Just as the first episode of this season kicked off with the ticking of clocks, this second episode, “Water”, starts with the dripping of water – right off of Sharon “Boomer” Valerii. We’re in the middle of the action, just as we are at the start of the prior episode, “33”. Time repeats itself again.
1. Loving those we should hate
We already know Boomer is a Cylon; we’ve known since the end of the miniseries. This is what I love about Battlestar; she’s an enemy, but we’re rooting for her. Boomer snaps out of something, she is unsure as to why she’s dripping wet. She’s confused, she has a gym bag, she opens it, and there are dry clothes inside. She’s confused, she finds a bomb in her bag. Boomer thinks it’s nighttime, but Chief Galen Tyrol lets her know it’s morning. She’s lost time. When Boomer sneaks the detonator to the bomb back into the arms locker, she sees multiple detonators are missing. We see them. They’re planted, on Galactica. We know from the second Boomer wakes up, something is not right. We know she did this.
I’m still rooting for her and I’m assuming you are, too. Later, Boomer is searching for water, and her Cylon programming won’t let her see she’s found some on a remote planet. Boomer is fighting. She knows something is wrong. Something she can’t understand. She sees the water and tells Galactica. Here begins the genesis of an important question for the series: do Cylons have free will? If they’re machines, do they simply rely on programming? If this is the case, why does it appear Boomer is exerting something we might liken to free will here. Something Battlestar Galactica does so well is show us that good and bad aren’t ideas that function in black and white. We should hate Boomer, but we don’t.
2. Lack of resources
President Roslin mentions to Billy that she only has 3 outfits, so she better get used to them. Little does she know, things are about to get much worse. The detonators detonate, and Galactica begins spewing water out into space. This is a much more precious commodity than clothing. The engineers of Galactica have thought ahead; space travel is a long and arduous process, so the Battlestar recycles its water. They have enough water for years and have enough to provide for the fleet. Once those on Galactica realize they’ve lost 60 percent of their potable water, it’s back to a numbers game. It’s all about time. The 16,000 people on Galactica will run out of water in 2 days. This builds on the idea that the Cylons are not the only thing humans have to fight, as plain old survival is their biggest obstacle.
3. Living with what we’ve done
At the beginning of this episode, Apollo reveals to his father that he keeps flashing back to the destruction of the Olympic Carrier. Apollo pulled the trigger and he’s not sure if what he’s done is the right thing. Adama’s response is that of a man weathered by war, “That was 3 days ago. It’s ancient history under these circumstances. Leave it to the historians.” Apollo asks his father if leaders have the responsibility to ask questions; to question if the decisions they make are the right ones. Commander Adama’s response, “We did what we had to do, son. A man takes responsibility for his actions, right or wrong. He accepts the consequences and lives with them. Every day.”
I can’t decide if Adama is responding to his son’s questions as a Commander, or as a father, or maybe both. At the end of this episode, we see Roslin broach the topic of the Olympic Carrier with Apollo; he tells her he’s struggling, but then repeats his father’s earlier words, about being a man. The president gives Apollo the thoughtful advice that his father couldn’t give him; she tells him that it’s okay to have feelings, even if you are a man in command. The almost parental advice Apollo receives from these two adult figures in his life always juxtaposes well, and seems to give Apollo what he needs, as a conflicted man with a conscience, a man that is at war.
Continued below4. Love Baltar/Hate Baltar
Gaius Baltar is a flawed character, and I hate him. But, he’s such an interesting character, so I love him. From what we’ve seen so far, Baltar is out for himself. We get the impression he thinks he can manipulate women effectively, based on his relationship with Caprica Six, but in the end, she’s the one that manipulated him successfully, ultimately bringing down Caprica’s defense system. Roslin asks Baltar about the Cylon detector he is supposedly working on, and he immediately flashes back to Caprica, where Six asks him about the first time he lied to a woman. Is he lying to Roslin here? Is this the purpose of the flashback? Most things about Baltar are mysterious; he lives his life in shades of gray. After he’s ordered to start working on the detector immediately, he spies a card game – seemingly led by Starbuck.
From what I remembered, Starbuck was an integral part of the narrative of Battlestar, but her role has been minimal at best so far. Baltar wants in on the game, and as per usual with Starbuck, there is some verbal sparring between the two. While post-Cylon attack Baltar has seemed meek and unsure of himself, he looks more like pre-Cylon attack Baltar while involved in this card game – confident and cocky. We find out he can deceive an intelligent woman successfully, as he defeats Starbuck, at what we can assume is her own game. I don’t totally remember how this relationship works out, I vaguely remember some level of conflict, but she hates Baltar right here, and I do too.
5. Assuming you know what others like or want
I spend an inordinate amount of time in my own head, thinking about what other people think. Maybe you do too. I assume I can somehow figure out what a person wants, or at least have an idea of what they want. A good deal of the time, I’m wrong. My own perceptions are littered with my own personal perspectives, biases, and preconceived notions. When President Roslin tours the Battlestar, Adama organizes a ceremony filled with pomp and circumstance. She hates it, but she think Adama likes the pageantry of tradition in a time of war. As it turns out, he hates it too. He believes all the ceremony is something that will make her feel like the president and Apollo lets Roslin in on that little secret. The executive leader and the military leader find some common ground on Galactica, books, an “old pleasure” according to both. Roslin asks to borrow a book of Adama’s, and he tell her to take it as a gift. He never lends books; more character building for Adama.
Both individuals know they’re not here for simple pleasantries; Roslin has a question for Adama. There have been riots on civilian ships over the rationing of water and she wants him to show the strength of the military. Adama states that he won’t be her police force, “There’s a reason we separate military and police. Military fights the enemy of the state. The police serve and protect. When the military becomes both, the enemy of the state tends to become the people.” Roslin says she appreciates the issue, but she won’t let that happen; she says it twice. Adama agrees to enforce the rule of rationing just this one time. We see two people willing to work together and make compromises they wouldn’t make in a normal situation. Later, Roslin asks Apollo to be her Personal Military Advisor. She doesn’t know what Adama wants, or how the military truly functions. Apollo does. He’s already given her some important insight, and she believes she’ll need that insight moving forward as she cannot assume she knows about the man and the military.
Overall, this second episode of the season continues to build a world for its audience. It’s a tightly crafted episode that moves the plot along quickly, while adding small elements that build our characters. The XO, Saul Tigh, is shown examining a bottle of alcohol. It’s been insinuated earlier that he has a drinking problem, and here, he’s marking the bottle based on finger measurements, obsessively. Poor Billy, the president’s aide, can’t seem to compliment a woman successfully. The Chief is desperately in love with Boomer as we see he will help her at almost any cost, including during the bombing investigation. The episode ends with Boomer confidently striding down a hallway on Galactica. She’s found the water that will supposedly save the fleet, directly after destroying the water reserves in the first place. Which programming is she functioning on now?
