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 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?

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

• 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?

• 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. Roberts 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 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.

• 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, establshed 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.

Guest Stars

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