Sex, Drugs, And New Age Music

S01E12

Rec room. Gaeta tries to bow out of a poker hand, and Baltar pours him a drink. Gaeta declines, explaining that he has a launch later, and turns the conversation to Crashdown's budding romance with Davis. Crashdown says, "Y'know, little bit of this, little bit of that." I have no idea. I think it's guy-speak. Apollo tries to move things back to the game. Baltar, clearly three panels to the solar wind, blusters, "You can't compete with me!" He glares at Apollo and rasps, "I always win." Apollo chuckles that he's sorry without knowing what on earth Baltar is talking about. Six says, "I've ever seen you like this, Gaius. It's disappointing, somehow. Common." Baltar glances at her and then snarks, "So sorry to disappoint you." He catches himself and adds, "Disappoint you all," as he looks at the other players. He calls Apollo's bet. There's a shot of Crashdown and Dualla at the table, and wow, Dualla has nice arms. The hands are laid down and, sure enough, Baltar wins. As he scrapes up his winnings up, he spills a few chips onto the floor and ducks under the table to retrieve them. Right on cue, a cheery Starbuck enters, complaining that nobody invited her to the card game. Everyone except Baltar greets her happily, and Crashdown points out that she's finally walking without the cane. Baltar straightens up and stares at her, and upon seeing him, Starbuck looses some of her spunkiness. Which is all to the good. She offers him a neutral "Gaius" in greeting, and Baltar quietly asks her to address him as "Mr. Vice-President." He sniffs, "Some level of decorum has to be maintained, after all, or is it a pirate ship you're running?" Oh man, I so wish. Crashdown stares at Starbuck, clearly picking up on the sudden mood change. Baltar asks if Starbuck wants to join the game, adding, "Maybe you'd like to sit to Captain Adama." He glares at Apollo, who agrees, with the tiniest note of bewilderment, to make room for Starbuck. Starbuck just stares at Baltar as she explains that she has things to do. Exit Starbuck. Apollo watches her leave, and then turns back and looks at Baltar. Who looks devastated, covering his mouth with his hand as if he might burst into tears. Hee!

Colonial One. The Prez is meeting with Baltar to discuss future policies, while Billy works at his desk. She mentions that she expects bartering to continue, but she has a plan to return currency into the economy. Baltar's hair is slicked back on top in a failed attempt to look more professional. He takes notes, and Six stares at him. As the Prez finishes a sentence, Six interjects, "Do you love her?" Baltar stares firmly at the Prez, but looks befuddled. More so than usual. The Prez uses her extra-serious voice to explain that Baltar needs to be ready to take over in case something happens to her. She asks, "Do you understand this?" Six adds, "Answer me!" Baltar tells the Prez that he understands, and then quickly says, "My answer is no," glancing at Six on the last word. To the Prez, he says, "No, I don't think that I can handle this right now." He babbles that he can't just pick up all the bureaucratic knowledge that the Prez has spent her lifetime learning. As he airs his grievances, Baltar manages to work in a response to Six as well, telling her, "How you could think that my head could be turned so quickly by a new thing is, uh, it just -- it astounds me." He asks the Prez why she ever thought he could cope with all this. Six sniffs, "I don't believe you." The Prez chimes in, "You're a genius, are you not?" Baltar stands up and loudly declares that he doesn't give a "flying frack" whether she believes him. Either "she." He says he's tired of being pushed around, and concludes, "I'm not your plaything!" Six and the Prez chorus, "'Plaything'?" Hee hee hee. Behind Six, the Whiteboard of Extinction is now at 47,897. Baltar, now fully revved up, shouts, "I don't have to sit any more and take this kind of abuse from either of you!" He waves his hand about the room, and Billy and the Prez glance at each other with perfect timing. Baltar amends himself to suggest that he meant either here in the Prez's office, or somewhere else. Heh. Even Six is looking confused by Baltar at this point, which is also great. Six says that she loves him. Baltar sighs, "Oh, do me a favor," and glares at her. The Prez, in the tones one uses with a sulky toddler, gently suggests that Baltar could use a break. Baltar more calmly agrees, and then tells Six, "We need a break." Dude, did he just dump his imaginary girlfriend? Who lives in his head? That's gonna be awkward. Baltar exits for the bathroom.

Boomer is called to the Ready Room for a briefing.

Starbuck covers herself with her dress as she leaves Baltar's room. Is she actually going to get dressed out in the hall? Or is that a bathroom she's going into? I'm confused.

As they take their gloves off, Adama tells Apollo, "You don't lose control." Apollo thanks him. I love that he assumes that was a compliment. I mean, I would, too, but I already know that I have issues. Adama says, "No. You gotta lose control. Let your instincts take over." Apollo says he thought they were sparring, and Adama sniffs, "That's why you don't win." And why you don't sleep with Starbuck.

Baltar ties a sheet around himself as Six sits quietly in a chair. I guess you have to be modest even with your imaginary friends. Baltar sits down on the coffee table, facing Six, and pours himself a drink. What's great is that at this point I felt kind of sorry for everyone. Including Six. Moore points out that Baltar might be more into Starbuck at least partly because she was so dismissive of him for so long, which might be helpful for the people who didn't buy that he really cared about her. Or it might not. I tried.

Caprica. Boomer's not quite dead, which is a bit of a disappointment. She flails about a little on the stairs as Helo edges over, his gun still aimed at her. Helo lowers his gun as Boomer stares up and pants.

Credits. I kinda want to put The Shield's "Just Another Day" theme song in here, because it'd fit so well. In my notes I wrote, "At this point, an A+ is theirs to lose." That teaser had more going on than some shows do in a full forty-odd minutes. Yowza. In the latest podcast, Moore says that's his favorite of all the teasers he's written. He also gives props to the director and editor and actors and everyone, just so I don't make him sound like a complete egomaniac.

The Prez gets a CAT scan while Dr. Cottle looks at the monitor and Billy lurks fretfully. Hi, Cottle! I want him to have a scene with Ellen Tigh at some point. They'd be fun together.

Later, the Prez tells the High Priestess of Vague Mysticism that she has maybe six months to live. But again, at the pace they're keeping, she could last for three seasons or more without a problem. The HPVM lights some candles busily and tells the Prez, "You made a true believer out of me, strange as that sounds." She insists that the Prez will lead them all to Earth. The Prez sighs, "Then we'd better find it soon."

Baltar splashes some water on his face as Six appears behind him. Baltar harrumphs that he'd like to be alone. Six replies by slamming his forehead into the mirror. Baltar yowls, and we see a wide shot of him standing alone in the bathroom with his forehead pressed against the mirror. Then back to close-up, and Six's hand holds him in place as she asks how he could be in love with Starbuck. A valid question. Baltar insists that he isn't, but Six growls, "You can't lie to me; I know everything you know." She releases him and steps back, and Baltar gingerly looks at the cut she's opened on his forehead. He huffily thanks her for that and asks if she wanted anything in particular. Six tells him that it's not safe aboard the Galactica. When Baltar asks what she means, Six will only say, "It's a surprise." Baltar tries playing twenty questions, asking if there's a bomb on board, or a Cylon agent who's going to be activated. Six just stares at him in the mirror until Baltar whirls around shrieking, "Tell me!" Six is gone.

Boomer and Crashdown take off on a search for "supplies." They jump FTL, and arrive in very close proximity to a pretty blue-green planet spotted with clouds. Sirens on the Raptor go off as they are caught by the planet's gravity, but they straighten out after minute and calm down. Boomer calls Gaeta an idiot while Crashdown laughs and insists, "It's fine, we made it, we're cool." Having recovered, they check their readouts and, discover that there's a radio station on the planet broadcasting mystical music that suggests a feeling of wonder. Or maybe that's the soundtrack. Crashdown reports that there's a nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere, and enough carbon dioxide to support plant life. He declares that this planet could solve all their problems. That seems pretty unlikely, unless there's a huge stockpile of lithium on the planet. He asks Boomer if she thinks they've found Earth. Boomer stares out and replies, "No, it's not Earth. It's more important than that."

Commercials. In the original concept, Moore says that they planned to intersperse Jack & Bobby-ish interview clips with the characters commenting from some later point in time. I'm so glad they didn't do that. He adds that they may do something like that in another episode later, which I'm neutral about, I think it would have detracted from the urgency of all the storylines to do that here.

Caprica. Day 50. It's raining. And it's actually dark! Helo and Boomer are both crouching somewhere. Under, um, something. Could be the doorway of the building they were to, but I'm not sure. The point is that they're getting a minimal amount of shelter from the rain, and look pretty miserable. Boomer leans against a wall, and a few yards away, Helo leans against another wall as he finishes injecting himself with the anti-radiation meds. He rests his hand on his knee, with his gun still aimed at Boomer. Boomer sniffs, "It doesn't really work as well as before, huh?" Helo has no response. Possibly because he's not sure what she means, or maybe that was me. I think she's talking about the meds, but at first I thought she meant the gun. I don't know. After a while, Boomer moans that she does feel the cold. Helo still isn't feeling chatty. She finally says, "There are some things you should know, Helo." That gets him to talk: he snaps, "Don't call me that." He says that she's not Sharon, or human, and that she can't act like she knows him. Wow, even I haven't been that harsh. Oh, unless he means that she "shouldn't." Boomer insists that she is Sharon, and says he needs to understand that. In response, Helo shoots past her head, hitting the wall nearby. Boomer cringes as Helo shouts, "Sharon was a friend of mine." Much of the audience supplies, "And you, Ma'am, are no Sharon." Helo says that all he wants from her is a way off the planet. With that, it's Boomer's turn to glare silently. It's nice that they're taking that in shifts.

Apollo marches across the flight deck, where Starbuck is working on the Raider. He rather stiffly asks if she's going hunting. Starbuck expositions that they're planning an FTL test tomorrow, and that she also wants to find out if the Raider can shoot their ammunition. She refers to the ship as "our boy here," and Apollo makes a big thing about how she used to refer to the ship as female, and now everyone else does but she doesn't. Starbuck smirks, "That's fascinating, Lee, you should write a paper." Apollo says that he's not the paper-writing type, unlike, say, Dr. Baltar. And then he presses "play" on a tape recorder so that there's a "dun dun DUN" chord, and wheels around with a camera, snaps a picture of Starbuck's face, and runs off to examine the photo with a microscope to analyze her reaction. Well, he doesn't, but that's kind of the effect. Not that it's badly written, it's just that Apollo isn't so good at subtle. To his disappointment, Starbuck doesn't even blink at hearing Baltar's name. Apollo tries again, asking how Baltar is, and Starbuck shrugs that she hasn't seen him. Apollo pauses for a second and looks down at the floor as he says, "So he's a love 'em and leave 'em kinda guy, I guess." Starbuck calmly agrees, with her back to Apollo. She shakes her head slightly in disbelief. Apollo's still not done, and goes on about how Baltar and Starbuck were "ships that just pass in the night." Starbuck says yup. She keeps on tinkering with the ship as Apollo dogs her steps, nagging, "Just bored, nothing to do, so fracking the Vice-President of the Colonies just seemed like a great way to waste some time." Starbuck says that the President wasn't free at the time. Well, she doesn't, but wouldn't that have been great? Instead, she finally points out that she doesn't owe Apollo any explanation. Apollo agrees, "'Cause I'm just a CAG, and you're just a pilot." Starbuck agrees. Apollo adds, "A pilot who can't keep her pants on." Ooooo. Starbuck waits a beat and agrees. At this point Apollo's emotional dike has more cracks than the windshield we'll see later, so his freakiness is spraying everywhere as he adds that it's just like old times: "Like when you got drunk and you couldn't keep your hands off that Major from wherever-- " Starbuck whirls around and socks Apollo in the jaw. Whoa! Apollo promptly punches her. Awesome! I mean, obviously, not awesome for real people, but...awesome! It's particularly nice that we can see some crewmen in the background who stop to watch what's going on. The fight's over as quickly as it started, as Starbuck holds her cheek and Apollo wipes some blood from his mouth. I like that Starbuck doesn't gasp "You hit me!" Although it might have been worth it to see another "Not to get all schoolyard..." response. Instead, she just walks away, and Apollo trails after her, whining, " Why'd you do it, Kara? Just tell me why." Starbuck coldly says, "'Cause I'm a screw-up, Lee. Try and keep that in mind."

Okay, so here's my take. I think that Apollo's partly just jealous, obviously, but I think he's particularly freaked out because he knows that Starbuck doesn't even like Baltar a little. You know? It's not just casual sex, it's sex with someone she's always seemed to regard with faint disgust. I don't mean that he's concerned about her own well-being in a noble way, because that's maybe 10% of it. And then there's 30% "You'd rather be with someone you hate than be with me," rejection, 30% "The girl I dig is batshit crazy!" horror, and 40% freaked-out-jealousy that he doesn't want to admit he feels. Basically, the pure jealousy is the biggest factor, but Apollo would have been able to repress that as usual if it weren't for all of the other stuff.

Colonial One. Billy tells the Prez that Adama's going to send more ships out to survey the planet Boomer and Crashdown found. The High Priestess of Vague Mysticism is sitting on the conference, for some reason. Billy mentions that the planet "appears to have suffered some sort of a calamity," and mentions that there's evidence of ruins on the surface. The HPVM asks how old the ruins are, and Billy says that they're estimated at being around two thousand years old. The HPVM notes, "That's around the time the thirteen tribes first left Kobol." The Prez takes the survey photo from Billy and looks at it. It shows a large dome with streets radiating outward from it across landscaped terrain, and several bridges over a wide river. The Prez gasps that these aren't ruins, but an inhabited city. Billy takes the photo back and asks what she's talking about. The Prez looks at it again, and everything's gone. The faint outline of the dome's walls remain, along with a few lines where the roads were. The river is also much narrower and almost completely filled in downstream. The Prez stares until the HPVM asks what she saw. The Prez describes the dome and streets, and says it looked like the forum on Caprica. The HPVM pulls out a book and flips it open to an illustration. She hands it over to the Prez, and explains that the drawing is of "the forum and the opera house in the City of the Gods on Kobol." Opera? I think we know why they left Kobol. The Prez looks at the illustration, and it does appear to be a pretty good match. Blipvert of a ruined archway near the river, and a rusted metal arrow in a broken stone hand. The Prez rests her head in her hands while Billy's all, "Wha?" The HPVM expositions that Kobol is "where the gods and men lived in paradise until the exodus of the thirteen tribes." "Oh, that Kobol," Billy does not say. Instead, he just asks the Prez what's going on. Billy may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he's reassuringly sensible. Unlike the Prez, who stands up and paces a little before telling him that all the scriptures and prophecies are real. "So say we all," intones the HPVM, because that's her thing. Billy doesn't look like he's quite ready to join that chorus.

Boomer's in her quarters, sucking on her gun barrel again. Until Baltar suddenly greets her from the open doorway. Boomer guiltily pulls the gun out of her mouth and for a second moves to hide it before deciding to act like she was just cleaning it. Baltar stares at her in a not-unkind way and asks if this is a bad time. Boomer's all, "Nope! Just cleaning my gun! With my tongue! Which is a perfectly normal gun-cleaning technique!" She extra-casually asks what's going on, and he slowly enters and sits on the edge of the bunk. Baltar explains that he was looking for Starbuck, "but, uh...sometimes it's good to talk these things over." In bored tones, Six tells Baltar that Boomer knows she's a Cylon, but can't accept it. Boomer quietly says that she has "dark thoughts" sometimes. Baltar nods nervously and asks, "What kind of dark thoughts?" Six says, "Her model is weak...always has been. But in the end, she'll carry out her mission." Boomer says that she's afraid she'll hurt someone if she isn't stopped. Six moves over to kneel by Boomer as she says, "She can't be stopped, she's a Cylon." Six says that Baltar can't help her, but that he could sleep with her. She bitterly asks, "That's what you want, right?" Baltar rubs his eyes and stammers a bit before finally telling Boomer, "We must embrace that which opens up for us." There is a cool shot here as Six turns her head behind Boomer, so that they're each in profile, facing opposite ways. The lines of their mouths and chins line up almost perfectly so that it's like each profile is half of a complete face. I'm very curious about whether that shot was described in the script, or if the director came up with it. Boomer repeats, "'Embrace'?" Remember that Baltar's been told that something bad's going to happen on the Galactica. And it'd be reasonable of him to think that Boomer is going to do whatever it is. So he tells Boomer, "Life can be a curse, as well as a blessing." Six ends her contemplation of Boomer to stare over at Baltar as he continues, "There are far worse things than death in this world." Boomer sadly says, "So you're saying --" Baltar interrupts, "What I say is meaningless. Listen to your heart. Embrace that which you know to be the right decision." He and Boomer look at each other, and Six looks at Baltar with just a touch of horror. Baltar kisses Boomer on the forehead and exits as she stares after him.

Baltar leaves the room and closes the door. At which point I think about how fabulous it would be if we heard a gunshot right now. But of course, we don't, and I'm not surprised that we don't, because that would be so incredibly dark. Baltar and Six walk down the corridor silently. And when they've gone a few steps, there's the sound of a gunshot. Baltar and Six pause, and look behind them. After a second they walk on, as a crewman runs down from a different hallway to investigate the noise.

Commercials. I think that this show might turn me into a fangirl. How embarrassing.

We're in the -- wait, where are we? Oh! it's the dinner party room. I guess it's a conference room, actually. Adama gazes at the survey photo with a magnifying glass. On one side of the table are the Prez, the HPVM, and Baltar. On the other, Adama, Tigh, and Apollo. Adama agrees that the planet could be Kobol, but ever-practical, his main thought is that they should consider settling it. Babe, you shouldn't have to settle. The HPVM explains that according to scripture, Kobol points the way to Earth. Adama ignores her and tells Apollo to send three Raptors out to perform a ground survey. Six grumps, "You should go. Remember what I said, Gaius. You don't wanna be here when it happens." Baltar repeats, "When that happens..." and then corrects himself and asks what would happen if he tagged along with the survey team. Adama, still not really interested in anything going on across the table, says that Baltar's presence won't be necessary. Baltar whines that he's the Vice-President, and he thinks that it is necessary. Adama finally deigns to look up as Baltar argues that he'll have to analyze any samples the team brings back, and it'd be easier if he collected them himself. He asks the Prez if she has any objections, and she graciously nods and says it's cool with her. Not in those exact words. Then she turns to Adama and says, "We need to talk." Adama agrees, and Tigh looks a little befuddled.

Sick Bay. Tyrol strolls in, stares at a patient, and turns back toward the door before stopping himself. He finally asks, "You okay?" He is, of course, talking to Boomer, who's in the bed with a wide, bloody bandage over her jaw. She squirms and looks at the wall as she retorts, "What do you think?" in a weirdly bad bit of looping. My guess is that she just stayed silent originally, because her mouth barely moves and I think she's really just swallowing. And given how perky her line delivery there is, I think staying silent would have been a better move. Anyway, Tyrol says that he's doesn't believe that she forgot to check for a round in the chamber. Boomer blinks and whispers that she didn't forget. Tyrol hems and finally asks what's going on. He becomes eligible for understatement of the season by saying, "I know things haven't been so great lately..." Heh. Boomer says, "I wake up in the morning and I wonder who I am. I wake up and wonder if I'm gonna hurt someone." Tyrol says that she needs help. She sneers, "Not from you. You made that clear. I'm on my own." Tyrol tries to argue, but Boomer thanks him for the visit and says that he's dismissed. Tyrol nods and salutes before exiting. Aw, poor Tyrol.

Adama's Quarters. The Prez shares her wacky theory with Adama: "If we had the Arrow of Apollo, we could take it down to Kobol and we could use it to open the tomb of Athena and find our way to Earth." I don't know why I want to use so many Angel punchlines this week, but: "Okay, now you're making this up." Adama says that he didn't know the Prez was so religious. The Prez smiles and says that she didn't, either. She asks if there's anything wrong with that, and Adama says no, it's just new. He reminds her that there isn't any Earth. The Prez argues, "Just because you and I don't know where it is doesn't mean it doesn't exist." Adama wearily says that he's not mocking her faith, but that the legends about Kobol are just stories: "Don't let it blind you to the reality that we face." The Prez says the reality is that the captured Raider can go FTL, and the Cylon's technology exceeds theirs: "There is a good chance the Raider can jump all the way back to Caprica and retrieve that arrow and find our way to Earth, the real Earth." Adama points out that the Raider is a military resource, and he's not going to waste it on a wild arrow chase.

The survey team sets out in three Raptors. Two of the pilots chat amongst themselves about whether they should settle on Kobol or use the legends to find Earth. The third pilot, Crashdown, tells them to hush as they get ready to go FTL. Also aboard Crashdown's ship are Cally, another chick who might be Ensign Davis, Tyrol, Socinus, Baltar, and a couple of handsome guys. And I might be missing someone, but the point is that it's crowded. Socinus, né Gallant, got a get-out-of-jail-free card in a deleted scene. At least one, if not both, of the other Raptors have some Marines aboard. The Raptors jump.

Pop-pop-pop. The Raptors wink back into space by Kobol. On one of the Marine-heavy Raptors, a buzzer goes off and the radar shows other ships nearby. The pilot looks out through the side window. The pilot's face is in close-up. Behind him, through the window, blackness. And then a shape coming straight toward them. And then the shape is a fast-approaching Raider. We don't actually see the Raider fire, but this whole thing I'm describing is three seconds long, so I'm only getting this much detail by going as close to frame-by-frame as my VCR can. The window suddenly cracks, and then there are fireballs outside the ship as the pilot gasps, "Oh my gods!" And then there's a fireball inside the ship. The Raider, along with a dozen or so of his closest friends, zooms through the wreckage and approaches a honkin' big Basestar poised near Kobol. Hey, I wondered if something like this would happen! Okay, I was thinking of the whole fleet jumping into the a crowd of Cylons, but still. I'm a little bit psychic again!

The other two Raptors are descending toward Kobol. And also toward another large group of Raiders. One of the handsome guys shouts, "They're everywhere!" Tyrol suggests that this would be a good time to leave. The Raptors swerve up and sideways to avoid the Raiders zipping by, and now they're reminding me of Parsec. Just as I think, "Gee, the Raiders aren't shooting at them, that's strange," a mess of Raiders opens fire. So never mind. One of the Raptors is hit, and spews out a cloud of black goo like's it's a frightened octopus. It plummets toward Kobol as the other Raptor zips away, out of the line of fire.

Crashdown shouts that there's a fire in the turbine. The handsome guy says that he's shutting it down, and then the back of his seat bursts into flames. The rest of the crew jumps and yells as we go to a reverse shot that shows the windscreen is cracked in front of the handsome guy. And he's now a handsome corpse. Baltar, in the co-pilot's seat, freaks out. He shrieks, "Pilot down!" and grabs the controls with fabulously wide, frightened eyes. Crashdown makes his way to the front and shoves Baltar back so that he can take over. Cally's hair blows around as she puts one of those groovy suction cups over a hole in the ship's floor. Deck. Whatever. Tyrol tells everyone to hang on, and leans forward to ask Crashdown if they can jump. Crashdown says that the FTL drive was hit. Tyrol turns toward the back and tells Socinus to order the other Raptor to jump back to Galactica. Then everyone yells some more, most particularly Baltar. The remaining handsome guy shoves Baltar down and out of the way as Socinus radios to the other Raptor. The undamaged Raptor, closely pursued by two Raptors, winks away. Tyrol's ship plunges toward Kobol, trailing smoke or fuel or whatever.

CIC. Gaeta is showing off his collection of iSpy hardware. He gets through some techspeak painlessly and explains, "They're Cylon transponders programmed to identify themselves as any other Cylon transponder." Tigh and Adama compliment Gaeta on figuring that out. Adama says he wants to test one of the transponders in their captured Raider. Dualla interrupts the conversation to announce that a Raptor is returning. Tigh says, "Back early." Adama considers that briefly and replies, "Something's wrong." And while that seems clever of him, he could probably say that at any random moment on the Galactica and most of the time it'd be true.

The Raptor falls through Kobol's atmosphere. Tyrol shouts, "What the hell are you doing?" at Crashdown, who does not reply, "Living up to my name!" Baltar shrieks in the back as he stares out through the front of the ship. We get a nice view of the front windshield, with Crashdown's head just barely in the frame. As the ship descends, the spiderweb crack in the window spreads out. So it seems like the windows are designed to reseal after a puncture, but they can't withstand this kind of pressure afterward. Which is probably nice from an intellectual standpoint. I can't say for sure, because right now I'm busy going "Wheee!" at this scene. Crashdown stares up at the growing crack as they head toward a lovely batch of friendly, puffy clouds. He finally bellows, "Everybody hit the deck!" He and the rest of the crew duck and cover as the glass shatters inward, flying around the interior. Along with a lot of wind. Screaming ensues. After a second or two, Crashdown sits back up and is pretty clearly holding his breath as he tries to control the ship. And that's when they hit the cloud bank, and Crashdown shouts that he can't see. Mist fills the cabin as Tyrol wheezes, "Pull it up, pull it up!" Then, hilariously, he points out through the window and shouts, "Watch the hill!" Crashdown yells, "Thanks a lot, Chief!" I'm not sure if he meant that to sound sarcastic, but it did. Hee. The ship descends into a valley, and the clouds lessen.

Commercials. That was pretty awesome. Originally, the storylines were arranged so that the episode ended with that crash, and Starbuck's plotline wasn't in this episode at all, but that overloaded Part II, so they changed the order of some events in editing.

Billy, the Prez, Apollo, Adama, and Tigh have gathered in Adama's quarters. Apollo tells the Prez that there were ten aboard the destroyed Raptor. Someone's gonna have to update the Whiteboard of Extinction again. Apollo mentions that the last Raptor was last seen headed for the planet. Adama says, "We need a way to take out the base ship before we can attempt a rescue." I'm mostly cool with the fact that nobody protests about risking more lives to save a few people. Between Starbuck's misadventure and the number of valuable people on board, I think they're over that. Tigh announces that Starbuck's already plotting to use the Raider to sneak a nuke onto the Basestar. There's a beat before the Prez asks, "The Raider?" Apollo joins in the bewilderment, asking when Starbuck mentioned this. Tigh says, "About ten minutes ago. She said she's working on the details and will have a report at 14:00." Adama tells Apollo to go talk to Starbuck. Apollo sniffs, "My pleasure." Adama adds, "And report back to me." Heh.

The Prez and Billy pedeconference. Billy asks if there's something he should be worried about. I assume he means something new, because, look around you, Billy. He clarifies that he's asking about the look on her face. The Prez says, "Not now." He shouldn't worry right now, or she doesn't have a look right now, or she doesn't want to talk about it right now? I think it's best to be very clear with Billy.

Flight deck. Starbuck's bossing the crew around as they scramble to work on the Raptor. Apollo loudly calls her to attention, and she swigs from a bottle and ignores him. I'm not clear on whether the bottle contains booze or just water, but Apollo grabs it and snaps, "Lieutenant Thrace, I gave you a command. You will obey it. Attention!" She wheels to face him. Apollo shouts that she is not supposed to take her "harebrained ideas" to the XO without going through him, and asks if she understands. Starbuck yessirs. Apollo chills for a second and puts her at ease before asking in a fairly calm tone of voice what her plan is. Starbuck says she's putting an autopilot aboard the Raider. She'll fly it to the Basestar, turn the autopilot on, "punch out," and get picked up by a Raptor. Apollo fills in the rest: the Raider's iSpy will get it picked up by the Basestar, and then the nuke goes off. Starbuck sums things up: "Boom, Sir." Heh. Apollo agrees that it might work, but it also might get Starbuck killed. She asks, "Would you miss me, Sir?" I cringe a little at the neediness, but she says it with absolutely no affect, which makes it easier to take. Apollo harrumphs that he needs every pilot, "even the screw-ups." He shoves the bottle back into her hand, and stomps off. Starbuck stares after him and looks annoyed for a second, but then calls, "Captain!" Apollo stops and turns. Starbuck says, "I'm really sorry." Apollo stares at her, then continues on his way.

Colonial One. Billy lectures the Prez that she's going to risk everything they've accomplished. Before she can ask, "Whaddya mean 'we,' paleface?" he says, "It will probably bring down the government and you don't have a right to risk that for a --" He trails off, and the Prez asks him to finish his thought. Billy shrugs, "For a drug-induced vision of prophecy." The Prez agrees, and then says, "But it would seem that the gods have a different plan." She asks him to get Starbuck. Billy starts to exit, but then offers to get the Prez more water. Aw. It's nice to show that he disagrees with what she's going to do, but still cares for her personally.

Starbuck stands in front of the Prez's desk. She looks worried as she says, "You can't be serious." The Prez goes through the "All of this has happened before" thing, and how Leoben said that Kobol would lead them to Earth. The Prez asks if Starbuck believes in the gods. Starbuck stiffly says, "Not that it's any of your business, but yes, I believe." The Prez says that in that case, Starbuck must believe in "the cycle of time." She elaborates for the benefit of the audience: "We are all playing our parts in a story that is told again, and again, and again, throughout eternity." Starbuck says she was raised to believe that, but insists, "That doesn't mean that my part in the story is to go off on some crazy-ass mission against orders." Hee. "Crazy-ass." The Prez pauses and asks if she can tell Starbuck what her own role is. Starbuck looks bored but waits. The Prez drops her cancer bomb, and explains that she'll be dead in six months. She adds that she's only told three people, and swears Starbuck to secrecy. Starbuck starts to ask, "Are you saying that you're --" The Prez interrupts and goes over the part of the scriptures about the dying leader. She tells Starbuck, "If you go back to Caprica and bring me the arrow, I will show us the way." Starbuck points out that this is crazy. The Prez agrees, but says that it could also be true. The Prez insists, "It may be our only chance -- our only chance -- to find Earth." Starbuck snaps that Adama knows where Earth is. The Prez inhales deeply and stands up, then leans over the desk to say, "Commander Adama has no idea where Earth is; he never did. He made it up in order to give people hope." Starbuck makes a worried face and then says that the Prez is lying. The Prez very quickly replies, "Go ask him." Starbuck says that she will, and exits. The Prez stares into space sadly, probably thinking, "My life expectancy is going to decrease drastically when Adama finds out what I just did."

Starbuck and Adama are on the catwalk over the flight deck, watching as the Raider is prepared. Starbuck explains that she's going to do a flight test of the autopilot and navigation before they head for Kobol. Then she says she has a question for him: "How much longer 'til we reach Earth?" Adama meets her eyes and then looks away before hedging that "it's hard to say." She oh-so-casually presses him without any luck, and finally asks if they're getting closer. Adama says, "I'm sure we are," and a little asterisk appears over his head that leads Starbuck to a footnote reading, "In the sense that I have no idea." He wishes her luck and exits. Starbuck stares after him grumpily.

Starbuck flies the Raider out among the fleet. The interior has been de-gookified, and now there's a little keyboard and some monitors inside. I think I see duct tape holding one of the drapey cables together, too, which is great. Apollo flies escort as they move out into open space beyond the fleet. Starbuck says she's preparing to test the autopilot. She holds her fingers over the keyboard, and hesitates. Then she closes her eyes and radios, "Request permission to speak with Galactica actual."

CIC. Dualla tells Adama that Starbuck's on a scrambled channel, asking to speak with him. Adama picks up a phone as Tigh watches. Starbuck says, "I believed you. Believed in Earth." Adama fretfully asks what she's doing. Starbuck answers, "Bringing home the cat, Sir." Cat? There's a cat? Adama says that they can talk this over, but Starbuck disagrees. Tigh is close by, looking worried, as Adama firmly tells Starbuck, "I do not regret anything that I did. Be sure that whatever you're gonna do, you don't regret it later. Do you understand me?" Starbuck replies, "I guess we'll find out." She ends the call and starts working the keyboard. Adama hangs up as Gaeta announces that Starbuck is starting the Raider's FTL drive.

Apollo asks, "What are you doing, Kara?" He follows just behind the Raider, which suddenly breaks off and then winks out. Apollo calls in to Galactica and reports that Starbuck has jumped.

CIC. Tigh somewhat accusingly asks Adama where Starbuck is going. Adama stares into space and says, "Home."

time: Crashdown shakes Baltar, Boomer gets a mission, and Apollo draws a gun on Tigh. Woo.

Production card: Moore says, "This will shock you." Eick laughs and magic sparks shoot out of his hands. Moore glows, turns into Martha Stewart, and falls to his knees shrieking, "No!" like the Wicked Witch. It's worth going through it slowly to catch the image of Stewart with a mustache.