Water

"Water" (credit: Sci-Fi Channel)

Overview

The Galactica loses over 60% of her water reserves due to sabotage, forcing the fleet into a crisis and Adama to seek a new supply.

Summary

Boomer finds herself dripping wet in hr flight suit, sitting in an equipment locker on the hanger deck. She is disoriented, and on opening a duffel bag containing her uniform, she discovers explosives complete with a detonator
After drying and dressing herself, she goes to a small-arms locker and finds that a further 6 detonators are missing, throwing her into a panic and seeking Tyrol’s help
Roslin visits the Galactica to thank the crew for their hard work in defending the fleet following recent events (33)
Protocol is observed during her visit, with officers in dress uniform, etc. Roslin believes this is because Adama is trying to make her look an idiot; Lee Adama informs her his father ordered the reception out of respect of her position of President
The Virgon Express arrives alongside, ready to take-on new water supplies – Adama revealing that the Galactica can recycle water for those ships in the fleet that don’t have recycling facilities themselves
In their equipment locker, Tyrol and Boomer discuss the missing explosives, Boomer close to all-out panic. Tyrol promises he’ll see her through the situation, convinced someone is trying to frame her
As the water transfer operations commence, a series of explosions rip through the warship, rupturing her water tanks and spewing her massive reserves of drinking water into space
An investigation starts into the explosion. It is ascertained that 60% of the Galactica’s reserves of water have been lost, leaving the fleet with a critical shortage. Because of its recycling / storage capabilities, 16,000 people are dependent on the Galactica for drinkable water
Pushed to give a reason for the loss of the water, Gaeta states it might have been that the detonation of a nuclear warhead close to the water tanks (Mini-series) may have weakened the tanks causing them to fail
During his presentation to the board, Tyrol admits sabotage was the cause of the explosions, revealing the fact that explosives had been taken from a small-arms locker, but covering for Valerii by saying it is unlikely they will discover who took the explosives as security throughout the ship has been lax, and records-keeping patchy at best
Adama orders the Raptors to be flown to the nearest star systems in an attempt to find an alternative source of water
Reducing the number of people in the enquiry to senior command staff, Roslin and Baltar, Adama reveals the truth about the humano-Cylon, stating his belief that there is a Cylon infiltrator aboard the Galactica
Baltar is quizzed about his progress on constructing a working Cylon detector. He makes various excuses for his lack of progress, all of which Adama takes to mean he needs assistance on the project, and so assigns Lieutenant Gaeta to aide him
Following the meeting, Gaeta leaves with Baltar, who is not happy about having someone “watching” him. He escapes Gaeta by joining one of Starbuck’s card games and ends up flirting with her
Boomer locates water, but has problems trying to report the find while a part of her tries to detonate the explosives strapped to her chair
When she finally makes the report, she and Crashdown return to the Galactica to be greeted like heroes
Boomer gets Tyrol to check her seat, where he finds the explosives. He later reveals to Boomer he has handed the explosives to the Master-at-Arms, assuring her that this is good, as it puts the Master onto the same lines of investigation they are now pursuing
On Colonial One, impressed at the way Lee Adama helped her through the pomp of her reception on the Galactica at the start of the episode, Roslin asks him to become a special advisor to her, to help her understand military jargon, and protocol. She also tries to help him come to terms with the destruction of the Olympic Carrier (33), which has been plaguing his conscience.

On Caprica

Valerii and Helo have returned to Valerii's Raptor, to find it crawling with Cylon warriors
Deciding they cannot us it to escape Caprica, they head off to "find another ship"
Later, at night, and over a meal and anti-radiation shots, they receive a coded transmission, Valerii prompting Helo into the idea that someone else - probably military - is still alive on the planet

--Colonial Archivist 06:58, 24 Jan 2005 (EST)

Questions

Is Boomer completely unaware of her "Cylon" personality, which apparently planted the explosives?
If so, why did she "wake up" before her Cylon persona had completely covered its tracks (i.e. got out of the wet clothes, got her back to her bunk, etc., so she'd be completely unaware of her outing to the water tanks)?
Why did a part of Boomer attempt to blow-up her Raptor when the water-bearing moon was found? Surely she must have been aware that had the Raptor been destroyed, a Search and Rescue mission would have been initiated, with a good probability that the water would have been discovered anyway?
Is the radio message picked-up by Helo on Caprica genuine, for a Cylon fake, designed to keep him on the planet?
600-odd tonnes of food a week is a lot of consumables to have available. Where is it all coming from?
Do the Colonials have food recycling capabilities to match their water recycling capabilities?
Why do the Cylons want to keep Helo on Caprica?

Analysis

“Water” builds nicely on the events of 33 while adding new drama of its own, revealing more about the central characters while at the same time avoiding the “reset” button: three days on from the Olympic Carrier incident, and the repercussions are still being felt by Lee Adama and Laura Roslin. At the same time Roslin seeks to find a balance in her relationship with Adama, who is also willing to try and move beyond the tension that marked their initial relationship during the fleet’s initial flight from the Cylons: the presentation of the book being something of a peace offering.

But the focus of this episode is obviously “Boomer” Valerii, and raises some interesting questions around her.

It has already been established that some Cylons may not even know they are Cylons until they are “activated” (as stated by Six in the mini-series). “Water” sees a new wrinkle added: that the Cylon “personality” within a humano-Cylon can be active without the apparent knowledge of the “human” personality. Boomers “waking up” scene and subsequent reactions demonstrate that her human persona has no idea of what is going on. Her confusion is genuine and complete, right down to the fact that she has lost track of time (wishing Cally a “good evening”, only for Cally to tell her it is early morning).

However, while this is interesting in itself, it actually masks an even more interesting question: why did Boomer “wake up” while still sopping wet and hiding in the equipment locker? If her Cylon personality wished to remain hidden, why did it not stay in control until she had dried herself off, stowed the duffel bag and the explosives and returned to her bunk? That she finds herself in such a state would tend to suggest that her Cylon personality is not in full control when conscious. Could it be that Valerii’s “programming” as a human is a little too strong, and that there is some kind of internal struggle going on inside her?

If this is the case, then might the same conflict overcome her “sister” on Caprica? If so, there is potential for whatever the Cylons have in mind for Helo to go awry.

The episode also reveals a little more about the Galactica’s capabilities: the fact that her water recycling systems are around 100% efficient - so much so that she can operate for years without needing to take on fresh water supplies, and she's more than able to recycle water on behalf of a third of the other vessels in the fleet - thus supplying an additional 16,000 people with fresh water. While this is interesting in itself, that the production crew tackle such a vital requirement as water so early on in the series is highly suggestive that they do not intend to forget that some 45,000 people are going to require a lot of food and drink. Given the fact that this episode highlights the food requirements – some 590 tonnes a week - would tend to indicate this is an issue that will be dealt with at some point in the future. It’s hard to imagine the fleet can supply this much food to its people indefinitely.

Overall, another outstanding episode - lead by a very strong "A" storyline involving Boomer and the water sabotage, but with more than enough scope to provide insight into the characters and their developing relationships without bogging down the action. Not even Tigh's tightrope walk with alcoholism is forgotten, thanks to his discovery of his five fingers of booze. And it is nice to see Galactica still continues to carry the scars for her first run-in with the Cylons back in the mini - the outer skin of the forward end of her portside flight pod is still something of a mess.

--Colonial Archivist 12:35, 6 Jan 2005 (EST)

Notes

BSG stands for “Battle Star Group” – and the Galactica was a part of Group 75
The Galactica has an outstanding capability to recycle water supplies
Galactica has at least 5 Raptors on board.
Colonials have an equivalent plastic explosive to C-4 (called the G-4).
The Cylons have stood down from their attacks of 33.

Noteworthy Dialogue

Official Statements

Statistics

Guest Stars

Nicki Clyne as Cally

Writing & Direction

Written by Ronald D. Moore
Directed by Marita Grabiak

Production Notes

Series: 1 (2004 / 2005)
Production Number: 1.02
Airdate Order: 2 (of 13)

First Run Air Dates & Releases

UK Airdate: Date: 25 October 2005 (Sky One)
US Airdate: Date: 21 January 2005 (Sci-Fi Channel)
DVD Release: Date: 28 March 2005 (UK)