Battlestar Fodder

Battlestar Galactica: Exodus, Part 1

by Shannon Nolley, Filmfodder Editor

Can you believe it? A two part episode already! Talk about keeping us on the edge of our seats. Geesh! Tonight's episode was another nail biter. There was way too much action to pack into one episode, so we'll forgive another cliff hanger.

Like last time, I've grouped the episode discussion by plot line. I've also added a section at the end called "Observations, Thoughts and Questions" to further focus on particular plot points and enable specific discussion on, well, things I want to talk about. If you've seen the episode and just want to discuss what happened, skip to that section.

With that, let's jump in!

Exodus, Part 1: Episode 3.03

The tide turns

The episode opens with recaps from the last episode where the Centurions are approaching the humans who have been rounded up for execution while Sharon and Anders' teams are under attack in the woods. Then... we jump to "One hour earlier." Here, the action restarts from a different perspective.

Tyrol (now clean shaven ... apparently due to filming scheduling issues according to Ron Moore's Podcast) runs in to Tigh and Ellen's tent waving the list his "informant" left him of the folks scheduled for execution. He's freaking because Cally is on that list. Since she's already in custody, they could kill her at any time. The list described, in code, where the executions would take place, though. Thanks to some other data they've been given by the informant, Tyrol (after being calmed down by Tigh) figures out where the trucks are taking the prisoners, gathers a team and heads out to ambush the trucks.

The small team reaches the area where the trucks have just let out the prisoners for their little "break." Tyrol and the others hide and scout things out. Tyrol surveys the prisoners and sees Roslin, Zarek and Cally. As he watches Cally, he sees her make a break for it (remember, she'd been freed by a disguised Jammer). The Centurions are approaching, but Tyrol's team can't take a shot because Cally is directly in the line of fire. Tyrol tells his shooters to count to five then start firing. He runs for Cally and tackles her to the ground just in time. [Note: Here's where things got a little confusing because last week and in the flash backs at the beginning of this episode, after Cally was freed, she slid down the embankment, ran through trees and then heard gunfire. Here, she runs behind the trucks, away from embankment and Tyrol tackles her before any guns fire ... Ron Moore doesn't really explain in his Podcast, but he mentions that editing this sequence was tough - especially since two different directors were in charge of the episodes.]

When the shooting begins, Roslin throws herself and Zarek down the embankment out of harm's way. Jammer takes off his not-so-fancy New Caprica Police ski mask and runs away. With what seems like great ease, the Resistance has foiled the Cylon plans, taken the trucks and saved the prisoners. All the Cylons in the execution party have been killed except for a Cavil model, who is wounded and squirming on the ground in pain. Tyrol's right hand woman on this mission (does anyone know her name?) stands over him in seething hate and promises not to kill him so he can't download himself - he'll suffer more. As folks gather around Tyrol and his team, he tells them that Admiral Adama is on the way and that they are all going home. Naturally, everyone hates this idea and they stone Tyrol where he stands. Just kidding.

Meanwhile, Sharon and her team from the Galactica sneak through the woods prior to their rendezvous with Anders. Sharon meets with Anders and tells him of Adama's plan to get the launch keys to the Colonial ships and to coordinate an evacuation. Gunnery Sargent Mathias and part of Sharon's team have stayed hidden, though. They spot several "skin jobs" (humanoid Cylons) and assume that Centurions can't be far behind. When the Centurions make their move, Anders' team scrambles for cover while Sharon's team, armed and ready, fires a bazooka, blowing the Toasters to smithereens. Apparently Sharon had suspected an ambush. Connor inspects the bodies of the dead skin jobs. He discovers their map and plans for the rendezvous - the one that Anders wrote himself. He shows it to Anders who immediately knows that Ellen has betrayed them.

Trouble in Toastertown

Things are getting hard for Baltar. Or... rather they're not... and that's the problem. At least tonight. He and his newly reborn Caprica Six are having some troubles in the sack. He makes some smarmy comments about himself and then jokes about what they should talk about instead. "How was your day dear?" He's even more bitter than we've seen him before. He describes a lovely conversation he had with a Doral model about how, according to Doral, toilet paper can boost morale among the humans. Six isn't amused. They argue and Six begins to leave, but Baltar stops her. He asks her not to go. He doesn't say anything after that, but you can feel him thinking "You're the only friend I have in the universe, please don't leave me alone." Instead of talking, he simply sips more booze from his glass. Six sits back down on the bed behind him.

Later, the Cylons gather in Baltar's office per usual. Cavil is there describing his suffering at the hands of the insurgents - how they left him wounded and suffering, but wouldn't kill him. He was there for hours before he could cut open his own artery and bleed to death. He's disgusted with the whole thing. This was his third download - and it hurts more each time. The first time it was like a mild headache, but this time it was like a white hot poker through his skull. He says its not worth it. None of "this" (presumably fighting with the humans) is worth it. Baltar agrees - it's not worth it. Doral (as usual) recommends they crack down harder. Six says that their resources are already stretched to the max. Cavil leaves. Doral throws in his last zinger - they could always nuke the city and be done with it. Baltar looks mortified. No one says anything.

The fruit born of two peoples

Do Cylons dream of electric sheep? Well, we don't know... yet.., but D'Anna dreams about crying babies, creepy wood things, rocks and dead people. She wakes gasping from her dream and is obviously disturbed. She goes out to wander the camp. Low and behold, she finds the creepy wood things and a boulder that appears to be carefully tied down so it won't escape its fate as a door stop. She enters the tent that these things border. The Oracle (Amanda Plummer) welcomes her in, even pities her saying that D'Anna must be terrified. The Oracle says she knows D'Anna's pain - and her destiny. She says that D'Anna doesn't know what to believe any more and that's why her dream brought her there. Zeus sees her pain and all the gods weep for her. D'Anna disagrees and says there is no Zeus, only one true god. The Oracle says that she has a message from the god D'Anna worships: The fruit born of two peoples is alive. Hera (Sharon's baby) lives. D'Anna will hold her in her arms and will know what it is for the first time to feel true love, but she will lose everything she's done "here" (the planet?). A tear falls from D'Anna's eyes.

After leaving the Oracle's tent, D'Anna passes the medical tent where Doc is trying to save someone. He emerges from the tent and strikes up a conversation with D'Anna who asks who it was he was trying to save - human or Cylon. Doc says it was one of the Number Fives who had been shot during some fighting earlier today. D'Anna asks why he tried to help - he could have let the Cylon suffer. Doc says its not what he does. D'Anna inquires about Hera. Why did he cremate the body? It was the first human/Cylon hybrid so why not study it? Doc says he was just simply following orders. D'Anna doesn't believe him, of course, and just glares.

The next morning Sharon heads out for her mission to get the launch keys. Dressed in non-Colonial clothes now, she carefully walks past the guards and into the main building. She interfaces with the computer to find the location of the keys - drawer 378. As she's removing the keys from the drawer, D'Anna walks in and immediately recognizes her as the Galactica Sharon. D'Anna tries to persuade her to abort her mission. Sharon refuses - she's a Colonial officer now and she gave them her word. D'Anna doesn't give much credence to that and throws in the trump card - they lied to you, Hera lives! D'Anna recounts what the Oracle said. She might have been making some ground, but then throws in "Put down the gun and when I find her you can hold her too." Sharon shoots D'Anna twice - a bullet in each leg. Sharon turns to run and says "Adama wouldn't lie to me!"

Sharon returns to the camp and delivers the launch keys to Tyrol. This is the first time Sharon has seen Tyrol since he's been with Cally. She congratulates him on the birth of his son. Still shaken from her encounter with D'Anna, Sharon asks Tyrol to confirm that he and Helo spread Hera's ashes after she died. He confirms that they did (though he only really knows that someone's ashes were spread). Sharon thanks him and instructs him to tell Cally to never let her son out of her sight.

Meanwhile, Hera (renamed Isis) and her adoptive mother Maya are safely hidden in the underground bunker/headquarters. Roslin and Anders are discussing the baby. Roslin tells Anders in no uncertain terms that there is no one of higher value than Maya and her baby. They are not to fall into Cylon hands. Anders asks how far that should go - should he kill them to avoid their capture? Roslin avoids the hard answer and just tells him to not let it get to that point. Naturally, Anders asks what is so important about the baby. Roslin says that she may be the shape of things to come - a blessing or a curse.

As for the OTHER Cylon/human fruit - We don't see much of Starbuck and her newly found half Cylon daughter Kacey in this episode. They are alone in the apartment where Starbuck has been held and she is stroking Kacey's hair. She apologizes to Kasey (who is still wearing a bandage on her head from her fall on the stairs) for leaving her alone - she didn't mean for her to get hurt. Leoben watches the scene with some interest. When Starbuck gets up to leave Kasey to nap, Kasey grabs her finger and they have a tender moment. Leoben just watches.

The apple of Tigh's eye

In this episode we get to see Tigh's eye - or lack thereof. He wasn't kidding - he's got no right eye. Nothing in the socket. We see him trying to put a new bandage over where his eye used to be. Ellen enters and helps. They share a few tender words and Ellen turns slightly serious. She wants him to know that she would do anything for him. Anything. Seriously. Anything. It's the last scene for these two as a happy couple before all hell breaks loose.

After Anders and his party return from their rendezvous with Sharon, Connor finds Ellen and takes her in to custody. Ellen protests, saying this is all a big mistake. Her words fall on deaf ears, though. They know what she did.

While the key resistance folks are meeting downstairs, Connor brings Ellen in and tells Tigh that they have to talk. Naturally, at first Tigh doesn't believe it, but when Anders produces the map that they all remember Ellen took to "destroy," Tigh turns to her with a look of horror. She quickly tries to explain, telling of Cavil's threats and that she did it to protect Tigh. She had no choice! Tigh may only have one eye now, but is speaks volumes. His world just crashed in around him.

The big rescue mission

Things are a go for the big rescue mission. On the planet, the Resistance will be sewing as much chaos as they can muster when Galactica and Pegasus arrive. Wait. No Pegasus. Mathias informs the group that Pegasus won't be joining. Everyone is worried that something has happened to the Pegasus to prevent it's participation, but Mathias can't give them any more info. She says that kind of info is "beyond (her) pay grade." They continue on with their planning, describing the camp's block captains who are poised to keep their designated groups calm and organized during the evacuation. They anticipate some chaos, but hope that folks will do what they are told. Roslin turns to Anders and asks about protection for Maya and Isis. He's got two of his "best shooters" assigned to protect them. (Is your red-shirt alarm going off with these two? Mine is.)

Meanwhile on the Galactica, the flight crews are preparing for the big mission. A group gathers in the hangar where they perform a strange ritual by pouring a line of salt on the deck, reading scripture, then destroying the salt line while mingling and hugging. Apollo and Adama are elsewhere saying their good-byes. Apollo is set to take the Pegasus and lead the rest of the fleet to a designated rendezvous point where they will wait 18 hours for the Galactica. Adama instructs him to take the ships and find Earth if they are not there on time. Apollo gets VERY choked up and almost starts crying. They hug and share some long looks. Apollo boards his shuttle.

Later Helo tells Adama that the Raptor has returned with news from the planet. Sharon has retrieved the launch keys and they are ready. Adama calls his pilots to tell them things are a go. Racetrack answers the phone in the rec room and yells to Kat that it's on. Kat doesn't look thrilled. Adama heads to the bridge and addresses the crew over the com. After another inspiring Adama speech, everything is set ... for the episode's conclusion next week!

The bonus video

With the secret code word given during the episode, a sixish minute video on Scifi.com (that was only available for a few hours but may now live somewhere else) provided some interviews with Grace Park (Sharon), Aaron Douglas (Tyrol) and Mary McDonnell (Roslin) discussed the ambiguities between the humans and the Cylons - how they both do some terrible things. Douglas, wearing a great "Give that man a beer" T-shirt, describes how he often finds himself re-reading a section because he's unclear of who's doing what terrible act. The video also gave a few glimpses into the next episode. Of interest: scenes of bodies in the street as in D'Anna's dream; Baltar finds a baby; D'Anna holding a baby then walking away with it; Baltar holding gun presumably on D'Anna, while Six tells him that they have to go.

Observations, Thoughts and Questions

Will Sharon try to kill Adama again when she learns that Hera is still alive? She prizes her reinstatement in the Colonial Fleet. She even risked detection by refusing to remove her Colonial dogtags - she worked too hard to get them. So far, she actually seems like she's doing what she told Adama and Helo she'd do. At some point she is bound to find out that Hera really is alive and that Adama, Doc and Roslin lied. By grounding her new found devotion on Adama's faith in her - and his honesty, it seems almost certain that Very Bad Things will happen when she learns the truth.

Why does downloading hurt more and more? We've seen the Cylons scream and gasp as they are downloaded into their new bodies, but we hadn't heard about the pain before. Is Cavil the only one who experiences the pain? Is it some glitch with his particular model (an "older" model perhaps), or is it something they all experience gradually? If the pain increases, is that indicative of some error or fault occurring during the download? How does it effect the functioning of the model?

How did D'Anna know that Sharon was the Galactica Sharon and not another model? I was a bit surprised at how quickly she recognized her. Has she evolved into a more sensitive model thanks to her dreams?

What kind of love will D'Anna come to know simply by holding Hera? Is it a maternal kind of love? Is it that Hera is the embodiment of a love between an unlikely couple who faced impossible odds to love one another? What has changed for D'Anna? She's always been among the coldest and most self-possessed of the Cylons. While I like the evolution, it seems strange that a few dreams could bring her to question her faith so intently.

Does Cally know that it was Jammer who freed her? While Jammer never showed his face to Cally, she looked straight into his eyes and listened carefully as he told her to run for her life. Did she listen so closely because she recognized his voice? If she does know he was part of the NCP, she's sure to tell Tyrol whose wrath will surely be harsh.

Will Baltar be rescued with the rest of the humans or will he go with the Cylons? Everyone hates Baltar except for Caprica Six. It seems unlikely the humans would be very excited to take him with them during the evacuation. Even if they did, he would certainly be murdered by a bitter assassin not long after rescue. So, if not the humans, then would he go with the Cylons? Could Six win him safe passage? Would he willingly go with his captors? Left with little other choice, I image he would. Besides, it would be old-school BSG for the Baltar character to go with the Cylons.

The next episode, Exodus, Part 2, airs October 20 at 9pm ET.

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Note: Copyright to all images is held by SciFi Channel/Universal Pictures

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Posted by Shannon on October 14, 2006 9:30 AM
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