When the previous episode of Battlestar Galactica came to an end, we were left hanging as Roslin and Baltar disappeared into the depths of space. The Cylon Hybrid forced the Basestar to jump right after Athena killed Natalie, which may make her responsible for the incident. In addition to that big shocker, Starbuck returned to the Colonial Fleet, Gaeta (Alessandro Juliani) lost his leg and sang a little ditty, and the Galactica crew plotted to destroy the Cylon resurrection hub. If they succeed in their mission, the war between the humans and Cylons will be altered forever.
On tonight’s episode, “Sine Qua Non,” the Fleet scrambles to deal with Roslin’s absence, and Tigh and Adama get into a brutal smackdown.
While Natalie (Tricia Helfer) gets wheeled to sick bay and slowly dies, the Quorum tries to figure out what to do now that Roslin has disappeared. It’s a good thing they have Vice President Zarek around to stop them from panicking. He explains that no one knows when or if Roslin will return, so he’ll have to take over as president. This news doesn’t make Admiral Adama particularly happy, nor does Athena’s murder of an unarmed woman. She tries to explain about her opera house vision, but he doesn’t want to hear her excuses. Roslin may be gone because Athena shot Natalie, so she’s headed to the brig for a while.
The resurrection hub has disappeared, but Adama believes it can still be found. He asks Tigh (Michael Hogan) to talk to Six about its location, so the Colonel heads down to the brig to chat with the Cylon. She tells him that she doesn’t have a way to track the ship, but Tigh doubts her story.
On his father’s wishes, Lee advises Zarek (Richard Hatch) not to assume the presidency. Adama will never recognize him as president, so taking the title wouldn’t do him much good. Zarek is thirsty for a bit of power, but he reluctantly allows Lee to search for other candidates. With no idea what to do, Lee goes to see Baltar’s old lawyer, Romo Lampkin, for some advice.
Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff) and her crew find an old, damaged Raptor floating out in the middle of space. It’s the shuttle that President Roslin was transported in, except she’s nowhere to be found. While the Galactica jumps away to suss out what happened, Lee and Lampkin try to figure out who to nominate for president. I have to admit that I was never a big fan of Romo Lampkin and his endless babbling, but maybe his advice can do Lee some good in this case.
Meanwhile, the Galactica discovers evidence of a destroyed ship in the depths of space. Adama (Edward James Olmos) thinks it’s the remnants of the resurrection hub, but Tigh explains that it may be Roslin’s Basestar. Adama still wants to hope for the best, so he goes to see Doc Cottle to find out how long Laura will be healthy without her cancer treatment. Cottle says that she better get back soon, and also drops the massive bombshell that Six is pregnant with Tigh’s baby! A child of two Cylons! Crazy.
After chatting with Doc Cottle, Adama confronts Tigh about the pregnancy. He thinks that he’s been spilling secrets to Six, but the Colonel is offended that he would doubt his loyalty. Tigh throws out a low blow about Adama being in love with the president, and that’s when the brawl to end all brawls begins. Sadly, Adama’s model ship gets busted during the battle. The fight doesn’t last nearly as long as the Keamy vs. Sayid throwdown from the Lost finale, but that’s probably because Tigh and Adama aren’t in fighting shape.
Adama wants Starbuck’s crew to continue the search for Roslin, but Kara thinks it’ll be a pointless suicide mission. Unfortunately for her, Adama is giving an order, not making a request. She agrees, and soon Lampkin comes to unleash his endless rambling upon Adama. He tells him that Zarek may not make for an ideal president, but the Fleet could certainly do worse. After chatting with Lampkin, Adama tells Lee that he’s relinquishing command of the Fleet. He feels that he’s lost objectivity due to his personal feelings toward Roslin.
A few moments later, Lampkin finally comes to the conclusion that Lee (Jamie Bamber) is the most obvious choice for the presidency. He passes the news on to the younger Adama, but also decides to pull a gun on him while he does it. He once again talks a lot without saying much of anything, but this time he pulls out a duffel bag containing his dead cat, which forces me not to glaze over. After he gets around to admitting the pain he feels over his dead family, Lee talks him down by promising that he’ll make a difference in the Fleet. He even proves it by getting sworn in as president.
For some reason I can’t possibly comprehend, Adama thinks it’s a wise idea to put Tigh in charge while he steps down. I’m not sure that decision makes any sense considering that he just discovered that the Colonel is boffing a Cylon, but whatever. He tells Tigh to let Athena (Grace Park) see her daughter.
Lee’s first act as president is to give Lampkin a dog to replace his dead cat. Afterwards, he goes to speak with his father. Adama is planning to take a Raptor to search for Roslin, and he’s going to do it alone. Lee advises against it, but Adama says that he can’t live without her. All of these awesome Adama moments are definitely redeeming this rather ho-hum episode for me.
As the episode comes to a close, the Colonial Fleet jumps away, leaving Adama to start the search for Roslin. I can’t wait to see where the story goes from here. I just hope it doesn’t involve any more Romo Lampkin.
Next week on Battlestar Galactica, Lucy Lawless is finally back!
– Don Williams, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of the Sci Fi Channel)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
