Battlestar Galactica 3×08: Hero

Yes, there are skeletons in Admiral Adama’s closet.

Cast

James Callis as Dr. Gaius Baltar
Edward James Olmos as Admiral Adama
Mary McDonnell as Laura Roslin
Katee Sackhoff as Kara “Starbuck” Thrace
Jamie Bamber as Lee “Apollo” Adama
Michael Hogan as Col. Tigh
Tricia Helfer as Number 6
Grace Park as Sharon “Athena” Agathon/Boomer

Tahmoh Penikett as Helo
Aaron Douglas as Galen Tyrol
Luciana Carro as Louanne “Kat” Katraine
Kandyse McClure as Anastasia “Dee” Dualla
Callum Keith Rennie as Leoben Conoy
Nicki Clyne as Cally Henderson
Alessandro Juliani as Felix Gaeta
Rekha Sharma as Tory Foster
Lucy Lawless as D’Anna Biers
Carl Lumbley as Daniel “Bulldog” Novacek

Synopsis

The skeletons in Admiral Adama’s closet start to make themselves known with the return of Bulldog, a pilot from one of Adama’s former commands who was thought to have died three years ago.

High Points

  • “Do you want to tell me what really happened?”
  • The return of Tigh

Low Points

  • Why did it take Starbuck so long to realise that there was something up with the Cylon raiders? I would have thought she was the kind of pilot who would have noticed that more quickly.

The Scores

Originality: let’s see what we have here. Skeletons in the closet, a main character revealing that he thinks he’s responsible for a great deal of mess, the return of somebody thought to be dead who’s been manipulated into serving the enemy’s purpose, and a crisis leading to the redemption of another main character thought lost. This episode is a pile of well-known story elements, mixed together in a way that doesn’t feel stale, but isn’t exactly fresh either. Four out of six.

Effects: some new effects shots this week thanks to flashbacks. I thought the exterior of the Valkyrie and the stealth ship looked a bit poor though — as if the models hadn’t been textured to the same sort of quality as the majority of the fleet. Five out of six.

Story: it’s a good story. It moves and fits the time it needs to well, flows nicely and doesn’t leave you with any more unanswered questions than is normal and healthy for an ongoing series. By the end, though, it feels like you sort of knew what was going to happen from the start, and it looks like they’re not going to be talking about this again for a while — and this means it’s not a great story. Four out of six.

Acting: we get to spend a lot of time with a new actor this week, and he’s a worthy addition to the cast. I hope we’ll see him again — there’s clearly more to be stirred up with Bulldog, and he’s portrayed well by Lumbley. Everyone else does their usual superb job, but particular credit to Paul Hogan this week I think. Six out of six.

Production: I was particularly pleased with the staging of Bulldog’s emergence from the raider, and his flashbacks to the Cylon cage were effective. Five out of six.

Emotional response: if we care about Adama and Tigh, this episode’s bound to raise a few emotions — and I, at least, do, so it does. Old secrets from characters’ pasts are always fun for this part. Five out of six.

Overall: It’s not impeccable, but it’s very good despite the plot which is more like a build-a-plot construct than something emerging out of the scenario. Five out of six.

Thus the grand total for Hero is… thirty-four out of forty-two. The season continues on track, but I’m sure we’d all like another exceptional episode soon.

39 replies on “Battlestar Galactica 3×08: Hero”

  1. Thoughts
    I hope this episode foreshadows a full return of Tigh. He, in my opinion, is the most interesting character on the show. I also liked Carl Lumbley and hope that we get to see more of him in the future. And lets face it, they can always use more well trained pilots.

    The line you quoted between Roslyn and Adama had to be the best line of the show. It illustrates how far their relationship has come since the beginning of the show. And for a skeleton, this is a mighty big one. Whether acting on orders or not, whether he was the first to do something like this or not, Adama’s actions may have been the catalyst for the Cylon attacks on the colonies. This changes the whole feel of the show. At the start of the series , we see the colonies attempting to maintain the peace agreement when they are attacked with no apparent provocation. Now we see that the military may have been attempting to provoke the Cylons back into a war (the point of the military is to fight wars, right?), only to find out that the Cylons have been building up their military and aren’t afraid to use it. While it can be argued that attempted genocide was an overreaction to the treaty violation, the Cylons are now conceivably not responsible for the return to hostilities, and the humans are the war mongers the Cylons make them out to be.

    Ultimately, I think this episode was much deeper than it’s being given credit for.

    • Re: Thoughts

      I hope this episode foreshadows a full return of Tigh. He, in my opinion, is the most interesting character on the show. I also liked Carl Lumbley and hope that we get to see more of him in the future. And lets face it, they can always use more well trained pilots.

      As long as the eight Cylon is NOT Ron Rifkin… ;-)

      That said, I enjoyed the fact that this episode pretty much involved around Adama, Tigh and Bulldog, three OLD soldiers, who had a lot of experience together.

      The line you quoted between Roslyn and Adama had to be the best line of the show. It illustrates how far their relationship has come since the beginning of the show. And for a skeleton, this is a mighty big one. Whether acting on orders or not, whether he was the first to do something like this or not, Adama’s actions may have been the catalyst for the Cylon attacks on the colonies. This changes the whole feel of the show. At the start of the series , we see the colonies attempting to maintain the peace agreement when they are attacked with no apparent provocation. Now we see that the military may have been attempting to provoke the Cylons back into a war (the point of the military is to fight wars, right?), only to find out that the Cylons have been building up their military and aren’t afraid to use it. While it can be argued that attempted genocide was an overreaction to the treaty violation, the Cylons are now conceivably not responsible for the return to hostilities, and the humans are the war mongers the Cylons make them out to be.

      However, let’s not forget that "three years prior", the Cylons must have already had infiltrated the human colonies, in order to have good intelligence on them, and to infiltrate select individuals (Boomer) into the military…

      • Re: Thoughts

        However, let’s not forget that "three years prior", the Cylons must have already had infiltrated the human colonies, in order to have good intelligence on them, and to infiltrate select individuals (Boomer) into the military…

        Yeah, but espionage is a capital offense, not a reason to go to war.

        The long and short of it is that the humans are just responsible for their predicament as the Cylons.

    • Re: Thoughts

      I hope this episode foreshadows a full return of Tigh. He, in my opinion, is the most interesting character on the show. I also liked Carl Lumbley and hope that we get to see more of him in the future. And lets face it, they can always use more well trained pilots.

      The line you quoted between Roslyn and Adama had to be the best line of the show. It illustrates how far their relationship has come since the beginning of the show. And for a skeleton, this is a mighty big one. Whether acting on orders or not, whether he was the first to do something like this or not, Adama’s actions may have been the catalyst for the Cylon attacks on the colonies. This changes the whole feel of the show. At the start of the series , we see the colonies attempting to maintain the peace agreement when they are attacked with no apparent provocation. Now we see that the military may have been attempting to provoke the Cylons back into a war (the point of the military is to fight wars, right?), only to find out that the Cylons have been building up their military and aren’t afraid to use it. While it can be argued that attempted genocide was an overreaction to the treaty violation, the Cylons are now conceivably not responsible for the return to hostilities, and the humans are the war mongers the Cylons make them out to be.

      Ultimately, I think this episode was much deeper than it’s being given credit for.

      I’m sorry, I completely agree with Roslyn on this one. The war was absolutely NOT Adamas fault. Catching a spy from the other side does not permit you to commit mass geonocide. In fact from the beginning the "Cylons had a Plan". That plan has changed over the years, but I refuse to believe that their plan was. "Hey, they spied on us, lets kill them all!"

      Roslyn is one of my favorite characters on the show. She may be edging in on being THE favorite. She show true leadership and unflinching devotion to her calling of saving the last of the human race. You may not agree with her decision last week, but she showed leadership in taking that decision all on herself and making the hard call.

      She’s also exactly right about this situation. Adama’s not at fault at all. I loved how she made him stand up and take the award anyway, because he really does deserve it.

  2. Mirror, Mirror
    Parallels to our current political situation continue, with Adama playing the former CIA Director George Tenet role of recieving the Presidential Medal of Freedom for starting the Iraq War via providing "slam-dunk" intelligence that the Cylons, er, Saddam had WMD.

    I’ve always thought that Tigh and Starbuck are past lovers from the very first poker room brawl years ago, and this season is certainly putting them in orbit around each other on many levels. By now both have hit absolute rock bottom and lost their spouses as well as the essence of themselves. This ep continued the trend. Am I seeing something that isn’t there, or is there a May-December romance on the horizon?

    I vote Tigh’s comment to the effect that "self-loathing is a bottomless bottle" as a high point. Major insight, major turning point, not at all hokey. That guy is one great actor, which is convenient, since he’s not going to be doing a lot of emoting with his eyes anymore. Gods. tho, he needs a BLACK eyepatch.

    We gotta see more of Bulldog. That guy can emote crazy, and we still don’t know the REAL reason he’s there. He’s there as part of the Plan…but of course we all know that. I personally think that he will ultimately swap places with Baltar – gotta set up the Out Of Place traveler on both sides…

    Looks like we’re gonna be seeing more of Lawless, too – on every level. This is a Good Thing. I’ve been thinking…anybody want to place bets that the Cylon model leading the remaining Mysterious Five when they finally show up will be played by Renee O’Connor?

    • Re: Mirror, Mirror
      Hah! Glad I wasn’t the only one put off by the beige eyepatch. Black would have been so much cooler. He also needs a stogie in his mouth, then he’d give Nick Fury a run for his money :D

    • Re: Mirror, Mirror

      Gods. tho, he needs a BLACK eyepatch.

      Agreed.

      I’m betting that with it almost flesh color, it’s him trying to minimize the visual affect to not remind him self in the mirror.

      I bet he eventually gets over that and switches to a black, don’t-screw-with-me-I’m-a-fracking-pirate-who-will-eat-your-spleen-infront-of-you sytle eyepatch

  3. Starbuck

    Why did it take Starbuck so long to realise that there was something up with the Cylon raiders? I would have thought she was the kind of pilot who would have noticed that more quickly.

    I think she suspected something was amiss but wanted to get hard evidence first. I also think it was partly shocking to realize the truth so it took her a moment to accept it.

    Damien

    • Re: Starbuck

      I think she suspected something was amiss but wanted to get hard evidence first. I also think it was partly shocking to realize the truth so it took her a moment to accept it.

      I was going to go with "Editing". (;

    • Re: Starbuck

      I think she suspected something was amiss but wanted to get hard evidence first. I also think it was partly shocking to realuze the truth so it took her a moment to accept it.

      I felt that the wait and see attitude was appropriate. This is behavior that they’ve never seen before. Could be drills. Could be target practice. Could be a sick cylon trying to avoid forced death (do raiders resurrect?). There was no reason to think that the lead raider wouldn’t start attacking.


      omeganon

      • Re: Starbuck

        Could be a sick cylon trying to avoid forced death (do raiders resurrect?).

        Yes. Stated in "Scar" by Sharon-Athena. They’re at the level of bright animals, but their combat experience is worth preserving so they do resurrect.

    • Re: Wait a minute…

      Did, uh, did Baltar just have a Cylon Threesome?

      Yes, and it was fantastic. Thanks for noticing.

    • Re: Wait a minute…

      Did, uh, did Baltar just have a Cylon Threesome?

      Yeap. Baltar has successfully "hacked" another female cylon with a little quirk of their architecture we could easily call "the love bug". (Also, this makes me think/hope he isn’t a cylon cause that would make the threesome would a lot less interesting.)

      The other news from the cylon fleet, the skinjobs have started "flatlining".

  4. Good episode gets better after a bit of thought.
    At first this episode struck me as "good despite some gaping plot holes." I had all sorts of questions immediately after the show ended, and at the time, "lazy writers" seemed the most plausible explanation. But after thinking about it some more, I decided maybe the story was plausible after all, and even stirs up some interesting potential for future episodes.

    (The rest of this post is 100% spoiler, so I’m not even going to bother with the tags. You have been warned.)

    How did the Cylons know it was Adama that sent Bulldog over the line? Presumably there was no formal record of the op, so there was nothing that would later prove the Valkyrie was where it was. However, that doesn’t mean the Cylons didn’t see the battlestar, or at least detect a signature that they later could confirm was the Valkyrie (I’m assuming the Cylons, since taking over the colonies, became privy to a lot of information about the Colonial Fleet’s activities prior to the war). Adama’s command of the Valkyrie most likely was a matter of record, even if the ship’s location wasn’t. So, I figured it wouldn’t have taken that much investigation to figure out Bulldog’s chain of command, and who gave the order to send him snooping. And now I wonder, what other information could the Cylons have obtained that might prove useful against Adama and the remaining Colonial Fleet?

    How did the Cylons know Bulldog didn’t know the truth of what happened, and would have a vendetta against Adama once he knew the truth? I figure, they didn’t, at least not completely, but they knew enough to make a well-educated guess. Three years is a good amount of time to study and interrogate someone, and learn a lot about him even if he isn’t talking. The Cylons certainly knew they didn’t fire that second shot, and they could have determined Bulldog literally didn’t know what hit him. Add to that three years of monitoring Bulldog’s personality and reactions, and they could have decided it was worth the gamble. It would make for some interesting story fodder to go back and further show what methods the Cylons were using to "interrogate" Bulldog. Given what we’ve seen so far (D’Anna with Baltar, whats-his-name with Starbuck), I imagine their techniques could get pretty nasty.

    And finally wow did Bulldog figure out how to commandeer a Cylon Raider? Hey, if Starbuck can do it… :)

    • Re: Good episode gets better after a bit of thought.

      And finally wow did Bulldog figure out how to commandeer a Cylon Raider? Hey, if Starbuck can do it… :)

      Er, how did Bulldog…

      Darn fat fingers…

    • Re: Good episode gets better after a bit of thought.
      better question: How did Bulldog find the colonial fleet? Do the Cylons know where it is? If so, why haven’t they attacked?

      • Re: Good episode gets better after a bit of thought.
        They’re looking for Earth. It’s better to have two groups actively looking for Earth than one; better odds of stumbling on it. Keeping tabs on the fleet allows them to just swoop in and take over Earth if the fleet finds it first.

    • Re: Good episode gets better after a bit of thought.

      How did the Cylons know it was Adama that sent Bulldog over the line? Presumably there was no formal record of the op, so there was nothing that would later prove the Valkyrie was where it was.

      I think it’s probably safe to say that if there was any sort of informal record on any computer anywhere in the Colonies, the Cylons knew about it. The humans had no idea of the humanforms’ ("skinjobs’") existence, and they proved themselves adept at infiltrating the military – beyond Baltar, someone had to have created records for Boomer’s insertion into the military.

      Even if any particular op was totally secret and not mentioned in any email, daily planner, or personal journal, it’s hard to erase subtle indirect traces detectable by a networked intelligence. For a trivial example, pizza shops near the pentagon always know when a big operation is being planned, from the increased late night orders.

      I just assume that the Cylons had near perfect knowledge of everything in the Colonies before the attack.

    • Re: Good episode gets better after a bit of thought.

      How did the Cylons know it was Adama that sent Bulldog over the line?

      Umm….by torturing Bulldog for intelligence about the ship and crew that sent him across the line?

      • Re: Good episode gets better after a bit of thought.

        How did the Cylons know it was Adama that sent Bulldog over the line?

        Umm….by torturing Bulldog for intelligence about the ship and crew that sent him across the line?

        You’ve got it right. Its obvious they broke Bulldog. They also know they didn’t shoot him down. What a bonus it was for them to find out it was Adama who shot him down.

        Also, in response to another message above. The Cylons definitely must have analyzed the attack by the Galactica from last week and will have discerned that the humans intend to use the virus as a biological weapon. I don’t think they’ll be jumping in after the Galactica until they find out (from the human/cylon child of course) how to neutralize the virus. They wouldn’t have been afraid about their raiders because it was a suicide mission and if Galactica infected them they probably kept them from resurrecting just to be safe.

        • Re: Good episode gets better after a bit of thought.

          Its obvious they broke Bulldog.

          Is it? I didn’t get that impression. I figured they didn’t get any direct answers out of him, but then didn’t really need to, anyway.

          • Re: Good episode gets better after a bit of thought.

            Its obvious they broke Bulldog.

            Is it? I didn’t get that impression. I figured they didn’t get any direct answers out of him, but then didn’t really need to, anyway.

            I thought so. His escape story was so lame. Oh and we know he lied about the cylons being sick. They told him the story to tell.

      • Re: Good episode gets better after a bit of thought.

        How did the Cylons know it was Adama that sent Bulldog over the line?

        Umm….by torturing Bulldog for intelligence about the ship and crew that sent him across the line?

        You did read the rest of my post, didn’t you? :)

        I actually don’t think Bulldog cracked, but, like I mentioned before, I believe in three years’ time the Cylons could learn what they needed to from him, regardless of whether he gave any direct answers.

  5. *My* High point
    "…I can see it…I can see it…I can see it…"

    Damn, Michael Hogan is good. Damn, Tigh is a good character.

  6. Not so original but, with a twist (I think)…

    Skeletons in the closet, a main character revealing that he thinks he’s responsible for a great deal of mess…

    Well, he is responsible, IMNSHO. Bulldog lived but, that doesn’t change the fact that Adama did fire (gave the order at least) on him. The fact that Bulldog survived is a happy (I guess) coincidence but, it doesn’t cancel out Adama’s skeleton.

    Anyway, just my $0.02

    • Re: Not so original but, with a twist (I think)…

      Skeletons in the closet, a main character revealing that he thinks he’s responsible for a great deal of mess…

      Well, he is responsible, IMNSHO. Bulldog lived but, that doesn’t change the fact that Adama did fire (gave the order at least) on him. The fact that Bulldog survived is a happy (I guess) coincidence but, it doesn’t cancel out Adama’s skeleton.

      Anyway, just my $0.02

      Bulldog was a spy. He should have known he could not be captured. As Tigh said, Adama made the military choice he needed to make. Bulldog’s problem is that his friend tried to kill him, but he does understand why. I agree with the others who say he could be a very interesting character. Of course with 5 remaining, he could also really be a cylon.

      That of course would be an awful choice of a person to send on a spy mission, but the cylons would find the spy right away wouldn’t they? Of course now he would catch the virus.

      Hey, you know what. They’ve actually got a working cylon detector now!! Just inject someone with the virus and if they die they’re a cylon. They should "innoculate" every human with the virus now. Of course they wouldn’t do that because it has less drama. I love this show, but thats the one plot hole I have so much trouble getting past.

      • Re: Not so original but, with a twist (I think)…

        Bulldog was a spy. He should have known he could not be captured. As Tigh said, Adama made the military choice he needed to make. Bulldog’s problem is that his friend tried to kill him, but he does understand why. I agree with the others who say he could be a very interesting character. Of course with 5 remaining, he could also really be a cylon.

        That of course would be an awful choice of a person to send on a spy mission, but the cylons would find the spy right away wouldn’t they? Of course now he would catch the virus.

        Hey, you know what. They’ve actually got a working cylon detector now!! Just inject someone with the virus and if they die they’re a cylon. They should "innoculate" every human with the virus now. Of course they wouldn’t do that because it has less drama. I love this show, but thats the one plot hole I have so much trouble getting past.

        I see what you mean but, unlike some others, I’m not as quick to agree with the President and absolve (sp?) Adama of all guilt in regards to starting the whole attack by the Cylons thing. Yeah, yeah… I know that catching a spy isn’t grounds for all out genocide but, as I’ve stated before, the Cylons aren’t like the humans. Just because we don’t think it’s enough to justify it doesn’t mean that they don’t as well.

        Although they try treally hard to emulate humans, I think that it is something we should never forget: they are not humans. That means that however we may view something isn’t necessarily the way they do.

        • Re: Not so original but, with a twist (I think)…

          Bulldog was a spy. He should have known he could not be captured. As Tigh said, Adama made the military choice he needed to make. Bulldog’s problem is that his friend tried to kill him, but he does understand why. I agree with the others who say he could be a very interesting character. Of course with 5 remaining, he could also really be a cylon.

          That of course would be an awful choice of a person to send on a spy mission, but the cylons would find the spy right away wouldn’t they? Of course now he would catch the virus.

          Hey, you know what. They’ve actually got a working cylon detector now!! Just inject someone with the virus and if they die they’re a cylon. They should "innoculate" every human with the virus now. Of course they wouldn’t do that because it has less drama. I love this show, but thats the one plot hole I have so much trouble getting past.

          I see what you mean but, unlike some others, I’m not as quick to agree with the President and absolve (sp?) Adama of all guilt in regards to starting the whole attack by the Cylons thing. Yeah, yeah… I know that catching a spy isn’t grounds for all out genocide but, as I’ve stated before, the Cylons aren’t like the humans. Just because we don’t think it’s enough to justify it doesn’t mean that they don’t as well.

          Although they try treally hard to emulate humans, I think that it is something we should never forget: they are not humans. That means that however we may view something isn’t necessarily the way they do.

          That still means that the Cylon attack was the Cylons fault. Overreaction is their fault, not Adama’s.

          I don’t know maybe I reacting to every character on Galactica needing to be flawed, and the stronger the character the bigger the flaw needs to be. I’m just refusing to see Adama executing the mission he was ordered to do as being a major flaw in him. I sure as hell hope he doesn’t go all self loathing victim like Starbuck did for a few episodes after they escaped new Caprica. Thank the gods she appears to be back to normal.

      • Re: Not so original but, with a twist (I think)…

        Hey, you know what. They’ve actually got a working cylon detector now!! Just inject someone with the virus and if they die they’re a cylon. They should "innoculate" every human with the virus now. Of course they wouldn’t do that because it has less drama. I love this show, but thats the one plot hole I have so much trouble getting past.

        I’m not picking on you, JWW. :)

        Some immunology talk:

        This is an old virus to which humans long ago developed an immunity. The fleet’s doctors could innoculate every human with the virus: because humans are now immune it would never go "live", meaning these people would never be contagious because they would never be shedding virus particles. The virus they received from innoculation would simply be absorbed by their immune system. It would be as if they were never infected.

        To explain it another way, you could inject me with parvovirus. Because my body has no receptors the virus could bind to, because I am "immune", I could immediately, safely work with dogs. My immune system would tag the virus particles with antibodies and the particles would be absorbed, not shed. Fido would be safe.

        The stretching of truth for me is the idea that a virus could survive for several hundred years out in the hostile environment of space. Bacteria in spore form are incredibly tolerant of adverse conditions, but most viruses have a very limited life span outside of their host environment. Many are easily damaged by environmental radiation, molecular oxygen, heat, or cold.

        Again, I am not picking on you, but I don’t think this virus is such a terrible plot hole. :)

        -Joe

        • Re: Not so original but, with a twist (I think)…

          Hey, you know what. They’ve actually got a working cylon detector now!! Just inject someone with the virus and if they die they’re a cylon. They should "innoculate" every human with the virus now. Of course they wouldn’t do that because it has less drama. I love this show, but thats the one plot hole I have so much trouble getting past.

          I’m not picking on you, JWW. :)

          Some immunology talk:

          This is an old virus to which humans long ago developed an immunity. The fleet’s doctors could innoculate every human with the virus: because humans are now immune it would never go "live", meaning these people would never be contagious because they would never be shedding virus particles. The virus they received from innoculation would simply be absorbed by their immune system. It would be as if they were never infected.

          To explain it another way, you could inject me with parvovirus. Because my body has no receptors the virus could bind to, because I am "immune", I could immediately, safely work with dogs. My immune system would tag the virus particles with antibodies and the particles would be absorbed, not shed. Fido would be safe.

          The stretching of truth for me is the idea that a virus could survive for several hundred years out in the hostile environment of space. Bacteria in spore form are incredibly tolerant of adverse conditions, but most viruses have a very limited life span outside of their host environment. Many are easily damaged by environmental radiation, molecular oxygen, heat, or cold.

          Again, I am not picking on you, but I don’t think this virus is such a terrible plot hole. :)

          -Joe

          What I meant when I said innoculate the humans was: Give everyone the virus, and the ones who die are obviously cylons. Its a pretty easy and would be a pretty fast "cylon detector" :-)

          • Re: Not so original but, with a twist (I think)…

            What I meant when I said innoculate the humans was: Give everyone the virus, and the ones who die are obviously cylons. Its a pretty easy and would be a pretty fast "cylon detector" :-)

            Gotcha, that would work well. :)

            -Joe

          • Re: Not so original but, with a twist (I think)…

            What I meant when I said innoculate the humans was: Give everyone the virus, and the ones who die are obviously cylons. Its a pretty easy and would be a pretty fast "cylon detector" :-)

            Are they 100% sure that 100% of the population is immune? It’d suck if 99.9% of the population was immune but 0.1% was still vulnerable.

            • Re: Not so original but, with a twist (I think)…

              Are they 100% sure that 100% of the population is immune? It’d suck if 99.9% of the population was immune but 0.1% was still vulnerable.

              Yah it would. :) This gives them new ammunition though in the war against the toasters. What other viruses might be lurking around that humans have immunity to, but Cylons don’t? I’d pay particular attention to encephalitis, even viruses that hang out in the nervous system, like herpes.

              GIVE THE SKIN JOBS COLD SORES, DAMNIT!

              -Joe

  7. Hogan v. Hogan

    Everyone else does their usual superb job, but particular credit to Paul Hogan this week I think.

    THAT is a hilarious thought.

    • Re: Hogan v. Hogan

      Everyone else does their usual superb job, but particular credit to Paul Hogan this week I think.

      THAT is a hilarious thought.

      Good ole Crocodile Tigh. I picture Tigh and Starbuck holding eachother upright standing in the middle of a pile of Fosters cans singing "Waltzing Matilda".

      Tigh looks at Starbuck and says "Me Sheila’s dead, mate. Crikey it’s bloody awful!" :)

      -Joe

  8. My thoughts
    I’m typing this out while I watch the episode.[cut and paste into the thread]

    Those cylons can’t shoot for beans. Two against one, and the solo bird is damaged to boot.

    Woah. A live raider in their landing bay. If that thing were to open fire it’d have made one hell of a mess out of alot of people.

    The security detachment placed around the raider were set up poorly. Many of the marines and pilots could not take safe shots because friendlies were in the danger zone behind the raider pilot.

    An Admiral, now a pilot (Bulldog.) Who will show up next? Wow, back to the 1st dogfight, when you realize he’s not going to be accustomed to flying a raider it really puts cylon gunnery into a bad light . . . or perhaps they let him escape? A new cylon model is revealed?

    Nice how they can confirm an individual is NOT a cylon when they have a known DNA sample. Unfortunately the same test would show Sharon as a human before she was revealed to be a skinjob. Had she shown up in the same situation has Bulldog her DNA would be the same as the DNA in her file from pre-invasion days. I don’t think that Bulldog is logically confirmed to be human.

    The scene goes from the Doc saying they had him healthy and relatively well fed then next scene bulldog is slamming down the noodles.

    For those who said the whole virus thing was gone, try again next time :) If the ship and its crew were so sick, where did the two healthy raiders come from? How the hell did Bulldog know where in space to find friendlies . . . after all Galatica long ago jumped "way across the red line." Well, maybe, in light of the dogfight I keep coming back to, their gunnery could suck because they were sick.

    When we get flashes of the Valkerye and exteriors of the Galatica we can see how hard things have been for the old girl.

    The ‘cover story’ about the mining too close to the armistice line . . . how is the Colonial government arranged? What should have been a police action was handled by the military (use of military assets to "recon" the misbehaving colony.) The colony (or at least the miners) opened fire on military assets. How firm a grip on the colonies did the colonial government have during the peace between cylon wars?

    When the president’s aide says she will check the ships registries to see if any of Bulldogs family survived it came to me that there are likely to be other survivors elsewhere. Cylons have gone from genocide to "collect them all" mode. Bulldog had to be taken fairly early in the BSG time line. There were women (maybe men?) saved for experiments at "the farm." One might assume others are being held elsewhere as well.

    Lawless model had that nightmare . . . it ended with "END OF LINE" on a bulkhead door. Echoes of Hybrid(Basestar) talk?

    Heh, Baltar. Two female cylons. The Six isn’t much of a suprize, but the Lawless model? You do have to wonder if the Six was Caprica Six or Head Six. Makes alot of difference for those with their minds in the gutter. Them cylons are working on getting another hu-lon child [or two!] I guess.

    Bulldog went a whole 2km across a line, in space? 2km isn’t a big fracking deal on a planet the size of earth. 2×10^9 km would be something else. Once he is 2km across he reports no dradis contacts. Why have a stealth craft if you run active sensors to give yourself away?

    What a role reversal. Tigh was the one that spaced a few dozen of the Galatica crew to fight a fire, but tries to talk Adama out of an action that protects the entire colonies of man from being seen as committing an act of war.

    Here is the thing . . . the cylons found a Colonial military pilot in their territory. They know at least one of their craft engaged an unknown(or perhaps positively identified) spacecraft in their territory. The Valk and her missile didn’t show up on Cylon dradis despite all the cylon craft showing up clearly on the Valks own sets? If the Valk could scan across the armistice line to see all the action there and even fire her weapons across that space, why the hell did they need to send in a small craft?

    Adamas theory of his actions precipitating the attack upon the colonies discounts the facts that the cylons had already crossed the line to put their agents onto human worlds and ships (Sharon, Lawless, Leoben, the guy who almost always wears a suit, the Stockwell model.) It would take time to establish these sleeper agents into their assumed roles, particularly Sharon and Stockwell as they both served in official capacity in the fleet [pilot and Chaplin respectively.]

    "One mission, one man." "It only takes one."

    Kara reviewing gun-cam footage. It’s about time she gets to what the [some] of the audience notices right away. So what is that white dot in the background?

    "And they have a plan" comes to mind, Bulldog is allowed to escape. Someone finally points out the dumb luck Bulldog must have had to even find the fleet.

    Laura said FRACKING!

    • Re: My thoughts

      Lawless model had that nightmare . . . it ended with "END OF LINE" on a bulkhead door. Echoes of Hybrid(Basestar) talk?

      GOOD CATCH!!! I suspect the Hybrid is giving voice to thoughts of all of the Cylons under her care and protection. I think she’s a focal point, a collective id for all of the Cylons, every model, within range. Her speech seems like somatic overflow of thought processes. I wonder if base stars converse among themselves? Were I on a base star I’d be spending a lot of time with the Leobens, listening to the Hybrid.

      The Hybrid is one of my favorite Cylon constructs. What a neat concept. :)

      -Joe

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