Previously on Battlestar Galactica: Gaeta and Zarek’s attempted coup ended poorly as Adama took back control and had them executed. Chief Tyrol saw something mysterious on the wall of the engine room and Anders was shot.
“All this has happened before. And it will happen again.” So begins this episode of Battlestar Galactica that’s followed by a detailed description of humans creating the Cylons, their revolt and return 40 years later, and the nuclear blast. It all leads to Ellen’s death on New Caprica, after which she wakes up in a Resurrection Pod. Wow, welcome to the most revelatory episode of BSG ever.
Twelve Months Ago: Ellen (Kate Vernon) sees a Centurion and asks for some help getting out after she calms down. Clearly she’s not done using her womanly charms to get what she wants, even from a machine. Brother Cavil enters and Ellen calls him John.
Apparently she and the rest of the Final Five created the other Cylons, because John is named after Ellen’s father. He claims she is a machine as well, but she’s not so sure. How is it possible for this show to blow my mind seven times before the opening credits?
It seems the Final Five worked with the Centurions to create the seven skinjob Cylons. After bantering back and forth, Boomer (Grace Park) arrives. Wait, Boomer has known all along that Ellen Tigh was the final Cylon?
Present Day: Sam Anders (Michael Trucco) is also getting his old memory back while Doc Cottle drills into his head to relieve the pressure of the bullet in his brain. Anders talks about the forgotten people in the forgotten land with their forgotten language. When he wakes up, he asks Kara (Katee Sackhoff) to gather the rest of the Final Five, because he remembers everything about their previous time on Earth and why they’re here.
Once they arrive, Anders proceeds with the greatest exposition ever. They all worked in a research facility on Earth recreating the old 13th tribe’s dead resurrection technology. Ellen and Saul (Michael Hogan) were still married, and Tyrol and Tory were in love.
The Final Five succeeded in fixing resurrection technology, so they downloaded into new bodies when the Centurions they created attacked and destroyed Earth. The Final Five traveled at regular speed across the galaxy to find the original 12 tribes and warn them about the dangers of creating Centurions, but when they arrived, the first war had already begun.
The Centurions were working on creating skinjobs but only succeeded with the Hybrid. So the Final Five made a deal to show them how to create skinjobs if they left, hence the 40 year gap. Anders says that they created the eight skinjob models.
Yes, eight. Not only does that explain the missing Number 7 since Boomer is Number 8, but it means there’s another frakking skinjob Cylon!
Ten Months Ago: Ellen is shown the explosion at the Eye of Jupiter in the Temple of the Five where the 13th tribe stopped on their way to Earth 3,000 years ago. Cavil tells her about boxing D’Anna because she saw the faces of the Final Five, but Ellen says that’s temporary, unlike the permanent boxing of Number 7.
Cavil rages about his silly human body, questioning why the Final Five would force him to be in such a limiting vessel when, as a machine, he should be capable of so much more. Ellen has no problems, because the Final Five purposefully made the skinjobs to be more human so they could love and have free will.
Present Day: The brain surgeon arrives and he’s played by The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, also known as the PC in those Mac commercials. It’s strange seeing him on this show, and he wants to remove the bullet from Anders’ head, but it might make him lose his memories. He doesn’t want this because he has so much more to explain. For that matter, I don’t want it either, because I’m loving all this backstory.
Cavil was the first skinjob created, but he didn’t accept the love and single God that the Final Five tried to instill in him. So Cavil killed the Final Five and stopped them from accessing their memories during their download, hence their inability to remember their true Cylon nature. They were then slowly introduced into the world one at a time.
Right as Anders is carted off to surgery, Kara begs for information about Number 7, and he tells her he’s dead and was named Daniel. The surgery is a success in that the bullet was removed, but a failure because Anders is now apparently brain dead.
Four Months Ago: The Resurrection Hub is destroyed. Cavil is furious and he wants Ellen to help him recreate resurrection technology once again. She claims that it would take all of the Final Five to do it. Cavil threatens to torture the hell out of her.
Present Day: Tyrol, who is still the Chief, shows Adama what he found last week, a huge crack in the hull of Galactica. He thinks he can fix it, and while Adama trusts him, he doesn’t want any other Cylons on the repair crew.
After even more investigation, Tyrol learns there are hairline fractures in all of the ship’s beams. Tyrol offers a possible solution, a genetic Cylon compound that adheres to and fixes the cracks as it matures. Admiral Adama is willing to accept Cylons in his fleet, but he refuses to have his entire ship become part Cylon. After seeing cracks in his own quarters, Adama changes his mind and lets Tyrol do whatever it takes to save his ship.
Lee and Roslin work on planning to reconstitute the Quorum, which Zarek killed. Lee thinks they should now have representatives from each ship, not each former planet, since the ships are now their homes. Roslin agrees and would like Lee to take the lead and do all the heavy lifting.
Two Days Ago: Ellen realizes that Cavil put the Final Five through so much suffering and torture to teach them a lesson so they would be grateful when they downloaded again. Ellen knows that it was Cavil who destroyed the artistic Daniels, and Cavil still blames Ellen for creating him and making him a monster.
Ellen doesn’t accept his premise and she uses love for him to convince Cavil that he’s capable of good. He isn’t, and instead plots some fiendish torture. Boomer escorts her away, but she decides to forgive Ellen and instead helps her flee and jump away.
Next week on Battlestar Galactica: Guess who’s back? Ellen Tigh reunites with the fleet. That shouldn’t be awkward at all, since she’s the fellow Cylon wife Saul killed because she was working with the Cylons.
(Image courtesy of the Sci Fi Channel)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
