Season 3, Episode 5

Battlestar Galactica: Collaborators

Collaborators, the fifth episode of season three of Battlestar Galactica was largely about the fallout from the Cylon enslavement and audacious rescue mission of the entire human population from New Caprica. We meet the Circle, a group of resistors (including Tigh, Chief, and Tyrol) who make good on the promise to string up the traitors who worked with the Cylons. One of the humans who worked in the secret police is shot out of an airlock - the fact that he helped save Callie is irrelevant.

Tigh is pretty pissed that Gaeta (former assistant to Baltar on New Caprica) appears on the bridge. The macho posturing is pretty intense. Adama takes Tigh aside and orders him to forget things. I’m wondering if this is a sign of future conflict between the shell-shocked commanders.

It soon becomes clear that the Circle is sentencing people to death without the approval of Adama or Roslin, making us question if their brand of secretive, rogue justice is even fair. Are people guilty when blindly following orders? According to the Nazi Nuremburg trials, just following orders is no defense. However, things aren’t so clear cut on here. Battlestar Galactica is probing this moral grey area so perfectly this season.

Meanwhile, Baltar is in a grey area himself, captured aboard a Cylon base star. Up until this point, the interior of the Cylon’s world has been a mystery. It looks like we may gain an entry point to the Cylon world through Baltar’s eyes. I’d love to see the inner workings of the Cylon empire.

Anyhow, the Cylons are trying to decide whether Baltar is still worth keeping alive. In his usual, selfish fashion, he desperately pleads to be spared. Knowing his pathetic ways, he’ll probably be able to convince the Cylons he’s worth saving for strategic insight into the human mind. Or maybe he has Adama’s cellphone number.

Gaeta gets out of his predicament after it is realized that he was helping the resistance from the inside. It is also revealed that Zarek is the one who responsible for the secret jury. The newly restored presidency of Roslin pardons anyone who was a potential Cylon collaborator on New Caprica.

Ultimately, I think is the best move. There is still a finite number of humans in the fleet (41,435). It’s a big problem if they are insistent on killing each other off.

Next Episode: Torn
Previous Episode: Exodus, Part 2

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