He That Believeth In Me

"He That Believeth In Me" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No.	Season 4, Episode 1 (discuss, thread)
Writer(s)	Bradley Thompson David Weddle
Story by
Director	Michael Rymer
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.	403
Nielsen Rating	1.6
US airdate	4 April 2008
CAN airdate	4 April 2008
UK airdate	15 April 2008
DVD release	6 January 2009
Population	39,698 survivors ( -1,701)
Extended Info	Season 4.0 Premiere
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
Crossroads, Part II (Aired: Razor)	He That Believeth In Me	Six of One
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Official Summary
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Overview

During a seemingly hopeless battle, Kara Thrace appears in a pristine Viper, claiming that she has been to Earth and can lead the fleet there—but the terminal Laura Roslin believes otherwise. Meanwhile, four of the so-called Final Five are forced to tackle the repercussions of their newfound nature, while Gaius Baltar discovers he has a commune of nubile female cultists who believe him to be an agent of the "one true God."

Note: This is part one of a two-part episode. See the episode "Six of One" for the conclusion.

Summary

Teaser

• Lee Adama and Kara Thrace are flying side by side, staring at each other across space. Lee is in a state of disbelief. Thrace rebukes his claim that her Viper exploded. She says that she's found Earth and describes some of its attributes, as the CIC crew listen to the chatter.
• William Adama, who is clearly emotional, demands that the ship be identified. Felix Gaeta does so, replying that the ship's recognition codes match, while Anastasia Dualla tries to raise Lee on the wireless. Karl Agathon notes that the woman's voice sounds like Thrace's. Laura Roslin, recovered from her earlier headache, states that it is likely a Cylon trick. Adama orders that the verification be duplicated; however, Gaeta suddenly reports that more than 200 Cylon raiders are inbound. Adama orders that the Vipers and Raptor pickets engage the Cylons.
• Hearing the order, Thrace tells Lee not to lose her this time. "Not a chance," he replies, as both begin engaging the first wave of raiders. Thrace blows the head off one raider, splattering its blood over her Viper.
• 

  Saul Tigh experiences a waking nightmare in which he believes he shot William Adama.
  Roslin reiterates her belief that Thrace's voice is a "Cylon trick." Gaeta reports that the Vipers have stopped the main Cylon thrust, but the reserves have broken through the line and are headed to the fleet. Adama tells Saul Tigh that he wants everything launched. Tigh hesitates, then experiences a vision in which he pulls out a gun and shoots Adama in his right eye. He awakens out of his waking-state nightmare as Adama continues to bark orders at him. Adama wants everyone who has "ever held a stick" up in the air. Unsure of what exactly happened, Tigh relays the order.
• Galen Tyrol is barking out orders on the hangar deck. Ensigns Diana Seelix and Samuel Anders arrive. En route to their ships, as Seelix goes off, Anders begins to vocally question whether or not he'll turn against "his own" after he launches. Tyrol tells him to "shut the frak up" and follow Tigh's lead: be the man he wants to be. During the pep-talk, Sharon Agathon approaches them, overhearing a snippet of the conversation in which Tyrol tells Anders that he is "Samuel T. Anders." She asks who else would he be and then gives him advice to retain his cool out in the fray. She walks off to her Raptor; Anders is relieved that she didn't ferret him out, and hopes the other Cylons won't be able to, either. Tyrol tells him to not give them the chance to find out and to get to his ship.
• Gaius Baltar and his female admirers, led by a woman named Jeanne, escort Baltar through the ship, heading to a previously-abandoned compartment on the ship. En route, they pass by Charlie Connor, who catches a glimpse of Baltar, even though Baltar is covered in a shawl.
• During the battle, a damaged raider sprawls out of control and crashes into the Pyxis, destroying the ship. Gaeta reports this and Roslin is shocked, saying that they've lost 600 souls. Roslin then inquires how the Cylons were able to find them. Tigh and Tory Foster exchange glances again. Gaeta reports that the basestars have launched 50-plus missiles. Half are headed towards the civilian ships of the fleet; the other half are headed towards Galactica. Adama believes that Galactica can take the beating, but that the civilian ships would be wiped out by such an attack; he orders the Vipers and Raptors to shoot down the missiles headed towards the civilian ships.
• Anders launches and, still fearing that he may have Cylon programming yet to be turned on, begins summarizing his life. Seelix replies that he's jamming up the wireless since he has the transmit button pressed down. Anders releases the button and chastises himself. Cylon warheads begin striking Galactica. Two missiles headed toward the civilian ships strike the Zephyr, damaging her. Seelix manages to destroy a warhead that would have struck Colonial One. However, a raider comes up from behind her in pursuit. Anders gets behind the raider and attempts to destroy it, but his guns have apparently seized. The raider suddenly breaks off its attack on Seelix and flips around to face Anders. Instead of attacking, however, the raider scans Anders, as shown by the motion of its red eye. The iris in Anders's right eye glows red as it is scanned and the raider disengages.
• All the raiders cease their attack and return to their baseships, which spin up their FTL drives, much to the confusion of the Colonials who know that the Cylons had them dead to rights.
• Adama orders that they take advantage of the opportunity they've been presented, ordering the fighters to cover their rear while the fleet begins jump prep. Tigh asks why the Cylons withdrew and Foster replies, "Maybe something's changed," referring to their newfound knowledge of their Cylon natures. Roslin asks what the "change" may be, but Tigh feigns ignorance.

Act 1

• After the Fleet makes its first jump away from the Ionian Nebula, Baltar is led to the women's enclave. Jeanne reassures him that he'll be safe as they approach a compartment previously dedicated to dry stowage. Connor and another male associate have followed the group to the compartment, but do not enter. In the compartment, Baltar enters a commune consisting mostly of young, nubile women and men, almost all Caucasian. They look subserviently downward, unwilling to meet his gaze, until he comes across a shrine decorated as if with Christmas lights. He merely looks around and mutters, "Right," in a state of semi-disbelief.
• Tyrol looks over Thrace's blood-covered, yet otherwise pristine Mark II Viper. As Thrace opens the cockpit, she tells Tyrol to develop her gun camera footage, claiming to have some great shots to show everyone. She asks for her post-flight checklist. Tyrol replies that she has none. Pilots who've landed start to approach Thrace and her Viper. Lee, who has just landed, runs up and hugs her. From the walkway above the hangar bay, Tigh asks Adama if he believes in miracles. Adama replies in the negative. Anders follows Lee's suit, saying that he told everyone that she was too "frakking mean to kill." She notes Anders's flight suit, surprised to learn that Anders has been trained as a Viper pilot. Thrace shouts to Admiral Adama that she found Earth. Adama replies by ordering marines to escort her to sickbay where Doc Cottle will give her a complete examination. Thrace reveals that, from her point of view, she's been off the ship for six hours. Anders replies that it has been over two months since she died, which Lee confirms.
• 

  Baltar "feels" God's presence.
  In the commune, Jeanne tells Baltar that she's going to get her son, Derrick, asking him not to go anywhere on the ship, since it isn't safe for him. Jeanne tells him that Tracey Anne will be with him to give him whatever he needs. Baltar claims that he's praying for Derrick, who is presently in Galactica's sickbay. When he asks about travel arrangements, Jeanne notes that security is too tight to smuggle him off Galactica. Her fellow cultist, Paulla Schaffer, adds that none of the other ships would have him. As they leave, Virtual Six in a red blouse appears to him. She asks why he is glum, given that he faced execution, yet was granted life. He replies that he's doomed to be stuck in a looney bin with a bunch of cultists. Virtual Six assures him that she hasn't brought him this far for nothing, then he begins to ask for a ray of hope for the future. Tracey Anne sees Baltar on his knees, appearing to pray. She finds the way he prays beautiful, not just some hollow ritual. She tells him that when she prays, she feels empty. Prompted by Six, Baltar claims that the gods they worship are false and that there is only one true God, as she begins to caress his face and chest. As he explains how the gods were propagated by the "ruling elite" to suppress their knowledge of "the truth," she unbuttons his shirt. He reveals that "there's only one God" and Tracey Anne exposes her breasts to him. Assured that they are alone and the door is locked, she moves his hands to cup her breasts and asks him if he feels God's presence. "You know what," he replies glibly, "I think I do." Then they copulate in the presence of the shrine.
• In Adama's quarters, Thrace is told that all her tests check out and she appears human. She accuses them of thinking that she's a Cylon. Roslin, who is present with Tory Foster and Lee Adama, presses her to explain how she found Earth. Thrace claims that she followed a heavy raider into the storm, taking some fire, then blacked out. When she came to, she was orbiting Earth, which she was able to identify from the descriptions in the Book of Pythia. Showing the pictures that were developed from her gun camera, she claims that the pictures are of Earth and its moon. Further, she claims to have matched the star configurations with what was seen in the Tomb of Athena. Thrace claims that she doesn't know how she was able to find them at the Ionian Nebula. Roslin continues to press her for information. She replies that she turned the ship to a reciprocal heading and later blacked out. She adds that she remembers a giant gas planet with rings. She also claims to have seen a triple star and a comet. Roslin questions the time discrepancy. Thrace remains adamant that she found Earth, took the pictures, and was able to return to the fleet, but cannot account for the time discrepancy.
• In the hangar bay, Tyrol shows Adama (who is accompanied by Roslin, Foster, Lee, and Tigh) the Viper in which Thrace returned, which he has had cleaned up. He notes that it is pristine, as if it had just come off the "showroom floor." Tyrol confirms that while the tail numbers match the one she flew out on, the ship is not the same one he's been repairing for years. Furthermore, the navigational computer has no entries in it. Roslin tells Adama to put Thrace in the brig. Lee objects, asking about Cottle's test. Tigh grumpily replies that Cottle's test doesn't mean a thing and also that Baltar's Cylon detector is a crock that failed to identify Boomer. Adama ruefully notes that they're back at square one. Any one of them can be a Cylon, and they wouldn't know it until they had a bullet in their heads or led the fleet into an ambush. Roslin notes that something stopped the Cylons from destroying the fleet, and she believes that Thrace is somehow responsible for it. Further, Roslin believes that Thrace was returned to them to pull them off their course. Lee notes that they don't have a course, since they weren't able to stay at the nebula. He posits that Thrace may very well be the "signpost" they've been looking for, but Roslin will have none of it.

Act 2

• Baltar and Tracey Anne, both unclothed, are awakened by the presence of Jeanne and the cultists. Jeanne brings Derrick, who is ill with viral encephalitis and cannot be treated with medicines, and asks Baltar to pray for his recovery. Baltar says that Derrick has to be strong, and they have to be strong for him. Jeanne says that she didn't want Derrick to die in the sickbay. Baltar reiterates his claim that he prays for Derrick. Jeanne claims to know this, but adds that she believes that the "one true God" doesn't want Derrick to live. A wide-eyed, unsettled Baltar cannot answer this contention.
• In Tigh's quarters, the "Final Four" are assembled. Tigh inquires about the "frakking music" and the others reply that they no longer hear it. Tyrol suggests that it may have stopped when they discovered their true natures, but they still don't know for certain what it was. Anders recounts his experience with the Cylon raider scanning him, but they don't know what to make of the Cylons' sudden retreat, or Anders's inability to fire on the raider. Tigh remains adamant that Racetrack was right: Anders had made a "dumb nugget mistake" by leaving the weapon safeties on. They broach the topic of being programmed to sabotage the fleet, like Boomer. Tigh vociferously contends that Boomer did not know who she was; they do, and they silently agree to kill themselves before they do anything against the humans.
• Roslin visits Caprica Six in the brig. Roslin discusses the shared dream they experienced in the Opera House, where Caprica saw more than she did. Roslin asks Caprica to help her with information regarding the Cylons known as the Final Five, since she wants to know if Kara Thrace is one of them. Caprica replies that they are programmed not to think of the Five, but notes that they are close since she can feel them.
• 

  Thrace experiences a headache.
  In the CIC, Thrace is reviewing star charts with Gaeta, who is clearly aggravated. Agathon notices Gaeta's behavior and relieves him. Thrace notes that no one believes her, since everyone seems to think she's a Cylon. In a conversation that begins to get heated, Adama overhears Thrace's reasoning that finding the star systems on their charts won't work. Thrace tells them that she can find the way to Earth by feeling it. She says that the more jumps they make away from their starting point (the Ionian Nebula), the harder it is for her to tell the road to Earth, because they are going the wrong way. Adama dismisses Agathon. Adama reveals that Roslin is adamant that they continue the course laid before them by the Eye of Jupiter. As they execute another FTL jump, Thrace experiences a headache and says they're going the wrong way and that she fears she may lose the feeling completely. She asks for them to go back to the nebula and while Adama would like to believe her, he can't go to Roslin and ask her to dismiss the writings of Pythia and the information derived from the supernova. Adama reveals that he's just "left her ship," noting that it is pristine, and asks her to explain that fact. She cannot, but swears to the gods that she is Kara Thrace and that he can trust her on her intuition. Adama painfully replies that he can't afford to trust her, and she leaves with her marine escort.

Act 3

• 

  The Adamas reconcile, somewhat.
  Lee and William Adama are watching Lee's gun camera footage of Thrace's death near the mandala. The elder Adama asks whether he should believe his heart or his eyes. Lee replies that he shares the same state of mind. Admiral Adama says he wants to believe Thrace, but notes that Roslin's right, and that the Cylons may be counting on Adama's belief. He adds that they'll follow Roslin's lead for the time being. Lee asks if Roslin's still staying in his father's quarters. Adama replies in the positive, noting that this is temporary until they can find quarters where she can wait for the remaining Doloxan treatments. Adama thanks Lee for suiting up during the fight. As an unspoken apology for an earlier heated discussion about Lee's integrity, Adama offers Lee his wings back. However, Lee notes that while he removed those for the wrong reasons, he's had feelers from the government, who have offered him a chance to do more than he ever could do in the cockpit. He feels that Baltar's trial was a "trigger," but he notes that he needs a change. After an uncomfortable, solemn silence, Lee asks what would have happened had Zak been in the cockpit, and it was revealed that he were a Cylon, and always had been. He asks if they would still love him, but Bill Adama does not answer the question.
• At the commune, Baltar watches over Derrick as Jeanne and the others sleep. He then makes a decision to leave, but before he does so, he returns and prays over Derrick. Baltar asks why God should choose to take an innocent life instead of his own, because he's failed so many people and brought so much grief to the human race, yet the boy has done nothing to sin against God. As he prays, the women wake up and stare at him. Jeanne also awakens and begins to cry softly, clearly touched by this display. After Baltar is done, he looks around and walks away.
• Later on, Baltar and Schaffer walk through Galactica's oddly empty corridors, heading towards the officers' head. During the conversation, she says that they were all moved by Baltar's prayer. Baltar ruefully notes that it did no good, as Derrick's sickness has become worse. Schaffer tells Baltar that the prayer helped ensure that God looks after his immortal soul, which Baltar glibly snaps at. Baltar tells Schaffer that they shouldn't look at him for guidance, implying that they are young and easily misguided. Baltar asks what they're doing in the head, in reply to which she snaps out a straight razor which he uses to shave his beard. After he is fully shaven, Charlie Connor enters. He appears very cordial towards Baltar, addressing him as "Mister President"; despite Schaffer's urging, Baltar strikes up a conversation with Connor. Connor reveals that they met at Founders' Day on New Caprica, where Baltar also met Kevin (his son) who told Baltar that he wanted to be president when he grew up. Baltar asks about Kevin. Connor reveals that Kevin died at the hands of the New Caprica Police during the Cylon occupation. Schaffer heads towards the hatch, only to be restrained by an associate of Connor's (possibly Shaunt). As she's being restrained, Connor assaults Baltar and places the razor Baltar used to Baltar's throat. Connor orders Baltar to look at him; Baltar does so, wide-eyed.

Act 4

Charlie Connor attacks Gaius Baltar.

• Connor demands that Baltar scream. He wants to know if anyone would come after him. Meanwhile, Shaunt begins choking Schaffer to death. Baltar is brought to his knees. When Connor starts cutting into his throat, Virtual Six appears and asks if he was sincere in his prayer. He replies to Six that he is sincere, and begs that his life be taken. Connor is flummoxed at this. Schaffer manages to break free from Shaunt and breaks off a handle from a nearby floor washing bucket. She beats Shaunt with it, incapacitating him, then saves Baltar by striking Connor. She continues to beat Connor until Baltar stops her.
• En route to the commune, an exhilarated Schaffer says that she knew God wouldn't abandon Baltar and that she had felt his love course through her, giving her the power to smite his attackers. He retorts that she should employ less smiting next time, unless she wants to be brought up on murder charges.
• Baltar enters the enclave to discover that Derrick has fully recovered from his encephalitis. As the cultists look at him, Six appears with a smirk on her face.

Thrace points a gun at Laura Roslin.

• In the memorial hallway, Thrace notes to Anders that no one has removed her picture from the wall. Anders tells her to cut Adama and everyone some slack, since they are trying to figure out what happened to her. She tells Anders that she figured her experience of finding Earth was a dream. She begins theorizing about the logistics of her return aloud, speculating that the Cylons may have pulled her out of the soup and brainwashed her, or managed to clone her from parts that were extracted from her during her time in the Cylon baby farms. Anders disputes this, saying that if she were a Cylon, she's been one from the beginning. He professes his undying love for her, even if she may be a Cylon. She replies that he's more forgiving than she'd ever be, in that if Anders were a Cylon, she'd kill him. The ship jumps again and Thrace experiences another headache. She insists that the fleet's going the wrong way. She claims that if she goes through one more jump, she'll lose the way. Anders offers her a bunk, but Thrace begins to believe that the only way to stop going the wrong way is to deal with Roslin. She incapacitates Harder, then Anders knocks Allan Nowart's gun aside before he can fire it. Thrace incapacitates Nowart as well. Anders asks what the hell she's doing. She asks where Roslin is, but Anders refuses to answer, so she knocks him out. Thrace takes out the marines guarding Adama's quarters, using a stun grenade. Roslin, who is sleeping in Adama's bunk, awakens to find Thrace approaching her. As Roslin stands, Thrace aims a gun at her head.

Notes

General

• This season shows the first major change in the teaser titles since the series began. Instead of the "And They Have a Plan" text, the new titles show "Twelve Cylon models. Seven are known. Four live in secret. One will be revealed."
• The gun Saul Tigh uses in his "nightmare" against William Adama is the same weapon that Sharon "Boomer" Valerii shot Adama with in "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II".
• The FTL jump at the end of the episode is an abbreviated version of the vertigo zoom effect, which has not been seen since the miniseries.
• The title is a reference to John 11:25-26, which says:

  Jesus said unto her, "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" (King James Bible)

• In Baltar's conversation with Tracey Anne, he reveals the name of one more of the gods, Poseidon, a god in the Greek pantheon.

Characters

• While Anders played for a professional Caprican pyramid team, he was (allegedly) born on Picon and enrolled in Noyce Elementary School.
• Like everyone else, Tigh is unaware that the Cylon detector correctly identified Boomer as a Cylon, and that Baltar reprogrammed the detector to give only negative test results ("Flesh and Bone," "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down").

Fleet

• The population of the Fleet, which hasn't been revealed since "The Son Also Rises" (but is assumed to be around 41,398), is 39,698. 600 of those were people who died aboard the Pyxis, the other 1,101 likely died on other ships during the attack. The survivor count also takes into account the return of Kara Thrace.
• The number of people killed, 1,701, is a nod to the registry number of the Enterprise from the Star Trek series. The number is seen again in "The Ties That Bind" on a weapons locker where the "Fantastic Four" meet.
• As revealed in this episode's podcast, the Zephyr is not destroyed during the battle per Ron D. Moore's request.

Production

• The title was first reported as "He That Believath In Me". Writer Bradley Thompson confirmed that this was an unintentional misspelling.
• "He That Believeth In Me" and "Six of One" aired back-to-back as a two-hour TV event in the UK.
• As with Season 3's season opener, the length of this episode's teaser clocks near the 10-minute mark.
• Katee Sackhoff has been re-added to the opening credit roll, since her "stunt" removal in the episodes "The Son Also Rises" and the "Crossroads" two-parter. (Although she was credited in the end credits for "Crossroads, Part II".)

Gaffes

• The stills from Thrace's gun camera footage incorrectly show Galactica as belonging to Battlestar Group 62. Given that Pegasus was in BSG 62, the production staff likely modified and re-used a graphic template from an earlier episode, but the incorrect number slipped past them.
• When Thrace's Viper appears at the end of "Crossroads, Part II," the pilot and callsign stencils below the cockpit are missing, but they are shown at the beginning of this episode and in all subsequent shots.
• Moreover, in promotional photos for this episode, the tail number of Thrace's Viper is 4267NC, the same Viper that Chuckles used and died in during the Battle for the Tylium Asteroid in "The Hand of God". This number was digitally edited in the aired version to match the Viper that was destroyed in "Maelstrom": Viper 8757NC.
  • As Tyrol first inspects Starbuck's Viper, the camera pans down the length of the Viper from nose to tail. The tail number is 4267NC when it comes into view, but quickly changes to 8757NC as the camera moves past the cockpit. When Tyrol is showing it to Roslin, Tory, Adama, Tigh, and Apollo a few scenes later, the tail number remains 8757NC, but reverts to 4267NC later in the scene when Apollo is standing on the ladder.
• Nobody notices that Thrace has much longer hair than when she disappeared, not even Thrace herself, claiming to have been gone for only six hours.

Analysis

Gaius Baltar and his cult

• Baltar's cult is a cult of personality, in which Gaius Baltar is seen by some humans as a messianic, mortal savior, in a parallel to the Cylon Hybrid's designation of Baltar as "the chosen one." Further, no reason for this apparently sudden rise of the "Baltar cult" has yet been provided.
• While Baltar's appearance during season 3 increasingly resembled the classic image of Jesus Christ as bearded and long-haired, his messianic cult has him shave and cut his hair to shed this image. However, Baltar's new willingness to sacrifice himself for others has made him more of a Christ figure in action, even as he becomes less of one in appearance.
• Baltar's cult seems to have amassed a following comprising mostly of women who are Caucasian, well-fit, reasonably well-proportioned, and within the ages of 20 to 40. Further, the cult seems to be disturbingly similar to the "Manson Family" in this regard, although Baltar is more or less placed in the position as cult's spiritual leader.
• The cult is also hedonistic, verging on counter-cultural (note the class-warfare against the fleet's so-called "aristocracy"), cooperative, and religious. Apparently, the room is shared by all, and sexual intercourse with one another is implied as being common, as the cultists do not appear surprised that Baltar and Tracey Anne have engaged in intercourse.

Baltar's Virtual Six

• Baltar's Virtual Six seems to have reached an understanding about his sexual liaisons with other women. Where she once seemed jealous and hurt (as in "Colonial Day," despite professing that he could have sex with whomever he wanted because his heart belonged to her), she now seems much more at ease and even encouraging of his sexual liaison with Tracey Anne.
• Her wardrobe, however, has also undergone a change: She formerly appeared almost exclusively in either a revealing red dress or a swimsuit (during Baltar's visions of the two of them at his now-destroyed home on Caprica); in this episode, she appears exclusively in a professional-looking suit of the same bright-red color as her old dress. Could this signify a change in how she perceives her relationship with Baltar? Although she has obviously harbored romantic feelings for him in the past, it is possible that she now perceives her role in a more professional and detached manner, and is choosing to put aside her own feelings in favor of guiding him down the path that God has laid out for him.

Ionian Nebula

• The fleet-wide power loss—and subsequent power recovery—remains unexplained.
• It may be inferred that the Cylons now know that the Final Five are in the fleet, given their rapid withdrawal during the battle.
• Further, it remains unexplained how the Cylons were able to track the fleet to the nebula. They either were able to determine the fleet's projected course, despite the efforts to use the Hitei Kan as a decoy, or found another way to track the fleet.
• The battle within the nebula demonstrates that Galactica remains combat-ready and able to engage Cylon basestars with all her weapons despite the damage suffered during the Battle of New Caprica. A visual effects shot of the warship following the battle shows one dorsal primary gun battery has been lost, likely during the impact that forced the crew in CIC to brace themselves. The port-side water tank may also be destroyed, as there seems to be a large hole in the port side of the hull and the adjacent "ribs" are bent or destroyed.
• Despite Racetrack's claim in "Torn" that Galactica has more trained pilots than ships as result of the combination of the crews of both battlestars, this episode shows Admiral Adama pressing nuggets into action in order to have as many Vipers flying as possible. This suggests either Racetrack was exaggerating or speaking only about Raptor pilots or that Galactica's Viper complement is now very large after also taking in Pegasus's existing and newly-constructed Vipers.
  • Tigh noted in "A Day in the Life" that Tyrol's crew had completed repairs on all ships, which could account for the surplus.
• The battle marks the first overt Cylon attack on the civilian fleet since before the settling of New Caprica, when the Cylons indicated they no longer wished to wipe out the Colonials.

Kara Thrace

• As to be expected, Kara Thrace's return is clouded in suspicion. Given the time discrepancy (six hours from her perspective; more than two months from the Fleet's), she may have experienced a form gravitational time dilation. The cause may be related to her proximity to the mandala phenomenon in "Maelstrom" or to whatever transported her to and thence to the Ionian Nebula.
• The "missing time" phenomenon and the lack of navigation data in the Viper's computer are similar to abduction experiences that have been reported. Coincidentally, these experiences allege paralysis and "blinding light." Kara Thrace experienced the blinding light phenomenon in "Maelstrom" before her death, and her lack of control in pulling up her Viper from the hard deck does suggest a form of paralysis, or even distraction, whereby her mind was occupied and thus ignored the warnings from Lee Adama and others.
• Her apparently strange trip through time and space may suggest a possible wormhole or spatial anomaly. If so, the inability of Adama, Roslin, and others to seriously consider this possibility again highlights the naturalistic science fiction aspect of the series—though the absence of Dr. Baltar's scientific expertise may also be a factor. Wormholes would be a phenomenon known to the Colonials, as Adama mentions them in "Sacrifice."
• Thrace has feelings of theophany before her death in "Maelstrom." Furthermore, these feelings have somehow influenced her and manifested in extra-sensory abilities that lead her to a Jeanne d'Arc-ian crusade, believing that she can lead the fleet to Earth.
• Thrace's headaches are likely similar in nature to Laura Roslin's headache in "Crossroads, Part II" after the fleet arrives at the Ionian Nebula. After a jump is executed, Thrace experiences these headaches as well; however, the headaches lead her to believe that they are going further and further away from Earth.

Thrace's claims

Gun camera footage of Earth

• When speaking of her claim about Earth, Thrace mentions the moon being "yellow," matching the description of Pythia. Earth's moon, when viewed from space, is a dull, pale, yellowish brown. Her photo, taken from above the atmosphere, shows a slightly yellowish moon over a grayish planet with white flecks. However, the photographs are very desaturated—to the point of being black and white—and very likely don't represent the true colors.
• While initially believed that Thrace's "giant gas planet with rings" was any of the four Jovian planets (Jupiter or Saturn, notably), this is later disproved.

The Final Five

• Given their animal-like nature, the biological Cylon raiders are able to identify members of the Final Five, as Samuel Anders experiences during the Battle of the Ionian Nebula.
• Sharon Agathon and Caprica Six are incapable of identifying the Final Five models, even after they've been "activated," to use the term loosely.
• The episode does not delve too deeply into Tory Foster or Galen Tyrol's reactions to their newfound natures; however, this will certainly be explored in future episodes. The episode centers on Saul Tigh, who has become the de facto leader of the "Final Four," and Samuel Anders.
• Saul Tigh begins to have nightmares in his waking state. He envisions pulling out a gun and killing Adama, harkening back to Sharon "Boomer" Valerii's assassination attempt in "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II". In his nightmare, he shoots Adama in the right eye, the same eye Tigh lost during his torture on New Caprica.

Samuel Anders

Anders's eye responding to a raider's scan.

• During the battle, Anders maneuvers behind a Cylon raider on Seelix's six, but fails to fire his guns. The Cylon raider seems to sense something different about the pursuing Viper and turns around to face it. The raider's forward lid lowers to reveal its scanning red eye, reminiscent of when raiders accessed the backdoor in Baltar's command navigation program in the miniseries. Its eye looks straight ahead at Anders, and after a moment, Anders's right iris faintly flashes red in response to the raider's IFF transponder. The raider then raises its lid and breaks off, broadcasting its discovery to the rest of the attacking Cylon fleet, which disengages and retreats.
• There is no indication that Anders's inability to fire on the Cylon raider is because of any technical problem with the Viper. His safeties remain engaged during the battle; later, Margaret Edmondson and Tigh chalk this up to a "dumb nugget mistake" while Anders suspects it is subconscious Cylon programming.

Comparisons to the Original Series

• The episode shares many concepts with the Original Series, particularly the mythology laid down in the original series's two-parter "War of the Gods". In that episode, it was revealed that there are greater forces at work in the universe: Count Iblis, who is insinuated to have started the Thousand Yahren War that resulted in the Colonies' destruction, and the "forces of good," the Beings of Light whom Adama describes as being "guardians of the universe."
  • Essentially, in "War of the Gods, Part II," Apollo is killed by a bolt that Iblis meant for Sheba. After the encounter, Iblis is captured by the Beings of Light, as are Starbuck and Sheba, who leave the red planet with Apollo's cadaver in their shuttle. Much like Kara Thrace, Apollo comes back from the dead. While Thrace's resurrection has not yet been explained—this being one of the mysteries that drives the current season—Apollo is restored by the Beings of Light.
  • Further, like Thrace, the three warriors of the original series experience lost time, memory loss, and feelings of theophany. Additionally, they are given the coordinates to Earth, which are buried in their subconscious, only to be awakened by a suggestion Adama makes to them. On the other hand, Kara Thrace is given (allegedly) a feeling of extra-sensory perception, being able to "feel" her way to Earth.
• It should also be noted that the Beings of Light in the original series are capable of moving ships to different locations. In "Experiment in Terra," this is done to Apollo's ship as they move him well ahead of a patrol from Galactica. Blackouts and memory loss (such as those apparently exhibited by Thrace) were also demonstrated in the abduction and subsequent encounters with the Beings of Light.
• A potential abduction of Starbuck could relate to the Ship of Lights from the original series. Their advanced human occupants had evolved to a state where they appeared to be gods to the Colonials. Likewise, Count Iblis was their satanic counterpart who tries to seduce the Colonial fleet into submission; however, he couldn't triumph over the benevolent beings of "light," in much the same way as Lucifer cannot triumph over God in Christian traditions. To extrapolate the analogy further, the Final Five may be members of a benevolent, evolved line of humans who are watching over the fleet, whereas the Significant Seven represent Count Iblis and the Devil.

Questions

Unanswered Questions

• Did Samuel Anders make a "dumb nugget mistake" as Margaret Edmondson and Saul Tigh contend, or was it some form of programing that asserted itself?
• Where did Thrace get her pristine Viper?
• Why is the Viper's camera footage viable, yet nothing is found in the navigational records?
• Was Tigh or Tyrol ever tested by Baltar's Cylon detector before the apparent failure of Boomer's test made the Colonials decide it was useless?
• Would the test identify a Final Five Cylon? Would there be a difference before and after "activation"?
• How did the Cylon fleet locate the Colonial fleet in the Ionian Nebula?
• If Anders was supposedly born on Picon, why was he playing for the Caprica Buccaneers instead of the Picon Panthers?
• Were any other ships in the fleet destroyed or damaged in battle?
• Could the gun camera footage from Anders's Viper be used to expose him?

Answered Questions

• Does Charlie Connor survive the massive beating he experiences at the hands of Paulla Schaffer? (Answer)
• Is Kara Thrace the final Cylon? (Answer)
• Are Thrace's claims about being to Earth true? (Answer #1, #2)
• Why have the Significant Seven Cylons been programmed not to think of the Final Five? (Answer)
• Can the Significant Seven identify the Final Five once they are able to bypass this imperative? (Possible answer)

Official Statements

• Information from Ron Moore's podcast:
  • A scene was cut where either Anders himself or another crew member cuts the cast off his leg, thus partially explaining the absence of the leg injury he sustained at the end of Season 3.
  • Moore insisted that the Zephyr (which he just calls "the ring ship") not be destroyed, but only damaged, because he likes it very much.
  • The rooms used by Baltar's cult are referred to as "Baltar's lair" by the writers.
  • Moore says that Thrace's pristine Viper will play an important role later in the season.
  • The writers are aware of Baltar's visual similarity to Jesus. While Moore admits that it helps to drive some things home, he points out that Baltar is not Jesus.

• Aaron Douglas (via Anthrax's Scott Ian) explains an ad-lib that was dropped from one of Chief Tyrol's scenes:

"I had the best adlib ever in the scene where Chief walks onto the hangar deck yelling for the nuggets. It didn't make it into the show. What did make it was something like 'lets go nuggets! your momma's aren't going to save ya today' it is all adlib'd but one take I said, & this is pure gold, 'drop your dicks and grab your sticks!' 5 seconds later Harvey [Frand] (producer) says from video village, 'you can't say dicks on TV'. We had to do it again. Ha."

Noteworthy Dialogue

• Saul Tigh experiences a disturbing daydream:

William Adama: Saul. Saul! What the hell is wrong with you?

Saul Tigh: Nothing, Bill. (Tigh pulls out a gun and aims it at Adama.) I've never felt better in my entire life. (Tigh shoots Adama through his right eye.)

• Galen Tyrol barks out orders:

Galen Tyrol: Get that Showboat bird in the tube. Where the frak are these nuggets? C'mon! Momma's not gonna save ya today! Let's go! You want to fly or not?

• Virtual Six talks to Baltar:

Virtual Six: Yesterday you were facing execution. Today, you're free. Why the long face?

Baltar: Oh, gee, I don't know. From President of the Colonies to this . . . king of fools. Probably best to be hated by everyone than loved by this lot, doomed to live out the rest of my life in this looney bin. I don't know, that might have something to do with my rather savage mood swings.

Virtual Six: Relax Gaius. Do you think I've brought you this far to let it end here?

Baltar: I need encouragement. A ray of hope about the future. An inkling.

Virtual Six: You've got me. I'm here for you.

• Lee Adama asks his father an uncomfortable set of questions:

Lee Adama: Dad, what if Zak had come back to us in that Viper? If my brother had climbed out of that cockpit, would it matter if he were a Cylon? If he always had been? When all's said and done, would that really change how we feel about him?

• Baltar's prayer for Derrick:

Gaius Baltar: Please God, I'm asking you this one last time, don't let this child die. Has he sinned against you? He can't have sinned against you. He's not even had a life yet. How can you take him and let me live . . . after all I've done? Really, if you want someone to suffer, take me. We both know I deserve it. I'm selfish and weak. I have failed so many people. I have killed. I'm not asking for your forgiveness, I'm just asking that you spare the life of this innocent child. Don't take him. Take me. Take me, take me, please.

Guest Stars

• Rekha Sharma as Tory Foster
• Colin Corrigan as Allan Nowart
• Lukas Pummell as Derrick
• Ryan Robbins as Charlie Connor
• Keegan Connor Tracy as Jeanne
• Leah Cairns as Lieutenant Margaret "Racetrack" Edomondson
• Jennifer Halley as Ensign Diana "Hardball" Seelix
• Shaun Omaid as Shaunt
• Leela Savasta as Tracey Anne
• Lara Gilchrist as Paulla Schaffer
• Heather Doerksen as Sergeant Brandy Harder (credited as "Marine #2")

External Link

• Composer Bear McCreary discusses the episode's score: http://www.bearmccreary.com/blog/?p=241#more-241

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 Template:Navigation box end