Black Market

For information on the black market itself, see Black market (organization).

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

Captain Lee Adama, battling haunting demons of his own from a spurned love lost on Caprica, investigates the murder of new Pegasus commander Jack Fisk, and uncovers a black market that strains the resources of the Fleet.

Summary

• The recovered President Laura Roslin, discusses her plan to eliminate black market problems within the Fleet in Adama's quarters with Admiral Adama, Pegasus Commander Fisk, and Dr. Baltar.
• When he arrives back in his quarters on Pegasus (Cain's old quarters) Fisk is garroted by several black market gangsters. One in particular stands out as a well-dressed "businessman".
• Lee Adama, severely depressed since his ejection from the Blackbird, has apparently been nurturing a relationship on Cloud 9 with a woman named Shevon, who has a young daughter named Paya.
• In a "morning after" talk, Lee and Shevon talk in tones that hint towards his wanting of a serious relationship. Shevon appears to dodge these, and requests 100 extra cubits as Lee is leaving since he "stayed the night".
• In flashback scenes, we see a past love of Lee Adama on Caprica. The scenes revolve around a rendevous between Lee and this girl, which resolves with her running away. The details and intensity of these flashbacks increase as the episode progresses.
• Apollo finds a small fortune of luxury goods in Fisk's closet, including a gold bracelet with the monogram "E.T" on it. Apollo realizes it's Ellen Tigh's, and confronts 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 as a hub to fence black market goods.
• Dr. Cottle's autopsy finds cubits jammed in Fisk's mouth, perhaps as a warning. Adama realizes that Fisk was trying to undercut one of his black market suppliers, and they took revenge.

Lee with Shevon.

• On Colonial One, President Roslin, piecing together her near-death recollections of Caprica, becomes aware of Baltar's pre-holocaust contact with a copy of the Cylon agent known to the Fleet as "Shelly Godfrey" and "Gina". She candidly asks Dr. Baltar, her vice president, to resign. While he never wanted any political power in his life or the office at first, 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, Anastasia Dualla comes to Lee Adama to bravely ask if their flirtation while working out is leading somewhere. Adama has no idea what to say, and Dualla takes the quiet hint.
• Lee Adama rushes to Shevon's quarters on Cloud 9 after she calls for help. He finds the bruised Shevon and Paya, and decides to take them to Galactica, but is ambushed by thugs, who nearly garrote him. As he is held within a breath of his life, he is confronted by a well-dressed, blunt "businessman", who warns him to back off of the investigation.
• After the beating, Apollo notices the corpse of the man that garroted Fisk. Tom Zarek drops by the scene in Shevon's room later, and discusses the black market with Apollo.
• Zarek points out that the black market does get supplies where they are needed. Nonetheless, Zarek mentions the central hub of the black market, Prometheus, a ship so lawless it's practically "off the grid", where you can supposedly get anything. Zarek gives a name to the "businessman" -- Phelan -- and tells Apollo that he probably took Shevon there. Additionally, he points out that Phelan has given Lee the murderer -- the thug with a bullet in his head -- and that it should be considered "a way out."
• On Prometheus, alone, Lee Adama searches and finds Paya and other children locked up.
• Apollo encounters Phelan in the Prometheus's bar. Apollo warns that Galactica is fully aware of his location, and that the battlestar would vent Prometheus's air into space unless he gets Shevon and Paya back, and the black market is shut down.
• Phelan counters that the Fleet needs the black market; it's like a pressure valve. Whenever a ship falls behind in the supply schedule, the black market fills the need. Phelan states that they sell all things to fill all wants, including child prostitution. Adama is horrified. Shevon is dragged out and admits to her work for Phelan as a prostitute.
• Taking a gun from one of Phelan's guards, Adama threatens Phelan about the black market crossing the line and after several flashbacks, shoots him in the chest.
• Apollo turns to Phelan's guards, also in shock, 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, if they hold back essential medicines or use children, he will annihilate them without restraint.
• Shevon rejects Apollo, telling him he he doesn't really care for her and only sees her as a replacement for the girl he left on Caprica.
• Back on Colonial One, the Adamas present their reports to the President. 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.

Questions

• How were the black market gangsters able to penetrate Pegasus' security, causing the death of its second commanding officer in a short period?
  • It is likely that Pegasus draconian command structure allows for abuse, and Fisk's own use of the market led to tacit protection of it, including its figurehead, Phelan.
• 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?
  • Did Zarek somehow set up the entire incident to get Apollo to kill Phelan for him, allowing him to take over control of the black market?
    • It's possible that Zarek is going to fill the gap with his own agents and use it as political leverage against President Roslin at some future point in time. This is just speculative however, more evidence would be required to prove Zarek's hand in the Black Market.
• The woman that William Adama (father) discusses with Lee Adama (son). Is it Shevon, the prostitute (the obvious, close-at-hand issue)? Or, is it the girl back on Caprica (the deeper-seated, much more affecting issue)?
  • Could very easily be both, though it is probably the latter of the two choices. If Admiral Adama's relationship with his son was strained before the attacks, he might not know about his son's prior bedroom activities.
• Why hasn't Roslin openly accused Baltar of collaborating with the Cylons after "Epiphanies"?
  • Possibly it is because she has no actual "evidence", and she remembered seeing him when her mind was in shambles dying of cancer, so she may not feel confident enough in this revelation to act on it more openly. However, it does seem to have influenced her to the point that unoficially, she no longer trusts Baltar.
• Did Apollo's pregnant former love on Caprica actually die, or is she perhaps one of the handful of survivors? Or worse, a prisoner in one of the Cylon Farms?
• Who will take command of Pegasus following Fisk's death? (Answer)
• Where does the Black Market get all their goods, given the finite supplies on the fleet?
  • Possibly from freighters that were enroute at the time of the attack. Non perishable goods such as medical supplies, liquor, cigarettes and fumarello's could have become a currency they could negotiate with.

Analysis

• Ron D. Moore admits in his podcast that this episode did not live up to his expectations. The long complaint about failed goals he made in his blog was actually about this episode, and not "Downloaded", as speculated by other unofficial sources.
• It may be that Moore was attempting to work the story as a detective mystery, but fell short of the goal.
• This is the third episode to use a "Flash Forward" introduction to the storyline as a hook; the trope was also used just two episodes previous in Resurrection Ship, Part II. Moore has said that the device was added after he was disappointed with initial cuts of the episode to try to add suspense.
• Apollo's recent angst may appear to some viewers as rather hastily added to the character, much like the issues involving Laura Roslin's miraculously fast recovery from her cancer in the previous episode.
  • Then again, it was rather addressed in Resurrection Ship, Part II when Lee admits to Kara, "I didn't wanna come back alive."
• The Apollo-Dualla relationship, a story thread running since "Resistance", appears to have been stopped very abruptly, with only Adama's angst as an excuse in ending their flirtation. The manner in which Dualla and Adama speak to each other appeared out of character. Dualla later appears with Billy Keikeya, where he says little, and Dualla appears ready to give Adama up and continue things more seriously with Billy. Actor Paul Campbell (Billy) has been filming a lot of TV pilots and other projects, so he hasn't had much to do this season. But, in comparison to Cally or Kat, who now seem better developed, Billy's character appears underused.
  • The relationship between Apollo and Dualla may have been a contingency plan in case Campbell left the series.
    • Actually, RDM said it was introduced because they thought it would make an interesting love triangle.
• Much of the regular cast, including Kara Thrace, Sharon Valerii, Helo, Felix Gaeta, Galen Tyrol, and Cally do not appear in this episode. Baltar's virtual Number Six is seen in what some may feel was a distracting appearance, taunting Baltar on Pegasus and in the meeting with Roslin.
• Col. Tigh is merely a person to be interviewed in Apollo's investigation. Dr. Cottle's screen time has increased in the last two episodes, although his character's contribution may be too short for some.
• Like many "pulp" murder mysteries, the episode appeared without a special point or purpose other than to unravel the mystery. Perhaps the writers were attempting to stress the realism of living in a "Rag Tag Fugitive Fleet" of civilians; yes, there would probably be gangsters carving out fiefdoms who would run drug, medicine, 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.
• The storyline of Apollo's pregnant girlfriend on Caprica was unusual in that this episode is the first mention of such a crucial backstory thread. Considering the extent to which the memory seems to weigh Lee down, it seems contrived to introduce it so late in the series, especially when there have been many circumstances in earlier episodes during which such reflection would have been considerably more apt. In addition, confusion arose concerning Shevon's line about Adama's old flame "want(ing) to give you a child." That is, many viewers may not have understood that Adama's old love was actually already pregnant. Further, the incessant repetition of the flashback, which did not vary, did little to advance the plot.
• Jack Fisk being killed as easily as Cain was implausible. Admiral Adama is now escorted by marines at all times. With Cain's killer still on the loose, it would rational for Fisk to have some paranoia.
  • Phelan and his men clearly had access to Fisk already, so it may not be all that implausible.
  • Considering that an attempt on Adama's life has already happened once, marines should have been escorting him from the very beginning. With Fisk and Cain now both dead, there may be a standing Fleet or Colonial military order in place that automatically activates, similar to such real-world orders in the US military.
• The scene between Baltar and Roslin was interesting in its scripting and acting. Roslin is determined to be extremely polite, forceful, and cheery despite the fact that she's making a power play and now knows Baltar has something to do with the fall of the Colonies. Viewers should probably expect this revelation to come to a head at the close of season 2.

Notes

• Survivor count for this episode was 49,597. That's one less than 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 status as de facto leader of the Astral Queen.
• Central characters Starbuck and Sharon Valerii do not appear in this episode.
• Fisk, Phelan, and Apollo all use the term "cigar" in this episode. The use of the term "cigar", as opposed to the normal term of fumarello, was a curious find in the episode. Like the mistaken use of "RADAR" instead of DRADIS in a past episode, this is likely a problem involving writers who apparently missed doing their homework on terminology from the series bible and past episodes.
• As seen in Final Cut, there are occasionally meetings of all the ships in the fleet.
• Bill Duke (Phelan) also appeared in the scifi film Predator, and will play Bolivar Trask in the upcoming X-Men 3.
• Helo does not appear in this episode. This is only the second episode that he has not appeared in; the other was "Fragged".
• Tyrol does not appear in this episode. This is only the second episode he has not appeared in; the first was "Home, Part I".
• Apollo pilots a Raptor alone to get to the Prometheus; as we've seen in "Pegasus" and "Resurrection Ship, Part I", he is qualified to fly both Vipers and Raptors.
• The "R&D Animation" skit during the credits is a parody of the scifi film "The Thing": David Eick transforms into a horrific multi-tentacled monster from the film and attacks Ron Moore.

Noteworthy Dialogue

• "You're not gonna shoot. You're not like me. You're not gonna--(Apollo shoots him in the chest midsentence)--Uhuhhh..."

—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."

Guest stars

Richard Hatch (Tom Zarek)
Claudette Mink (Shevon)
Bill Duke (Phelan)
Hayley Guiel (Paya)
Unknown (Weller)
Unknown (Beach)
Graham Beckel (CMDR Fisk)
Leah Cairns (Racetrack)
Amy Lalonde Gianne
John Mann (Linden)
Brad Mann (Pegasus Marine)
James Ashcroft (Security Officer)
Gustavo Febres (Herbalist)

Statistics

• USA Nielsen Ratings: 1.8 household rating (note: this is the lowest ratings figure that an episode of the Re-Imagined Series has ever received).

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Original Series definition: a form of coined currency (see: cubit)

Original Series definition: a small cigar that Starbuck typically smokes (see: fumarello)

Re-imagined Series definition: Battlestar Group ^{(TRS: "Water")}. It also doubles as an acronym for the television series itself.

Galactica 1980 definition: Dillon looks up this term after Gloria Alonzo asks if he has one ^{(1980: "Space Croppers")}

Re-imagined Series definition: mineral that can be refined to a powerful fuel, see: tylium

Original Series definition: a highly combustible fuel (see: tylium) ^{(TOS: "Fire in Space")}