Exodus, Part II

"Exodus, Part II" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No.	Season 3, Episode 4
Writer(s)	Bradley Thompson David Weddle
Story by
Director	Félix Enríquez Alcalá
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)	Lucy Lawless as Number Three
Production No.	304
Nielsen Rating
US airdate	2006-10-20
CAN airdate	{{{CAN airdate}}}
UK airdate
DVD release
Population	survivors
Additional Info
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
Exodus, Part I	Exodus, Part II	Collaborators
Related Information
Official Summary
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Overview

Lee Adama wrestles with his order to protect the civilian fleet as Admiral Adama launches his rescue mission. Meanwhile, on New Caprica, Colonel Tigh confronts Ellen's betrayal.

Summary

• On Pegasus, Lee Adama and Dualla talk of Galactica's mission. Adama worries heavily that Admiral Adama's mission will fail and of what future responsibilities he may have as the leader of the rest of mankind. His wife tells him to not give up hope.
• On New Caprica, Samuel Anders confronts Saul Tigh about his wife Ellen's betrayal and tells him that either Tigh "takes care" of Ellen, or someone else less sympathetic will do so.
• Ellen Tigh explains her recent actions, that she would do absolutely anything to save Saul, including betraying the resistance. Colonel Tigh consoles her and provides her a drink when she asks. She falls unconscious, her drink having been poisoned by her husband. He says that he loves her, rests his head on her corpse, and weeps.
• On Colonial One, Gaius Baltar tells the Cylons that they have failed in their experiment and suggests the Cylons simply leave. A Three voices the concern that one day the descendants of mankind might excact vengeance upon the Cylons, should they be left to their own devices.
• Suddenly, dozens of explosions can be felt and seen. The Battle of New Caprica has begun.
• Anders and the resistance team has set a series of explosions that mimic a Colonial attack and causes chaos. Tory Foster commands a team of section leaders in the evacuation and orders Maya to head for her ship with Isis.
• Anders and a large group of resistance fighters retrieve weapons from beneath the Pyramid court to rescue the detainees in the detention center.
• In space above New Caprica, Galactica deploys a squadron of Raptors and Vipers. The Raptors launch swallows to mimic the EM signature of two Colonial battlestars. The Cylons pick them up and fall for the ruse, moving two basestars with their Raiders away from the planet.
• When Leoben Conoy leaves the home, he keeps Kara Thrace inside. She assaults him and tries to escape, but he knocks her unconscious.
• Tom Zarek tasks Jammer to protect Laura Roslin as she makes her way to Colonial One.
• At the entrance to the shipyard, where the Cylons keep the grounded Colonial vessels, a team under Tigh and Galen Tyrol are pinned down by Cylon Centurions.
• The Cylons detect the decoy drones, but Galactica jumps deep into the planet's atmosphere and launches its remaining Vipers. Before colliding with the ground, the ship jumps back into space. The Vipers begin to attack targets on the ground and clear the way.
• As others are freed from the Detention Center, Anders finds his unconscious wife and carries her away, but when Thrace awakens, she goes back to retrieve Kacey.
• The battle is turning against Galactica. Her FTL drives are down, weapons are offline and there is heavy structural damage from the atmospheric entry. Four Cylon basestars are closing in and the battlestar is soon bombarded from all sides with no hope of survival. At that moment Pegasus joins the battle, Lee Adama having disobeyed his father's orders. He opens fire with the forward batteries and destroys one basestar in the opening salvo.
• The Cylons realize that they have lost and decide to evacuate the planet. Number Three volunteers to stay behind and set off a nuclear weapon. She offers Baltar a place with the Cylons.
• The Colonial ships are leaving New Caprica by jumping from within the atmosphere as soon as they become airborne. Pegasus is getting heavily bombarded, having left all of her Vipers back with the rest of the civilian Fleet. Admiral Adama realizes that his son has planned a one-way mission and orders to retrieve his own fighters.
• On Colonial One, Felix Gaeta points a gun at Baltar and accuses him of having betrayed everyone. Gaeta says that while he had been an idealist who believed in New Caprica, Baltar only thought about himself. Baltar admits to be an egotist and asks Gaeta to shoot him. Gaeta relents and give Baltar a final chance to redeem himself: stop Three from setting off the nuke.
• With Pegasus dying, Lee Adama orders everyone to abandon the ship in evacuation Raptors he had standing by. He sets the ship on a collision course with a basestar, destroying it. The remains of Pegasus scatter, the port flight pod colliding and causing the destruction of another basestar.
• Kara Thrace retrieves Kacey, but Conoy has returned and confronts her. She appears to give in to his demands, says "I love you," and kisses him. But Thrace uses the diversion to stab him. She picks up Kacey and leaves with Anders.
• Three searches Dodona Selloi's tent, but the oracle has left. Outside, Caprica-Six and Baltar find Hera next to Maya's body, still alive. Three arrives, offers to hold the child, and leaves with Hera, apparently no longer intending to detonate the nuke. Caprica-Six and Baltar also leave the planet.
• Laura Roslin and a group of resistance fighters enter the now abandoned Colonial One and are the last ship to leave the planet.
• On Galactica, many people are reunited. When Kara Thrace shows Kacey to the Chief, another woman walks by and recognizes the girl as her daughter, whom the Cylons had taken away. She thanks Thrace for rescuing her. Kara is shocked by the relevation that Kacey is not her daughter after all, but gives her up.
• Admiral Adama welcomes Tigh back aboard, and tells him he brought everyone back. Tigh quietly replies, "Not everyone." The colonists in Galactica's hangar deck begin chanting "A-dam-a, A-dam-a..." and carry the admiral on their shoulders. Adama turns to see Tigh wandering off, numbed with grief.
• Tory Foster tells Roslin that neither Maya and Hera can be found, and it seems like they did not make it off the planet. Foster apologizes, but Roslin muses that this was part of something bigger than them.
• Admiral Adama shaves off his mustache and returns to a fully staffed CIC.

Questions

• With Baltar seemingly missing at the conclusion of the episode, will his Vice President, Tom Zarek, become President? Or will...somehow...Roslin become President?
  • Tom Zarek refused to collaborate with the Cylons after Baltar's surrender.
  • It is possible that Roslin has the legal authority to resume the Presidency. On what legal basis this can be done remains to be seen. A previously secret Quorum vote may be the most likely means of investing her with the office.
  • Roslin addresses Zarek as "Mr. Vice President," and recognizes his authority (Precipice)
• How many humans died on New Caprica during the occupation and escape? Will it be in the thousands?
  • There were around 39,000 civilians and "civilian-ized" military, like Saul Tigh, trying to get off New Caprica.
• With Pegasus destroyed, will Tyrol's fighter construction continue?
• Since Galactica now has Pegasus' Viper and Raptor compliment in addition to its own, will the starboard flight pod now be pressed back into service?
  • With the former crew of the Pegasus onboard Galactica now, the ship has something close to (if not equal to or more than) its standard crew size. In any case, military operations should be much smoother and repairs to the ship in general are that much more feasible.
• What will become of Lee Adama? Will he resume his duties as CAG of Galactica?
  • As Lee Adama outranks Colonel Tigh, XO of Galactica is an equally likely position. Likewise, as no such officer has been shown to date, the younger Adama might be officially assigned as the CO of the combined Galactica/Pegasus Marine contingent.
• Will Tigh become a disagreeable drunk, as he was before Ellen Tigh first boarded Galactica?
• What was left behind:
  • In order to build New Caprica City, the ships were at least partially stripped and supplies were offloaded. What remains on board them?
  • Are there any people alive remaining on New Caprica after the liberation, either willingly or due to wounds?
  • Since people brought food and medicine to New Caprica before the occupation, will there be shortages in the fleet?
    • Very likely. Food and medicine shortages will play a role in future episodes.
• If the civilian ships only needed to get a few hundred feet off the ground in order to use their FTL drives and escape, do Galcatica and Pegasus need to engage the basestars? Is this just to keep the Raiders, Heavy Raiders, and missiles from being used on the civilian fleet, on the surface below? (Note: it is not in dispute that having Galactica launch its fighters within the atmosphere is important so they could attack the centurions and few raiders there.)
  • As with the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, the Cylons could destroy the city with a single nuclear bomb in orbit. The plan appears to force the Cylons to be too distracted by the battlestar's offenses (Raptors at first, then the battlestar itself) to worry about the actions on the planet. Galactica jumps intra-atmosphere to minimize detection by the basestars.
• Will Gaeta be the target of persecution or assassination as a collaborator? Or will people believe in him when he is found out to be the secret informant?

Analysis

• The Galactica's escape seems quetionable. Most or all of Galactica's Vipers were launched during the atmospheric maneuver. Later, after the four basestars start pummelling Galactica, its situation is dire, facing explosive decompressions and with its FTL disabled. Adama says, "Then that's it. It's been an honor." The Pegasus immediately appears and uses its superior weaponry to engage the basestars, destroying one in the first volley, so Adama orders the FTL to be fixed. Soon, Helo reports that most of the civilian ships have jumped, that FTL is back online, and that Pegasus is taking "a hell of a pounding." Adama orders his Vipers to land so that Galactica can leave. The next shot is Vipers landing, but weren't they all at the surface? How long does it take a Viper to climb into orbit? Real-world atmospheric escapes take several minutes, at least. How much damage were the basestars and battlestars doing to each other in this time?

Notes

• There is also a TOS comic named Exodus!
• Both parts of "Exodus" were originally planned as one episode. However, it was quickly realized that the story was far too large for one episode and it was split in two. This happened before with "Scattered" and "Valley of Darkness" and "Resurrection Ship." It also helped save money because the construction of New Caprica, the extensive location shooting, the number of actors, as well as the special effects for "Exodus, Part II" were very expensive and the production was over budget.

Noteworthy Dialogue

• As the two Adamas reunite after the battle:

Admiral William Adama: I guess you didn't understand my orders.

Commander Lee Adama: I never could read your handwriting.

Guest Stars

• Michael Hogan as Saul Tigh
• Aaron Douglas as Galen Tyrol
• Tahmoh Penikett as Lt. Karl "Helo" Agathon
• Nicki Clyne as Cally Tyrol
• Alessandro Juliani as Felix Gaeta
• Kandyse McClure as Anastasia Dualla
• Michael Trucco as Samuel Anders
• Richard Hatch as Tom Zarek
• Rick Worthy as Simon
• Callum Keith Rennie as Leoben Conoy
• Kate Vernon as Ellen Tigh
• Matthew Bennett as Number Five
• Rekha Sharma as Tory Foster
• Luciana Carro as Lt. Louanne "Kat" Katraine

Re-imagined Series definition: technology enabling travel across distances faster than the speed of light would permit, see: FTL

Re-imagined Series definition: nerve center or "bridge" of a battlestar, see: Combat Information Center

Re-imagined Series definition: Executive Officer, e.g. Saul Tigh

Re-imagined Series definition: Commanding Officer; e.g. William Adama

Re-imagined Series definition: used to signify a civilian transport vessel over a certain gross weight/mass, i.e. Colonial Heavy 798