Faith

"Faith" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No.	Season 4, Episode 6
Writer(s)	Seamus Kevin Fahey
Story by
Director	Michael Nankin
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.	408
Nielsen Rating
US airdate	9 May 2008
CAN airdate	9 May 2008
UK airdate	13 May 2008
DVD release
Population	survivors
Additional Info
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
The Road Less Traveled	Faith	Guess What's Coming to Dinner
Related Information
Official Summary
R&D Skit – View
IMDb entry
Listing of props for this episode
Related Media
			@ BW Media
Promotional Materials
Online Purchasing
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Overview

The cancer-stricken President Laura Roslin and hotheaded pilot Kara Thrace both must make difficult leaps of faith in order to accept an uneasy alliance with the Cylons.

Teaser

• Angry and defiant at Helo's refusal to obey orders to travel to a baseship, Kara Thrace attempts to jump the ship herself when Athena restrains her.
• Samuel Anders intervenes with a sidearm, shooting Felix Gaeta in the leg to stop him from following Helo's order to jump back to the Fleet. Chaos ensues as marines arrive.
• Everyone stands down as Gaeta is attended to, in severe pain from a leg wound.
• Realizing that taking the Demetrius itself to the baseship would be too great a risk, Thrace rescinds her original order, suggesting to fly their only Raptor to the baseship with Athena and Anders as crew, taking Leoben Conoy with them. Helo initially objects but realizes its the best compromise.
• Helo tells her that she has only 15 hours to complete her mission before the Demetrius must jump to rendezvous with the Fleet or be left behind.

Act 1

• Tory Foster is packing things up on Colonial One. Laura Roslin is at her desk, bald and not wearing her wig. She tells Foster to keep things going as she finishes the last two diloxin treatments, where she'll be on Galactica and indisposed during that time. Roslin tries to encourage Foster to watch out for sudden moves by the Quorum.

• On day 58 of their mission, Starbuck's crew prepare the Raptor. Athena promises to work with Thrace as does another pilot, Jean Barolay, who appreciates Starbuck's strong reputation.
• The Raptor jumps and finds a massive graveyard of dead baseships and Raiders floating dead in space. Starbuck is amazed. They are by a large gas giant in a trinary star system, just as her visions suggested.

• On Demetrius, Gaeta is heavily medicated with morpha for the pain. He asks Helo not to have Dr. Cottle amputate his leg, as he realizes that the longer he doesn't get advanced care, the more likely gangrene will set in.

• The Raptor carefully searches for the baseship amidst the exploding ordinance. Starbuck can detect "music" (Leoben confirms this is a rare trait among some Cylons as well) and takes control to fly the Raptor towards the gas giant. She sees the comet she expected, but not in the form; Leoben's stricken baseship is flying past, trailing gas that gives it a comet-like appearance.
• The Raptor cruises past a warhead, which explodes too close to them.

Act 2

• Thrace awakens to find the Raptor safely landed within the baseship interior.
• Athena arrives to find herself surrounded by an army of other Number Eights, who recognize her independence from all things Cylon. They ask her to help mutiny against the oppressive Sixes. Athena rejects them, telling them to find their own individuality and help her or get out of he way.

• In sickbay, amidst Gaius Baltar's voice on wireless discussing his God, Roslin encounters a woman in sickbay, Emily Kowalski, who is gravely ill with cancer as well. When Roslin tries to turn off the wireless and Baltar, the woman becomes very upset and yells for Roslin to leave.

• Thrace's meeting with the surviving leaders of the baseship does not go well. Leoben succeeds in convincing Natalie that they must work together.

• Athena accesses the datastream to determine how to mate the Raptor's jump drive to the baseship. Doing so requires disconnecting the Hybrid. As the group preps, Anders considers touching the data-font but stops himself.
• A Six sees and attacks Jean Barolay in retaliation for killing her on New Caprica, killing Barolay in return.
• Anders pounces the Six and is ready to kill the Cylon when Thrace manages to talk him down.
• The Six that killed Barolay speaks to Natalie, obviously dealing with psychological trauma from the death on New Caprica that she had not been able to shake. After kissing the distraught Six, Natalie grabs Anders's hand and pulls the trigger on his gun, killing the Six permanently as there is no Resurrection Ship nearby, creating a form of justice for Anders.

• Roslin meets again with Emily Kowalski, who gives her a scarf, a present. The two make small talk of what they will do after they get well. She warns Roslin that her sickness will get worse and to be prepared.

Act 3

• Starbuck arrives at the Hybrid, who seems to ignore her, discussing ship functions but repeating one phrase in particular.

• In sickbay, Emily Kowalski tells Roslin why she listens to Baltar. After speaking to Cottle, she tells of a dream where she saw people standing on the opposite side of a river: dead loved ones. She felt a presence, a warm loving presence that calmed her. Roslin questions the dream but Emily notes that the dream is real.

• Starbuck and Natalie continue to listen to the Hybrid's utterances. Leoben instructs Thrace to listen carefully, not to hurry the construct.

• Demetrius has 4 hours left before it must leave. Helo is anxious. Gaeta's condition is worsening.

• Athena is ready to activate the jump augments and disconnect the Hybrid. Irritated at getting nowhere with the Hybrid, Thrace orders the jump.
• When it is unplugged, the Hybrid makes a inhuman scream, which causes a guarding Cylon Centurion (still in sentient mode) to fire in defense, severely wounding an Eight before the group manages to take the Centurion down.

• The Hybrid gives Starbuck a coherent message before it deactivates: The dying leader will discover the truth about the Opera House, the three will be used to find the others of the Five, who come from the home of the Thirteenth Tribe, and that she, Thrace, is the harbinger of death that will take all to their end. Thrace is horrified at the message.

• Kowalski and Roslin continue to discuss the authenticity of the Lords of Kobol and Baltar's God. Roslin becomes upset when she talks of her mother's death from cancer and the striking lack of anything noble or calming at that moment. As Kowalski tries to comfort her, the woman suddenly has a violent seizure of pain. Cottle arrives with medication, but tells Roslin that Kowalski's end is near.

Act 4

• As the group waits, the dying Eight speaks to Athena, who reaches out for her, but hesitates when she wants to touch her hand. Anders goes in to comfort the Cylon as she dies.

• The group deciphers the Hybrid's message. All realize that the final five Cylons came from the Thirteenth Tribe and so must also know the way to Earth. They leave to meet the Demetrius.

• Kowalski's vision of a river comes to pass in a dream Roslin experiences. The two stand on a boat, looking at a shore where human figures begin to appear, smiling and waving at Kowalski. Kowalski disappears to meet them, materializing on the shore. Roslin feels joy, then sees her own mother, smiling and waiting for Roslin to join her. She tells her she is not yet ready, stepping away from the boat's side, as the dream ends.

• Awakening from her dream, Roslin goes to see Kowalski but finds her bed empty. She died some time while she slept. Only Baltar's wireless remains, still switched on.

• Demetrius is prepping to leave as seconds count down but Helo lets the clock run over in hesitation to the crew's astonishment. Just as Helo is about to order the jump, the baseship arrives and broadcasts Colonial identity. After communication is established, Helo enthusiastically begins to prep both ships to leave for the Fleet.

• On Galactica, Roslin meets with William Adama in his quarters. She tells him that something may be truthful in Baltar's words, but Adama is reluctant. A sorrowful Adama talks of Thrace's death and return, his son's resignation from the military, and laments all the crew he sent with Thrace, wondering if he will see them again. But Roslin comforts him. The two smile as Adama tells her that Roslin helped him to believe that they really will find Earth.

Notes

• Nana Visitor, known to genre viewers as Kira Nerys on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, will be playing a cancer patient named Emily who meets Laura Roslin in Galactica's sickbay. Initially annoying Roslin because she listens to wireless broadcasts by Baltar, the two bond and eventually discuss their mortality and faith. All of Visitor's scenes are with Mary McDonnell .

Analysis

• Even though Baltar is preaching for the "one true god", the symbolism of a boat crossing a river to the land of the dead is obviously much a part of the Greek legends involving the River Styx. This would indicate that the Cylon god was likely once one of the Lords of Kobol.
• Emily's description of the Lords of Kobol and their behavior is quite consistent with that of Greek mythology.

Questions

• What would have happened had Anders placed his hand in the data stream?
• Are the Centurions capable of getting an IFF from a skinjob? Could one have exposed Anders if he had gotten too close?

Guest Stars

• Nana Visitor as Emily Kowlski
• Alana Husband as Nurse Shashon
• Leela Savasta as Tracey Anne
• Ryan McDonell as Lieutenant Eammon "Gonzo" Pike

Re-imagined Series definition: the process of using the FTL engines to make an near-instantaneous apparent faster-than-light transport of a ship from one point in space to another

Re-imagined Series definition: Colonial equivalent of radio

Re-imagined Series definition: transponder-based system to positively identify friendly spacecraft (TRS: "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II")