Sine Qua Non

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"Sine Qua Non" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No.	Season 4, Episode 8
Writer(s)	Michael Taylor
Story by
Director	Rod Hardy
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.	10
Nielsen Rating
US airdate	30 May 2008
CAN airdate	30 May 2008
UK airdate	27 May 2008
DVD release
Population	39,674 survivors ( 1)
Additional Info
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
Guess What's Coming to Dinner?	Sine Qua Non	The Hub
Related Information
Official Summary
R&D Skit – View
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Listing of props for this episode
Related Media
			@ BW Media
Promotional Materials
Online Purchasing
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Overview

President Laura Roslin's abduction by the Cylon Hybrid triggers a bitter power struggle within the Fleet. The Quorum has little information and demands to know what happened, while Tom Zarek insists that he is to be declared interim president. Lee Adama opposes him and enlists the help of notorious lawyer Romo Lampkin to find a candidate for the post, leading to a surprising decision. Meanwhile, Admiral Adama and Colonel Tigh come to blows over Tigh's relationship with Caprica-Six and Adama's obsession to find Roslin.

Summary

Teaser

• With President Laura Roslin missing, a meeting is held by the Quorum of Twelve. Vice President Tom Zarek heads the meeting and tells the delegates that with Roslin missing, he is to be sworn in as interim President.
• Upon hearing the news, Lee Adama contacts his father, who doesn't take it well.
• Natalie, who has just been shot by Sharon Agathon, is taken to the infirmary. She starts to have a vision or projection that she is in a forest on a sunny day. In real life, she only focuses on the faces of those who are taking her to the infirmary.
• Dr. Cottle immediately starts to operate on her. When she tries to make physical contact, likely sensing that she is about to die, Cottle takes her hand. However, just as they operate, her image of the forest brightens to a bright flash. The second this happens, her heart monitor flat lines, and Cottle announces her death.
• Admiral Adama sees Sharon Agathon and is angered by her decision to kill an unarmed woman, even if she was a Cylon. Agathon starts to explain her dream about a Six taking away her child at the Opera House. Eventually, Adama orders a guard to take her away to the brig and refuses her access to her daughter.
• When Adama returns to the CIC, he hears that the Resurrection Hub has disappeared from its last known location.

Notes

• Sine qua non is a Latin phrase meaning "without which it could not be". It is famously used by Andrew Jackson, who says the following after receiving an honorary degree from Harvard: "E pluribus unum, my friends. Sine qua non."
• Most civilians appear to have incorrectly assumed that the basestar's disappearance was a deliberate act of kidnapping, possibly in retaliation for Natalie's shooting.
• When establishing visual contact with the drifting Raptor, Racetrack clearly uses the real f-word instead of "frak".
• The pistol Lampkin uses to threaten Adama is a Stallion. The model previously appeared prominently in "Home, Part II".
• The episode features the first explicit mention of artificial gravity in dialogue.
• The book Searider Falcon makes another appearance. Adama finds it in the derelict Raptor, somewhat singed.
• The lullaby Sharon Agathon hums to Hera is the same one hummed by Sharon Valerii to a captured Raider in "Flesh and Bone".

Analysis

• The child of Caprica-Six and Tigh will be the first known fully Cylon child (if it survives to be born).
• The ability of Tigh to impregnate Six indicates a fundamental difference between the Final Five and Significant Seven, as Significant Seven Cylons have been thus far unable to conceive with one another.

Official Statements

• Michael Taylor discusses his spoiler-free impressions of a scene:

I was in the editing room, watching one of our talented editors assemble a rough cut of a single scene. Not a huge scene, just a relatively brief but quietly powerful scene between Adama and Tigh (you’ll see it in Episode 8, “Sine Qua Non”). What struck me is that while the dialogue was relatively simple, these two actors brought so much to it that the smallest looks and gestures carried immense weight. It made me realize anew how, after four seasons, these characters have accumulated so much history and nuance. As embodied by actors like Edward J. Olmos and Michael Hogan, they are wrenchingly human. Less characters than people I have now spent years with, and who still surprise me.

Guest Stars

• Michael Hogan as Colonel Saul Tigh
• Richard Hatch as Tom Zarek
• Donnelly Rhodes as Doctor Cottle
• Rekha Sharma as Tory Foster
• Mark Sheppard as Romo Lampkin
• Leah Cairns as Lieutenant Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson
• Colin Lawrence as Lieutenant Hamish "Skulls" McCall
• Ryan McDonell as Lieutenant Eammon "Gonzo" Pike
• Alexandra Thomas as Hera Agathon
• Donna Soares as Gemenon Delegate
• Andrew McIlroy as Jacob Cantrell
• Judith Maxie as Picon Delegate
• Iris Paluly as Speaking Delegate #2
• Veena Sood as Quorum Delegate
• Laara Sadiq as Priestess