Faith

"Faith" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No.	Season 4, Episode 6
Writer(s)	Seamus Kevin Fahey
Story by
Director	Michael Nankin
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.	408
Nielsen Rating
US airdate	9 May 2008
CAN airdate	9 May 2008
UK airdate	13 May 2008
DVD release
Population	39,675 survivors ( 1)
Additional Info
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
The Road Less Traveled	Faith	Guess What's Coming to Dinner
Related Information
Official Summary
R&D Skit – View
IMDb entry
Listing of props for this episode
Related Media
			@ BW Media
Promotional Materials
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Overview

The cancer-stricken President Laura Roslin and hotheaded pilot Kara Thrace both must make difficult leaps of faith in order to accept an uneasy alliance with the Cylons.

Summary

Teaser

• Angry and defiant at Karl Agathon's refusal to obey orders to travel to a baseship, Kara Thrace attempts to jump the ship herself when Athena restrains her.
• Agathon orders Geata to jump the ship back to Galactica. Samuel Anders points out that they will be returning as mutineers, but Agathon responds that Admiral Adama will sort things out.
• Anders intervenes with a sidearm, shooting Gaeta in the leg to stop him from following Agathon's order to jump back to the Fleet. Chaos ensues as Marines arrive.
• Everyone stands down as Gaeta is attended to, in severe pain from a leg wound.
• Realizing that taking the Demetrius itself to the baseship would be too great a risk, Thrace rescinds her original order, suggesting to fly their only Raptor to the baseship with Athena and Anders as crew, taking Leoben Conoy with them. Agathon initially objects but realizes its the best compromise. He tells her that she has only 15 hours to complete her mission before the Demetrius must jump to rendezvous with the Fleet or be left behind.

Act 1

• Tory Foster is packing things up on Colonial One. Laura Roslin is at her desk, bald and not wearing her wig. She tells Foster to keep things going as she finishes the last two diloxin treatments, where she'll be on Galactica and indisposed during that time. Roslin tries to encourage Foster to watch out for sudden moves by the Quorum.
• On day 58 of their mission, the crew prepares the Raptor. Athena promises to work with Thrace as does Jean Barolay, who appreciates Thrace's strong reputation.
• The Raptor jumps and finds a massive graveyard of dead baseships and Raiders floating dead in space. Thrace is amazed. They are by a large gas giant in a trinary star system, just as her visions suggested.
• On the Demetrius, Gaeta is heavily medicated with morpha for the pain. He asks Agathon not to have Dr. Cottle amputate his leg, as he realizes that the longer he doesn't get advanced care, the more likely gangrene will set in.
• The Raptor carefully searches for the baseship amidst the exploding ordinance. Thrace can hear "music" (Leoben confirms this is a rare trait among some Cylons as well) and takes control to fly the Raptor towards the gas giant. She sees the comet she expected, but not in the form; Leoben's stricken baseship is flying past, trailing gas that gives it a comet-like appearance.
• The Raptor cruises past a warhead, which explodes too close to them and damages the cockpit canopy.

Act 2

• Thrace awakens to find the Raptor safely landed within the baseship interior.
• Athena arrives to find herself surrounded by an army of other Number Eights, who recognize her independence from all things Cylon. They ask her to help mutiny against the oppressive Sixes. Athena rejects them, telling them to find their own individuality and help her or get out of her way.

• In sickbay, amidst Gaius Baltar's voice on wireless discussing his God, Roslin encounters a woman in sickbay, Emily Kowlski, who is gravely ill with cancer as well. When Roslin tries to turn off the wireless and Baltar, the woman becomes very upset and yells for Roslin to leave.

• Thrace's meeting with the surviving leaders of the baseship does not go well. Leoben succeeds in convincing Natalie that they must work together.

• Athena accesses the datastream to determine how to mate the Raptor's jump drive to the baseship. Doing so requires disconnecting the Hybrid. As the group preps, Anders considers touching the data-font but stops himself.
• A Six sees and attacks Jean Barolay in retaliation for killing her on New Caprica, killing Barolay in return.
• Anders pounces the Six and is ready to kill the Cylon when Thrace manages to talk him down.
• The Six that killed Barolay speaks to Natalie, obviously dealing with psychological trauma from the death on New Caprica that she had not been able to shake. After kissing the distraught Six, Natalie grabs Anders's hand and pulls the trigger on his gun, killing the Six permanently as there is no Resurrection Ship nearby, carrying out a form of justice for the Colonials, who are shocked.

• Roslin meets again with Emily Kowlski, who gives her a scarf, a present. The two make small talk of what they will do after they get well. She warns Roslin that her sickness will get worse and to be prepared.

Act 3

• Starbuck arrives at the Hybrid, who seems to ignore her, discussing ship functions but repeating one phrase in particular.

• In sickbay, Emily Kowlski tells Roslin why she listens to Baltar. After speaking to Cottle, she tells of a dream where she saw people standing on the opposite side of a river: dead loved ones. She felt a presence, a warm loving presence that calmed her. Roslin questions the dream but Emily notes that the dream is real.

• Starbuck and Natalie continue to listen to the Hybrid's utterances. Leoben instructs Thrace to listen carefully, not to hurry the construct.

• Athena is ready to activate the jump augments and disconnect the Hybrid. Irritated at getting nowhere with the Hybrid, Thrace orders the jump.
• When it is unplugged, the Hybrid makes an inhuman scream, which causes a guarding Cylon Centurion (still in sentient mode) to fire in defense, severely wounding an Eight before the group manages to take the Centurion down.

• The Hybrid gives Starbuck a coherent message before it deactivates: The dying leader will discover the truth about the Opera House, the missing Three will be used to find the Five, who come from the home of the Thirteenth Tribe, and that she, Thrace, is the harbinger of death that will take all to their end. Thrace is horrified at the message.

• Kowlski and Roslin continue to discuss the authenticity of the Lords of Kobol and Baltar's God. Roslin becomes upset when she talks of her mother's death from cancer and the striking lack of anything noble or calming at that moment. As Kowlski tries to comfort her, the woman suddenly has a violent seizure of pain. Cottle arrives with medication, but tells Roslin that Kowlski's end is near.

Act 4

• As the group waits, the dying Eight speaks to Athena, who reaches out for her, but hesitates when she wants to touch her hand. Anders steps in to tenderly comfort the cylon as she dies, in sharp contrast to his near execution of the Six earlier in the episode.

• The group deciphers the Hybrid's message. All come to the conclusion that the final five Cylons came from the Thirteenth Tribe and so must also know the way to Earth. The boxed cylon model D'Anna, Number Three, will lead them to the Final Five. Anders is unnerved by the conversation, likely fearing the exposure of his cylon identity. The group leave to meet the Demetrius.

• Kowlski's vision of a river comes to pass in a dream Roslin experiences. The two stand on a boat, looking at a shore where human figures begin to appear, smiling and waving at Kowlski. Kowlski disappears to meet them, materializing on the shore. Roslin feels joy, then sees her own mother, smiling and waiting for Roslin to join her. She tells her she is not yet ready, stepping away from the boat's side, as the dream ends.

• Awakening from her dream, Roslin goes to see Kowlski but finds her bed empty. She died some time while she slept. Only Baltar's wireless remains, still switched on.

• Demetrius is prepping to leave as seconds count down but Helo lets the clock run over in hesitation to the crew's astonishment. Just as Helo is about to order the jump, the baseship arrives and broadcasts Colonial identity. After communication is established, Helo enthusiastically begins to prep both ships to leave for the Fleet.

• On Galactica, Roslin meets with William Adama in his quarters. She tells him that something may be truthful in Baltar's words, but Adama is reluctant. A sorrowful Adama talks of Thrace's death and return, his son's resignation from the military, and laments all the crew he sent with Thrace, wondering if he will see them again. But Roslin comforts him. The two smile as Adama tells her that Roslin helped him to believe that they really will find Earth.

Notes

• Baltar's radio broadcast contains a number of phrases from the "To be or not to be" speech of Hamlet, including "shuffle off this mortal coil," and "the undiscover'd country, from whose bourn no traveler returns." These phrases refer to death and the afterlife, respectively. The full text of the soliloquy can be found here. [1]

Analysis

• Even though Baltar is preaching for the "one true god", the symbolism of a boat crossing a river to the land of the dead is very similar to the Greek legends involving the River Styx.
• Emily's description of the Lords of Kobol and their behavior is quite consistent with that of Greek mythology.
• Some of the writers' misdirection from "He That Believeth in Me" becomes clear. The "giant gas planet with rings", assumed to be Saturn, is revealed to be at the site of the Battle of the Basestars.

Questions

• Are the Centurions capable of getting an IFF signal from a humanoid Cylon, like a Raider does? Could one have exposed Anders if he had made direct eye contact?
• What does the Hybrid's statement that the five come from the home of the thirteenth mean?
  • Were they made on Earth, the home of the thirteenth tribe? Did they voyage to Earth from Cylon/Colonial space and then return?
  • Does "the thirteenth" refer to "The One Whose Name Cannot Be Spoken" mentioned in "The Eye of Jupiter", to whom the Temple of Five was dedicated?
• Will Kara tell anyone about the Hybrid calling her "the harbinger of death"?
• Will Helo and the others have to answer for their mutiny?
• How will Geata's injury affect his duties? Will his leg be amputated?

Guest Stars

• Nana Visitor as Emily Kowlski
• Alana Husband as Nurse Shashon
• Ryan McDonell as Lieutenant Eammon "Gonzo" Pike