Battlestar Galactica: Torn

November 6th, 2006

Season 3, Episode 6

The reunited fleet and crew of the Galactica try to move on from New Caprica, but the harrowing experience still affects each character in different ways. Tigh and Starbuck in particular are bitter and dejected, understandably so since both had brutal experiences while in Cylon captivity. Tigh hits the bottle hard, while Starbuck loses what little focus she already had as a pilot.

Adama confronts both in regards to what he sees as insubordination. I had a feeling some sort of dust-up between Adama and Tigh was brewing, and in a key scene involving a gun, the macho posturing is intense and awesome to watch.

Meanwhile, Baltar is completely out of his environment, held captive by the Cylons on a basestar. We get a fascinating look at the inner workings of the robot empire: liquid running over hardware, maze-like hallways, and a starship pilot that seems to be a symbiotic organism lying in a pool, babbling in prophetic tones. I’m reminded of Dune’s spice-addicted navigators.

Baltar is his confused yet self-preservationist self. In order to prove his worth to the Cylons, he volunteers to investigate a Cylon basestar that has been infected by a strange virus, killing everyone on board. Since Baltar is human, he is presumably immune.

In true Baltar fashion, he flips out once on board the horror-laden ship, eyes nearly bugging out of his space helmet. The virus seems to have been spread by a satellite that crashed into the base star, but Baltar, for reasons only known to him, tries to hide this key bit of information from the Cylons. The implication is that the satellite was left behind as a sort of beacon, perhaps by the lost 12th human tribe that settled earth.

It seems Battlestar Galactica is now literally headed towards Earth. The big question I have is whether it will be the Earth of the past (before today) or the Earth of the future. Either way, it will be an interesting trip, and likely leading to another cliffhanger season finale that leaves everyone wondering what will happen next.

Next Episode: A Measure of Salvation
Previous Episode: Collaborators

TV Shows: Battlestar Galactica

Please subscribe to the Webomatica RSS Feed!