Black Market

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"Black Market" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
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Overview

Not available at this time.

Summary

• The newly revived Prsident Roslin feels that she has fallen behind in her work since her absense, as internal trade of supplies within the fleet is in shambles. She has a meeting in Adama's quarters with Admiral Adama, Commander Fisk, and Dr. Baltar about shutting down rampant black market trading that is going on in the fleet.
• When he arrives back in his quarters on Pegasus (Cain's old quarters) Fisk is garroted by several black market gangsters.
• Apollo meanwhile has been severely depressed ever since he was nearly killed when the Blackbird was destroyed. He's begun a relationship woman named Shevon on Cloud 9, who has a young daughter named Payo. Shevon soon has to resort to working as a prostitute to get basic food and medical supplies (Lee seems to have been going out with her since a little before this, but she's been paying her cubits when he stays there. He stil seems to want an actual relationship with her).
• We learn in flashbacks that Apollo's girlfriend on Caprica became pregnant, but he became afraid and didn't know if he should commit or not. She got angry and stormed off, then he ran away. This happened just prior to the Cylon attack, and she is presumed dead.
• Unaware that Fisk was murdered, Baltar stumbles into Fisk's quarters to see him but finds Apollo on the scene. After some annoyed bluster, in which he states (correctly) that he had nothing to do with it, he storms out. Baltar was actually trading for a hard to find commodity, cigars that Fisk had.
• Apollo finds a small fortune of luxury goods in Fisk's closet, and finds a gold bracelet with the monogram "E.T" on it. Apollo realizes it's Ellen Tigh's and confront's Col. Saul Tigh about it in his quarters. Tigh says that it was he and not his wife who traded it to Fisk for good liquor, fruit, etc. for Ellen and himself. Tigh explains that Fisk was deeply involved in using Pegasus to make off the books black market trading. Dr. Cottle's autopsy revealed that someone had jammed cubits in Fisk's mouth as a warning. Apollo realizes it must surely be that Fisk was trying to undercut one of his black market suppliers, and they took revenge. Apollo is angry that Tigh would use the black market, but Tigh counters that almost everyone does some trading with it to get things they need, even Apollo, and Apollo remembers visiting Shevon, etc. Apollo says that just because everyone does it doesn't mean it's right.
• On Colonial One, President Roslin politely sits Dr. Baltar down and tells him that he was obviously uncomfortable with ascending to the presidency, so if he wants to leave, he can now. Baltar realizes she's asking him to resign. (Perhaps this is because she suspects him of Cylon involvement). Baltar's pride is wounded, and he says that although he never wanted any political power in his life or to be Vice President originally, he wants to stay VP now. Roslin tells him it's not an offer she'll make again, but he leaves anyway.
• Off duty working out in Galactica's gym, Dualla comes to Apollo and asks him if their workout sessions are something more, and wants him to tell her what they "have". Apollo tells her he doesn't know what to say and they leave.
• Shevon calls Apollo to come to her quarters on Cloud 9 for help, and when he comes in he finds a bruised Shevon and Payo. He says he'll hide them on Galactica, but then Phelan's black market thugs ambush him and nearly garrote him before knocking him out. This was a warning from Phelan: he forced Shevon to help him set up a trap for Apollo, beat Apollo around to warn him to back off his investiagation, and then killed his subordinate that garroted Fisk. Phelan is giving Apollo the opportunity to take his dead murder suspect and just close the case and walk away. However, he also took Shevon and Payo.
• Tom Zarek drops by the scene in Shevon's room later, and discusses the black market with Apollo. Zarek says that he's not actually not involved with it, because he needs to keep his hands clean, but he also won't help Apollo shut it down (giving ship names, contacts, etc.) because Zarek doesn't want it shut down; it's evidence that Roslin was unable to establish a utopian society in the Fleet, and successfully dismantling it would just prove her right, etc., and besides, it gets supplies where they are needed. Nonetheless, he helps Apollo by telling him that the central hub of the black market is on the ship Prometheus, a ship so lawless it's practially "off the grid", where you can supposedly get anything. Zarek tells Apollo that Phelan probably took Shevon there.
• Apollo travels to the Prometheus, alone. After some searching he finds Payo and other children locked up, and soon finds a bar that Phelan is in. Apollo threatends to have Vipers vent Prometheus into space unless he gets Sheven and Payo back, and the black market is shut down.
• Phelan counters that the fleet needs something like the black market; it's like a pressure valve. Whenever a ship falls behind in the supply schedule, that's how they get needed supplies. He doesn't think it's a bad thing at all. He goes on to explain that they sell everything; drugs, "escorts" (that is, prostitution, and even child prostitution. Apollo is horrified.
• Shevon is dragged out and admits that she was forced to help Phelan. Phelan badgers Apollo more about the benefits of the black market. Apollo realizes it's the only way Shevon was able to obtain live-saving antibiotics for Payo. One of Phelan's men had a pistol pointed at Apollo's head, but he quickly grabes it and points it at Phelan.
• Apollo says to Phelan that he may be right that Apollo can't shut down black market trade, and that maybe he shouldn't because it has it's uses, but that there are lines and Phelan has crossed them. Phelan confidently tells Apollo that he won't shoot him, because he's not like Phelan. Apollo lowers his gun slightly, then thinks of his dead girlfriend and points it stright at Phelan again. Phelan again matter-of-factly says that Apollo isn't going to shoot him...and gets cut off midssntence when Apollo shoots him in the chest. Phelan slumps into his chair, looks at Apollo and dies.
• Apollo turns to Phelan's men, and tells them that he's not going to shut down all black market trade because the fleet needs it for vital supplies whether he likes it or not. However, they continue their business at his whim only. If there are more killings, hold back essential medicines, or so much as touch a child, he will annihilate them without restraint.
• In tears, Shevon breaks up with Apollo, saying he just wanted Shevon and Payo to replace the woman and child he lost, and that she and Payo can't replace what he lost for him.
• Roslin is upset that Apollo did not shut down the black market, but Apollo counters that they will never have a perfect system and there will always be a black market. At least this way, they know where they are and who they are, and they can monitor it to gain a measure of control over it. Roslin isn't at all happy with this, but Admiral Adama fully supports Lee.
• Tom Zarek is seen walking through a crowd on the Prometheus with one of Phelan's old men nearby.

Questions

• How were the black market gangsters able to penetrate Pegasus' security, causing the death of its second commanding officer in a short period?
• At the end of the episode, Zarek is seen walking in a crowd on the Prometheus, with one of Phelan's old men nearby. Is Zarek going to try to fill the power vacuum left in the wake of Phelan's death? Was it just showing how everyone needs to use the black market, even someone like Tom Zarek who claims to wash his hands of involvement with it?

Analysis

• This is quite possibly the worst episode ever of Battlestar Galactica, and Ron D. Moore actually almost admits as much in his podcast. For months, we puzzled over comments made in his blog that he was really unhappy with something. We assumed that it had something to do with the Cylon POV episode "Downloaded" being canceled. However, it turns out that "Downloaded" was never canceled: RDM reveals in the podcast that the long complaint about failed goals he made in his blog was actually about this episode. And it shows.
• The script seems disjointed and it doesn't seem to know where it's going or have a central theme.
• Apollo's recent angst and suicidal tendancies, while excellent in theory, have been poorly executed so far. Simply, they haven't been given enough time. Despite all of the scenes added in the Resurrection Ship two-part episode, Apollo's plot advancement had a skeleton of development left after cutting. Why would Apollo be moodily engaged in a relationship with a refugee woman? Okay, not the worst idea. However, the biggest disappointment so far has actually been the development of the Dualla-Apollo relationship.
• The Apollo-Dualla relationship, while planned out long in advance, is possibly one f the worst executed ideas the procduction team has ever come up with. It started in "Resistance" when we saw her check him out briefly, then against in "Flight of the Phoenix", when they have a gym extercise routine which is actually physically flirting. And in "Epiphanies" when she reacts to Apollo's return. So it doesn't come as a surprise...only because it's been hinted at before. But the way it's introduced is awkward in the extreme; Dualla comes up to Apollo in the gym, and asks him bluntly if they have a relationship? It seemed incredibly forced. And she mentions how much they've been doing things in the gym....but this has only happened once before on screen.
• Half of the cast doesn't appear in this episode. Starbuck, Sharon, Helo, Tyrol, and Cally do not appear in this episode. Number Six is barely in it, taunting Baltar slightly on Pegasus and when meeting with Roslin...but for once Number Six simply detracted from these scenes. Some of the two way Baltar conversations with Roslin and Six have been highly entertaining in the past, notably in "33" and "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I". However, here she actually just slows things down in the Roslin-Baltar arguement (see below). Either way, she just isn't in it enough. Col. Tigh is in it, and the scenes he's in are serviceble but didn't add anything. Many minor characters like Hot Dog, Kat, and Gaeta aren't in this. Dr. Cottle does make an (as usual, quite fun) appearance in the beginning, but he's only in one scene, and while nice it isn't one of this best few.
• The biggest victims of not appearing too much are Dualla and Billy. Oddly enough, they're actually two characters who really did appear in this episode. The actor who plays Billy, (Paul Campbell) has been filming a lot of tv pilots, etc. so he hasn't had much to do this season. So after Valley of Darkness and Resistance he has done little that was memorable. Has he actually said anything quotable after the first few episodes of season 2? The few times he has appeared he barely talks. There is an upcoming episode, "Sacrifice" coming up which is apparently going to have Billy heavily featured. However, it's hard for the writers to develop an intriguing love triangle when Billy doesn't say anything of value in an episode, and exists just to kiss Dualla. Cally or Kat now seem like better developed and more meaningful characters then Billy. It's not that he's a bad character, it's just that he's underused.
• Dualla suffers similarly, but unlike Billy the audience is actually supposed to feel that she's a main character. And to a great degree she is; she's appeared in almost every episode. But what plot advancements has she actually done? Her scene with Adama in "Home, Part I" was great, but was never followed up on. Dualla needs to have a life separate from the Apollo-Dualla-Billy love triangle. But this "character development" is so underdeveloped over the past season that unless you were really paying attention (as Battlestar Wiki does) to the small earlier scenes of Dualla-Apollo attraction, how is the regular audience supposed to know this? "Flight of the Phoenix" aired 4 months ago in the USA, and even from just an episode-marathon standpoint, it was episode 9 and there's not real further development of it until episode 14 now? How are we supposed to like this or be engaged in it, if the characters are underdeveloped? It's not so much this episodes fault; the development of this had to happen in earlier episodes. What it is at fault for is trying to suddenly introduce this on shakey foundations.
• It was very dark, but had no real message or purpose. Perhaps what was happening is that they were stressing the realism of living in a "Rag Tag Fugitive Fleet" of civlians; yes, there would probably be gangsters carving out fiefdowms, running drug, medecine, and prostitution rackets. The show took a really dark turn when it made mention of child prostitution. Once again, this isn't anything that several police-dramas airing at the same time of night as BSG haven't done, and nothing is "shown"; a character just mentions in dialog that he runs a ring of this, and the "good guy" promptly kills him and shuts it down. However, the entire idea of the drug rings, etc. is a little disturbing, even if entirely logical.
• It was actually good development to show that Apollo's girlfriend on Caprica was pregnant right before the attack, they broke up, and she's presumably dead now. However, they only briefly mention that "she wanted to give you a child", and many viewers did not understand that she was pregnant, his girlfriend,e tc. Instead of advancing the "flashback plot" the episode is filled with about a dozen tiems that Apollo flashes back to seeing his girlfriend's face and her crying. They're really repetitive and don't advance what's happening in the flashback. If they had spent the same amount of time on giving the two of them dialog, and allowing information to be revealed to the audience, it would have made more sense.
• How utterly implausible is it that a group of mobsters could sneak into the Pegasus commanding officer's quaters and kill him? Two weeks ago it was seen with scrutiny that the Cylon Gina was able to do the same thing to Admiral Cain. However, then it was different; as they explained, right after the battle there was confusion on Pegasus and she was able to slip to Cain's quarters. Now in such a short period of time, BOTH commanding officers are assisnated in the same room, without being detected first? of course, the explanation for this could be that they bribed off the Marine guards, but that's kind of a stretch.
• The scene between Baltar and Roslin was actually one of the few servicable parts of this episode. It would have been best to cut their losses, and slap this into a different episode, because now it is lost in the failure of this episode. It's actually got good scripting and acting between Baltar and Roslin. Roslin is determined to be extremely polite, forceful, and cheery despite the fact that she's makinga power play, and instead of fumbling around too much Baltar really shows some backboen. The only drawback was Number Six's little taunts: they were nothing of incredible value or quotable, and actually slowed down the tension between Roslin and Baltar.

Notes

• Survivor count for this episode was 49,597. That's one less from last week's episode, "Epiphanies" in which a suicide bomber attacked the tylium refinery. However, bodies are seen blasted into space, and Adama actually says in dialog "people are dead", so more than one should have died. However, this number is occasionally offset by new babies born in the Fleet, which can account for some small discrepancies.
• Zarek notes that he is the representative of the Astral Queen, although in "Colonial Day", he was elected to represent the colony of Sagittaron. Given the nature of the conversation, however, he may have been speaking of his responsibilities in a less-than-official capacity.
• Starbuck does not appear in this episode.
• Sharon Valerii does not appear in this episode.

Noteworthy Dialogue

• "You're not gonna shoot."

—The last words of Phelan

Official Statements

• In an interview in issue #197 of TV Zone, James Callis (Dr. Gaius Baltar) said: "Mary and I had a great deal of fun doing a scene where the President tells Baltar in no uncertain terms that she doesn’t like him and wants him to resign. He’s not very happy about that."

Statistics

Guest Stars

• Claudette Mink as Shevon
• Richard Hatch as Tom Zarek
• Unknown as Phelan
• Unknown as Paya
• Unknown as Weller
• Unknown as Beach
• Graham Beckel as Commander Jack Fisk

Production Notes

• Series 2 (2005 / 2006)
• Production Number: 2.14
• Airdate Order: 14 (of 20)

First Run Air Dates & Releases

• UK Airdate:
• US Airdate: 27 January 2006
• DVD Release (UK):
• DVD Release (US):
• Nielsen Rating: X.X million households, XXX share

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