- D'Anna demands that the four Cylons in the fleet be sent to the basestar. Only Tory goes, while the remaining three are suddenly drawn to Kara's Viper by the music. The route to Earth is finally found.
- Having accomplished its mission, the rebel Cylon Basestar joins the Colonial fleet. D'Anna Biers distrusts their former enemies and makes it quite clear that she will execute President Roslin and all of the other hostages from the Colonial fleet unless the four of the Final 5 in the fleet are allowed to leave and go to the Basestar. Acting President Lee Adama realizes that if he lets the four go to the rebel ship, nothing will prevent D'Anna from simply jumping away and leaving them behind. A tense stand-off ensues with both sides threatening to destroy the other with their nukes. Tory Foster goes to the Basestar on the pretense of taking Roslin her medication. Saul Tigh finally tells the Admiral the truth and soon the other two are known. Starbuck meanwhile notices an anomaly in the navigation system of the pristine Viper she brought back to the ship. She believes it is a signal from Earth.—garykmcd
- Previously on "Battlestar Galactica": Helo and the pilots on the Rebel base ship joined forces with Cylon Raider pilots to destroy the Hub and free D'Anna. Before that happened, one of the Eights downloaded Athena's memories to better relate to Helo, and maybe even fall for him a little. But her feelings were betrayed when Helo followed a secret order from President Laura Roslin, who was also aboard the base ship, to bring D'Anna directly to her for a private interrogation. Roslin's plans didn't quite work, since D'Anna decided to withhold identifying the Final Five until the Rebel base ship hooked up with the fleet again.
Roslin also experienced something akin to a spirit walk between each of the jumps, during which she met up with her dead priestess buddy Elosha. The Holy Woman left Roslin with the message that she needed to put aside being the leader for the limited time she has left, and try to love people instead. Baltar, meanwhile, decided that he had a spirtual connection with the Hybrid, which led him to lecture a Centurion about the One God, which is bound to open Pandora's box later on. But in that moment, the base ship took a hit and Baltar's midriff was shredded by shrapnel. Roslin patched him up, but just as he seemed as if he were going to be fine, Baltar confessed that the destruction of the Twelve Colonies was his fault. Roslin almost allowed him to bleed to death again...until she had second thoughts, and reapplied the bandages. Otherwise, mission accomplished: The base ship jumped back to Adama, who realized he couldn't live without Roslin just as she realized she was in love with him. So what did they do when they finally found each other again, against all odds? Roslin declared her love...and...
They hugged it out.
And, now, the midseason finale, the cap to what seems like a very slow, heavy "Battlestar" season, the episode in which four of the five become known to the rest of the fleet...
"Revelations." (June 13, 2008)
A shot of Galactica opens the night, as Lee Adama reads the Scriptures. Kara walks in to see what he's looking at: It's a picture of the Temple of Aurora. We'll get there, she says. Lee and Kara stroll through misty watercolor memories of childhood, and he relates that when he was a kid, he was afraid to enter his father's study.
Kara thinks for a moment, then recalls something Leoben told her back on New Caprica, when he had her imprisoned in that strange apartment: Children are born to replace their parents. For children to reach their full potential, their parents have to die.
Hmm...not ominous at all.
We get a shot of the base ship completing a jump. Leoben informs Roslin, Helo and Adama that they'll be back with the fleet soon, and Roslin talks about bringing the Final Five to the Cylons. "Four," D'Anna interjects. "There are four in your fleet."
"Who's the fifth?" Roslin asks, but D'Anna is unmoved. She says she wants the Four in the fleet. Adama offers that it would be easier if D'Anna just tells him who they are.
No dice, says D'Anna, fearing that the humans would just kill the Four once their identities are revealed. Roslin denies that they'd do such a thing, reminding D'Anna that the humans need the Final Five.
Leoben agrees. "If we just cooperate..." he begins, but D'Anna stops him.
"We cooperated on New Caprica, brother," she says. "It didn't work out well."
Then she announces her New Rule, Bill Maher style: The humans on the base ship will be hostages until the fleet releases the Four to the Cylons. She signals to the Centurions, and they take aim on Adama, Helo and Roslin. Helo and Adama draw their weapons, but Roslin tells them to stand down.
D'Anna goes on to explain that an Eight has prepared the Raptor so she can go to the fleet, with Adama, to tell them what's what.
Adama initially refuses, but Roslin says, "Bill, go." Then Madam President steps in for an embrace, and to whisper the following sweet nothings into his ear:
"If the Cylons get the Four, they get Earth. You can't let this happen. Even if you have to blow this ship to Hell."
She steps away, and Adama wears a look of concern and horror.
Galactica. Gaeta is back on the command deck, looking pale and weak and minus one leg. He drops something and struggles to get it, but Dualla steps in to help. Tigh asks if he wants to be relieved but Gaeta refuses. "Good to go, sir," he says, sitting back down.
Then, the base ship shows up on Dradis contact. The Raptor flies to Galactica, and once it lands, Adama steps off first, followed by D'Anna. Tory and Tigh are there to greet them; Sam and Tyrol look on from the deck above. It's a Cylon hootenanny, and only five of them know it! That's why Sam hopes that D'Anna won't be able to identify them, but from the meaningful glances in his direction, it's obvious she knows exactly who they are.
The good news, D'Anna says as an opener, is that Roslin and the human crew is alive and well. Adama then relays their demands. D'Anna says that all the Colonial fleet has to do is stay out of their way. Once the hidden models realize there's nothing to fear, and that all the Cylons want is to love and protect them, the Four must be free to join their kind. The Colonials must not interfere with shuttle traffic. Lee grudgingly agrees.
"Do you agree with this, Admiral?" D'Anna says.
"Agreed," Adama replies.
D'Anna goes back to the shuttle to await them on the base ship...but not before Tory steps forward and informs Adama that she needs to go to the base ship, too. To care for Roslin. Because Roslin needs her medication. And, you know, stuff. Tigh, of course, refuses to let her go. Tory insists, saying that her place is by Roslin's side. Lee and Adama agree to let her go. D'Anna wear a curious grin throughout this exchange.
In Adama's quarters, Tigh, Lee, Adama and Kara confer on what to do with this situation. Adama repeats Roslin's command to the room: If the Four come forward, blow the base ship. Tigh, to put it mildly , isn't all that hip to the idea. He points out that half of the military is aboard the Cylon ship. It would mean serious losses.
"Your call, Mr. President," Adama growls, buttoning up his uniform and not looking directly at his son.
The room pauses, then Lee issues his command: Roslin is right, he says. If it comes to it, they'll blow the base ship and everyone on it.
Tigh stands by and looks horrified.
Opening credits ahoy!
Survivor count: 39, 665. War is hell!
In the situation room, Athena briefs the commanding officers. She knows where the prisoners are, but she also knows that D'Anna knows she's in on this plan. The mission seemed screwed from the get go, but Tigh wonders aloud if there are other options.
Yeah, Kara says. The Frakkin' Final Five can come forward. The look on Tigh's face indicates that he'd prefer to try the assault.
The base ship. D'Anna announces Tory. "Brothers and sisters, this is a great day for us. One of our lost siblings has arrived." The Cylons approach Tory, and Leoben embraces her. Tory seems overwhelmed at first, then squeezes out a plasticine smile.
Elsewhere Roslin is bandaging up Baltar, who thanks her again.
"For what?" Roslin asks.
"Essentially, for not murdering me," Baltar replies. "That can't have been an easy decision to make. I love living. I love living, and I wanted to thank you for saving my life."
Roslin balks at this, then tells Baltar he might want to hit the pause button on his gratitude, since she told Adama to blow the ship if the Cylons get the Four.
Before Baltar can wig out, Tory enters the room with a Six. She hands the President her medication, and Roslin asks what she's doing on the base ship.
"I came back with D'Anna," Tory says coolly, "to be with my people."
Suddenly it all makes sense to Baltar, who claims to have known it on a subconscious level. Yeah, yeah, because everything becomes crystal clear while you're doing it.
Tory turns to Roslin and asks if she ever had any idea. Roslin admits that no, she didn't. "You might want ponder what else you're wrong about," Tory offers, turning to leave.
But Roslin stops her. Pointing out that if Tory is one of the revered Final Five, she should use her fame and celebrity to ask the Cylons to let the human hostages go.
"I'm done taking orders from you," Tory says, then switches on out of the room. Baltar, having experienced the dominatrix side of Tory, appears to be very, very afraid.
As we get an exterior shot, we see a person fly out of the base ship airlock. What the....!!! D'Anna hails Galactica, blithely stating that there's been a change of plans: Until the Cylons have the Four, they'll execute a hostage every 15 minutes.
Lee, looking all sorts of ticked off, informs his father that it's time to pull out the can of whupass. Prepare for battle.
Cut to Kara briefing the pilots on strategy...and suddenly, Sam reels as he hears static, then the music from the nebula. On the command deck, Tigh experiences the same auditory hallucination. On the base ship, Tory nearly passes out. The remaining Cylons on Galactica are compelled to meet by Kara's brand spanking new Viper, and they don't know why. Tigh takes a moment to consider his options, then tells Tyrol and Sam to go get Kara, before marching out of the room without saying where he's going.
As it turns out, he's heading to Adama's quarters to confront the Old Man. Adama is miffed at first, wondering why Tigh is visiting him instead of taking post on the command deck.
"I should have told you when I first found out, but I didn't have the guts," Tigh starts, going on to ask Adama if he remembers the nebula. Remember how he complained about hearing music? Tigh says, adding that at first he thought the crazy tunes were in the ship, but then he came to understand it was a signal. And it switched him on.
Adama doesn't seem to comprehend.
"Like Boomer. I'm one of the Five."
"The Five."
"One of the Cylons D'Anna was after."
"Quit frakking with me," Adama bellows. "Colonel, I've known you for 30 years." Then Adama points out that when they first met, Tigh had hair. He's never heard of a Cylon aging. Tigh counters that they had never heard of skin jobs before the war, either, but there they are. He's just another kind of Cylon the humans didn't know about.
Then Adama suggests that when Tigh was imprisoned on New Caprica, the Cylons must have put an implant in his head. But Tigh dismisses that theory straight away, putting his hands on Adama's shoulders.
"It is not a delusion. It is not a chip in my head. I am a Cylon. I fooled you for months now. I didn't want to, but I did."
"Get your hands off of me," Adama huffs. But Tigh continues, "If I had the guts to airlock myself when I first found out, we wouldn't be in this mess."
But, he goes on to say, that's their ticket out! D'Anna won't continue to execute prisoners if Adama threatens to toss one of the Final Five out the airlock!
Hmm...he's depressed and suicidal anyway...by golly, this just might work!
After a commercial, we see Tigh being hauled off by guards and Adama experiencing a manly man version of the dark night of soul, howling at the walls, screaming, swigging bourbon and punching mirrors. Lee comes in and drags him into a corner as Adama weeps. His best friend! Waaah!
Lee holds Adama and tries to let him know that nobody could have suspected Tigh, not with his record. Adama wails about the people he sent to die, and for what?
For Earth, Lee replies. Adama isn't comforted. "There is no Earth!" he bawls. "It's a joke!"
Lee tries to get his dad to pull it together, but Adama's a mess. He insists he can't kill his best friend. "All right," Lee tells him, "I'll take care of it." He kisses his father on the forehead.
The airlock: Tigh stands, flanked by a pair of guards, as Lee strides up to him purposefully and punches him in the face. Tigh's one good eye widens with pain.
"Motherfrakker," Lee spits, then demands, "Who are the others?"
"Where's the Old Man?" Tigh asks.
"Right where you put him," Lee tells him, his voice steeped in hatred.
Then Dualla breaks in. D'Anna's on the line.
D'Anna, sounding as content as a pig in creamy mud, coos that Lee is running out of time. Lee tells D'Anna that he sees her mad executioning ways, and offers to raise her by blowing one of the Final Five, Saul Tigh, out of the airlock if she doesn't stand down.
D'Anna's face falls, but then she moves on to Plan B. Lee again asks Tigh for the identities of the other Cylons...
...and we cut to Sam, Tyrol and Kara standing around the pristine Viper. She insists that there's nothing unusual about the Viper, but Sam tells her to check it over again, because something has changed. Suddenly guards dash into the room and tell Sam and Tyrol to put their hands on their heads. Kara's confused until one of the guards explains that they're the other two Cylons. Kara looks at Sam, not believing what she's hearing, but at Tyrol's urging, Sam confirms that yes, it's true.
Starbuck looks like she's choking on a sea urchin.
As the guards lead Sam off, he pleads with his no-doubt-soon-to-be-ex-wife to check the ship again, insisting that something about it is different.
On the base ship, Centurions begin rounding up the human prisoners for a mass execution. Leoben runs in to give Roslin the news, and she asks to be taken to D'Anna. But Baltar interrupts. He demands to go in Roslin's stead, explaining that he was in the chamber on the Algae planet when D'Anna saw the identities of the Five -- and she'll probably listen to him.
Roslin agrees, almost looking shocked at herself as she does so.
Galactica: Tyrol and Sam join Tigh in the airlock. Sam pauses before turning to Tigh: "This is a wild guess but...you told 'em?"
"Should have done it on day one," Tigh gurgles.
Lee calls D'Anna again to trade cards. She threatens to increase the death toll; he counters by saying that Sam Anders and Galen Tyrol have just joined Tigh in the airlock. D'Anna looks nearly defeated, until Tory points out that Lee will fold if pushed too far, so feel free to keep on pushing! Way to be loyal, Tory!
Also, D'Anna remembers that the base ship has a whole mess of nukes. She instructs the Eight in the room to aim them at the fleet. While all of this is hopping, Starbuck gets into the cockpit and stares at the controls, flips a few switches and...nothing. Then she fiddles with what looks like a compass on the nav system...and notices something. She stares at it for a moment, and leaps out of the cockpit, running to Lee!
D'Anna's all ready to fry up some human ham, but then Baltar breaks in, and offers that perhaps God brought D'Anna back for another purpose -- to end this peacefully.
D'Anna, unmoved, says the humans will never forgive the Cylons for what they did to the Twelve Colonies. Proceed, she says.
Dualla informs Lee that the base ship's nukes have gone hot. Lee tells the guards to remove Tyrol and Sam from the airlock, and prepares to send Saul out into space. Saul turns to glare at Lee as the bay doors close. Ominous music, complete with drum beats and a choir chanting in what is probably a dead language, pumps in the background!
Cut to Baltar reasoning with D'Anna: "Brute force did not work for you on New Caprica. It didn't work for you on the Algae Planet. So why is it going to work for you now?"
D'Anna's confident grin sours.
Cut to the airlock. "Gimme the key," Lee says. He takes the key and turns it in the control. The alert beeps.
Starbuck's still running for Lee!
Base ship: "We have weapons lock on their ships," the Eight tells a scowling, slightly conflicted-looking D'Anna.
Airlock: Tigh stands, ready to face his death! The button is green! The drums are speeding up! Lee is lightly caressing the Button of Doom! Tigh, slightly impatient to die, turns to Lee and croaks, "What are you waiting for Apollo? Do it!"
With his permission granted, Lee reaches for the button...and...
"Lee, stop!" Starbuck runs in the room, just in time. "Those three frakking Cylons just gave us Earth!"
Back at the shiny Viper, Lee sits in the cockpit and reads what seems to be a Colonial locator signal. No other wireless in the fleet is picking it up.
Starbuck said that Gaeta's confirmed it: The channel is empty. The Viper is the only ship detecting it.
Lee scoffs at the idea, but Kara won't let it go. Why else would she come back from the Eye with this ship? Why would the Hybrid tell her about it?
"Like it or not, Lee, something's orchestrating this for a purpose."
"A higher power?" he offers with slight sarcasm.
"Call it whatever you want, but it seems to want us to find Earth...with the Cylons."
Galactica calls D'Anna over from the base ship to see the Viper, and she confirms it as well. It's a weak signal, she says, but it's there.
She turns to the Four, now gathered with them in the room. "So you're all in agreement, this is the way to Earth?"
"It's a stretch," Tigh answers, "but it's the best information we've got."
Lee adds that this is why they chose to share the information with the Cylons. They could have taken the coordinates and jumped away, he says, but that would have led to another confrontation, another standoff.
"All this has happened before..." D'Anna whispers. (Quoting, by the way, the Hybrid in the bridge episodes known as Battlestar Galactica: Razor (2007)!)
"...but it doesn't have to happen again," Lee interjects. "Not if we make up our minds to change. Take a different path, right here, right now." He points out that D'Anna was afraid the Colonials would kill the Four, and yet there they are. He's granted them all of them amnesty, making them free to stay or go as they choose.
"So, where do we go from here?" Lee finishes. D'Anna considers, and then agrees to release the crew: "We go to Earth together."
Lee extends his hand to D'Anna, and she takes it.
Later, in Adama's chambers: Clearly the Old Man is not right in the head. The Admiral's all wrapped up in a blanket and looking depressed. Nevertheless, Lee brings him the good news about the coordinates to Earth.
"So, what are your orders, Admiral?" the younger Adama asks with two parts hope and a tablespoon of gingerly. "Are you ready to take us to our new home?"
Adama harumphs. "I dunno." Harumph.
"You don't know what?" Another voice joins the conversation -- it's Roslin, walking into the room. Adama brightens at her voice as she asks again, "What don't you know?"
She continues. "Bill, this is it. This is everything we've been working for. I want to see you pick up that first fistful of Earth. Come on."
He harumphs again, then excuses himself from the table to go to the can. Lee, addressing Roslin as Madam President, says it's good to see her and observes that his may be the shortest Colonial Presidency in history. Roslin replies that he's not off the hook yet -- he handled himself well in a crisis, so it'll be wise to keep him around. Lee looks touched, and thanks her.
Adama emerges again, clothed and buttoning up his blue uniform, and says he's done flapping his lips -- time to find Earth. Lee starts in by relaying his and Kara's plans for a recon, but Adama shuts him down. "Frak it," he says. "This is the end of the line. We got nowhere else to go. If we give the alliance too much time, it'll fall apart again. We've got to roll the hard six. We all go together, as fast as we can."
Yes sir!
As we watch an exterior shot, or as exterior as computer graphics can be, a fake sun shines over them as the fleet gets in formation to jump. On the command deck, Dualla informs Adama that the fleet is in position. Adama turns to Roslin and declares, "Madam President, without you, we wouldn't have made it. Give the order."
Roslin wipes a tear from her eye, and sobs, "It's been a long time coming. Take us to Earth."
We hear the FTL spin up. Dualla counts down...and they jump.
The jump completes. The fleet checks in....and visible constellations are a match. We see the big blue marble at last. The promised land!
Adama makes an announcement. "Three years ago, I promised to lead you to a new home. We've endured a difficult journey. We've all lost. We've all suffered. And the truth is, I questioned whether this day would ever come. But today, our journey is at an end. We have arrived...at Earth." He hangs up the com, and he and Roslin hug it out again.
Then the celebratory howling and dancing begin! Even in the bowels of the ship, where everything sucks! Tyrol sits quietly with Nicky in his lonely quarters. The pilots high five. Helo, Athena and Hera smile and do a family hug. Baltar and his adoring Church With Benefits flock all hold hands, raise them to the skies and then, we can only assume, engage in a massive love-in. Tigh sits staring at his new old best friend, a bottle of booze. Kara stares at a photo of Kat. The choir sings triumphantly and angelically in the presumably dead language, and Adama and son hug.
This would be a cheery, hopeful place to end these shenanigans.
But uh...no, this is "Galactica."
The fleet descends to the planet, and we see Adama picking up that first fistful of Earth...and looking mighty pissed as what looks like a radiation detector clicks its disapproval. Roslin doesn't look too happy either.
"Earth," Roslin says flatly...and the camera pulls back. We see a tangle of charred, crushed structures. Cities lie in ruin. The ground is utterly scorched, and everyone, human and Cylon alike, slams face first into a mass depression. D'Anna might as well have been punched in the face by an elephant. And no amount of nookie could possibly lift Gaius Baltar's spirits.
Yes, Earth looks worse than that beach on Planet of the Apes, so much that one almost expects Tigh to start yelling, "You maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell! Whoever you are!"
So, yeah. Hooray. They made it. Now what?
We'll have to wait for a while, possibly until 2009, to find out.
..........Frak.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content