Daybreak, Part II

CONTRIBUTORS: Remember that an episode summary is just that, a summary. Don't use the article to ask questions that you haven't bothered to search for in related articles. Limit speculation; the Re-imagined Series is essentially over: no further significant revelations should be expected. Follow standards: Don't ask questions in questions. If an answer is found, move that data to the relevant article, phrasing it as a statement in the article body. This article will be naturally long; be concise and avoid unnecessary detail. Thanks!

"Daybreak, Part II & Part III" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No.	Season 4, Episode 20
Writer(s)	Ronald D. Moore
Story by
Director	Michael Rymer
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.	422-423
Nielsen Rating	1.7/2,364,000 viewers (Live+SD)
US airdate	March 20, 2009
CAN airdate	March 20, 2009
UK airdate	March 24, 2009
DVD release	28 July 2009
Population	survivors
Additional Info	Series Finale - 2 Hour Episode
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
Daybreak, Part I	Daybreak, Part II & Part III	The Plan
Related Information
Official Summary
R&D Skit – View
[[IMDB:tt{{{imdb}}}|IMDb entry]]
Listing of props for this episode
Related Media
			@ BW Media
Promotional Materials
Online Purchasing
Amazon: Standard Definition | High Definition
iTunes: USA

Summary

• Galactica and a crew of volunteers undertake one last mission against the Cylons lead by John Cavil, while destinies are fulfilled.

Overview

Act 1

• The episode begins with a series of events that occurred before the Fall.
  • In a strip bar in Caprica City, William Adama and Saul and Ellen Tigh enjoy themselves. Adama questions whether to take a civilian job or take command of an aged battlestar, finally deciding on the civilian job.
  • Kara Thrace and her fiancé Zak Adama have his brother Lee Adama over for dinner in her apartment. Conversation turns to the contradiction in Lee's decision to join the Colonial Forces, in light of his idealism and his disagreements with his father. He frames it as a pragmatic transaction: military service in exchange for a college education.
  • Elsewhere, Laura Roslin greets her date, Sean Allison, at her home. She eventually recognizes him as a former student from years ago. Despite the age difference, Roslin decides to let him stay the night.
  • At the strip bar, Bill Adama asks Saul whether he'd have taken 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 challenges Lee to shots.
  • Bill Adama is drunkenly sick, vomiting outside 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 followers, now empty. Virtual Six tells him to trust in God's plan for him, a plan she says he is already following.

Act 2

Aboard Galactica, final preparations are made for the mission...

• In sickbay, Dr. Cottle leaves assistant Layne Ishay enough medication to allow Laura Roslin enough lucidity and mobility for 48 hours. She thanks him sincerely, leaving Cottle uncharacteristically 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 Hera's likely location: deep inside the Cylon colony.
• In CIC, Admiral Adama work out the tactics of the battle against the colony; Close-range combat - no nuclear weapons and missiles.
• The Final Five plan to use Samuel Anders, now effectively a Hybrid on Galactica, to disrupt the Colony's Hybrids, a plan which requires Anders to be brought to CIC and connected to Galactica's computer systems.
• Saul Tigh is disturbed at the sight of gooey wires and conduit used to interface Anders with the battlestar.
• Admiral Adama hands over command of the 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 Centurions down the hangar deck; a red sash painted on them for identification.

Act 3

• A shot of the Fleet shows that the rebel baseship fully regenerated since the Cylon Civil War, and ready to lead the civilians to safety. Galactica separates from the fleet, retracting its flight pods to prep for FTL.

• Adama asks to go "around the horn", with the XO calling out combat stations over the loudspeaker.
  • In sickbay, Layne Ishay prepares sickbay for wounded, with Laura Roslin assisting as best she can.
  • Vipers are in launch tubes, 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 Raiders 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 Boomer looks on in disgust. When she questions why he continues to work on Hera when they are under attack, 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 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. Caprica-Six and Baltar are each surprised that the other can see and hear 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." 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 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, 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. "Hey! 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 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 navigation computer and jumps the ship.

• A flashback scene appears where Lee Adama and Kara Thrace talk about how she 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

A crippled Galactica seen in orbit over the Sahara Desert.

• Twelve hours later, the Fleet jumps into the new Earth's orbit as Galactica passes by. A Raptor came to Hoshi to guide them to new Earth.
• Landing ship after landing ship leave for the new world, which unlike the old Earth, is clearly lush and full of life.
• On a green, rich savanna 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. Adama is astonished that humans just so happened to have evolved on this particular world.

• At a camp, as Lampkin starts making plans for the construction of a 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 the new world 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 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.

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--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 ). 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 his father, and that he knows a bit about farming, to a bit of tears.

• Bill Adama sits near a cairn he built for Laura Roslin's body, and looking out into the hills and valley, speaks to her.

• 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 mitochondrial Eve, the matrilineal common ancestor of mankind.

Angels Baltar and Six...and a man reading National Geographic.

• As 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 "All Along The Watchtower" plays, ending with an image of 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 [1]. 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 first four numbers of Kara Thrace's jump coordinates -- 1, 1, 2, 3 -- are the first four numbers of the most common Fibonacci Sequence (starting with 1, 1), where each number is the the sum of the previous two. The last four numbers in reverse -- 1, 2, 3, 5 -- are the start of another Fibonacci Sequence (starting with 1, 2).
• At least two of the Virtual Beings, Virtual Six and Virtual Baltar, are proven to be entities with their own independent existences, and are not projections from the minds of those who see them. The exact nature of their existence--whether they are literal angels or something else--has not been determined. They have, however, been sent by another being sometimes called "God," who came to guide Baltar and Caprica Six in their destiny of protecting Hera.
• Kara Thrace was sent back from the dead by "God" 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 How the West Was Won.
• There are at least two distinct Virtual Beings. They have known each other a long time 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 Virtual Six appears to check her out (though this may have been a simple acting goof or an actual pedestrian happening by).
• The constellation Ursa Major (commonly known as the "Big Dipper") appears briefly in this episode by mistake. 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 takes 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.

Reproduction of the Races

• It is likely that some Ones, Fours, and Fives survived the destruction of the Colony, given that baseships were observed jumping in and out of the system by Racetrack and Skulls. They would not, however, have any long term survival prospects, having failed in both their plan to discover the secret that allowed Hera to be born and their attempt to gain the secrets of resurrection.
• Hera's mate or mates that produced children could be a Colonial human, a native Earth human, or even a another human-Cylon hybrid. All three races are strongly implied to be ancestors of what we consider to be modern day humans.
  • The Final Five can be considered ancestors of present-day humanity through their quasi-parental link with Athena and the other Eights, Twos, and Sixes although it is unlikely they have a direct genetic link to us due to their age, deceased status or self imposed isolation.
• Mitochondrial Eve, Hera, is the most recent matrilineal common ancestor for all people alive on Earth today. Like Hera, all people alive on Earth today carry some Cylon genes along with human genes--no one is one hundred percent "pure" Colonial human, as those who fled the Twelve Colonies were. Assuming that there are no "pure" humans living somewhere else in the universe today (descendants of the tiny number of survivors left behind in the Colonies), this means that humanity, as it was defined by people in the Twelve Colonies, has gone extinct, fulfilling the prophecies about the end of the human race.

Miscellaneous

• Ronald D. Moore has a walk-on appearance as the browser of the National Geographic magazine in New York City.
• The shelters erected by the Colonials on Earth resemble Quonset huts, World War II-era temporary structures.
• In another piece of irony in a program that is full of such, the two beings most directly responsible for the attack and destruction of the Twelve 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 Budd Dwyer.
• Adama's drunken moment, where he sits against a wall, vomits, and then looks up at the night sky, echoes 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 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.
• In Sharon Valerii's flashback immediately after she was killed by Sharon "Athena" Agathon, then-Commander Adama was upbraiding her for her constant poor landings he, among other things, told her she was not to let her personal life get in the way. This is a direct reference to the fact that she is still struggling with survivors guilt over her parents deaths on Troy, which occurred when she was undergoing training in the Colonial Military. The "deaths" of her parents were staged, however, by the Cylons who destroyed the colony of Troy to coincide with Valerii's activation as a sleeper agent. (The scenes were filmed, but cut from the aired version of the episode.)
• Chief Engineer Galen Tyrol's decision to travel to a highland area, which is implied to be Scotland, is a possible nod to the Star Trek character "Scotty", another famous science fiction engineer.
• According to Ron Moore, the island Tyrol mentions was intend to be Vancouver Island as a nod to the show's production site of Vancouver, British Columbia. Aaron Douglas however interpreted the line as a reference to Scotland and the reference to the highlands was then added.

Questions

• What happened to the newly liberated Centurions?
• What happened to the Raiders?
• Why does "God" want the Cycle to be broken?
• What was the "similar incident" Skulls was starting to tell Racetrack about just before they were killed?
• What is the 'it' that does not like to be called 'God', and why does it "not like that name"?

Official Statements

• Chicago Tribune article with remarks from Ron Moore, David Eick, Mary McDonnell, and Edward James Olmos.

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. Baltar questions what God wants to be really called:

Virtual Baltar (moving in closer to V-Six, whispers): "You know it doesn't like that name!"

Virtual Six (Doesn't answer vocally but her expression says "C'mon! you know better than that!"): ...........

Virtual Baltar (Seeing her reaction): "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."

• Tory Foster is saying something to the other Final Five who are about to download the specifications of Resurrection technology, delaying things. Cavil is impatient and shouts from below up to the Five:

Cavil: "HEY! I DON'T MEAN TO RUSH YOU BUT YOU ARE KEEPING TWO CIVILIZATIONS WAITING!"

• The Final Five are about to to stick their hand into Anders's hybrid tank and through that the datastream They are about to download the technical data of Resurrection to the Cavil Faction's Colony as agreed. As they do so their minds will essentially become one and they will all know each other's secrets whether they want to share or not. Tory Foster is unusually agitated and nervous:

Tory Foster (hesitantly with slight fear): "There are things that....that we've all done. Certain things that...people would be shocked.... to learn about."

(Cavil impatiently shouts from below, Foster continues)

Tory Foster (voice trembling slightly): Let's....Let's just all agree that no matter what we learn about each other...we're all Cylons and we're all capable of making mistakes."

(Those were her last words. Less than two minutes later, Tyrol learns of Tory murdering Cally and kills Tory by snapping her neck. She was being strangled too tightly to say anything else.)

• Cavil's last word before he commits suicide.

Cavil: "Frak!"

• Nuclear missles hitting it, have disturbed the Colony's balanced orbit, immediately causing it to start falling into the Singularity and it is dragging Galactica with it. Starbuck is frantically attempting to figure out the jump coordinates. This is a lyric from the song "All Along the Watchtower.''

Starbuck: "There must be some kind of way out of here!"

• Virtual Six and Virtual Baltar speculating if the cycle will continue.

Virtual Six: "All of this has happened before..."

Virtual Baltar: "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, looking out on a spectacular view of the savannah. Nearby is Laura Roslin's grave, and his last spoken words in the series are to her:

William Adama: "I laid out the cabin today. It's gonna have an easterly view. You should see the light that we get here. When the sun comes from behind the mountains, it's almost heavenly. It 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. Athena raises her weapon. Boomer does not try to flee, 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 Brenden "Hotdog" Costanza
• Leah Cairns as Lieutenant Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson
• Brad Dryborough as Lieutenant/Admiral Louis Hoshi
• Colin Lawrence as Ensign 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)