Six of One

"Six of One" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No.	Season 4, Episode 2 (discuss, thread)
Writer(s)	Michael Angeli
Story by
Director	Anthony Hemingway
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.	404
Nielsen Rating	1.1
US airdate	11 April 2008
CAN airdate	11 April 2008
UK airdate	15 April 2008
DVD release	6 January 2009
Population	39,676 survivors ( -22)
Extended Info	{{{extra}}}
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
He That Believeth In Me	Six of One	The Ties That Bind
Related Information
Official Summary
R&D Skit – View
Podcast Transcript – View
IMDb entry
Listing of props for this episode
Satirical view of this episode on WikiFrakr
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Overview

The Cylons are bitterly divided over how to deal with the Cylon Raiders, who refuse to attack the Colonial Fleet because of the recent detection of the Final Five within the Fleet. Meanwhile, Admiral Adama and crew send Lee Adama off into his new life as a member of the Quorum of Twelve, and Adama has to deal with the possibility that Kara Thrace may very well be right about her knowing how to get to Earth.

Summary

On Galactica

• Colonel Tigh, Captain Agathon and a squad of Marines under Sergeant Mathias respond to Thrace's assault on the guards and her intrusion into Adama's quarters.
• Inside the quarters Kara Thrace recalls how she blindly trusted Roslin to retrieve the Arrow of Apollo from Caprica and find the Tomb of Athena on Kobol. Now she can't understand why Roslin doesn't place the same trust in her, although she is determined to lead humanity to Earth. She gives her handgun to Roslin, telling her to shoot her if she believes that Thrace is a Cylon. Roslin takes the gun and pulls the trigger, but only hits a photograph of her and Adama.
• The shot prompts the Marines to enter and subdue her. Thrace repeats her conviction that she needs to find Earth, but is quickly losing her sense of direction, but Adama orders her to be confined in the brig.
• The "final four" have another clandestine meeting in a storage room. Tigh tells them how Roslin almost shot Thrace for possibly being a Cylon, and urges the others not to draw attention to themselves. Foster is aware that there is still one Cylon missing and when Tyrol brings up Baltar's actions in the Temple of Five, suggesting that he might know something about the final Cylon or them. Noting that Baltar has a weakness for the opposite sex and has had relations with a Cylon, Tigh suggests that Foster get closer to Baltar. Foster is less than enthusiastic.
• Admiral Adama visits Thrace in the brig, being enraged at what she just did, and tells her that she was stupid enough to alienate the one person who may have believed her. Thrace repeats that she has a physical need to return to Earth. When she teases Adama about being Roslin's nurse and not having the guts to hold on, he grabs her and throws her on the floor, then leaves.
• The pilots have a party in the rec room. Racetrack, Hot Dog and the tattooed pilot are playing a game of strip Triad, while Helo fills shot glasses with ambrosia. Narcho urges Lee Adama to hold a speech on account of his retirement. He makes several toasts, each time knocking down one of the shots. When he toasts "absent friends", his father's eyes are drawn to a picture of Thrace.
• In his quarters, William Adama is working on the model ship he wrecked after Thrace's death. He removes the Aurora figurine she gave him, apparently thinking more about her.
• In a civilian mess hall, Gaius Baltar joins Tory Foster on her table. Suddenly Virtual Baltar appears to Baltar himself, who can't believe what is happening. He urges Baltar to feel out Foster, who pretends to be interested in Baltar due to his reversal of fortune and the "miracles" that happen around him. Baltar thinks that God has chosen him to "sing his song", using metaphors that make Foster think of her activation as a Cylon and the music she heard. She leaves slight disturbed, and Baltar wonders if his Virtual Baltar is Six in disguise.
• Roslin and Adama are talking in his quarters. Both are unsure what to make of Thrace or what do with her. Adama wonders if maybe Thrace is telling the truth, which Roslin can't believe hearing from him, after he always derided beliefs in supernatural events. When Adama mentions her shooting at Thrace, she claims that the Doloxan messed with her aim, but Adama believes that it was doubt. Roslin keeps insisting that Thrace can't be trusted, and thinks that Adama is ready to believe Thrace because he can't take any more loss around him and that he is afraid to live alone. Adama retorts that Roslin may be afraid to die alone and meaningless, and leaves angrily. Roslin notices that her hair is beginning to fall out and breaks down crying.
• Lee Adama visits Thrace, telling her that Tom Zarek nominated him for a vacant seat on the Quorum of Twelve and why he wants to take it. They wish each other luck on their future journeys. Adama leaves, but then turns around and they kiss passionately. Later, Adama takes one last look around the pilots' ready room and reflects on his former life.
• Accompanied by Sharon Agathon, Adama enters the hangar deck to leave the ship. To his astonishment, a large part of the crew has assembled to see him off, most in full dress uniform. They salute, then break into applause, and Adama proceeds to embrace his former colleagues. When he gets to his wife, she wishes him goodbye and he tells her that she "got the house." After embracing his father, Adama leaves with Roslin and Foster.
• In the rooms used by Baltar's cult, he and Foster are sleeping together, but Foster's eyes are full of tears. She wonders if maybe she is a Cylon, but Baltar tells her that humans aren't the only ones suffering and that Cylons have feelings too. Contrary to her initial revulsion at the idea of sleeping with him, she kisses Baltar and they continue having sex.
• Karl Agathon and Sergeant Mathias escort Thrace from the brig to the hangar deck, where Admiral Adama is awaiting. Thinking that she will be spaced, she is surprised to be released. Adama gives her the Demetrius and a crew, handpicked by Agathon and Adama, to try to find Earth. Adama is still not sure if it's the right decision, but believes in Roslin and is tired of losing and turning back from things he believes in.

On a basestar

• Natalie and a Number Eight listen to the Hybrid spout cryptic phrases. Mixed in with the Hybrid's usual stream-of-consciousness are phrases such as, "Rise and measure the Temple of the Five", and "They will not harm their own". Meanwhile, a scantily-clad Eight dances in front of a Number One.
• Natalie, a Number Two, and one of the Eights confront One with the belief that the Final Five are in the Colonial fleet, and this is why the Raiders broke off the attack in the Ionian Nebula (He That Believeth in Me). Number One says that the Final Five are anywhere but with the humans and admonishes the others for talking about them and wishing to contact them. He declares that the Raiders will be "reconfigured" (lobotomized) to stop this from happening again.
• The Number Ones, Number Fours, and Number Fives vote in favor of "reconfiguration", while the Number Twos, Number Sixes, and Number Eights vote against it. The apparent stalemate is broken by Sharon Valerii, who votes in favor of the lobotomy. Natalie accuses One of having influenced Valerii, shocked by a Cylon voting against her model, as this has never happened before.
• Fours are seen performing the lobotomy on Raiders.
• Natalie confronts One, two Fours, and two Fives at a table, asking them to change their minds. At their refusal, she calls for Centurions to enter the room. The Centurions do not respond to One's command to leave. Natalie explains that her faction has removed the Centurions' telencephalic inhibitors, giving them the gift of reason. The Centurions do not approve of lobotomizing the Raiders, and shoot the Ones, Fours, and Fives present.

Notes

The picture that Roslin "shoots"

• The episode title is a possible play on the common idiom "Six of one, half a dozen of the other", indicating equivalence. It is also a phrase used frequently in the TV series The Prisoner (and Number Six has been acknowledged by Ronald Moore as having been so named in homage to the lead character of that series).
• There has been a net loss of 22 people since "He That Believeth In Me".
  • Since the aftermath of Paulla Schaffer's overzealous attack on Shaunt in "He That Believeth in Me" remains unknown (Charlie Connor is seen alive in "The Oath"), it is possible that he survived the attack and is not included in the net loss.
• This is the first appearance of Natalie, a Number Six who is the leader of a faction advocating a search for the Final Five. She is not given that name in the episode, but the name was revealed several months prior by actress Tricia Helfer.
• This episode reveals three Cylon model numbers: the Cavils are Number Ones, the Leobens are Number Twos, and the Simons are Number Fours.
• Interestingly enough, all the numbers for the Significant Seven are consecutive, until they reach Number Eight. Thus Number Seven, and Numbers Nine through Twelve are not revealed.
• Raiders are capable of independent thought, unlike Centurions, whose higher brain functions are prevented by an telencephalic inhibitor. Natalie and her supporters remove these from the Centurions after the vote turns against them.
• According to Cavil, there are millions of copies of each Cylon model.
• The anticipated deadlock in Cylon voting since the boxing of the Threes occurs, though such a deadlock can be broken by the (unprecedented) model-defying vote of a single Cylon.
• Baltar's cult and their claims that he healed a child are public knowledge.
• The picture Roslin shoots was taken at the ceremony to award Adama the Medal of Distinction in the episode "Hero".
• "He That Believeth In Me" and "Six of One" aired back-to-back as a two hour TV event in UK.
• Nominated for Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series in the 2008 Emmy Awards.
• When Baltar sees Virtual Baltar for the first time, he exclaims "Oh my giddy aunt!", a phase associated with Doctor Who, in particular the second incarnation of The Doctor.
• A deleted scene (included on the Season 4.0 DVD set) reveals that Boomer and one of the Cavil models are in a romantic relationship, which is why she broke ranks to support him in the vote. In the broadcast episode the only indication of this is the scene in which Boomer is shown dancing or exercising naked in front of Cavil.

Analysis

General

• A visual effects shot of the Fleet allows viewers a first look at large scale repair operations being carried out on a ship. The damaged Space Park's ring is surrounded by Raptors and scaffolding, with repair work clearly in progress. This demonstrates that the Fleet possesses enough equipment and spare parts to keeps the ships running despite the length of time spent on the run. It is likely similar repairs have been frequently carried out on Galactica, allowing the ship to recover somewhat from its major damage in previous engagements.

Characters

• The episode features another case of Adama receiving advice from a woman close to him and later repeating it to another person. Roslin's observations about his tenuous belief in Thrace and his inability to deal with more loss around him apparently hit close to home, as he includes both of these in his explanation for letting Thrace go.
• Lee Adama's line about Dualla "getting the house" implies that their breakup, which she initiated by moving out in "Crossroads, Part I", is now final. Even if they were still married, Adama's new duties as politician would probably prevent them from spending much time together. Nonetheless, their goodbye is very amicable. While Adama tried hard to preserve their relationship during troubled stretches, Dualla entered their marriage fully aware that it probably won't last long, but happy to be in it while it does. Her behavior during the goodbye reflects this, and Adama seems to have come to terms with it as well.

Cylons

• The Cylons set themselves up for a bitter divide such as the one seen in this episode, by boxing the Number Threes (Rapture). The vote of the Threes would have been the natural tiebreaker.
• At the same time, it becomes clear that Cylon society is built on a very tenuous foundation. There are no rules in place on how to deal with severe disagreements among the models. The system has only functioned for so long by fortunate circumstances and because it was never really tested in such a way. While the occupation of New Caprica showed the first cracks in the Cylons' unity, including another individual dissenting from her model line, the seven models were still able to maintain consensus until this episode.
• Although at first Foster is repulsed at Tigh's suggestion that she flirt with Baltar, or even sleep with him, to find out what he knows about the Cylons, that soon changes to a certain extent. She is clearly captivated by Baltar talking about music and the implications his words have her being a Cylon, even though Baltar very likely doesn't mean them that way. Despite leaving slightly confused, she later sleeps with him. Her tears may in part come from her initial revulsion, but when Baltar talks about how he doesn't believe that she is a Cylon and that Cylons have feelings too, Foster kisses him and they continue to make love. While it is unlikely that she will become one of Baltar's religious followers, she is still charmed by him.
• It is explicitly stated for the first time that the humanoid Cylon models are not aware of their precise origins and the circumstances surrounding their creation, as had previously been implied by Number Three in "Rapture". During the first discussion about lobotomizing the Raiders, Natalie says that finding the Final Five will help them to discover their "origins and place in the universe". Cavil points out that the "original programmers" clearly thought it best for the Significant Seven to be kept separate from and ignorant of the Five, but it is not explained who these original programmers were, nor why the other humanoid Cylons were programmed not to think about the Final Five. The Cavil model claims that violating this programming could potentially have disastrous consequences. Cavil's true reasons for not wanting the other Cylons to learn of the Final Five's identities are later revealed in the episode "No Exit".
• Cavil's callous assertion that the Raiders are "tools not pets" is the exact opposite of what Boomer cryptically told Tyrol in the episode "Six Degrees of Separation". Ironically, it is Boomer who votes in favor of having the Raiders lobotomized in this episode.

Questions

• Is the Virtual Baltar that Gaius Baltar sees the same as Caprica-Six's Virtual Baltar? (Possible Answer)
• Now that the telencephalic inhibitors have been removed from the Centurions, and they've attacked three of the Significant Seven, will they turn on the rest of their Cylon masters? (Possible answer, Answer)
• Will Kara Thrace truly lead the Demetrius to Earth? (Answer)
• Other than Karl Agathon, who else will be accompanying Thrace on Demetrius? (Answer)
• What will occur when Number One, as well as the two Fours and Fives, resurrect? (Answer)
• Do the Ones truly believe that the Final Five are not with the human fleet, as Cavil claims? (Answer) Is this what the Fours and Fives believe?
• Which of the remaining Cylon model numbers belong to which members of the Final Five? (Answer #1, #2)
• Why does the Cylon fleet have Ones, Twos, Threes, Fours, Fives, Sixes and Eights, but no Sevens? (Answer)
• Did the awakened four gain any new knowledge?
• Why were the Centurions designed to have higher brain functions, only to be suppressed with telencephalic inhibitors? Why weren't these models designed without higher brain functions from the start?
• How many Centurions had their telencephalic inhibitors removed? Was it done only to the Centurions on this particular basestar? Or did it happen on a wider scale?
• Why does the generally skeptical Cavil advocate blind obedience to the intentions of the mysterious "original programmers" and passonately oppose the search for the Final Five? (Answer)
• Did Boomer only side with the Ones, Fours and Fives due to her relationship with Cavil, or was there some other motivation. (Answer)

Official Statements

• From the New York Comic Con panel in 2008 hosted by Marc Bernardin:

Marc Bernardin: Did the writers create an elaborate backstory for Tory [Foster], or did you get to fill in the blanks? Like, does she always cry during sex, or only with Gaius Baltar?

Rekha Sharma: They did not create a backstory for Tory besides her job. I spoke to Ron Moore at a party. He said he would love to know what my thoughts were. I got to be part of a collaborative experience of creating my character's backstory so that's really fun and really exciting.

Michael Trucco: Who did the crying during sex part?

Sharma: [Writer] Michael Angeli is responsible for that. Apparently there is some person he knew through someone... this is a true story apparently. So he wanted me to carry that torch.

Trucco: You didn't cry when you were with Anders?

Sharma: Hell no...

Noteworthy Dialogue

• Number One about the Hybrid:

"The Hybrid is always telling us something. They're supposed to maintain operations on each ship. Not vomit metaphysics."

• Saul Tigh summarizes Gaius Baltar's accomplishments:

"Well, he is accomplished at two things: lying in a cell and lying in a woman. He'd poke a skinjob. He racked up a Six, that's a given."

• Lee Adama holding a "speech" during his retirement party while knocking down ambrosia shots with each sentence:

"To Galactica! To the men and women of Galactica! To the Admiral. Who commands the men and women of Galactica! To our sweethearts, husbands and wives. (more quiet) To absent friends."

• Gaius Baltar to Tory Foster:

Baltar: It seems that God has chosen me to, uh, sing his song.

Foster: A song?

Baltar: Music? Did you say music?

Foster: No.

Baltar: Yeah, you know, it's funny. It's a lot like that. It's like the distant chaos of an orchestra tuning up, and then somebody waves a magic wand. And all of those notes start to slide into place. A grotesque, screeching cacophony becomes a single melody.

• Laura Roslin and William Adama talking about Kara Thrace, miracles and loss:

Roslin: You want to talk about miracles? On the very same day that a very pale doctor informed me that I had terminal cancer, most of humanity was annihilated and I survived, and by some mathematical absurdity I became president, and then my cancer disappeared long enough for us to find a way to Earth. You can call it whatever you want. And now, I'm dying.

Adama: Don't talk that way.

Roslin: Bill, you gotta face this. My life is coming to an end soon enough and I'm not going to apologize to you for not trusting her. And I'm not...I'm not gonna trust her with the fate of this fleet. You are so buckled up inside. You can't take any more loss. Your son's leaving, this, me, I know it.

Adama: No one's going anywhere.

Roslin: (laughs) Okay. Here's the truth. This is what's going on. You want to believe Kara. You would rather be wrong about her and face your own demise than risk losing her again.

Adama: You can stay in the room, but...get out of my head. (stands up and pours himself another drink)

Roslin: You're so afraid to live alone.

Adama: And you're afraid to die that way. You're afraid you may not be the dying leader you thought you were. Or that your death may be as meaningless as everyone else's. (leaves)

Roslin: (Notices that her hair begins to fall out due to the Doloxan treatments and breaks down crying)

• Natalie telling Cavil and the others that she had the Centurion's telencephalic inhibitors removed:

Natalie: The telencephalic inhibitor that restricts higher functions in the Centurions. We had them removed.

Cavil: Say what?!

• Admiral Adama sending Kara Thrace off to find Earth:

Thrace: So you think I'm right?

Adama: Maybe. Maybe not. But I know she is. The president. She's been right all along. I'm tired of losing. I'm tired of turning away from the things I want to believe in, and I believe you when you say, that you'll die before you stop trying. And I won't lose you again.

Guest Stars

• Rekha Sharma as Tory Foster
• Jen Halley as Ensign Diana "Hardball" Seelix
• Sebastian Spence as Lieutenant Noel "Narcho" Allison
• Leah Cairns as Lieutenant Margaret "Racetrack" Edmonson
• Bodie Olmos as Lieutenant Brendan "Hot Dog" Costanza
• Dean Stockwell as Number One
• Callum Keith Rennie as Number Two
• Rick Worthy as Number Four
• Matthew Bennett as Number Five
• Tiffany Lyndall-Knight as Hybrid
• Eileen Pedde as Gunnery Sergeant Erin Mathias
• Colin Corrigan as Marine Allan Nowart
• Leo Li Chiang as Tattooed pilot (uncredited)

External Links

• Composer Bear McCreary discusses the episode's score: http://www.bearmccreary.com/blog/?p=242#more-242

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