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)
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
Related Information
Official Summary
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Listing of props for this episode
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Overview

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

Questions

• What is the current status of the medical supplies for the Fleet?

• Were the stockpile of vaccines and medicines that Pegasus had before its destruction transferred over to the ships before the Battle of New Caprica?

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

• With the return of Caprica-Six's internal Baltar, does this hint that the internal Six and Baltar are deeply more connected?

• Will Caprica-Six's hallucinations of Baltar cause suspicion amongst the Colonials, who might mistake her communicating with the Cylons?

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

• Where was Anders during the scene in Joe's bar?

• When did the hatred and bitterness towards the Saggitarons began in Colonial history?

• How different are the Saggitarons and Gemenese in regard to their religious beliefs?

• What traditions and ceremonies do the Saggitarons still practice that the rest of the Colonies had abandoned?

• Do the Saggitarons believe in the prospect of Earth and the thirteenth colony such as the Gemenese?

• Will Helo's punch at Tigh come back and haunt him in later episodes?

• Was Hera really infected with the same disease as the Saggitarons, or was Dr. Roberts playing with Helo's mind?

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

Analysis

• This is the first major episode that features Saggitarons in a more in-depth manner. We learn that Zarek and Dee are the exceptions to the stereotyped image of a Saggitaron.

• The Saggitarons' 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 the other characters such as Tigh, 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 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 apologized to Helo for not believing him about Dr. Roberts. 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. Instead of forgiveness, Adama offered Helo his apology and stated, as he did with Roslin, that it didn't matter whether Helo asked or needed it, Helo still had it.

Notes

• The title doesn't literally refer to a king, but to a female character named 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.

• Information from the podast:
  • The Saggitaron-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 Saggitaron 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 Saggitarons 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.

Guest Stars

• Bruce Davison as Dr. Robert
• Gabrielle Rose as Mrs. King