Take Me Out
Updated 2006-01-18 16:00:00
Adama totally kisses the President. But that's at the end. We open on Apollo, ejected and drifting in space and watching the big fight against the Cylon fleet go down, which gives things a dreamy vibe. Then we jump back to where we stopped, basically, and follow up all the threads from last week. They're all pretty sad. This is a gorgeous, beautifully-shot, wonderfully acted and scored mess of hurt feelings from beginning to end. The fight with the Cylon fleet goes swimmingly, although the Blackbird sustains some damage, and we're treated to the haunting image of "tens of thousands" of Cylon bodies floating out as the Resurrection Ship finally goes down in flames. Admiral Cain -- doing a spot-on impression of Starbuck's abusive mother -- specifically tells Starbuck not to screw up or flinch when it's time for Starbuck to kill her. Apollo gets his own death wish and goes all spooky nihilist guy when he learns from his dad that Roslin is behind the assassination order. This is somewhat out of the blue, since he hasn't even talked to her in half a season, but it's Apollo: he's dramatic. Gaius Baltar sells out ChipSix for emotional ammunition with Gina, and she disappears, maybe forever. Boomer asks Adama why he -- or humanity -- even deserves to live, throwing back in his face that weird rambling speech he gave in the miniseries, and ultimately giving him the necessary ethical stuff to keep from giving Starbuck the kill order. Cain responds by not giving her XO the order to kill Bill, everybody cheers and hugs, then Gina escapes and surprises Cain in her quarters, killing her in as ignominious a fashion as possible. Starbuck's eulogy for Admiral Cain is creepy and vastly uninformed, and seems to presage lots more stress between her and the Commander. Who is now an Admiral! Roslin gives Bill a promotion, Fisk is the new captain of the Pegasus, and Adama pulls another bizarre ad lib out of his bag of tricks, planting one on the President and then stumbling back home in a fuss of tears and really intense smiles. It's pretty clear she is going to die in the next five minutes. Starbuck and Apollo process things at the end of the episode, with Dualla listening outside the door and feeling all kinds of emotions that indicate Apollo is really screwed. So: Apollo and apparently Starbuck are going to be weird and angry for a while, Billy's clearly screwed, Cain's really dead, the Pegasus is now part of the Colonial Fleet, Chief and Helo are of course pardoned (after getting assaulted by the rape-happy guys from the Pegasus, whom we assume-slash-hope will be getting spaced to hell under Fisk's new command), Chief bows out of Helo's love life, and Boomer cries with joy to see them both still alive. Such an intense episode -- and a good capper for a very, very intense three-parter several months in the making. Next week: Baltar invents Toaster Stem Cell research, and everybody gets crazy uptight about it.