Episode Report Card Strega: B | 5 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT Paths Of Glory
By Strega | Season 2 | Episode 3 | Aired on 2005.07.29
Venner, the loneliest guard in the fleet, walks down a heavily guarded corridor. In his hand is a little bottle of pills. He hands it off to a stealthy Billy, who heads for the brig.
The Raptors arrive in orbit around Kobol. They detect a Colonial signal coming from a valley, and move down to investigate.
Down on the planet, the Galacticans are within sight of the Cylon missile launch. Crashdown tells Cally to move out for her role as decoy. Tyrol interrupts, and says that there are five Cylons at the missile launcher, not the three they expected. Baltar moans that there's something wrong with the plan. Crashdown asks if Baltar is totally sure about seeing two Cylons at the dish. Baltar ums, "I know what I saw." Tyrol says that the two from the dish could have joined the others, in which case there's nobody defending the dish right now. Crashdown moans, "That dish is, like, almost a click away." Tyrol, reasonably, asks, "So what?" His argument is cut off when there's a roaring noise, which Tyrol identifies as spacecraft entering the atmosphere. Crashdown figures that there's no time to argue; they have to take out the Cylons now, before the rescue party comes within range.
Everyone grabs their weapons and gets ready to move. Except Cally, who gets about two feet before she's almost hyperventilating. Crashdown tells her to get going. She whispers, "I can't." Tyrol takes this opportunity to argue in favor of going for the dish again. Crashdown tries to urge Cally on. Then all of that happens again. Selix moans that there are five Cylons instead of three. Baltar just looks like a frightened rabbit. Crashdown tries a more personal approach with Cally, saying, "Frack orders, frack court martial. Our people are up there. We have to save them. We don't have any time. Move!" Cally repeats that she can't, and screeches, "Nooo!" And then Crashdown points his sidearm at her. Tyrol turns, sees what's going on, and tries to calm Crashdown. Crashdown insists, "You're going out there or I'm gonna blow your brains out." He does the "I'm gonna count to three" thing as Cally sobs. Selix accurately notes, "This is crazy." Crashdown says, "One..." and then Tyrol draws his own gun on Crashdown and tells him to drop his weapon. Crashdown says, "Two..." Cally, you know, you could run the other way. Not that I really blame her if she's not thinking clearly at this point, but I'm just saying. Crashdown tearfully sniffs, "Three," and there's a gunshot. Crashdown collapses against a tree, revealing Baltar holding a gun behind him. The smoke wafting up from Baltar's barrel is a particularly nice touch, I think. Tyrol's expression says, "Fuck." Cally sobs. Baltar looks around like, "What'd I do?" And just as the tension eases, the Cylons open fire. Eek! The camera swings around to show them moving toward the Galacticans, and Tyrol screams, "Fall back!" Well, yeah. They scramble over the ground, and as he passes, Tyrol snatches the three sets of dogtags around Crashdown's neck. Baltar, being of a more practical mindset, stretches out to pick up Crashdown's rifle. Then he looks up at Crashdown's body, and then Six is standing above him. Six says, "Now you're a man." Baltar grabs the rifle and runs.