Battlestar Wiki:Sandbox/He That Believeth in Me

"He That Believeth In Me"; An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No.	Season 4, Episode 1
Writer(s)	Bradley Thompson ; David Weddle
Story by
Director	Michael Rymer
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.	403
Nielsen Rating
US airdate	4 April 2008
CAN airdate	{{{CAN airdate}}}
UK airdate	8 April 2008
DVD release
Population	39,698 survivors ( 1,700)
Additional Info
Episode Chronology
Related Information
	Official Summary
	R&D Skit – View
	[[IMDB:tt{{{imdb}}}\|IMDb entry]]
	Listing of props for this episode
Related Media
	@ BW Media
	Promotional Materials
	Online Purchasing
	Amazon: Standard Definition \| High Definition
	iTunes: [{{{itunes}}} USA]

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Overview

During a seemingly hopeless battle, Kara Thrace appears in a pristine Viper, claiming that she has been to Earth and can lead the Fleet there -- but the terminal Laura Roslin believes otherwise. Meanwhile, four of the so-called Final Five are forced to tackle the repercussions of their newfound nature.

Summary

Teaser

Lee Adama and Kara Thrace are flying side-by-side, staring at each other across space. Lee is in a state of disbelief. Thrace rebukes his claim that her Viper exploded. She says that she's found Earth, describes some of its attributes, as the CIC crew listens to the chatter.
William Adama, who is clearly emotional, demands that the ship be identified. Felix Gaeta does so, replying that the ship's recognition codes match, while Anastasia Dualla tries to get Lee on the comline. Karl Agathon notes that the woman's voice sounds like Thrace's.
Laura Roslin, recovered from her earlier headache, notes that it is likely a Cylon trick.
Adama orders that the verification be duplicated, however Gaeta notes that 200+ Cylon Raiders are inbound. Adama orders that the Vipers and Raptor pickets engage the Cylons.
Hearing the order, Thrace tells Lee not to lose her. "Not a chance," he replies, as both begin engaging the first wave of Raiders. Thrace kills a Raider, its blood covering her ship.
Roslin reiterates her belief that Thrace's voice is a "Cylon trick".
Gaeta reports that the Vipers have stopped the main Cylon thrust, but the reserves have broken through the line, and are headed to the Fleet.
Adama tells Saul Tigh that he wants everything launched.
Tigh hesitates, then experiences a vision where he pulls out a gun and shoots Adama through his right eye. However, he is wakened by his waking-state "nightmare", as Adama continues to bark orders at him. He wants everyone who has "ever flown a stick" up in the air. Unsure of what exactly happened, Tigh relays the order.
Galen Tyrol is barking out orders in the hangar bay. Ensigns Diana Seelix and Samuel Anders arrive. En route to their ships, as Seelix goes off, Anders begins to vocally question whether or not he'll turn against "his own" after he launches. Tyrol tells him to "shut the frak up" and follow Tigh's lead: be the man he wants to be.
During the pep-talk, Sharon "Athena" Agathon approaches them, overhearing a snippet of the conversation. She asks who else would he be and then gives him advice to retain his cool out in the fray. She walks off to her Raptor; Anders is relieved that she didn't ferret him out, and hopes the other Cylons won't be able to either.
Tyrol tells him to not give them the chance to find out, and tells Anders to get to his ship.
Gaius Baltar and his female admirers, lead by a woman named Jeanne, escort Baltar through the ship, heading to a previously-abandoned compartment on the ship. En route, they pass by Charlie Connor, who catches a glimpse of Baltar, even though Baltar is covered in a shawl.
During the battle, a winged Raider sprawls out of control and impacts into the Pyxis, where it manages to hit a volatile area that results in the ship's complete destruction.
Gaeta reports this and Roslin is shocked, saying that they've lost 600 souls, including Captain Tarney. Roslin then inquires as to how the Cylons were able to find them. Tigh and Tory Foster exchange glances again.
Gaeta reports that the basestars have launched 50 plus warheads. Half are headed towards the Fleet, the other half are headed towards Galactica. Adama believes that Galactica can take the beating, but the Fleet would be wiped out by such an attack; he orders that all the missiles headed towards the Fleet be shot down.
Anders launches and, still fearing that he may have Cylon programming yet to be turned on, begins summarizing his life. Seelix replies that he's jamming up the wireless, since he has the transmit button pressed down. Anders release the button and chastises himself.
Cylon warheads begin striking Galactica. Two missiles headed toward the Fleet strike the Space Park, but do not destroy her.
Seelix manages to destroy a warhead that would've struck Colonial One. However, a Raider comes up from behind her and begins to pursue her. Anders comes up from behind the Raider, and attempts to take the Raider out, but his weapons have apparently seized. The Raider disengages from Seelix and looks at Anders using its red-eye. During the event, Anders' iris in his right eye glows red and the Cylon Raider disengages.
The Raiders flock back to the baseships, which spin their FTL drives, much to the confusion of the Colonials who knew that the Cylons had them dead to rights. Adama orders that they take advantage of the opportunity they've been presented, ordering the fighters to cover their rear while the Fleet begins jump prep.
Tigh asks why the Cylons withdrew, Foster replies that "maybe something's changed", referring to their newfound knowledge of being Cylons. Roslin asks what the "change" may be, but Tigh feigns ignorance.

Act 1

After the Fleet makes its first jump away from the Ionian Nebula, Baltar is being lead to the women's enclave. Jeanne reassures him that he'll be safe as they approach a compartment previously dedicated to dry stowage.
Connor and another male associate have followed the group to the compartment, but do not enter.
In the compartment, Baltar enters a commune consisting mostly of young, nubile women and men, all primarily Caucasian. They look subserviently downward, unwilling to meet his gaze, until he comes across a shrine with glorified Christmas-lights. He merely looks around and mutters, "Right", in a state of semi-disbelief.
Tyrol looks over Thrace's blood-covered, yet otherwise pristine Mark II Viper. As Thrace opens the cockipt, she tells Tyrol to develop her gun camera footage, claiming to have some great shots to show everyone. She asks for her post-flight checklist. Tyrol replies that she has none.
Pilots who've landed start to approach Thrace and her Viper. Lee, who just landed, runs up and hugs her.
From the walkway above the hangar bay, Tigh asks Adama if he believes in miracles. Adama replies in the negative.
Anders follows suit, saying that he told everyone that she was too "frakking mean to kill". She notes Anders' apparel, learning that Anders has been trained as a Viper pilot, which she finds unbelievable.
Thrace tells Adama that she found Earth. Adama replies with Marines, who are ordered to escort her to sickbay where Cottle will give her a complete examination.
Thrace reveals that, from her point of view, she's been off the ship for six hours. Anders replies that it has been over two months since she died, which Lee confirms.
In the commune, Jeanne tells Baltar that she's going to get her son, Derrick, asking him not to go anywhere on the ship, since it isn't safe for him. Jeanne tells him that Tracey Anne will be with him to give him whatever he needs.
Baltar claims that he's praying for Derrick, who is presently in Galactica's sickbay. When he asks about travel arrangements, Jeanne notes that security is too tight to smuggle him off Galactica. Her fellow cultist, Paulla Schaffer, adds that none of the other ships would have him.
As they leave, Virtual Six in a red blouse appears to him. She asks why he is glum, given that he faced execution, yet was granted life. He replies that he's doomed to be stuck in a looney bin with a bunch of cultists. Virtual Six assures him that she hasn't brought this far for nothing, then he begins to ask for a ray of hope for the future...
Tracey Anne sees Baltar on his knees, appearing to pray. She finds it beautiful, but a hollow ritual. She tells him that when she prays, she feels empty. Prompted by Six, Baltar claims that the Gods they worship are false and that there is only one true God, all the while she's copping a feel on him. As he explains how the gods were propagated by the "ruling elite" to suppress their knowledge of "the truth", she unbuttons his shirt.
As he reveals that "there's only one God", Tracey Anne exposes her breasts to him. Assured that they are alone and the door is locked, she moves his hands to cup her breasts, where Tracey Anne asks him if he feels God's presence.
"You know what," he replies glibly, "I think I do." Then they fornicate in the presence of the shrine.
In Adama's quarters, Thrace is told that all her tests check out, and it appears she is human. She accuses them of thinking that she's a Cylon.
Roslin, who is present with Tory Foster and Lee Adama, presses her for her story of how she found Earth.
Thrace claims that she followed a Heavy Raider into the storm, taking some fire, then blacked out. When she came to, she was orbiting Earth, which she was able to identify from the descriptions in the Book of Pythia. Showing the pictures that were developed from her gun camera, she claims that the pictures are of Earth and her moon. Further, she claims to have been able to match the star configurations from what was seen in the Tomb of Athena.
Thrace claims that she doesn't know how she was able to find them at the Ionian Nebula. Roslin continues to press her for information. She replies that she turned the ship to a reciprocal heading, and later blacked out. She adds that she remembers a giant gas planet with rings. She also claims to have seen a comet.
Roslin moves to questioning the time discrepancy. Thrace remains adamant that she found Earth, took the pictures, and was able to return to the Fleet.
In the hangar bay, Tyrol shows Adama (who is accompanied by Roslin, Foster, Lee, and Tigh) the Viper Thrace returned in. He notes that, after it was cleaned up, the Viper is pristine, as if it came off the "showroom floor".
Tyrol confirms that while the tail numbers match the one she flew out on, the ship is not the same one he's been repairing for years. Further, the navigational computer has no entries in it.
Roslin tells Adama to put Thrace in the brig. Lee objects, asking about Cottle's test. Tigh grumpily replies that Cottle's test doesn't mean a thing, since Baltar's Cylon detector is a crock that failed to identify Boomer. (What he doesn't say, at least verbally, is that it failed to identify him as a Cylon as well.)
Adama ruefully notes that they're back at square one. Any one of them can be a Cylon, and they wouldn't know it until they had a bullet in their heads, or lead the Fleet into an ambush. Roslin notes that something stopped the Cylons from destroying the Fleet, and she believes that Thrace is somehow responsible for it. Further, Roslin believes that Thrace was returned to them to pull them off their course.
Lee notes that they don't have a course, since they weren't able to stay at the nebula. He posits that Thrace may very well be the "signpost" they've been looking for, but Roslin will have none of it.

Act 2

Baltar and Tracey Anne, both unclothed, are awakened by the presence of Jeanne and the cultists. Jeanne brings Derrick, who is ill with viral encephalitis and cannot be treated with medicines, and asks Baltar to pray for his recovery. He says that he has to be strong, and they have to be strong for him. Jeanne says that she didn't want Derrick to die in the sickbay.
Baltar reiterates his claim that he prays for Derrick. Jeanne claims to know this, but adds that she believes that the "one true God" doesn't want Derrick to live. A wide-eyed, nutty Baltar cannot answer this question.
In Tigh's quarters, the "Fantastic Four" are assembled. Tigh inquires about the "frakking music", and everyone replies that they no longer hear it. Tyrol posits that it may have stopped upon discovering their true natures, but they still don't know for certain what it was.
Anders recites his experience with the Cylon Raider scanning him. Even after Anders recalls the tale, they don't know what to make of the Cylons' sudden retreat, or Ander's inability to fire on the Raider. Tigh remains adamant that Racetrack was right: Anders had made a "dumb nugget mistake".
They broach the topic of being programmed to sabotage the Fleet, like Boomer. Tigh vociferously contends that Boomer did not know who she was; they do, and they silently agree to kill themselves before they do anything against the humans.
Roslin vists Caprica Six in the brig. Roslin discusses the shared dream they experienced in the Opera House, where Caprica saw more than she did. Roslin asks Caprica to help her with information regarding the Cylons known as the Final Five, since she wants to know if Kara Thrace is one of them. Caprica replies that they are not programmed to think of the Five, but notes that they are close since she can feel them.
In the CIC, Thrace is reviewing star charts with Gaeta, who is clearly aggravated. Agathon notices Gaeta's behavior and relieves him. Thrace notes that no one believes her, since everyone seems to think she's a Cylon. In a conversation that begins to get heated, Adama overhears Thrace's reasoning that finding the star systems on their charts won't work.
Thrace tells them that she can find the way to Earth by feeling it. She says that the more jumps they do away from their starting point (the Ionian Nebula), the harder it is for her to tell the road to Earth, given that they are going the wrong way.
Adama dismisses Agathon. Adama reveals that Roslin's adamant that they continue the course laid before them by the Eye of Jupiter. As they execute another FTL jump, Thrace experiences a headache and says they're going the wrong way, and fears she may lose the feeling completely. She asks for them to go back to the nebula and while Adama would like to believe her, he can't go to Roslin and ask her to dismiss the writings of Pythia and the information derived from the supernova.
Adama reveals that he's just "left her ship", noting that it is pristine, and asks her to explain that fact. She cannot, but swears to the Gods that she is Kara Thrace and can trust her on her intuition.
Adama painfully replies that he can't afford to trust her, and she leaves with her marine escort.

Act 3 and Act 4

To be added at 12:01 P.M. Eastern Time on April 4, 2008.

Notes

This season shows the first major change in the teaser titles since the series began. Instead of the "Cylons have a Plan" claim, the new titles show: "Twelve Cylon models. Seven are known. Four live in secret. One will be revealed."
As with Season 3's season opener, the length of this episode's teaser clocks near the 10 minute mark.
Katee Sackhoff has been re-added to the opening credit roll, since her "stunt" removal in the episodes "The Son Also Rises" and the "Crossroads" two-parter. (Although she was credited in the end-credits for "Crossroads, Part II".)
The population of the Fleet, which hasn't been revealed since "The Son Also Rises" (but is assumed to be around 41,398) is 39,698. 600 of those were people who died aboard the Pyxis, the other 1,100 likely died on other ships during the attack.
The gun Saul Tigh uses in his "nightmare" against William Adama is the same weapon that Sharon "Boomer" Valerii shot Adama with in "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II".
While Anders played for a professional Caprican pyramid team, he was (allegedly) born on Picon and enrolled in Norris High School.
In promotional photos for this episode, the tail number for Thrace's pristine Viper is 4267 NC, the same Viper that Chuckles used and died in during the Battle for the Tylium Asteroid in "The Hand of God". However, this number was digitally removed in the aired version to match the Viper that was destroyed in "Maelstrom": Viper 8757.
The planet that Thrace describes, as a "giant gas planet with rings", is likely Jupiter, which does have rings (but not as notable as those of Saturn). Interestingly, Jupiter is home of a massive storm known as the "Great Red Spot", which is another allusion to the "Eye of Jupiter". Further, this Great Red Spot, which is a massive hurricane-like storm of immense width, is a storm similar to the one in "Maelstrom" and may be related to how she returns to the Fleet.

Religion

The title was first reported as "He That Believath In Me". Writer Bradley Thompson confirmed that this was an unintentional misspelling.
The title is a reference to John 11:25-26, which says:
Jesus said unto her, "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" (King James Bible)
In Baltar's conversation with Tracey Anne, he reveals the names of two more Gods, Posideon and Aphorodite, both gods in the Greek pantheon.

Analysis

Gaius Baltar and his cult

Baltar's cult is a cult-of-personality, where Gaius Baltar is seen by misguided humans as a messianic, mortal savior. However, there is little to absolutely no basis for this in actual fact. Further, no reason for this apparently sudden rise of the "Baltar cult" has yet been provided.
Baltar's cult seems to have amassed a following comprising mostly of women who are Caucasian, well-fit, reasonably well-proportioned, and within the ages of 20 to 40. Further, the cult seems to be disturbingly similar to the "Manson Family" in this regard, although Baltar is more-or-less placed in the position as cult's spiritual leader.
The cult is also hedonistic, verging o countercultural (the class-warfare against the Fleet's so-called "aristocracy"), cooperative, and religious. Apparently, the room is shared by all, and sexual intercourse with one another is inferred as being common. This inference is noted as the cultists do not appear surprised that Baltar and Tracey Anne have engaged in intercourse, even given Baltar's status as a spiritual leader.

Ionian Nebula

The Fleet-wide power-loss, and subsequent power recovery, remains unexplained.
It is heavily inferred that the Cylons now know that the Final Five are in the Fleet, given their rapid withdrawal during the battle.
Further, it remains unexplained how the Cylons were able to track the Fleet to the nebula. They were either able to determine the Fleet's projected course, despite the efforts to use the Daru Mozu as a decoy, or found another way to track the Fleet.

Kara Thrace

As to be expected, Kara Thrace's return is clouded in suspicion. Given the effects of time dilation she had experienced (six hours from her perspective, more than two months from the Fleet's), she may have experienced a form gravitational time dilation, given her proximity to the mandala phenomenon in "Maelstrom" and the hard deck.
The "missing time" phenomenon and the lack of navigation data in the Viper's computer are similar to the abduction experiences that have been reported. Coincidentally, these experiences allege paralysis and "blinding light." Kara Thrace experienced the blinding light phenomenon in "Maelstrom" before her death, and her lack of control in pulling up her Viper from the hard deck does suggest a form of paralysis, or even distraction, whereby her mind was occupied and thus ignored the warnings from Lee Adama, et al.
Thrace has feelings of w:theophany before her death in "Maelstrom". Further, these feelings have somehow influenced her and manifested extra-sensory abilities that leads her to a w:Jeanne d'Arc-ian crusade, believing that she can lead the Fleet to Earth.
Thrace's headaches are likely similar in nature to Laura Roslin's headache in "Crossroads, Part II" after arriving at the Ionian Nebula. After a jump is executed, Thrace experiences these headaches as well, however the headaches lead her to believe that they are further and further down the wrong path and away from Earth.

The Final Five

Given their animal-like nature, the biological Cylon Raiders are able to identify members of the Final Five, as Samuel Anders experiences during the Battle of the Ionian Nebula.
Sharon Agathon is incapable of identifying the Final Five models, even after they've been "activated", to use the term loosely.

Saul Tigh

Saul Tigh begins to have nightmares in his waking state. He envisions pulling out a gun and killing Adama, harkening back to Sharon "Boomer" Valerii's assassination attempt in "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II". In his nightmare, he shoots Adama through the right eye, ironically the same eye that Tigh lost by the Significant Seven Cylons on New Caprica.

Samuel Anders

During the battle, it is Samuel Anders' right eye that "responds" to the Cylon Raider's roving eye. The electronic reddening effect appears to be an acknowledgment of the IFF signal the Raider sent out.
The "red eye" of the Cylon Raiders has been used to transmit signals to ships using Baltar's Command Navigation Program in the Miniseries. This may have "activated" some programming or instinct within the Cylon Raider -- or even Anders' -- in much the same way it accessed the backdoors to Baltar's program.
It is implied that Anders' inability to fire on the Cylon Raider that "made him" is not related to any technical error on the Viper. His safeties were still active at the time, which have been attributed to two things within the episode: a "dumb nugget mistake" (according to Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson and later reiterated by Tigh) or some subconscious Cylon programming.

Questions

Did Samuel Anders make a "dumb nugget mistake" as Tigh contends, or was it a form of
Does Charlie Connor survive the massive beating he experiences at the hands of the Baltar cultist?
Is Kara Thrace the Final Cylon? If not her, who?
Where did Thrace get her pristine Viper?
Are Thrace's claims about being to Earth true?
Why is the Viper's camera footage viable, yet nothing was found in the navigational records?
Why have the Significant Seven Cylons been programmed to not think of the Final Five?
Can the Significant Seven identify the Final Five once they are able to bypass this imperative?

Official Statements

Noteworthy Dialogue

Saul Tigh experiences a disturbing daydream:

William Adama: Saul. Saul! What the hell is wrong with you?

Saul Tigh: Nothing, Bill. (Tigh pulls out a gun and aims it at Adama.) I've never felt better in my entire life. (Tigh shoots Adama through his right eye.)

Virtual Six talks to Baltar:

Virtual Six: Yesterday you were facing execution. Today, you're free. Why the long face?

Gaius Baltar: Oh, gee, I don't know. From President of the Colonies to this... King of fools. Probably best to be hated by everyone than loved by this lot, doomed to live out the rest of my life in this looney bin. I don't know, that might have something to do with my rather savage mood swings.

Virtual Six: Relax Gaius. Do you think I've brought you this far to let it end here?

Baltar: I need encouragement. A ray of hope about the future. An inkling.

Virtual Six: You've got me. I'm here for you.

Lee Adama asks daddy Adama an uncomfortable set of questions:

Lee Adama: Dad, what if Zak had come back to us in that Viper? If my brother had climbed out of that cockpit, would it matter if he were a Cylon? If he always had been? When all said and done, would that really change how we feel about him?

Baltar's prayer for Derrick:

Gaius Baltar: Please God, I'm asking you this one last time, don't let this child die. Has he sinned against you? He's not even alive yet. How can you take him and let me live... after all I've done? Really, if you want someone to suffer, take me. We both know I deserve it. I'm selfish and weak. I have failed so many people. I have killed. I'm not asking for your forgiveness, I'm just asking that you spare the life of this innocent child. Don't take him. Take me. Take me, take me, please.

References

"He That Believeth In Me" An episode of the Re-imagined Series

Episode No.	Season 4, Episode 1
Writer(s)	Bradley Thompson David Weddle
Story by
Director	Michael Rymer
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.	403
Nielsen Rating
US airdate	4 April 2008
CAN airdate	{{{CAN airdate}}}
UK airdate	8 April 2008
DVD release
Population	39,698 survivors ( 1,700)
Additional Info
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
Razor	He That Believeth In Me	Six of One
Related Information
Official Summary
R&D Skit – View
[[IMDB:tt{{{imdb}}}\|IMDb entry]]
Listing of props for this episode
Related Media
			@ BW Media
Promotional Materials

Online Purchasing
Amazon: *Standard Definition* \| *High Definition*
iTunes: [{{{itunes}}} USA]