Occupation

"Occupation" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No.	Season 3, Episode 1
Writer(s)	Ronald D. Moore
Story by
Director	Sergio Mimica-Gezzan
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.	301
Nielsen Rating	1.8
US airdate	2006-10-06
CAN airdate	{{{CAN airdate}}}
UK airdate
DVD release	{{{dvd}}}
Population	survivors
Additional Info
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II	Occupation	Precipice
Related Information
Official Summary
R&D Skit – View
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Listing of props for this episode
Related Media
			@ BW Media
Promotional Materials
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Overview

It's been four months since the Cylons occupied the human settlement of New Caprica, and Galactica, Pegasus, and a handful of ships jumped to safety. On New Caprica, a resistance has begun to challenge the Cylons. Aboard Galactica, Admiral Adama struggles with plans for a rescue, having only a handful of untested pilots at his command, understaffed ships, and facing a nearly impossible task.

Summary

• The episode begins with a series of cut scenes. Light flashes over Saul Tigh's face. He is in a prison cell, his missing eye patched over with a gauze bandage, and has scratched notches into a calendar on the wall. His wife, Ellen Tigh, is having sex with one of the Cavils. Laura Roslin lights a candle and prays to the gods. Galen Tyrol and Samuel Anders are planting a bomb using G-4 and an A-type detonator within a building space.
• Kara Thrace is inside a neatly decorated room, setting a table.
• Admiral William Adama tries to strategize a rescue plan with a series of various models of fighters, support vehicles and other civilian ships in the Situation Room's plot table, but becomes frustrated and hurls a model across the table.
• Another Cavil walks into Tigh's cell and taunts him as he attempts to hide the calendar that he has scratched in the wall. A copy of Leoben Conoy walks into the room where Thrace sits at table, carrying her dinner. He sits and prays to "The Heavenly Father."
• Thrace coyly asks the Conoy copy for a knife for her steak, but Conoy takes his knife and cuts her steak himself.
• Tyrol and Anders scatter away as a Heavy Raider lands near their bomb.
• After Ellen Tigh's liaison with her Cavil copy, she asks when will she gets what she asked for, suggesting a previous deal. The Cylon informs her that it should be happening right at that moment. At same time, the Cavil in the cell with Colonel Tigh releases him from prison in a very taunting way. Tigh exits the prison and his wife meets him at the gate.
• A group of 'skinjobs' including at least 3 Eights, 3 Sixes, and 2 Fives approach the Heavy Raider as several 'chromejobs' exit it. Tyrol and Anders set off the bomb. A great explosion ensues that is witnessed by the Conoy copy with Thrace from their apartment. He returns to the table, pushes his knife away from Thrace.
• As he comments on how beautiful she is, Thrace stabs him in the neck with metal chopsticks. As he dies (while Thrace repeatedly stabs his chest for good measure), he tells Thrace that he will see her soon. She tells him to take his time. Then, after wiping her hand on the carpet, she returns to the table and calmly resumes eating dinner.
• Colonel Tigh is running the resistance effort, with Tyrol and Anders acting as his second in command officers.
• Every day a Raptor jumps in and listens for a wireless broadcast. With the list of jamming frequencies provided by Gaeta, Tyrol manages to contact the Colonial Fleet.
• With little left to lose, Duck prays to the gods. He has placed several packs of explosives around his waist, wiring himself as a living bomb. He dons his NCP uniform to attend their graduation ceremony, intending to kill Gaius Baltar and as many traitors and Cylons as he can.
• Baltar decides not to attend the graduation ceremony. Gaeta is unable to signal Tyrol in time of this last-minute change.

Questions

• How did Anders manage to recover from his pneumonia without the medical supplies Thrace was seeking in "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II"?
  • It is possible his own bodily defenses fought it off or he received medical supplies from a Cylon.
  • It is also possible that he received an injection from Hera, same as Laura Roslin. The human/cylon blood is known to eradicate infections and cancers.
• Is this episode further evidence that Jammer is another Cylon model? He was standing next to Duck when they assembled for the graduation, and it is unlikely that he would have survived the explosion at such close range.
  • Jammer's presence for the graduation ceremony was just the conclusion of what was evidenced in the Resistance web series during September. Only 33 out of 200 graduates were killed, so his odds of survival were considerably high, especially if he was towards the backend of the row of graduates when Duck triggered the bomb.
  • In the podcast, Ronald D. Moore reveals that Jammer survives Duck's attack, yet another issue that he has to deal with. An unfilmed scene was to show him waking up, under bodies, and having to move body parts out of the way. It was to be shown where his flashback of Cally Tyrol's arrest occurs.
    • It is not improbable that Jammer would survive the blast as only 33 of the NCP cadets were killed, not the whole lot. Most would survive. Additionally, it was made clear that Jammer was not standing next to Duck during the commencement due to the fact that Duck walked away from Jammer when Jammer recognized him. Since not all the cadets were killed, Jammer was probably on the side of the group that survived.

• Has Number 3 revealed herself to be a Cylon? In Season 2, it was my assumption that her reporter personna was still undercover as part of the fleet, and that we were witness to one of her copies watching the documentary and b-roll footage along with other Cylons in the screening room.

Analysis

• Prior to the Cylon occupation, the population of New Caprica City was 39,192. Taking into account "Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance" and the end of this episode, the projected population count is at 39,149 due to the following:
  • 44 deaths: Nora, Tucker Clellan, Longo, 32 human deaths in the bombing of the NCP graduation in this episode, and 9 additional deaths at the Cylons raid on the temple during "The Resistance".
    • The number of dead given is 33 in "Precipice", but one is subtracted from that count to include Tucker in the above listing.
    • The number of dead given is 10 in "Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance, Part 6". One is subtracted from this count to include Nora in the above list.
  • 1 birth: Nicholas Tyrol.
    • The presence of Kacey is not factored into the above population count, due to her nebulous status and suspected origins.
  • The above results in a net loss of 43 humans. This number does not include any births or deaths that may have happened outside of the events shown, or the attacks by resistance members on-screen whose fatalities were inconclusive during the first act of this episode. Therefore, this number is not specific, and prone to error.
• Several New Capricans appear to have sores or lesions on their faces.
• During the episode, Conoy mentions that Kara Thrace has succeeded in killing Conoy five times (including the killing that was shown).
• Conoy is obsessed with a future he has "seen" in which Kara falls in love with him. He repeatedly tells Kara that she only needs more time.
• The Cylons have either built a resurrection facility on New Caprica or positioned a Resurrection Ship near enough to the planet for downloads to take place.
  • No resurrection ship was seen in orbit when the basestars were shown.

Notes

• The episode started off with a warning indicating "Mature Subject Matter"
• "Occupation/Precipice" was awarded the IGN.com Editor's choice award, following a review in which it received a rating of 10/10.
• "Occupation" and "Precipice" is edited as one 2-hr episode with only one intro. However, in the podcast, Ronald D. Moore indicates the "beginning" of "Precipice".
• Unlike episodes of Season 2, the intro to this episode does not give the survivor count. The population whiteboard present in season 1 & 2 has been replaced by Baltar's presidential portrait.
• The episode opens on the 134th day since the Cylon occupation.
• In her Diary/Journal Roslin notes that it is "Marsday", which is the Roman name for Ares. This is at least the second time that the Roman names for the Greek pantheon have been used.
• Crew changes in the year after settlement glimpsed in "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I" are confirmed here: Helo is serving as XO on Galactica, with Kat as CAG. Dualla, shown for the first time as a lieutenant, is serving as XO on Pegasus.
• Lee Adama has gained roughly 40 pounds since the the fleet found New Caprica. The Admiral states that he is soft, both physically and mentally.

Noteworthy Dialogue

• After hearing that contact had been established with New Caprica
  

Admiral Adama: "It's gonna be okay. It's really gonna be okay."

Guest Stars

• Lucy Lawless as Number Three
• Matthew Bennett as Number Five
• Callum Keith Rennie as Leoben Conoy
• Rick Worthy as Simon
• Dean Stockwell as Cavil
• Richard Hatch as Tom Zarek
• Alessandro Juliani as Felix Gaeta
• Luciana Carro as Lt. Louanne "Kat" Katraine
• Leah Cairns as Lt. Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson
• Tahmoh Penikett as Lt. Karl "Helo" Agathon
• Christian Tessier as Tucker "Duck" Clellan
• Nicki Clyne as Cally Tyrol
• Aaron Douglas as Galen Tyrol
• Michael Trucco as Samuel Anders
• Kandyse McClure as Anastasia Dualla
• Dominic Zamprogna as James "Jammer" Lyman
• Brad Dryborough as Lt. Hoshi
• Rekha Sharma as Tory Foster
• Michael Hogan as Saul Tigh
• Kate Vernon as Ellen Tigh