Battlestar Fodder

Battlestar Galactica: Key Points from "A Disquiet Follows My Soul"

This week we were treated to a first in the BSG production - Writer / Producer Ronald D. Moore got behind the camera and directed his first episode. You have to imagine it was quite exhilarating to see an entire episode through from beginning to end - from the page to the editing room. In an interview with Maureen Ryan, Moore said:

"I found it really, really rewarding. There's something great about knowing exactly what the intent of the scene was, what the lines meant, what this show was supposed to be about. So I always had an answer to questions, if an actor or the [director of photography] or someone in the crew asked me, "Why are we doing this?" or "What does that mean?" I had an answer. That made it a lot easier and I just found it great. I enjoyed it."

And to set us up for the intent of this episode, i think it's appropriate to post a quote Moore gave earlier in the week as a preview:

"It's a character piece. It's a smaller show; I designed it deliberately to be that way. I wanted to take a breath after the events, the shocking events, of the past couple of episodes. Things were happening huge. Revelations were coming one on top of another. And now I wanted to do a smaller piece that was just about people on the ship and where they are in their lives before the next giant arc just sort of pulls them along into even bigger events."

Although "Disquiet" was certainly a smaller show - more about intimate moments with the characters and the politics unfolding around the fleet - there were still some shockers that will resonate to the end, so let's get to the key points!

- Tigh and Caprica 6 are acting all domesticated

As I twittered during the episode, the "parental" moment between Tigh and Caprica 6 weirded me out. Yes, I understand they they've created the first successful Cylon-Cylon baby, but has Tigh already forgotten about his revelation that Ellen is the 5th, and probably still alive in some form? Or does he feel differently about their relationship at this point? I guess we'll have to wait and see when Ellen reappears. By the way, Cottle offering Tigh a cigarette is an instant classic.

- The Rebel Cylons want to become part of the fleet

Tyrol announces to Adama (in a funny they-we-i-we moment) that the Cylons will give their jump drive technology to the fleet - only if they are allowed to become part of the fleet! The fact that Adama even gives it a thought will inform events later in the episode, which I'll get into in just a bit.

- Tyrol is not Nicky's real father

In a surprising turn of events, we learn via Nicky's admittance to the sick bay that Tyrol is not his true father, and thus Nicky is fully human. The real father is Hot Dog, and after coming to fisticuffs initially, Tyrol eventually simmers down and begrudgingly instructs Hot Dog on the particulars of child-rearing.

If your'e wondering why the plot even went in this direction, here's Ron Moore from more of that Chicago Tribune interview:

"Why did you need to establish that Nicky is not the Chief's baby?

Well, we're starting to sort of resolve some of the plot threads and provide answers to things and one of the questions was, "Is Hera the only hybrid, the only Cylon-human child, or not?" If Nicky was a Cylon-human child, what does that mean? Now there's two of them. It was important to the mythology of the show that only Hera be the only one. We had always sort of said that.

So you had to sort of retrofit...

Yeah, we had to retrofit that. We knew that was going to be a problem back when we decided that Tyrol was a Cylon. We said, "OK, how are we going to deal with that?" And [someone] said, "Well, maybe at some point we just find out Tyrol's not the father." And we all kind of laughed. And then we said, "Actually, that's a very elegant solution to it." We just say, "Tyrol's not the father," and we move on.

And that's kind of how the show is. We take these gambles, then we take time to make sure it fits in with what we've got. Or we try to at least address it and make it fit into what we've got, so the mosaic is still consistent.

Does that meant that Cally cheated on the Chief? Were they together when she had her fling with Hot Dog?

I think Cottle says [the child was conceived] before they got married. I think she had some kind of relationship with Hot Dog, before she and Chief got married. But that all kind of falls into that missing year of time in between the end of Season 2 and the beginning of Season 3.

You know what, honestly, I would feel bad if, retroactively, Cally was a cheater. She went through enough.

I don't think she was cheating. The intention was not that she was cheating on Tyrol. It was that she had some kind of relationship with Hot Dog, you know, before or concurrent with, as she and Tyrol were getting together. In my mind, Tyrol, like, in a moment, proposed to her. And she was stunned and said yes, but she had probably slept with Hot Dog three weeks before or something like that. It was one of those kinds of circumstances."

- Roslin is facing her death head-on

In this episode we see Roslin make some painful decisions as she faces the fact of her death. She throws all of her pills in the trash, she continues to avoid her doloxan treatments, and when Adama confronts her about returning to duty we see that she has decided to find happiness in the remainder of her days now that the prophecy and the dreams of Earth have been devastated. Finally, we get to see a moment of joy in the closing scene - as well as a confirmation that their relationship is not some veiled friendship - as Adama and Roslin lie together in bed oblivious, for the moment, of the events going on around them.

- Viva La Revolucion!

The meat of this episode is going to lead to explosive events in the weeks to come, as can be witnessed in the preview video at the end of this article.

Tom Zarek is coming into his own as a character (as well as an actor). He is now in the perfect position to throw the government into chaos. As Vice President to a fleet where the President has suddenly gone missing, Quorum members start looking to him for leadership. And lead he does. In a stirring speech to the Quorum, Zarek highlights the corruption of power from their "leaders," which incidentally has led them nowhere. Fueled by Lee, who is just trying to settle the room, Zarek calls for a Quorum vote to empower each ship's captain to make the decision on whether Cylon technology be allowed aboard their ship. The Quorum, of course, votes in Zarek's favor.

Later, Zarek convinces the sole tylium refinery ship to mutiny and jump away from the fleet. Adama has him arrested and thrown in the brig aboard Galactica. With a classic Adama manuever, the Admiral bluffs his way into forcing Zarek to reveal the tylium ship's jump coordinates, leading to the ship's recovery by force.

In the final moments of the show, Zarek is talking with someone in his cell (out of sight of the audience), and we come to learn that Felix Gaeta has become Zarek's collaborator. You see, Gaeta has become more and more bitter towards the Cylon acceptance aboard Galactica, even after all the pain and suffering they've caused. His experience in the stranded shuttle during the webisodes (now more important than ever to go back and watch if you didn't) didn't help matters. We even see him rallying some troops together to his cause (after a hilarious confrontation with Starbuck). In the end, shaking hands with Zarek, he's finally decided to do something about what he believes is a gross injustice to the remaining humans, and plans to give Zarek his full support in resisting the Cylon alliance.

And that, my friends, makes the following preview for next week that much more exhilarating:

Let's discuss below!