Episode Report Card Strega: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Paths Of Glory
By Strega | Season 2 | Episode 3 | Aired on 07.28.2005
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Cottle finally turns up and gets to work patching up Adama. Tigh starts hitting the bottle again and losing his mind. The kids on Kobol discover a group of Cylon Centurions building a missile launcher and a dradis dish. They figure that the Cylons are preparing to take out any rescue party sent by the Galactica. An increasingly unhinged Crashdown decides that they have to attack the Cylons, and forms a cunning plan that is partly based on some bad intel from Baltar. The Quorum of Twelve arrives on the Galactica, demanding to see the Prez. As it happens, the Prez is going through chamalla withdrawal, and spending her time muttering twitchily. Ellen Tigh pays the Prez a visit, and advises Tigh to let the Quorum see their loony leader. But then Venner recognizes the Prez's mutterings as bits of scripture, and Billy figures that a religious nutbar might be just the guy to score some drugs for the Prez. After the usual bickering with Tigh, Apollo leads a rescue team to Kobol. Team Kobol is just about to attack when they realize that there are more Cylons than they expected. Cally freaks out and refuses to act as bait. Then Crashdown threatens to shoot her if she doesn't follow orders. Then Tyrol draws on Crashdown. Then Baltar shoots Crashdown, killing him. Then the Cylons open fire. And then I have a heart attack. Selix and Tyrol are both wounded as they all flee toward the Cylon dradis. Tyrol manages to take out the dish, but it looks like he might join the body count until, just in the nick of time, the cavalry arrives in the form of Apollo. Back on the Galactica, Tigh lets the Quorum see the Prez. Naturally, by then she's lucid again, and calmly explains that she's trying to find Earth, and that she's the dying leader described in prophecy. The Quorum flips out. Finally, Tigh holds a press conference and says that it's up to Adama to release the Prez, but that in the meantime, he's dissolving the Quorum and declaring martial law. On the bright side, Baltar is totally Cally's hero now. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Previously: Targ and Socinus died. A lot of unidentified people died. Adama didn't.
Dogtags hang on a branch as we pan across the Galacticans performing a funeral service on Kobol. Crashdown recites a prayer about the "everlasting life" awaiting them all. Six tells Baltar that there's no eternal life for the dead: "Only oblivion." Baltar asks if that's because the crewmen didn't see the face of God. Six -- who, I'm amused to note, is dressed more conservatively than usual for the funeral, says the problem is that they died on Kobol. They're interrupted by Tyrol, who tells Baltar that they're moving out. Baltar jumps, and then objects to Tyrol's calling him "Doc." He snits that a dock is "a platform for loading and unloading materials." Baltar picks up his own bags as he adds that he should be addressed as "Doctor" or "Mister Vice-President." Tyrol tells Baltar, "You are loading, are you not?" That seems like something Tyrol would have muttered to himself. On the other hand, he's probably not feeling as diplomatic as usual. Crashdown stares at the dogtags as if hypnotized, and Tyrol is forced to nag him back to reality as well before they can all move out. Crashdown grabs the dogtags before leaving, because later he can redeem them for a free soda.
Now they're all up on a ridge, checking the horizon through binoculars. Tyrol spots some Cylon Centurions who have landed in a clearing nearby. After some more peering, they realize that the Cylons are building something. Tyrol quickly identifies the gadget as a missile battery. Crashdown says, "At least we know why they're not chasing us." After a beat, Baltar admits that he doesn't. I like it when Baltar is the audience's stand-in. Tyrol explains that the Cylons can "launch a missile barrage that'll wipe out every living thing in this valley." Which seems peculiar. I mean, if they're willing to do that, why not just nuke Kobol from orbit or something? Of course, later we find out that they're more interested in taking out the rescue party, but that's why Tyrol's conclusion seems a bit strange.
Galactica. Billy lurks in a corridor, and we pull back through the steps of a ladder just as Cottle descends it. Which is a nice fancy shot that isn't actually distracting. I cannot say the same about some of the stuff we see later. Anyway, Cottle is griping about how long it took for him to get through the air lock, and puffing a cigarette, and just being Cottle. Yay. As Cottle hurries past, Billy yammers that the Prez needs a doctor. Cottle's response is, "Move," and off he goes. Billy's a little slow.