Epiphanies by Luke Hung

The episode many of us were waiting for, how they were going to twist science to save Roslin, and… were off. Back to the past, again with the flashbacks… can a brother get a linear episode, please? The only upside to the flashbacks are that we are given a concrete day in reference to time the 12 colonies were destroyed - 189 days ago. That was the day Roslin was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer. Given a few more reference points as the episode continues, such as she leaves for the Galactica the next day, subtract how long she was in transit and on the ship, and you get the date. But, lets just say six months to make it easy on us all.
The next scene starts with her soaking her feet in a public fountain, some sort of purification symbolism for you film majors, by the way, Mary McDonnell not bad legs. Enters a nicely dressed teacher’s union representative, we find out later his name is Stands, or something like that, to give us some background plot. Apparently, there is some sort of teacher’s strike going on and President Adar was, at least tacitly, involved with a union buster beating on a different representative. We also get a little flash of a platinum blond haired girl walking with a man, hmmm. No Justice, No Peace.. No Justice, No Peace … oohh, sorry it thought since the episode was doing flashbacks I thought it was okay for me to have one too. 
After the credits you get Kat and Starbuck on a patrol. Starbuck is late, which to me sound like a normal Starbuck thing, but Kat decides to give a little lip. Starbuck shuts that down nicely and Kat responds by asking to fire off some rounds to clear her guns. Freud would have something to say about the proximity of those two events. Kat squeezes off a few rounds and her left cannon blows to kingdom come. Shrapnel clips Starbuck and they both run back to the Galactica before it’s to late. Just as an aside, Kat was the druggie from The Final Cut and the one doing all the screaming for permission to fire in Resurrection Ship part two, so I guess she will be the designated loose cannon for the series.
Back on the Galactica, Starbuck gives the chief (Tyrol) a hard time stating it would “save wear and tear on the ships if (he) would just shoot (them) in the locker room.” Heh, that was funny. Cassie, in her one appearance of the episode, states that there is something wrong with the ammo and together they determine its sabotage. Adama checks in on Roslin in sickbay and Dr. Cottle mentions she refuses to take the morphia. If I were dying they would have to tear the morphine out of my hands. The colors man, the colors.
Roslin does look pretty pale. Which is permission for her to start hallucinating about the past again. She’s arguing with President Adar over how the government should deal with the striking teachers. You know Adar looks a little like the father from Family Ties, Michael Gross. He pulls the “one of the interesting things about being President is that you don’t have to explain yourself to anyone,” line and we give Eicks and Moore a point for continuity. Roslin returns from her pain induced delusion to order Adama to terminate the Cylon-Human fetus. Roslin makes the call based on Cottle’s discovery of some sort of “damn odd” blood. Adama and Baltar both seem a tad reluctant. Wow, I didn’t think I would ever see the day when they would be on the same side. The universe is backwards and I’m spinning, Auntie Em, save me.
Baltar tries to get Adama to disobey Roslin in his weaselly sort of way, and Adama basically calls him pathetic and stalks off. Thank goodness, I was in a strange land, and you were there, and you, and you too, but you weren’t you. In comes Holo-six, she has been giving Baltar the cold shoulder for the past few weeks since he snaked her for the real (sort of) girl. He and she have a running argument through the hallway in front of several crewmembers. She states that he can save “their” child when he becomes President.
Baltar, correctly, states that Adama will never support him when he is President and he will be as powerful as an anointed dogcatcher. Holo-Six explains that he has leverage in the way of a nuke that Adama gave him to make the Cylon detector. I’m not sure how that’s great leverage. I wouldn’t nuke anything that I need to use to stay alive, but we will see. This running argument ends with Baltar choking himself with his tie, much to the confusion of the onlookers. Actually how they did the scene inter-cutting Holo-six and Baltar talking to an imaginary character never ceases to amuse me.
Later, Adama gets to be the heavy and drop the abortion bomb on Helo. He takes this about as well as one can expect. He has a nice barely under control stare down with Adama. Adama dismisses him and he says that murder is easier if you call it a machine; I suspect that this is not over. Cut to Tigh, pissed that the Vipers are all being inspected, he has some heated words with Lee and we find out that Lee is back to being CAG, its nice to be the commanding officer’s son. Its not what you know, its who you know.
Adama assigns Lee to find out who did the sabotage and in an investigation that would put Law and Order to shame locates the conspirator in the very next scene. The saboteur makes a run for it, yelling “we have declared war on the Galactica. It’s the military that refuses to negotiate.” We, is the key term. A peace movement I can understand, sabotage not really so much. These peaceniks don’t make much sense, the Galactica is running, if the Cylons wanted peace they would just let them keep running. It is clear that the Cylons are attempting to exterminate humanity, duh.

Royan Jahee, a negotiator for the “peace movement” comes to the Galactica and quickly gets arrested. Tigh mentions that the shoot people like him. He gets the best solo lines of the script… all mean, bitter, and point blank. I love how he delivers them. Go Tigh, it’s your birthday, we going to party like it’s your birthday, were going to drink Bacardi like its your… well maybe not drink for you, that never turns out well. Back to Royan, what did he expect? Adama almost arrested the press for reporting the news. Did he think he could come to the Galactica, announce himself and get away scott free. Silly terrorist.  Roslin hallucinates some more about the teachers strike and gets another flash of the blonde woman. I had to Tivo slow mo it to see it, but it was there.
Starbuck and Apollo get a clue about the tylium refinery ship, and they go running to save the day. Meanwhile, Helo tells Boomer about the abortion and she get a little perturbed. She backs up and runs full out at the security glass. Cracking it and leaving a blood splatter with her head… ouchies. Security runs in and it takes about five guys to wrap her up. Note to Pegasus, one guard bad, five guards good. Back to Apollo leading a strike team to the tylium ship, just before they dock, a sympathizer begins a speech stating how they are sending a message to the Cylons asking for peace and blows herself and a chunk of the tylium ship up. Umm, still don’t get it, maybe radicals are so outside the norm that it can’t be written logically, but suicide and sabotage of ships you need to survive make little sense.

Commercials, starting with what seems to be an ad for a child product, diapers, a pregnancy test, or something like that, which turns into a Battlestar Galactica promo for the Cylon-Human baby. That was cute I like being surprised. Back from the commercials and Adama is expressing his displeasure over the explosion on the refinery ship. He chokes Jahee and Tigh smiles over his shoulder. Billy gives Baltar the nickel tour of the Colonial One and presents him a letter for Roslin that he is to open when he takes office. During the tour Baltar gets a call that makes him even more jumpy than normal and he flies to Cloud Nine. He enters the terrorist den under the watchful gaze of a tattooed and armed woman. So far all the workers in the organization are women and the mouthpiece is a guy, that’s equal rights for ya. Enter Gina-Six, they don’t know she’s a Cylon and looks a like the girl next door, that is if the girl next door is an ex-Victoria’s Secret lingerie model.
Baltar gets a little grabby, in a stalker kind of way, and Gina gives him a bite for his efforts. Baltar does a significant amount of bleeding, but it all ends up on his hand and none on his face. Its clear Dr. Baltar did not get his degree in psychology, and he probably didn’t even get a bachelors in being sensitive. After all the abuse she’s gone through, a down and dirty with Baltar can’t be on her list of things to do, plus its Baltar… ewww. Without using sex, she tries to get Baltar on board for an insurrection against Adama and, of course, Baltar says no. Huh? No? Baltar does the right thing? I kind of expected him to be standoffish and wait to see how the cards fell, but good for you Baltar. He stares at his blood for a moment and runs off.
Roslin is hallucinating again, she back in the past making out with the President. Everyone is fooling around with everyone; this is a science fiction soap opera. They take a break and Roslin uses this free moment to inform the President that she got the teachers to go back to work for some minor concessions, but Adar is disappointed because it sets a bad precedent. In the next breath, he basically fires her for having a successful negotiation and she isn’t having it. “If you want my job, be prepared to fight.” She seems suddenly tough in her hallucination. That’s great, cause in the real world she ain’t doing so good. Dr. Cottle informs Adama, who informs the crew that its time to pray. Morphia… give me the Morphia.   
Adama, whose crappy jobs don’t end at the Roslin announcement, takes this moment to get Boomer for her non-consensual abortion. He’s kind of in a rush because if he waits too long and Roslin dies, Baltar could flip the script and change the executive order. Boomer takes on a few marines but ultimately loses to a nurse with a syringe of…. morphia. See morphia is good. Adama and the squad of marines gets intercepted by a resistant Helo on the way to sickbay. Helo asks for a raptor and Boomer and he will leave and never come back. Adama isn’t having that, and during the discussion Helo’s hand gets a little too close to his pistol. It’s a Mexican standoff, but not really.
Baltar rushes in, oblivious to the six armed and upset men and says, “Listen to me Daddy.” His maniacal energy actual defuses the situation. He has some bizarre perfect blood theory. He does some techno babble, but Adama isn’t convinced. Baltar quite accurately says Roslin is toast one way or the other so what’s to lose. Baltar goes further to call himself a beacon of hope. I guess deciding you won’t try to murder humanity, for the second time makes you feel pretty good about yourself. Fool me once hot blond girl shame on you, fool me twice I guess I’m not a super genius.
Baltar injects Roslin with a straight hit of Boomer’s fetal blood, that cannot be sanitary and I didn’t see an alcohol swab. She could get an infection. Roslin hallucinates the ending of the teacher’s strike then spasms, dies, and comes back. Wow, can I get a hit of that, might get me off the morphia. Roslin rolls over to see a still pregnant Boomer and wordlessly, instantaneously figures out what happened. You almost see the wheels spinning in her head, “fine, you get to live a little longer.” Then she sees Baltar, the wheels spin in the other direction “you, I’m going to have to kill.” She put together her flashes of blond and Baltar and comes up with a very bad conclusion. Nothing that would stick in court, but like she needs anyone to agree with her. She’s the President.
And as the President, who is now cancer free courtesy of Cylon blood, she visits Jahee in jail. She offers him his freedom and an opportunity to be heard by her in exchange for no more terrorist acts. Or he can stay in jail and she’ll let Adama loose on his ass. Adama actually looks a little scary here, which is relatively easy for Olmos, but made slightly harder because he’s wheeling in Roslin’s wheelchair like he’s Driving Ms. Daisy. Jahee picks the option that comes with the get out of jail free card.
Baltar is smirking in his lab. He’s very proud of himself. I guess I would be too if I saved the President, well maybe not Bush, or Nixon, or Taft, but definitely if I saved Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, or one of the Johnsons. Still the opening of the scene amuses me, because it’s a character that helped another character that is set on destroying him, ala Cain and Starbuck.
Clearly, Baltar is thinking because I’m in such an awesome mood, this would be a good time to read the letter. I know Baltar is egocentric, but he’s aware enough to know that Adama hates him, doesn’t he kind of figure Roslin doesn’t like him much either. Of course, the letter rips Baltar a new one and he gets bitter. Actually its one of those letters that starts off bad but end with a promise of a good future, but like Baltar listens past the selfish part. Holo-Six delivers the news in a gleeful I told you so manner. You know who Holo-Six is? She’s that caustic, back biting girlfriend who tells you how much all your friends are jealous that you are happy with her, that they all hate you, use you, and secretly think that you are a loser. When in reality it’s her that thinks you are a loser and hates you and herself for not being able to separate from you. And when I say you, I mean you not me. I never dated Angela, I mean, my friend never dated Angela, …umm… not my friend .. a person I know, I mean a person I heard of… Stop looking at me… Stop looking at me…. Give me some MORPHIA.
There are a bunch of glamour shots to wrap up the episode. But in the final scene Jahee, returns to Cloud Nine with a suitcase from Baltar. He offers it to Gina-Six stating that only she was supposed to open it. Inside is a shiny metal thing that looks a lot like a giant orange juicer, but instead it’s a thermonuclear device. I guess those radiological sensors that detected a nuke on the Geminon Traveler from a half way across the sector doesn’t work as far as Cloud Nine is from the Galactica, or on the Galactica flight pods even.
Aside from that, I not so sure that the material Adama gave Baltar is innately dangerous. Yes I know, weapons grade uranium is dangerous, but to be a weapon, a nuclear device requires a major explosion to reach critical mass, along with a triggering device. I don’t see why Adama would have given these things to Baltar when he only needed the radioactive material. Although, I guess the radioactive material was enough anyway cause they say, and when I say they, I mean the mythical people who run the internet, that a person with a high school education could put a nuclear device together if given the proper enriched uranium. So my whole argument is moot and the nuclear warhead is just placed there for dramatic purposes.

Overall the episode was a C

Acting: B, McDonnell was inconsistent sometimes great some times just average. Perhaps it was the extremes her character had to go through in the episode, but it was a little off. Olmos was strong and glared a lot, just the way I like him. Pennikett and Park were gloriously angry and conflicted. The secondary characters were average aside from Jahee who just was a weasel.

Plot: C-, You knew it was coming, the sudden scientific twist that lets Roslin live, so that wasn’t so bad. But the peace movement is just stupid and so is Baltar thinking he gains power by given terrorists a nuke. Isn’t he’s too smart to think he can predict what irrational, suicidal people will do? 

Action/Episode Energy: C-, The pacing was nothing special, and after the body draining energy of the prior three episodes maybe that’s what was needed, a rest. But that is not what you ask for when watching a show; lets make this a restful hour.