PopSyndicate.com

With the exception of a couple of Tyrol/Baltar interludes, the entire episode took place aboard Demetrius, and focused on the storyline that was all but ignored last week. Starbuck continued to act like she’s lost it, painting on the walls of the ship. She then decided to go for a ride since her 60 days looking for Earth were almost up. What should she find, but a damaged heavy raider with none other than Leoben, her captor/torturer from the time on New Caprica. Did she kill him? Nope. She invited him into her room to help with the painting. Then she decided to listen to his advice and hook up with a Cylon baseship that needed their help.

Needless to say, this didn’t sit well with her husband or the crew of Demetrius, who were more than a little anxious to get back to the fleet before it was too far out of range to ever find. So, in the end, even loyal Helo decided it was time to take over the ship and relieve Starbuck of command. Does this mean the mission to find Earth is over? Of course not…the previews showed us Starbuck’s near future, and it wasn’t back on Galactica.

My big question is: Does Leoben know Anders is a Cylon? It sure sounded like it for a while during their conversation, until Leoben started veering in another direction. And if any of the Seven know (besides D’Anna), it would be him.

There have been some complaints that this episode was too slow and didn’t have enough action, but when I actually tallied up the physical clashes it was pretty high: the repeated pummeling of Leoben, the explosion of the raider that killed Sergeant Mathias, Helo knocking another character down with the butt of his gun, and, of course, Chief Tyrol choking Baltar.

Even without the action, slow episodes of this show aren’t a problem for me. They’ve done this type of thing before: spend an entire episode basically setting up the next ep, as if it were the first half of a two-hour movie. The simmering tension, taut dialogue, and sharp character development are plenty to keep my interest.

I’ve said before that I think Gaius Baltar is the most complicated character in the history of television, and this episode continued to buttress that belief. First he tried to convince Tyrol that he understood the loss of his wife and said they should put aside their past differences. Then, after Tyrol tried to murder him with his bare hands, Baltar still went to Tyrol’s quarters and succeeded in convincing him that he’s genuine.

The funny thing is, he actually convinced me, too.

I’ll have to see how this “To be continued…” turns out next week to know for sure, but I can definitely deal with a great set-up episode like this as long as the payoff is good. And when hasn’t it been for this show?

4