Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5 Epi. 17: Someone to Watch Over Me

Tonight’s Recap will start after the second blue header.

Thoughts – Theories – Questions  Going Into Tonight’s Episode

1. It seems the other 12 colonies did know that the 13th were Cylons, because Tory said they created them. The original Cylons had some resurrection technology, but it fell out of use when they started to procreate naturally. Why were they not able to procreate now? Obviously, we see now they can with humans, and Tigh could with Caprica Six.

2. We still don’t know the circumstances under which the 13th tribe left Kobol for Earth and under which the 12 tribes left Kobol for their new home.

3. So, Earth being nuked was another Cylon civil war with the Centurions turning on the skinjobs, just like they would later turn on the humans. What are these signs that were shown to the five that no one else could see? Anders said they were warnings that they eventually figured out and it lead them to put the plan in place to have a ship to resurrect on. Who were these warnings from? They backtracked the 13th tribes steps to find the 12 colonies, but who set up the temple as a shrine to them and orchestrated D’Anna seeing their faces?

4. We know that Ellen did know she was a Cylon before the other four, but we still don’t know who or what activated the others. It’s apparent that John was hiding their existence from the other models and it wouldn’t have been in his best interest to activate them. In the time that Ellen spent with Boomer did she convince her to do it? Show her how to do it? OR, is it that one true God that set up D’Anna seeing them?

Epi. 17: Someone to Watch Over Me

Previously on Battlestar Galactica: Galactica is falling apart. Tyrol uses an organic resin from the Cylon base ship to fix the damage. Boomer brings Ellen back to the fleet and is thrown in jail for her efforts. Starbuck finds her dead body on Earth. She asks Leoben, “What am I?,” but he’s too freaked out to answer.

And now…

As someone plays a piano, Starbuck wakes up to start her day. When she goes into her locker, she sees her dead face. She showers and starts her duties as CAG. There are humans, and Cylon sixes and eights flying with them. Their mission, says Starbuck, is the same as it has been week after week; try to find a habitable planet. The first pilot to find one gets the last tube of Turon toothpaste in the whole universe. I’d put that thing on eBay.

(Oddly enough, there’s a commerical offering up the prop at the Galactica auctions.)

Some interesting things of note during Starbuck’s speech: It’s been weeks since they discovered the nuked Earth, their numbers are thinned due to the mutiny so some Raptor pilots are flying solo.Which is important and comes into play later.

When she says that Six has the color assignments, one six in the front row raises her hand – I guess to separate herself from the others. They need names and … hair bows! Yes, they need different colored hair bows to tell them heifers apart. Same with the Eights, but maybe they should have like… scarves.

Anyway…

Tyrol is telling Adama, Lee, and the President that they don’t have that many jumps left withput causing hull damage. Adama isn’t ready to give up on her just yet.

Lee congratulates a Six, Sonya, on her quorum election. (See! That’s what I’m talking about. Names!) She says that when they reconvene, they plan on asking for Sharon (Boomer) in order to try her for treason and if she’s convicted, she’ll be put to death. Tyrol is all, “What you talkin’ ’bout, Willis?!”

And we have credits…

Various shots throughout Galactica show the ship shaking and the power flickering as the work is being done.

In the sick bay, Cottle doesn’t know what to make of Anders’ condition. He boots Ellen, Tory, and an Eight out of the room when they start offering up Cylon theories about his brain rebooting. I imagine his brain looks like this…

Cottle tells Starbuck that if there’s a change, she’ll be the first to know.

In the bar, Starbuck starts picking on a pianist who is composing a song.

While working on the Galactica, Tyrol has flashbacks to being with Boomer before things went to shit. He remembers kicking her to the curb when they were both in the brig. He wonders how many people end up with who they really wanted to be with and how many settled.

Starbuck arrives at Athena and Helo’s quarters. Hera is drawing circles. Helo managed to retrieve all of Starbuck’s stuff that was auctioned off amongst the other pilots when they thought she was dead. She picks up a cassette of someone playing live music at the Opera House. (And I think it said Thrace Opera House, but I can’t be sure.) The name is Dreilide Thrace. How many of you hit Google to see the meaning of Dreilide and if it’s a form of Daniel? LOL

You didn’t? Well, let me help you out:

The name ‘Dreilide’ is German for ‘third eyelid’ and refers to the inner eyelid, regarded as the gateway to the soul and realms of higher consciousness. The third eye is often associated with visions, clairvoyance, precognition, and out-of-body experiences, and people who have allegedly developed the capacity to use their third eyes are sometimes known as seers.

The analog for Dreilide Thrace in the Original Series is Chameleon. Chameleons have a third eye called a parietal eye.

Hera gives Starbuck her paper of circles and Starbuck leaves with the cassette.

Tyrol visits Boomer. She tells him she thought New Caprica was the way to make amends for what she had done. He says that you can’t force people to love you at the tip of a gun. She tells him she thought about him everyday since dying in his arms when pasty-faced Cally killed her. He says he thought of her as well. Cally is now rolling over in her galactic grave. Tyrol and Boomer touch hands through the bars and she projects the home they planned to build on Picon.

"Welcome home, dear!"

He freaks out and breaks the connection. She apologizes, but he runs off.

Bringing new meaning to the term, "brain-frak"

At the bar, Starbuck tells the pianist she likes the song he’s composing. It’s getting better. She says it reminds her of someone chasing a car and he says it’s supposed to make you think of loss.

Across the bar, Tyrol wants the other Final Cylons to step in on Boomer’s behalf. Tory’s selfish ass keeps her mouth shut, Ellen says they have to let the process play out, and Tigh just drinks. Tyrol sarcastically thanks Tigh for his input and Ellen reminds Tyrol that Tigh just lost his child so leave him be. She jabs a finger at him too. For some reason, I really like that.

In the brig, Boomer admits to Tyrol that she has been going to their home in her mind for awhile. He agrees to let her project him there again. It’s a beautiful house and it makes me want to get up and clean mine. For real. Like, I want to go to Pier 1 Imports and buy some plants and stuff. Apparently, in projection world, they have a daughter and she’s up in her room. OK, this is way too sad for me.

Aww, how sweet. Too bad it ain't real.

At the bar, Starbuck helps the pianist compose more of his song. She talks about her father teaching her to play and this one song that made her feel happy and sad at the same time. We see her as a child, with her faceless Dad next to her on the piano bench. Is it Tigh? Daniel? Damn this show!!

Starbuck confesses to the pianist that she found her dead body on Earth.

Tyrol begs the President not to sign the extradition order, but she does anyway saying that Sharon is a danger in or out of the brig.  Tyrol leaves and he’s pissed.  In a very comical scene, Tyrol stages another black-out and knocks an Eight over the head with a wrench.

The pianist tells Starbuck that he left his family when the wife pressured him to stop playing music and get a real job.  Starbuck accuses him of being just like her father; abandoning a family with no thought of how it affected the kid.

"You remind me of someone, but I... just... can't... place... it."

Chief goes the brig to restore power and the guards leave to check the locks while he does. When he leaves, the knocked out Eight is in Boomer’s place, and Boomer is prancing around the halls of Galactica.

The pianist tries to convince Starbuck to play the song her father taught her after she admits she never played the piano again after he left.  She begins to play.

Athena is in the washroom when Boomer comes in and attacks her.

Helo comes into the washroom just as Boomer is washing the blood from her hands. He thinks it’s Athena!

At the bar, Tigh tells Tory and Ellen that he saw his baby’s body and that his eyes were open. He wasn’t ready for that. And I wasn’t either! Sad.

Helo has sex with Boomer, thinking it’s Athena, as the real Athena watches from the locker Boomer put her in. That’s just wrong.

Starbuck tries to play the song, but something is missing. The pianist starts to draw notes when she remembers the drawing Hera gave her. The circles line up on the music sheet and the pianist adds them. They begin to play.

Boomer, as Athena, takes Hera out of day care and makes her drink some water.

Starbuck and the pianist continue to play and Tigh, Tory, and Ellen take notice.

Tyrol helps Boomer load a crate onto a Raptor. She put that baby in a box?!

Starbuck and the pianist really get into the song. It’s “All Along the Watchtower” song that awakened the Four.

“What the frak?!,” says Tigh.

I LOVE THIS SHOW!!

Every week it gives me goosebumps!

The pianist smiles at Starbuck and touches her like her Daddy used to. Not in an inappropriate way, but you know.

Tigh wants to know who taught her to play the song and she says her Dad. The pianist is gone.

Boomer begs Tyrol to go with her, but he refuses saying they’ll meet again. He has no idea she got that baby gripped up in a crate.

Helo is instructing in the CAG when Athena comes stumbling in bloody and in her underwear. She tells him that it was Boomer in the locker room and asks about Hera. He orders Six to get a medic and alert everyone that Boomer is out and she has Hera. Athena hugs him, screams, and starts pounding on his back. YOU KNOW, she’s just thinking, “I don’t care if we look exactly alike, you should have known it wasn’t me!”

Boomer is wondering why her flight path hasn’t been cleared, and the CIC gives her some bogus excuse.  She doesn’t buy it and fires up the raptor. Adama tells her that she will be fired upon if she launches and she says, “Not with Hera on board you won’t.” Foiled again! Adama orders the flight pods retracted.

Meanwhile, President Roslin is all sweaty (she’s been a shaking hot ass mess all episode) in Adama’s office and can feel that something is wrong.

Boomer spools up the FTL drive and Tigh notes that if she jumps from within the ship, the spacial disruption can tear Galactica’s guts out. Nice. Adama orders the flight pods retracted any damn way. PIMP.

Boomer makes a rush to leave as the pods retract. She makes it through, but not without damage to her ship. Hot Dog is watching from his Viper and says, “Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Don’t do it.”

Boomer does it. She jumps away and it fraks Galactica up! President Roslin can feel Hera’s loss, says her name, and then falls to the floor unconcious. A soldier takes her pulse and calls for help.

On the flight deck, Tyrol is giving orders as everyone rushes to deal with the damage. Athena and Helo are above deck yelling at a flight crew member asking how Hera could have been snuck off the ship. A nearby crew member fills Tyrol in on what happened with Hera. He’s devastated.

In the day care center, Tigh and Ellen discuss what happened. Ellen realizes that her escape must have been a part of the plan to get Boomer there so she could steal Hera. Tigh wants to know how a 3-year old girl could have spontaneously written down the song and Ellen says she must be plugged into something that is manipulating all of them.

She plugged into Starbuck’s Daddy, Daniel! Or the One True God! AGGH! Questions!

Ellen wonders if Anders could help and Tigh says, “If he ever wakes up.”

Starbuck rests with Anders as her Dad’s music plays. His picture on the flier for the live performance shows him with long blond hair. And it doesn’t say Thrace Opera House, but Helice Opera House.

All I know is that her Dad looks like Jay from Jay and Silent Bob.

Tyrol projects himself into his home with Boomer and finds her and their daughter gone. He cries.

And it just might be the saddest shit I’ve ever seen.

Questions Answered and New Ones Posed

So, I was right in that “it will all happen again” also refers to the fact that there are once again 12 colonies of humans and 1 colony of Cylons. We know they have representation on the Quorum.

Cavil has been craftier and more deadly than I thought. He gave up Ellen to gain Hera. Now, Liam dying is not just sad, but critical.

Boomer has been a bad, bad, girl.

Tyrol is in big, big, trouble.

Will they try what the Eight suggested, and put Anders in the goo and hook him up the Cylon mainframe like a hybrid.

And I’m not gonna lie and say that I saw the double cross coming, but I did pause and wonder why the Centurion didn’t lose his shit when Boomer and Ellen got aboard that Raptor.

What did you guys think?

Remember, you can get more BSG blogging over at The TV Tryant every Tuesday.