The Road Less Traveled

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The Road Less Traveled
"The Road Less Traveled"
An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No. Season 4, Episode 5
Writer(s) Mark Verheiden
Story by
Director Michael Rymer
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No. 407
Nielsen Rating
US airdate USA 2 May 2008
CAN airdate CAN {{{CAN airdate}}}
UK airdate UK
DVD release
Population 39,676 survivors
Additional Info
Episode Chronology
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Escape Velocity The Road Less Traveled Faith
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]


Overview

The prospect of a truce between the remnants of humanity and the Cylons encourages Kara Thrace to trust an old enemy.

Summary

On Galactica

Please note that this is a roughed-in version of the summary. It's a bit facetious, obviously, and possibly inaccurate. Feel free to edit this and the following section mercilessly.
  • Gaius Baltar listens to the whiny laments of Phoebe: she lost her two kids on Picon, as well as her husband, during the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. She is angered by the fact that all this happened and that the Gods did nothing to spite the people who were responsible for the attack: the politicians, the programmers, the corporations... basically anyone and everyone. Baltar, surrounded by his cultist groupies, makes a speech (which is both recorded and broadcast over the wireless) about how the Gods didn't come to their aid not because they didn't want to, but because the Lords of Kobol don't exist.
  • Sometime in the episode, Baltar gets some sugar from Tory Foster.
  • During another one of Baltar's sermons, a shaved-head Galen Tyrol is listening to Baltar's broadcasts. He turns it off. Nicholas Tyrol begins crying, and so he turns on the drivel. The baby stops crying. Good parenting!
  • Tyrol visits the launch tube, where Foster finds him. Tyrol doesn't believe that the shriek would abandon Nicholas, particularly since she was on some serious anti-depressants. Foster tries to convince Tyrol otherwise.
  • Later, Tyrol hears another of Baltar's crappy podcasts and heads down to the commune. There he listens, but he is pulled aside by Colonel Tigh, who scowls and scoffs Tyrol for not getting over Cally's death quickly. Given the one-eyed stare of scowling, Tyrol is told that he needs to get over Cally's death before they are outed as skinjobs. Tyrol retorts that Tigh's been shacking up with Caprica-Six, which places the smack-down that ECW would be in envy of.
  • Baltar calls out Tyrol, saying that he's sorry for his loss. Tyrol goes batshit, saying that Baltar's a scumbag and that, for some reason, Cally liked him and his crappy book. But all Baltar cares about is giving Tyrol a handshake.
  • Baltar tries to gives Tyrol a handshake. Tyrol instead grabs his throat, until the groupies manage to break that manly bond.
  • Tyrol runs back to his quarters and tries to pull a Boomer on himself. He begins cradling his head, possibly feeling the smoothness of it. However, possibly distracted by the stubble on his head, doesn't pull a Boomer and merely lays on his bunk until Baltar, hidden in a shawl or some other piece of blanket-like clothing, comes to his quarters. During this, Baltar makes a speech and Tyrol forgives him.

On the Demetrius

  • On day 58 of their mission, Kara Thrace unexpectedly decides to join the Combat Air Patrol, although this usually is beyond her duty as captain. With Brendan "Hot Dog" Costanza as her wingman, Thrace (in Seelix's Viper) encounters a heavily damaged Heavy Raider that just appeared on their DRADIS. Both are unsure of what course of action to take, until Leoben Conoy hails them over the wireless, offering them a truce between Cylons and humans and a chance for Thrace to fulfill her "journey".
  • After allowing the Heavy Raider to dock, Conoy tells Thrace that the ones he left behind on the baseship need her help, but also that the Hybrid can help them. Although the crew doesn't find any explosives or tracking devices in the Raider, they are suspicious of Conoy.
  • However, Thrace has Conoy escorted to her quarters, where he aims to help her until Samuel Anders sees how close they are physically and assaults Conoy. He fights with him until the Marines drag Conoy away to lock him up in a closet.
  • Anders visits Conoy there to ask him what he wants from Thrace. He tells that Anders that he wants to understand her destiny, which Anders doesn't consider good enough. Conoy replies that it is good enough for Thrace and that Anders might have own an destiny, beyond his relatively inconsequential life as a Pyramid player. He also repeats his offer of a truce and that they can find Earth, the "promised land", together.
  • On the bridge, Sharon Agathon and others express their concern that Thrace cannot be trusted, and that they have to meet up with the Fleet to refuel. Moreover, Admiral Adama made it clear that if the ship didn't return by then, they would be considered lost.
  • Karl Agathon defends Starbuck's authority, but out of concern orders a more thorough for tracking devices and other potential issues. Sergeant Mathias dons a spacesuit and conducts an inspection of the hull, but is blown away and killed after the reactor on the ship goes critical.
  • After her death, Thrace makes a speech to the ship's crew in the mess hall, saying that sometimes people die senseless deaths, but that she is responsible for Mathias's death and has to live with it. She it trying to concede that she may have been a bad and difficult to deal with captain, but can't find the words. Felix Gaeta tries to come to her aid, by telling her that the rendezvous coordinates with the Fleet have been laid in, but Thrace against insists to meet with Conoy's basestar.
  • At this, Eammon Pike becomes openly hostile and riles everyone up against Thrace's order, believing that her course of action will get them killed too. Captain Agathon offers him a chance to walk away, but when Pike continues, he pistol whips him into unconsciousness.
  • Later, on the bridge, she orders the crew to spin up the FTL drives and prepare to jump to the Cylon rebel's basestar. Captain Agathon refuses, which leads her to promote Lieutenant Felix Gaeta to be her new XO, who refuses to carry out the order as well. Agathon then officially relieves Thrace of command, citing the Colonial Military Code.

Notes

  • The title is derived from the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
The common interpretation is that one may be rewarded greatly by choosing a more difficult path than the one used by the crowd. The phrase may also have had a religious meaning for Frost, alluding to Matthew 7,12-14, which mentions a broad gate leading to destruction and a narrow gate leading to salvation. [1]
  • The survivor count increases by one, meaning that at least one child has been born in the Fleet.
  • It has been 58 days since the end of "Six of One", when Kara Thrace is given the command of the Demetrius.
  • Gunnery Sergeant Mathias's first name, Erin, is spoken for the first time on screen.
  • Neither William Adama nor Laura Roslin appear in this episode. In both cases, this is unprecendented.

Analysis

  • Instead of using his demotion as a wakeup call, Tyrol has slipped further into despair and even contemplates to kill himself. That he has completely shaven his head might also be an indicator of his state of mind.
  • Earlier resenting Baltar's presumption of believing what Tyrol's dead wife Cally would want, Tyrol strangles Baltar after ignoring his hand to shake. After Tyrol's suicide effort Baltar visits him in his quarters to apologize and Tyrol accepts Baltar's handshake. In light of Tyrol's resentment, and even hatred, towards Baltar displayed in other episodes, it seems more likely that Tyrol forgives Baltar for offending him in this one instance, but not for all his sins as Baltar may intend.

Questions

  • Does Conoy sense that Anders is a fellow Cylon?
  • How will the situation on the Demetrius be resolved?
  • Will Galen Tyrol begin to associate with Baltar?
  • If yes, will Baltar have a positive influence on Tyrol and help him to overcome his grief or uncertainty about being a Cylon?
  • What have Tigh and Caprica-Six been doing recently?
  • Why does Baltar's broadcast appear to soothe Nicholas Tyrol?

Official Statements

Noteworthy Dialogue

"I know it's hard to...make sense of things sometimes. In my own life, I...in my own life I've joined the fleet as a scientist, as a skeptic, as a...supposedly a man of reason. Only to have fate turn that all on its head. But I understand now that there is a purpose to it. We change. We evolve. Maybe we even learn something along the way. (pauses) I have committed...unconscionable crimes. And I have been offered one last chance at redemption, because I chose to accept my fate and not fight it anymore."

Guest Stars

External Links

References

Battlestar Galactica (Re-imagined) Season 4 (2008-09) Episode List


DVD Movies and Features: Razor | The Plan

Webisodes: Razor Flashbacks | The Face of the Enemy

< Previous Season Episode | He That Believeth In Me | Six of One | The Ties That Bind | Escape Velocity | The Road Less Traveled | Faith | Guess What's Coming to Dinner? | Sine Qua Non | The Hub | Revelations | Sometimes a Great Notion | A Disquiet Follows My Soul | The Oath | Blood on the Scales | No Exit | Deadlock | Someone to Watch Over Me | Islanded in a Stream of Stars | Daybreak, Part I | Daybreak, Part II

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