Razor

"Razor" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Special Episode
Writer(s)	Michael Taylor
Story by
Director	Félix Enríquez Alcalá
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.	401/402
Nielsen Rating
US airdate	24 November 2007
CAN airdate	{{{CAN airdate}}}
UK airdate	5 December 2007
DVD release	4 December 2007 US 26 December 2007 UK
Population	49,579 survivors
Additional Info	USA 12 November 2007 (theater screening in select U.S. cities)
Full Credits
Episode Chronology
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Battlestar Galactica: Razor Flashbacks	Razor	He That Believeth In Me
Related Information
IMDb entry
Listing of props for this episode
Related Media
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Promotional Materials
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iTunes: [ USA]

Overview

A tale centered around the new Pegasus officer Kendra Shaw, following her entire tenure on the battlestar from the Fall of the Twelve Colonies under Admiral Cain, to Lee Adama's command and a frightful rescue mission to save crew members who have been captured by the Cylons.

Summary

First Cylon War

• As William Adama enters what appears to be a Cylon laboratory, he finds evidence of human experimentation and human mutilations. He eventually finds a vat filled with a gelatin-like substance which is reminiscent of the resurrection tanks or Hybrid tanks that the later humanoid Cylons would use.
• He kneels down and touches the substance, and immediately begins to hear the screams of torture victims. As he looks back at the tank, a hand abruptly grabs his arm. The hand disappears just as quickly as it appeared, and Adama falls back to the ground. A voice is heard, quoting from the Pythian prophecies: "All this has happened before and will happen again."
• A banging sound is heard from a locked chamber nearby. As Adama approaches the window of the chamber, an unidentified man presses his face against the window and begs Adama to release him and the other captives. Adama finds a piece of metal nearby, and attempts to break open the door to the chamber.
• As Adama attempts to free the door, the man tells him that they are civilians from the Gemenese ship Diana, whose convoy was attacked by the Cylons, and that there were initially 50 of them who were taken away one by one.
• Suddenly the ground begins to tremble. Adama manages to open the door a little bit, but not enough to allow the captives to escape. The man urges Adama to leave them and save himself. He asks Adama to tell others of what has happened to them. Adama finally complies after he realizes that he cannot free the prisoners, and runs out of the laboratory.
• Emerging from the laboratory warehouse, Adama sees the Guardian basestar lifting off into the clouds. He radios his findings about the Cylon experimentation on humans to Galactica, but the young pilot is shocked to learn that an armistice has just been signed, and the war is over.

The Fall of the Twelve Colonies

Fall of the Scorpion Fleet Shipyards

• The battlestar Pegasus is docked at the Scorpion Fleet Shipyards over Scorpia for a three-month overhaul. As Kendra Shaw approaches the ship from Raptor 179, she gazes in awe at the size of the Mercury class battlestar.
• Admiral Helena Cain is in her quarters, reviewing a crew status report as her XO, Colonel Jurgen Belzen enters. He lightly encourages her to take her shore leave, but she insists that she could never leave Pegasus in the hands of the civilian contractors assigned to oversee her overhaul.
• In the port hangar bay, Raptor 179 has recently arrived. With orders to report directly to CIC, Shaw steps down and asks a pair of passing crewman to help her locate it. The crewman, however, are too busy to notice her.
• Shaw wanders through the port flight pod, past groups of busy civilians, until she finds Gina Inviere, a civilian network administrator assigned to Pegasus's overhaul. Inviere shows Shaw a map of Pegasus, with a route to the CIC, and the two discuss the origins of Gina's last name.
• Shaw eventually reaches the CIC, where she finds Cain and Belzen at the Command and Control station. Shaw drops her gear and salutes the admiral. Cain is harsh on her new aide. She grills Shaw for being late to the CIC, concluding that she either stopped for a cup of coffee, or got lost. After Shaw leaves, Cain breaks out in laughter with Belzen, revealing that she only had a joke at the lieutenant's expense.
• Hoshi escorts her to her quarters. As they are walking down the hallway, a large blast shakes Pegasus, and the noise ripples through the hallway. Shaw and Hoshi are immediately thrown to the floor. As Shaw awakens, she is in a daze. She looks around to find Hoshi unconscious on the floor. The hallway has suddenly become a disaster area.
• Admiral Cain, who was on her way to her quarters at the time, finds Shaw and Hoshi in the corridor. She asks Shaw if she is alright, but when she doesn’t respond, Cain slaps her in the face. Shaw immediately awakens. The hallway echoes with screams of horror, and the Condition One sirens blare. After an aborted attempt to wake Hoshi, the two head to the CIC.
• Pegasus is on fire in space. Cylon Raiders flood the shipyard; missiles strike two helpless Valkyrie-type battlestars nearby.
• In the CIC, Colonel Fisk and many of the CIC personnel are unconscious. Belzen is coordinating the response effort, but there have been multiple nuclear detonations. Luckily however, the battlestar still has main power and propulsion, but that’s about it. DRADIS and weapons have both been knocked out.
• The Cylon attack is taking its toll on the shipyards. The two Valkyrie-type battlestars lose their moorings, and one crashes into the shipyards, instantly destroying it.
• Cain orders the ship to seal all hatches and release all moorings in preparation for an immediate departure. As the ship evacuates the shipyards, Cain orders the FTL drive spun up for an immediate jump.
• A Cylon Raider fires two nuclear missiles at Pegasus from across the shipyards. The missiles fly past a Galactica type battlestar as its moorings are destroyed, and past the wreckage of several other battlestars and support vessels.
• Cain orders an immediate jump, but Shaw says that with the navigational computer down for upgrade, she would have to enter a random set of coordinates, which could take the battlestar anywhere, and in all probability, inside a star or other larger astral body. Cain yells back at her to do it anyway, and the battlestar jumps away.

So Say We All

• Two days since the attack on the Scorpion Fleet Shipyards, Pegasus is four to five jumps away from the Colonies. Belzen reports that many of Pegasus's Vipers and Raptors are either destroyed or beyond repair, over a quarter of the crew is dead, and rumors are circulating about the destruction of the Twelve Colonies and the Colonial Fleet.
• Shaw has been working without sleep to restore the navigational and defense computer systems, and she has finally done it. Additionally, she has discovered lines of hidden Cylon computer code inside the Command Navigation Program, which was fortunately down during the attack. Shaw suggests that the entire program be purged from the system.
• The time has finally come for Cain to reveal the extent of the devastation at home to her crew. She tells them that their colonies have been destroyed, their cities nuked, their fleet obliterated. While the victory of one ship may seem unattainable when even their very survival is at stake, she tells them that they have revenge to reach for instead.
• In an expression of determination and conviction, the crew resoundingly shouts, “So say we all!” over and over, after hearing Cain’s words.
• Cain, Shaw, Fisk and Belzen are in the admiral’s quarters, looking over recently gathered intelligence for a low-risk attack on a Cylon outpost. They are discussing a somewhat isolated communications relay when Gina Inviere enters. She greets the admiral with a kiss and a flirtatious shoulder pinch, and the five sit down to enjoy some wine and conversation.
• Cain assures her senior staff that while she does want to engage in guerrilla warfare tactics against the Cylons, she is not willing to put the ship and crew in any amount of excessive danger.
• Shaw and Inviere are working on firewalling all of Pegasus's computer networks to prevent them from being infiltrated by the Cylons, but constantly having to find a senior officer to input their command codes for system access is making the process take exceedingly long. Inviere discreetly complains about it, and Shaw says that under the circumstances, she would speak to Cain about raising her clearance. In the meantime, she gives Inviere her own command code to use. Inviere then discusses her relationship with Cain in greater detail.

Battle of the Communications Relay

Main article: Battle of the Communications Relay

• Pegasus prepares for a hit-and-run attack on what appears to be a somewhat neglected Cylon communications relay. However, when Pegasus arrives, there are twelve Cylon Raiders guarding the relay. Despite the increased enemy presence, Cain orders Blue Squadron to advance.
• Almost the second after the Vipers are launched, fifteen enemy squadrons of fighters jump into DRADIS range. Cain orders Pegasus's defensive fire concentrated on the incoming attack squadrons, but Shaw reports that the weapons grid won't respond to commands.
• In spite of the odds, Cain orders Belzen to launch the reserve Vipers, but he insists that taking such an action would cost too many lives and resources. She persists in her orders, but Belzen refuses to carry them out. Cain orders Belzen to hand her his sidearm, which she uses to shoot him in the forehead, in front of the entire bridge crew.
• Cain turns to a stunned Fisk, tells him that he is now the XO and orders him to launch the reserve Vipers. Fisk, nearly petrified by what he just saw, is more than compelled to follow the order. As the last of Pegasus’s remaining squadrons launch, Cylon batteries pound the hull.
• With the weapons grid down, Cylon Heavy Raiders easily breach Pegasus’s defensive perimeter. Centurions begin pouring into the ship through breached airlocks. Cain orders fast-response teams of Marines to engage the Centurions, and orders Shaw to Secondary Damage Control, as she fears that the Cylons will use this junction to vent all of Pegasus’s air into space.
• As Shaw heads to Secondary Damage Control, she finds Gina Inviere trying to escape the Centurions, and orders her to the CIC. As she peers around the corner, she is almost seen by a Centurion. She waits for it to leave, and as she turns the corner to go down the hallway, she sees a Number Six Cylon, following the Centurion. At first, Shaw doesn’t understand what she sees, but then it comes together – the Cylons can mimic human form, and Gina Inviere is one of them. She pulls up her gun, aims at her target, and kills the Six Cylon. Above the junction where she killed the Number Six, Shaw finds that the security feed for Airlock 4 is conveniently facing the dead Cylon.
• Shaw immediately heads to the CIC to take Inviere, now also in CIC, into custody before she can do any more harm. In the CIC, she directs her weapon at Inviere, and orders the Marines to take her into custody. When Cain belays the order, and Shaw states that Gina is a Cylon infiltrator that they "can look like us". When Cain scoffs, Shaw asks Hoshi to display the security feed from Airlock 4.
• Cain balks at the image of the dead humanoid Cylon in the form of her lover. Feeling betrayed and without any other options, she orders the guards to remove Inviere ("this thing") from the bridge. As a Cylon missile strikes Pegasus, Gina uses the moment to flip her captor around by the jaw, and gains control of his weapon, which she uses to shoot his comrade. She then snaps the Marine's neck, and trains her weapon on Cain. In a moment of hesitation, Inviere cannot bring herself to shoot Cain, and Shaw sneaks up behind her, clubbing the Cylon over the head with the butt of her rifle.

Massacre aboard the Scylla

• The victory at the communications relay is bittersweet. More than 800 of Pegasus’s original crew are now dead, over 90 Vipers are either destroyed or out of commission, and the deck crew doesn't have the resources to repair all remaining ones.
• As Cain and Shaw discuss the battle, Gina looks on from her cell. Shaw blames herself for the high cost of the battle, for giving Gina her command codes, which she used to take down the weapons grid.
• The hatch opens, and Lieutenant Alastair Thorne salutes Admiral Cain. Cain orders him to use whatever means he can conjure to retrieve information from Gina, including torture and rape. As Thorne enters Gina’s cell, Cain is called to the CIC.
• As Cain enters the CIC, Fisk is elated to inform the admiral that a convoy of 15 civilian ships has been detected. Fisk and Shaw are thrilled at the discovery, but the mood quickly turns sour when they realize Cain has other things on her mind. Cain orders Fisk to prepare teams of Marines and engineers to board each ship. They will take what they need, including spare parts and people, and leave the ships without FTL drives to fend for themselves.
• Fisk and Shaw come aboard the Scylla, where they find a relieved welcoming party. Peter Laird is the first to welcome them aboard. Excitement quickly turns to confusion however, when they hand Laird a list of Admiral Cain’s orders. Laird is shocked to learn that Cain wants to take their FTL drives. Laird informs the welcoming party, and they suddenly become an angry mob. Shaw informs them that they will use force if necessary, but Laird persistently refuses.
• As the mob inches closer to the boarding party, Fisk reports to Cain of the escalating situation. In an act that surprises even him, she orders him to shoot the families of any selectee that doesn’t comply with the orders.
• Fisk and the Marines are wary of the order, but they line up a couple of the families despite their reservations, hoping that showing the mob their resolve will force them to comply. The angry mob suddenly becomes violent – they throw whatever they can at the boarding party.
• At that very moment, Shaw pulls out her sidearm, and shoots a woman in the front in the head. The Marines follow suit, and before very long, the deck of the Scylla is painted with the blood of the dead. Shaw’s gaze drifts to her sidearm, still smoking from the shot, and then up to Laird, who is too stunned to move.
• In the aftermath, Shaw cannot bring her eyes to look upon the dead. Fisk comforts her by telling her that the entire fleet heard about what happened and there should be no more resistance. As her party leaves the Scylla, she can’t help but look back.
• For her actions aboard the Scylla, Cain promotes Shaw to captain. It is small comfort to Shaw, who is still anguished by what she has done. Seeing her vulnerability, Cain tells Shaw that the war is forcing them all to do things that they may not like, even hate, because if they don’t, then they may not live to simply become human again. By putting aside her fear, her reservations, even her revulsion to complete the mission, Shaw has become Cain’s "razor".

Present events

• Newly-promoted Commander Lee Adama is formally appointed commander of Pegasus by Laura Roslin in front of the ship's crew. In his speech he promises to change things on the battlestar and announces Kara Thrace's appointment as acting CAG.
• Shaw follows the speech on the wireless set, but eventually switches it off. She walks to a jar, takes out a syringe and injects herself with a drug. She is still troubled about what happened on the Scylla.
• Next, she is summoned to Adama's office, who reads her service file and points out that she received glowing reports from Cain, but increasingly negatives ones from Fisk and Garner, who eventually assigned her to kitchen duty because of "persistent insubordinate behavior". After listening to Shaw's candid opinions about him and his predecessors, Adama promotes her to be his executive officer; he intents to give the crew back its pride, and as an outsider he needs someone to uphold Cain's legacy.
• During a firearms drill, she shows competence but also how hard she is on the crew. William Adama comments that his son found an XO meaner than Saul Tigh.
• The Admiral gives Commander Adama his first mission: a search and rescue for two pilots and a civilian science team in an overdue Raptor.
• At their destination, Starbuck and Showboat conduct a Viper patrol and suddenly encounter enemy fighters of an unfamiliar configuration. Although able to identify them as Cylons, Starbuck doesn't realize that they are in fact Raiders like the ones used in the first Cylon War.
• Pegasus establishes a defensive perimeter and orders the Vipers to return prior to an FTL jump. When the navigational computer malfunctions and the Raiders close, Shaw orders to the vessel's offensive flight pod batteries turned on the incoming targets, placing Starbuck and Showboat inside the battlestar's close-in firing solution. Struggling their way through the barrage, a Raider follows them into the flight pod, which Starbuck shoots down once inside the landing bay. On the hangar deck, she angrily confronts Shaw over her decision to open fire, but Adama defends his XO.
• Back with the Fleet, Admiral Adama, Roslin and Tigh inspect the downed Raider on the hangar deck. Sharon Valerii recalls the "Guardians", a group of original Centurion models that escaped being scrapped by the humanoid Cylons. The Guardians guard the first Hybrid created by the Cylons, a first attempt towards Cylon evolution that was eventually abandoned. This causes Adama to remember the events on the ice planet on the last day of the Cylon War, finally realizing what he saw over 40 years ago and its significance.
• After examining the Raider's navigational data, Adama believes that the Raptor crew was captured by the Guardians and orders his son to jump to a possible base of theirs. For the duration of the operation, he transfers his flag to Pegasus, but assures Lee that it will be his mission.
• Shaw drafts an attack plan for Pegasus to draw Cylon forces away while a Raptor, piloted by Thrace and carrying a strike team, jumps to the Cylon base. Before signing off on the plan, Lee Adama confronts her over the incident on the Scylla. Shaw just replies that she is Cain's legacy - a razor - and that Cain wouldn't have hesitated to execute the plan.
• Before the battle takes another shot of the drug and is caught by Thrace, who is looking for a bottle of ambrosia. The two realize that they are more alike than thought.
• The plan doesn't work as quite as predicated and the strike team's Raptor is pursued by two Raiders. Simulating an engine malfunction, they jump out of the Raptor from the side hatch before it is destroyed by the Cylons, thus escaping detection. Using EVA thrusters, they make their way to the Guardian basestar.
• Thrace, Shaw, Mathias, Dasilva and Hudson find the missing Raptor crew, whom the Cylons mutilate in a manner similar to what William Adama saw in the first Cylon War. As they free the survivors, two Centurions attack, wound Dasilva and begin to drag him away. Unwilling to let him suffer same treatment as the Raptor crew, Shaw shoots Dasilva, but in turn is shot in the abdomen.
• While under cover from the firefight, Mathias reports to Pegasus that the detonator for the nuclear warhead, which they plan to use to destroy the basestar, is damaged.
• Pegasus loses wireless contact with the boarding team and Lee Adama orders a nuclear ship to ship missile to be armed and readied. Thrace herself considers the "mission outcome doubtful". Assuming that the team is dead, Commander Adama orders the launch of the missile, but is overridden by his father, who wants to give the team a chance.
• After reestablishing contact and learning that an evacuation Raptor is on the way, Shaw orders Mathias to rig a manual detonator for the nuke, determined to complete the mission. While Lee is reluctant to sacrifice someone to detonate the warhead, his father believes that the Cylons would easily shoot down a missile, but leaves the final decision to Lee. He orders the team to leave, but to detonate the nuke manually.
• The team prepares to suit up and leave, when Shaw forces Thrace to hand over the warhead detonator at gunpoint and remains on the baseship. Walking through the hallways, she finds the Cylon Hybrid, who knows her name, saying that he has been waiting for her for a long time. He tells her that the Centurions worship him as god, and observes Shaw's desire to be forgiven for what she has become. The Hybrids also delivers a warning about Thrace: She will lead the human race to its end, she is the herald of the apocalypse and the harbinger of death, and she must not be followed.
• Shaw tries to warn Pegasus, but her transmission is blocked by Cylon jamming before she can get the main part out. She then detonates the nuke, killing herself and destroying the basestar.
• Later, the Adamas discuss the battle and its outcome, the admiral noting Thrace's recommendation of Shaw for a posthumous commendation. Reviewing the logs, Admiral Adama doesn't find fault in either Cain's or Shaw's decisions, but Commander Adama vehemently disagrees, citing the Scylla. The admiral replies that he never had to face similar circumstances, and he had people like Lee, Roslin and Tigh to counsel and challenge him and keep him from making extreme and questionable decisions. He comforts Lee, telling him that his decision to launch the nuclear missile and sacrifice the strike team wasn't wrong, just necessary from Lee's perspective at the time.
• Outside Adama's quarters, Lee meets Thrace, who now has Cain's knife given to her by Shaw. She is unsure if Shaw sacrificed herself as atonement or if she just "had it coming." Thrace tells him that she requested re-assignment back to Galactica because she thinks Lee would keep trying to get her killed. When asked if she might deserve that, she jokingly replies that she has a destiny and plans to live to keep it.

Notes

Production

• A four-part podcast of the original story meeting for "Razor" is available on the SciFi website.
• Despite being credited, Alessandro Juliani (Felix Gaeta), Michael Trucco (Samuel Anders), Kandyse McClure (Anastasia Dualla) and Matthew Bennett (Number Five/Aaron Doral) do not appear in the aired version of "Razor".
  • Bennett appears briefly in the Razor Flashback web-episodes as Aaron Doral, in a flashback two days before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies.
• Scenes involving a young Helena Cain and her father, as well as Kendra Shaw on Caprica were cut from the TV version, but will be in the extended cut on DVD. These scenes, which reveal the loss of her entire family to the Cylons, will also explain the significance of Cain's knife, the episode's literal "razor" .
• Michael Taylor noted that the original opening for "Razor" was inspired by Apocalypse Now, but this was later cut .
• Scenes with Alastair Thorne torturing Gina were filmed but removed as "it played a little too much like an outtake from Spartacus."
• According to composer Bear McCreary, no specific soundtrack release for "Razor" is currently planned. However, the best tracks will be included on the Season 4 soundtrack .

Story

• The story, in present time, notes Roslin's cancer remission.
• The Guardian basestar appears to be an evolutionary gap in between the older Cylon War-era basestar and the newer starfish type basestar.
• The flashback of a young William Adama finding a Cylon lab during the war is part of the fifth, sixth, and seventh episodes of the "Razor" web-episodes.
• According to Caprica-Valerii, the Hybrids were created as a means to grow out of their mechanical roots and into biological ones. The Cylons considered the hybrids a failure and, after creating enough of them to control their baseships, the project was abandoned.
• At the end Thrace asks to be re-assigned to Galactica, currently holding the position of Pegasus's CAG, which she assumes in "The Captain's Hand".
• Despite being a major, Kendra Shaw wears a colonel's uniform with white/red trim. As shown on Doctor Cottle earlier, a major's uniform only has a white trim.
• When Pegasus jumps away from the Scorpion Fleet Yards, the vacuum created from the jump appears to suck in the surrounding flames and smoke of battle. This effect has been seen before in "Exodus, Part II" following Galactica's intra-atmosphere jump.

Analysis

• Given the overall survivor count and the tally of 49,579 during the credits, "Razor" takes place between "The Captain's Hand" and "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I". Captions also place the flashback portions 10 months prior to the present events. However this timespan is closer to 9 months.
  • This is also the only time during Lee Adama's command of Pegasus that the episode can even fit, since Starbuck leaves for Caprica in "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I". See also Timeline - Season 2 (RDM)
  • Adama's selection of Shaw as his XO likely takes place very shortly after him taking command of Pegasus, but other parts of the episode might take place slightly later.
  • Sharon Agathon's appearance may indicate that this episode takes place before "Downloaded", however this cannot be confirmed by any visual evidence as her appearance is brief and all camera shots are seemingly aimed to avoid shooting her belly. However, it can be reasonably surmised that because she is still cooperating with the Colonials that Hera's birth and her subsequent faked death haven't occurred yet.
• According to Admiral Cain, a razor is someone who can set aside all fear, hesitation, revulsion and natural inhibition in battle (see noteworthy dialogue).
  • When Cain recruits Jack Fisk to assassinate Commander Adama, she tells him that he needs to pick Marines who are "[completely] reliable. Completely loyal. Razors." (Resurrection Ship, Part I).
  • This bears a passing semblance to a poem by Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto: "I am still the sword/Of my Emperor/I will not be sheathed/Until I die." Admiral Yamamoto knew about America, Americans and their potential from his time as a student at Harvard and as a naval attaché in Washington, DC. Despite misgivings about declaring war on America, he served his Emperor and planned the attack on Pearl Harbor.
  • A razor is a physically present symbol in the episode in the form of a folding knife. It is passed from Cain to Shaw and eventually to Kara Thrace. The knife is used by Cain to explain the concept and how a person becomes one.
• Regarding the casualties suffered by Pegasus during the Battle of the Communications Relay, Shaw's report that Pegasus suffered over 800 dead must be referring to the total casualty rate since the Cylon attack. Since Pegasus already suffered over 700 losses fleeing the Scorpion shipyards, adding 800 to this figure would mean over half the crew were now dead. Given that Pegasus's crew is approximately 1,750 when she encounters Galactica, such a high death rate seems unlikely.
• Peter Laird's reaction to the dead civilians heavily implies that the woman killed by Shaw is his wife. Especially the shot at the end when he looks at the bodies and the camera pans from him to the woman.
• Given that an evac Raptor successfully retrieves the assault team by docking or at least flying close to the Guardian basestar without incident, it seems that the Guardian basestar itself appears to be unarmed and totally reliant on its Raiders for defense, unlike the standard Cylon basestar.
• A curious technical gaffe appears to occur as the smoke from the various fires in the shipyard travel upward. Unless the flames (which would appear as a globular "blossom" shape without gravity) jet upward, the smoke, with the lack of convection (heat rising upward as lighter gases against gravity), would expand in all directions opposite the flames or venting, not "up" relative to the battlestar or flames.
• In stark contrast to her demeanor by the time of the rendezvous with Galactica, Helena Cain is visibly more relaxed with her crew: She is stern when necessary, but also enjoys several moments of levity with subordinates and cultivates personable relations with her staff; she regards Jurgen Belzen as a personal friend (as described later by Fisk to Tigh); she initiates Shaw to Pegasus by chewing her out in the CIC and shares a humored look with her XO afterwards; the atmosphere at the dinner is very informal; she expresses strong emotions and sheds tears as she surveys the ship's casualties. All these point to the war and especially Gina's betrayal as reasons for her push over the edge to become a "razor" and the narrowing of her perspective to pure vengeance.
• Although she may have sacrificed herself in atonement, Kendra Shaw ended her life as a razor, casting aside fear and self-preservation to stay behind and die to complete out her mission, echoing Admiral Cain's observation that "sometimes we have to leave people behind so that we can go on, so that we can continue to fight. Sometimes you have do things that we never thought we were capable of ..." When she arrives on Pegasus, she is regarded as an opportunist, but in the end she is quite the opposite.

Questions

• How does the Hybrid know Kendra Shaw?
• Is the Hybrid's warning that Kara Thrace is the harbinger of death true? Does it say this to ensure that the eternal cycle continues per Pythian prophecy?
• Who is Pegasus's CAG after Thrace steps down?
• Whose decision was it to scrap the old Centurions? Did they resist?
• When the first Hybrid says "My children believe I am a god", to whom is he referring? The old model Cylons? The organic models?

Official Statements

• Michael Taylor on the scene with the three Guardians in the Cylon War-era Raider:

Actually, early references to talking Centurions were cut from early versions of the script, only to be resurrected by one of our VFX guys, Adam “Mojo” Lebowitz, who ended up giving them very similar dialogue to what I once had. We all mulled the issue and then concluded: What the [heck]; how can we revisit that era and not hear one of the signature lines? And yes, we’re a serious show, but sometimes it’s also not so terrible to acknowledge that this is a show, with a debt to another show, no matter how thoroughly we’ve tried to re-imagine it.

• Taylor discusses the limited appearance of Alastair Thorne in "Razor":

There’s only so many characters and storylines that we could explore in a movie of even nearly two hours, and frankly this was Cain’s and Kendra’s story. As far as the character of the torturer, Lt. Thorne, goes, I think it was scary enough to introduce him and imagine what poor Gina had in store.

• Taylor discusses the narrative of the story:

The script itself is somewhat less flashbacky, telling the story in a more chronological, linear way. Ultimately, we found it more effective to ground the story by relating it through a more present-day frame in which our regular characters, including Lee and Kara, are more front-and-center. But whether intended in the same way or not, what I like about both "Unfinished Business" and "Razor" is the way they fracture time, and show how the past affects and informs the present. I suppose that’s probably one of the themes that interests me most as a writer.

• Taylor discusses the relationship between Gina and Helena Cain:

I think part of the point about Cain’s and Gina’s relationship is that the fact that they had a same-sex relationship was no big deal. I think we started from the idea of wanting to explore whether Cain’s anger and revulsion at Gina, so evident in her first appearance in Season Two’s “Pegasus,” had a personal component. And the idea that Cain had had an intimate relationship with Gina quickly came to mind. It made Gina’s betrayal that much more devastating for her.

That being said, we did not want to make much about the idea of Cain being “gay,” if indeed she is gay, or if indeed Colonial society makes much of the distinction between hetero- and homosexual preferences. I tend to think that in this respect, at least, they’re a bit more enlightened than we are. That being said, we honestly have not done much exploring of the sexual orientations of other characters so far in Season 4. If it were to serve a dramatic purpose—as it does in "Razor" —other than to underscore that homosexuality is as much a part of the Battlestar world as it is of ours, we may well. We still have a season of scripts to write, so who knows: Look out, “The L Word,” we’re coming for your Nielsen ratings.

• Taylor discusses how this story originated:

A number of ideas were tossed around, but they all centered on using the movie as an opportunity to revisit the series’ past. I believe an early notion of mine may even have touched on a Terminator-like time-travel scenario that put some of our characters back on Caprica before the attack, but with foreknowledge of what was about to happen. I remember pitching the idea that [William] Adama would have to convince Cain to trust him and then join forces to try to stop the attack.

All the writers were on a conference call with the show’s creators and executive producers, Ron Moore and David Eick, and I recall David in particular perking up at the mention of Cain and Pegasus. It quickly became clear that our story would center around Cain’s ship and its own, very different journey in the aftermath of the Cylon attacks, and with that idea firmly in place the time travel and other kooky stuff quickly fell by the wayside and we began constructing a much more realistic story where our characters’ choices in the face of calamity, rather than through time-travel-enabled hindsight, became the key. But then that’s what Battlestar has always been about: the pressure of making genuine choices in real, and often horrific situations.

• Michelle Forbes (Admiral Helena Cain) discusses Gina's betrayal:

It was a massive betrayal. This woman is rarely vulnerable with anyone. She doesn’t allow herself that. For her to have taken that step [and become Gina’s lover] and been so ultimately betrayed, it did her head in, it did her heart in.

She became very misguided at that time. I feel the actions that she took in that misguided place still were along the lines of what she felt she needed to do. And there’s nothing that she did that some world leader has not done.

It’s very painful, what she did to Gina. There was such a deep sadness, but [for her] duty overrides that sadness, otherwise things don’t get done. There’s a lot of sorrow [in Cain]. It was not a punishment as much of a means to an end.

• Forbes on the questions raised in the series:

These heightened situations [in Battlestar Galactica bring up] these heightened questions we have to ask. As [Adama] says in a speech [earlier in the series], ‘Are we worthy of survival? Who are we? Who have we become? Have we just become animals and it’s survival at any cost?’ These are important questions to raise.

I love the fact that they ask these questions but never in a preachy manner. These are painful questions to ask. It’s so relevant it gives me goosebumps sometimes.

This and The Wire are just the two best written TV shows out there. You can’t just tune in and tune out. It’s not mindless entertainment. Occasionally with The Wire too I also feel like I need a notebook next to me [laughs]. They’re just fantastic stories with such complexity.

It’s a very exciting time to be part of television. I feel so fortunate that I’ve been involved in some pretty interesting, odd shows. There are many more cropping up out there.

[As for Battlestar Galactica] I’ve never guested on a show and walked away a bigger fan. I was so thrilled to see everyone again, I am so fond of this company. They’re lovely people and the crew is fantastic. And this is not just an actor blowing smoke [laughs].

Noteworthy Dialogue

• Admiral Cain talks to Kendra Shaw about her conduct during the crisis:

Sometimes we have to do things that we thought we were never capable of, if only to show the enemy our will. Yesterday you showed me that you're capable of setting aside your fear, setting aside your hesitation - and even your revulsion, every natural inhibition that during battle can make the difference between life and death. (opens folding knife.) When you can be this, for as long as you have to be, then you're a razor. (closes knife.) This war is forcing us all to become razors. Because if we don't, we don't survive. And then we don't have the luxury of becoming simply human again. Do you understand me?

• Opening narration by Kendra Shaw:

You're born, you live and you die. There are no do-overs, no second chances to make things right if you frak 'em up the first time. Not in this life anyway.

• Gina about Helena Cain and their relationship:

She has needs, just like the rest of us. No one can survive entirely on their own. Trust me Lieutenant, in the end, we're all just human.

• Admiral Cain gives a speech to her crew after the Cylon attack:

This is your admiral. I know there've been a lot of rumors going around...about the destruction that's been visited on our homeworlds by the Cylons. I would like to tell you that they're exaggerations, but in fact it can not even come close to convey the horror that's been unleashed upon us. The facts are...that our colonies have been destroyed, our cities have been nuked, and our fleet's gone too. So far there have been no indications of any other survivors. I imagine you're all asking yourselves the same question I am: What do we do now? Do we run? Do we hide? I think those are the easy choices. A philosopher once said "When faced with untenable alternatives you should consider your imperative." Look around you. Our imperative is right here, in our bulkheads, in our planes, in our guns and in ourselves. War is our imperative. And if right now victory seems like an impossibility, then we have something else to reach for: revenge, payback. So we will fight. Because in the end it's the only alternative our enemies have left us. I say let's make these murdering things understand that as long as this crew and this ship survive, that this war, that they started, will not be over. Thank you.

• William and Lee Adama discuss Cain's actions:

William Adama: I've been going through Cain's log and from a tactical perspective it's hard to find fault in anything she did. Or that Kendra Shaw did.

Lee Adama: They butchered innocent civilians, Dad. Come on. How can you ignore that?

William Adama: I know that I didn't have to face any of the situations that she did. I had the President in my face, arguing for the survival of the civilian fleet. I've Colonel Tigh keeping me honest, balancing my morality and my tactics. And I had you. Now...you don't have any children, so you might not understand this, but you see yourself reflected in their eyes. And there are some things that I've thought of doing with this fleet, but I've stopped myself, because I knew I'd have to face you the following day.

Guest Stars

• Alessandro Juliani as Lieutenant Felix Gaeta (credit only)
• Michael Trucco as Samuel Anders (credit only)
• Kandyse McClure as Anastasia Dualla (credit only)
• Michelle Forbes as Admiral Helena Cain
• Graham Beckel as Colonel Jack Fisk
• Stephanie Jacobsen as Lieutenant/Captain/Major Kendra Shaw
• Nico Cortez as Young William Adama
• Matthew Bennett as Number Five
• Steve Bacic as Colonel Jurgen Belzen
• Brad Dryborough as Lieutenant Hoshi
• Eileen Pedde as Sergeant Erin Mathias
• Fulvio Cecere as Lieutenant Alastair Thorne
• Vincent Gale as Peter Laird
• Campbell Lane as Hybrid
• Kyra Scott as Young Helena Cain
• Chandra Berg as Little Lucy Cain
• Peter Flemming as Helena's Father
• Shaker Paleja as Medic Hudson
• Andrew Dunbar as Marine Dasilva
• Jacob Blair as Squad Leader Banzai
• Peter Bryant as Frank Bruno
• Chris Bradford as Ops Officer
• Tyson Stanley as Young Marine
• Trevor Roberts as Scylla Protestor #1
• Cameron Macleod as Scylla Protestor #2
• Ingrid Tesch as Mother
• Joey Pierce as Marine Riggs
• Matt Drake as Son #1
• Dustin Eriksen as Son #2
• John Hainsworth as Man in Cage #1
• Victor Ayala as Man in Cage #2
• Deni Dolory as Woman in Cage
• Emily Hirst as Child in Cage
• Ben Cotton as Terrified Man
• Stefanie von Pfetten as Captain Marcia "Showboat" Case
• Alyssa Minniss as Flower Girl
• Uncredited as Gus

External Links

• Composer Bear McCreary on the score for "Razor"

Re-imagined Series definition: nerve center or "bridge" of a battlestar, see: Combat Information Center

Galactica 1980 definition: Dillon looks up this term after Jamie Hamilton orders a coffee at a diner, upon their return to 1980 Earth ^{(1980: "Galactica Discovers Earth, Part III")}.

Original Series definition: marriage

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

Re-imagined Series definition: "Direction, Range, and Distance", Colonial equivalent of radar or lidar

Re-imagined Series definition: generally related to the CIC station and related locations

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

Re-imagined Series definition: Executive Officer, e.g. Saul Tigh

Re-imagined Series definition: Colonial equivalent of radio

Re-imagined Series definition: abbreviation of tally-ho; the sighting of an enemy target, such as a craft, landmark, or position ^{(TRS: "The Hand of God", "Scattered", "Maelstrom")}

Re-imagined Series definition: generally related to the CIC station and related locations

Re-imagined Series definition: all-purpose vulgarism; Colonial version of "fuck" (see: frak)