The Woman King

"The Woman King" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No.	Season 3, Episode 14
Writer(s)	Michael Angeli
Story by
Director	Michael Rymer
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)	Richard Hatch as Tom Zarek
Production No.	314
Nielsen Rating
US airdate	2007-02-11
CAN airdate	{{{CAN airdate}}}
UK airdate
DVD release
Population	41,401 survivors
Additional Info
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
Taking a Break From All Your Worries	The Woman King	A Day in the Life
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Official Summary
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Overview

Helo investigates the claims of Sagittarons that a doctor is discriminating against them by providing substandard medical care.

Summary

Teaser

• Helo, in his quarters with his sleeping wife and daughter, is fitful and cannot sleep. He tries to get some work done but falls asleep later in the morning.
• The population of Dogsville on Galactica is increasing by 300. Helo is tasked to managing the needs of the populace camped there while other pilots continue their usual flight duties.
• Many civilians call to Helo, asking him to keep them physically separated from the Sagittarons.
• Dualla is also on the floor, trying to defuse a problem with Mrs. King and her son, Willie King, as a civilian physician, Michael Robert, tries to examine anyone he can see.
• Dr. Robert sees a frightening pattern of people coughing and tells Saul Tigh, an old friend of his who just arrived on the floor, to leave the area.
• Helo sees the pattern of sickness as well when King's son collapses to the floor.

Act 1

• Admiral Adama meets with Helo, Dr. Robert, Colonel Tigh and Dr. Cottle to discuss the sickness.
• The cause, Mellorak infection, is transmitted by touch only and is curable with a drug, bittamucin. While a dangerous disease that is fatal in its advanced stages after 48 hours, the disease is curable if caught early.
• The complication involves the Sagittarons, who believe that physicians and medications from them are an abomination to the Gods and will not likely accept any medication. They have practiced their shunning of conventional medical care for over 1,000 years.
• The stocks are low in any case, and Adama orders immediate inoculations of key crew and medication used only when someone shows definitive signs of the disease.
• Helo watches as some of Sagittarons use a curative root extract in an attempt to stave off the illness.
• On Colonial One, President Roslin explains how Gaius Baltar's trial will go with her vice president, Tom Zarek.
• Zarek warns, visibly agitated, that a trial like this would be a "hurricane" that would cause pandemonium in the Fleet. Roslin is left visibly worried as she realizes that Zarek was genuinely frightened of the possibility of trial.
• Helo continues to take complaints, many from other Colonials who want to be moved away from the Sagittarons. King arrives to not only tell Helo of her son's death, but that she made a mistake in trusting Dr. Robert. Helo believes that she waited too long, but she notes that her son was only sick for 12 hours, well within the 48 hour cure window, making Helo suspicious.

Act 2

• Dr. Robert tells of other deaths as Helo questions him about the King son's death. Robert deflects comments while giving Helo his inoculation, and notes commenting favorably to him to Col. Tigh.
• Margaret Edmondson, Galen Tyrol, Felix Gaeta, Lee Adama, Anastasia Dualla, Kara Thrace and many others are at Joe's bar taking a break. Some are playing the Pyramid arcade game. When Connor calls Edmondson by the name of "Marge," the Raptor pilot tells him that her shot accuracy is improved when she imagines the pyramid target as his face when throwing.
• Tyrol becomes drunk and begins to tell how the Sagittarons did not help fight on New Caprica. He personally believes that those colonists do not deserve any of the medication. Major Adama orders him to stop commenting once it becomes clear that Dualla, a Sagittaron herself, was becoming uncomfortable.
• Dualla agrees with some of Tyrol's drunken commentary in regards to her fellow colonists' stubborness, but notes her specific dislike of Dr. Cottle.
• Sharon Agathon is visiting the incarcerated Caprica-Six, discussing Baltar. Six's virtual Baltar appears to counter Agathon's thoughts on helping the Colonials.
• Six talks with her virtual Baltar, who tells her that the "trick" of behaving like a human is to think only of yourself.
• As Six kisses the virtual Baltar, President Roslin and Tory Foster are listening and watching Six nearby by hidden surveillance, and question who or what she is speaking to.
• A riot occurs in the camp, and Helo and the marines scramble to save Dr. Robert, who is at the center of the attack. Many Sagittarons accuse him of murder.
• Robert admits to administering the rationed drug without patient consent, particularly to one of the Sagittaron's noted fundamental members. The doctor becomes irritated at Helo's probing questions.
• Helo reports to Admiral Adama of Robert's behavior, with Cottle present. Neither man believes Helo's report is credible, and Adama dismisses him, telling him that he has more pressing matters than dealing with what he believes are unfounded accusations.
• Tigh catches up with Helo and tells him that accusing Robert is doing little to help Helo's overall credibility with the Fleet command. When Tigh insults Helo's wife, the captain punches him.
• Tigh takes the blow without arresting Helo, but warns that further accusations will further diminish his reputation in the Fleet.

Act 3

• Sharon Agathon tells her husband that their daughter is sick, having been pulled off CAP to help her child.
• Despite Helo's worries about Robert, Hera is given the drug and sedatives.
• Helo returns a bracelet from Willie King's body to Mrs. King. Before she leaves, he asks why she let her son be treated if she was previously warned. She explained that she did so because she didn't believe that anyone could have so much hatred inside them as to kill a patient. She leaves, refusing to discuss further.
• In their quarters, the Agathons argue, Helo questions whether he is getting damning treatment for being the husband of a Cylon, and his other actions.
• Helo visits sickbay, but finds it empty. He searches the medical records of patients from New Caprica and finds a shocking correlation.
• Cottle enters and tries to order Helo out of the office, threatening arrest. He shows that, unlike other colonists, the mortality rate of Sagittarons is over 90%. When asked to perform an autopsy on Willie King, Cottle tells Helo he's already done so, and Helo leaves, defeated and angry.
• Dualla, with her dislike of Cottle on record, visits Dr. Robert, asking for Bittamucin. She shows the first signs of Mellorak infection.
• On the night phase on the ship, King sneaks away from the refugee camp to Helo's quarters to warn him that Dualla had sought Dr. Robert's help after she began to show symptoms, also noting two other Sagittaron deaths. Helo realizes that, if his instincts are right, Dualla is in serious trouble. Marines appear to escort King away as Help quickly dresses and heads to the camp, against his wife's warnings and anger about having to fight for respect every day aboard Galactica.
• Out of uniform and yelling for people to move out of the way, Helo storms through the encampment, frantically searching for and finding Dualla, lying a cot, motionless and unconscious, and desperately checks her vital signs.

Act 4

• Helo couldn't find immediate life signs and fears he's too late until Dualla stirs. She is alive, but very lethargic from medication that Robert administered.
• Helo attempts to move her to help from Dr. Cottle when Dr. Robert appears and stops him from leaving, calling for security to assist him. Dualla, in her delirium, shouts not to be treated by Cottle. Marines hear only part of the conversation and order Helo to stand down.
• A security detail separates Dualla from Helo, and sidearms are pulled as Robert orders the marines to arrest Helo.
• Colonel Tigh and Dr. Cottle arrives with additional marines, but instead of taking sides with Robert, Tigh berates Robert.
• Cottle explains to Helo that he didn't actually perform the toxicology test on King's son before finding Helo in his office. The autopsy revealed high levels of a toxic bisphosphnate, but no traces of the drug used to treat the disease. Cottle notes similar results in several other patients.
• Robert explains that his actions were a form of mercy-killing to save precious resources. Cottle questions his "do no harm" oath as Robert reminds Tigh of a time where they spoke in a derogative manner about Sagittarons.
• Tigh orders Helo to arrest Robert.
• Later, Admiral Adama apologizes to Helo for his actions in trying to show Robert's actions as well as other morally questionable issues in recent days. Helo returns Adama's apology with a perfect salute, finally feeling vindicated and respected.
• Agathon returns to his family, his daughter in her arms, and gives his wife a kiss.

Bonus Scene

• A bonus scene shows Helo in Adama's office, apparently at the time of Adama's apology. In this cut scene, Helo confesses to the sabotage of an aborted Cylon offensive to destroy the Cylons through biological weaponry. Adama asks Helo if he thinks this was the right time to bring this matter to his attention.
• This scene meshes with Adama's comment about the lack of a "voice in the wilderness" when Helo has questioned Fleet decisions on the Cylon genocide issue, the Sagittarons, and his unborn daughter's own fate in utero months before.

Questions

• What is the current status of the Fleet's medical supplies? Was the stockpile of vaccines and medicines that Pegasus had before its destruction (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II) transferred over to the civilian ships before the Battle of New Caprica?

• Does Roslin suspect Caprica-Six of communicating with the Cylons due to her hallucinations of Baltar?

• How many other civilian medical doctors are there in the Fleet?

• Why did Hera need the medication for a curable disease, while her blood was used to cure breast cancer for President Roslin?

• When did the hatred and bitterness towards the Sagittarons begin in Colonial history?

• How different are the Sagittarons and Gemenese in regard to their religious beliefs? What traditions and ceremonies do the Sagittarons still practice that the rest of the Colonies have abandoned?

• Who submitted Hera to Dr. Robert's care? Athena was away at CAP and Helo wasn't informed of Hera's well-being.

• What is the condition of Starbuck's and Anders's marriage? Why is he not seen with Starbuck in Joe's bar? Is he still living away from Galactica?

Analysis

• This is the first major episode that features Saggitarons in a more in-depth manner. We learn more about Tom Zarek and Anastasia Dualla's relation to their colony of origin, originally established in "Bastille Day".

• The Sagittarons' belief system appears to be modeled on various modern day religious sects that oppose the use of medical technology and/or are pacifist in their political views. Religious sects, such as the Jehovah Witnesses and Christian Scientists in the past have taken such views and had been highly criticized and persecuted.

• Mrs. King name might be derived from Martin Luther King Jr. as Mrs. King is portrayed as an individual who wants justice for the prejudice that she and her son received. It is her initial step of approaching Helo that causes the murders of her people to eventually cease.

• Similar to Baltar's internal-Six, Caprica-Six's internal Baltar appears at a moment of self-doubt and fear. Interestingly, this version of internal-Baltar seems opposed to Caprica-Six siding with the humans, while back in "Downloaded", he told her that he loved her so deeply once she made the decision to reach out to humanity.

• The Saggitarons appear to be the last human colony that still maintains most of its original roots from the founding of the colonies. According to Dr. Cottle and Colonel Tigh, medical treatment has been rejected by the Saggitarons for over 3000 years, the subject of which they had referred to as a curse. The result being that they still practice rituals and beliefs that are at least over 1000 years old. This may be the date when the other colonies began to let go of their old religious convictions and origins.

• Though shown briefly, when the pilots (Apollo, Starbuck, and Racetrack) are walking past Helo in the corridor, it should be noted that Racetrack momentarily flirts with Helo when she holds onto his arm with Athena present. This hails back to an interview with Leah Cairns who stated that she and Tahmoh Penikett play their scenes together as though there is a sexual attraction between the two characters, while Athena remains unaware.

• Adama displays one of his character traits when he apologizes to Helo for not believing him about Dr. Robert. This is reminiscent of the moment when Adama offered Roslin his forgiveness when she took a part of the Fleet in search of the Arrow of Apollo (Home, Part II). Instead of forgiveness, Adama offers Helo his apology and states, as he did with Roslin, that it doesn't matter whether Helo asked or needs it, Helo still has it.

• In the real world, Robert's poisons, known as bisphosphantes, are a family of drugs used to treat certain bone cancers and osteoporesis in some women. The use of the drug by real world definition correlates with Cottle's notation of acute cellular disruption, which could happen with such drugs.

• This is the first time since "Collaborators" that Gaeta is seen in a relaxed setting. The episode indicates that he has finally been welcomed back amongst the crew and able to join them in their Pyramid game. In addition, it appears that his actions towards Baltar did not lead to any serious repercussions.

Notes

• The title doesn't literally refer to a king, but to a female character named King, and is referred to in this episode's dialogue; Colonel Tigh asks who is lodging all the complaints against Dr. Robert, Helo replies "the woman, King".

• Bruce Davison's character Dr. Robert may be a reference to a song by The Beatles entitled "Dr. Robert". The song is about a doctor who prescribes illicit drugs. The next episode also contains a Beatles reference in its title.

• Dualla is noted as a Sagittaron. This was previously established in "33" and "Bastille Day".

• Tom Zarek was granted the Vice Presidency, despite his actions in "Collaborators".

• Racetrack's given name, established in "Final Cut", is used in dialogue for the first time. Connor calls her "Marge", which seems to irritate her.

• Information from the podast:
  • The Sagittaron-focused storyline, was originally intended to play a larger role in the upcoming Baltar trial. However, in post-production, it was decided that the trial needed to go into an entirely different direction, thus cutting out most of the Sagittaron build up in other episodes.
  • Tom Zarek's fear that is noted by Roslin was originally based on Zarek's fear that like Gaeta, Baltar would attempt to implicate him in an incident with the Sagittarons on New Caprica. There is a deleted scene in which Zarek talks with Baltar and tries to figure out what Baltar plans to say about the event.
  • RDM acknowledged that the explicit racism expressed by Tigh and Tyrol appeared very forced as it was never alluded to before. It was necessary at the time because of the original role that the Sagittarons were suppose to factor into Baltar's trial. However, once the decision was made to not focus on an event that the audience has not seen firsthand, the scenes now stand alone.
  • The broader theme of the episode was suppose to portray Helo as a man who desired to prove his worth again to the leadership. The guilt and struggle he felt of sabotaging the biological weapon is the main factor that causes him to appear as the boy who cries "wolf" to Adama and Tigh. The deleted scene from the episode ran along those lines and explicitly displays Helo's guilt for having disobeyed his orders.
  • The re-introduction of Caprica-Six' internal Baltar was an explicit order from RDM to the writing staff after initial reluctance. This accomplished at least two purposes. First, it established that Caprica-Six was never freed from these visions of her internal Baltar, and that she still has to deal with her visions. Secondly, in the grander theme of the show, the internal Baltar and Six will play major roles in the unfolding of the series.

Noteworthy Dialogue

• Tom Zarek offers his view on the results of Gaius Baltar's forthcoming trial:

Zarek: Listen to me, Baltar will get his trial, and this is what you'll get: a hurricane. The media will descend upon you and watch, and scrutinze, and question your every move. You will have sectarian violence, you will have assassination attempts, you will have civil unrest on a scale we've never seen. Work, labor, everyday routine in this fleet will come to a complete halt. This trial is going to bring down this entire fleet down.

Tory Foster: Mr. Vice President, we have a security plan in order, which includes rapid marine deployment, increased CAP operations, security details–

Zarek: (ignoring Foster) A hurricane, Laura. If I were you, I'd declare martial law during the trial. You're going to need a lot more than a little patience to survive. I'm here if you need me.

• Six's internal Baltar gives her some advice:

Internal Baltar: But there's a trick to being human, you have to think only about yourself.

Guest Stars

• Michael Hogan as Colonel Saul Tigh
• Aaron Douglas as Chief Galen Tyrol
• Alessandro Juliani as Lieutenant Felix Gaeta
• Tahmoh Penikett as Captain Karl Agathon
• Nicki Clyne as Deckhand Cally Henderson Tyrol
• Kandyse McClure as Anastasia Dualla
• Donnelly Rhodes as Doctor Cottle
• Rekha Sharma as Tory Foster
• Bruce Davison as Dr. Michael Robert
• Leah Cairns as Lieutenant Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson
• Ryan Robbins as Charlie Connor
• Gabrielle Rose as Mrs. King