Previously: Starbuck was respected, protected, suspected, rejected, dejected, and ejected.
We open on Boomer telling the Galactica that Hotdog is aboard her ship. Crashdown adds, "So's his lunch." Heh. Boomer continues, "No sign of Starbuck, he says she was hit. Still in the fight when he lost track of her." Over a pretty shot of Hotdog's abandoned Viper drifting in space, Dualla tells Boomer that rescue ops are underway for Starbuck. I wonder if they're going to retrieve Hotdog's ship for parts.
Flight deck. Adama listens as Boomer explains where she found Hotdog. Since Hotdog says that Starbuck was still maneuvering when he lost sight of her, Boomer figures Starbuck could still be alive. Adama corrects her: "She is alive, Lieutenant. We're gonna find her." He tells Crashdown to take Hotdog to sickbay, and leaves. Apollo, who's been perching nearby silently, takes off his flight wings and pins them on Hotdog. Well, not directly on Hotdog, because that would be mean; they're pinned onto his clothes. Apollo tells Hotdog, "I think you earned those today." Hotdog continues to look vaguely ill.
Apollo strides off as a crewmen tells him that his ship's doohickey is whatzised, but that it's still flyable. Apollo orders, "Polish up the canopy, I want it crystal clear." Jeez, control freak. Oh, for the search. Right. Apollo climbs into his Viper and fastens a shiny metal collar around his neck. Wow, control freak! Oh, to seal his suit. Adama hands Apollo his helmet and says, "Find her." Apollo says that he will.
Starbuck is lying, unconscious, on the surface of the moon. Suddenly, she's dragged a few feet along the ground. And then again. She wakes up, and we see that her parachute is dragging her along in the strong winds. I like this bit. Starbuck's pulled rapidly over the ground, tumbling over ditches and crashing into rocks as she tries to untangle her feet from the lines. She finally pulls out a small knife and cuts through the lines. The parachute blows away. Starbuck coughs and moans, tries to stand, and then rolls over, wincing and holding her right knee. She finally sits up and looks around at the dusty nothingness.
Credits. This episode had some highly questionable parts, but for me the main problem was that we didn't get enough sense of time passing. I know they kept hitting us with shots of the countdown clock, but I don't see the exhaustion and desperation increasing among all the characters as they spend two days in frantic action. A lot of Starbuck's scenes, in particular, might seem slightly less ridiculous if we saw her getting increasingly hungry and tired as her time runs out. At least then it might feel like she's earned her rather extraordinary good luck. As long as I'm rewriting, I think that they were probably too determined to make Starbuck's crash the dividing point between episodes. Yes, it's the most dramatic place to do it, but last week felt a little padded, and this one could have benefitted from more time.
Adama's quarters. Gaeta lets us know that the search parties have been looking for Starbuck's ship for four hours without any luck. Adama asks about Starbuck's course computations, and Gaeta says they're no help. Adama figures they need to start guessing.
CIC, where guesswork is their business. Gaeta figures Starbuck fell into a gravity well. Tigh notes that only candidates are a nearby gas giant, and a moon. He adds, "If the gas giant pulled her in, its radiation would fry her like an egg." I wonder if that would make her Starbuck-eggy. That's a little joke for the deer-hunting sci-fi fans who read TWoP. I'm all about the niche demographics. Gaeta says that the moon's atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide, methane, and argon. He adds, "It's cold as hell down there, but she could survive on the surface." Tigh cheerfully adds, "Until her oxygen runs out." Gaeta says that Starbuck has about forty-six hours worth of oxygen. A helpful readout begins a countdown to Starbuck's asphyxiation. Tigh asks if they're going to hang around for days when the Cylons might reappear at any time. Adama figures that, since there was no base ship, the Cylons must be searching in a lot of places. Tigh compares the Cylon strategy to "staking out water holes in the desert." He says that if the humans were searching a star system for a feet, it would take them weeks. Adama figures it'll take the Cylons days. Tigh notes that Adama's making a lot of assumptions. Adama sniffs, "Educated guess," and asks for details about searching the moon. Tigh says that the hydrocarbons in the cloud cover messes with their sensors. Adama says they'll send the ships below the clouds: "Take a hard look the old-fashioned way." Gaeta somewhat uncertainly says, "Mark One Eyeball, sir." Adama repeats, "Mark One Eyeball." That was kind of silly. Dualla announces that the Prez is calling.
The Prez tells Adama that everyone's glad to know he found one of the missing pilots. Baltar enters her jury-rigged office as she mentions that the civilian ships have offered to lend a hand in the Starbuck hunt "if it'll increase the odds of finding her." Adama snaps, "Frack the odds, we're gonna find her." The Prez blinks.
Cut to CIC, where Adama excuses himself and thanks the Prez for the offer of help, while Tigh watches with slight concern.
The Prez says she'll coordinate things with CIC, and continues to look bewildered as she concludes the call. Baltar takes a seat and hands the Prez a folder. As the Prez looks over whatever-it-is, Six appears in a crazy blue dress with a scarf as a top that reminds me of the things they used to use on the original Star Trek. She sits on the edge of the desk and notes that the fleet will be staying put for a while. And then she puts her foot on Baltar's hand, which is resting on his thigh. Baltar jerks his hand up and clutches his wrist, looking like a kid who's asking for a bathroom pass. The Prez asks if he's okay. Baltar wiggles his fingers like he's just having an attack of carpal tunnel syndrome. Six asks Baltar how long it'll be before the Cylons come looking for their missing ships. Yeah, that part does seem to be missing from Adama's calculations. Baltar grumps, "You have attacked us hundreds of times. We're still here." Hmph. I like it when Baltar carries on simultaneous conversations; this one's clearly only happening in his head. No fun. Six points out that the fleet is spread out, searching for Starbuck, and says that the Cylons will appear in three days at the outside. She also starts kissing Baltar's fingertips. The Prez hands Baltar a "requisition," and Baltar does some more "No, I swear, my wrist hurts" gestures before taking the papers back. Baltar gets up to leave, allowing us a glimpse of the Whiteboard of Extinction (47,958), and then turns back. He apologizes for his impertinence, but asks if its a good idea to put the whole fleet at risk for the sake of one pilot. The Prez says that the pilots risk their lives for the fleet every day. Baltar says, "I was just saying that to, uh..." as Six leans down into the frame. He says that he knows the missing pilot, and the Prez seems interested in that. Six whispers, "Not as personally as you'd like. Guess you'll never get to find out if she's a real blonde." Baltar quickly tells the Prez that he's torn because of that, but then there are "thousands of defenseless women and children and men throughout the fleet." The Prez sternly says she's sure Adama is aware of the risks, and thanks Baltar for his concern. Baltar "Of course"s his way out.
Starbuck has opened a little kit of some kind, and is wrapping yellow tape around her knee. That done, she pulls out a gizmo that I feel comfortable assuming is a radio. And then she looks at it with disgust and throws it away. So I guess it was broken in all the tumbling. She checks her oxygen: 3/4ths of a tank left. Then she pulls out a little dipstick-type thing, and pulls a tube out of it. The tube is bright green at first, then quickly turns red. I'm really pleased at how this is all done without her expositioning things like, "Alas, the stick is red, which means I cannot breathe this atmosphere." So naturally, this is when she starts talking to herself. Oh well. Starbuck mutters that she needs to get to higher ground, so that she can be spotted. I guess that would be hard to convey nonverbally, so I'll give them a pass on that one.
Apollo is flying over the moon's surface, and the ship is shuddering in turbulence. He tells the Galactica, "We are being bounced around like beach balls down here." The closed captions say "passed around like beach balls." I think the captioner must play some very dull games. ["Maybe the captioner just thinks bouncing a ball is too advanced for Apollo." -- Wing Chun] He mentions the poor visibility, and then demonstrates the point by almost crashing into the side of a cliff.
Caprica. Day 15. In the fallout shelter, Boomer is in a hammock when she's awakened by the sound of Helo tuning his radio to various kinds of static, looking for this week's "Church of the Air." Helo says that he doesn't think there's anyone left. Boomer sleepily insists, "We can't be the only two people left in the world." Helo reports that his leg's better, and that they have enough anti-radiation meds for several months. Boomer agrees that it's time to go look for a ship, "unless you can think of a reason to stay." Helo admits that he doesn't want to go back out, saying, "I've almost started to think of this place as --" Boomer chimes in, "Home." Boomer starts to get up, but Helo tells her to sleep in: "Who knows when we'll find clean sheets again?" He says he's going to go make breakfast upstairs.
Heh. This bit's still funny. Helo drops some futuristic pop-tarts into a gorgeous art deco toaster that I covet. Although I'd never use it, since I don't really make a lot of toast, so I guess I'll just admire it from afar. He whistles cheerfully as he picks up some plates from the restaurant's kitchen. Suddenly there's the sound of glass smashing. Helo ducks behind the kitchen counter and watches the shadow of something that makes clanking noises entering the front part of the restaurant. Helo edges around the kitchen. Some other piece of shiny chrome kitchenware shows the distorted reflection of a shiny chrome Cylon in the dining room. Helo pulls out his gun, and the Cylon clanks its way back toward the door. I wonder if the Cylons originally came up with the humanoid model because they were tired of making so much noise when they walked. Helo edges up to a leaded glass divider, through which we see the Cylon blurrily walking by. And then a second Cylon stops right by the glass. I know it's not clear glass and everything, but has it occurred to Helo that if he can see the Cylon through it, it might be able to spot him? I know the kitchen's dark and everything, but in his situation I'd assume that Cylon vision might be better than mine. Then Helo looks back across the kitchen, where the toaster is happily cooking breakfast. This is how John Travolta bought it, Helo. Through the glass, we can see that the Cylon has popped out its silly wrist-mounted guns. Smoke rises from the toaster. Helo, what is your plan here, exactly? And then the toaster pops breakfast up with a cheery "ding." The Cylon whips around at the noise. Boomer suddenly walks out of the stairwell, asking, "Is breakfast ready?" And then she gasps as the Cylon turns toward her. You know, all this time I've assumed that this Boomer knows she's a Cylon. It only just occurred to me during this episode that she might not. Hm. It's more amusing to me if she knows, so I guess that's why I assumed she did. Helo jumps out and shoots the Cylon in the back a couple of times as Boomer retreats into the stairwell. The second Cylon clanks toward the kitchen, and knocks its partner out of the way. Heh, I liked that, too. Helo shouts at Boomer to get out, fires at the second Cylon a few times, and then dives behind the counter as the Cylon opens fire. The Cylon rakes the area with gunfire, and the obligatory "glasses exploding in gunfire" scene is gotten out of the way. A large pot falls from the counter and conks Helo on the head. And I think the toaster does, too, although on review I'm not positive. It's definitely funnier if it does.
Starbuck is hobbling up a hill and carrying on a conversation with the Lords of Kobol. She explains to them that she's running low on oxygen, and could use a lucky break. The gods suggest that she just talk to them in her head, in order to do something to earn her luck. After a beat, she says, "No? Okay, just thought I'd mention it." The gods sigh wearily. As she comes to the top of the hill, she sees the Cylon Raider resting on the other side. She gasps, "Oh, frack," and flattens herself against the ground. Then she pulls out her sidearm and stands up again, aiming at the ship as she descends toward it.
They made a full-size model of a Cylon ship! That's pretty cool. Starbuck walks up to the ship, her gun still at the ready. Nothing happens. On the right side of the, well, "head," is a neat puncture, with red ooze staining the area around the hole. Starbuck laughs, "Not bad shooting, if I do say so myself." She tells the Lords of Kobol that she owes them, and then tells the ship, "Looks like I found my ride outta here. If I can fix you up."
Apollo tells CIC that he's low on fuel. Dualla tells him to return to the Galactica. Apollo peevishly asks why he can't refuel from a tanker in orbit, and Dualla says that the tankers are refueling, too. According to the captions, Apollo's reply is, "Grr!"
CIC. Gaeta explains to Adama that the ships have to run their engines constantly because they're flying inside an atmosphere. Oh, that's a neat point. Tigh says that civilian ships haven't found anything, and points out that the fleet is dangerously spread out if the Cylons appear. He suggests moving into a defensible formation. Adama says no: "We've left enough people behind." Tigh argues, and Adama bellows, "I said no!" Yipe, yipe, yipe. Adama pauses just long enough for me to wonder if he's going to apologize, but instead he commits himself to Tantrumville: "We're gonna find our missing pilot! And we're gonna bring her home! We leave no one behind." He turns to look at Gaeta, who's just staring at him, and orders them both to resume their duties.
Helo wakes up. Apparently, while Helo was unconscious, the Cylons put blue gels on all the lighting, and then snuck away on their clanky tip-toes. Helo calls out for Boomer. He looks for her downstairs, and then goes outside and wanders down the street shouting her name.
Starbuck is lying on the ground under the Raider, examining the hull. She finds a round protrusion and tries turning it, and then pushing it. A panel on the underside of the ship slides open. Inside is what appear to be a very large slice of roast beef. Starbuck pulls out her knife, and I start to wish I hadn't eaten dinner. When she pokes the beef with her knife, it shudders. And so does Starbuck. Then she slices it, and, well, juice starts pouring out. Ew. Starbuck cuts away, and, mercifully, so do we.
Flight deck. Tyrol and Apollo trade technobabble to establish that the moon's atmosphere is hell on the ships. Apollo asks for another Viper, and Tyrol explains that there aren't any. Apollo's like, "Yeah, but I really, really want another ship." Tyrol points out that there still aren't any. Apollo threatens to hold his breath till he turns blue. Number of ships Tyrol offers Apollo: 0. Finally Apollo says, "I'm the CAG, you're the Chief -- just make it happen."
Gaeta tells Adama that Starbuck has five hours' worth of oxygen left. Adama says, "Thanks, because it's not like I can read the great big countdown clock all by myself." Gaeta then shows Adama a "photo mosaic for the area [they've] searched so far." It sounds like he's doing craft projects, doesn't it? Adama and Tigh debate search strategy, and then Apollo arrives with a suggestion: "Redeploy the Combat Air Patrol to the search." Tigh says that the CAP is the fleet's only defense, so Apollo suggests bringing the rest of the fleet closer to the moon: "We can always scramble the Vipers from the search to meet any attack." Tigh seems to think that's ridiculous, but I'm not sure why. Actually, this sounds so reasonable that I'm not sure why it's taken so long for them to do it. Tigh insists, "Starbuck would be the first one to tell you not to do this." Okay, but seriously: why? Apollo sneers, "Nothing would make you happier, would it? Leave her behind, get rid of the foul-mouthed insubordinate pilot that keeps challenging your authority." Whoa. Speaking of insubordinate pilots... Tigh -- whom I have more respect for every week -- keeps his cool as he replies, "I'm not the one confusing personal feelings with duty." Apollo says, and I quote, "Oh yeah?" Ha! He asks what Tigh means, and Tigh probably wishes he had a whiteboard of his own at this point so he could draw a chart for Apollo. Forced to make do without visual aids, Tigh says, "You are way too close to this because she is your friend --" at which point Apollo grabs Tigh in fury, all, "How dare you say she's my friend!" I think Apollo might actually be insane. Although this is one of those parts where it helps to bear in mind that they've been doing this for over forty hours now, so everyone's cranky. Anyway, Adama intervenes, saying that there's work to be done. He calls Apollo, who gives Tigh a little "I can't believe you had the nerve to say I'm friends with Starbuck. I'm gonna remember that, buster" head-jerk and steps away. Adama tells Apollo, "Get as many birds up in the air as you can and you find our girl." Apollo says he'll do that. But he said that before, so that shows how reliable he is. Exit Apollo.
In the interval, Starbuck has apparently cleared out most of the roast beef. I believe that she's also used the tape to write her name on the wings, for the record. She nervously starts to climb inside the Raider and peers around with a flashlight. It looks like someone turned a whale inside out. Inside a blender. Starbuck mutters, "You bite me and I'll bite you back." Not through your helmet you won't. She spots a big lump of blubber that a lot of tubes connect to, and declares, "This must be your brain." She starts pulling the tube connections out and removes the blubber. Then she gasps a little and checks her gauge: just under a quarter-tank left. Which has to be more than five hours of air, but she seems to run out right on time later, so...I'm confused. She grumbles at the ship, "Even cockroaches have to breathe. How the hell do you?"
Apollo is helping to repair a ship when he gets a phone call from the Prez. She asks how it's going, and what he was thinking about, and whether they should have the Laphams over for cocktails Thursday. Apollo mentions that they're building a new Viper out of bits and pieces of disabled ships. The Prez finally gets to the point, and asks, "Do you know that your father just redeployed the Combat Air Patrol?" Apollo says that actually, it was Apollo's suggestion. The Prez politely asks whether they're leaving the fleet defenseless. Apollo, ever Mister Sunshine, explains that it'll only be for a little while, "because after that, Kara's oxygen will be gone, and she'll be dead." The Prez kindly asks if Apollo and Adama were close friends with Starbuck. Apollo officiously evades the question, saying that they care about all of the pilots and don't want to leave anyone behind. The Prez notes, "But we have left people behind; you know that." Apollo says they won't this time, and quickly says that all the ships should be ready to go FTL in case of an attack. The Prez starts to say something about "the safety of the fleet," but Apollo interrupts her: "We just haven't exhausted all the options, and the safety of the fleet has not been compromised." The Prez finally wishes them luck, and ends the conversation.
CIC. Starbuck has one minute left on the big clock. Gaeta says that "Blue Flight" is low on fuel, and Adama advises sending the tanker to them. Gaeta looks at the clock and hesitates. When Adama prompts him, Gaeta mentions that refueling in the atmosphere is tough because of the turbulence: "I suggest we wait until the clock has run down and then tank them up on the way back." Adama wonders who ordered the ships back. Gaeta says, "I just assumed..." Adama continues the thought: "The search was over. That it was hopeless. That we should write Starbuck off as dead -- is that what you're telling me, Mr. Gaeta?" Gaeta eeps, "No, sir." Throughout this conversation, Adama just watches the clock tick down, never looking at Gaeta. Adama asks what Gaeta is saying. The time on the clock runs out, and a buzzer sounds. Tigh and the rest of the crew look at Adama. Adama says,"You have your orders." Gaeta tetchily marches off, and it's Tigh's turn at bat. He tells Adama that Starbuck's out of oxygen. Adama says that the time on the clock was just a guess. Tigh says, "Her tank only holds so much oxygen." Adama sounds quite reasonable as he says that Starbuck could have been carrying more oxygen in her survival gear. I don't mean that I think he is being reasonable, but he makes it sound less insane. Tigh is not as easy to impress as I am, though. He scoffs, "What, she just happened to pack an extra bottle today?" Tigh says they're putting other people, and more ships, at risk in this search. As Tigh goes on, Adama very calmly and quietly says, "We are not quitting. And you are relieved, Colonel." I was completely shocked by that. And so, I think, is Tigh. But he quickly straightens his posture, salutes, and says, "I stand relieved, sir." And out he goes. The rest of the crew on CIC trade nervous glances. Adama, you'd better find another bottle of whiskey somewhere in the fleet, because jeez.
Starbuck continues to fiddle with the whale entrails as her oxygen gauge reads "empty." She gasps, "You're part biological, right? Which means that you need oxygen, right?" Maybe the Cylons don't need very much oxygen because they don't talk to themselves out loud, Starbuck. It's not just the issue of conserving air, it's also that I think a lot of these survival scenes might have been scarier if they'd been mostly silent. Or, like, a Kubrick thing where we just heard Starbuck's breathing get faster. I do like that her helmet visor is starting to fog over, though. Starbuck yanks another tube apart, and there's a hissing sound. Uh oh, I think she found the cord that releases the giant snakes. Starbuck pulls out another dipstick, opens it, and aims the end of the tube at the rod. The rod turns green as the escaping gas hits it. Starbuck weakly unfastens her helmet and makes some awful wheezing sounds before she manages to pop the tube into her mouth and breathe.
Dualla tells Adama that the Prez is on the phone. Adama answers, and listens as the Prez offers her condolences on the loss of Starbuck. Adama calmly tells the Prez that she's been misinformed: "We don't know if Starbuck's dead." He explains again that Starbuck could have a reserve supply of oxygen, and says that they'll keep looking "as long as there's a chance she may be alive." The Prez asks how long that will be. Adama says that's a military decision, thanks the Prez for her concern, and hangs up.
Starbuck apparently really would rather talk than breathe, since she's still chattering away with a giant air-tube in her mouth. She explains that she'll have to seal up the hole in the hull, and then figure out how to fly the ship. Well, honestly, I would have guessed that without her narration. Then she takes a hunk of blubber, wraps it up in her flight jacket, and squishes the wad into the hole. The whistling sound of the wind stops. She squirms around a bit, then lets the air-tube pop out of her mouth and just blow toward her face, since the ship is sealed. After a minute she sniffs and announces, "One of us needs a bath."
CIC. Apollo is going over their "mosaic" with Adama, when Dualla reports that the Prez's shuttle is requesting permission to land. Adama asks why nobody told him that the Prez was en route, and Dualla says that nobody knew about it. At a look from his father, Apollo says, "I didn't know she was coming." Adama tells Dualla, "Have Colonel Tigh meet her at the airlock and bring her to my quarters, please." He and Apollo head out.
Starbuck expositions the four Aristotelian unities of flight: "Power, pitch, yaw, and roll." Now if she can just find any of those things on the Raider. She looks around at the bits of blubber and finds something lever-like encased in slime. Yeah, I don't know. Once we knew there was a giant blubbery brain that was part of the ship, I sort of figured she would have to fly it by, like, turning her flashlight into a tiny electric prod and zapping various bits like it's a dissected frog. The idea that there's a cyborg brain, attached to cyborg muscles that have to actually yank on levers in order to operate the ship...I'm having trouble with it. Oh well. Starbuck pulls the lever gently, and we see the Raider's guns blast away at the defenseless moon. Starbuck looks shocked as she gasps, "Safety tip #1: don't touch that."
Tigh and the Prez are pedeconferencing. Tigh asks if the Prez is going to order them to halt the search. The Prez says, "I came here to talk, not to give orders." Tigh grunts that she may have to give an order. The Prez stops suddenly and asks if there's something she should know. Tigh says that it's become personal for Adama and Apollo. The Prez says, "Because of Lieutenant Thrace." Tigh replies, "Because of her, and because of Zak Adama." He concludes that "it would take about three weeks to explain." Heh. The Prez bustles toward Adama's quarters, and tells Tigh to talk fast.
Adama's quarters. Adama and Apollo are waiting nervously. Adama says, "She's gonna press." Just as the Prez enters, Apollo says something he probably never expected to say to his father: "I'm with you." Adama starts to greet the Prez, but she tells him to skip the formalities. Adama says that ending the rescue mission is a military decision. The Prez snaps, "That's a bunch of crap." Tigh watches her from the background. I'm sorry, but I really like Tigh. And you just know he's like, "Normally I think she's an idiot, but right now I'm rootin' for the schoolteacher." The Prez opens fire immediately: "Neither of you can let go of Kara Thrace because she's your last link to Zak." Oh, direct hit! All hands to battle stations! Apollo starts to argue, and the Prez blasts him with a stern "Don't even begin, Captain," which puts him out of commission. She says that they've both lost perspective, and notes, "Under normal circumstances, it would just be sad that the two of you can't come to terms with Zak's death. In this situation, you're putting your pilots at risk and you're exposing the entire fleet to possible attack every moment we stay here." Red alert! Incoming! Adama has his guilt-defense shields at full power, and fires back with his estimate that the Cylons won't turn up for another day at least. That bounces harmlessly off of the Prez's reinforced armor as she asks Tigh how much fuel they've used in the search. Tigh answers, "43% of reserves." Ouch, a sneak attack; I think Adama's engines were hit. The Prez says that they've used almost half the fuel reserve, and a third of the fighters are out of commission. She summarizes the situation as "completely unacceptable." Adama takes a defensive position and fires back: "Whatever it is you feel about this, the recovery of one pilot is a military matter." But that turns out to be a dud when the Prez uses the ultimate weapon: the Mark Antony Maneuver. She says, "It's military, fine. And you're both officers and you're both honorable men and you're both perfectly aware that you are putting the lives of over 45,000 people and the future of this civilization at risk for your personal feelings. Now, if the two of you, of all people, can live with that, then the human race doesn't stand a chance." Aieee! Guilt bomb! Hit the self-destruct button! Abandon ship! She concludes, "Clear your heads," and exits. Adama and Apollo look at each other for a second, then Apollo picks up the phone. He asks for CIC, and then gives the phone to Adama, who orders, "Terminate search operations. Bring everyone home." Adama says that the fleet should get ready to jump: "We're leaving."
Starbuck announces, "It either works or it doesn't." Seems reasonable to me. She strokes the gooey equipment lightly and the engines fire up. She chortles as the ship shudders and lifts up off the ground, hovering shakily. Starbuck peers out through the visor and lets us know that she's found the main controls. Thanks. She giggles, "Take me home!" and fiddles with some more blubber. The ship moves forward, swerves, and begins to climb. Starbuck gasps, "You stink, but you are one hell of a flying machine." The Raider zips straight up through the atmosphere and into space.
As they walk down the corridor, Apollo tells Adama, "I think she's wrong. I think we have come to terms with what happened to Zak." Adama gruffly says, "I haven't." Heh. Apollo, understandably, has no response to that. As Adama enters CIC, Apollo stops and suddenly says, "I need to know something." Adama stops just inside the doorway, and Apollo moves closer and asks, "Why did we do this? Was it for Kara? For Zak? For what?" Adama says, "Kara was family. You do whatever you have to do. Sometimes you break the rules." In retrospect, I think this is supposed to signal that Adama understands why Starbuck passed Zak through Basic Flight. And...okay, kind of, but it seems like the lesson in both cases is that love is not a good justification for doing crazy, stupid things, and I'm not sure if Adama's picking up on that. Apollo nods and then asks what would have happened if Apollo had been the missing pilot. Adama looks like he's been slapped, and frowns as he gasps, "You don't have to ask that." Apollo reminds me of Kermit the Frog sometimes. I don't know why, I just wanted to mention it. Apollo asks, "Are you sure?," which is needier that I care for. Adama steps closer to Apollo and his voice doesn't quite crack but comes close as he says,"If it were you, we'd never leave." Man. Apollo looks gobsmacked, and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he's more shocked at seeing the level of emotion. Alternatively, Bamber may just thinking, "My lord, Olmos is good." He exhales shakily, and exits. Aw.
Tigh is standing at attention as Adama walks up to him and the Prez. Adama tells him, "Resume your duties." Tigh says that all fighters are aboard, and that the fleet has started to jump to the system: "You give the word, we'll start out clock." What happens if the fleet accidentally hops right in the middle of a bunch of Cylons? That would suck, wouldn't it? Now I hope that happens. Don't tell me if it does. Don't quote this bit in the forums and then say something in spoiler tags, either. Forget I brought it up. Adama tells Tigh to "start the clock" for the Galactica's jump. Then he asks the Prez if she wants to return to her ship, but she says that she wants to see "how the professionals do it." She says that nicely, just to be clear. Adama gives the order to jump. Gaeta starts calling to various systems folks, who shout, "Go!" enthusiastically. And then an alarm blares and Dualla announces that they have a ship approaching. Adama orders them to hold the count to FTL jump. Dualla announces that the approaching ship is a single Raider. Adama grunts to Tigh, "You were right. Just a matter of time." That was nice of him. Dualla says the Raider will reach them before they can jump. Adama orders the fighters to launch.
In a corridor, Apollo hears the alarm and runs toward the flight deck.
In the Raider, we see Starbuck's eyes in a close-up shot through the visor as she says, "Now, look before you shoot, please." Which is good, because all this time I was wondering if Starbuck was just figuring they'd recognize her plucky attitude from miles away.
Artsy matching shot of Adama's eyes framed by...well, equipment. Stuff. Tigh asks what's delaying the Vipers. Dualla explains that most of them are refueling, and says, "Hotdog and Apollo are in the tubes."
Voom! Apollo launches. Voo-frrtz. Hotdog's launch is aborted due to technical difficulties. Hotdog says, "Frack! Fraaack, frack-frack!" Heh.
Muppety Apollo says, "I guess I'm goin' solo."
CIC. The Prez wonders why there's only one Cylon. Tigh guesses it could be on a reconnaissance mission, "or the vanguard for a Cylon base ship about the jump on top of us." I guess I like Tigh because he's so cheerful.
Apollo starts firing at the Raider. Starbuck zig-zags out of the way and grumbles, "You idiot! Didn't anybody teach you intercept protocol?" Apollo tries and fails to hit the zippy Raider.
Gaeta says that the ships are approaching the fleet, and adds, "Port guns have a firing solution." Adama's cool with that.
Starbuck continues just barely dodging Apollo's fire. No, I have no idea how she's doing this when her vision is so limited. Oh well. Starbuck grunts, "Just a little bit closer." Apollo manages to hit the ship a glancing blow, and she shouts, "Not that close!"
Apollo closes in on the Raider, which suddenly slows and swings under him. And vanishes. Apollo tells the Galactica that he can't see the Raider.
Gaeta reports that the radar blips for the two ships have merged. Dualla says they'll be able to launch another Viper in forty-five seconds. Adama says, "This'll be over in forty-fiveseconds." See, at this point Adama may figure he's about to lose Apollo on top of everything else. Not that I expect him to have yet another freak-out here, but if they'd had more time, they could have maybe spared a moment on that aspect.
The Raider is behind Apollo now. Apollo looks up as the Raider suddenly appears right on top of him. He shakily tells the Galactica, "The Cylon is now flying in formation with me, right above my head. This thing is acting weird."
Adama tells Dualla to put him through to Apollo.
The Raider moves slightly further up and rolls over, then moves down again to display the yellow tape reading "Star" on the bottom of one wing and "Buck" on the other. Apollo thinks, "Buck star? Why would anyone want to -- oh!" Then he whoops and starts laughing as he tells the Galactica that it's Starbuck.
Adama, understandably, says, "What?" Apollo explains about the writing. Everyone in CIC cheers and applauds and hugs, which is a little much for me. I mean, I know, they've been looking for two days, blah blah, but...I prefer the way the Prez just smiles happily. Well, and the way Tigh looks like he just heard a dog whistle. Adama shouts to be heard over the noise: "Bring it in to the bay! If it does anything, take it out!" Apollo says he will, but gigglingly adds, "It's got to be her. This thing is flying with some serious attitude." Adama actually allows himself to smile enough to display a few teeth before he gets hold of himself.
The Raider whooshes around Apollo, and then wobbles side to side, and Apollo wobbles back. Which is apparently something from the original show that I don't care about, but it was cute without my knowing that.
The crew is moving the Raider onto the deck. Tyrol strolls past it, saying, "Now your ass belongs to me." I wonder what he'd have said if she'd captured a base. Oh come on, it was right there. Starbuck is on a stretcher nearby, and we can see some deep bruising around her knee. She asks Apollo if he likes her new toy. Apollo says, "Boy, when you take a souvenir, you don't screw around." He helps the med team spread a blanket over her, and then recoils upon noticing that she smells "like a latrine." Starbuck chuckles, "You wanna give me a bath?" and is promptly wheeled away by the med crew, who are probably rolling their eyes.
Adama enters sickbay, where Starbuck is resting with her leg wrapped in, like, a reflective car shade. Adama asks how she is, and Starbuck quietly says she's been worse. She asks how her knee is, and Adama reports, "Doc says it's too early to tell, but knowing you, you'll be fine." He pauses for a minute, and strokes her head. Aw! Adama finally just says that she did good, and leans down and kisses her forehead. Starbuck loses it for second and starts crying, and then uncrumples her face as Adama stands up again. Sniff. I like stoic types. He asks if she needs anything, and Starbuck admits that she'd like a cigar. Adama pulls a cigar out of his pocket, and Starbuck giggles. He says, "It's my last one, so enjoy." Starbuck thanks him. He squeezes her hand, tells her to get some rest, and leaves.
time: The Prez announces that there may be Cylons among them. You're !