Crossroads, Part II

"Crossroads, Part II" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No.	Season 3, Episode 20
Writer(s)	Mark Verheiden
Story by
Director	Michael Rymer
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.	320
Nielsen Rating
US airdate	2007-03-25
CAN airdate	{{{CAN airdate}}}
UK airdate
DVD release
Population	? survivors
Additional Info	Season Finale - 50 Minute Episode
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
Crossroads, Part I	Crossroads, Part II	TBA
Related Information
Official Summary
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Listing of props for this episode
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Overview

As Gaeta testifies against Baltar about the execution list that the accused signed on New Caprica, Roslin finds a disturbing link between her dreams and the Opera House on Kobol. Lee Adama turns around the trial with an unusual move, and several people make a disturbing discovery about themselves.

Summary

Teaser

• Admiral Adama shaves, cutting himself when the lights flicker.
• Laura Roslin calls, seeking a bit of humorous motivation to get out of bed and face the trial again, which she does not relish.
• After one feeble attempt, Adama manages "get your fat, lazy ass out of that rack, Roslin!" which makes Roslin laugh and give a heartfelt thank you. Adama tells her, "Don't let 'em see you sweat, Laura."
• Samuel Anders and Tory Foster are sexually engaged when she hears a strange music. When she notes it to Anders, he's surprised at the revelation, having heard it before himself.
• Diana Seelix knocks on the duty locker door and Anders opens it. An unconfortable silence between Seelix, Anders and Foster begins.
• Galen Tyrol is half-asleep, humming the music. He leaves his bed and quarters and goes to a section of ventilation to hear the music elsewhere on Galactica.
• Lee Adama recommends a mistrial for Gaius Baltar, using his grandfather's written advice, believing that their successes are actually worsening the issue. Baltar is incensed at the suggestion, believing that Adama wants to leave the case.
• Romo Lampkin, Baltar's attorney, is inclined to agree with Adama, but young Adama's comment about his father's words about the "treacherous" Baltar leaves him to ponder.
• Baltar doesn't want to repeat the terror he's experienced in the time before the trial.
• Racetrack is training Seelix, Anders, and other Raptor nuggets, when Anders overhears Chief Tyrol humming. Together, they realize that the melody feels like something out of childhood, and they hear only a part of the melody.
• Before they can analyze further, Racetrack yells for Anders to return to the group.

Act 1

• Roslin takes diloxin treatment in sickbay. As she lies down and dreams, she experiences the same dream as Sharon Agathon, also in sickbay with her daughter, and both scream simultaneously. The two ask to talk privately.
• Later, Roslin and Sharon Agathon meet with Caprica-Six, who has also experienced the dreams. When asked why Six is trying to reach Hera, she says that she felt she had to protect her "with (my) life."
• Saul Tigh tells Admiral Adama about the music. The admiral tells Tigh that he will look into it later as he leaves for court.
• The trial resumes. Lt. Felix Gaeta is on the stand. The execution order from New Caprica is admitted as evidence by Cassidy, the prosecutor.
• Gaeta lies, as viewers are shown the actual events where Baltar is forced to sign at gunpoint, where Gaeta says that Baltar did not resist.
• Lampkin chooses not to cross-examine, to Baltar's great horror. The prosecution rests.

Act 2

• After a recess, the defense begins its case.
• Lampkin motions for a mistrial, as Baltar objects, due to prejudicial comments by Admiral Adama four days before. He asks for Mr. Lee Adama to take the stand.
• The prosecuting attorney strongly objects, but after Lampkin warns of much case law that permits such a procedure, the tribunal allows Mr. Adama to testify.
• Mr. Adama refuses to confirm his father's comments. As Lampkin tries to intimidate Mr. Adama, he restates, asking if Baltar deserves a fair trial.
• Asked why, Mr. Adama believes Baltar is not guilty, but Admiral Adama asks for the questioning to continue.
• Pressed for more clarification, Mr. Adama states that Baltar did not commit treason. He asks the tribunal what anyone else would do in that situation. He notes that all other conspirators and resistance fighters were pardoned, as was many, many other mistakes of the past, from Roslin, to Admiral Adama, and himself in the destruction of the Olympic Carrier and running from New Caprica, recommending never to return with his battlestar.
• Mr. Adama believes that new laws are needed because they are less of a civilization now and more of a gang. He states that, unlike everyone else, Baltar is being prosecuted because of his arrogance and is not being accorded the same forgiveness as others.
• Adama believes that the trial is built on emotions and shame from the events of New Caprica, and the shame of those that ran away. Mr. Adama looks to his father as he speaks.
• He believes that Baltar is a scapegoat for all the guilt of the people.
• The prosecuting attorney does not cross-examine, and the defense rests.
• The tribunal steps out to deliberate as Roslin steps down to congratulate Cassidy for her work.

Act 3

• Baltar is acquitted, 3 votes to 2 against. Yelling turns into a riot in the gallery as marines try to get Baltar to safety while the press tries to interview many players.
• Baltar is happily discussing the victory but makes a mistake in insulting Admiral Adama. Lee Adama warns him, "Don't push it, doctor."
• When Baltar asks Lampkin to aid him in a book tour and other profitable matters, Lampkin tells him that his association with Baltar is done.
• Baltar suddenly realizes that, despite his apparent freedom, he is a man without a country, without work, friends, or even quarters.
• Lampkin and Mr. Adama say their goodbyes. Lee Adama, on seeing Lampkin walking away without his cane, realizes that he had used the cane as yet another psychological tactic.
• Gaius Baltar tries to be inconspicuous as he moves files elsewhere, but all eyes are on him.
• Roslin and Admiral Adama speak in CIC. She is incensed at the verdict. Adama reminds Roslin that "not guilty" does not mean "innocent."
• Roslin assumes that Adama cast a guilty vote, when, to Roslin's shock and anger, the admiral states he voted not guilty, feeling that the prosecution did not hold their case.
• Adama tells Roslin that no one is asking anyone to forgive or forget, but they must look to the future.
• Adama orders the last jump to the Ionian nebula. The jump is successful, and Adama orders a DRADIS scan when Roslin becomes immediately dazed and stunned.
• As Admiral Adama looks to Roslin to check on her health, main power on every ship of the Fleet fails, leaving each one, including Galactica, drifting dangerously close to each other.

Act 4

• Pilots scramble with flashlights to their stations while CIC tries to get to auxiliary power, but battery power is the best they can muster.
• The scene shifts to a dream in the Opera House again, with Gaius Baltar holding Hera and Caprica-Six next to him. Above them, the glowing images of the Final Five appear. Caprica-Six awakens from the dream.
• Baltar tries to take advantage of the darkness and chaos when three women confront him. Frightened, Baltar is told by the women that they will take him to safety.
• The mysterious music gets louder, and Tigh, Galen Tyrol, Tory Foster and Anders begin quoting lyrics from an increasingly coherent melody. It turns out to be "All Along The Watchtower", originally by Bob Dylan (here in an original Indian/Rock version).
• As viewers watch, the music gets louder and more dynamic, forming a rock song. Each of the four are drawn to a central room on Galactica, where they discover each other. Each are stunned and shocked.
• Tyrol believes the impossible; that all of them are Cylons. Each of them begin to hum the music, together, coherently, in full. Tigh angrily stops them and closes the hatches while they talk.
• Tigh states his time in service, and his history, trying to believe that none of it was in vain. Anders objects as well.
• As power is restored, DRADIS picks up a large Cylon fleet coming their way. Vipers manage to scramble. Helo, as acting XO, notes the mass power outage will mean that it will take at least 20 minutes for the FTL jump drives on the civilian ships to be ready. The admiral doesn't believe they have the time.
• In the closed room, Tigh states that, despite what they believe about themselves, that he is going to do his job as a Colonial officer, and heads to CIC. The others follow suit.
• The hangar deck is abuzz with activity as Chief Tyrol tries to resume his usual work.
• Lee Adama, after watching other pilots run from duty lockers to flight preparation, heads there himself to prep.
• Admiral Adama orders the preparation of the battlestar's nuclear weapons. Tigh reports on station, keeping his face stony.
• The Vipers launch. Helo is confused about the pilot of Viper 3.
• Apollo, in Viper 3, picks up a target on his Viper's DRADIS, and tracks it down. As he looks around, an image of a Viper Mark II keeps appearing and disappearing in the clouds. The image buzzes overhead and alarms the pilot momentarily.
• Pulling alongside in her undamaged Viper, Starbuck greets Apollo. She tells him not to "freak out," that it really is her.
• The believed-dead pilot tells Apollo that she has been to Earth, and that she can guide the Fleet there.
• As the music continues to play, the episode concludes as the shot pulls swiftly and violently away from Apollo and Starbuck's Viper, past the Colonial fleet, the Cylon fleet and several planets to show an arm of the galaxy.
• The shot suddenly zooms forward and through another nearby galactic arm to the familiar blue-green planet of Earth and what is known to viewers as the North American continent (in its current shape, long after the tectonic drift that split the Pangaea super-continent millions of years earlier in the planet's history).

Questions

• What is the source of the music?
• Are we supposed to interpret the music as the actual Dylan song, and therefore a connection to Earth? (Answer)
• Is Saul Tigh the oldest humanoid Cylon model?
• Did the Cylons develop humanoid models before the first Cylon War?
• Why does Number Six feel the need to protect Hera with her life?
• How are Laura Roslin, Hera, Sharon Agathon, and Caprica-Six spiritually connected, and what is the nature of said connection?
• What is the importance of the Opera House ?
• Who were the women who spirit Gaius Baltar to safety?
• What is the current state of Earth?
• What phenomenon causes the simultaneous power loss and equally simultaneous power restoration throughout the Fleet after jumping to the Ionian nebula?
• As William Adama is the deciding vote for Baltar's 'not guilty' verdict, how will this act (and Lee Adama's testimony) affect their relationship with each other?
• How will Kara Thrace's "resurrection" from the dead be viewed by the Colonials?
• What convinces Laura Roslin to take the diloxin treatments she scoffed earlier?
• How were Kara Thrace and her Viper, unharmed and without any explicable means, able to survive the events of "Maelstrom" and transport from the "interior" of a gas planet to Earth and then to the Ionian nebula within a relatively short span of time?

Analysis

• With the revelation that Galen Tyrol is a Cylon, the second known Human-Cylon hybrid known to exist is in the form of Nicholas Tyrol. His birth reinforces the Cylon belief that love is a necessary component to successful procreation. This would make one male and one female hybrid born to date.
• The reason for Tyrol's discovery of the Temple of Five on the algae planet is better explained here, however it is clearly apparent that his conscious mind is unable to rationalize the reason he discovers it.
• It is also reaffirmed that none of the "significant seven", are aware of the final five. As demonstrated by Sharon Valerii's lack of knowledge about Galen Tyrol's true nature during her relationship with him in Season 1 and the torture of Saul Tigh on New Caprica by the Cylons.
• Saul Tigh has been known to physically exist for roughly 23 years as of this episode. While Tigh claims to have fought in the first Cylon War, aside from likely military documentation about his service in the war, there are no supporting non-Cylon witnesses to support his claim. This predates the two-year marker previously indicated by two known infiltrators, Caprica-Six and Sharon Valerii.
• The final scene of the episode depicts Earth, notably the North America content, definitively indicating the existence of this planet.

Notes

• Four of the so-called "Final Five" are revealed to be Galen Tyrol, Samuel Anders, Saul Tigh, and Tory Foster.
• Lee Adama points out a string of incidents throughout the series that would have resulted in serious consequences under normal circumstances, but where the persons involved weren't punished: his destruction of the Olympic Carrier (33), William Adama's coup against Roslin, Lee putting a weapon to Colonel Tigh's head and supporting a munity (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II), Helo and Chief Tyrol killing Lt. Thorne (Pegasus), Tigh's use of suicide bombers on New Caprica (Occupation), people supporting the Cylons on New Caprica (Collaborators).

Official Statements

• Jamie Bamber discusses the finale:

It is a different finale in the sense that the previous ones have been about fragmenting the characters and spreading them all over different parts of space, and this one, everyone is really on board Galactica. Every major character is on Galactica, and the stuff going on down on Galactica is where the drama is.

• SciFi.com Forums Admin discusses the running time:

The Sunday, March 25, season finale of Battlestar Galactica will run five minutes longer than usual. If you plan on recording the episode, set your DVR or VCR to continue for five to 10 minutes after the end of the hour so you do not miss anything.

• Bear McCreary discusses the use of the Bob Dylan song:

I learned that the idea was not that Bob Dylan necessarily exists in the characters' universe, but that an artist on one of the colonies may have recorded a song with the exact same melody and lyrics. Perhaps this unknown performer and Dylan pulled inspiration from a common, ethereal source.

• RDM has confirmed in this interview that Tyrol, Tigh, Tory, and Anders are indeed Cylons and members of the Final Five.

Guest Stars

• Michael Hogan as Saul Tigh
• Aaron Douglas as Galen Tyrol
• Nicki Clyne as Cally Tyrol
• Tahmoh Penikett as Karl "Helo" Agathon
• Alessandro Juliani as Felix Gaeta
• Kandyse McClure as Anastasia Dualla
• Michael Trucco as Samuel Anders
• Donnelly Rhodes as Dr. Cottle
• Rekha Sharma as Tory Foster
• Chelah Horsdal as Cassidy
• Katee Sackhoff as Starbuck
• Leah Cairns as Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson
• Jen Halley as Diana Seelix
• Brad Dryborough as Hoshi
• Alison Matthews as Fallbrook
• Susan Hogan as Doyle Franks
• Stephen Holmes as Reporter #2
• Keegan Connor Tracy as Young Woman
• William Samples as Judge #2
• Lily Duong-Walton as Hera Agathon (uncredited)