Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: A+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Dictates Of Conscience
By Jacob Clifton | Season 3 | Episode 2 | Aired on 10.05.2006
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Duck's bomb only killed 36 people out of the 200, and also Gaius wasn't there, which was the whole point, and also Jammer was about ten inches behind him, but didn't die. In the wake of the Duck bomb -- and others -- the Cylons decide to round up a bunch of people for no reason, using the SS. Which means that Jammer, in a balaclava, kidnaps his old friend Cally in the middle of the night, leaving her kid screaming and unattended. Later on, feeling bad, he asks Boomer to check on Cally in the detention center. Cally isâ¦ungrateful for the attention, to say the least. Speaking of, Chief goes apeshit on Gaeta about Cally, because he still hasn't figured out that Gaeta's their contact in the administration. Roslin and Gaius have a horribly tense moment about the ethics of suicide bombing. Ellen learns that the Cylons were going to release Tigh anyway, because they know he's the head of the Resistance, so the total whoring of herself to Cavil that she's been doing has been for no reason really whatsoever; he tells her to hand over their next rendezvous or else they'll just pick Tigh up for detention again, and torture him even worse. So she does, because she loves her husband, and because she is a retard. Just so happens that the next rendezvous is with a detachment from Galactica herself, which is double scary; the contingent is led by Sharon Agathon, whom Adama commissions as an officer! â¦Just after he tells Lee to take the Pegasus and the civilian Fleet back to looking for Earth, leaving just our girl up there in the sky. Meanwhile, Leoben steps up Kara's creepy Prisoner-style torture just a bit more by presenting her with -- apparently -- their child, a little blonde girl named Casey. Kara's disinterest in the kid is thrown off after the girl is injured in a scene no less brutal than the previous episode's dinner murder scene. Kara seems to give in a little bit to Leoben's construct over the child's hospital bed, but who can say? She is completely nuts right now. Gaius, while in a Six Fugue, signs an executive order condemning like 200 detainees to execution. This group includes Cally, Roslin, and Zarek; Jammer cuts Cally loose -- friggin' of course -- and the episode ends with her running through the New Caprica landscape and the sound of a grip of Centurions opening fire on the detainees. I was weirdly worried about Cally and happy that she did not get shot in the head, which is especially weird if you take into account how rude she was to Boomer. Like, just because she shot Adama and is now a member of the fascist ruling class, you have to be rude? Whatever. If Roslin dies, Adama is going to kill all their asses with a karate chop. And then I will beat up whoever is left. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Laura sits in a Cylon cell, feet bare, shivering. I guess the whole suicide-bombing thing wasn't taken lightly. Gaius peers at her through the cell door and enters; the light coming down is bright and she shields her eyes. He carries in one chair and a New Caprica SS guy, in his mask, brings in another one. Laura drags her chair closer, with a foot, and sits. Gaius hands her her glasses and she puts them on, regarding him cordially. He tells her he can help her -- I think he says, "In ways I can't help myself" -- and that he can protect her. "But you have to understand the situation has changed. The insurgency has crossed the line. Suicide bombings?" She looks away. "It's abhorrent. Contrary to everything we believe in." She shrugs at the pronoun. "So you and I, we will publicly condemn these tactics. They cannot be legitimized in any way." She smiles at him; McDonnell's touch is as deft and heart-wrenching as ever. "There's something that scares the Cylons after all," she says quietly, holding her ground. But he's got her: "I should think using men and women as human bombs should scare us all." He's right but she can't say that. "Desperate people take desperate measures," she says, faltering, and he raises his voice, begging her to look him in the eye and say she approves of "sending young men and women into crowded places with explosives strapped to their chests." She can't do it. She looks down, then at him, shakes her head with a tiny sad smile.
"Thirty-three people killed," he says, "and their only crime was putting on a police uniform. Trying to bring some order to the chaos out there... " And she's off! "Order? By arresting innocent people in the dead of night? Detaining them without charge? Torturing them for information?" And he lies, repeats the lie, because he has to believe the lie: "Nobody has been tortured." I'm glad this show knows well enough to leave the current political situation alone! It would be so crazy if they were talking about Iraq! He stalks toward the door and she sneers: "Tell that to Colonel Tigh." He repeats the lie, and stares at her, and loses his cool. "We're done here." He knocks on the door and the SS guy opens it. "I hope you understand the severity of the situation, and ask you to obey the dictates of your conscience." She looks at him. "... Which is what I've always done." It's sad. Gaius is sad. He believes this, still. He's never fucked up so terribly bad that he couldn't lie to himself after the fact and assure himself he was doing the right thing. He's never had to look at it and say that he didn't obey the dictates of his conscience. No matter how bad it got, or the consequences. "Of that I have no doubt," she says, with great disgust. They stare at each other more hatefully than ever before. "Please give this lovely lady her shoes back. And get her out of here."