In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
The Galacticans don't even get the entire teaser to catch their breath before the power's been knocked out and the Cylon Centurions are making like Freddy Krueger. Or maybe like Jason Voorhees, since they're not given to puns. Apollo meets up with some Marines and stops to check in with the Prez. The Prez is sent, with Billy and her guard, toward sickbay, which should be out of the line of fire. Then Team Apollo picks up the last six rounds of Cylon-sploding ammo and goes hunting. Apollo is eventually able to check in with Tigh, who figures that the Cylons are heading toward Aft Damage Control, where they can vent all of the puny humans out into space. Team Prez runs into a mildly concussed Dualla, and is forced to make several detours in their quest for sickbay. Everyone spends a while tripping over dead bodies, and there are actually only a couple of scenes where we actually see the Cylons, but we keep hearing screams and metallic footsteps, making things both creepy and budget-friendly. Eventually, Team Apollo takes up position in front of Aft Damage Control, and Team Prez is just down the hall, still trying to get to sickbay. Time for everyone to meet cute! The Cylons turn up, and are briefly distracted by Billy's incompetence before Team Apollo blows them up real good. Apollo even gets a hero shot, which is nice for him. This builds up his confidence enough for him to get pointlessly bitchy with Tigh in the denouement, but that's Apollo for you. On Kobol, Baltar dreams of rescue and infanticide. Tyrol and Cally make it back with the medkit, but it's too late to do anything but put Socinus out of his misery. In cheerier news, back on Caprica, Starbuck and Helo stop by Starbuck's old apartment so that she can pick up a smidgen of depth, and also a Humvee. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Previously on Battlestar Galactica, it sucked for everyone. Okay, this episode has an "L" for coarse language, which is kind of questionable, but at least they've got Starbuck saying "bitch" in the previously. And there's a "V" for violence, which seems valid. But this episode got an "S" for sexual content. Why? Can we write letters to the FCC complaining that we were promised sexual content and didn't get any?
Billy's grooving down a corridor when he runs into Dualla. They exchange awkward greetings, and note that they haven't seen each other in two weeks. Billy says that he's been thinking about Dualla, and her response is, "That's nice." Hee. She starts to leave, but Billy goes after her and says, "It must seem like I really haven't made an effort to make this, whatever this is, a priority, but --" Dualla interrupts, "But you were too busy helping the President spark a mutiny on my ship. Or, but you wanted to wait until you were desperate and needed a shoulder to cry on before making your move." Harsh! I like her. Billy thinks that was uncalled for, and he's not wrong. Dualla agrees, and smoothes Billy's jacket, aw. And then she leaves.
Sickbay. Tigh is still staring down at Adama, presumably waiting for Cottle to arrive. Then the power flickers and goes out. The medics pull scurry to check Adama's life support as Tigh hurries out.
The power goes out in CIC as well, and Gaeta calls for emergency power.
On the hangar deck, the Viper squadron is returning from their mission. I can tell, because the captions actually tell me all of that. I think the captions are getting a little too comprehensive. The pilots "Woo!" and trade high-fives, as is their way. The fact that they have to do so by flashlight doesn't seem to bother them.
Tigh uses a phone to check in with CIC. Gaeta explains that the Cylon virus "spawned copies of itself in some other computer systems." He says that main and auxiliary power has been knocked out. On cue, the emergency power comes on. I guess someone kicked the generator.
Hanger Deck. Flyboy tries to get Apollo to join in the hooray-fest. Apollo's not in the mood, and grouses, "We screwed up. We let one through." Well, technically, that was just you, Apollo. Someone finally wonders why the lights are out.
CIC. Gaeta tells Tigh that they don't know if they can reach the rest of the Galactica. Then there's a clang, and the lights flicker again. Tigh asks what's going on, and Gaeta says, "I'm not sure, but the music just got tense, so it's probably bad news."
Hangar deck. One of the deck crew tells Apollo that only the "sound-powered phones" are working. Sound-powered? What? He adds that he hasn't been able to get through to CIC yet because the lines are jammed. They should really consider call waiting. Apollo mellowly suggests that they finish tidying up the hangar deck while he goes up to CIC.
CIC. Kelly listens to someone on the phone and then shares the good news: "Cylons reported in the starboard flight pod." The captioning says, "Sullen's reporting the starboard flight pod." Heh. That could be Apollo's new callsign. Kelly, as the officer in charge of stating the obvious, adds, "We've been boarded."
Apollo leads some pilots toward CIC. They shine their flashlights around like they're on The X-Files and cheerily trade combat stories, so imagine their surprise when they turn a corner and find a big Cylon Centurion standing in the corridor right in front of them. "Avon calling," the Cylon fails to say, before swatting at Flyboy. Judging by the resulting blood-spray, Cylons have sharp fingers. Yowch. To add insult to grievous bodily injury, the Cylon then swats Flyboy head over heels. Meanwhile, Apollo screams at everyone to get out of there. Everyone else just screams in a general way, and then runs and runs and runs.
Credits. "47,874 survivors." I guess they're putting the population total in the credits because the Prez didn't bring the Whiteboard of Extinction with her to the brig. Which shows a serious lack of foresight on her part. Now that I've caught up on the podcasts, I feel that I should report that the funniest bit of the commentary for last week's episode was during the big battle scene. Moore starts out talking about how hard it is to make the battle scenes interesting every time, and then after a minute or two he's saying, "Look at that! That's unbelievable! Whoa." It's cute. Plus, he's not wrong.
Hey, here's an ad for War of the Worlds, in which humanity is almost wiped out by implacable alien foes. But there's also an adorable, and unintentionally creepy, child in peril. Because it's Spielberg.
And now, back to the panicking. Apollo sends the pilots up a narrow ladder. He starts to follow, and then he slips back down, turns, and sees a Cylon advancing toward him. Apollo aims his gun and, according to the captions, shouts "Freeze!" Which would be hysterical, but I suspect he actually shouts, "Frack!" Apollo fires a few times at the Cylon, who doesn't seem to mind at all. Apollo looks at his gun like someone played a mean joke on him, and cringes as the Cylon stomps up and raises its hand to swat him. And then its head explodes. As the robot collapses, we see that it was blown up by some Marines down the corridor. Apollo catches his breath and calls up to Kat and Hotdog, who descend the ladder. Apollo looks at the Marines and gasps, "Sitrep?" The Marines quickly sum up the situation. One of the them mentions that only explosive rounds stop these Cylons, and Apollo eagerly asks how many rounds they have. "That was our last one," the Marine answers. Ah. Apollo pulls a little notepad out of his sleeve pocket and gives Hotdog a note to take to CIC. I assume it says something like, "Dear CIC, Hope you are well. I would like a peanut butter sandwich, and also some explosive rounds. Love, Apollo." Then Apollo leads Kat and the Marines out, saying, "Let's go toaster-shopping." Oh, Apollo. Don't quip.
CIC. Gaeta broadcasts a message to the rest of the fleet, warning them to stay away until the ship is secured. As he starts to repeat the message, there's a shriek of feedback, and Gaeta announces that the signal has been jammed.
Brig. Billy, the Prez, and the guard stand in the dark, listening to the sounds of gunfire and screams not far away. It's nice and creepy; I like it. Billy points out that they can't stay where they are. I don't know why not. All things considered, the brig is probably a pretty secure room, and not likely to be high on the list of Cylon priorities. Between staying there and wandering the ship, I'd vote for staying there. But the Prez agrees with Billy, and tells the guard to let her out. The guard -- who really could use a name -- hesitates, and the Prez snaps, "I have no intention of being locked in this cell and shot like a rat in a cage. I want to be shot like a rat that's hopelessly lost in a maze of corridors!" The guard finally opens the cell, and as she steps out, someone starts opening the hatch into the brig. They all freeze and stare as the hatch is pulled open. The guard readies his rifle, and then Apollo shouts, "Corporal Venner, don't shoot! I came by to provide you with a name!" The Prez gives a mighty "phew," and Team Apollo enters. Apollo explains that the ship's been boarded, and says, "They're trying to get to the magazines." I think that "they" refers to the Marines, not the Cylons, because at first I thought, "How does he know that?" Apollo suggests that the Prez should make her way to sickbay: "It's farthest away from any potential targets, and it's designed to function as a disaster shelter in case the ship were lost." He takes a sidearm from one of the Marines and hands it to Billy, asking if he's ever used a weapon before. Billy gulps, "A pellet gun from my uncle when I was, like, ten." Apollo says this gun works on the same principle, it's just noisier. Venner tries to nod reassuringly at Billy, except his expression says, "We're doomed," heh. Apollo offers the Prez his own sidearm, but she raises her hands and insists, "No, thank you. I can't." Er, okay. Apollo adds one of the Marines to the Prez's escort, and advises, "Just head away from the sound of gunfire." There are more wails from outside as the Prez asks what Apollo's going to do. He says, "We're heading towards the gunfire." Tuning back to the Marines, Apollo sketches out a plan to go to a small arms locker two decks down, and then go toward the magazines. The Prez wishes him luck, and off they go.
Caprica. Helo and Starbuck are taking their arrow out for an evening stroll. Hey, it's not raining! I guess Starbuck brought the sun with her. Helo suggests they trek out to an airbase and look for a Raptor. Starbuck non sequiturs that she expected to see "decaying corpses in the streets." Helo says that he and Boomer saw a few bodies, and starts to add, "Sharon said that --" Starbuck gives him a look, so Helo amends that to, "Cylon Sharon said they had troops picking up the bodies. Transporting them to mass incinerators." How tidy of them. Starbuck snarks that Helo's girlfriend comes form a lovely family, and her passive-aggression prompts Helo to go on a tirade about how Boomer fooled him, but he doesn't care. Or something. He concludes, "I fell in love with a machine. That's stupid. So just call me an idiot, and let's be done with it." Starbuck, naturally, says that he's an idiot. But then she concedes, "The Cylons have a way of making all of us look like idiots." Well, that was heartwarming. They walk on, and then Starbuck pushes open a door and enters a building. Helo asks what she's doing, and Starbuck says she has to pick something up. Helo insists that they should keep moving, but Starbuck explains, "I got a place here."
CIC. Gaeta tells Tigh that he's got people cleaning the Cylon virus out of the computers, "but it'll be at least an hour before [they] can restore main power." Kelly reports that the few Marines on board are assembling at checkpoints. Tigh asks where the Cylons are, and Kelly reports that they're in two groups: "One moving forward --" Tigh chimes in, "And one moving aft." Kelly looks amazed at Tigh's brilliant deduction. Really, how else would that sentence end? "One moving forward, and one spinning around in circles"? Tigh goes on to say that he's seen this strategy before, and points out the Cylon targets on their groovy console map. Gaeta looks at Tigh's scribbles and asks, "Secondary damage control and auxiliary fire control, sir?" Tigh explains that the Cylons are planning to vent everyone on board into space. Then they'll take over the ship's guns and wipe out the rest of the fleet. Kelly stares around like, "Golly, that's a pretty good plan!" Kelly is starting to remind me of Gomer Pyle.
Commercials. The funniest part of this week's podcast is when Moore explains that they focused on the two groups moving through the ship because they couldn't just show scene after scene of the Cylons mowing people down, "as much fun as that would be." He just sounds so gleeful.
Kobol. The captions read, "Raptor 1 Crash Site." At which point I'm confused, because nobody's actually at the crash site. Then I wonder if in another second, there will be a second caption that says, "Sort of." Instead, the screen is wiped and we cut to Baltar, lying in the ruins of the Opera House like he was last week. Oh, it's a dream. He opens his eyes and sees Vipers and Raptors fly past, and then the camera pans down to reveal Adama marching over. Adama helps Baltar stand up, and we see the rest of the crash survivors being helped by other crewmen. Adama asks, "What do you have there?" Baltar's back is to the camera, but he's clearly holding something as he looks at Adama and says, "Well, it's a child, obviously." Adama asks if he can hold the baby, and Baltar hands it over. The kid remains swaddled in a white blanket so that we can't see it, but Adama peeks at its face and asks, "Is this the shape of things to come?" Baltar says that's his understanding. Adama harrumphs, "Only one thing for it, then," and walks away. The music gets all belly-dancer-ish as Baltar begins calling after Adama. Adama keeps on walking, and Baltar starts to chase after him but just can't catch up. I really like this music, but this sequence could be shorter. Adama walks and walks, and Baltar shouts and chases, and eventually Adama marches right into the river, gets hip-deep, and plops the baby underwater. Baltar finally catches up, just as Adama turns and heads back to shore. Baltar splashes around in the river, looking for the baby. Moore says that there was a lot of resistance to including this scene, because Adama drowns a baby. Which is bizarre, because first of all: dream sequence! A crazy person's dream sequence, in fact. Secondly, it's a nonexistent evil robot hybrid monster baby! Oh yeah, and thirdly, it's fiction! In conclusion, people are weird.
And then Baltar wakes up, jerking up from where his head was cradled in Six's lap. Out of the nightmare, into the hallucination. Baltar tells Six about his dream and asks, "Why would anyone want to drown a baby?" Because sometimes you don't have a grill handy? Six more enigmatically answers, "The answer's all around us." And then we see that the grove they're in is littered with skulls and bones. Not secret-society members; skeletons. Baltar asks what happened, and Six says, "Human sacrifice. Not the fairy tales your scriptures would have you believe." Baltar stammers that he thought Kobol was a paradise where the gods lived in harmony with humans. Well, that doesn't necessarily mean that the humans lived in harmony with each other. Six attributes the problem to "your brutality, your depravity, your barbarism." Oh, that. Baltar moans that the scriptures are just covering up savagery. Should this be so surprising to him? Isn't he the atheist? Six reminds Baltar that all of this has happened before, and tha all of this will happen again. Which has certainly been true of that line, at least. Baltar figures that Adama really will try to kill their baby, which he's only seen in hallucinations, but that's Baltar for you. Six says, "Only if you let him."
Galactica. Team Apollo bustles down a corridor and shines their flashlights around in a confusing way. Then they stop to look at the dead bodies on the floor. We're gonna need a smaller whiteboard. Apollo gives a morale-boosting "go go go," and they move on toward the small arms locker. Throughout the scene, there's a clang-clang of robot footsteps nearby. I think. Or else it's the radiator. Apollo pulls the door open as everyone else readies their guns. Apparently they haven't yet noticed that the Cylons aren't particularly into skulking. They shine their flashlights into the locker, and a man inside holds up his hands and whines, "Don't shoot, I'm human!" Kat identifies the guy as "Jammer," and Apollo tells Kat to find the explosive rounds while he chats with Jammer. Jammer stammers (hee) that he was just looking for a place to hide. Apollo insists, against all available evidence, that Jammer will be fine. Kat interrupts, and silently shows Apollo a box containing six shells. One of the Marines guesses that other fire teams already came by looking for explosive rounds. Apollo says, "Six rounds. There are five of us." He pauses for moment to work out the math, and finally declares that he'll take two rounds, and everyone else gets one. Jammer's eager to let someone else take his round, saying, "I'm just a knuckle-dragger here. I don't know how to fight Centurions. I don't know the first thing about fighting Centurions!" Thank you, Prissy. Apollo and Kat just kinda stare at Jammer for a second, and then they move out.
Caprica. Helo and Starbuck shoot the lock off the door of Starbuck's apartment, and of course she quips about forgetting her house keys. They enter, and Starbuck's apartment turns out to be a weird basement loft-ish space, if that makes any sense. There are canvases littering the floor, and some images on the wall that don't merit the term "mural." There's also some unfortunate poetry scrawled on the wall in black paint. As Starbuck begins rummaging through the litter on the coffee table, Helo eyes the bad artwork and confirms that Starbuck painted all the stuff. He seems to be impressed. Well, he's not the brightest. Starbuck goes on searching, while Helo wanders into the kitchen and, presumably operating on autopilot, opens the fridge. He quickly slams it closed while covering his nose. Starbuck digs up a mini CD, pops it into a machine, and we hear a Philip Glass piano composition playing. She closes her eyes and actually relaxes for a second, until Helo comes over to ask how she got the power on. Starbuck duhs, "Batteries." She adds, "Kept turning off the power. Something about not paying a bill." Yes, Starbuck, you're quite the bad-ass. Helo says, of the music, "That is definitely not you." I'm not sure if he means that it's not her playing, or if it's not her kind of music. She pulls off her jacket stiffly and says, "It's my dad." I remain unclear as to what they mean, but in the commentary Moore clarifies that it's supposed to be her father performing the piece. Helo announces that he's found one package of noodles, and gripes, "You don't believe in groceries?" Starbuck gives him a dirty look and puts on a different, beat-up jacket. She gingerly sits down on the couch, and Helo follows her lead and settles into an armchair. Starbuck digs through the rubble on the table some more, and smirks as she pulls out a cigar. As she lights up, she monologues about how shitty the apartment was, and how she didn't really miss it after the Cylon attack. She concludes, "Everyone I know is fighting to get back what they had, and I'm fighting 'cause I don't know how to do anything else." You also seem to like it, Starbuck. Helo stares at her sleepily, perhaps wondering if the Cylon was better company. They settle in, exhausted, and I can't help thinking how funny it would be if they both fall asleep, and Starbuck's cigar sets the whole place on fire.
Galactica. Team Prez is still looking for sickbay. And finding a whole mess of bodies instead. The Prez takes off her glasses, perhaps to make the gruesomeness into a vague blur. But then she bends down to look at one of the bodies more closely -- make up your mind, woman! The clanging noises have started up again, and as the Prez reaches out to check for a pulse, someone announces, "She stopped breathing a while ago." Everyone whirls around to see Dualla standing in a corner. Billy rushes over, and Dualla stares numbly into space, with blood trickling down her forehead. She explains, "I was going to the head." Billy tries to examine her injuries as Dualla calmly continues, "Went to my rack. I forgot something." Billy tells her to look at him, but Dualla goes on twitchily staring at the air. The Prez suggests using her rank, and so Billy says, "Petty Officer Dualla, look at me." Dualla turns to face Billy directly and blinks a few times before saying, "I'm glad to see you. I've been here in the dark a long time." The Prez figures that Dualla has a concussion, and tells Venner that they need to find a different route to sickbay. Venner's not doing a lot better than Dualla, frankly, so the Prez carefully explains, "We don't want to walk into gunfire. We want to go away from the Cylons." Venner eventually comes up with a more circuitous route to sickbay, and off they go.
CIC. Gaeta announces that two Cylons were reported destroyed, and a third is trapped in the ship's laundry. Hee. He says, "It can't walk, but it's still shooting." Gaeta looks slightly amused by that image, which is nice, because I am. I'll be more amused if in future episodes we see a lot of crewmen wearing uniforms that are full of holes. Kelly figures that auxiliary fire control is safe, but Tigh is sure that the remaining Cylons are headed for aft damage control. A guy hurries over with a note for Gaeta, and then hurries away just as quickly. Gaeta reads the note and shouts, "No, I do not like Baltar that way! You people are so immature!" Okay, actually, he reports that Sgt. Hadrian reports that the Cylons have cut through a section of the hull in a compartment in front of her, so she can't continue her pursuit. Tigh points out, "There is nothing between the last two Cylons and the decompression safeties." I don't know how they know that there were only five Cylons. Maybe that was cut for time. Tigh suggests this would be a good time for prayer. I'm surprised he doesn't ask if anyone's got a flask handy.
Commercials. So, the Cylon hands? Creepy, but why? ["Dude, that's what I said. Killing humans with knives seems kind of intimate for robots." -- Wing Chun] I'm trying to believe that they aren't popping out their guns all the time because they'd need to open hatches and climb ladders and so forth. But it still seems like it'd make more sense if they had one gun-hand and one claw.
Kobol. Cally and Tigh wander through the woods. At this point, I was wondering if they were lost, and the groups were going to continue subdividing and subdividing until every single character had his or her own separate storyline. Cally tiredly calls for a break, and Tyrol leans gloomily against a tree. After a moment, Cally tells Tyrol that it's not his fault that Targ got shot. Over and over. Right in front of him. I'm just saying that that Tyrol could be upset about watching someone die even if he doesn't think it's his fault. Tyrol doesn't respond, and eventually Cally resorts to calling him a "mother-fracker." Which causes them both to start giggling. Cally's actually doing that thing where you're laughing and crying at the same time, which impresses me. Tyrol kisses Cally on the forehead, aw, and then Cally sniffs, "Socinus better appreciate this." Tyrol says that Socinus is probably lying in the sun and, after a moment's thought, calls him an idiot. Heh. On that note, they move on.
Crashdown is standing guard when Baltar stumbles through the bushes toward him, gibbering that he got lost. Crashdown chews Baltar out, and shakes him a little as he snaps, "This is a military operation, do you understand me? What I want to hear from you is, 'Yes, sir!'" Baltar obliges, but then adds, "I'm getting a really bad feeling about this place." He does know they aren't there by choice, right? I don't know what kind of response Baltar expected to get, but Crashdown simply says, "You and me both." Then Tyrol and Cally return. Cally hands over the medkit, and Selix quickly opens it up. Crashdown asks where Targ is, and Tyrol tosses Targ's dogtags over and explains, "Cylons." Selix lightens the mood by telling them that Socinus is going to die. Tyrol blusters, "We've got the medkit; give him a shot. Give him another shot!" Selix says that it's too late, and adds to Tyrol's load of guilt by saying, "It's gonna be slow and painful. We can spare him that. We can spare him that if we give him the morpha from my kit and the one that you brought back." The part that I find most disturbing about this is that Socinus is right there. I mean, he seems unaware of the conversation, but I think it's creepy to have this conversation right over him. Tyrol looks to Crashdown for, I don't know what, really, and Crashdown just says, "He's your man, Chief." Selix prepares the shot, but Tyrol yanks it out of her hands and then leans over Socinus and asks how he's doing. Socinus whispers, "What's goin' on, Chief?" Tyrol says he's listening to the birds, and that he's going to give Socinus something to ease the pain. He pokes the needle in, and Cally and Selix both look away. Crashdown doesn't, to his credit. After giving Socinus the shot, Tyrol says that a Raptor just landed, and they're all going back to the Galactica. Socinus breathes, "I'm going home?" Tyrol says yup. Socinus dies. Cally cries some more. She's going to be so dehydrated.
Galactica. Jammer finishes stringing together some tin cans and hands Apollo a phone. Apollo tells the Marines to search for more ammo while he calls in. Kelly answers the phone and tells Tigh that Team Apollo is "between the Cylons and aft damage control." Tigh takes the phone and listens to Apollo's report.
Team Prez arrives at the Enlisted Head. Heh. Venner says that "from what [he] can remember, the sickbay's about twenty meters through that hatch." While the Marine starts to open the hatch, Billy asks Dualla how she's doing. She says it feels as if she's walking underwater.
Tigh tells Team Apollo to head for aft damage control.
Dualla notices the gun in Billy's hand, and asks if it's his. Billy stammers, "I guess it is now." In a misguided attempt to look cool, he wedges the gun into his waistband. I cringe. Dualla says, "If you're gonna keep it in your trousers like that, you might want to turn the safety on." She reaches toward Billy's crotch and flicks the safety, and maybe that's what Billy wanted all along. If you know what I mean. The Marine checks a gauge by the hatch, and realizes that it won't open because the corridor on the other side has been depressurized. We start hearing shouting again as the Prez asks Venner to find yet another path to sickbay. Venner quickly declares that they'll have to go toward aft damage control.
Cut to Apollo, saying, "Aft damage control." Okay, I think we've got it. Tigh tells Apollo, "Get there before the Cylons, or we lose the ship. Is that clear?" Team Apollo heads out.
Commercials. I meant to mention last week that I like the little bumpers Sci-Fi is doing with the different pairs of characters. They're nice because they aren't shot like "here are the actors waving directly at the camera!" They seem to be in character, and in most of them, the actors aren't looking at each other or the camera. The exception being Six and Starbuck, who are looking at each other like they're just about to throw down. Or possibly kiss. Or maybe first one, and then the other.
Team Apollo arrives at aft damage control. Hey, that wasn't so hard. Apollo positions his men to cover the corridor, and they move some handy crates out into the hall to serve as cover. The clanging footsteps are quite seriously loud now.
The camera slides around a corner into a neighboring corridor Team Prez is hurrying along. The Prez suddenly tells everyone to stop. We hear more screams nearby.
Team Apollo is in position. Apollo tells everyone to wait till his signal, and reminds them, and the home audience, that they've only got one shot each. He says, "It's gotta be a head shot to make a kill."
Team Prez remains motionless, listening to the clanging. Maybe the Cylons should get some rubber-soled shoes. Venner suggests that everyone should maybe hide right about now. They all duck behind a large hatchway.
Apollo takes position to Jammer and tries to reassure him. Jammer shakily takes aim down the corridor and notes, "I'm not really cut out for this, sir." Apollo says that he isn't either, which might not be that reassuring for poor Jammer. Apollo adds, "Sometimes you gotta roll a hard six." Jammer asks what that means, and Apollo admits that he doesn't know: "It's something my dad says." Heh, although that joke was funnier when it was about "five by five." Apollo says that he'll tell Jammer when to shoot, and then jumps up to take position behind a bulkhead. Entertainingly, he seems to decide that this is a good time to try to artfully muss his hair. The clangs stop for a moment.
Clang, and we're looking at a closed hatch. Okay.
Clang, and we're looking at the corridor.
Clang, and Team Prez stares around like, "Is something going to happen soon?"
Apollo starts muttering, "Head shot, reload, head shot." Why does he have to reload before firing again? That seems like a design flaw. I hope there's an episode where Apollo gets to be a spy of some kind. Muttering, "Lie, sneak, lie," to himself all the time.
The clangs are rapid now, and the camera zooms up the corridor and reaches the hatch just as two Cylons pour through it. As soon as they're through, the lead Cylon switches its right hand to a gun. Which sort of suggests that, yeah, they need hands to open doors and stuff, but I still don't get why they can't leave the other hand as a gun. Or are they all right-handed? Anyway, with their guns ready, they run down the hall.
Apollo announces that the Cylons are coming, and tells everyone to get down.
Billy is holding his gun, and Dualla hisses, "You wanna shoot that, you have to take the safety off." Billy looks at the side of the gun. The Cylons race past the open doorway to the corridor Team Prez is hiding in. The Prez gasps and ducks back through another hatch. Billy jumps, and accidentally fires the gun. Whoops. One Cylon, having already passed them, stops at the sound. We get a second to register that there's blood smeared over its shoulder and one arm -- nice touch. Then it returns to the intersection and looks down the corridor, where Billy is standing dopily. The second Cylon appears as well, and they both open fire. The Prez screams and rushes forward to shove Billy down to the floor.
Further down the corridor, Apollo can see the Cylons standing at the intersection. They're kind of far away, but they are at least standing still, so he screams, "Fire!" Everyone pops up and starts shooting, and one Cylon explodes. The second one is knocked down, but gets up and shoots back at them. Everyone ducks as the Cylon unloads both, er, hands at them. Team Apollo keeps firing, and as they pop out of their cover to shoot, both Marines get hit. Apollo seems to be taking his sweet time reloading. The Cylon starts to move down the hallway, and breaks into a run as Apollo swings out from behind his crates. The Cylon starts to vault over him, and Apollo falls back and fires upward at the Cylon. It goes kaboom in a very cool way, and the camera follows it as it crashes down and slides down the corridor, sending up sparks until it crashes into a wall. That was fun!
Up in the T-intersection, Venner gingerly leans down to check on Billy and the Prez. They're fine.
Jammer shouts, "We did it! We got 'em all!" And yeah, I totally expected another Cylon to pop out of nowhere and shred him right there. But that doesn't happen. He adds, "They don't look so big now, do they?" From the floor, where he is lying to a dead Marine, Apollo gulps, "They look big enough."
Dualla offers to take Billy's gun, and it looks like it might be his turn to be a little concussed. Venner asks the Prez if she was hit, and she calmly says, "No, I don't think so." Heh. After helping her up, Venner points out that there are bullet holes in her jacket, and proceeds to get all Samuel L. Jackson on her. He says that the gods must be watching over her. There's really no good response to that, you know. The Prez nods with a worried expression.
As the piano music is cued up again, we return to Caprica. Starbuck reaches into her jacket pocket and pulls out a set of keys. She smirks and asks Helo, "Tired of walking?"
Cut to a garage. Helo laughs as they get into her Humvee and crash through the padlocked gate. The Humvee itself doesn't bother me; the fact that they aren't even trying to be stealthy does. We know that the Cylons were a lot more interested in Boomer than they were in Helo, but they don't.
Sickbay. Dualla's resting in bed, her forehead bandaged. Billy wanders in and asks how she is. Dualla says, "Better," and then holds out her hand for Billy. He takes it but says, "I thought you said..." Dualla says, "Forget what I said. Listen to what I'm saying." She tugs him down and kisses him. A little well-meaning incompetence always wins the girls over. But then Billy has to ruin it by saying, "I didn't hear that. Could you do that one more time?" Dualla tells him to get the curtain. Billy does get to smirk into the camera as he pull the curtain closed, which is pretty funny. Okay, is this the sexual situation? Because that's ridiculous.
Apollo and the Prez are standing by Adama's bedside as Tigh enters and says that Cottle's on the way. The Prez tells Apollo that Adama will be fine, and then says to Tigh, "I assume there's still a cell out there waiting for me." Tigh says yup, and Venner leads the Prez out. I love how much Tigh doesn't care about her little adventure. Once the Prez is gone, Tigh tells Apollo, "I can't believe you sided with that woman against the Old Man." He grunts that he'd never do that, and concludes that Apollo isn't fit to wear a uniform. Apollo agrees. And if he'd just stopped there, I'd say good for him, especially because it would might give Tigh pause to understand that Apollo doesn't care about being fit to wear a uniform. But it's Apollo, so he has to go on: "Then again, neither are you." Remember how Tigh pointed out that his flaws were personal ones, but Starbuck's were professional? That applies here, too. Except Apollo has both kinds. Whatever. Apollo declares, "When [Adama] wakes up, he'll decide what to do with the both of us." No, really, what is he talking about? Does he have some reason to think that Adama will be gunning for Tigh as soon as he recovers? Moore mentions that, originally, when Apollo first calls in to CIC, Tigh tries to relieve him of command and put one of the Marines in charge of the group. And then bitches Apollo out and calls him a screw-up. Which makes Apollo's attitude at the end slightly more understandable, but since that part was cut (correctly, it sounds like), maybe the ending should have been amended as well. Apollo kisses his father on the forehead and snots out. Tigh looks at Adama and sighs, "Thank the gods I didn't have kids." Heh.
time: The kids on Kobol decide to do something that even Baltar thinks is "fracking nuts." And Tigh declares martial law.
Production card: A lightbulb goes off over Eick's head. Moore, perhaps sensing danger, flees, and then the Cylons outside the office shoot Eick with a few dozen bullets. They also smash the clock, which seems improbable to me because of the angles involved. Maybe it was a ricochet. Yes, I know they're just production cards. But I love them so very much.