1. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is
We’re back and knee deep into plot thanks to the build-up from part one. Starbuck and her Marines are trapped on Caprica, involved in a fire fight with Cylons, in an attempt to get back to their Raptors and flee back to Galactica. But then, in a turn of events that seem almost too good to be true, the shooting stops, and a recon mission shows the Cylons to have just up and left, and so the rescue team makes it back, mission complete. But not so fast. After a Cavil copy steps off a Raptor onto the Galactica, it’s no longer a secret he’s a Cylon. He’s been sent with a message to deliver, which he recounts from the brig to Adama and Roslin in a reveal regarding the war heroes, a six and an eight, Caprica Six and Sharon Valerii, who have swung popular opinion over to their side. And as we know, their side involves sympathy for the human race. It seems the Cylons have been convinced the occupation of the colonies was an error, as was the pursuit of the fleet. The Cylons are machines, not humans, but they’ve become confused and instead of finding their own path to enlightenment, they hijacked the humans’ path. While we’ve seen Caprica Six and Sharon’s point of view based on their time with humans, can they really turn the entire sense of consciousness for all Cylons? Their lives have been consumed with the pursuit of humans, who in some sense, are their creators. Their beings are so intertwined, it’s almost impossible to believe the two can leave each other alone.
2.Desperate times
President Laura Roslin is a woman of principle. She’s so honest, even her opponent Gaius Baltar insists Roslin is not corrupt after she wins an election with a suspicious conclusion. Honest Laura Roslin believes so strongly that the fleet cannot settle on this new planet, and that Gaius Baltar did commiserate with the Cylons before the attack, that she’s willing to let her Chief of Staff set the wheels in motion to ensure her election when it appears Baltar will win. We never truly know what we’ll do until our backs are up against the wall, and here Roslin lets go of the principles that define her, so much so she can’t even feign excitement when Adama calls to congratulate her on her stunning victory. We see Roslin fall here, but there’s one person who cannot abide that fall, Commander William Adama, a man Roslin has come to trust implicitly as she confesses her involvement in stealing the election. Forever the voice of reason, he tells his friend she cannot steal the election, because if she does, she’ll die inside, even if Baltar is the wrong choice. And so Adama tells Gaius Baltar he’s won the election due to a tabulation error, saving all those involved.
3. Downfall of mankind
Can one man bring about the downfall of all mankind? Baltar is responsible for the attack on Caprica. Now, as president, he brings the fleet to a new planet he’s dubbed New Caprica, but not before meeting with Gina on Cloud Nine and breaking to her the news his new job will make their relationship virtually impossible, so why not secretly move with him down to New Caprica. That’s a hard no from Gina. After a reluctant sexual encounter, and Baltar’s departure, Gina commits suicide via nuclear bomb while far from any resurrection ship. Her’s is a sad story, one Baltar can’t fix with his science, or his attempt at intimacy. Flash forward a year to the camps on New Caprica and things are going just as we might imagine: the Chief is leading a workers revolt, Baltar is living a life of debauchery, and there is an extreme lack of resources for those colonizing the planet.
4. Judgement Day
After 380 days, the Galactica and the Orbital Defense Patrol are barely needed, with no sign of Cylons, and most of the population down on New Caprica. Now gloriously mustached Commander Adama sends Colonel Tigh down with the rest of the majority of his crew. We see Laura Roslin is back at teaching, the Cylon hybrid baby is alive and well, Starbuck and Anders are married, and Starbuck and Lee are back at odds again for some undisclosed reason. But as Starbuck is calling Lee to ask a favor, he discovers the arrival of the Cylon fleet. Frack. They’re back. With little time, both Adamas decide the fleet will jump and essentially abandon the majority of the population down on New Caprica. Once the Cylons arrive on the planet, Baltar obviously has no idea what to do, and when confronted with his Six, cries, as he does. Not only is the Colonies current President responsible for the destruction of Caprica, he’s responsible for their discovery of New Caprica; they detected a nuclear detonation nearby, from the warhead he stole for Gina. The Cylons offer no harm if there’s no resistance, and Baltar, not surprisingly, surrenders.
5. Back to the fight
This episode does not end with President Baltar’s (ick) surrender; it ends with Starbuck telling the Chief they’ll do what they’ve always done when they’re down, fight.
