Cast

James Callis as Dr. Gaius Baltar
Edward James Olmos as Admiral Adama
Mary McDonnell as Laura Roslin
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
Kandyse McClure as Anastasia "Dee" Dualla
Alessandro Juliani as Felix Gaeta
Rekha Sharma as Tory Foster
Michael Trucco as Samuel T. Anders
Callum Keith Rennie as Leoben Conoy

Synopsis

Tensions run increasingly high on the Demetrius as they find a heavily damaged Cylon heavy raider with a Leoben on board, and their deadline for returning to the fleet draws nearer. On Galactica, Baltar attempts to make peace with Tyrol.

High Points

• "They have thought about it."

Low Points

• One starts to wonder if Tory and Baltar ever talk when they aren't lying in the post-coital glow.
• Has everybody on the Demetrius really and truly forgotten that Athena is also a Cylon? Has Athena buried all that in her determination to be what Boomer wanted to be? I would have expected Leoben's appearance to cause some cracks, but it didn't. Maybe it's just a sign of the feasibility of cooperation with the Cylons.

The Scores

Originality: There's nothing surprising about a mad, possibly inspired Captain suffering a mutiny by a crew who don't share that vision. Fortunately it doesn't feel like a well-trodden road. Even when using classic story elements, Galactica makes everything seem new and interesting. Five out of six.

Effects: Explosions, some blood and injuries... not much in the way of effects this week, but they're done well. Five out of six.

Story: Old hints and suggestions are starting to pay off now. On New Caprica the Cylons tried (rather badly) to work with humans. Now some of them are being forced to, and it feels like we might see the fruits of that soon. It's becoming increasingly clear that the answer to the situation could well be in true human/Cylon cooperation. That's likely to cause a lot of fireworks though. The cliffhanger at the end of the episode is placed in the expected spot, but it's better to have it and then use next week's time to tell the story properly. Five out of six.

Acting: Katee Sackhoff was for me the standout star of this episode. She is so believably Starbuck, holding a fairly tenuous grip on her sanity, but underneath still the ace pilot and Colonial officer she was a year ago. Six out of six.

Production: Would you want to live on the Demetrius? No wonder the crew are getting edgy. The creaking and groaning it makes and the set design differentiate it hugely from the relative comfort of the Galactica. We don't see much of the life of the rest of the fleet these days, and this reminds us how a lot of the others live, as well as giving an obviously different setting for Starbuck's crew to get angsty. Five out of six.

Emotional response: Five out of six.

Overall: Six out of six.

The Road Less Travelled receives a grand total of thirty-seven out of forty-two.