The McGuffin Review: Battlestar Galactica - Episode 69

Posted by Cory Johnson on 05.16.2008

Seriously, one of the best ever.

Previously on Battlestar Galactica….Roselin admitted during Baltar’s trial that she was taking Chamalla again, because her cancer had returned…Starbuck continued her wayward search for Earth…Cavil attacked the rebel Cylons who wanted to find the final five Cylon models….Leoben found Starbuck, proposed a truce between human and Cylon and told Starbuck that she needed to go see the Hybrid…Leoben claimed that there was a damaged Cylon base ship with the Hybrid…Starbuck was going to follow him….until nearly the entire crew of the Demetrius mutinied and Helo assumed command…as we open Episode 69 “Faith”.

Starbuck swears at Helo for ruining their last chance to find Earth. Athena grabs Starbuck in a sleeper hold and the crew accuses her of being a Cylon. Helo orders the Marines to the bridge so that they can arrest Starbuck. Next they will jump back to Galactica and let the Admiral sort out what to do with Leoben’s offer. As Gaeta is spooling up the FTL for the jump back, Sam shoots him in the leg, screaming that Starbuck is the commander of this ship. The marines arrive and have a brief stand off with Sam, before Helo orders them all to stand down. Starbuck runs to Gaeta and starts treating his nasty wound when Athena lets her go. Gaeta has to be knocked out he is in so much pain. When cooler insane heads prevail, Starbuck orders the Demetrius back to the fleet, saying Helo was right, that she would have placed too many lives at risk. Starbuck, Anders, and Athena are taking Leoben to the base ship. Helo tells Starbuck that they will wait until the last possible moment for them…as we open this episode with 39,675 survivors.

A very bald President Roselin has Tory pack up a boatload of documents for her to review while she is having her cancer treatments. Roselin notes that Tory has really impressed her lately by stepping up. Roselin almost cries, but regains her composure and tells Tory to keep an eye on everything.

Athena confirms her dedication to the mission to Starbuck, and Leoben informs her that the other Eights talk about her all the time (which she completely ignores). Barolay, a scrub who I don’t remember seeing before and is thus marked for death, volunteered for this mission because she wants to be there when Starbuck finds Earth. Helo kisses Athena goodbye.

The Demetrius jumps into what looks like a Cylon graveyard.

Helo checks on Gaeta, who makes him promise not to let Cottle take his leg. Helo can’t make that promise, because he is waiting until the last second for Starbuck, and that does not bode well for Gaeta’s leg.

Parts of the destroyed Cylon fleet are exploding all around the Raptor. Starbuck can hear the music again. Leoben says that the unstuck music resonates in all of us, Kara is one of the few who can hear it. Anders looks beyond confused. A very bug eyed Athena asks nervously for a course, and Starbuck takes the controls. Starbuck sees the comet in her painting, and knows that it is the ship. They do an awesome shot that bleeds seamlessly from the damaged base ship to Starbuck’s painting. Leoben smiles. Starbuck is giddy and laughing a weird laugh, like a little girl, when another Cylon ship breaks up and debris hit’s the Raptor’s windshield.

Starbuck comes to on bard the Cylon base ship. Athena checks over the ship when a hand slides onto her shoulder. She pulls her gun and spins around to face……..all of the other Eights. The spokesperson (spokes model?) Eight tells Athena that she was a role model to them, showing them that they did not have to be slaves to their programming. They say that the Sixes need to be stopped before they get the rest of them killed. They ask Athena to lead them against the Sixes. The Eights make Athena sick, since they will never have anything real if they cut and run every time there is a problem.

Roselin startles in Galactica’s sick bay, and wanders over to another patients bed, where she is listening to radio broadcast of Baltar. The woman freaks out when Roselin attempts to shut off the radio.

Leoben is stopped by a Six (not my precious blonde Six, this is the brunette version) when he tries to take Starbuck to the Hybrid. Apparently Leoben and Six disagree on what to do with Starbuck and what kind of alliance they should pursue. Things nearly come to a head when Six suggests that they kill the humans. Leoben thinks this is the only way and seems to convince Six. Six wants them to put their hands into that fluid based computer interface thing (bear with me here, we haven’t seen this thing since Baltar was on the Cylon ship). Athena takes point on this, and sends Barolay to get parts off their ship. Brunette Six objects to Athena’s plan to take the Hybrid offline and execute jumps from the Raptor, but Starbuck helpfully reminds her that when the other Cylons come back, none of this argument will matter. Anders looks at the computer interface very curiously. Athena orders a blonde Six to get some Cylon parts. Anders is about to put his hands into the computer when Starbuck barks an order at him; he makes a lame excuse to stay and one of the Eights notices his odd behavior.

The blonde Six creeps up on Barolay and tells her that she drowned her back on New Caprica. Six reminds Barolay that she watched her kicking and screaming like she was an insect. Barolay, still trying to work, tells her that she’d gladly do it again. Six cracks her and bashes her head against the ship. Barolay stands up and falls over dead as Anders and Athena arrive. Anders loses his shit at this point, pulling his gun on Six, screaming at her (fracking machine). Starbuck orders him to stop, while Athena holds off the other Cylons with her gun. Anders can’t let this go and Athena asks Starbuck if she can let them just kill one of their team. Starbuck just keeps trying to reason with Anders. The brunette Six asks the blonde why. The blonde Six says that she just couldn’t let it go, she never hurt Barolay and was just working at the water plant. Six says that she tried to scream, and has never forgot that look on her face, as Starbuck slowly reaches for her gun. Brunette Six says that they tried to work through this when she downloaded. Blondie is haunted by Barolay’s expression as she threw her into a septic tank, she still sees it when she tries to sleep. She looks at her sister Six with a traumatized look, asking why-they only tried to help these people. Brunette Six gives her a sympathetic look and tells her that she knows. Blonde Six is glad that it was brunette Six (what?). Brunette Six grabs her head and kisses her, then stands up and pulls Anders fingers, making Anders fire his weapon. Brunette looks at Sam and coldly informs him, “No resurrection ship, you understand, she’s just as dead as your friend.” She walks over to Starbuck and asks her if that was enough justice for her-blood for blood.

The lady with the radio apologizes to Roselin, and gives her a bandana. The two share a black humor moment where they joke about what will happen to their hair.

Starbuck walks towards the Hybrid and Leoben is grinning. The Hybrid babbles about FTL instructions and errors.

The sick woman tells Roselin that she voted for her and shares the dream she had where she saw her dead family members as well as her religious conversion to Baltar’s vision.

The Hybrid continues her stream of consciousness raving. Starbuck leans down to tell her that she does not understand. Leoben tells her to absorb her words. Starbuck paces as Athena arrives with other Eights, saying that they do not have much time to rejoin the Demetrius. Starbuck gives up and tells them to unplug the Hybrid. A Centurions seems to come to life as an Eight reaches for the Hybrid’s cables. The Hybrid begins to scream/sing as the Eight pulls at her cable and the Centurions suddenly shoots her. Starbuck and Athena drop the Centurions. The dead Eight bleeds into the Hybrids bath, turning the water red. The Hybrid keeps screaming/singing. Starbuck leans down and asks what does she want from her? The Hybrid’s hand reaches out of her now-red bathwater, and the Hybrid suddenly looks very human and she stops screaming and smiles at Starbuck as she caresses her face.

The Hybrid: “Thus will it come to pass, A dying leader will know the truth of the Opera house, the missing three will give you five, who have come from the home of the thirteen, you are the harbinger of death, Kara Thrace, you will lead them all to their end. End of line”

Starbuck looks horrified and the Hybrid looks like she wants to say something else, but Athena pulls the plug and takes the Hybrid offline and the whole ship goes dark.
Roselin tells Emily, the other sick lady, that Baltar’s god is the Cylon god. Emily counters with how unreal the gods of Kobol seem, ruling from a mountain, handing out fates and destinies. Roselin tells the story of her mother, who died, helpless but steadfast in her faith, of cancer. Emily has an attack Cottle tells Roselin that all they can do now is make her comfortable.

The wounded Eight tells Athena that she was right and asks Athena to forgive her. She reaches out for Athena, but Athena cannot take her hand. Anders surprisingly steps in and says that he is with the Eight and comforts her until she slips away. He closes her eyes. Leoben starts interpreting the Hybrid’s prophecies to Six, saying that Starbuck will lead them to the end, they will learn the truth of the opera house and the thirteenth. Starbuck looks like she is in shock. Starbuck starts to snap out of it when Six links the thirteenth with the home of the thirteenth tribe of humans. Starbuck, starting to wrap her head around this, saying that the five are the final five Cylon models. At this line Anders suddenly looks very worried. Six: “If they’ve come from the home of the thirteenth tribe, they must know the way back.” Athena remembers that D’Anna has seen the faces of the final five, and Starbuck says that they can recognize them. The rest of the humans and Cylons get up to prepare to jump back, but Anders lingers of the body of the dead Eight for a minute before leaving.

Emily and Roselin are on a boat approaching the shore with all of Emily’s family waiting for her. Roselin watches Emily reunion with a look of hope and sadness. Roselin sees her mother and other family members and tells her that she is not ready yet. She lets go of the ship’s rail and wakes up back in her bed in sick bay to Baltar’s radio show talking about the river between the two realms. Emily is gone and her bed has been stripped.

Helo preps the ship to jump. The Raptor does not arrive as the countdown clock reaches zero, and Helo swears and realizes that he has to go. As he is counting down to jump, the Cylon base ship jumps in, right above the Demetrius. Athena tells Helo that the base ship is ours, and Helo says let’s go home.

Roselin knocks on the Admiral’s door in her bathroom and escorted by Marines, telling the Admiral that she needs to talk to him. The Admiral asks her if she really believes the horse manure that Baltar is shoveling. Roselin says she doesn’t know what is happening. The Admiral laments letting Starbuck follow her vision, Lee turning in his wings, and wonders if he will ever see Helo and Gaeta again. Roselin tells the Admiral that they are going to find Earth-together. The Admiral says that Roselin made him believe that they could find Earth.

Analysis
Fantastic episode this week, possibly the best episode I have seen since the "Boxing Day" episode. The script was tight, and everything flowed perfectly. Everything was tense, full of twists, and the only thing that didn’t work was Helo’s countdown, because you knew that there was no way he was going to leave. All the actors should bow this week, they did a great job of conveying all of the mystery, horror and surprise of the script.

The effects continue to impress, the destroyed Cylon ships were fantastic, and the scene where they cut from space to Starbuck’s painting was just choice.

I really enjoyed all of the characters this week, they finally gave Anders a meaningful role, something he hasn’t had since Starbuck found him on Caprica. He absolutely killed in this episode. I also appreciated the shift away from Tigh, Tory, Baltar, and Chief, who are all great supporting actors, but tend to wear thin.

I have wondered since this final season started if there was any way that they could possibly wrap this series up in any kind of satisfying way. I got very concerned when they decided to pursue the religious aspects that they might get a little too metaphysical for my tastes, but this episode did much to dissolve those fears. I don’t know how they can possibly wrap up all the loose ends to satify the majority of their audience, but I can’t wait to see how they do it.

Things I wonder
So Cylons suffer from post traumatic stress as well?
Why wouldn’t Cavil, the logical one, have confirmed the other Cylons were destroyed? Unless he had a plan??
Did the Demetrius looks like the Winnebago in Spaceballs or Thomas the Train to anyone else?
How pathetic was Roselin’s bald skull cap? The only effect that didn’t work this week.
So why do some of the Cylon models have different hair and clothes?
Wasn’t Adama’s leap of faith a little sudden?
Could Tory be set up to succeed Roselin?
Any bets on how long until Roselin and Baltar meet again?
Does anyone else love scenes that depict what it might be like when you die?
Could the Thirteenth be another Cylon model instead?
Anyone bet that we are not done with the Hybrid yet?
What’s going to happen when Baltar meets Brunette Six again?
How on Earth are they going to unbox D’Anna?
How long can Anders stay incognito?
Is Starbuck the final Cylon, it finally seems plausible now?
How did Baltar survive the nuclear blast in the mini-series and not be a Cylon?
Did that Centurions have his inhibitor removed or was it just responding to the Hybrid?
How great was that Cylon junkyard?
Did anyone expect Barolay to live? Honestly?
Are all the Six models damaged in some way?
Why couldn’t Athena take the other Eight’s hand?
Why is everyone kinda ignoring this whole harbinger of doom thing?
Was anyone else glad to see Helo and Athena together again, even if just for a moment?
Was that Dru in a cameo role?
How much is Gaeta going to bitch when Cottle takes his leg (wasn't this the plot of the North and the South?)?
Did anyone else love Roselin’s line about Baltar following a Cylon god? Adds a whole new dimension to this thing that I know that I didn’t consider.
Someone out there knows this, where did we first learn that the Sixes are named Natalie?
What would have happened if Anders had logged into the Cylon computer?
Does anyone else think that Kara is only going to be the harbinger of death for the Cylons, not the humans?
Did anyone else read that sad little article on MSN about BSG being a perfect show for both sexes with the male and female view on the subject?


Thanks for reading. As always, comments, spelling corrections, emails, and feedback greatly appreciated. This is Cory and I’ll be back next week with “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” Until then, keep watching.

The 411: One fantastic eipsode that left my head spinning. A spectacular job by all involved. They even made me enjoy the Hybrid, which is usually where my “way too sci-fi” meter kicks in. The reveals in this episode had an almost LOST-type quality to them, and that's high praise in my book. They have definitely done a great job of setting the stage for the rest of the final season and this is one of those episodes that leaves you just begging to see more.

Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]