Season 1, Episode 2

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Synopsis

Boomer finds a plastic explosive and detonator in her bag - and doesn’t remember putting them there. In the small arms locker, she finds that six other detonators are missing. Someone has placed them at various locations on the Galactica and they’re about to explode.

Lee tells his father that he’s still troubled by the destruction of the Olympic Carrier. Bill Adama tells him that a man takes responsibility for his actions, right or wrong, and accepts the consequences.

Boomer nervously calls Chief aside, and tells him about the missing explosives. He vows to help her take care of it.

There are several explosions, and the Galactica’s water tanks are damaged. The fleet’s limited water supply is lost to deep space.

Commander Adama, President Roslin, and others gather to come up with a solution. A team is dispatched to analyze the tanks. Adama orders several ships to begin searching for planetary water sources. Tigh says there isn’t much water out there. Baltar calculates the fleet only has supplies to last a week.

While investigating the empty water tank, Callie finds a scorched piece of metal, suggesting sabotage through an explosive. Chief at first tries to deny this, knowing the missing detonators were likely involved. Once called before his superiors, he admits they were the G4 explosives missing from the small arms locker. One detonator is still unaccounted for.

Rumors spread that the fleet has been infiltrated by Cylon operatives that look like humans. Baltar is ordered to come up with a test that would establish whether an individual is Cylon or human. Gaeta will be his assistant.

Annoyed that Gaeta will now be shadowing his every move, Baltar sneaks off to play cards with Starbuck in the pilot’s quarters. Much to Starbuck’s surprise, Baltar wins. He offers Starbuck a now-rare cigarette as consolation.

Chief reassures Boomer that she isn’t suspected of any wrong-doing. Sharon and Crashdown fly a raptor over a moon, looking for water. Boomer’s display screen shows multiple H2O sources, but she’s unable to tell Crashdown. Her Cylon nature keeps her from recognizing the water. After a while, she overcomes her supression and informs Galactica that water has been discovered.

Boomer and Crashdown return to Galactica greeted by cheers. Sharon tells Chief to go look at the ship. There, he finds the remaining detonator. Chief returns it to the master at arms and makes up a story that he found it during maintenance. He reiterates to Boomer that he won’t let anything happen to her.

Roslyn tells Lee that she feels his pain regarding the destruction of the Olympic carrier. He repeats his father’s words about accepting responsibility. Roslyn asks Lee to become her military advisor.

Back on Caprica, Helo asks Boomer why she came back to Caprica. She answers that she couldn’t just leave him behind. They pick up a radio signal that believe is coming from other human survivors on the planet.

Thoughts

The quest for something so basic as water reiterates that the fleet has limited resources and they are in deep space, without access to a planet.

I also enjoyed how Chief and Boomer, because of their feelings for each other, conspire to hide her guilt. It’s hard to know how we would react in a situation where there were only 45,000 humans left. Would you ignore your personal feelings and do what’s right for society, or turn inward to protect your loved ones?

Or, perhaps the answer is more cynical. Now that we know Chief is a Cylon from the end of Season 3, perhaps he was merely protecting a fellow toaster, and without his “human” persona aware that he was doing so.

In addition to the metal robots and ships that attack them from space, the humans must also fight Cylons that look like humans, hiding among them like “sleeper agents.” And through behavior of Sharon in this episode, we know that these agents have no awareness of their own identities. All of this adds to a feeling of distrust and paranoia that will be explored in future episodes.

Next Episode: Bastille Day
Previous Episode: 33

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