Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II

"Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No.	Season 2, Episode 20
Writer(s)	Anne Cofell Saunders Mark Verheiden
Story by
Director	Michael Rymer
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)	Richard Hatch as Tom Zarek Michael Trucco as Samuel Anders Dean Stockwell as Brother Cavil
Production No.
Nielsen Rating	1.9
US airdate	2006-04-10
CAN airdate	{{{CAN airdate}}}
UK airdate	2006-05-16
DVD release	19 September 2006 US 28 August 2006 UK
Population	49,550 survivors ( 29)
Additional Info	Season Finale - 90 Minute Episode
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I	Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II	Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance
Related Information
Official Summary
R&D Skit – View
Podcast Transcript – View
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Listing of props for this episode
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Overview

Everything turns on its head as the survivors vote for a new president -- and vote for their fate.

Summary

On Caprica

• Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, the Marines, and the Caprica Resistance continue to take fire from Cylon Centurions and their artillery. They make their way up a hill, and hold their position.
• The Cylons hold fire, and Sharon Valerii remarks that the Cylons will attempt to capture them with non-lethal weapons, such as gas.
• Eighteen hours later, they emerge to find that the Cylons have disappeared. Cavil -- who suddenly appears behind them -- announces that the Cylons have left the Twelve Colonies and that humanity is spared.

In the Fleet

• Cally is cleared for duty by Dr. Cottle, despite having her jaw wired shut. Chief Tyrol visits her, apologizing for the attack. Cally forgives him, saying that she's always cared for him.

• Dr. Baltar continues to gain in the polls. On Colonial One, Tory mentions an alternative victory plan. Roslin later calls a private meeting with Dr. Baltar, asking to deliver a joint statement of tabling the issue of colonization until after the election. Baltar rejects the idea.

• Roslin, fearing that she has indeed lost the presidential race, confronts Baltar on whether he was with a copy of Number Six on Caprica before the Cylon attack. Baltar avoids answering the question and states that he may have saved her life, but he will not save her political life.

• Starbuck returns to Galactica with the resistance fighters, much to the delight of Admiral William Adama. She mentions the Cylon retreat from Caprica as Brother Cavil, leaving the Raptor, confirms it. He also says he has a message, but is attacked by Chief Galen Tyrol, who declares a "Code blue," claiming Cavil is a Cylon. Incensed that Caprica-Valerii did not reveal Cavil's true nature earlier, Admiral Adama orders both Caprica-Valerii and the second Cavil to the brig.

• The Galactica-based Cavil (from last episode) is brought to the brig, claiming he's not a Cylon, but changes his tune upon seeing his "brother", as he calls him. Caprica-Cavil then talks about the fact that the “war heroes” (Caprica Six & "Boomer" Valerii) have convinced their kind that the attack of the colonies and the pursuit of the fleet were mistakes. Caprica-Cavil's mission was to relay the message that man and Cylon will go their separate ways. Both Roslin and Admiral Adama are less than trusting regarding the message.

• In the brig, Caprica-Valerii is completely disillusioned and nihilistic, declaring that since her child's death, nothing -- not Adama's trust or Helo's -- matters to her. A frustrated Helo insists that he's not giving up on her, but she seems disinclined to listen.

• Thrace and Anders are getting extremely drunk when Apollo comes in to welcome them back. Starbuck makes a snide remark about Apollo and Dualla and goes back to drunkenly making out with Anders. Apollo, clearly upset with Starbuck, leaves without saying much.

• Election Day has arrived and Baltar has an apparent five thousand-vote lead over Roslin with only a five ships left to tally. On Colonial One, Foster activates her alternative victory plan with a call to Galactica.

• Amazingly, Roslin initially appears to have retained the presidency. While most are celebrating, Lt. Felix Gaeta discovers fraudulent actions in the vote, and informs the Admiral that Col. Tigh (who acts suspiciously when questioned by Gaeta) may be involved in a conspiracy to throw the election.

• Admiral Adama confronts Roslin regarding the conspiracy, saying that Tigh has confessed to rigging the vote. Roslin admits her involvement and Adama is disappointed. The Admiral indicates that, for good or bad, the people's vote must take precedence. Adama secretly buries the conspiracy itself while announcing the startling change in events to Dr. Baltar.

• Initially Baltar vows to have a full investigation on the vote count, but after Adama suggests that Baltar take his victory and leave matters be, Baltar relents and informs Adama that he can be quite generous in victory. President-elect Baltar then orders a course for “New Caprica.”

• Baltar and Gina consummate their relationship after Gina informs Baltar that she would not be part of the colonization.

• Gaius Baltar is sworn in as the new President of the Twelve Colonies, and orders the immediate colonization of New Caprica.

• Gina activates the nuclear warhead given to her by Baltar aboard Cloud 9. The nuclear blast destroys Cloud 9 and at least three other ships. Admiral Adama warns that this may be a prelude to a Cylon attack, but President Baltar ignores him and presses forward with colonization.

One Year Later

Thrace and Cottle on New Caprica.

• President Baltar's administration appears to be corrupt, lax, and unresponsive. Mr. Gaeta, now the President's aide, reports issues with a worker's union. Baltar is upset, saying there have been no Cylon attacks but the people still complain. He has regressed, turning to alcohol, medication, and womanizing.

• Admiral Adama, now sporting a mustache, walks the corridors of a near-empty Galactica, which is quickly falling into disrepair. Over half of the crew have moved down onto the planet, leaving the ship so short on crew that they barely have enough pilots to fly training missions, much less form up Combat Air Patrols. The long absence of the Cylons has left both the remaining crews aboard the Pegasus and the Galactica rusty, causing them to take a long time to go to Action Stations. Adama asks Tigh to retire from duty to join his wife on the planet. Tigh reluctantly agrees.

• Anders, now Thrace's husband, has pneumonia. Dr. Cottle is unable to treat Anders because there are no antibiotics available. He can only advise Thrace to make sure Anders gets enough rest in order to recover.

• Thrace runs into the Tighs as Tyrol, now a union boss, is making a speech to begin a strike, with a very pregnant Cally by his side. Col. Tigh mentions to Thrace that Pegasus keeps a store of backup medical supplies and that Commander Lee Adama might spring some for her. Thrace disagrees, which prompts Tigh to state that Lee Adama should be over her harsh neglect of Adama's friendship after Anders' arrival a year before.

• Roslin returns to her teaching roots, teaching the settlement's children, and manages to find enjoyment in her new position. Maya is with her, as is the now one year-old "Isis".

• Thrace calls Commander Lee Adama aboard Pegasus to request the antibiotics. Dualla, ostensibly the Pegasus XO, notices something on DRADIS, to her horror.

• A massive fleet of Cylon basestars arrive in orbit around New Caprica. The Adamas discuss what to do in response, with Lee initially advocating that the remains of the orbiting Fleet jump away. Admiral Adama initially resists, but orders the Jump, vowing that they will return.

• A Leoben Conoy-model Humanoid Cylon shows up at Thrace and Anders' tent, where he asks an ailing Anders about where to find Thrace.

"On behalf of the People of the Twelve Colonies, I surrender."

• Mr. Gaeta informs the President of the Cylon approach. Later, before his assembled staff, copies of Numbers 5, 8, and 6 approach the President. The Cylons declare that as long as there’s no resistance, no harm will come. President Baltar, after learning that the Cylons discovered New Caprica because of the nuclear explosion set off by Gina, declares surrender on behalf of the colonists. As Cylon armies occupy the planet, Thrace vows to resist.

Notes

• According to Ron Moore's podcast, although the SciFi Channel was willing to air this episode as a 90-minute special, there also exists an 60-minute version for international distribution. In some markets outside of the United States, viewers might only see the 1 hour version of the episode, which Moore regards as "almost incomprehensible". Many plot threads, such as the entire Cally/Tyrol subplot, were completely removed for the one hour version.
  • In the United Kingdom, Sky One showed the episode as a 90 minute special.
  • In Latin America, as aired by TNT LA, the 90 minute special was shown as well.

• Admiral Adama watches Pyramid games and was a fan of the Picon Panthers.

• In RDM's podcast for the previous episode, he said that in early drafts of this special 90 minute long episode, the writers actually tried to make it a 2 hour special, but this was soon dropped (these times are including commercials).
• The election board appears to have a definitive list of the names of all of the ships in the Fleet. Not all of them are clearly visible, but this means that the writers do have an actual list that they get new ship names from.

• The framed photo of President Roslin and Billy Keikeya is still on Roslin's desk during the election.

• When Roslin "won" the rigged election results, Roslin received 24,265 votes, while Baltar recieved 22,266. This means that the eligible voters in the Fleet number at least 46,531. In the podcast, RDM explains that he quickly came up with these numbers, to try to reflect roughly how many survivors are below the voting age.

• Toward the end of the episode, President Baltar refers to a government body called the "People's Council". This may be the proportionally elected lower house mentioned by RDM in his blog post on January 30, 2005.

• Hera is seen on New Caprica in the same white cradle that Baltar had a vision of her being in in "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II" and "Scattered". According to RDM's podcast it is actually the exact same cradle.

• Tyrol's union speech is an almost word for word quote of Mario Savio's address during the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley in 1964. According to Ron Moore and David Eick in the podcast, they even got permission from Savio's widow to use it (even though, due to the way copyright laws work from back then, they could have just used it without permission, they felt they should get it). As a result, it's even listed in the credits: "Mario Savio speech excerpted courtesy of: Lynne Hollander Savio". Actor Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol) actually studied film of Savio, so all of the hand gestures Tyrol makes when he gives the speech are gestures that Savio actually used.

• Baltar's portrait of himself does not have the 'cut corners' as seen in almost all other papers and photos in the show. Neither do the other framed pictures in the presidential office aboard Colonial One, nor the papers in the classroom on New Caprica.

• Visible on the blackboard of Roslin's school are the French verbs aller, avoir, and être. Either English isn't the only language spoken on the Twelve Colonies, or this might be a goof by the set designers trying to make it look more like a generic school.
  • French has appeared in the show before. In "The Hand of God", Six uses the French word for momentum or surge, élan. In "Pegasus", Captain Cole "Stinger" Taylor uses the phrase esprit de corps.
  • There are also Chinese ideograms in an episode of the The Resistance webisodes.
• The story of the Fleet settling on New Caprica and being overrun by the Cylons is eerily similar to the story of the first episode of Singer and DeSanta's revival attempt. The shot of Roslin teaching kids the history of the Colonies is also a, possibly unintentional, reference to that.

Analysis

• According to Ron Moore's podcast, the events of "One Year Later" are real and were meant to solidify to the audience that the show is taking a path that cannot be reversed. In order to make the colonization of New Caprica real, Moore felt that the show would need to jump ahead in a span of year to show that indeed Baltar has followed through with his political promise.

• The events of the Cylon invasion of New Caprica parallel the German invasion of France, with the Fleet's escape a parallel to the Allied evacuation of Dunkirk and Baltar's surrender a parallel to Petain's surrender. The Cylons marching into New Caprica City is also reminiscent of German troops marching into Paris. If the parallel continues, Baltar will establish a puppet regime under Cylon rule akin to Vichy France while Colonials still loyal to humanity will establish a resistance movement.Ron Moore has actually said in the podcast for this episode that it is inspired by Vichy France.

• Baltar's arrogance seems to have led to corrupt rule during his year on New Caprica; he replaces Roslin's modest desk with a more elaborate one, replaces the population count whiteboard with a portrait of himself, and keeps a harem aboard the grounded Colonial One.

• After a year, everyone still lives in tents. Shortages of medicine abound, the military is of no use, and labor conditions are apparently intolerable. Baltar's administration is apparently as incompetent as Roslin feared, when she said he was ridiculously unqualified and had no idea how to be president.
  • It is not clear whether these conditions are the result of administrative incompetence or the inherent difficulties of colonizing a marginally habitable planet.
    • Of course, it was Baltar's idea to settle on a marginally habitable planet in the first place.
    • Tory Foster points out that Baltar was winning the election because he was "holding out hope for breathing real air, growing real food, sleeping in a bed instead of a bunk. Living in a house instead of a ship". Hopefully the irony of this wasn't lost on Baltar voters who even a full year later are sleeping in hammocks and living in tents.

• It's ironic that the obligations of duty keep Lee Adama aboard Pegasus while everyone else goes planet-side. He is a reserve officer, and promised to build his pilots a bar as soon as they found a habitable planet.
  • It's possible the bar was built.
  • A bar area is seen in "Unfinished Business".

• In the podcast for "Resurrection Ship, Part II" Moore commented on how everyone assumed that Pegasus would be destroyed by the end of the episode, and thus he thought it would be a good twist to keep Pegasus alive as another ship in the Fleet. Speculators mistakenly assumed that the nuke that Baltar gave to Gina in "Epiphanies" would be used to destroy Pegasus (keeping in tune with the assumed destruction of the Original Series' Pegasus).

• Twenty-nine people died between this episode and the preceding one. One or two Raptors were lost, and some Marines died on Caprica, but that doesn't seem high enough.
  • Perhaps more people died during the attack on Caprica than shown.
  • The people rescued from Caprica could offset any losses incurred during the mission.

• The Cylons were slightly over a light year away, according to the Number Five at the surrender. The radiation from the nuclear explosion on Cloud Nine would, of course, only be traveling at the speed of light. There is inconclusive evidence whether the Cylon download process is limited to the speed of light or not. While it is likely that it is, an FTL capability in this area would indicate that Gina didn't manage to download. It should be noted that comments by the writers and subsequent episodes point out that she is truly dead.

• The population of New Caprica City is given as 39,192. There were just under 50,000 people in the Fleet before establishing the settlement, so that gives a figure of roughly 10,000 accounting for the deaths on Cloud Nine and the people remaining on the ships in orbit. At this point it can't be determined how many people died as the result of the nuclear explosion.
  • Later it is established, that roughly 2,000 people escaped on the civilian ships and that both battlestars were at half-strength. This makes it possible to put the casualties of the explosion at about 5,700 to 6,200. See the "Precipice" section of Survivor Count for details.

• Any "industrial" vessels - such as the mining ships, tanker ships, repair ships, agricultural ships - would have landed on the planet and been debarked, dismantled, or converted to form the foundation for industrial efforts. Some of the vessels in the Fleet that left Ragnar Anchorage weren't designed for prolonged interstellar journeys, and were basically running on a hope and a prayer, and would have been rendered promptly upon finding a more permanent home. The nineteen-or-so ships seen are, more than likely, the last space-worthy vessels in the fleet that are not needed (or capable of landing) planet-side.
  • After a year, people are still living in tents and using landed ships as buildings, so it doesn't look like much has been dismantled or converted into raw production. Other than the miners, who are apparently extremely unhappy at how things have been run, we see little evidence of industry or production over the year.

• Apparently, Thrace's comments about Lee Adama and Dualla have taken their toll on their relationship. Whether the comments escalated is unknown, but, from Dualla's expression of annoyance when she hands the receiver to Adama when Thrace calls, it is clear that the three never reconciled with each other (See "Unfinished Business" for the answer).

• The Six and Eight that are part of the Cylon delegation that greets Baltar's cabinet are almost certainly Caprica-Six and "Boomer" Valerii. This is implied from Six's reaction upon seeing Baltar and her intimation that she knew who Baltar was. The two are also wearing the exact same clothes as in "Downloaded."

• Initially it remains open whether Roslin's threat to 'airlock' two Cavils was actually carried out. This is answered in a deleted scene. During their drinking scene, Tyrol tells Cally that the execution happened the previous night.

• In the Season 3 trailer that followed the end of the episode, Six narrates, saying that humanity has finally surrendered and the war is over. According to Six, the Cylons can finally fulfill their "true destiny" and take care of humanity. They desire to show humanity the "glory of peace," mercy; like God, their mercy can only be matched by their power and complete control. So apparently, the war heroes have indeed changed the Cylons' prejudices toward humans, but unfortunately this also means that the Cylons believe that the only way to care for humanity is to control it.
  • This narrative sounds more like Baltar's internal Six (superior, controlling, zealous) than Caprica-Six (more of a people person).

Questions

• Who is Baltar's Vice President? (Answer)
• Has Gaeta's view of Baltar changed since Baltar's ascension to the presidency? If so, is Gaeta planning to do anything about it? (Answer)
• Where do the remains of the Fleet escape to?
• Where is Caprica-Valerii? (Answer)
• Why is Leoben looking for Starbuck, specifically? (Answer)
• Why has the population (until Tyrol's recent union speech) accepted Baltar's imperious rule? People were hardly so passive under Roslin. Indeed, Adama executed a military coup over a rather less important issue than giving a nuclear weapon to a Cylon.
• What were the workers being asked to do which was so "odious", "so sick[ening] at heart" that Tyrol was willing to call a general strike, and so important to Baltar that he was willing to use illegal imprisonment to break it?
• Baltar surrenders to copies of Six and Eight. Are these Cylons the reincarnated Caprica-Six and "Boomer" Valerii? (see Analysis)
• If "Galactica-Sharon" is present on New Caprica, will she attempt to rekindle ties with Tyrol? If she does, what kind of effect will that have on his relationship with Cally? (see "Occupation" and "Precipice")
• Where did the Cylon fleets go, after they left the Twelve Colonies? Cavil is deliberately vague when asked if they simply returned to the Cylon homeworld.
• Why didn't the nuclear device trigger the radiological alarms on either battlestar?
• How many people died in Cloud 9's destruction? (See the "Precipice" section of Survivor Count)
• Were the Quorum of Twelve killed on Cloud Nine?
• Were Shevon and Paya killed on Cloud Nine?
• When Gina was instantly vaporized due to being only two feet from a nuclear detonation, did she still transmit her consciousness? Was she even capable of transmitting considering that any internal hardware responsible for this task would have been instantly destroyed? (see Analysis)
• Given Roslin's memories of Baltar with Six, why didn't Admiral Adama suspect Baltar of handing over the nuclear warhead to the cylons? If he did suspect him, why not act on it? (see Analysis)
• Did Baltar's internal Six disappear at any point during the New Caprica year? If so, when and why? If so, did the events of her disappearance contribute to Baltar's regression?
• Why is it so easy for Adama to hide the collusion of the rigged election from the press, and why are there no consequences?
• If the Cylons really left the Twelve Colonies, leaving behind a nuked-out wasteland, what happened to all of the human captives in the farms?
• Why have the Cylons returned after suggesting that they were willing to go their "separate ways"?
• Will the Adamas resort to Cain's tactic of conscripting civilians to fill the gaps?
• What happened between Apollo and Starbuck? (Answer)
• What led to Starbuck's reconciliation with Col. Tigh after the two have been in conflict since the Miniseries.
• When Adama informs Baltar that the nuke used to blow up Cloud Nine was probably stolen from Baltar's lab, why is he not suspicious about the fact that Baltar never reported that it was missing?
• Are the Cylons that appear at the end representative of the whole Cylon race, or are they a faction that broke off after the two "Cylon Heroes" began to speak out against the war on the humans?
• If it is true that the Cylons now believe the attack on humanity was a mistake, is the occupation on New Caprica viewed by the Cylons as an act of mercy and kindness vs. oppression from the human perspective? (see Analysis)
• Could it be the intent of the Cylons to actually help the colonization of New Caprica, helping with the construction of infrastructure, new homes, etc., in order to make up for the holocaust? (see Analysis)
  • Could the Cylons be fortifying New Caprica to protect the humans from hostile Cylons? There should still be some, that Number Three in "Downloaded" was pretty fanatical, and if the political winds have changed as they so often do...
  • Is there a Cylon civil "cold" war?
  • Could the occupation of New Caprica be a compromise between pro-human and anti-human factions, with war breaking out between them after it fails?

Official Statements

From the official site (http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/): When Baltar wins the vote, Roslin considers stealing the election because she believes he is a Cylon collaborator.

RDM's blog (March 28, 2006) gives details. (Due to article size requirements, the blog entry is not reproduced here.)

Interviews

• Paul Campbell discussess his thoughts on the story post-"Sacrifice":

MB/TSFW: So what do you think about the story after you left, and the trouble Mary’s character got herself into? After your replacement came in she kind of had a fall there. Do you think that would have happened if you were still there to watch her back?

Paul: You know, I don’t know if they could have. Billy had so much integrity, that under his watch, I don’t think that would have happened. And maybe he would have had to step down, and Mary would have gone about that route with someone else. But I don’t think if he would have been in the picture, that would have gone down. Because that’s some shady crap, and I don’t think it would have cut it. We obviously butted heads on a few things like that in the past. In particular when I ended up leaving her at the ship. As it turned out, I had another pilot to go shoot. As it turned out, it was more my schedule that didn’t work out, but it worked in the writing. But no, I don’t think that would have flown had I been in the picture. So I don’t know what they would have done. I’m sure that was the story line from the beginning, but how they would have worked me into it, I don’t really know. MediaBlvd

Noteworthy Dialogue

• After being uncovered as a Cylon upon on arrival from Caprica:

Brother Cavil: Well, this is an awkward moment…. Yes, he's right, I'm a Cylon. And I have a message. So…take me to your leader.

Admiral Adama: Take him to the brig.

• After arrest on Galactica:

Brother Cavil: Would you mind telling me what's going on? I'm not a frakking Cylon, I'm not…(sees the other Cavil from Caprica in the cell)…oh. Well, okay then.

• On Caprica during the fight with the Cylons:

Anders: You got any great ideas in that military brain of yours?

Starbuck: Do the same thing we always do; fight 'em 'till we can't.

• After the Cylons occupy New Caprica:

Tyrol: What do you want to do now, Captain?

Starbuck: The same thing we always do. Fight them until we can't.

• Number Six heralds the Cylons' arrival to Baltar:

Head Six: Judgment day.

Guest Stars

• Michael Hogan as Colonel Saul Tigh
• Aaron Douglas as Chief Galen Tyrol
• Tahmoh Penikett as Lt. Karl "Helo" Agathon
• Nicki Clyne as Specialist Cally Henderson
• Alessandro Juliani as Lt. Felix Gaeta
• Kandyse McClure as Petty Officer Anastasia Dualla
• Callum Keith Rennie as Leoben Conoy
• Kate Vernon as Ellen Tigh
• Donnelly Rhodes as Dr. Cottle
• Matthew Bennett as Aaron Doral
• Rekha Sharma as Tory Foster
• Alisen Down as Jean Barolay
• Erica Cerra as Maya
• Winston Rekert as Priest
• David Kaye as James McManus