Black Market

"Black Market" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
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Overview

Not available at this time.

Summary

• The recovered Prsident Laura Roslin, feeling behind in her work since her absence, discusses her plan to eliminate black market problems with internal trade of supplies within the Fleet in Adama's quarters with Admiral Adama, Pegasus Commander Fisk, and Dr. Baltar.
• When he arrives back in his quarters on Pegasus (Cain's old quarters) Fisk is garroted by several black market gangsters.
• Lee Adama, severely depressed since his ejection from the Blackbird, has apparently has nurtured a relationship on Cloud 9 with a woman named Shevon, who has a young daughter named Paya.
• Shevon soon resorts to working as a prostitute to get basic food and medical supplies. Adama pays her cubits when he stays there, mostly to help, then later as she makes it clearly aware of the nature of her business. Adama appears to want a serious relationship.
• In flashback scenes, we see a past love of Lee Adama on Caprica, who became pregnant. Adama became afraid and didn't know if he should commit or not. She got angry and stormed off, then he ran away. With the Cylon attack, Adama presumes she (and that relationship) dead.
• Unaware that Fisk was murdered, Baltar stumbles into Fisk's quarters to see him but finds Lee Adama on the scene. After stating (correctly) that he had nothing to do with Fisk's murder, he storms out. Adama deduces correctly that Baltar was actually trading for a hard to find commodity: "Caprica Imperials" fumerellos that Fisk had.
• Adama finds a small fortune of luxury goods in Fisk's closet, including a gold bracelet with the monogram "E.T" on it. Apollo realizes it's Ellen Tigh's and confront's Col. Saul Tigh about it in his quarters. Tigh says that it was he and not his wife who traded it to Fisk for good liquor, fruit, etc. for Ellen and himself. Tigh explains that Fisk was deeply involved in using Pegasus as a hub to shuttle black market goods.
• Dr. Cottle's autopsy finds cubits jammed in Fisk's mouth as a warning. Adama realizes that Fisk was trying to undercut one of his black market suppliers, and they took revenge. Adama is angry that Tigh would use the black market, but Tigh counters that almost everyone does some trading with it to get things they need, even Adama, who responds that just because everyone does it doesn't mean it's right.
• On Colonial One, President Roslin, aware from her near-death recollections on Caprica of Baltar's pre-holocaust contact with a copy of the Cylon agent the Fleet knows under the names of "Shelly Godfrey" and "Gina", asks Dr. Baltar, her vice president, to resign.
• Baltar's pride is wounded. While he never wanted any political power in his life or the office at first, he wants to stay VP now. Roslin tells him it's not an offer she'll make again, but he leaves anyway.
• Off duty, working out in Galactica's gym, Anastasia Dualla comes to Lee Adama to bravely ask if their flirtation while working out is leading somewhere. Adama has no idea what to say, and Dualla takes the quiet hint.
• Lee Adama rushes to Shevon's quarters on Cloud 9 after she calls for help. He finds the bruised Shevon and Paya, and decides to take them to Galactica.
• As Lee is packing things up to leave, he is ambushed by thugs, who nearly garrote him. As he is held within a breath of his life, he is confronted by a well-dressed, blunt "businessman", who warns him to back off of the investigation. A pistol-whip to the head knocks Lee out.
• Adama awakens to find an empty room, and calls for a medic and security team. Only then does he notice the corpse of the man that garroted Fisk.
• Tom Zarek drops by the scene in Shevon's room later, and discusses the black market with Apollo. Zarek says that he's not actually not involved with it, because he needs to keep his hands clean, but he also won't help Apollo shut it down (giving ship names, contacts, etc.) because Zarek doesn't want it shut down; it's evidence that Roslin was unable to establish a utopian society in the Fleet, and successfully dismantling it would just prove her right.
• Zarek points out that the black market does gets supplies where they are needed. Nonetheless, Zarek mentions the central hub of the black market, Prometheus, a ship so lawless it's practically "off the grid", where you can supposedly get anything. Zarek gives a name to the "businessman" -- Phelan -- and tells Apollo that he probably took Shevon there. Additionally, he points out that Phelan has given Lee the murderer -- the thug with a bullet in his head -- and that it should be considered "a way out."
• On Prometheus, alone, Lee Adama searches and finds Paya and other children locked up.
• Adama encounters Phelan in the Prometheus's bar. Apollo warns that Galactica is fully aware of his location, and that the battlestar would vent Prometheus's air into space unless he gets Shevon and Paya back, and the black market is shut down.
• Phelan counters that the Fleet needs the black market; it's like a pressure valve. Whenever a ship falls behind in the supply schedule, the black market fills the need. Phelan states what they sell all things to fill all wants, including child prostitution. Adama is horrified. Shevon is dragged out and admits to her work for Phelan.
• Phelan makes Apollo realize the only way Shevon was able to obtain life-saving antibiotics for Paya was the black market. Taking a gun from one of Phelan's guard, Adama points it threateningly at Phelan. Surprisingly, two other guards behind Adama neither help or hinder him.
• Apollo says to Phelan that he may be right, maybe he shouldn't try to shut down the market, but that there are lines that should never be crossed, and Phelan has crossed them. When Phelan confidently tells Adama that he won't shoot him, because he's not a thug like Phelan, Adama contemplates. Lee then cycles through another series of flashbacks of his lost relationship on Caprica... and pulls the trigger. With a look of shock frozen on his face, Phelan slumps into his chair and dies.
• Apollo turns to Phelan's guards, also in shock, and tells them that he's not going to shut down all black market trade because the Fleet needs it for vital supplies whether he likes it or not. However, they continue their business at his whim only. If there are more killings, hold back essential medicines, or use children, he will annihilate them without restraint.
• In tears, Shevon breaks up with Adama, rightly claiming he just wanted Shevon and Paya to replace the woman and child he lost, and that she and Paya can't replace what he lost for him.
• Back on Colonial One, the Adamas present their reports to the President. Roslin is upset that Apollo did not shut down the black market, but Apollo counters that they will never have a perfect system and there will always be a black market. At least this way, they know where and who they are, and can monitor it to keep a measure of control. Admiral Adama fully supports Lee, but Roslin isn't at all happy with this and dismisses them rudely.
• Tom Zarek is seen walking through a crowd on the Prometheus with one of Phelan's old henchmen in tow.
• Admiral Adama and Lee Adama sit casually in the admiral's quarters over a drink, discussing the results of the black market issue. Admiral Adama tells his son he is disappointed that he did not discuss the nature of his relationship with Shevon to him earlier.

Questions

• How were the black market gangsters able to penetrate Pegasus' security, causing the death of its second commanding officer in a short period?
  • It is likely that Pegasus draconian command structure allows for abuse, and Fisk's own use of the market led to tacit protection of it, including its figurehead, Phelan.
• At the end of the episode, Zarek is seen walking in a crowd on the Prometheus, with one of Phelan's old men nearby. Is Zarek going to try to fill the power vacuum left in the wake of Phelan's death? Was it just showing how everyone needs to use the black market, even someone like Tom Zarek who claims to wash his hands of involvement with it?

Analysis

• Ron D. Moore appears to almost admit as much in his podcast that this episode did not live up to his expectations. The long complaint about failed goals he made in his blog was actually about this episode amd not "Downloaded" as speculated by other unofficial sources.
• It may be that Moore was attempting to work the story as a detective mystery, but fell short of the goal.
• Apollo's recent angst may appear to some viewers as rather hastily added to the his character, much like the issues involving Laura Roslin's miraculously fast recovery from her cancer in the previous episode.
• The Apollo-Dualla relationship, a story thread running since "Resistance", appears to have been stopped very abruptly, with only Adama's angst as an excuse in ending their flirtation. The manner in which Dualla and Adama speak to each other appeared out of character. Dually later appears with Billy Keikeya, where is says little, and Dualla appears about ready to give Adama up and continue things more seriously with Billy. Actor Paul Campbell (Billy) has been filming a lot of TV pilots and other projects, so he hasn't had much to do this season. But, in comparison to Cally or Kat, who now seem like better developed, Billy's character is appearing underused.
• Much of the regular cast, including Kara Thrace, Sharon Valerii,Helo,, Felix Gaeta, Galen Tyrol, and Cally do not appear in this episode. Baltar's virtual Number Six is seen in what some may feel was a distracting appearance, taunting Baltar on Pegasus and in the meeting with Roslin
• Col. Tigh is merely a person to be interviewed in Apollo's investigation. Dr. Cottle's screen time has actually increased of late in the last two episodes, although his character's contribution may be too short for some.
• Like many "pulp" murder mysteries, the episode appeared without a special point or purpose other than to unravel the mystery. Perhaps what was happening is that they were stressing the realism of living in a "Rag Tag Fugitive Fleet" of civilians; yes, there would probably be gangsters carving out fiefdowms, running drug, medecine, and prostitution rackets. The show took a really dark turn when it made mention of child prostitution. Once again, this isn't anything that several police-dramas airing at the same time of night as BSG haven't done, and nothing is "shown"; a character just mentions in dialog that he runs a ring of this, and the "good guy" promptly kills him and shuts it down. However, the entire idea of the drug rings, etc. is a little disturbing, even if entirely logical.
• The storyline of Apollo's pregnant girlfriend on Caprica was intriguing. However, confusion entered in with Shevon's line of Adama's old flame "want(ing) to give you a child". Many viewers may not have understand that Adama's old love was actually already pregnant. The repetitive flashback, which did not vary, did little to advance the plot and may have made viewing less comfortable.
• The plausibility of Jack Fisk being killed as easily as Cain was implausible. Admiral Adama now is escorted by marines at all times. With Cain's killer still on the loose, it would rational for Fisk to have some paranoia.
• The scene between Baltar and Roslin was interesting in its scripting and acting. Roslin is determined to be extremely polite, forceful, and cheery despite the fact that she's making a power play and now knows that Baltar has something to do with the fall of the Colonies. Viewers should probably expect this revelation to come to a head at the close of season 2.

Notes

• Survivor count for this episode was 49,597. That's one less from last week's episode, "Epiphanies" in which a suicide bomber attacked the tylium refinery. However, bodies are seen blasted into space, and Adama actually says in dialog "people are dead", so more than one should have died. However, this number is occasionally offset by new babies born in the Fleet, which can account for some small discrepancies.
• Zarek notes that he is the representative of the Astral Queen, although in "Colonial Day", he was elected to represent the colony of Sagittaron. Given the nature of the conversation, however, he may have been speaking of his responsibilities in a less-than-official capacity.
• Central characters Starbuck and Sharon Valerii do not appear in this episode.
• Jack Fisk's use of the term "cigar", as opposed to the normal term of fumarello, was a curious find in the episode. Like the mistaken use of "RADAR" instead of DRADIS in a past episode, this is likely a problem involving writers who apparently missed doing their homework on terminology from the series bible and past episodes.
  • As seen in Final Cut, there are occasionally meetings off all the ships in the fleet.

Noteworthy Dialogue

• "You're not gonna shoot."

—The last words of Phelan

Official Statements

• In an interview in issue #197 of TV Zone, James Callis (Dr. Gaius Baltar) said: "Mary and I had a great deal of fun doing a scene where the President tells Baltar in no uncertain terms that she doesn’t like him and wants him to resign. He’s not very happy about that."

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