May

6

“The Road Less Traveled” Recap

Posted by battlestar

May 6, 2008 |

12 Cylon Models = 7 Known + 4 in Secret + 1 to be Revealed

Previously on BSG: Starbuck takes command of a sewage recycling ship called the Demetrius to look for Earth, but she spends most of her time acting crazy and redecorating her quarters, leaving her crew to doubt her. Well, her crew except for Helo who ends up playing camp counselor. Meanwhile, the Cylons have started a civil war with the Brothers Cavil (with their girlfriend Boomer), Simons, and Dorals against the Sixes, Leobens, and the rest of the Sharons. And on the Galactica, Tory airlocked Cally because Mrs. Tyrol knew her husband, Saul, and the President’s Chief of Staff (or whatever her title is for the job she can’t possibly have time to do because she’s too busy acting weird and sleeping with Baltar) are Cylons. Oh, and Baltar thinks everyone is perfect and has a harem.

We start the seventh episode of the fourth season (in case you’re curious about the counting, Razor is designated as the first two episodes for Season 4) on board the Demetrius. It’s the fifty-eighth day on the search for Earth. Helo walks into Kara’s quarters to find her painting. Already she’s covered most of the walls with various pieces of art in hopes that she’ll remember something concrete to help the crew find their way. Mr. Agathon tells her that they need to talk about meeting up with the fleet, but Kara wants to talk about her pretty pictures. By the way, Katee Sackhoff is amazing in this episode. In this scene she’s pulling off a mix of the ol’ stubborn Starbuck, someone whose mind is clearly off somewhere else, and a four-year-old girl who wants to come off as being proud about her work but is really just desperately seeking approval from those around her. She shows Helo a map of a section of space; he politely tries to tell her that while it has potential, they’ve already searched it twice and found nothing. Kara tells him “Third time’s the charm”; he sighs and relents. Agathon asks her if she been sleeping, and she admits she hasn’t been that much. Thrace goes on to tell us again that her sense of Earth’s location was so strong when she first came back, but she’s losing her way and can’t find the “sound” again. Helo starts to leave to “see the CAP (Combat Air Patrol) off”, but Starbuck tells him to wait because she wants to fly on this round. He find this curious since she hasn’t been in a Viper since the Demetrius set off. But she just repeats, “I’ll think I’ll go with you on this one” with a shrug.

Meanwhile, on the Galactica, a woman (who by the way, if anyone can tell me what she’s been on before, you will be my new best friend because this is driving me nuts) pours out her grief to Baltar about how her family was killed in the initial Cylon attack. Baltar, wearing an unfortunate Hugh Hefner silk bathrobe, goes to hug her (I personally think this should be his wardrobe instead) and tell her–into a microphone because they’re recording the session–that the reason the gods didn’t do anything to protect them that day is because they don’t exist.

The recording of the session (or perhaps it’s playing live on radio) is being heard in the Tyrol quarters where the no-longer-Chief is jumping rope while Nicky sits in the crib. And, by the way, Galen has shaved his head and we were given no reason whatsoever as to why this has happened. Old Man Tyrol gets tired of hearing Baltar and shuts off the radio; Young Son Tyrol starts getting fussy until his father caves and turns Gaius back on again.

We go back to the sewage ship where Mrs. Agathon is challenging Mr. Agathon’s blind following of Kara’s orders. Athena is worried because she thinks Starbuck is taking them on a wild goose chase, and Sharon is concerned about Captain Thrace waiting till the last second to rendezvous with the rest of the Colonial fleet. Just then, Starbuck walks through in her jockey smock and heads out towards where the Vipers are stashed on the hull. The crew is confused by the sight and begins theorizing if she’s “going to do a little finger painting” in the fighter, but Camp Counselor Agathon tells them to stow it for the two days they have left before they return to the fleet.

Out in space, Kara starts to whisper “C’mon… c’mon” over her active comm. Hotdog radios that he didn’t quite hear her orders. Helo tells the other pilot to shut up and stay on Starbuck’s wing like he’s supposed to. An unknown blip pops up on DRADIS; Gaeta orders action stations and tells the crew to spool up the FTL in case they need to get out in a hurry. The incoming ship gets close enough to the CAP that they identify it as a Cylon heavy raider that has taken quite a bit of damage. Helo and Hotdog ask Starbuck for orders, but its Leoben’s voice over the comm asking for a truce that kicks Kara out of her daze.

Opening credits. 39,676 survivors, which means we’ve got a new baby in the fleet since last week.

Gaeta reports to Helo that the heavy raider is docked, severely damaged, and contains only one Leoben. Helo points out that if the skinjob wanted them dead, they would be; his skinjob wife responds that it means Leoben wants something else. Aforementioned male Cylon enters the room in cuffs while Starbuck enters from the opposite side of the bridge. Conoy thanks Thrace for taking him in, saying “it was a miracle”. Kara scoffs at the comment saying she “knew” he was nearby. Redshirt Female (Mathias) tells Helo that the raider doesn’t have any nukes; he tells her to look for tracking devices in case it’s a decoy and a Cylon fleet is waiting to ambush. Meanwhile, Leoben tells Kara that her doubt has left her since her captivity on New Caprica, and that there isn’t much time for her to “begin her journey”. He tells her that her crew doesn’t trust their captain; Starbuck orders him out. While two guys drag Leoben out, he starts telling Kara details about Earth’s appearance. She orders the guards to stop. Leoben shrugs free of the soldiers and tells Starbuck that she needs to go talk to the hybrid controlling his basestar. Helo orders Conoy out, but Thrace tells the guards to take him to her quarters. Yeah, because that’s the place you want to invite the guy who held you hostage for months playing house on New Caprica. And from the look of everyone’s faces, they’re thinking the same thing.

Back with the Colonial fleet, Tory finds Chief staring at the console he thinks Cally used to commit suicide. The President’s aide tells him his wife death “may never make sense” and that she’s heard from his co-workers that he’s been “obsessing over this place”. He says he talked to Cottle who told him that Cally was on two different anti-depressants and the Chief doesn’t understand why she would commit suicide while on the meds. Well, first, she didn’t. And second, if she had, it’s not that hard to go from anti-depressants to suicide, probably even more so if you’re on two different kinds of medication. He continues to say that Cally would’ve left him, but never Nicky. Tory probes his thoughts by asking if he thinks it was murder, but he only says he has to figure out what happened. Tory asks him, “What if she knew [you’re a Cylon]?” Chief doesn’t understand how that’s possible. Tory comes up with some ideas, but basically says it was in god’s plan, and that god has a plan “for all of us”. Chief asks what we’re all thinking: “Why are you here?” She answers that she there’s to support him because she’s “been exactly where you’ve been”. So Tory had a wife that was murdered because she found out that her spouse was a Cylon, too? Don’t remember that in any of the previous episodes. Tory then goes back to talking about how they can change and all until Chief cuts her off with, “You spend way too much time with Baltar.” Oh, Chief, if you only knew the half of it.

Anders’ Viper lands on the Demetrius from his scout mission. He finds out from Helo and Gaeta that they have no clue what’s going on because Starbuck ordered the guards not to come into her quarters before uncuffing Leoben. Sam enters Kara’s quarters to find her and Leoben painting together. As in his hand around her waist and him holding onto her wrist while she works on a comet or shooting star. Well, that’s not awkward or anything. Anders pulls the other Cylon off of his wife and punches him in the jaw. Starbuck screams, “What is wrong with you?” at Sam, but instead the marines get ordered in to take Leoben into custody. Kara orders them to leave him alone, but no one listens to her. Anders helps the guards move Leoben out of the room a little faster and adds, “Get the frak outta here” for good measure. He follows the guards down to storage where Helo orders them to stash Leoben. Helo then grabs Kara by the face to try and get her to focus on what’s going on. She tells them that the Cylons can help them because they understand about Earth, but he doesn’t get why she’s willing to trust Leoben after all that went down on New Caprica.

Down in storage, the marines leave the two skinjobs alone. Leoben opens the conversation with asking if Anders and Kara have worked things out (that, by the way, in response to Ellen’s comment on the review, is why I joked about Leoben being a Kara/Sam ’shipper). Sam kicks him and asks Leoben what he’s here for, and Conoy says he just wants Kara “to understand her destiny”. What that destiny is exactly, we’re still not sure. He then continues to freak Sam out by saying “C-Bucks rule” and commenting on Anders’ pyramid stats and using it as an example for his “We are destined to be more” speech. But for Anders, its hitting to close to his secret identity, so he pulls a gun on Leoben. Model #2 tells Sam that if he’s dead, then so is Kara’s dream and destiny. He then spills the secret that the Cylons have started a civil war. Anders says he hopes they all blow each other up, but Leoben wants a truce between the humans and his side of the Cylon conflict so that they can take Kara to the hybrid. But Anders just takes his crazy eyes away from Leoben and out of the storage section of the ship.

Sam goes and tells Helo, Athena, Gaeta, and Seelix what Leoben told him about the Cylon infighting and wanting a truce. Gaeta is the one who gets to tell Helo that the plan to join forces with the damaged basestar is stupid because a) Leoben is probably lying about everything and b) reason “a” is good enough for this plan to be stupid. Helo says they haven’t gotten any orders yet, and Athena asks him if he trusts Starbuck to be sane enough to make the right decision about things. Karl asks his wife what she expects him to do, and she responds with the idea that if this show was The Office would’ve been the title for this episode: Mutiny on the Poo Barge. Helo tells them to knock off the overthrowing-of-the-captain talk pronto, but Athena continues saying the Cylons will capture the Demetrius and use its nav-data to find the rest of the fleet. So if you were in Helo’s boots, who would you listen to: your crazy friend who spends most of her time painting in her quarters or your wife who actually is, you know, a Cylon and knows how her fellow models think? Helo doesn’t have to answer right then because Starbuck walks in. She heard the end of Sharon’s talk and suggests that the crew not let such a thing happen. Kara then orders the CAP back to the ship and for them to set a course for the basestar because “It’s a chance to find Earth.”

Back on the Galactica, Tory and Baltar are having more sex. The only thing that really happens is Baltar asks Tory for details about how he’s seen by governmental leaders, but I don’t know how she could possibly answer since she seems to be doing everything (and everyone) but her job since the start of this season, so we’ll move on.

Baltar starts another recording session with his harem. Chief is working in a corridor nearby, gets curious, and moves to stand at the back of the crowd of people listening. While Gaius is talking, Saul walks up to Tyrol. The XO makes a crack at Baltar’s following, then tells Galen that they need to chat. Chief tells him, “I don’t have anything to say to you.” Saul doesn’t care and drags him away to somewhere more private. Tigh tells him that he’s been going easy on him because of Cally, but the Chief needs to get over it and move on.  Tyrol’s counterattack is to point out that he knows Saul has been spending quite a bit of time with Caprica Six and to ask him if he’s still the same man like he said he would be at the end of Season 3. Saul: “Anything I’ve done I can live with.” Chief: “Well, that’s the difference between you and me–I can’t.”

Back to the sewage ship, we see Mathias, a.k.a. Redshirt Female, crawling along the heavy raider’s hull inspecting the damage. And wouldn’t you know it, right as she was about to finish her inspection, there’s an explosion due to leaking gas on the Cylon ship and it (with her) goes boom.

On Galactica, Baltar has finished his latest broadcast and the harem is mingling. Baltar comes back out to applause (is this an encore or something?) and spots Chief standing out like a sore thumb among the harem with him being tall, in his green coveralls, his bald head, and being male. Gaius tells him to set aside their past, come down front, and shake his hand if for no other reason than Cally “would have wanted this”. Umm, let’s think about this. Yes, Cally read Baltar’s book and agreed with some of the opinions in it, but I don’t think that’s enough to outweigh the fact that the Chief was a leader of a resistance that at one point and time was willing to sacrifice the lives of a group of people for the chance to assassinate the man who signed a death order with Cally’s name on it. Tyrol says that while Cally may have forgiven him for New Caprica, he hasn’t. Baltar repeats his request with outstretched hand, and Galen replies by wrapping his right hand around Baltar’s neck. The harem collectively gasps and tries to pull the knuckle dragger off of their prophet. Chief begins to leave, but turns and bellows, “You didn’t know her!”

He then bursts into his quarters on the verge of hyperventilating and begins to kick over furniture and throw papers everywhere. He finds a gun, sits on the bed, and with a yell puts it to his head. But is unable to finish the deed. His eyes fall on a picture of Cally holding Nicky and he moves the gun way from his head. And for a second week in a row, Aaron Douglas is phenomenal with his performance.

Starbuck storms into the storage compartment where Leoben is being kept. He mentions the explosion and asks if she’s okay; she answers with a backhand to the face. She demands to know how he set up the explosion while kicking him in the stomach. And we see the good ol’ Starbuck shine through with her guilty rage because she “wasn’t even on the deck. I was too busy believing you.” Conoy says it was an accident, but Kara doesn’t believe him. Leoben asks her to reenact their time on New Caprica by daring her to kill him, only this time he won’t come back to haunt her since they’re out of range of the resurrection ship. Kara backs off and asks him what he’s doing to her. We proceed with round two of Starbuck saying she’s the same person, and Leoben saying she’s changed and ready to take the next step in her journey. Thrace asks him what the meaning is between her time missing, her mother, and her mandala paintings. But Leoben just keeps saying that she has to make peace with her past. He tells her that when he looks at her now, he sees “an angel blazing with the light of god”. Hmmm…. that sounds familiar.

Up on the bridge, the crew is brainstorming about how to explain Mathias’ death to the fleet once they get back, but they’re interrupted when Starbuck (now suddenly wearing dogtags) comes in to confess that’s she’s “never been really good with any of this”. She starts in with a memorial service-esque speech for the fallen crew member, but the others are either too busy glaring at their captain or ignoring her completely to care about what she has to say. She runs out of words during an apology to the officers about what kind of leader she’s been, so Gaeta takes the opportunity to tell her that they’re ready to kick the FTL drives on and head back to the fleet. She tells him, “We’re not going back to the fleet.” Redshirt Male asks her what she’s thinking, and Starbuck says they’re out there to complete a mission and that the basestar can help them somehow. She tells Helo to set course for the enemy’s ship and walks out. Redshirt Male starts freaking out and gets into Helo’s face telling him he’d better do something. Still trying to be camp counselor, Agathon tells him to “walk away”. But then Redshirt Male stupidly decides to make the crack “You would be the one to protect that Cylon thing, right?” Dude, if you should know anything about this series and this character, it is don’t mess with Helo about his wife. Agathon responds to the insult by punching the man in the gut and pistolwhipping him.

On the Galactica, Chief is laying on his bed with the gun on his stomach. In his hand is a photo of him standing with a pregnant Cally on New Caprica. Baltar, against the wishes of his harem, shows up at the door and once again attempts to reconcile things. Gaius stumbles through a speech asking for Chief’s forgiveness while Tyrol lays on the bed just staring at him. Baltar goes on to sit at the desk and give the other man his testimony about how his life has changed. Once finished with that speech, he offers the Chief his sympathies and turns to leave, but is stopped by when Tyrol stretches out his hand, which Gaius takes with gratitude.

Switch back to the Demetrius, where an annoyed Gaeta is calling action stations. Athena again asks her husband if he’s really going to follow Starbuck’s orders this time. He tells her he doesn’t have any other options, but she disagrees. Starbuck walks in and Helo tells her everything is ready for the jump, but asks that she think twice about what they’re doing. She says they have to take advantage of the opportunity, but Gaeta counters that doing so would require them to believe the rumors about what’s going on with the Cylons to be true. Helo cuts in saying they have to be at the rendezvous point or the fleet will assume they’re dead and leave them behind. Kara says that Adama would never do that to her. Any other season I would believe that, but not this one. Especially after she pointed a gun at Roslin. But back to the matter at hand, Starbuck is not willing to hear Helo out, so he does what he has to do being the noble office he is–he refuses to obey her orders. She relieves him of duty, and turns to Gaeta, but he joins Agathon in refusing to follow her commands. And now its Sam’s turn to play camp counselor by saying, “Everyone needs to think about what they’re doing.” Starbuck says the all have and that it’s a mutiny. Helo then relieves her of command.

To be continued.


Comments

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

Speak your mind

*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture.
Anti-Spam Image

<< Post Navigation >>

« « The First Caprican | Meet Joseph Adama » »