Previously on Battlestar Galactica: Starbuck found herself dead on Earth and burned her body, repeating the phrase, “If that’s me then what am I?” It was all very metaphysical. Boomer was thrown in the brig while the Final Five Cylons held a family reunion.
Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff) wakes up and goes about her day which has become a dull routine. She takes a shower, gives the Viper pilots their daily orders, gets drunk, and repeats. It’s a stunning piece of film making showing the monotony of her life.
She repeats that their mission is the same as the week before, which was the same as the week before that, etc, etc: find a planet to inhabit. The prize for the pilot who finds a planet to live on gets a special prize, the last tube of Tauron toothpaste in the universe. That’s both hilarious and sad.
Starbuck enjoys some alcohol at the Galactica pub where a mysterious man is playing the piano. She’s tired of listening to his futile attempts to compose an original piece, but he continues to play, and it’s all hauntingly beautiful.
Helo (Tahmoh Penikett) tries to cheer Starbuck up by showing her that he bought all her possessions that went on auction after she was presumed dead. Hera also gives her a drawing of some stars.
Starbuck returns to the bar, this time supporting the Piano Man. She gives him some pointers and before you know it they’re best friends. She tells sad stories of how her dad used to teach her to play the piano. It’s at this point that I’m starting to put some pieces together. Maybe Kara’s dad is named Daniel?
She has more bad dreams about her dead self on Earth, eventually confessing her dark secret to the Piano Man. He retaliates with a sob story of his own how he left his wife and kid because she wanted him to quit playing the piano. He reminds her of her dad who did the same thing.
The two work on finishing the composition when Starbuck notices Hera’s painting of the stars resembles music notes, so the two play the melody from the drawing. It’s the same song Starbuck learned from her dad. It’s also “All Along the Watchtower.” The Final Five freak out and rush over to learn that, for some reason, Starbuck’s dad taught her to play the same song they remember from Earth.
Armed with the knowledge that Daniel, the final Cylon, was artistic and that Starbuck’s dad suddenly and mysteriously disappeared, I’m now 99 percent certain that the reason Starbuck found herself dead on Earth is that she was truly the first half-Cylon, half-human child as her dad was Daniel, aka Number 7. Anyone care to disagree?
In the other just as awesome storyline in this episode, Tyrol warns about the Galactica’s physical instability despite the new Cylon upgrade of the hull. Indeed throughout the entire episode, the ship trembles and quakes as the electricity periodically cuts out.
Sonya, a Number Six who has been elected the Cylon representative to the Quorum, asks for Boomer to be released so they can try her for treason since she sided with Cavil in the Cylon Civil War. Tyrol is troubled by the fact that Sonya Six wants to give Boomer the death penalty, which is now a possibility since resurrection is gone.
As Tyrol works on the ship, he reminisces about his relationship with Boomer. Helo may have Athena, but Boomer was always in love with the Chief. He visits her in the brig and learns she still loves him too. They touch and Tyrol is transported to a nice house on Picon with Boomer in a floral dress looking like the newest resident of Wisteria Lane. He quickly escapes and realizes Boomer was using some weird Cylon projection.
He runs off and calls a meeting of the Final Five to rally them around the idea of saving Boomer from the trial. Ellen thinks they shouldn’t get involved and Tigh doesn’t care because his baby just died. Tory is no help at all, and Anders is still a vegetable.
Tyrol returns to Boomer for another trip down the Cylon projection rabbit hole. He goes into the alternate reality where Galen and Sharon got married and moved to a nice house and even had a little baby. It’s very bittersweet.
Tyrol then rushes off to beg President Roslin to pardon Boomer. She refuses, so he hatches “Plan B,” cutting the power to sneak Boomer out of the brig. Luckily she looks just like all the other Eights on the ship so no one thinks twice about seeing her. Boomer meets up with Athena and beats her down.
Helo arrives with hopes of engaging in some hot Cylon sex before his wife flies off for a six-day mission. Unfortunately, Boomer swapped places with his wife and he can’t tell the difference, so Helo and Boomer strip down and have very hot, almost pornographic sex with lots of moaning. Bound and gagged in the closet, Athena regains her consciousness just in time to see this sexy act of infidelity.
After it’s done, Boomer runs off to quickly pick up Hera and head down to a Raptor. She boards it and convinces Tyrol not to come along. At that time, Athena stumbles into Helo and tells him that it was Boomer he had sex with and that she stole Hera. Athena lets out a primal scream of rage.
Thankfully Adama gets the message in time and tries to stop Boomer from taking off. He closes the pod door, but Boomer speeds up and barely makes it out, though the Raptor is badly damaged. She turns back around and speeds into the Galactica, jumping right before she hits it. The resulting shockwaves make the entire ship tremble even more.
With Boomer gone, Tyrol overhears Athena and he’s stunned to find out Boomer took Hera. He’s saddened, even moreso when he runs around to find his happy place, the Cylon projection house, only to see Boomer has also taken their imaginary kid.
Next week on Battlestar Galactica: With only three episodes left, the Galactica is almost dead. Also, what will happen to Boomer and Hera?
(Image courtesy of the Sci Fi Channel)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
