrom]]", Kara's personal belongings were auctioned off. Helo has managed to get them all back for her. However, the only thing Kara is interested in is the tape of her father's music.
* Some of the music played by the mysterious piano player is from the original series. [[Numian's 3rd Sonata]], Second Movement, is in fact from the opening dialogue of the classic series ("There are those who believe that life here, began out there..."), and the original [[Cylon]] musical cue is derived from that tune as well. This is not the first time music from the original series has shown up (i.e. the [[Colonial Anthem]]), and lends to the idea that everything 'has happened before, and will happen again'.
* The brand of "[[The_Twelve_Colonies_%28RDM%29#Tauron|Tauron]] toothpaste" offered as a prize to the pilots is called "[[Felgercarb (RDM)|Felgercarb]]," a word used in the [[Original Series]] to mean "shit." Tauron comes from Taurus the bull. In essence, Kara is offering the pilot who finds a new planet "bullshittoothpaste".
* The collection of named [[Number Six]] models expands with the addition of [[Sonja]], who becomes the first Cylon to be elected to the Fleet's reconstituted Quorum.
*When Tyrol visits and talks to Boomer for the first time in the Brig, during the conversation Boomer calls Tyrol "Galen" for the first time, at least publicly and on screen. In past episodes, both Boomer and Athena usually referred to their significant others with their callsigns/titles. For Athena, it was always referring to Agathon as Helo. For Boomer, it was always referring to Tyrol as Chief. Athena was the first of the two to break that tradition, noticeable after the two married. Boomer's shared projection with Tyrol and their imaginary marriage may be the reason why she ceased calling him solely "Chief."

== Analysis ==
===Galactica's condition ===
*FTL jumps appear to create spatial distortions that can seriously strain a ships hull. Although bad hull damage does not necessarily prevent a ship from jumping (as has been seen many times before in the seasons, for example ''Pegasus'' - which jumped after being hit by three nuclear missiles in [[The Captain's Hand]]) the threat to ''Galactica'' has been compounded by the added riddling of the entire aged superstructure with microfractures. Tigh expresses concern that a jump within the flight pod will seriously strain the internal integrity of the ship. Boomer's FTL jump does eventually appear to cause a chain reaction of hull collapses along ''Galactica's'' port side, a side visibly weakened by Cylon attack, and suffering general aging in the 50+ year old ship's structure.
*The port side of ''Galactica'' which suffers damage in this episode has been seen specifically to suffer major stress before now- particularly during the [[Battle of New Caprica]] when it was mentioned that explosive decompressions were imminent in that section. That side of the ship also saw the port water tank blow out in [[Water]]-as well as damage from a nuclear explosion incurred during the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies]] though these seemed to be repaired it no doubt contributed to the area's hull fatigue.
* Many individuals express fears of the damage an FTL jump can do to ''Galactica'', implying FTL jumps place serious strains on a ships hull–or even the hull of a ship nearby and a degree of hull integrity is important to allow a ship to continue jumping for continued periods. This appears quite a new phenomenon in the canon of the show and was not mentioned in previous seasons, though it of course makes for a convenient plot conceit now. Before this ships have frequently been seen jumping and exiting a jump close to each other in the series with seemingly no ill effects- though it is possible Boomer's Raptor was much closer to Galactica's hull than has ever been seen before. In the episode [[A Disquiet Follows My Soul]] the tylium ship jumped whilst surrounded by Raptors and Vipers and no ship seemed to suffer damage, although they were knocked back and sent tumbling. It should be made clear that smaller objects are proportionally stronger and that smaller objects should feel much less shear in the wash of another nearby ship jumping. It is also possible the stress of by being caught in the FTL field of another vessel rather than that caused by a vessels own, properly configured FTL drive is more powerful and dangerous.
*Given that ''Galactica'' has jumped hundreds of times whilst damaged before now, it is not explained why no damage has occurred before given it is assumed damage will be guaranteed by an unplanned jump in this episode. In the miniseries ''Galactica'' suffered a nuke hit and yet jumped several times later. Also despite falling through the atmosphere of New Caprica ''Galactica'' was able to execute an FTL jump despite the severe strains on the hull. Fears of FTL stress were not mentioned.
** ''Galactica'' has probably been taking damage over the years from multiple jumps and suffering combat damage. It's just that the extent of the damage has not become apparent until now.
** It is in part because of those actions, the atomic strikes and it jumping and falling though into a planet's gravity well and its atmosphere is why ''Galactic''a is suffering from massive metal fatigue, in addition to normal wear and tear of a 50+ year old ship and the fact that she hasn't had a major or even minor overhaul in years even before the the attack on the Colonies has taken their toll. In addition as discovered by Chief Tyrol the builders of ''Galactica'' "cut corners" with the building specifications of the ship. Ironically, if the ''Galactica'' was able to retire on schedule these issues of "substandard" construction wouldn't had come up.
** Further to the point above about small craft being subject to less 'shear', it stands to reason that the size of the disturbance created by a ship executing a jump might be proportional to the size of the ship itself. A large vessel such as the tylium ship may create a widespread but relatively smooth disturbance, so the nearby Raptors would have been like corks bobbing as a wave passed. Conversely, a small vessel such as a Raptor might create a localised but very sharp distortion that poses more risk of damage to a large ship close to it.
*The age of ''Galactica'''s FTL drive might explain why the ship's hull integrity is taxed so badly by her FTL drive - more modern drives might not cause so much stress, and might explain why other Fleet ships and the rebel basestar can continue to jump despite the damage their hulls have taken.
* ''Galactica'' is in very bad shape from the metal fatigue in the hull. It's so bad that Tyrol says that all the [[Cylon organic resin]] could do is buy a little more time, but not too much from the looks of it, and that the ship might only be capable of a few more FTL jumps, if that. The ship is dying of old age and abuse and there's nothing anyone can do save it completely. The damage Boomer created during her escape has no doubt worsened the ship's condition.

===The actions of Boomer===
* Adama has still not forgiven Boomer for shooting him.
* Ellen's escape from Cavil seems to have been orchestrated between him and Boomer in order to get Boomer on ''Galactica'' so she could kidnap Hera according to Ellen's speculation to her husband Saul Tigh.
* It would appear that while Cavil was willing to let Ellen go in order to obtain Hera, members of the [[Final Five]] are still of some value to him, as evidenced by Boomer's offer for Tyrol to go with her.
**It is more likely that Boomer genuinely wanted him to come with her because she truly loves him. Bringing him back to John Cavil-if that is where she is headed-would be of no use to him because as Ellen stated he would need all Five of the Finals to recreate Resurrection. In addition to her rekindled love, she has seen-or at least heard about-that it is possible for a Final Five Cylon to mate and have offspring with a "Standard Model" like herself even if Caprica-Six's pregnancy by Saul Tigh failed, so the possibility of a family which she shared with Tyrol in her projection, was open to her.
* Boomer has gone from being a conflicted sleeper agent to being a willing infiltrator and saboteur on ''Galactica''. With her rekindled love for Tyrol, she may be again conflicted.
* The Cylons want Boomer tried for treason, with execution being a possible outcome, because her actions are linked to the permanent deaths of thousands of Cylons when she sided against her model in the [[Cylon Civil War]]. This parallels the Colonial Fleet's own desire to try [[Gaius Baltar]] for siding against humanity and collaborating with the Cylons on New Caprica.

*It is very possible-but not certain-that the Cylon ability to recognize individual Cylons despite them looking exactly like each other (most of the time, the Sixes seem to have the most variants in hair color and use of makeup, both voluntary actions) relies on actually looking at the individual. In the lavatory where Sharon "Boomer" Valerii severely beats Sharon "Athena" Agathon, Athena initially mistook Boomer as a generic Eight when she saw her in the reflection of a mirror. It was after she stood up, turned around and looked directly at Boomer did Athena recognize her as Boomer. Admittedly however, it is possible that she would had recognized Boomer if she still only watched her in the reflection. Still, she said a full sentence while she looked at her in the mirror-"Great, I hope you are here to fix the frakkin' shower!"-but instantly recognized Boomer the exact moment she saw her directly and not reflected. Perhaps they also need to look the other Cylon square in the eyes, which is what Tyrol does in "[[Deadlock]]" before identifying Boomer.
**Helo did notice that Boomer did smell different. Boomer covered for this saying she found some soap.
***Helo said she smell good not different an she was washing her hands at the time. However there is a relevance to Helo mentioning her smell. In a scene from [[Litmus]] Tyrol and Boomer were in bed together shortly after engaging in intercourse. He said to her: "Sometimes at work I try to conjure up what your face looks like...Curve of your lips.....The way your hair falls. How you smell." Helo as just noted told Boomer she smelled good just before they had sex.
* Boomer has sex with [[Helo]] by pretending to be [[Sharon Agathon|Athena]] after he mistook her for his wife and he insisted after she tried to leave, but then enthusiastically let him believe she was Athena and willingly had sex with him. This is ironic, as Athena originally seduced Helo on [[Caprica (RDM)|Caprica]], by pretending to be Boomer.
** Boomer's willingness to have sex with Agathon - in the presence of Athena - was motivated by a desire to exact revenge on Athena for having effectively taken over her old life on ''Galactica'' according to the show writers.
***Though she initially hesitated, a knowing glance to the corner where Athena was hidden, is the clue to her decision to defile Athena's relationship with Helo.

===Starbuck's role===
* The mysterious piano player is [[Dreilide Thrace|Kara's father]], which can be concluded by his sudden disappearance and by the flashbacks with both Kara and her father playing the piano when she was little. These flashbacks mirror the exact same movements done by Captain Thrace and the piano player.<ref>http://www.bearmccreary.com/blog/?p=1598</ref>
* The title of the tape Kara receives back from Helo is "Dreilide Thrace Live at the Helice Opera House."
** [[w:Helice|Helice]], also spelled Helike, was an ancient Greek city which sank into the Corinthian Gulf in 373 B.C. It may have formed the basis of the myth of the lost city [[w:Atlantis|Atlantis]].<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helice</ref><ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2001/helike.shtml</ref>
** Helice was the ancient Greek name <ref>http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/620003/Ursa-Major</ref> for the constellation [[w:Ursa Major|Ursa Major]] (the Great Bear). <i>Helice</i> in Greek means "to spin" or "to turn"; it is the root of the modern word <i>helix</i>. Ursa Major revolves around [[w:Polaris|Polaris]], the Pole Star, hence the name. This may be a reference to the spinning of the [[maelstrom]] Kara flew into before her ship was destroyed, and it could also refer to the [[mandala]] found on the wall of her apartment and the [[Temple of Five]].
** [[w:Helike_(mythology)|Helice/Helike]] was also the name of a nymph in Greek mythology who nursed the infant [[Zeus]], along with another nymph, Melissa (which name itself means "honey" or "honey bee"). <ref>http://www.constellationsofwords.com/Constellations/UrsaMajor.html</ref>
** [[w:Helike_(moon)|Helike]] is also a newly-discovered moon of [[w:Jupiter|Jupiter]].
** However, the appearance of the word <i>Helice</i> in the show may simply be a tongue-in-cheek reference to [[Bear McCreary]]'s heavy involvement with this episode -- Ursa Major, and McCreary, both being "The Great Bear."<ref>http://tvbacon.wordpress.com/2009/02/28/battlestar-galactica-someone-to-watch-over-me-live-at-the-helice-opera-house/</ref>
* It is possible that Starbuck also has the ability of Projection and she projected the Piano Player beside her when she played a section of "All Along the Watchtower" from the drawing Hera made, which turned out to be musical notation. She, from her POV, was playing a long side of him but when Saul Tigh, Ellen Tigh, and Tory Foster confronted her about where she learned to play that music he was gone. Perhaps it was just standard human daydreaming, or a [[Virtual beings|Virtual being]], but it could had been projection.

===Tyrol and the other Finals===
*The Final Five have the same [[Projection|projection]] ability as the Cylons they created. Cylons can share projections.
* Projections can include not just imaginary environments but also imaginary people, such as Boomer and Tyrol's "daughter" Dionne.
* It also appears that projections might be a form of persistent environment -- similar to real-life virtual worlds such as [[w:Second Life|Second Life]], as Tyrol re-enters Boomer's projection after she escapes with Hera, as if expecting to find her and Dionne still in there.
* The Final Five, [[Hera Agathon]], and [[Kara Thrace]] are all somehow connected to each other by [[The Music]]. Also possibly connected via the song is Kara's [[Dreilide Thrace|mysterious father]].
*Both the Agathons and Tyrol suffer the lost of a daughter: Hera and Tyrol's imaginary daughter from his and Boomer's shared projection; both taken by Boomer. Hera actually, Tyrol's symbolically in Tyrol's solo projection. Both Athena and Tyrol suffer great grief and display it: Athena's primal howls and beating her arm against Helo's back in rage/despair; Tyrol's sinking to his knees and burying his head in his arms in his child's empty room in his projection. Helo initially took the situation stoically but in the previews for the next episode [[Islanded In a Stream of Stars]], it appears the emotional toll over the loss of his daughter is telling on Helo when Adama, presumably taking about Hera, says-uncharacteristically-"get over it" to a disheveled Helo.
* Ellen Tigh has the same reaction to hearing The Music as her husband and Tory Foster. She, of course, remembers hearing Sam Anders play the song on Earth.

===The status of Cylons in the Fleet===
* The Cylons seem to have officially joined the Fleet as they now have the representation they wanted on the new Quorum in the form of a Six named Sonja. It is also confirmed that Cylon and Colonial pilots are performing joint [[CAP]]s.
** This is most clearly seen when Athena staggers into the briefing room and Helo orders one of the Sixes to go get the medics, the Six unhesitatingly responds "Yes, Sir". Several Sixes and Eights are also seen attending Starbuck's "toothpaste briefing." At the toothpaste briefing, Starbuck states that "Six has the color assignments and recognition codes," (not, for instance, "''This'' Six..." or "The Six in the front row..."), and the Six in question casually raises her hand for the pilots behind her to see.
** The rebel Cylon pilots do not appear to have been commissioned into the Colonial military, as they wear Cylon flight suits and none is addressed by rank.
** The Sixes and Eights appear to use their model numbers as surnames, and are referred to and addressed as "Six" or "Eight". They do not yet appear to have been given individual call-signs.
* Despite integrating allied flight command (at least among manned Heavy Raiders), being represented in the Quorum, and subordinating their Basestar weapons control to President Roslin ("[[Blood on the Scales]]"), the Rebel Cylons have retained some sovereignty and are thus entitled to extradite Sharon "Boomer" Valerii and try her for treason under Cylon law.
* Cylon law does not prohibit punishments to be enacted ''ex post facto''. Sonja Six explains that a death penalty provision would have been meaningless prior to the destruction of the hub, yet they intend to execute Boomer if she is found guilty for the treason she is accused of committing prior to the hub's destruction.

===Miscellaneous===
* It has been unclear whether Karl Agathon is still the [[Commander Air Group]] (CAG) of Galactica or Kara Thrace officially takes over the CAG as Agathon used to join important staff meetings with Adama & Tigh in previous episodes. However, this episode clearly shows that Thrace is now serving as the CAG of Galactica.

== Questions ==
* Will Boomer take Hera to Cavil? ([[Islanded in a Stream of Stars|Answer]])
* Why does Cavil want Hera? ([[Daybreak, Part I|Answer]])
* What was Boomer writing in her cell when she first sensed Tyrol watching her?
* Why did Boomer sleep with Helo? ([[Someone to Watch Over Me#Official Statements|Answer]])
* What is the source of Starbuck's visions of her father? ([[Daybreak, Part II|Partial Answer]])
* How did Starbuck and Hera arrive at a piano version of the same [[The Music|melody]] originally played by Anders on a guitar on [[Earth (RDM)|Earth]]? ([[Daybreak, Part II|Partial Answer]])
* Will Tyrol's involvement in Boomer's escape be discovered? How will Athena and Helo react? ([[Daybreak, Part II|Answer]])
* Do all the ships in the Fleet - regardless of their relative crew and passenger size - get to send representatives to the new Quorum?
* What is Roslin's physical status after collapsing at the end of the episode? ([[Islanded in a Stream of Stars|Answer]])
* How does Roslin know of Hera's abduction without being informed? ([[Daybreak, Part II|Partial Answer]])

== Official Statements ==
*Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune interviews David Weddle and Bradley Thompson<ref>http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2009/02/battlestar-galactica-starbuck-boomer-someone-to-watch-over-me-.html</ref>:
**Boomer had a sick desire to strike out at Athena, based on a perverse envy.
**Boomer's escape with Ellen was staged so that she could kidnap Hera. She intended to just use the Chief, but their interactions did awaken feelings she thought were dead.

== Noteworthy Dialogue ==
*''Ellen Tigh, Saul Tigh, and Tory Foster are in Joe's bar. Saul is remarking at the state of someone they cared about:''

:'''Saul''': Cottle was right, I should've never insisted on seeing him. His eyes were open! I wasn't ready for that. The little guy was looking right at me!

::''Saul was not talking about Anders (in a coma with his eyes open) but the body of his dead son Liam that was delivered stillborn after he died in utero but whose corpse he insisted on seeing.''

*''Cottle gives a response to the Cylons' observations about Anders' condition''

:'''Cottle''': The last thing we need is you jerking our chains with a lot of quack ideas. So why don't you take them someplace else?

== Guest Stars ==

* [[Kate Vernon]] as [[Ellen Tigh]]
* [[Donnelly Rhodes]] as Dr. [[S. Cottle]]
* [[Rekha Sharma]] as [[Tory Foster]]
* [[Roark Critchlow]] as [[Slick]]
* [[Iliana Gomez-Martinez]] as [[Hera Agathon]]
* [[Brad Dryborough]] as Lieutenant [[Louis Hoshi]]
* [[ Torrance Coombs]] as Lance Corporal [[C. Sellers]]
* [[Ivan Cermak]] as Corporal [[D. Wallace]]
* [[Curtis Caravaggio]] as [[Nathanson]]
* [[Cherilynn Fulbright]] as [[Dionne]]
* [[Patrick Gilmore]] as [[Rafferty]]
* [[Samantha Caine]] as Off-duty Crew Person
* [[Erika-Shaye Gair]] as Young [[Kara Thrace]]
* [[Darcy Laurie]] as [[Dealino]]
* [[Sonja Bennett]] as Specialist [[Marcie Brasko]]
* [[David Weddle]] as Smoking man in [[Joe's bar]] (uncredited)

== References ==
<div style="font-size:85%"><references/></div>

{{Episode list (RDM season 4)}}

[[Category:Episodes written by Bradley Thompson]]
[[Category:Episodes written by David Weddle]]
[[Category:Episodes directed by Michael Nankin]]

Islanded in a Stream of Stars

2009-03-28T15:59:14Z

Thunderscreech: sp fix

{{Episode Data
| image=IslandintheStars.jpg
| title=Islanded In a Stream of Stars
| season= 4
| episode=18
| guests=
| writer= [[Michael Taylor]]
| story=
| director= [[Edward James Olmos]]
| production=420
| rating=1,568,000 viewers (Live+SD)<ref>{{cite_web|url=http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/03/10/icarly-burn-notice-and-wwe-raw-top-cable-charts/14228|title=iCarly, Burn Notice and WWE RAW top cable charts|date=10 March 2009|accessdate=11 March 2009|last=|first=|format=|language=}}</ref>
| US airdate=March 6, 2009
| CAN airdate=March 6, 2009
| UK airdate=March 10, 2009
| dvd=
| population=39521
| oldpopulation=39556
| prev=[[Someone to Watch Over Me]]
| next=[[Daybreak, Part I]]
| forumthread= 2892
| hulu=Y
}}

== Overview ==
''As Galactica's condition continues to get worse, [[William Adama|Adama]] is faced with the possibility of abandoning ship. In the meantime, [[Sharon Valerii|Boomer]] winds up forming an unexpected bond with [[Hera Agathon|Hera]] and [[Gaius Baltar]] learns a surprising truth about [[Kara Thrace]].''

==Summary==

===Teaser===
* With [[Sharon Valerii]]'s kidnapping of [[Hera Agathon]] and her escape, the spatial disruption caused by the close-proximity [[FTL|jump]] of her [[Raptor]] causes an immense breach in the port side of the alligator's head of ''[[Galactica]]''
* [[Hera]] is in the [[War Room]] playing with models of ''Galactica'', three [[Cylon Raider (RDM)|Cylon Raiders]] and a [[Basestar (RDM)|baseship]]. A quick cut depicts her running down a hallway in the [[Opera House]]. She moves the ''Galactica'' model in to collide with the baseship as the scene fades to the actual ''Galactica'' and her [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]].
* Inside, crew of all kinds, both from the allied Cylons and Colonials, are trying to seal the breach. Tempers are high: a [[Number Six]] and another human crew member argue. Eventually a [[Number Eight]] comes to break the two up.

* In Admiral [[William Adama|Adama's]] quarters, [[Ellen Tigh]] speaks about Hera's abduction as [[Lee Adama]], [[Kara Thrace]] and [[Saul Tigh]] listen. Ellen believes that [[Cavil]] will take Hera to the [[Cylon homeworld]] for study, to determine how Cylon procreation is possible. Saul completes Ellen's thought by saying that she knows the Cylon colony's location.
* While Lee Adama objects to the disproportionate risk in retrieving Hera, not only does Ellen indicate that the child is important for the survival of all the Cylons, but Thrace tells Lee that Hera is vital to the humans' survival as well.
* She explains how Hera wrote some [[The Music|music]]--notes that Thrace's father wrote--the same song that switched on the [[Final Five]] and led them all to [[Earth (RDM)|Earth]].
* But the admiral is "had it up to here" with prophesies and destinies. He doesn't want to endanger what's left of his people.
* When Saul convinces Adama to at least check out the colony, Adama permits a [[Heavy Raider]] to go, preferring that the Agathon's not know.

* In the Agathon's quarters, [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon]] is breaking down, as her [[Karl Agathon|husband]] tries to get her to talk and vent her feelings.

* [[Laura Roslin]], now in sickbay and noticeably weakened, experiences the [[Opera House]] dream of Hera running through it, eventually being picked up by a Number Six and [[Gaius Baltar]]. She wakes to find the admiral at her side, and tells him of the dream.

* A seam on the battlestar's hull fractures with cataclysmic results. Dozens of people, both Cylon and human, are trapped inside, the rushing air and falling pressure sealing their fate.
* The Six and human male that argued earlier are closest to a bulkhead door. With all her strength, she pushes the Colonial in front and to the door's edge as two other Colonials pull him in. She screams to close the door behind her and lock it.
* As the door is sealed, the Six loses her grip and is blown out into space.

===Act 1 and beyond===

{{cleanup}}

Lee Adama struggles to convince the newly-elected Fleet Quorum that ''Galactica'' can be saved, but many councilors are worried about becoming dependent on the Cylons for military protection. Once the Galactica meets its inevitable demise, the basestar will be the logical choice for the new flagship. [[Number Six#Sonja|Sonja]] assures them that the Cylons will continue to respect William Adama's military authority when he transfers to the Basestar, along with the rest of Galactica's crew and their planes and munitions. Other representatives begin calling first dibs on certain parts of ''Galactica'', which will of course be stripped once its time is up. Laura Roslin's cancer is killing her, and she is now confined to bed in the ship's hospital. She gradually convinces Admiral Adama that he has to abandon Galactica and move everyone over to the Cylon Basestar. Ellen Tigh tries to convince Colonel Saul Tigh that Roslin is right, but he refuses: The decision is Adm. Adama's alone.

Karl Agathon's marriage to Sharon Valerii is falling apart, as she cannot overcome the loss of her child, Hera, or the knowledge that her husband had sexual intercourse with the Number Eight known as "Boomer". Trying to save his marriage, Helo tries to get Adm. Adama to approve the launching of a Raptor to find Hera. Adama has already permitted Sonja, the Cylon representative on the new Quorum, to secretly take a Heavy Raider to the Cylon homeworld, known as "[[the Colony]]". The Colony though has already been moved to a new location by Cavil prior to the [[Cylon Civil War]]; sending Helo out in a Raptor to look for it would be a suicide mission. Adama finally refuses to give permission, to which Helo appears devastated.

Gaius Baltar continues his religious broadcasts to the Fleet, and his latest message focuses on angels walking among humanity. Baltar encounters Caprica Six, who rejects his romantic overtures. She tells him she's changed and that he has not. Baltar breaks down over the loss of his former lover. Later, Kara Thrace meets Baltar while they are both in the ship's head. Kara tells him that she died on Earth, and discovered her own body there. She gives him her dog tag to analyze. He scrapes blood from the dog tag, and finds it came from a body which was already dead. When the ''Galactica'' crew, Cylons, and Baltar's believers meet on ''Galactica'''s flight deck to bury those who died in the hull breach, Baltar reveals what he discovered about Starbuck and calls her an angel. He preaches about eternal life, but Starbuck slaps him and the service breaks up. Later, Apollo meets with Starbuck and offers her his unconditional love and support. They part as friends. Starbuck puts a photo of herself on the memorial wall of the dead.

Aboard the stolen Raptor, Hera keeps crying for her mother, infuriating Boomer. Boomer almost sedates the child, but cannot bring herself to do so; they keep jumping toward their destination. In an attempt to calm Hera, Boomer reveals her "Cylon projection" dreamworld to Hera. Hera can see the world, too, and bonds with Boomer. Boomer begins to develop strong emotional ties to the child. When the two arrive at [[the Colony]], a large Cylon space station, Cavil takes Hera from Boomer and declares that soon she will have many playmates. The child weeps and calls out for Boomer, and Boomer also sheds copious tears unwilling to part from Hera.

After an emotional breakdown, Adm. Adama realizes the ship must be abandoned. He meets with Col. Tigh, who initially resists the evacuation order but gives in after a brief discussion. All civilians are to be removed over the next few days, arrangements are to be made to put the military personnel aboard the basestar, and ''Galactica'' is to be stripped for parts. Rather than let the ship break down, Adama intends to "send her off in style."

A Number Eight and Number Six have hooked [[Samuel Anders]] up to a [[Hybrid]] tank in a an attempt to help his brain reboot, but there is no apparent change. Kara Thrace goes to Anders' bedside alone, and decides to kill him rather than let him live in a vegetative state. But as she aims a gun at his head, Anders comes awake. He babbles like a Hybrid, but his ravings also indicate that he's aware of the threat to his life. With one hand, he subdues Starbuck and she drops the pistol. Anders continues to babble, but some of his rants indicate that he is reintegrating, perhaps even repairing, his mind. ''Galactica'''s power and temperature fluctuations were because Anders was connecting to the ship, as the Hybrid tank and the Cylon polymer used to repair the battlestar are giving him the power to interact with the ship's computers. Tigh deems this too dangerous to continue, as Anders might jump the ship. Anders is disconnected from the Hybrid tank, and he falls into a coma again.

A few days later, Starbuck meets with the comatose Anders. She brings Hera's drawing of the song (the song which helped awaken the Final Five in the episode "Crossroads", and about which further complications were revealed in the episode prior to this one, "Someone to Watch Over Me"), and states assertively, that together, they will discover what is going on. She reconnects him to the ship's power systems. He awakens again, and begins speaking in the unique phrases of a hybrid.

== Notes ==

* The title comes from the book ''[[w:The Outermost House|The Outermost House]]'', by [[w:Henry Beston|Henry Beston]], where he chronicles his time spent living on an isolated beach in Cape Cod. In the chapter "Night on the Great Beach" he wrote, "For a moment of night we have a glimpse of ourselves and of our world ''islanded in its stream of stars''— pilgrims of mortality, voyaging between horizons across eternal seas of space and time."

* Two original Cylon Raiders can be seen inside the Colony.

* [[Ellen Tigh]] leads the Cylons in performing the [[Prayer to the Cloud of Unknowing]] at the service.

* The Six that gives her life to save that of a ''Galactica'' crewmember is yet another example of a Six with a unique personality, this time one closer in tone to the "working-class" attitude exhibited by ''Galactica's'' human maintenance crew (aka the "knuckle-draggers").

== Analysis ==
* This episode is the first to show repairs to the outer hull of ''Galactica''. As with the earlier repairs to the [[Space Park]], scaffolding, support Raptors and repair crewmen in space suits are seen trying to patch the breach. Presumably this is not the first time ''Galactica'' has undergone makeshift repairs given the pounding she has taken. However this time the endemic damage to the hull makes the repairs much more challenging.

*When [[Caprica-Six]] was at [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar's]] congregation he spoke to her about hearing about her living arrangement and offered a place to stay. From this it seems after the in utero death of [[Liam|Liam Tigh]], [[Saul Tigh]] and Caprica Six have broken up as a couple. As a side effect, Col. Tigh has reverted to his "us" and "them" attitude toward Cylons as a whole despite himself and his wife being Cylons including an increase of anti Cylon "racial" slurs.

*[[Chief Tyrol]] was no where to be seen in this episode. Even crewman [[Dealino]] gives a report to both [[Admiral Adama]] and [[Saul Tigh|Colonel Tigh]] of what the attitudes of the Cylons, particularly the [[Leoben]]s, thought as to how many jumps ''[[Galactica (RDM)|Galactica]]'' had left in her. [[Bear McCreary]] reveals<ref>http://www.bearmccreary.com/blog/?p=1671</ref> there is an extended scene on the DVD which shows Chief Tyrol is being held in ''Galactica'''s brig for his part in [[Sharon Valerii|Boomer's]] escape.

*[[Hera Agathon|Hera]] demonstrates the power of [[projection]] to Boomer, to Boomer's surprise.
* It is possible that the opening shot of the episode is a projection of Hera's. If so, it is also possible that Hera's projections are prophetic in nature. She pushes the model of ''Galactica'' into a model of a basestar, which could hint at an eventual confrontation between ''Galactica'' and the Cylons.
*In sickbay, Adama and Roslin reminisces about New Caprica and about the cabin they wanted to build but can't. This scene is in its own way similar to the scene in which Boomer and Tyrol shared a projection of the house they had intended to build on Picon. As humans, Adama and Roslin can only conjure up fond memories and regrets in their own mind's eyes. Both couples know that it is never to be, building their dream houses.

*Helo wanted Athena to say that she hated him because he saw it in her eyes. She almost did. In a close up of her lips her mouth parted slightly but then closed. This is most likely for him sleeping with Boomer, who subsequently took Hera. Athena probably understands that Helo couldn't prevent the kidnapping but she probably feels that he should had known that it was not Athena he was sleeping with. It is however conceivable she could blame him for the taking of Hera if she thinks that if he realized that it wasn't her he could had had Boomer captured even before she got near Hera.

*In the episode we saw what is essentially the [[The Colony|Cylon homeworld]]. [[Ellen Tigh]] explained in a meeting with Admiral Adama, Lee Adama, Tory Foster, Saul Tigh, and Kara Thrace where the Cylons (including the [[Final Five]]) were for the past 40 years: "I guess you can call it home. It's where we and the Centurions went after the [[Cylon War|First War]] once we convinced them to abandon their own experiments with evolution in exchange for [[Resurrection (RDM)|resurrection]] technology." In the show's timeline Cavil's faction moved the Colony to its present location five months ago just prior to the Cylon Civil War. It is large space station built with the same biological design principles like the [[Baseships]].

*Adama's heavy drinking, pill-popping and unprofessional behavior over the last few episodes seems to recall [[Romo Lampkin]]'s comment that "the soldier in him has had enough" in [[The Son Also Rises]].

* Galactica, nicknamed [[the Bucket]], suffers a severe hull breach at the beginning of the episode. Among the "random" phrases hybrid-Anders spouts are the lyrics of the Earth folk song "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There's_a_hole_in_the_bucket There's a Hole in My Bucket]". Helo tells Adama that he is "painting over the holes in this bucket."
** "There's a Hole in My Bucket" is an example of an infinite loop. After several verses describing the intermediate steps required to fix the bucket, it is ultimately revealed that the initial problem--the hole--may only be resolved by gathering water in the self-same bucket. In other words, all this has happened before, and will happen again.

* A corpse produces "death enzymes" as it decomposes. Its likely Baltar found high concentrations of these enzymes on Starbuck's dogtags.

* This episode specifically highlights the existence of 'angels' that walk amongst the humans. Baltar of course was referring to his Virtual-Six, but it applies to Caprica-Six's own Viritual-Baltar and the only unseen characters that have appear throughout the show. Another interesting fact to note is that the [[First Hybrid]]'s prophecy before his death was how the humans and Cylons will be gathered in the arms of an angel and carried into the promised land.

* Kara Thrace is called an angel by Baltar during his declaration of eternal life after he examined Thrace's dogtag. She has also been referred or linked to the Goddess Aurora, who guides ships to safe harbors and who resembles what is typically thought of as 'angels.' Thrace's other title from the Hybrids as the harbinger of death may be another spin on her 'angelic' nature as the manifestations of angels in modern day world religions are considered to be signs of the end times.

== Questions ==
* What does Cavil mean when he tells Hera that she will soon have new playmates?
* How conscious is Anders?
* Is there a parallel between Anders' recitation of a real-world folk song, "There's a Hole in My Bucket," and the use of the real-world song "All Along the Watchtower"?
* Will Boomer defect from Cavil because of her new attachment to Hera?
* Does the presence of First Cylon War-era Cylon Raiders at the Colony indicate the presence of older-model [[Cylon Centurion Model 0005|Cylon Centurions]], too?
* Does Cavil intend to pursue biological reproduction, recreate the resurrection process, or both?
* Is there some way of finding the Colony? ([[Daybreak, Part I|Answer]])
* Do the Eights consider the rest of the Final Five their parents, as they consider Saul Tigh to be their father? Do other models also regard some or all of the Final Five as parental figures?
* Is the Colony the Final Five's original ship, or an outgrowth of it? ([[Islanded in a Stream of Stars#Official Statements|Answer]])

== Official Statements ==
*''In his podcast for this episode Ronald D. Moore stated:''
:That Gas Giant that Boomer jumped in next to while she was heading for [[The Colony]] with Hera was '''''not''''' Jupiter.(14':10")
:Kara Thrace was going to kill Sam Anders. In other words if he didn't grab her arm she would had '''definitely''' pulled the trigger (22':30")
:In response to some fans criticisms that the show focused to much on relationships and not enough action RDM says the show was ''first'' a drama and second a science fiction series. The show was about people and their relationship to each other that was foremost. (25':10")
:Daniel is not Kara Thrace's father. Further, Daniel plays no role in events other than being Abel to Cavil's Cain. Daniel's murder and the destruction of his line was a point of illustration on the character of John Cavil, nothing more.
:The Colony was built around the Final Five's original sublight ship.

== Noteworthy Dialogue ==
* ''[[Saul Tigh|Colonel Tigh]] fulfills a request to comfort to a dying [[Number Eight]]:''
:'''Number Eight:''' (weakly, child like) Thank you.
:'''Tigh:''' Thank me? For what?
:'''Number Eight:''' For the privilege of finally being able to meet my father before I die.
:'''Tigh:''' You shouldn't be thanking me. I spent most of my life trying to kill your kind.
:'''Number Eight:''' [[The Music|Too much confusion]].
:''(Death rattle, the Eight flatlines)''

* ''[[Bill Adama]] is talking with Kara Thrace about looking for Hera:''
: '''Adama:''' In other words, it's our destiny to go after her, right?
: '''Thrace:''' ''(facial expressions and body language indicates "yes")''
: '''Adama:''' Wrong. I've had it up to here with destiny, prophecy, with God or the Gods. Look where it's left us. The ass end of nowhere; nearly half of our people are gone; Earth, a worthless cinder; and I can't even walk down the halls of my ship without wondering if I'm gonna catch a bullet for getting us into this mess.

*'' Ellen Tigh and Saul Tigh are in their quarters and Ellen is trying to get a reluctant Saul to acknowledge his responsibility for his fellow Cylon's interest in survival.''

:'''Ellen:''' Whether you remember that life or not, at least you must understand what we were trying to do. We wanted to end the cycle of war between man and machine.

:'''Tigh:''' That was a bust.

:'''Ellen''' ''(frustrated)'': Yes, we failed, but we have a second chance now: Hera. Without her our children are going to die off one by one, just like they're dying right now in Cottle's sickbay.

:'''Tigh:''' I had a child. He died.

:'''Ellen''' ''(thinks for a moment)'': You're wrong Saul ''(caresses his left cheek, shakes her head)'' You have millions.

== Guest Stars ==

* [[Kate Vernon]] as [[Ellen Tigh]]
* [[Donnelly Rhodes]] as Dr. [[S. Cottle]]
* [[Rekha Sharma]] as [[Tory Foster]]<ref>[http://www.buddytv.com/articles/battlestar-galactica/exclusive-interview-rekha-shar-20017.aspx Exclusive Interview: Rekha Sharma of 'Battlestar Galactica' - BuddyTV]</ref>
* [[Iliana Gomez-Martinez]] as [[Hera Agathon]]
* [[Dean Stockwell]] as [[Number One]]
*[[Bodie Olmos]] as Lieutenant [[Brendan Costanza|Brenden "Hotdog" Constanza]]
* [[David Patrick Green]] as Captain [[Xeno Fenner]]
* [[Kerry Norton]] as [[Layne Ishay]]
* [[Lara Gilchrist]] as [[Paulla Schaffer]]
* [[Leela Savasta]] as [[Tracy Anne]]
* [[Darcy Laurie]] as [[Dealino]]
* [[Susan Hogan]] Captain [[Doyle Franks]]
* [[William Samples]] as Captain [[Jules Tarney]]

== References ==

<div style="font-size:85%"><references/></div>

{{Episode list (RDM season 4)}}
[[Category:Episodes written by Michael Taylor]]
[[Category:Episodes directed by Edward James Olmos]]

Daybreak, Part I

2009-03-28T15:56:55Z

Thunderscreech: Sp fix

{{Episode Data
| image=FirstDaybreak.jpg
| title=Daybreak, Part I
| season= 4
| episode=19
| guests=
| writer= [[Ronald D. Moore]]
| story=
| director= [[Michael Rymer]]
| production=421
| rating=1,661,000 viewers (Live+SD)<ref>{{cite_web|url=http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/03/17/wwe-raw-cars-hannah-montana-and-spongebob-lead-weekly-cable-viewing/14680|title=WWE RAW, Cars, Hannah Montana and SpongeBob Lead Weekly Cable Viewing|date=17 March 2009|accessdate=25 March 2009|last=|first=|format=|language=}}</ref>
| US airdate=March 13, 2009
| CAN airdate=March 13, 2009
| UK airdate=March 17, 2009
| dvd=
| population=39516
| oldpopulation=39521
| prev=[[Islanded In a Stream of Stars ]]
| next=[[Daybreak, Part II]]
| forumthread= 2994
}}

== Overview ==
:''[[Galactica (RDM)|Galactica]] begins to be stripped of parts, and [[William Adama|Adama]] calls for volunteers for a final mission.''

== Summary ==

=== Act 1 ===
'''In [[Caprica City]]'''
*The Act opens with a montage, including a galaxy, a bird trapped in a skylight, water falling into a pool, and light over a planet. Establish a modern city: "Caprica City - Before the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|Fall]]".
*[[William Adama|Bill Adama]], wearing civilian clothes, converses with another gentleman in a shaded room. Adama talks about his combat experience, commanding billions of cubits of men and materials, but doesn't want to go through with something. The man responds that he's only asking for one hour of his time, and that "sometimes there are things that you gotta do."
*Across the city, Dr. [[Gaius Baltar]] speaks with [[Caprica-Six]] in a limo, talking briefly about having things done for you as opposed to being independent. Baltar and Caprica-Six begin fooling around in the limo, when a call comes through. Baltar is immediately shaken. He apologizes and asks the other person to wait for him. The other person sounds ready to leave, but Baltar tells the person on the other end to wait for him, or he will sue for abandonment.
*[[Laura Roslin]] sees out the last guest from her sister's baby shower. Laura and her two younger sisters sit on the couch, celebrating and laughing together.
*In an apartment kitchen, [[Kara Thrace]] contemplates something and prepares food when the doorbell rings. Kara is surprised, saying they're early, and greets [[Lee Adama]] at the door, carrying flowers. Kara invites him in and calls for Zak. [[Zak Adama]] comes out, greets his brother, and introduces Kara as his girlfriend.
*Baltar pleads with Nurse Barbara to stay with his father [[Julius Baltar|Julius]] at his apartment, after she is stabbed with a steak knife, but she refuses and leaves. Caprica-Six walks in, despite Baltar's instructions to stay in the car. Baltar starts berating his father over the fact that he's driven away three nurses, at great cost to him, while his father starts talking about Baltar's past. Baltar starts yelling and hitting his father, demanding that he shut up. Baltar then sends Caprica-Six away, saying he will be spending the rest of the evening with his father.
*At her apartment, Laura Roslin is informed by two Caprica City Police officers that the previous night, her father and sisters died in a car accident. The other driver survived, and was intoxicated at the time of the accident. Roslin, upset, calmly asks the officers to leave. She stands in her apartment, alone, thinking, and then walks to a park in her nightgown. She rests her feet in the fountain, and then wades in the water, and rests on a nearby rock, letting the splashing water wash over her. The drops of water falling into the pond match what was seen in the earlier montage.

'''Aboard [[Galactica|''Galactica'']]'''
*An IV drip, overlooking Laura Roslin resting in Sickbay.
*In the Hangar Bay, Lee Adama complains about the amount of materials the ship captains want from ''Galactica''. Lee signs a number of documents (and also sends some back for revision), when a deckhand argues over the fact that the magnetic accelerators are being stripped. While Lee points out that they can be used as autoloaders for the civilian ships, the deckhand says that "it's like tearing the old girl's heart out", as it's used in launching Vipers. Lee compromises that the accelerators will be last thing they remove from ''Galactica'', then they'll "turn out the lights, and let the old girl die in peace."

=== Act 2 ===
'''Aboard [[Galactica|''Galactica'']]'''
*As [[William Adama|Admiral Adama]] finishes packing the last of his belongings to be moved to the Cylon basestar, the hull rattles overhead.
*Paulla tells [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] that they now control a majority in at least half the ships in the fleet. While Paulla continues to cheer about their political power, Baltar is informed by [[Virtual Six]] that "humanity's final chapter is about to be written," with him as the author. Baltar turns back to Paulla, thinking back.
*In [[Sam Anders|Anders']] room, [[Kara Thrace|Kara]] sits with him, contemplating the notes she got from Hera ([[Someone to Watch Over Me]]). With equations and notes, Kara continues to ponder.
*In the CIC, Lt. [[Hoshi]] cleans up a spill, while Tigh announces that the Admiral will fly out the last Viper personally. He orders that the deck gang keep one launch tube intact and ready for remote activation. Tigh comments on Hoshi's inability to clean up the spill, saying "you won't make Admiral like that."
*In the brig, [[Karl Agathon|Helo]] and an imprisoned [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] argue over the uniqueness of the Eights. Helo points out that Tyrol's relationship with Boomer, much like his with Athena's, are unique. Tyrol scoffs, calling himself a "frakkin' idiot" for not realizing that they're just machines, not people. The Eights are all the same "...because [[Final Five|''we'']] made them the same." Tyrol says that they can't be trusted, at which point, Helo ends the conversation abruptly.

'''In Caprica City'''
*As Baltar escorts a lovely young woman into his house, he walks in to find [[Caprica-Six]] there, sitting. Baltar shoos the young woman upstairs, while Baltar declares Caprica an intruder and orders her out. Caprica-Six mentions that she had Julius moved to the Regency, a full-time care facility. Caprica mentions that he loves his new arrangements, and that the last time she saw him, he seemed happy.

'''Inside [[The_Colony|the Colony]]'''
*Hera draws notes on a large paper, while [[Number One|Cavil]] points out that they're just "little dots." [[Number Four|Simon]] suggests that they feed Hera through tubes, while [[Sharon Valerii|Boomer]] insists that the girl just misses her mother. Cavil rejects this idea coldly, saying Hera is just a hybrid who holds the key to Cylon salvation, nothing more. Cavil leaves as Simon prepares a large needle with Hera and Boomer in view.

=== Act 3 ===
'''Aboard [[Galactica|''Galactica'']]'''
*[[William Adama|Admiral Adama]] helps [[Hotdog]] (with child in tow) with some pictures that fell while they crossed paths. Hotdog says that he grabbed photos of pilots from the [[Memorial hallway]] to ensure they weren't "left behind", but mentions there are a lot of photos still on the walls. Adama glances at the photos, stopping at one of [[Sharon Agathon|Athena]] kissing [[Hera Agathon|Hera]] on the head. Adama then walks quickly out of the area, pauses, then walks back and takes the photo off the wall.
*On the Hangar Deck, Baltar pleads Lee Adama to listen to a proposal asking for representation within the new government. Despite Baltar's claims that it will be for thousands of people, Lee is dubious of Baltar's motives as he outed Kara's secret. Baltar contends that Lee is letting his feelings for Kara cloud the possibility of genuine conversation. Lee allows him five minutes to state his case and walks away, with Baltar quickly following.
*Admiral Adama looks over Kara's notes regarding the musical notes inside Anders' room. Kara admits she's reaching, looking for patterns and inspirations by assigning numbers to the notes, but is still unsure. Adama asks Kara about Baltar's declaration, which she confirms, and explains how she discovered and burned her remains on Earth. Kara is unsure of what she is, but Adama is sure that he thinks of her as a "daughter", and tells her not to forget it. Adama wants to ask Anders a question, to which Kara plugs him in. Anders shows signs of movement from his hands as power can be heard. Once powered up, Anders begins to speak in riddles, particularly about Kara. Kara dismisses the statements, and gives Adama the OK to ask his question. Adama decides to have Kara ask the question instead, although the actual question is not heard as the act ends.

'''In Caprica City'''
*In a tub, Anders responds to a reporter's questions about his possibilities for a championship despite his team being in a rebuilding year. The reporter asks if his career would be incomplete without the championship, to which Anders starts by giving some general, seemingly canned responses. Then, in a candid moment, Anders tells the reporter that the championship, statistics, even the games don't really matter to him, but rather the pursuit of the "perfection" of the moment.

=== Act 4 ===
'''Aboard [[Galactica|''Galactica'']]'''
*Inside a Hangar storage area, Baltar tries some pleasantries, but Lee cuts him off and asks for the point. Baltar begins by saying that once ''Galactica'' is gone, that a new life will have begun, to which Baltar believes a different philosophy is needed in the days ahead. Baltar pledges his support to help this new era, but only asks for his people to have a say in government. Lee scoffs at the idea, saying that all he's known of Baltar's actions, is that they have served him in some way, and are all suspect as a result. Lee declines Baltar's request for representation for his group, on the grounds that he can't be trusted. Baltar relents, then leaves.
*As Lee walks out of the storage room and Baltar converses with his followers, Admiral Adama enters, followed by Kara. The Admiral and Kara stretch a line of tape on the floor of the deck. Adama begins to speak to the crew in the Hangar Deck regarding the disappearance of Hera, and that originally a rescue was not practical, but was wrong.
*Across the ship, the crew begins to talk about the rescue plan...
**Hotdog talks with the pilots about where the Admiral got the information. The Admiral didn't say where, but Hotdog speculates that Anders gave the information as Kara was by the Admiral's side.
**Ishay and Cottle discuss the fact that until now, they weren't sure of where Hera was located, but that has apparently changed. Roslin overhears this with a concerned look.
**Tory and Ellen walk through the halls, saying that even with the location, it's not the same as being able to get her. Tory expresses her dislike of the rescue idea, but Ellen argues that Hera's importance is outside their understanding, and that they are all going with them. Tory thinks that Ellen is deciding for the group, but Ellen points out that Tory never liked being alone.
**Tory and Ellen pass Lee Adama, relaying instructions over the phone. Lee mentions that the mission is strictly voluntary, and that any man or woman over the age of 15 may join up, including the ones detained due to the mutiny.
**In the CIC, Colonel Tigh declares that all personnel must make their own choice in person and that the Admiral is waiting on the Hangar Deck. Tigh also gives last minute instructions regarding the watch and watchkeepers, then orders the crew to move. Tigh asks Hoshi what he's going to do, which Hoshi isn't sure about. Tigh mentions that he has "four minutes" to figure it out.
**In their quarters, Helo and Athena discuss the rescue. Helo is very enthusiastic about the attempt, while Athena is convinced Hera's mostly likely dead. Helo still believes that Hera is alive, they will get her back, and everything will be all right. While Athena is still not convinced, Helo says she's wrong and leaves.

'''In [[Caprica City]]'''
*Lee Adama staggers into his apartment, laughing about a "dare" that took place at Zak and Kara's place. As Lee knocks over some glasses, he spots a pigeon inside his apartment. Lee angrily tries to shoo the pigeon out with a broom, but after breaking more things, gives up in frustration.

=== Act 5 ===
'''In [[Caprica City]]'''
*[[Laura Roslin]] is on the phone with someone while dining alone, dismissing the fact that she is a recluse in the 3 months since her father and sisters' death. She is also adamant against joining Mayor Adar's campaign, saying she doesn't like politics. She makes a deal with the person, however, that she will go on a date with a man, Shawn Ellison, if they drop the idea of Roslin joining Adar's campaign.

'''Aboard [[Galactica|''Galactica'']]'''
*In Sickbay, Laura Roslin puts on her wig, getting ready to leave.
*Admiral Adama gives a final impassioned speech to the assembled crew on the Hangar Deck, saying they should not be obligated to join the mission. Adama has made a personal choice to undertake the mission. Should not enough people join the mission to crew Galactica, a Raptor assault will be lead by him in its place. Adama makes it clear that this mission will mostly likely be one-way, so emotion or sentiment should not be considered. Pointing to the line on the deck, Admiral Adama asks for volunteers to move to the Starboard side and those choosing to remain with the fleet to move to Port.
*The crew begins shifting between sides. During the exchange, Adama asks Dr. Cottle to remain with the fleet, but thanks him for the thought. When all the movement has settled, those among the volunteers include Lee Adama, Starbuck, Hotdog, the Final Five (save Anders), Caprica-Six, and a visibly weakened Laura Roslin. Baltar and his followers do not volunteer for the mission.
*Adama and a few others look over pictures taken by the Raptor, explaining that Anders has given them an accurate location of [[The Colony|the Colony]], but that it sits in orbit of a "naked singularity" (black hole). The only gravitationally stable entry point sits less than one click from the facility, "point-blank range," and that the facility's defenses will naturally be trained on that point. Looking at the pictures, the Admiral declares that they should "get to work".
*"To be continued..."

'''Outside [[The Colony|the Colony]]'''
*Raptor 279, piloted by Racetrack and Skulls, jump to the coordinates given by Anders. They complete the jump, only to be nearly hit by an asteroid. The two joke about going on the mission as opposed to being detained, when Skulls picks up readings of a naked singularity. As the Raptor slides towards the black hole, a DRADIS contact is picked up, to both their amazement.

== Notes ==

* This episode is the first part of a three hour series finale<ref>http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2008/06/battlestars-fin.html</ref>.
* The episode does not have an opening teaser beyond the "Previously..." segment and a brief depiction of Galactica deckhands and several Baseship Number Eight pilots guiding passengers to ships and other ''Galactica'' bound ships from the Baseship. Nor does the opening credits include clips from the episode, the first time this has happened since the start of Season 3. As Part II does not have a standard opening credits sequence, this episode marked the final broadcast of the show's theme music and on-screen tally of human survivors.
*We finally learn [[Sherman Cottle|Cottle]]'s first name: Sherman. Admiral Adama uses the name when telling him he's too valuable for the fleet to lose.
* [[Laura Roslin]] had two sisters (one pregnant), and that they and her father were killed in an automobile accident at some point before she was appointed as Secretary of Education under the Adar Administration.
* Baltar's father appears for the first time. Baltar's accent is confirmed to be an affectation, as previously revealed in [[Dirty Hands]].
*A couple of years before the Fall it seems that Lee Adama liked to get drunk and carouse. This is in stark contrast post Fall to his sober and controlled demeanor who looked on with disdain over Kara's, Colonel Tigh's and even his own father's drinking problems.
* Baltar specifically told [[Caprica Six]] he forgot her name, albeit it is possible that he has yet to learn it, despite having a relationship with her.
* Cultural oddity: keep an eye on the rear window of Baltar's limo for a recognizable Vancouver, B.C. street sign.
* After several episodes leaving the facts open to speculation, it is confirmed that the ''Galactica'' pilots that took part in the mutiny, such as [[Racetrack]], were incarcerated and not executed. Ronald D. Moore had previously said that Racetrack, [[Skulls]] and other mutiny participants were confined on the prison ship ''[[Astral Queen]]'' in his podcast for [[Deadlock]]. Also confirmed [[Galen Tyrol]] was imprisoned for his role in unwittingly helping Boomer to escape with Hera (a scene indicating this was filmed for "[[Islanded in a Stream of Stars]]" but cut from the televised version).
* For the first time in many episodes, the six surviving members of the [[Significant Seven]] appear in the same episode (although [[Leoben]] appears only in the opening recap). This was the first time appearance of a [[Doral]] or a [[Simon]] since [[The Hub]].
* In the flashback to Starbuck's apartment, the painting of the Eye of Jupiter can be seen behind her when she opens the door.
*As [[Hybrid]] [[Samuel Anders|Anders]] recites his seemingly random phrases to a listening Admiral Adama and Captain Thrace he says "Slip the surly bonds of Earth and touch the face of perfection" This is a variation of a quote by [[Wikipedia:John Gillespie Magee, Jr|John Gillespie Magee, Jr.]] in his 1941 poem [[Wikipedia: High Flight|High Flight]]: "Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth, And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings..." [http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/highflig.htm] The poem goes on and concludes with "Put out my hand and touched the face of God." This was quoted by Ronald Reagan much closer to Ander's rendition on January 28, 1986 when addressing the nation after the Challenger disaster "We will never forget them this morning as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God."
*At the end of the episode, Lee Adama wears his old Major's [[Uniforms (RDM)#Regular uniform|uniform]] (with white piping), but without his [[Military Ranks (RDM)#Insignia|rank insignia]] or [[Insignia (RDM)#Pilot wings|pilot wings]].
* The known volunteers for the mission include Laura Roslin, Lee Adama, Kara Thrace, Athena, Helo, Caprica Six, the Final Five, Hoshi, Nurse Ishay, Hot Dog, Racetrack, and Skulls. Doc Cottle initially volunteers for the mission, but stays behind at Adama's request. Although Gaius Baltar does not volunteer, he seems to be highly conflicted with himself.

== Analysis ==
*Cavil plans to use Hera to find out how she was created in order to continue the Cylon species, presumably through normal reproduction.
**It also proves Cavil intends to dissect Hera to discover the secret of procreation, confirming both Starbuck's and Athena's worst fears.
*Roslin likely feels quite protective of Hera as despite being barely able to walk, she volunteers for the rescue mission (although her love for Adama likely also played a part in her decision).
*Cottle may be either the best doctor in the fleet or one of the only ones as Adama says he's too valuable for the fleet to lose on the rescue mission.
*Baltar seems conflicted when volunteers are called. This inner conflict stems from his earlier conversation with Lee Adama where he confessed that he had never done anything for purely selfless motivations with no gain for himself. He does not, however, cross the line and join the volunteers.
** If Baltar does join, then it would seem likely that all the elements are in place to fulfill the Opera House vision: Athena, Roslin, Caprica Six and Baltar will all be in pursuit of Hera.
** Baltar's Virtual Six has told him many times that he is supposed to be Hera's guardian and "father". It seems incongruous with his destiny for him not to join a mission to rescue Hera.
*It's clear that despite his controversial choices, Adama still commands a great deal of loyalty and respect from the crew. Much of the crew - or at least those that are on the hangar deck at the time - volunteers for the mission. At the very least, Adama has enough people with him to take ''Galactica'' into battle.
** It should be noted that although the non-volunteers appear to outnumber the volunteers at least two-to-one, many of the non-volunteers are civilians.
** It should also be noted that almost all the Marines volunteer for the mission.
** Also, it is likely Adama will have more volunteers than are visible on screen in the hangar deck scene. Certainly not all the crew of ''Galactica'' were on the hangar deck at the time given the size of the combined crew at this point. Doubtless some had to stay on duty (Colonel Tigh confirms this when he says in CIC that those on duty must report to Adama later to declare themselves) or were on the Cylon basestar or civilian ships helping offload Galactica's stripped parts. It was also probably impractical for the producers to muster some 3000 plus extras for this scene to show Galactica's full crew.
** Given that Adama had trouble manning ''Galactica'' during the occupation of [[New Caprica]], when the ship was stated as being at half strength, it is fair to assume the Admiral is going to need roughly half the original crew compliment to carry out this last combat mission - roughly 1300 people. As stated above, this many volunteers are not seen on screen, but given some crew could volunteer later, Adama might well muster about this number in the end.
*In the brig Tyrol tells Helo-who is surprisingly civil even sympathetic toward Tyrol given his hand in the abduction-that they are all the same referring to the Eights. He says it as a word of advice and warning. That they made them the same and therefore can only expect betrayal from Athena as what happened to Tyrol at the hands of Boomer. However, given the fact that he has no first hand knowledge of making the Eights and the other seven Cylon models and the psychic pain Galen suffered at the betrayal, his opinion most likely comes from deep, deep, abiding pain and not a intellectual analysis in his disregard of the individuality of Athena and the other Eights and particularly Athena's track record of loyalty. This also maybe a case of misery loves company and Tyrol, subconsciously or knowingly, wants to see Helo and Athena split up to allay his own feelings of being duped, by saying they are all a like and putting doubt in Helo's mind. Also, by claiming that Athena and the other Eights are just machines this could mitigate the guilt for his role in the abduction and possible death of Hera. If Athena is just a machine, then she cannot be hurt emotionally. She has no emotions, just a programmed facsimile. Tyrol wouldn't have to feel responsible for such pain he caused her since, as a machine, she can't really feel it, sparing '''''himself''''' a lot of pain and guilt.
*Tyrol is himself a Cylon machine, so his rant speaks of denial and projected self-hatred as well as bitterness.
*The finale appears to be taking a character-driven approach, devoting significant screen time to pivotal flashbacks for the central characters that relate to their current circumstances.
**We see the first time Starbuck and Apollo' met, with hints alluding to their future romantic relationship.
**Roslin deals with the sudden death of her sisters and father by wading into a fountain, which she uses to disguise the tears that she shed for the lost of her family. The gushing water cuts to a shot of her IV drip as she lies dying on Galactica.
**Baltar and Caprica-Six begin their relationship with an act of compassion on Six's part towards Baltar's father. Baltar's selfishness, a theme raised repeatedly in the episode, is contrasted with Caprica Six's seemingly genuine concern for [[Julius Baltar|Julius]].
*One of the shots in the opening sequence is of a sun rising over a blue planet: daybreak. The theme may symbolize an end to the fleet's long four years of gloom and darkness.
**In that image of the planet, Antarctica is clearly seen, specifically the Ronne Ice Shelf, Queen Maud Land, and the Antarctic Peninsula. Where southern South America and southern Africa would be, the surface is covered by clouds, and the location of southern Australia/New Zealand is too dark. Although not as recognizable as the image of North America in [[Crossroads, Part II]], it is clear that the planet shown here is our Earth.
***Despite the similarities, the sun and the stars are in the wrong position for this to be our Earth. More than likely, the planet being depicted is Caprica. Especially when the sequence is taken as a whole: The Galaxy, Sun rise over a planet, In orbit over the planet, then a helicopter like fly over of Caprica City heavily implies that was Caprica as the planet we saw.
*Hera is drawing "dots", as Cavil calls them, on the Colony. These are much more numerous than the simple line that she gave Starbuck, its at least a full page long. It seems to be an entire musical score. However, not knowing that they are music notes, Cavil doesn't see this.
*Someone left a picture of Athena about to kiss Hera on the head on the now abandoned memorial wall. It may have been Athena herself, who has given up on Hera's survival.
* Baltar's reaction to Lee's accusation that he has never done a selfless thing in his life shows how much the character of Baltar has grown, especially in the Fourth Season. Previously, whenever someone called Baltar's motives or attributes (especially his loyalty) into question, he reacted very passionately, and angrily, to defend himself (and often led to him being coaxed into doing what Virtual Six wanted, to the detriment of the humans in the fleet). On this occasion, however, Baltar not only does not even attempt to defend himself, he resignedly admits that he wouldn't trust him either (tacitly admitting both that Lee is correct in his assertion and that his self-serving actions have been extremely detrimental in the past). This change in attitude visibly surprises Lee who seems quite taken aback and appears to momentarily contemplate talking to Baltar again when he returns to the Hanger Deck.
* Adama's decision to rescue Hera was prompted by Constanza's remarks about saving the photos of his fallen comrades because he didn't want to leave them behind. It should not then be surprising to see that Constanza was one of the first pilots (not counting Lee Adama) to cross the line and join in the potential suicide mission with Adama.
* Anders' flashback of his life before the War contains an interesting aspect of Anders not seen before. Though he was implanted with memories of being a "jock", but when he candidly spoke to the sports reporter, he revealed a more intellectual and artistic side of himself. This may be a hint of his former personality (a scientist and musician) before Cavil blocked his memories.
* It is ironic that Anders' flashback finds him in a tub.
* In a humorous side commentary, Skulls points out that many of the dangerous or lethal Raptor missions are usually given to him and Racetrack. Historically, this has been true as the duo have been pivotal for discoveries such as New Caprica, receiving the first message from the Resistance, discovering that the Cylons were tracking the fleet to the Nebula, propulsion problems (exploding engine) due to contaminated jet fuel.
* Skull's comment of "The more things change the more they stay the same." is a different twist of quoting the Pythian Prophecy that "All this has happened before, and all this will happen again." The phrase is a common proverb in English, indicating that surface changes only serve to reveal enduring underlying constants. It is derived from a French epigram by novelist Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1808-1890), "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."

== Questions ==
=== Flashbacks ===
* To what is Adama's flashback conversation referring? ([[Daybreak, Part II|Answer]])
* Who was the drunk driver that killed Roslin's sisters and father? Is he alive in the fleet today?
* Who is Sean Allison and why does his name sound familiar to Roslin? ([[Daybreak, Part II|Answer]])
* What is the time frame for the flashbacks, and is it the same for all characters?

===Mission to save Hera===
* How is [[Sam Anders]] able to provide the new location of [[the Colony]]? What transpired between him, Starbuck, and Adama?
* How many of the jailed mutineers volunteer to participate in the mission?
* As the episode began, ''Galactica'' was already being cannibalized for parts; does this mean it will be lacking vital components during the upcoming mission, or has Adama stopped the salvaging?
* Will Boomer help Hera escape? ([[Daybreak, Part II|Answer]])

===Cavil's Plan===
* Has Cavil given up on the idea of salvaging Resurrection Technology? ([[Daybreak, Part II|Answer]])

===Miscellaneous===
*With [[William Adama|Commander Adama]], [[Saul Tigh|XO Tigh]], [[Laura Roslin|President Roslin]] and [[Lee Adama|Vice-President Lee Adama]] all joining the Hera rescue mission, who will assume military and political leadership of the Fleet? ([[Daybreak, Part II|Answer]])
* With [[Hotdog]] being one of the volunteers, and especially being aware that he may not return alive, who will take care of Nicholas?
*With Tyrol on the rebound from Sharon Valerii, will Tory Foster and Tyrol renew their romance despite not having their original memories? ([[Daybreak, Part II|Answer]])
* At the very beginning of the episode, an image of the galaxy is displayed which includes several prominent stars in bright colors... is there a connection to Hera's multicolored "dots"? Do her notes represent stars, and will the sequence provide a map that leads to somewhere?
* Will the Cylon baseship remain with the civilian fleet or will they also join in on the rescue mission to save Hera? ([[Daybreak, Part II|Answer]])

== Official Statements ==
*''In his podcast for [[Islanded in a Stream of Stars]], Ronald D. Moore stated that there will be no independent podcast for Daybreak Part I. Instead a single podcast would be made for all three hours including the two hour series finale [[Daybreak Part II]] and posted at the scifi.com site.'' [http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast.php] (00':30")

== Noteworthy Dialogue ==
:"No one should feel obligated to join this mission in any way. This is a decision I have made for myself. If it turns out that there are not enough personnel to crew [[Galactica|''Galactica'']], I will lead a [[Raptor]] assault with anyone who is willing to join me. Let there be no illusions; this is likely to be a one-way trip! So don't volunteer out of sentiment or emotion. There is a line running down this deck. Volunteers, move to the starboard side; Everyone else, to the port. Make your choice!"
::--[[William_Adama|Admiral Adama's]] speech to the assembled crew.

:"You didn't think you were gonna to take off without me Admiral, did you?"
::--[[Laura Roslin]] volunteering for the rescue mission despite barely being able to walk.

:"Spins and turns, angles and curves. The shape of dreams, half remembered. Slip the surly bonds of earth and touch the face of perfection - a perfect face, perfect lace. Find the perfect world for the end of Kara Thrace. End of line."
::--[[Samuel Anders|Anders]]'s hybrid-speak when powered on to speak with [[Kara Thrace]] and [[William_Adama|Admiral Adama]].

:"She’s right, Gaius. The end times are approaching. Humanity’s final chapters are about to be written. And you - you will be its author."
::--[[Virtual Six]] to [[Gaius Baltar]].

== Guest Stars ==
* [[Rekha Sharma]] as [[Tory Foster]]
* [[Kate Vernon]] as [[Ellen Tigh]]
* [[Dean Stockwell]] as [[Number One]]
* [[Rick Worthy]] as [[Number Four]]
* [[Matthew Bennett]] as [[Number Five]]
* [[Donnelly Rhodes]] as Dr. [[Sherman Cottle]]
* [[Bodie Olmos]] as Lieutenant [[Brendan Costanza|Brenden "Hotdog" Costanza]]
* [[Kerry Norton]] as [[Layne Ishay]]
* [[Lara Gilchrist]] as [[Paulla Schaffer]]
* [[Leela Savasta]] as [[Tracy Anne]]
* [[Tobias Mehler]] as [[Zak Adama]]
* [[Leah Cairns]] as Lieutenant [[Margaret Edmondson|Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson]]
* [[Brad Dryborough]] as Lieutenant [[Louis Hoshi]]
* [[Colin Lawrence]] as Lieutenant [[Hamish McCall|Hamish "Skulls" McCall]]
* [[Colin Corrigan]] as Marine [[Allan Nowart]]
* [[Darcy Laurie]] as [[Dealino]]
* [[Finn R. Devitt]] as [[Nicholas Tyrol]]
* [[Iliana Gomez-Martinez]] as [[Hera Agathon]]
* [[Antony Holland]] as [[Julius Baltar]]
* [[Simone Bailly]] as [[Shona]]
* [[Elan Ross Gibson]] as Nurse [[Barbara]]
* [[France Perras]] as [[Sandra]]
* [[Sarah Deakins]] as [[Cheryl]]
* [[Tiffany Burns]] as Reporter [[Carolyn]]
* [[Kevin McNulty]] as [[Frank Porthos]]
* [[Stefanie Samuels]] as Police Officer
* [[Richard Jollymore]] as Marine #1
* [[Anthony St. John]] as Marine #2
* [[Leo Li Chiang]] as the [[tattooed pilot]] (uncredited)

== References ==
<div style="font-size:85%"><references/></div>

{{Episode list (RDM season 4)}}

[[Category:Episodes written by Ronald D. Moore]]
[[Category:Episodes directed by Michael Rymer]]

Daybreak, Part II

2009-03-28T15:49:01Z

Thunderscreech: sp fixes

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{{Episode Data
| image=Battleofthecolony.jpg
| title= Daybreak, Part II & Part III
| season= 4
| episode= 20
| guests=
| writer= [[Ronald D. Moore]]<ref>http://rondmoore.com/Site/Blog/Entries/2008/4/18_Podcast_Success!.html</ref>
| story=
| director= [[Michael Rymer]]
| production=422
| rating=1.7<ref>{{cite_web|url=http://www.nbcumv.com/scifi/release_detail.nbc/scifi-20090324000000-4242update58.html|title='Battlestar Galactica Finale Blasts Away the Competition|date=24 March 2009|accessdate=25 March 2009|last=|first=|format=|language=}}</ref>/2,364,000 viewers (Live+SD)<ref>{{cite_web|url=http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/03/24/wwe-raw-hannah-montana-and-northern-lights-lead-cable-show-rankings/15073|title=WWE RAW, Hannah Montana and Northern Lights lead cable show rankings|date=24 March 2009|accessdate=25 March 2009|last=|first=|format=|language=}}</ref>
| US airdate=March 20, 2009
| CAN airdate=March 20, 2009
| UK airdate=March 24, 2009
| dvd=
| population=
| prev=[[Daybreak, Part I]]
| next=[[The Plan]]
| extra='''Series Finale - 2 Hour Episode'''<ref>http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2008/06/battlestars-fin.html</ref>
| forumthread=3050
}}

== Overview ==

===Act 1===

The final episode begins with a series of events before before the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|Fall]].
*In a strip bar in [[Caprica City]], [[William Adama]] and [[Saul Tigh|Saul]] and [[Ellen Tigh]] enjoy themselves. Adama questions whether to take a civilian job, rather than to take command of an aged battlestar<ref>This is a side reference to the events of the episode, "[[Hero]]"</ref> Over drinks, Adama decides to take the job.
*Elsewhere on Caprica, [[Lee Adama]] is having dinner with [[Kara Thrace]] and her fiancee, [[Zak Adama]]. Zak questions why his brother joined the [[Colonial Forces]], despite Lee's idealism and his dislike of his father. Lee simply answers that he received college funding in exchange for service.
*Elsewhere, [[Laura Roslin]] greets her date, [[Sean Allison]], at her home. After realizing he seemed familiar, Roslin finally recalls where she had seen him. Sean was a former student from years ago. Despite the age difference, Roslin decides to let him stay the night. "The night's young. Apparently, so are you," she says. "Let's see what happens."
*Back at the strip bar, Bill Adama challenges Saul on whether he'd take the civilian desk job. Saul doesn't answer.
*Lee Adama and Thrace manage to drag Zak to a couch after a night of drinking. But Thrace isn't done, and pulls out more alcohol for shots between her and Lee.
*Bill Adama is drunkenly sick, vomiting outside somewhere on the street. With a weak smile, he looks up to the stars in the night sky.

Aboard ''[[Galactica]]'', [[Gaius Baltar]] sits in the former home of his [[Cult of Baltar|followers]], now empty. He listens to the [[Virtual Beings|Virtual Six]], telling him to trust in [[God (RDM)|God's]] plan for him. When he asks what that plan is, she tells him that he already following it. Paulla interrupts his conversation, but Baltar asks for five minutes before he leaves.

===Act 2===
Aboard ''[[Galactica]]'', final preparations are made for the mission...
* In [[sickbay]], Dr. [[Cottle]] leaves assistant [[Layne Ishay]] two injections of heavy medication to allow Laura Roslin enough lucidity and mobility for 48 hours. She thanks him sincerely, causing Cottle to be something he'd rarely been: speechless.
* In the [[pilot ready room]], [[Karl Agathon]] briefs the [[Raptor]] teams on the special nature of their rescue mission. Despite the odds, all volunteer.
* Lee Adama briefs the [[marines]] on where little Hera would likely be: deep inside the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]] [[The Colony|colony]].
*In CIC, Admiral Adama work out the tactics of the battle against the colony; Close-range combat - no nuclear weapons and missiles. He orders the gun [[battery|batteries]] to fire until exhausted, and after that, "start throwing rocks," he says with a small smile.
* The [[Final Five]] plan to use [[Samuel Anders]], now effectively a [[Hybrid]] on ''[[Galactica]]'', to interface with the Colony and its Hybrids to interrupt their commands and slowing the Colony's weapon systems. The catch is that Anders will need to be connected to the [[DRADIS]], fire control and [[C-3]] systems. They plan to take Anders and connect him inside the [[CIC]].
* In CIC, Saul Tigh jokes at his old friend at the bizarre sight of a Cylon interfaced to his battlestar, gooey wires and conduit that extend over Adama's command console everywhere and into the DRADIS console. "Still not too late to flush them all out of the airlock," Tigh quips. "Take too much time," Adama answers.
* Admiral Adama hands over command of the [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]] to [[Hoshi]], noting that if they aren't back from the mission in 12 hours, they will never come back. Similarly, Lee Adama appoints [[Romo Lampkin]] as President of the Twelve Colonies. He joins Admiral Hoshi on the last Raptor to leave ''Galactica'' for the baseship, the Fleet's new flagship.
* Baltar's followers get in the ship. Baltar enters, but then tells [[Paulla]] that he must stay on the ship. Lee Adama throws Baltar a weapon. As Baltar is given a weapon, a Number Six leads a large number of [[Cylon Centurion]]s down the [[hangar deck]]; a red sash painted on them for identification.

===Act 3===

A shot of the Fleet shows that the rebel [[Basestar (RDM)|baseship]] fully regenerated since the [[Cylon Civil War]], and ready to lead the civilians to safety. ''Galactica'' separates from the fleet, retracting its [[flight pod]]s to prep for [[FTL]].

Adama asks to go "around the horn", with the [[Saul Tigh|XO]] calling out combat stations over the loudspeaker.
*In sickbay, Layne Ishay prepares sickbay for wounded, with Laura Roslin assisting as best she can.
*[[Viper (RDM)|Vipers]] are in [[launch tube]]s, and the entire Raptor squadron, armed with troops and missiles, have been placed inside the starboard flight pod deck, amidst the ruins of the old [[Galactica Museum]].
*Lee Adama and his force of marines (including Sergeant [[Allan Nowart]]) and red-striped centurions take their positions.
*Gaius Baltar is a soldier protecting the hallways against boarders. He is surprised to find [[Caprica-Six]] by his side.
*In CIC, Ellen Tigh signals that Anders is ready to work.
*Adama gives a final speech, a final understanding and call to arms.

The battlestar jumps away from the fleet, and [[Battle of the Colony]] begins...
*''Galactica'' arrives only meters from the edge of the Colony, and is immediately besieged by the Cylon batteries.
*Ellen starts up Sam Anders, who makes contact with the Colony Hybrids and takes them and the guns offline. Ellen warns that [[Cylon Raider]]s will appear any minute.
* ''Galactica'' responds by launching its fighter wings. The Vipers launch, and the Raptors jump directly from within the starboard pod to the opposite side of the Colony in a flanking position. The Raptor jumps, however, cause massive damage to the pod, with gas venting outside from a gaping hole.
* Adama orders the battlestar's engines ahead at flank speed, ramming the alligator head into the Colony. ''Galactica's'' inhabitants take a beating, but breach the Colony through the forced entry. Lee Adama leads his marines and several Cylon Centurions inside from a front airlock.
*[[Racetrack]] and [[Skulls]] arm their nuclear missiles, presumably to strike the colony after the rescue. But suddenly a piece of debris strikes their Raptor, killing all aboard and leaving the Raptor adrift.
*Several Raptors, including the one with [[Sharon Agathon]], Helo, and Starbuck, dock and make their way into the colony.
*Deep inside the Colony, a [[Simon]] works on young Hera as [[Sharon Valerii|Boomer]] looks on in disgust. When she questions why he continues to work on Hera, the Simon explains that they maintain and superior force and numbers. Boomer assaults the Simon, snapping his neck, and takes Hera out of the room.

===Act 4===

* The Colony's halls are filled with gunfire. Cylon Centurions, including older [[Cylon Centurion Model 0005|Model 0005s]] fight each other as the Colonial fire teams push through.
* [[Cavil]], a [[Number Five]] and another Simon decide to go on the offensive, to attack the battlestar with their troops.

* In a hallway in ''Galactica'', ready to repel boarders, Caprica-Six and Baltar come to terms with their old relationship. As they kiss, they hear a Six's voice. "All of the pieces are falling into place."
* The Virtual Six--''and'' the Virtual Baltar--stand above them. To the surprise of Caprica-Six and Baltar, they can hear and see each of the avatars.
* With a shudder, the battlestar hull is breached as waves of enemy Centurions, both old-model and modern, pour into the ship.

* The Agathon's team find Boomer, holding Hera. She gives the child to them, telling them to tell Admiral Adama that she "owed him one." With the child safe, Athena shoots Boomer.
* A flashback scene shows what Boomer meant: a time back in her days on '''Galactica'', as Adama and Tigh redress her but give her another chance to be a better pilot.

* Ishay has her hands full in sickbay, trying to triage and treat as many people as she can. The event is taxing, physically and mentally, for Roslin, as she comforts more dying than not.

* Lee Adama's team connects with Starbuck's team, with Hera in tow. When Lee asks where Thrace was, she answers, "Stopped for coffee."<ref>This might be the one time in the history of the series where an obvious joke to [[w:Starbucks Coffee|Starbucks Coffee]] has been used.</ref> With their objective complete and no other Colonial troops found, they head back to the battlestar's alligator-head.

* ''Galactica'' batteries are being targeted by Raiders. She is losing what little defensive ability she has left. Enemy forces are coming at the reserve forces--where Baltar waits.

===Act 5===

* Caprica-Six and Baltar hold off the enemy Centurions. Baltar's passion at killing Centurions gets a bit out of control as Lee Adama's team reenter the battlestar with Hera. As more enemies appear, Lee and Baltar fire away.
* Laura Roslin sits and experiences yet another vision of the [[Opera House]] and little Hera. Struggling to walk, driven by something she can't fully realize, she gets up to find Hera.
* Starbuck leads the Agathons through the hallways, but a Number Five appears from behind, seriously wounding Helo in the leg and killing a marine before Starbuck eliminates him. A damaged, but still functioning enemy Centurion shows up and in the confusion, Hera runs away. Athena runs after her at the request of her wounded husband.
* Hera walks amidst the gunfighting, when soon she encounters Roslin, who pulls out of the path of an enemy patrol and to safety. But when Roslin turns back to the child, she is gone again.
* Caprica-Six and Baltar are running, and are out of ammo. Suddenly they see Hera, as well as Roslin and Athena--all grouped together as in the Opera House vision. Caprica-Six scoops up the child and enters a hallway, closing the hatchway, preventing Athena and Roslin from following. The opera house vision had Caprica-Six and Baltar closing the door on boht Athena and Roslin after picking up Hera.
* As the scene shifts between visions of the Opera House and the corridors, Baltar and Caprica-Six realize what they must do: follow their vision into the Opera House--which turns out to be CIC, where the Final Five reside, overlooking the lower deck of CIC as they appeared in the vision, standing above.
* Adama and his men have apparently just finished defending the CIC from a break-in by Cavil, a Doral and a Simon. The Doral and the Simon are dead, and Cavil is under guard. An explosion rocks the CIC, and Cavil picks up a gun and grabs Hera as a shield.
* Baltar pleads for the child's freedom, telling Cavil that Hera is key to humanity's survival as well. He reasons with Cavil that there are higher forces at work, that led them all, here, for a reason. Baltar also reveals that he has been visited by angels - the agents of God. When Cavil questions if God has his people's interests at heart, on how Baltar knows that God is on his side, Baltar replies (in an allusion of something [[The Hand of God (RDM)| Virtual Six once told him]]), "God is not on anyone's side." The Virtual Six and Virtual Baltar look on with a pleased expression.
* Baltar asks Cavil to take a leap of faith. Saul Tigh sweetens the pot by offering to reteach Cavil the secret of [[Resurrection (RDM)|resurrection]], this time in exchange not only for Hera's life but for permanent peace, where the Cylons leave humanity alone.
* Cavil agrees. He uses the Battlestar comm to order his forces to stand down and releases Hera. Admiral Adama orders stand-down as well.

===Act 6===

* Vipers and Raptors return to ''Galactica'' as the Raiders return to the Colony. Laura Roslin joins the admiral in CIC.
* The Five each know part of the secret to resurrection. They will combine their knowledge by connecting themselves through the water in Ander's tank. Ellen Tigh tells the others that the process will also share memories as well as data.
* But before they begin, [[Tory Foster]], visibly anxious, warns the others that they will see "certain things" of their bad behavior. She tries to prepare the others of what they will see of her. An impatient Cavil screams. "I don't mean to rush you, but you are keeping two civilizations waiting!"
* The Five dip their hands and make the connection. As the data flows to the Colony, Foster's visions of murdering [[Cally Tyrol]] in an effort to protect her secret of being a Cylon comes to the forefront, surprising the others of the Five, and angering [[Galen Tyrol]] immediately.
* Tyrol pulls his hand from the pool and wraps both hands tightly around Foster's neck in a death-grip, eventually snapping her neck.
* As Anders screams from the sudden disconnection, the Cylons in CIC believe they are deceived and open fire. The Colonials kill all but Cavil, who shouts an exasperated "[[Frak]]!" before putting his pistol in his mouth and pulling the trigger.

* High above, as the Raiders begin attacking ''Galactica'' again, [[Racetrack]]'s damaged Raptor drifts, its crew lifeless. A rock strikes the ship, causing Racetrack's dead hand to strike the firing button to the Raptor's tactical nuclear missiles, launching them all straight at the Colony.
* The force of the explosions severely damage the Colony, pushing it towards the black hole, threatening to take ''Galactica'' with it.
* Adama orders Kara Thrace to make a [[blind jump]], but Thrace thinks about [[The Music|the music her father played]], the music that Hera wrote to her. Recalling the mathematical associations she tried to discern from the music, Thrace realizes the music works as a series of FTL coordinates.
* She punches in the coordinates into the [[Computers|navigation computer]] and jumps the ship.

* A flashback scene appears where Lee Adama and Kara Thrace talk about how she [[The Destiny|thinks about death]] every time she gets into a cockpit.

* ''Galactica'' completes the jump--but the strain of the last battle causes the battlestar's structure to ripple and twist as structural members tear and break. The ship will never jump again. Engines and life support are still online, but ''Galactica's'' backbone is broken.
* "Where have you taken us, Kara?" Roslin asks, as the scene changes to an exterior shot to show the battlestar flying over a gray, rocky moon.
* But is not just a moon...''Galactica'' has arrived at the ''moon of Earth''...another Earth, this one with the continent of Africa in prominent view.

===Act 7===
[[File:Battlestar Over Africa.jpg|thumb|right|200px|right|A crippled ''Galactica'' seen in orbit over the Sahara Desert.]]
* The Fleet jumps into Earth orbit as ''Galactica'' passes by. A Raptor came to Hoshi to guide them to Earth.
* Landing ship after landing ship leave for the new world.
* On a green, rich savannah in Africa, Admiral Adama, Cottle, Saul Tigh, Hoshi, and Baltar look on, lying prone on their stomachs with binoculars at a tribe of early humans. Cottle confirms that the native humans are compatible with the Colonials genetically.
* At a camp, as Lampkin considers a building of a new city, Lee Adama tells him to let humanity start all over again, leave their technology behind, which has almost always gotten them into trouble. Let the Colonials enter Earth with just their basic possessions.

* Admiral Adama maps out a plan to populate various continents and land masses, spreading out humanity and Cylon far and wide, distributing supplies to give all a good chance of survival. To Lampkin's surprise, the peoples of the Fleet take a liking to leaving technology behind.
* A [[Number Two]] tells Adama that the remaining Twos, Sixes, and Eights will stay on Earth as well, handing over the baseship to the Centurions, to give them their own freedom. When Lampkin questions if setting the Centurions free won't cause another holocaust hundreds of years from now, Ellen Tigh agrees it's a risk, but believes the cycle of death has been ended. Adama agrees.
* Adama tells that, after everyone is offloaded from the ships, the Fleet will reunite with '''Galactica'' a final time. Piloted by Samuel Anders, still in his tank in CIC, connected into the battlestar, he will fly all the ships on a final voyage into the Sun.

* Kara Thrace, eyes filled with tears, meets with Anders at his tank, kissing him goodbye for the last time, and leaving her [[dog tags]]. As she leaves, he mutters, "I'll see you on the other side."

===Act 8===

* Admiral William Adama descends into the hangar deck, wearing a [[flight suit]]. The deck is otherwise completely empty of anything, and anyone.
* He takes a seat in a [[Viper Mark II]]. Not just any Mark II...but the one that Galen Tyrol's team rebuilt for him as a retirement gift [[Miniseries, Night 1|so long ago]].
* As Adama's Viper launches, the scene shifts to six years prior, where Adama is taking a lie detector test for the prospective desk job. When the test administrator asks him test questions such as, "Are you a Cylon?" and "Have you ever stolen money from a cash drawer?" Adama is angered and leaves, saying, "I'd rather spend the rest of my career--what's left of it--on a broken old down ship, than to have someone sit here and question my word."
* Husker's Viper makes a final fly-by of the old battlestar, looking at her one last time before pointing his Viper towards Earth.
[[File:The fleet's end.jpg|thumb|180px|right|The [[fleet]] heading straight into the Sun.]]
* Samuel Anders' voice from the past talks of his days in sport, dreaming of perfection, and being linked to it, to creation, as Anders guides the Fleet, now united to the mathematical perfection he once spoke of through his duties as a Hybrid.
* As the [[Colonial_Anthem|Colonial Anthem]]--a version of the [[Original Series]] main theme--plays, the scene shows ''Galactica'' and the Fleet gathered a final time, heading away from Earth and towards the sun to its demise.

* Walking in the savannah, the Tighs speak with Galen Tyrol a final time. He has decided to go to the northern highlands of Earth (likely Scotland <ref>http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2009/03/battlestar_galactica_ronald_d.html</ref>). The scene shifts to the Tighs, partying back in Caprica City, once upon a time.

===Act 9===

* On the plains, Bill Adama sits with Laura Roslin, watching herds of gazelle. Her vision weakening, she tries to use her glasses with the binoculars. "A very beautiful world," she says. When she asks what the name of the planet is, Adama tells her it's Earth. He adds, "Earth is a dream," believing that their new home, a long-sought destination, deserves the name.
* Roslin's breathing becomes labored and shallow. Adama offers to give her a better look at the wildlife. He picks her up and carries her to a nearby Raptor.
* Lee Adama and Kara Thrace notice and meet Bill Adama there. The Adamas hug, and Bill Adama gives Thrace a final greeting of "[[Nothing but the rain]]" before he hugs and kisses her. Thrace and Lee wave goodbye to a smiling Roslin as the Raptor ascends.

* Lee realizes that his father isn't coming back. Kara Thrace tells Lee that she isn't coming back, either. "I just know that I am done here. I've completed my journey...and it feels good."

* A flashback scene, back in Thrace's apartment, where Thrace dares Lee to make love to her on her dining room table. But before they could do anything, the crash of a glass partially awakens Zak, causing the two to realize what they were doing. They shake hands and say goodbye.

* "Today is the first day of the rest of your life, Lee," Kara Thrace says. As Lee tells her of desire to explore and climb mountains, he turns to find that Kara Thrace has vanished, as if she were a ghost. "Goodbye, Kara," he says. "You won't be forgotten."
* A flashback scene shows the pigeon that would be trapped in Lee's apartment after his visit to Kara and Zak. It looks at Lee and flies out of the window and away.

* In another flashback from six years prior, Laura Roslin returns to stand by the side of the bed, thanks Sean Allison, but tells him that they will not meet this way again, and asks him to leave. As the man leaves, Roslin returns to her bathroom, lights a cigarette, then makes a phone call. She accepts the opportunity to work on Mayor [[Richard Adar]]'s campaign.

* Bill Adama's Raptor flies over flamingos. "So much..life," Laura Roslin says...her final words as she closes her eyes and quietly passes.
* Moments go by before Bill realizes that she is gone.
* In tears, Bill removes his wedding ring and places it on Laura's hand. "Right there...I'm going to build our cabin right there," he says, pointing to some hills.

===Act 10===

* A line of people walk into the wilderness, calm and ready to take on the world. Romo Lampkin appears to be in charge. Saul and Ellen Tigh bring up the rear.
* The Agathons walk as well, Helo using a makeshift crutch, talking of hunting and other pleasantries. Hera runs about in play, a smile on her face.

* Gaius Baltar and Caprica-Six look on at Hera playing as the Virtual Six and Baltar reappear. When Caprica-Six questions if the protection of Hera was all that God wanted of them, the Virtual Six replies, "God's plan is never complete." "Great..." Baltar replies sullenly.
* Virtual-Baltar counters, "I think it's safe to say that, from now on, your lives will be less...eventful."

* Another flashback to Caprica City. Baltar offers Caprica-Six an opportunity to "peek" into the [[Colonial Defense Mainframe]].

* When Baltar points to some land, he recalls his heritage, and [[Julius Baltar|his father]], and that he knows a bit about farming, to a bit of tears.

* Bill Adama sits, looking out into the hills and valley. "I laid out the cabin today. It's going to have an easterly view. You should see the light that we get here. When the sun comes from behind those mountains. It's almost heavenly. It reminds me of you."
* As he speaks, the camera pans up to show Adama, seated near the cairn he built for Laura Roslin's body.

* The scene turns to show Hera playing and looking upward. Scenes of wood and desert and sea pass by in a geologic montage to reveal an Earth city - New York City - 150,000 years later.

* As a fly-over of the city appears, a voice-over of Virtual-Six reads from a magazine article of the Tanzanian discovery of the bones of what scientists believe are the remains of the [[w:mitochondrial Eve|mitochondrial Eve]], the matrilineal common ancestor of mankind.

* As [[Ron D. Moore|a man reads]] about the scientific discovery, the Virtual Six and Baltar look over his shoulder at a magazine article of the news, and reveal what they know...the bones are that of Hera Agathon, born of a Cylon mother and a human father. No other people on the street appear to notice them.

* The two talk of the technology and decadence, of whether this Earth will repeat the mistakes of generations past and again become overwhelmed by their creations. The Six thinks not, believing it to be God's plan.

* "You know it doesn't like that name," Baltar says. Six only looks back in mild defiance. "Silly. Silly me," he replies as the two walk away into the metropolis.

* The episode concludes with scenes of robots, from toys to advanced automatons growing and evolving, as Jimi Hendrix's--Earth's popular version--of "[[The Music|All Along The Watchtower]]" plays, ending with an image of [http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/news-10744-Robot+or+Human%3F+Here%27s+ACTROID.html an attractive-looking female automaton] gazing out over Times Square from a giant outdoor television screen as Six and Baltar walk off into the distance.

== Notes ==
:''See [[Daybreak, Part II/Notes]]''

== Analysis ==
===Who and what guided them===
*The coordinates that Thrace enters, 1123 / 6536 / 5321 correspond to the notation of the Final Four theme [http://www.bearmccreary.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/theme-watchtower.jpg]. The song is in a C# Phrygian scale (enharmonic with A major and F# minor). 1 represents C#, and each higher integer indicates the next note in the scale, such that

:1 = C#
:2 = D
:3 = E
:(4 = F#)
:5 = G#
:6 = A
:(7 = B)

:The linked graphic omits the first and last note of the theme, but both can be heard in the soundtrack during the jump montage. The second "five" (in the third chunk of four digits) corresponds to the tuplet G#/A/G#, effectively omitting the trill up to high A. Every note has the same duration except for the last two, which are twice the length of the others.
*The Virtual Beings are angels of God who came to guide Baltar and Caprica Six in their destiny of protecting Hera.
*Kara Thrace is an angel who was sent back from the dead to guide humanity to a new home the coordinates of which were hidden in The Music.
*The final scenes of this episode, in fast-forwarding through time and attempting to set the entire work as a backstory, make the ending similar to that of the film [[Wikipedia:How the West Was Won (film)|How the West Was Won]].
* There are at least two distinct angels. They have known each other long and born witness to Kobol and the original Earth, as well as the Twelve Colonies and the new Earth. They can walk around and observe events even when no one else present can see them, though they may have the ability to appear to anyone they wish. In the final scene, a man walking by the Angel Six appears to check her out (though this may have been a simple acting goof or an actual pedestrian happening by).
* The constellation [[w:Ursa Major|Ursa Major]] (commonly known as the "Big Dipper") appears briefly in this episode. It makes only the second appearance of a recognizable star pattern in the series, the first being Orion in "[[The Ties That Bind]]" (Orion is also visible in this episode).
* Adama's statement that New Earth is "one million light years" from Kobol must be taken as exaggeration or an error. The Milky Way is 100 000 light years across, and earlier statements in the show indicate that it considerable time to travel much shorter distances.
** It's possible that Adama's "million light years" comment is meant metaphorically instead of literally, in essence saying the Colonials have come an unthinkable distance to reach their new home.
===The reproduction prospects of the races===
*It is possible that some Baseships of Ones, Fours, and Fives were not at [[The Colony]] when it was destroyed, given the fact that they were observed jumping in and out of the system by Racetrack and Skulls. However, as noted in the "Notes" section it is unlikely that the Cavil, Simon and Doral lines will continue without Cylon females. The [[Three]]s are extinct with the last copy [[D'Anna Biers]] herself dying on the original Earth; Boomer was killed in the Colony (and in any case couldn't single handedly save the lines even if she were alive); and the last Sixes and Eights staying with the humans on the second Earth. However, there is the possibility of having a few remaining human females from the survivors of the various Colonial worlds including [[Caprica]], if they still exist, being viable, so the lines could in theory continue. However, given the total lack of success in the forced breeding of Cylons and humans and the Cavil, Dorals and Simon's cynical view of love, an apparent requirement of conception between both Cylon-Cylon and Cylon-human combinations, with their hatred of humans it is unlikely. One final option could remain. The Final Five was able to download some of the Resurrection technology data to the Cavil Faction before Tyrol in his rage at Tory broke the connection. It is possible that the Cavil faction could extrapolate from the data they did get to recreate the technology, but only if it was transmitted to Baseships beyond the destroyed Colony. How long this could take or even if it is possible depends on how much and/or if the most critical and unique part of the technology was downloaded.
*On the second Earth Hera's mate that produced children was most likely human. Saul Tigh and the Leobens would be too old for her. While it was fairly common in ancient times for the men to be far older than their brides (particularly with royalty), for example with the female being as young as 12 and the male being say 60 to take an extreme. However, Colonial mores, which are much like our own in real life, would forbid the Leobens from sexual congress with Hera when she reach the accepted reproductive age. On the other hand there were many human children about her age and [[Boxey (RDM)|slightly older]] in the Fleet. She could had also had children with a human child unborn at the time of the landing on Second Earth, perhaps within five years to ten years of her age. It is possible that other hybrid children could had been born after the landing given that the Twos, Sixes, and Eights joined the humans. And it is possible that pure Cylon children could had been born to the age compatible Sixes, Eights, and Leobens but as noted in the series it is difficult if not impossible for a pure Cylon child to come to term making any pool of pure Cylon children that were successfully born-if any-very small. Cylon-Human mating with a human male with a Six or a Sharon is very possible with the example of Hera herself It is possible given the precedent of Karl and Sharon Agathon Giaus Baltar and Caprica Six could had had a child particularly since they truly love each other. It is a theoretical possibility that a Leoben could had taken a human wife (they are inclined to do so given one Leoben infatuation with Kara Thrace even before her specialness was known to them) In any case it Human-Cylon offspring are an much more likely than with a Cylon-Cylon birth, but it is still harder than with human-human pairings. This would make any children pool of those pairings, while much more likely and larger than Cylon-Cylon offspring, would still quite small number compared to pure human offspring frequency of birth. Therefore Hera's offspring is most likely with a human. A more remote possibility is with another Cylon-human hybrid. Her producing children with a pure Cylon offspring is the least likely of the three since pure Cylons are the least likely to exist. Throw in the possibility is Hera mating with the New Earth native tribal humans males then the likely hood of Hera having a child with a human is very likely.
* The Final Five can be considered ancestors of present-day humanity because they created Athena and the other Eights, Twos, and Sixes.

===Miscellaneous===
*[[Ronald D. Moore]] appears as himself holding a ''National Geographic'' magazine in New York City.
*The shelters erected by the Colonials on Earth resemble [[Wikipedia:Quonset hut|Quonset huts]], World War II-era temporary structures.
* In another piece of irony, the two beings most directly responsible for the attack and destruction of the 12 Colonies, Gaius Baltar and Caprica Six, get to live on a lush green New Earth in love with each other.
* Even if humanity does repeat the cycle, Lee Adama's plan would seem to have had some success, because it will have taken much, much longer to do so this time around.
* Ellen says that hopefully the Hybrids will ''still'' respond to Anders' commands. In other words, they would recognize him from the time the Final Five ran the Colony.
*Cavil's suicide, in the way it is framed and executed, closely mirrors the televised 1987 suicide of American politician [[w:Budd Dwyer|Budd Dwyer]].
* Adama's drunken moment, where he sits against a wall, vomits, and then looks up at the night sky, echoes [[w:Oscar Wilde|Oscar Wilde]]'s famous aphorism: ''We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.''
* Though it was never explicitly states in the Miniseries or after, it seems that TIgh was indeed planning to retire whenever Adama decided to leave the Colonial Military. The flashbacks in this episode to Saul and Ellen Tigh in the bar make it clear that Tigh is planning on following Adama out of the service. However Adama, as viewers come to see, decides ultimately to finish out his last years as the CO of ''Galactica'' despite reservations. Tigh obviously followed. This also sheds more light on Tigh's eventual estrangement from Ellen- which was where their relationship was at in the miniseries. The bitterness she doubtless felt at Tigh once again choosing Bill Adama over her was probably a factor in not only her noted loose behaviour, but their growing estrangement before the war.
*It is not entirely clear when in Adama's career he decided to pursue the idea of a civilian job as seen in both parts of "Daybreak". Dialogue during the lie detector test scene suggests Adama has been given his orders to command Galactica, but is considering resigning before taking up the post. However Adama notes in his initial interview with his prospective employer in the previous episode that he has already commanded two battlestars. One of these is obviously [[''Valkyrie'']], but it is not clear if Adama is already referring to Galactica as the second command (which could also suggest he is already commanding the ''Galactica'' at the time this flashback is set and is considering his resignation when on leave from that ship), or to another battlestar that Adama once commanded but has never been mentioned before.

== Questions ==

* During the lie detector test in the flashback scene of William Adama's attempt to secure a civilian job, why did the interrogator ask him if he was a Cylon?
* Why so many zeros in the Model 0005?
* Is the Adama family the origin of the name Adam for the mythical first man?

== Official Statements ==

== Noteworthy Dialogue ==
*''Virtual Baltar says the last line of the series as he walks down a street of modern day New York City with Virtual Six:''
:'''Virtual Baltar''': "Silly Me.....silly, silly me".

*''The Galactica is about to jump to The Colony and into harms way:''
:'''Admiral Adama''': Just so there'll be no misunderstandings later... ''Galactica'' has seen a lot of history, gone through a lot of battles. This ''will'' be her last. She will not fail us if we do not fail her. If we succeed in our mission, ''Galactica'' will bring us home. If we don't... it doesn’t matter anyway.

*''The Final Five are discussing things among themselves about to download the specifications of Resurrection technology. Cavil is impatient shouting from below up to the Five:''
:'''Cavil''':" HEY! I DON'T MEAN TO RUSH YOU BUT YOU ARE KEEPING TWO CIVILIZATIONS WAITING!

*''Cavil's last word before he commits suicide.''
:'''Cavil''': Frak!

*''Nuclear missiles has knocked the Colony falling into the Singularity and is dragging Galactica with it and Starbuck is frantically attempting to figure out the jump coordinates.''
:'''Starbuck''': There must be some kind of way out of here.

*''Virtual Six and Virtual Baltar speculating if the cycle will continue.''
:'''Virtual Baltar''': All of this has happened before...
:'''Virtual Six''': But the question remains: does all of this have to happen again?

*''Sam Anders, essentially Galactica's Hybrid, says his last words to Kara Thrace after she leaves his side.''
:'''Samuel Anders''': See you on the other side

*''Baltar to Caprica Six on New Earth in unspoken reference about his father''
:'''Baltar''': "You know, I know about farming." (sobs)

*''Laura Roslin is speaking to Dr. Cottle about the state of her health which both know it is grave with only a few days to live. Also, she is about to essentially go into battle to retrieve Hera and the Doctor appears to be on the verge of choking up:''
:'''Laura Roslin''': Don't spoil your image, just light a cigarette and go and grumble."

*''Former Admiral of the Fleet William Adama is showing Laura their new home on New Earth in a Raptor. She sees a herd of gazelles stampeding at the sight of the Raptor over the lush and rich landscape and says her last words:''
:'''Roslin''': So much life...

*''William Adama is sitting on a high ridge overlooking what would later be called the African Savannah in spectacular view. Laura Roslin's grave is behind him close by and he talks to her spirit. It is his last statement in the series:''
:'''William Adama''': I laid out the cabin. It's gonna have an easternly view. You should see the light we get here. When the sun comes from behind the mountains, it's almost heavenly. Reminds me of you."

*''Boomer has just given over Hera to Athena, saving her life from Cavil and Simon dissection-and both redeeming herself and condemning herself to death''
:'''Boomer''' (to Athena): Tell the old man, I owed him one.
:'''Athena''' (angrily) Doesn't change anything you did though!
:'''Boomer''' (shakes her head slightly): No. We all make our choices. Today I made a choice. I think its my last one.
:'''Starbuck''': All right this is really touching. Now can we get the frak out of here!?!
:'''Boomer''' (to Starbuck): You should know that your Raptor been destroyed. You can't go back that way.
:(Athena passes Hera to Helo)
:'''Athena''': Yeah well, that is not the plan.
:'''Starbuck''' (sardonically): Can we ''not'' tell her the plan?
:'''Athena''': Right.
:''(Athena and Boomer look each other in the eye for a moment. She raises her weapon. Boomer makes no move to escape, but stands strait head up, accepting if not welcoming her fate. Athena fires. Boomer is dead before she hits the deck.)''

== Guest Stars ==
* [[Callum Keith Rennie]] as [[Number Two]]
* [[Kate Vernon]] as [[Ellen Tigh]]
* [[Rick Worthy]] as [[Number Four]]
* [[Mark Sheppard]] as [[Romo Lampkin]]
* [[Donnelly Rhodes]] as Dr. [[Sherman Cottle]]
* [[Matthew Bennett]] as [[Number Five]]
* [[Rekha Sharma]] as [[Tory Foster]]
* [[Kerry Norton]] as [[Layne Ishay]]
* [[Dean Stockwell]] as [[Number One]]
* [[Bodie Olmos]] as Lieutenant [[Brendan Costanza|Brenden "Hotdog" Costanza]]
* [[Leah Cairns]] as Lieutenant [[Margaret Edmondson|Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson]]
* [[Brad Dryborough]] as Lieutenant/Admiral [[Louis Hoshi]]
* [[Colin Lawrence]] as Ensign [[Hamish McCall|Hamish "Skulls" McCall]]
* [[Lara Gilchrist]] as [[Paulla Schaffer]]
* [[Colin Corrigan]] as Marine [[Allan Nowart]]
* [[Leela Savasta]] as [[Tracey Anne]]
* [[Darcy Laurie]] as [[Dealino]]
* [[Iliana Gomez-Martinez]] as [[Hera Agathon]]
* [[Tobias Mehler]] as [[Zak Adama]]
* [[Simone Bailly]] as [[Shona]]
* [[Kevin McNulty]] as [[Frank Porthos]]
* [[Richard Jollymore]] as Marine #1
* [[Anthony St. John]] as Marine #2
* [[Dan Payne]] as [[Sean Allison]]
* [[Holly Eglinton]] as Stripper
* [[Tiffany Lyndall-Knight]] as [[Hybrid]] (uncredited)
* [[Ronald D. Moore]] as Man at news stand (uncredited)

== References ==

<div style="font-size: 85%;"><references /></div>

{{Episode list (RDM season 4)}}

[[Category:Episodes written by Ronald D. Moore]]
[[Category:Episodes directed by Michael Rymer]]

Islanded in a Stream of Stars

2009-03-08T03:53:08Z

Thunderscreech: /* Overview */ Replaced speculation & sp

{{Episode Data
| image=IslandintheStars.jpg
| title=Islanded In a Stream of Stars
| season= 4
| episode=18
| guests=
| writer=
| story=
| director=
| production=420
| rating=
| US airdate=March 6, 2009 <ref>http://tv.ign.com/articles/920/920164p1.html</ref>
| CAN airdate=March 6, 2009
| UK airdate=March 10, 2009
| dvd=
| population=39521
| oldpopulation=39556
| prev=[[Someone to Watch Over Me]]
| next=[[Daybreak, Part I]]
}}

== Overview ==
Repairs on the Galactica continue, but it seems little headway is being made. The ship's power and temperature are fluctuating, and the creaks and groans of metal fatigue can be heard constantly. A major hull breach kills about 60 people, human and Cylon alike. Lee "Apollo" Adama struggles to convince the newly-elected Fleet Quorum that Galactica can be saved, but many councilors are worried about becoming dependent on the Cylons for military protection. Once the Galactica meets its inevitable demise, the Basestar will be the logical choice for the new flagship. [[Number Six#Sonja|Sonja]] assures them that the Cylons will continue to respect William Adama's military authority when he transfers to the Basestar, along with the rest of Galactica's crew and their planes and munitions. Other representatives begin calling first dibs on certain parts of Galactica, which will of course be stripped once its time is up. Laura Roslin's cancer is killing her, and she is now confined to bed in the ship's hospital. She gradually convinces Admiral William Adama that he has to abandon Galactica and move everyone over to the Cylon Basestar. Ellen Tigh tries to convince Colonel Saul Tigh that Roslin is right, but he refuses: The decision is Adm. Adama's alone.

Karl "Helo" Agathon's marriage to Sharon "Athena" Valerii is falling apart, as she cannot overcome the loss of her child, Hera, or the knowledge that her husband had sexual intercourse with the Number Eight known as "Boomer". Trying to save his marriage, Helo tries to get Adm. Adama to approve the launching of a Raptor to find Hera. Adama has already permitted Sonja, the Cylon representative on the new Quorum, to secretly take a Heavy Raider to the Cylon home world, known as "[[the Colony]]". The Colony though has already been moved to a new location by Cavil prior to the [[Cylon Civil War]]; sending Helo out in a Raptor to look for it would be a suicide mission. Adama finally refuses to give permission, to which Helo appears devastated.

Gaius Baltar continues his religious broadcasts to the Fleet, and his latest message focuses on angels walking among humanity. Baltar encounters Caprica Six, who rejects his romantic overtures. She tells him she's changed and that he has not. Baltar breaks down over the loss of his former lover. Later, Kara "Starbuck" Thrace meets Baltar while they are both in the ship's head. Kara tells him that she died on Earth, and discovered her own body there. She gives him her dog tag to analyze. He scrapes blood from the dog tag, and finds it came from a body which was already dead. When the Galactica crew, Cylons, and Baltar's believers meet on Galactica's flight deck to bury those who died in the hull breach, Baltar reveals what he discovered about Starbuck and calls her an angel. He preaches about eternal life, but Starbuck slaps him and the service breaks up. Later, Apollo meets with Starbuck and offers her his unconditional love and support. They part as friends. Starbuck puts a photo of herself on the memorial wall of the dead.

Aboard the stolen Raptor, Hera keeps crying for her mother, infuriating Boomer. Boomer almost sedates the child, but cannot bring herself to do so; they keep jumping toward their destination. In an attempt to calm Hera, Boomer reveals her "Cylon projection" dreamworld to Hera. Hera can see the world, too, and bonds with Boomer. Boomer begins to develop strong emotional ties to the child. When the two arrive at the "colony", a Cylon base on top of a small, rocky planetoid, Cavil takes Hera from Boomer and declares that soon she will have many playmates. The child weeps and calls out for Boomer, and Boomer also sheds copious tears unwilling to part from Hera.

After an emotional breakdown, Adm. Adama realizes the ship must be abandoned. He meets with Col. Tigh, who initially resists the evacuation order but gives in after a brief discussion. All civilians are to be removed over the next few days, arrangements are to be made to put the military personnel aboard the Basestar, and Galactica is to be stripped for parts. Rather than let the ship break down, Adama intends to destroy it "in style."

A Number Eight and Number Six have hooked [[Samuel Anders]] up to a [[Hybrid]] tank in a an attempt to help his brain reboot, but there is no apparent change. Starbuck (Cpt. Kara Thrace), Anders's wife, goes to Anders' bedside alone, and decides to kill him rather than let him live in a vegetative state. But as she aims a gun at his head, Anders comes awake. He babbles like a Hybrid, but his ravings also indicate that he's aware of the threat to his life. With one hand, he subdues Starbuck and she drops the pistol. Anders continues to babble, but some of his rants indicate that he is reintegrating, perhaps even repairing, his mind. The Galactica's power and temperature fluctuations were because Anders was connecting to the ship, as the Hybrid tank and the Cylon polymer used to repair the battlestar are giving him the power to interact with the ship's computers. Tigh deems this too dangerous to continue, as Anders might jump the ship. Anders is disconnected from the Hybrid tank, and he falls into a coma again.

A few days later, Starbuck meets with the comatose Anders. She brings Hera's drawing of the song (the song which helped awaken the Final Five in the episode "Crossroads", and about which further complications were revealed in the episode prior to this one, "Someone to Watch Over Me"), and states assertively, that together, they will discover what is going on. She reconnects him to the ship's power systems. He awakens again, and begins speaking in the kind of a hybrid.

==Summary==

===Teaser===

===Act 1===

===Act 2===

===Act 3===

===Act 4===

== Notes ==

* The title comes from the book ''[[w:The Outermost House|The Outermost House]]'', by [[w:Henry Beston|Henry Beston]], where he chronicles his time spent living on an isolated beach in Cape Cod. In the chapter "Night on the Great Beach" he wrote, "For a moment of night we have a glimpse of ourselves and of our world ''islanded in its stream of stars''— pilgrims of mortality, voyaging between horizons across eternal seas of space and time."

* Two original Cylon Raiders can be seen inside the Colony.

== Analysis ==

== Questions ==
* What does Cavil mean when he tells Hera that she'll be having playmates?
* Will ''Galactica'' be stripped after all?
* How conscious is Anders?
* Can the Colony be found by ''Galactica'''s planes?

== Official Statements ==

== Noteworthy Dialogue ==

== Guest Stars ==

* [[Kate Vernon]] as [[Ellen Tigh]]
* [[Donnelly Rhodes]] as Dr. [[S. Cottle]]
* [[Rekha Sharma]] as [[Tory Foster]]<ref>[http://www.buddytv.com/articles/battlestar-galactica/exclusive-interview-rekha-shar-20017.aspx Exclusive Interview: Rekha Sharma of 'Battlestar Galactica' - BuddyTV]</ref>
* [[Iliana Gomez-Martinez]] as [[Hera Agathon]]
* [[Dean Stockwell]] as [[Number One]]
*[[Bodie Olmos]] as Lieutenant [[Brendan Costanza|Brenden "Hotdog" Constanza]]
* [[David Patrick Green]] as Captain [[Xeno Fenner]]
* [[Kerry Norton]] as [[Layne Ishay]]
* [[Lara Gilchrist]] as [[Paulla Schaffer]]
* [[Leela Savasta]] as [[Tracy Anne]]
* [[Darcy Laurie]] as [[Dealino]]
* [[Susan Hogan]] Captain [[Doyle Franks]]
* [[William Samples]] as Captain [[Jules Tarney]]

== References ==

<div style="font-size:85%"><references/></div>

{{Episode list (RDM season 4)}}

Someone to Watch Over Me

2009-03-04T18:43:03Z

Thunderscreech: Sp fixes

{{Episode Data
| image=SomeoneWatchingOverMe.jpg
| title= Someone To Watch Over Me
| season= 4
| episode=17
| guests=
| writer= [[Bradley Thompson]] <br/> [[David Weddle]]
| story=
| director= [[Michael Nankin]]
| production=419
| rating=
| US airdate=February 27, 2009 <ref>http://tv.ign.com/articles/920/920164p1.html</ref>
| CAN airdate=February 27, 2009
| UK airdate=March 3, 2009
| dvd=
| population=39556
| oldpopulation=39556
| prev=[[Deadlock]]
| next=[[Islanded in a Stream of Stars]]
}}

== Overview ==
:''[[Kara Thrace|Starbuck]] discovers a hidden musical ability that bears a mysterious significance to the final five Cylons, and her tune is found to have a connection with three-year-old human-Cylon hybrid [[Hera Agathon|Hera]]. The president authorizes [[Sharon Valerii|Boomer]]'s extradition from the brig so she can stand trial for treason on the Cylon baseship.''<ref>http://www.locatetv.com/tv/battlestar-galactica/season-4/6118356</ref>

== Summary ==

=== Teaser ===
* [[Kara Thrace]] gets out of her bunk and opens her locker. Looking in the mirror, she momentarily sees the image of her own corpse found on [[Earth (RDM)|Earth]] in the reflection. Disturbed, Kara takes out the bloodstained dog tags recovered from the corpse and stares at them, silently brooding to herself.
* Kara goes through her daily routine - showering, dressing, giving the Cylon and Colonial pilots their assignments, doing paperwork, and drinking at the bar.
* [[The Fleet (RDM)|The Fleet]] is still searching for a habitable planet. ''[[Galactica (RDM)|Galactica]]'' is now experiencing frequent power losses and plumbing disruptions due to the ongoing repair work.
* [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] informs [[Admiral Adama]], [[Lee Adama]], and [[Laura Roslin|President Roslin]] that the repairs and the Cylon organic substance will buy the ship a few more jumps, but not many. The admiral states that he isn't ready to give up just yet.
* Lee congratulates Sonja, a [[Number Six]] model, on her appointment as the Cylons' representative to the newly-formed Quorum of Ships' Captains.
* Sonja makes a formal request that Boomer be returned to the Cylons. When Adama starts to protest that Boomer tried to kill him, Sonja explains that they don't want Boomer set free. They want to try Boomer for treason, as she sided with [[Cavil]] in the [[Cylon Civil War]].
* When Lee asks what will happen to Boomer if she's convicted, Sonja says that with the loss of their ability to resurrect, the Cylons can now implement capital punishment.
* Tyrol realizes what this means: They're going to kill Boomer.

=== Act 1 ===

=== Act 2 ===

=== Act 3 ===

=== Act 4 ===

== Notes ==
* [[Gaius Baltar]] and [[Caprica-Six]] do not appear in this episode. As with the previous episode, [[Lee Adama]] appears in only a couple of scenes.
* "[[Wikipedia:Someone to Watch Over Me (song)|Someone To Watch Over Me]]" is the name of a song composed by [[Wikipedia:George Gershwin|George]] and [[Wikipedia:Ira Gershwin|Ira Gershwin]], and featured in the musical [[Wikipedia:Oh, Kay!|''Oh, Kay!'']] A major theme of the song is the need to find love and acceptance, something [[Sharon Valerii]], [[Galen Tyrol]] and [[Kara Thrace]] are all seeking in their own ways.
** There was also an episode of [[w:Star Trek: Voyager|Star Trek: Voyager]] named for the song, in which it is performed at the end by The Doctor.
* Weeks have passed since the end of [[Gaeta's Mutiny|the mutiny]], as evidenced by [[Cottle]]'s comment about how long Anders' EKG readings have remained steady, and Starbuck's comment about how long she has repeated the same mission briefing.
* Starbuck acknowledges her pilots that the mutiny has "thinned our numbers". This, combined with the apparent absence of pilots such as [[Margaret Edmonson]] and [[Diana Seelix]], confirms their involvement in the mutiny did not go unpunished, although exactly what that punishment is remains unknown.
** In the Podcast for "[[Deadlock]]" RDM states that all the mutineers were imprisoned on the [[Astral Queen]].
* After her apparent death in "[[Maelstrom]]", Kara's personal belongings were auctioned off. Helo has managed to get them all back for her. However, the only thing Kara is interested in is her father's music tape.
* Some of the music played by the mysterious piano player is from the original series. [[Numian's 3rd Sonata]], Second Movement, is in fact from the opening dialogue of the classic series ("There are those who believe that life here, began out there..."), and the original [[Cylon]] musical cue is derived from that tune as well. This is not the first time music from the original series has shown up (i.e. the [[Colonial Anthem]]), and lends to the idea that 'everything has happened before, and will happen again'.
* The brand of "[[The_Twelve_Colonies_%28RDM%29#Tauron|Tauron]] toothpaste" offered as a prize to the pilots is called "[[Felgercarb]]," a word used in the original series to mean "shit." Tauron comes from Taurus the bull. In essence, Kara is offering the pilot who finds a new planet "bullshittoothpaste".
* The collection of named [[Number Six]] models expands with the addition of [[Sonja]], who becomes the first Cylon to be elected to the Fleet's reconstituted Quorum.
*When Tyrol visits and talks to Boomer for the first time in the Brig, during the conversation Boomer calls Tyrol "Galen" for the first time, at least publicly and on screen. Previously she has only been known to call Tyrol "Chief", perhaps out of reflex action to keep their romance a secret, even though it was the worst kept secret in the fleet.

== Analysis ==
===Galactica's condition ===
*FTL jumps appear to create spatial distortions that can seriously strain a ships hull. Although bad hull damage does not necessarily prevent a ship from jumping (as has been seen many times before in the seasons, for example ''Pegasus'' - which jumped after being hit by three nuclear missiles in [[The Captain's Hand]]) the threat to ''Galactica'' has been compounded by the added riddling of the entire aged superstructure with microfractures. Tigh expresses concern that a jump within the flight pod will seriously strain the internal integrity of the ship. Boomer's FTL jump does eventually appear to cause a chain reaction of hull collapses along ''Galactica's'' port side, a side visibly weakened by Cylon attack, and suffering general aging in the 50+ year old ship's structure.
*The port side of ''Galactica'' which suffers damage in this episode has been seen specifically to suffer major stress before now- particularly during the [[Battle of New Caprica]] when it was mentioned that explosive decompressions were imminent in that section. That side of the ship also saw the port water tank blow out in [[Water]]-as well as damage from a nuclear explosion incurred during the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies]] though these seemed to be repaired it no doubt contributed to the area's hull fatigue.
* Many individuals express fears of the damage an FTL jump can do to ''Galactica'', implying FTL jumps place serious strains on a ships hull–or even the hull of a ship nearby and a degree of hull integrity is important to allow a ship to continue jumping for continued periods. This appears quite a new phenomenon in the canon of the show and was not mentioned in previous seasons, though it of course makes for a convenient plot conceit now. Before this ships have frequently been seen jumping and exiting a jump close to each other in the series with seemingly no ill effects- though it is possible Boomer's Raptor was much closer to Galactica's hull than has ever been seen before. In the episode [[A Disquiet Follows My Soul]] the tylium ship jumped whilst surrounded by Raptors and Vipers and no ship seemed to suffer damage, although they were knocked back and sent tumbling. It should be made clear that smaller objects are proportionally stronger and that larger objects should feel much less shear. It is also possible the stress of by being caught in the FTL field of another vessel rather than that caused by a vessels own, properly configured FTL drive is more powerful and dangerous.
*Given that ''Galactica'' has jumped hundreds of times whilst damaged before now, it is not explained why no damage has occurred before given it is assumed damage will be guaranteed by an unplanned jump in this episode. In the miniseries ''Galactica'' suffered a nuke hit and yet jumped several times later. Also despite falling through the atmosphere of New Caprica ''Galactica'' was able to execute an FTL jump despite the severe strains on the hull. Fears of FTL stress were not mentioned.
** ''Galactica'' has probably been taking damage over the years from multiple jumps and suffering combat damage. It's just that the extent of the damage has not become apparent until now.
** It is in part because of those actions, the atomic strikes and it jumping and falling though into a planet's gravity well and its atmosphere is why ''Galactic''a is suffering from massive metal fatigue, in addition to normal wear and tear of a 50+ year old ship and the fact that she hasn't had a major or even minor overhaul in years even before the the attack on the Colonies has taken their toll. In addition as discovered by Chief Tyrol the builders of ''Galactica'' "cut corners" with the building specifications of the ship. Ironically, if the ''Galactica'' was able to retire on schedule these issues of "substandard" construction wouldn't had come up.
** Further to the point above about small craft being subject to less 'shear', it stands to reason that the size of the disturbance created by a ship executing a jump might be proportional to the size of the ship itself. A large vessel such as the tylium ship may create a widespread but relatively smooth disturbance, so the nearby Raptors would have been like corks bobbing as a wave passed. Conversely, a small vessel such as a Raptor might create a localised but very sharp distortion that poses more risk of damage to a large ship close to it.
*The age of ''Galactica'''s FTL drive might explain why the ship's hull integrity is taxed so badly by her FTL drive - more modern drives might not cause so much stress, and might explain why other Fleet ships and the rebel basestar can continue to jump despite the damage their hulls have taken.
* ''Galactica'' is in very bad shape from the metal fatigue in the hull. It's so bad that Tyrol says that all the [[Cylon organic resin]] could do is buy a little more time, but not too much from the looks of it, and that the ship might only be capable of a few more FTL jumps, if that. The ship is dying of old age and abuse and there's nothing anyone can do save it completely. The damage Boomer created during her escape has no doubt worsened the ship's condition.

===The actions of Boomer===
* Adama has still not forgiven Boomer for shooting him.
* Ellen's escape from Cavil seems to have been orchestrated between him and Boomer in order to get Boomer on ''Galactica'' so she could kidnap Hera according to Ellen's speculation to her husband Saul Tigh.
* The clear liquid substance that Boomer, masquerading as Athena, gave Hera in her sippy cup and urged her to drink up was likely a sedative to keep her quiet in the equipment box she hid her in.
* It would appear that while Cavil was willing to let Ellen go in order to obtain Hera, members of the [[Final Five]] are still of some value to him, as evidenced by Boomer's offer for Tyrol to go with her.
**It is more likely that Boomer genuinely wanted him to come with her because she truly loves him. Bringing him back to John Cavil-if that is where she is headed-would be of no use to him because as Ellen stated he would need all Five of the Finals to recreate Resurrection. In addition to her rekindled love, she has seen-or at least heard about-that it is possible for a Final Five Cylon to mate and have offspring with a "Standard Model" like herself even if Caprica-Six's pregnancy by Saul Tigh failed, so the possibility of a family which she shared with Tyrol in her projection, was open to her.
* Boomer has gone from being a conflicted sleeper agent to being a willing infiltrator and saboteur on ''Galactica''. With her rekindled love for Tyrol, she may be again conflicted.
* The Cylons want Boomer tried for treason, with execution being a possible outcome, because her actions are linked to the permanent deaths of thousands of Cylons when she sided against her model in the [[Cylon Civil War]]. This parallels the Colonial Fleet's own desire to try [[Gaius Baltar]] for siding against humanity and collaborating with the Cylons on New Caprica.

*It is very possible-but not certain-that the Cylon ability to recognize individual Cylons despite them looking exactly like each other (most of the time, the Sixes seem to have the most variants in hair color and use of makeup, both voluntary actions) relies on actually looking at the individual. In the lavatory where Sharon "Boomer" Valerii severely beats Sharon "Athena" Agathon, Athena initially mistook Boomer as a generic Eight when she saw her in the reflection of a mirror. It was after she stood up, turned around and looked directly at Boomer did Athena recognize her as Boomer. Admittedly however, it is possible that she would had recognized Boomer if she still only watched her in the reflection. Still, she said a full sentence while she looked at her in the mirror-"Great, I hope you are here to fix the frakkin' shower!"-but instantly recognized Boomer the exact moment she saw her directly and not reflected. Perhaps they also need to look the other Cylon square in the eyes, which is what Tyrol does in "[[Deadlock]]" before identifying Boomer.
**Helo did notice that Boomer did smell different. Boomer covered for this saying she found some soap.
***Helo said she smell good not different an she was washing her hands at the time. However there is a relevance to Helo mentioning her smell. In a scene from [[Litmus]] Tyrol and Boomer were in bed together shortly after engaging in intercourse. He said to her: "Sometimes at work I try to conjure up what your face looks like...Curve of your lips.....The way your hair falls. How you smell." Helo as just noted told Boomer she smelled good just before they had sex.
* Boomer has sex with [[Helo]] by pretending to be [[Sharon Agathon|Athena]] after he mistook her for his wife and he insisted after she tried to leave, but then enthusiastically let him believe she was Athena and willingly had sex with him. This is ironic, as Athena originally seduced Helo on [[Caprica (RDM)|Caprica]], by pretending to be Boomer.
** Boomer's seduction of Helo - in the presence of Athena - may have been motivated by a desire to exact revenge on Athena for having effectively taken over her old life on ''Galactica.''
***She didn't actually seduce Helo. She did try to leave. After his insistence, she did decide to gladly go along with it. It was a unplanned thing on her part so it is doubtful that she planned to have sex in front of Athena. Indeed, she most likely thought that Athena was still out cold. If Boomer thought she wasn't she most likely would had sex with him there for Athena could had warned Helo in the lavatory. Fortunately for Boomer, Athena was in still too much of a daze to do anything but watch.

===Starbuck's role===
* The mysterious piano player is [[Dreilide Thrace|Kara's father]], which can be concluded by his sudden disappearance and by the flashbacks with both Kara and her father playing the piano when she was little. These flashbacks mirror the exact same movements done by Captain Thrace and the piano player.<ref>http://www.bearmccreary.com/blog/?p=1598</ref>
* The title of the tape Kara receives back from Helo is "Dreilide Thrace Live at the Helice Opera House."
** [[w:Helice|Helice]], also spelled Helike, was an ancient Greek city which sank into the Corinthian Gulf in 373 B.C. It may have formed the basis of the myth of the lost city [[w:Atlantis|Atlantis]].<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helice</ref><ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2001/helike.shtml</ref>
** Helice was the ancient Greek name <ref>http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/620003/Ursa-Major</ref> for the constellation [[w:Ursa Major|Ursa Major]] (the Great Bear). <i>Helice</i> in Greek means "to spin" or "to turn"; it is the root of the modern word <i>helix</i>. Ursa Major revolves around [[w:Polaris|Polaris]], the Pole Star, hence the name. This may be a reference to the spinning of the [[maelstrom]] Kara flew into before her ship was destroyed, and it could also refer to the [[mandala]] found on the wall of her apartment and the [[Temple of Five]].
** [[w:Helike_(mythology)|Helice/Helike]] was also the name of a nymph in Greek mythology who nursed the infant [[Zeus]], along with another nymph, Melissa (which name itself means "honey" or "honey bee"). <ref>http://www.constellationsofwords.com/Constellations/UrsaMajor.html</ref>
** [[w:Helike_(moon)|Helike]] is also a newly-discovered moon of [[w:Jupiter|Jupiter]].
** However, the appearance of the word <i>Helice</i> in the show may simply be a tongue-in-cheek reference to [[Bear McCreary]]'s heavy involvement with this episode -- Ursa Major, and McCreary, both being "The Great Bear."<ref>http://tvbacon.wordpress.com/2009/02/28/battlestar-galactica-someone-to-watch-over-me-live-at-the-helice-opera-house/</ref>
*It is possible that Starbuck also has the ability of Projection and she projected the Piano Player beside her when she played a section of "All Along the Watchtower" from the drawing Hera made, which turned out to be musical notation. She, from her POV, was playing a long side of him but when Saul Tigh, Ellen Tigh, and Tory Foster confronted her about where she learned to play that music he was gone. Perhaps it was just standard human daydreaming, or a [[Virtual beings|Virtual being]], but it could had been projection.

===Tyrol and the other Finals===
*The Final Five have the same [[Projection|projection]] ability as the Cylons they created. Cylons can share projections.
* Projections can include not just imaginary environments but also imaginary people, such as Boomer and Tyrol's "daughter" Dionne.
* It also appears that projections might be a form of persistent environment -- similar to real-life virtual worlds such as [[w:Second Life|Second Life]], as Tyrol re-enters Boomer's projection after she escapes with Hera, as if expecting to find her and Dionne still in there.
* The Final Five, [[Hera Agathon]], and [[Kara Thrace]] are all somehow connected to each other by [[The Music]]. Also possibly connected via the song is Kara's [[Dreilide Thrace|mysterious father]].
*Both the Agathons and Tyrol suffer the lost of a daughter: Hera and Tyrol's imaginary daughter from his and Boomer's shared projection; both taken by Boomer. Hera actually, Tyrol's symbolically in Tyrol's solo projection. Both Athena and Tyrol suffer great grief and display it: Athena's primal howls and beating her arm against Helo's back in rage/despair; Tyrol's sinking to his knees and burying his head in his arms in his child's empty room in his projection. While in the previews for the next episode [[Islanded In a Stream of Stars]], it appears the emotional toll over the loss of his daughter is telling on Helo when Adama, presumably taking about Hera, "says get over it" to a disheveled Helo).

===The status of Cylons in the Fleet===
* The Cylons seem to have officially joined the Fleet as they now have the representation they wanted on the new Quorum in the form of a Six named Sonja. It is also confirmed that Cylon and Colonial pilots are performing joint [[CAP]]s.
** This is most clearly seen when Athena staggers into the briefing room and Helo orders one of the Sixes to go get the medics, the Six unhesitatingly responds "Yes, Sir". Several Sixes are also seen attending Starbuck's "toothpaste briefing." At the toothpaste briefing, Starbuck states that "Six has the color assignments and recognition codes," (not, for instance, "''This'' Six..." or "The Six in the front row..."), and the Six in question casually raises her hand for the pilots behind her to see.
** The rebel Cylon pilots do not appear to have been commissioned into the Colonial military, as they wear Cylon flight suits and none is addressed by rank.
** The Sixes and Eights appear to use their model numbers as surnames, and are referred to and addressed as "Six" or "Eight". They do not yet appear to have been given individual call-signs.
* Despite integrating allied flight command (at least among manned Heavy Raiders), being represented in the Quorum, and subordinating their Basestar weapons control to President Roslin ("[[Blood on the Scales]]"), the Rebel Cylons have retained some sovereignty and are thus entitled to extradite Sharon "Boomer" Valerii and try her for treason under Cylon law.
* Cylon constitutional law does not prohibit punishments to be enacted ''ex post facto''. Sonja Six explains that a death penalty provision would have been meaningless prior to the destruction of the hub, yet they intend to execute Boomer if she is found guilty for the treason she is accused of committing prior to the hub's destruction.

===Miscellaneous===
* It has been unclear whether Karl Agathon is still the [[Commander Air Group]] (CAG) of Galactica or Kara Thrace officially takes over the CAG as Agathon used to join important staff meetings with Adama & Tigh in previous episodes. However, this episode clearly shows that Thrace is now serving as the CAG of Galactica.

== Questions ==
===Galactica's condition ===
*If jumping in very close proximity to a ship is a very dangerous thing to do then why then in [[A Disquiet Follows My Soul]] when the tylium ship [[Hitei Kan]] jumped away form the intercepting and boarding Vipers nothing happened to them other than being upended?
** It was dangerous for ''Galactica'' because of its failing structure.
** Also, as noted above, the spatial distortion caused by the Raptor's jump, only reaching part of Galactica, would cause much more shearing force and therefore much more stress on the structure. Since the Raptors in "A Disquiet Follows My Soul" are much smaller than the tylium ship, they were pretty much 'bounced' off the spatial rift
* With the ''Galactica'' in the shape she is in now, how are the civilian ships holding up? Are they in a similar condition? Could this explain why there is only 35 ships mentioned remaining in the fleet?
**Very likely much better since they don't take battle damage and generally don't maneuver wildly to attack or evade. However, yes they have been in space constantly for four years likely past several mandatory maintenance checks and overhauls, both minor and major. Still, most of the civilian ships would be in much better shape than ''Galactica'' because they run and don't stand and fight and take hits and many of them are newer than ''Galactica''.
** If 35 is indeed the correct number of ships in the Fleet, then nearly half the Fleet's ships have been lost. Given that few have been seen to be lost on screen, the majority of these losses probably occurred during the rapid evacuation of the settlement of New Caprica. Many ships would have either have been destroyed trying to flee, or left on the planet's surface. Outside of that, several ships might have been abandoned off screen due to deteriorating conditions- presumably after being stripped for parts with the civilians moved to other ships or ''Galactica'' herself.
***The 35 ships mentioned in [[Blood on the Scales]] may have only been the number of ships that had initially sided with Gaeta and Zarek, rather than the total number of ships in the fleet (See the Analysis section of Blood on the Scales).

===The actions of Boomer===
* Is Boomer taking Hera to Cavil, and if so, is she of value to him in and of herself or will he ransom her for the Final Five to rebuild [[Resurrection (RDM)|resurrection]]? Or is Boomer working alone or for a third party? ([[Someone to Watch Over Me#Official Statements|Answer]])
* What was the note Boomer was writing down in her cell when she first sensed Tyrol watching her?
* Did Boomer sleep with Helo merely to maintain her pretense, because she was attracted to him, or to intentionally hurt Athena? ([[Someone to Watch Over Me#Official Statements|Answer]])
* Did Boomer intentionally jump so close to ''Galactica'' in order to further damage the already weakened ship? Is this a prelude to an attack on the Fleet by Cavil's forces?
* Since Boomer was able to find the fleet, why doesn't Cavil just jump in and attack the Fleet? Surely he has superior numbers. Is it merely because of fear of death, since they can no longer resurrect?
** Cavil seems to want Hera- this would only be possible by using Boomer as an infiltrator rather than attacking ''Galactica'' outright. Attacking the Fleet would only result in them jumping away anyway.
*** Also, Cavil probably doesn't want to risk accidentally killing the Final Five, who he needs to regain the ability to resurrect.
===Starbuck's role===
* What is the source of the "Slick" image Starbuck has been seeing? Is he her father? Is he a variation of Kara's Inner Leoben from "[[Maelstrom]]"?
* How did Starbuck and Hera arrive at a piano version of the same [[The Music|melody]] originally played by Anders on a guitar on [[Earth (RDM)|Earth]]?
* Could Kara be a reincarnation of the woman that Anders originally played the song for?
* Where did the piano in [[Joe's Bar]] come from?
* Will the Helice Opera House have any connection to the visions of the [[Opera House]] shared by Roslin, [[Caprica-Six]], and Athena?
**It is to note that in their shared vision both Athena and President Roslin are depicted running after Hera with Hera then being taken by Baltar and a Six perhaps Virtual Six. In the episode Hera is taken by Boomer. Roslin somehow without knowing what was going on in CIC or the hanger deck reacted to Boomer taking Hera by going into a trance like state and then collapsing the moment Boomer jumped. Presumably Athena is going to try to find Hera, chase her in effect as will presumably Roslin somehow. This all occurs when Starbuck finds the tape of her father performing live at the Helice Opera House . However, no analogous occurrences are known to have happened to Baltar and Caprica Six as Boomer was taking Hera, at least none that has been revealed.

===Tyrol and the other Finals===
* Is the Eight switched with Boomer by Tyrol dead, or merely injured?
** Probably merely injured. It is doubtful Tyrol would have gone so far as to actually kill another Eight to save Boomer. Furthermore, if the Eight had been dead, Tyrol's trickery would have been discovered more quickly.
* Will Tyrol's involvement in Boomer's escape be figured out? Will he confess?
** It will be difficult for him to deny involvement considering the presence of the unconscious Eight he substituted for Boomer in the brig.
***That assumes the Eight can identify him as the one that attacked her in the work area. It was coal pitch black dark when he knocked her out. Still, the circumstance of him being the one to restore power to the Cell Area and knowing how hard he pleaded for Boomer's life makes him a natural suspect. What could convict him beyond doubt is if people on the hanger deck remember him helping "Athena" - as everyone thought at the time - with that large very heavy equipment box. It is known that Cylons can tell each other apart on sight despite them being indistinguishable to humans. If someone recalls Tyrol helping so-called "Athena" that will be used as proof positive that Tyrol was complicit in her escape, Tyrol cannot plead truthful ignorance like Helo can when he thought Boomer was his wife and had sex with her.
* If Tyrol's treachery does come to light, how will others react? What would Athena do to him? Helo?
* If Tyrol had gone with Boomer, would Cavil have opened his brain as he threatened to do with Ellen?
* Is Anders' head being kept shaved and if so why? If, as Cottle suggests, it has been weeks since his operation, his hair should presumably be growing back. Perhaps it is to make it easier to monitor his unusual EEG traces.
*Generally Tory Foster's attitudes toward humans is more in line with Cavil than the Rebel Cylons. Given Tory's consistant anti human statements positions and actions is it possible that she has contacted the Cavil faction of the Cylons given her contempt for humanity and her desire to abandon them? This could be a possible way that Cavil located the Fleet if he indeed sent Boomer to kidnap Hera.
**Presumably with her full memories restored, Ellen Tigh would know where Earth is. After reaching Earth it would be logical for her to assume the fleet decided to charter the local region for habitable planets.

===The status of Cylons in the Fleet===
* Why was Sonja elected to represent the Cylons?
** The Sixes appear to be the most influential leaders within the rebel Cylon society, and posess the most individuality. [[Caprica-Six]] sowed the seeds of the [[Cylon Civil War]], Natalie led the revolt, and Sixes generally were in senior positions in the occupation government of [[New Caprica]].
* Do all the ships in the Fleet - regardless of their relative crew and passenger size - get to send representatives to the new Quorum? (This is similar to the situation the Framers of the United States Constitution faced when trying to decide if state representation in Congress should be based on individual state population or restricted to the same number of representatives per state).
* To what extent are the semi-sentient Raiders and Centurions integrated into the Colonial or allied military force?
**Likely none in terms of an integrated force; that is they are still under the Humanoid Cylon's control in the Baseship. Only Cylon Heavy Raiders are holding joint operations with Colonial forces and they require a Cylon Humanoid pilot.
* Given their new mortality, desire to sustain their species, breeding difficulty, and integration with Colonial society (at least within the military and government sectors), are the rebel Cylons attempting (consciously or unconciously) to find human matches for themselves?
===Miscellaneous===
* What is Roslin's physical status?
* What connection is there between Roslin's collapse and Hera's kidnapping?
**Yes, there is one, that was made clear by the intercutting betwen Boomer's escape, CIC and her trance like state, culminating in her saying "Hera" right after Boomer jumped from ''Galactica''. The ''exact'' nature of is still unclear.
* Despite being rudely put down by Dr. Cottle, was the Eight at Anders's bedside giving a correct assessment on what Anders's brain was doing when she speculated "Well, maybe his brain is rebooting, reorganizing as it heals?"?
*Will the Eight's idea of plugging Anders into the [[datastream]] lead anywhere?
**In the previews for the next episode "[[Islanded In a Stream of Stars]]", Anders's is depicted in either a Resurrection tank or a Hybrid's pool with his wife Kara Thrace by his side. He reaches up and grabs her wrist. Assuming this isn't a dream or some other false image, it looks like they will try out the Eight's suggestion.
*When Starbuck follows up her offer of Tauron toothpaste with the comment "Gods know most of you need it," is it merely a joke, or an indicator that ''all'' toothpaste stocks are running out? If so, this would mean that dental hygiene, a measure of basic physical health, is deteriorating.
*Why was Hera unable to differentiate between Boomer and Athena, despite having previously shown the ability to do so in the episode "[[Rapture]]"?

== Official Statements ==
*Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune interviews David Weddle and Bradley Thompson<ref>http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2009/02/battlestar-galactica-starbuck-boomer-someone-to-watch-over-me-.html</ref>:
**Boomer had a sick desire to strike out at Athena.
**Boomer's escape with Ellen was staged so that she could kidnap Hera. She intended to just use the Chief, but their interactions did awaken feelings she thought were dead.

== Noteworthy Dialogue ==
*''Ellen Tigh, Saul Tigh, and Tory Foster are in Joe's bar. Saul is remarking at the state of someone they cared about:''

:Saul: Cottle was right, I should've never insisted on seeing him. His eyes were open! I wasn't ready for that. The little guy was looking right at me!

::''Saul was not talking about Anders (in a coma with his eyes open) but the body of his dead son Liam that was delivered stillborn after he died in utero but whose corpse he insisted on seeing.''

== Guest Stars ==

* [[Kate Vernon]] as [[Ellen Tigh]]
* [[Donnelly Rhodes]] as Dr. [[S. Cottle]]
* [[Rekha Sharma]] as [[Tory Foster]]
* [[Roark Critchlow]] as [[Slick]]
* [[Iliana Gomez-Martinez]] as [[Hera Agathon]]
* [[Brad Dryborough]] as Lieutenant [[Louis Hoshi]]
* [[ Torrance Coombs]] as Lance Corporal [[C. Sellers]]
* [[Ivan Cermak]] as Corporal [[D. Wallace]]
* [[Curtis Caravaggio]] as [[Nathanson]]
* [[Cherilynn Fulbright]] as [[Dionne]]
* [[Patrick Gilmore]] as [[Rafferty]]
* [[Samantha Caine]] as Off-duty Crew Person
* [[Erika-Shaye Gair]] as Young [[Kara Thrace]]
* [[Darcy Laurie]] as [[Dealino]]
* [[Sonja Bennett]] as Specialist [[Marcie Brasko]]
* [[David Weddle]] as Smoking man in [[Joe's bar]] (uncredited)

== References ==
<div style="font-size:85%"><references/></div>

{{Episode list (RDM season 4)}}

[[Category:Episodes written by Bradley Thompson]]
[[Category:Episodes written by David Weddle]]
[[Category:Episodes directed by Michael Nankin]]