The Hub - Episode Review

Okay, Ron Moore, David Eick (the show's creators) and the writing staff have decided to just go dark with the tone and story developments and The Hub was downright cranky in its tone. I had hoped for elation, elevation, and enlightenment, but there was nothing of the sort this time around. Even the gentle Elosha was snarky and disputational in her many scenes with Laura. At first it seemed the Hybrid was jumping the Base ship to allow Roslin to have these visions and discussion with Elosha in That Space Between ... but by the end of the episode she was seeing and talking with Elosha right there in the presence of the Hybrid. It is Head-Elosha now? And her message from beyond? Find love in this lifetime, as in acknowledge the mutual feelings with Adama! Hmmmm, I had hoped for something a bit deeper and directed at their quest for Earth and survival. Hate to be snarky myself, but is The Beatles All You Need Is Love the next 1960s song to play in the show?

One of the absolute high points of the entire series was when D'Anna had the religious experience in the Temple of Five/Eye of Jupiter and saw in the starlight of the supernova the faces of the Final Five Cylons, and collapsed and said, "So beautiful, so beautiful." Her eyes went white and she died. Terrific scene, wonderfully acted.

And now we get a petulant and bitter D'Anna - not one who is joyous at the knowledge she now possesses. She says with utter condescension to Cavil about Boomer-Sharon, "Just put something shiny in front of her," [Mreeow] regarding her lone allegiance to the 1-4-5 side in the Cylon civil war, and then viciously snaps Cavil's neck. She seems to see poetic justice in the attack on the Hub during a her initial tête-à-tête with Cavil.

Remember how happy and fulfilled she seemed when Cavil boxed her in the Rapture episode? Hopefully the show will provide a good explanation as to the shift.

The attack on the Cylon Hub was ridiculously easy. If the Hybrid on the rebel Base ship knows when D'Anna is resurrected and can gather data about it remotely, why then didn't the Hybrids on the many other Base ships allied with the 1-4-5 faction defend the Hub in great numbers? Huge error in logic [yeah I know, the CGI budget is not unlimited] If the Hybrids can jump at will - free will - we need to know why they are willing to make war on each other - perhaps because "It likes violent vibrations ..." A tiny band of Colonial Vipers was able to get Helo and a Sharon inside the Hub and they found D'Anna quickly and easily on that big ship. Er, far-fetched - but it saved time, eh? Then they get out and the humans nuke the Hub and KerBlooiE, it's gone ... and now all Cylons are mortal. What about the smaller resurrection ships? And we've heard in the past that there are "millions" or "billions" of copies of the humanoid Cylons. Why, for one? Second, where the hell are they - especially when there be some fightin' goin' on???

Once D'Anna is brought back to the rebel Base ship she is taken by Helo (following orders) to see Roslin first - violating the deal with the 2-6-8 faction with whom they've allied themselves (D'Anna was supposed to be shared). This upsets the Sharon who had been working with Helo - she feels betrayed and we have another unstable 8 to deal with now (they had bonded over a backrub). Once at Roslin's "room" on the Base ship D'Anna is brought in and the girls talk. D'Anna looks to Roslin and taunts her that she may know about the Final Five but says, "You don't know you're one of them" and then they give us a reaction shot of Roslin. Would Sci-Fi Channel really give that away in the trailer? Sure, they gave us Tory backhanding Callie. Roslin considers it for a moment. Hold on ... it's a CHEAP fake-out, with D'Anna laughing, then saying that she's the "only 3 in the Universe" and she must now look out for herself and doesn't trust the Cylons either so no one should expect the truth from her until she feels secure.

Roslin's visions with Elosha keep showing her on her deathbad with Adama there (and Lee and Kara at one point) ... declaring his love with his presence and body language - he even places his ring on her finger after her last breath. The end of the episode is the rebel Base ship jumping to the coordinates where Adama is waiting, alone in his Raptor [good reaction shots by Eddie Olmos] and, later, on the hangar deck of the Base ship he and Roslin embrace and finally, tenderly, declare their love. Touching, but not wholly satisfying.

Subplot with Baltar was odd. He shouts at the Hybrid when it won't respond to Roslin's questions when actually it did become lucid more than once and answer, or make a statement. Roslin, a Sharon, and Baltar all discuss openly their various experiences in the Opera House vision - Hera was the focus, a need to protect her, and Roslin was shut out by a closed door, but Baltar was inside with Hera and a Six. But these questions were peppered at the Hybrid, an in almost off-hand jabs and spars. Baltar gets fed up and leaves the Hybrid chamber and goes to have a curious one-way chat with a Centurion metal model - at one point about a dog holding a biscuit on its nose until its master let it eat it - we get it ... and cue: EXPLOSION rips into the Base ship during the assault on the Hub and the Centurion is torn to shreds and Baltar seriously injured (a large gash cut into his midsection - Roman spear-zone anyone?). Good follow-up scene of Roslin tending to his injury only to react (terrific acting again by Mary McDonnell) to Baltar's delirous rant about his freedom from guilt for his terrible crime (he finally admits to her giving the access codes to the defense mainframe for the Colonies to Six and hence being responsible for the deaths of billions of humans). Roslin had gone from disdainful empathy to a flailing yet murderous intent only to rebound (after another Elosha moment) into savior mode and re-bandage the wound she had already bandaged and then tore off. Baltar drifts in and out of consciousness. And where was Head-Six ??? If EVER there a was a moment Baltar's "angel sent by God" was needed, it was this one. Curious curious creative choices. When D' Anna is brought in she shouts, "Gaius!" and tends to him and declares that "he'll live," and Roslin has a window onto that relationship. Fits and starts. Fits and starts.

Roslin and Baltar were teased as the possible Final Cylon this ep, which begs the question -What then was the point of the big Gaeta-dangle in Guess What's Coming to Dinner??? And why would Roslin and Baltar both share the Opera House vision? So far the reveals havn't had much of a payoff feeling, so hopefully the Opera House vision will be a doozy.

Sine Qua Non - Episode Review

The title refers to "an essential element or condition," and the characters in the show mention the title and give a slightly different variation. I think they could also offer these gems: Too Many Hard Left Turns. Or, Too Cute By Half. Or, Rush Job ... oh you get the picture. A misfire this time out. Some good moments, but this episode was C-O-N-T-R-I-V-E-D. I don't know if it's the credited writer's fault, or, more likely, the writing team's fault for the forced feel of this episode and its shocking but empty major developments.

As I predicted on a post weeks ago on Galactica Sitrep, Lee Adama is made president. Too much of the episode was devoted to this development. They missed a real chance to show more complexity and depth in the Tom Zarek character (and shorted Richard Hatch his big episode). And unfortunately the reintroduction of Romo Lampkin fell flat. And there was this weird moment where he says his cat has been killed and Lee Adama says the cat's been dead for weeks. Weeks went by??? Using the Romo character in this way felt gratuitous. He was rendered a lesser being than what we had known, but in doing so he wasn't made more interesting. It felt like they were giving the fans what they wanted - More Romo - but it could have been done much better. Are they going to bring back Bulldog Novacek too?

Poor Natalie (shot by wack-job Athena-Sharon) doesn't live ... she projects, and sees that favorite green forest that platinum-haired Six told Baltar she projects when he was on a BaseShip (see image in right column) while she is dying - her POV is blurry and she sees Doc Cottle, who offers the warmth of human touch in a latex glove as she expires ... and the point ??? She did seem to see the light and not be fearful.

Adama and Tigh have their big showdown scene, which works for a while, then there is this weird moment of the Tigh character in close-up with the Adama character behind him and the director had actor Michael Hogan do a contorted face reaction shot to Eddie Olmos's line - and it was campy and took you out of the moment. Then the fight continues and the big model ship is smashed - and a lame joke line is spoken to diffuse the moment. The scene started strong and fell apart. Earlier there had been a scene where Adama had told Tigh to get information from Caprica Six in the Galactica brig and he has an Ellen moment and snaps that she is playing head-games with him and it must stop. She says she's never lied to him.

While the power politics of the civilian leadership plays out Kara is made CAG again and is slightly less spacey and aloof as she has been since this clone version of her has come to the fleet. Since half the Viper wing is on the BaseShip that also has Roslin, Baltar, Helo and many Colonial pilots and support staff, the thinned Galactica and fleet personnel requires all hands, hence the suspicions about Kara are ignored this episode.

THE WHOLE SEASON IS BEGINNING TO FEEL RUSHED at this point - as if all the cool twists and turns the writers came up with are being crammed into episodes as the inexorable march toward the finale continues apace. This episode shows that some pruning or objective eyes might have helped (even the cat's).

The fight between Tigh and Adama in response to Doc Cottle informing that Tigh has impregnated Caprica Six during his visits somehow bonds them again, and Adama realizes he's in love with Roslin (but the words aren't said, yet) and he's lost his good judgement and put the fleet and the Galactica at risk in his hell-bent desire to locate her and get her back. We're told that she'll feel better at first and then worse if her cancer kicks in again. Well if Helo-Sharon amniotic fluid cured her before wouldn't Tigh-Six amniotic fluid be even better? It's beginning to get silly. They're rushing the story without tying up loose ends.

Don't get me wrong, the episode was entertaining, and I really liked some moments - the reaction shots by Jamie Bamber as Lee when Zarek tried to calm a frenzied Quorum were good, and the EVA done by Racetrack when a damaged Raptor suddenly jumped into the fleet was kinda cool. But they were few and far between this time out. When the Raptor was found, they tracked back to its last jump coordinates and found lots of Baseship debris and evidence of Colonial involvement and they surmise that the Baseship and Cylons they'd allied with must have gone and attacked the Resurrection Hub by themselves and that it and the allied Baseship may both be destroyed. And they don't know where either is at present or if one or both did survive. But we are informed by Caprica Six that only the Hybrid's can locate the Hub.

In this episode: No Baltar. No Roslin. No Basestar. No Anders. (and why not?) No TTTA meeting for once [Tigh/Tyrol/Tory & Anders].

Subplot with Athena-Sharon had a good moment when she told Adama of her vision and his contempt for these visions the women are having was palpable - that's the moment the Emmy voters should remember, not the cheesy fight scene. We get a "putting this family together" (remember Seaspon 2, Home Part I?) line again from Adama and Athena-Sharon is given Hera to stay with her in the brig (she's there, remember, since she killed Natalie) ... and Adama RESIGNS. His admits his judgement is clouded by his love for Roslin (but he didn't use the word, yet, remember) so he puts Tigh, who he just found out got Six pregnant, in charge !?!? And now "Husker" Adama is off on a solo mission, in a lone Raptor, with Roslin's burned book, to wait for her return.

A frustrating episode. Good, but just barely. The story advanced, but it felt forced and some of it unnecessary and not all that interesting, frankly. Perhaps it's just a tee-it-up-episode for great things next episode - The Hub. Fingers crossed that that's the case.

And now is probably a good time to consider some of the Hybrid's words, since she will probably factor prominently in The Hub: "The children of the one reborn shall find their own country. Intruders swarmed like flame, like the whirlwind. Hopes soaring to slaughter all their best against our hulls. Centrifugal force reacts to the rotating frame of reference. The obstinate toy soldier becomes pliant. The city devours the land...the people devour the city...All these things it wants and many more, not because it wishes harm, but because it likes violent vibrations to change constantly. But you are a spark of God's fire. Core update complete."

My guess is there will be a big battle - or they'll flashback to the battle inferred by Adama, et al in which many die - perhaps the 1s, 4s, and 5s die en masse). The one "reborn" ??? Roslin? Athena-Sharon? "It wants" ??? "Violent vibrations" ??? "Core update complete" makes me think this Hybrid (or maybe all of them) have had their own plan all along. And the show has taken "They have a plan" out of the opening credits. Perhaps most importantly in terms of story development - why all of the sudden is it okay for the Cylons and humans both to find Earth? When Natalie Six was being interrogated and later when at Roslin's sickbay bed (last ep), it seemed a given that both Cylons and humans would find Earth (even if it is the rebel Cylons). Big story shift - but glossed over.

BSG Last Supper - the blog

Look who has wings! The Last Supper image solved. Visit my other site:

http://www.bsglastsupper.blogspot.com

Final Cylon: Dangling Threads and Loose Ends

The Last Supper image has been altered (on the Sci-Fi.com/Battlestar website). The burning pot of Kamala (or whatever it is) is now extinguished and out of view (if you really look you can still see the outline of the container - it's just been color-matched to her suit).

In releasing the Last Supper image, show creator Ron Moore teased, "It's all right there," and what we see are two factions - one with the Colony Bible closed and the other with the Bible open.So it looks as if Roslin/Natalie/Tigh compose one faction who have closed the book on the Old Gods, and Adama/Athena-Sharon/Helo composing the other faction - and still believing in the Old Gods. Lee and Tyrol seem the Odd Men Out, and the couples - Baltar/Caprica Six and Kara/Anders - are in the middle, perhaps literally as well as figuratively.

Gaeta was my number 3 pick for the Final Cylon (see Last Supper post below), and after Guess What's Coming to Dinner, I think Baltar has been knocked out of contention for the job. And possibly Roslin as well - they probably cancel each other out. Those two were my first and second choices (see post at bottom of page). What they have in common is they share the vision of the Opera House, so even if they are human they are humans gifted with divine insight. And how can one be the Final Cylon and the other not? Baltar has Head-Six and now Head-Baltar and Roslin has felt Cylon attacks before they happened, twice. Gaeta has been in the thick of the action all along, and has been associated with the top person in power (Adama on Galactica and Baltar on New Caprica) - and he made short work of building those networked-computer firewalls against Cylon intrusion way back when.

Guess What's Coming To Dinner - Episode Review

How can it be expressed? All one could have hoped for and more. Guess What's Coming to Dinner blew the doors off! BSG is going exactly where I'd hoped and in strange and amazing ways ... and Gaeta's Lament - unexpected, bold, strangely beautiful (in that Bronze Age sort of way) ... and portentious. I was reminded of the song sung by Britt Ekland's character in the original 1973 version of the brilliant film The Wicker Man - it served to frame the tale yet to follow. Gaeta gave a look at the end - can he be the final Cylon? What of Roslin's visions and her sensing of events before they happened? They're frakking with our minds (and I like it).

A play on words the title, in reference to the 1967 interracial romance film Guess Who's Coming To Dinner with actor Sidney Poitier. Our factions of humans and Cylons are beginning to line up for the ultimate battle to determine all their fates at season's end (look to the Last Supper image for the factions - yes, Roslin will ally with Natalie Sixes and Tigh).

The damaged Base Star jumps into the thick of the Colonial Fleet and is viewed as hostile (despite not sending out raiders to attack) and the fleet begins a mad scramble - many ships jumping away. Galactica turns to fire but Col. Tigh yells, "Weapons hold!" (the Demetrius had trouble jumping and shows up at the last second and declares the Base Star under their control). This is artificial drama designed to set up Adama's suspicion of Tigh for later plot development - but it works. Adama is not suspicious yet because Tigh is honest, "I don't know," he says when asked why.

Anders is becoming one who feels deeply, and he is remorseful to the extreme over his maiming of Gaeta. He reports back to the TTTA meeting (where do they find the time and place to always meet in secret?) that Gaeta is singing and to him it is meaningful - met by blank stares from the others. Tory gets outed for sleeping with Baltar (and she admits her conversion to monotheism) by Roslin but is not fired, instead she is tasked with getting information to stay in Roslin's good graces. Tyrol is just a growler at this point, bitter, and aloof. Tigh seems to be a bit more comfortable, but in the braintrust meeting with Adama and Roslin advocates extreme prejudice against the Cylons because it still seems to be his comfort zone.

Really super cool dream sequences and waking warped visions: Roslin, Caprica Six, and Athena-Sharon all have another intense Opera House session - chasing, chasing little Hera - and into the arms of Caprica Six and Baltar she goes and into the main auditorium and the doors close. Panic for Athena-Sharon - in her Viper uniform. Kara has the coolest waking mental warp - things go out-of-phase and meld into memory of what the Hybrid said, "A dying leader will know the truth of the Opera House." Perhaps it's because Kara is a clone.

Little Hera is growing up and Mommy Athena does not like what she's been drawing of late: not pretty dark-haired Asian Mommy, but blonde (hissssss) Number Six.

In a previous scene Athena-Sharon wakes from her shared vision of the Opera House to find Hera standing there, staring at her and the little girl says, "Bye-bye," with finality. Chilling.

The 8 model is clearly unstable ... Athena-Sharon breaks up a lovely meet-and-greet by Hera and the Natalie Six (from the damaged Base Star) - draws her weapon and orders Tyrol to take away Hera and once she's certain Hera is out of the area blows away Natalie in cold blood, screaming, "You're not going to take my daughter!" The Marine contingent must just think the Cylons are wack-jobs.

Super cool cross-pollination of humans on the Base Star taking it over for a joint op to unbox the D'Annas at the Cylon Resurrection Hub, and Natalie Six back-and-forth to Galactica - even meeting the Quorum to sell the op.

Leoben and Base Star Sharon plot with Natalie to abandon the op after they get D'Anna but things get complicated. Is there to be a double-cross, a triple-cross, abort? They're in a fine mess. And they think they're being watched, judged, by the Final Five - my how their expectations appear poised to be dashed.

Kara goes to visit Roslin in the sick bay and quotes the Hybrid, "And a dying leader will come to know the truth of the Opera House," and that's it, Roslin has heard enough - and we're off to see the Hybrid. Helo is tasked to arrange it and before you know it Baltar is being marched down to the hangar deck (cleaned up) and loaded onto a Raptor and sitting there is ... Roslin. "You are in my visions, " she tells him - they are going to get some answers dammit.

BSG is brilliant at building to a climax, and the marching of our characters and the edits back-and-forth between the action in different places (combined with the music) - is perfectly executed. A Sharon leads Roslin and Baltar to the Hyrid Chamber on the damaged Base Star while on Galactica Natalie Six and Hera approach from opposite directions and meet. Hera loves Six instantly and wants to hold her, and the Natalie Six is overjoyed. Then the unstable 8 shows up (this woman shouldn't be allowed near weapons) ...

Our poor Geata is healing after Doc Cottle took the lower half of his right leg and he heals by singing - even when he's asleep it seems - a wonderful lament, hypnotic and full of emotion (see article on Galactica Sitrep or composer Bear McCreary's site [http://www.bearmccreary.com/blog/?p=349] about this song) ... Geata's soul is expressing itself as he heals. He peers directly at camera at close - a very very knowing look. Methinks he has a 50% chance at being the Final Cylon at this point. I believe he knocked Baltar out of the running with this episode.

The episode climaxes with Roslin ordering the Hybrid to be plugged in and the moment she is awake she says with all her being, "Jump," and the Base Star is gone.

Attention Sci-Fi Channel

Sci-Fi Channel: What are you doing? The first three episodes of Season 4 were available on the Sci-Fi website in their entirety, then we got 20 minutes, now ten (which was basically an extended teaser when you add the credit sequence and recap). At this point, why bother at all? At the very least, offer an explanation as to why there was this shift. Did you find it affected ratings? What? The market is entering an era of "free the content" and your last moves run counter to this clear trend. Wake up.

Faith - Episode Review

Transcendent. Enthralling. Beautiful. One of the best episodes of the series. Some of the most amazing visual artistry yet in the series - unique and sophisticated - from the visual effects to the sets to the production design choices. The music, perfect. The script, outstanding. The directing - superb.

And I thought Michael Trucco didn't have the acting chops to pull off being one of the Final Five. His performance was a revelation. Mary McDonnell continues to astonish with her bravura acting skills. Tricia Helfer's consistent high-level work should not go unremarked as she is asked to play several characters and variations thereof again and again and makes them soulful and resonant.

The story picks up immediately where Road Less Traveled ended - Geata gets shot by Anders to stop the Demetrius from jumping back to the Galactica. Kara swings into action (and is snapped back to reality) as she treats Gaeta's severe wound (we see bone and all as Kara snaps the bone back in place, pours on blood clot powder and bandages the wound). She assembles Anders, Sharon "Athena," Leoben and a Redshirt to take a Raptor shuttle to the damaged Base Star so as to not risk the entire crew of the Demetrius.

Upon arrival at the damaged Base Star coordinates, a huge field of debris meets them - evidence of the massacre by the Cavil faction of the 2-6-8 alliance - and must be navigated to find the Base Star. Kara is awash with realization and mystical insight as she sees the image from her mind - that she had painted. The "comet" is the Base Star forward of their position among the rings of a gas giant planet (not Jupiter).

This binds the Kara-Leoben orbits more tightly - she had heard a kind of music in her head upon her mysterious return to the fleet and Leoben comments, "The unstruck music vibrates within us all, few can hear it." Her sudden desire to take a Viper and go outside the Demetrius coinceded exactly with the Leoben's appearance. And her painting - was the image she needed to see to to confirm what Leoben was saying was true - that she needed to talk with the Hybrid.

Some of the best moments of the series are when we see the functioning of the Cylon technology and gain insights into their culture, and this episode shows more of the flesh-based aspects of the damaged base star as tissue enfolds the landing area of the Colonial Raptor as Kara, et al, arrive at the severely damaged Base Star. A tense negotiation precedes a shockingly violent exchange in which a platinum-haired Six recognizes a crewman who had killed her once and she viciously and abruptly murders her in response. Chilling. A Natalie Six model intervenes and the standoff is defused and a truce is cemented with the platinum-haired Six sacrificing herself - "Is that enough human justice for you - blood for blood?" Natalie Six intones, disgusted at the eye-for-an-eye exchange. It is remarked that it may blind or kill the Hybrid to pull her offline as they need to do to reroute the FTL jump drive. Anders - evolving before our eyes - seems desperate to touch the control screen but does not get the chance.

We get reveals of Cylon individuality as a group of Sharons urge Athena-Sharon to side with them against the Sixes - whom they believe has made bad choice after bad choice. The Sharons tell her, "You were the first ... the first to say 'no' - to the entire plan ... you had a child. You showed us we didn't have to be slaves to our programming." Athena-Sharon tells them you have to "pick a side and stick [with it]," in order to truly be a person. The gentle nature of the Sharons is revealed in this scene, as well as the conflicted aspect of the Sharon model generally [which makes me think the Boomer Sharon will commit suicide or betray the Cavils at the end]. Leoben is taken to task for his fixation with Kara, "We've tried to be patient with your model's obsession with this woman."

At the Hybrid chamber there is argument but Kara approaches and listens, not making sense of the roundabout statements of the Hybrid who is aloof from them despite their presence. Leoben tells her she must let the statements wash over her and the clarity will emerge - but it doesn't - "The obstinate toy soldier becomes compliant. The city devours the land." The decision is made to disconnect the Hybrid per the agreement so they can bypass the damaged Base Star FTL drive and use the Raptor's to get the Base Star clear of the area lest the Cavils and 4s and 5s come back to finish the job (and we have that ticking clock). This provokes the lone Centurion metal model to aim its hand artillery weapon to protect the Hybrid and gunplay ensues with the metal model taken out and the Sharon model doing the disconnect mortally wounded by the Centurion.

With visual poetry, her blood drips into the Hybrid's tank. Sam Anders tenderly holds the Sharon as she expires since Athena-Sharon will not. He tells her, "I'm with you." Kara pleads, "What do you want from me?" To which the Hybrid becomes lucid and raises her hand and brushes Kara's face gently and gives them the answer in her cryptic riddle-like way "Ask, will it come to pass? The dying leader will know the truth of the opera house. The missing three will give you the five, who have come from the home of the thirteenth. You are the harbinger of death Kara Thrace. You will lead them all to their end. End of line."

Together the Cylons and humans decode the message: D'Anna is the missing 3 and they need to get to the Resurrection Hub to free her so she can identify the Five, and the Five are from Earth - home of the Thriteenth Tribe of humans. Now they have an agenda - well, several agendas - but clear direction nonetheless.

For a full account of the Hybrid's words, visit:
http://forums.scifi.com/index.php?showtopic=2307489

The most important of the Hybrid's words are: "You are the harbinger of death Kara Thrace, you will lead them all to their end." It is important to focus on the words "all" and "end." "All" means everybody, so it is not a statement that everybody dies or else we have no story to start over again when the cycles of time repeat and all that. And "end" is not the same as saying, "You will lead them all to their deaths."

Meanwhile, back at the Galactica Roslin is undergoing cancer treatment in Doc Cottle's medical bay and befriends another female patient much worse off than she. Enough cannot be said of the skill level as an actress of Mary McDonnell. In these brief scenes we get to witness the full range of what is possible when a superior talent is given superior material. I must admit, her performance wetted my eyes with tears. Also, we finally get some perspectiveon these competing religious systems told in the plain language of regular folks. They question it all - the whole notion of gods, and how they could be so capricious. Roslin is told of a dream - of a mystical journey across a river to a far shore where dead loved ones await "I felt a loving feeling and he said 'I'm with you,'" her friend tells her. Then Roslin has the same dream, and sees off her new friend then sees her own beloved mother and loved ones on this shore. Very powerful stuff, deep, and Roslin tells her mother "I'm not ready," and she backs away and wakes up. She tells Adama of this dream and that it is to be taken seriously, and that Baltar - who has been speaking out publicly on illegal radio transmissions about this river and this other plane of existence - is perhaps to be looked at in a new way.

We have a brief scene where Roslin (with a bad hair-covering baldness prosthetic) commends Tory for her turnaround and excellent work and tells her to be ready to handle more responsibility - and is Tory ready for that? Oh yes, she is. And poor Gaeta left back on Demetrius for 15+ hours should be given a t-shirt that says, "I was just being a loyal soldier, and all I got was this lousy gangrene."