Season 1, Episode 12

Battlestar Galactica: Kobol’s Last Gleaming (1)

Synopsis

Several things occur simultaneously: Lee and Commander Adama box, Starbuck sleeps with Baltar (while dreaming of Lee), Boomer contemplates suicide in her quarters, and On Caprica, Helo shoot Sharon after learning she’s a Cylon.

Roslin tells the oracle that the cancer is spreading, and that she believs Roslin is a prophesized leader that will lead them to earth.

Boomer and Crashdown discover a habitable planet. Roslin, the Oracle, and Billy study the surveillance photos and see ruins. The Oracle determines that base on the religious texts, the planet is Kobol which will point the way to Earth. Adama looks at the photographs and considers settlement of the planet.

Later, Adama confesses that he doesn’t believe there is an Earth and he doesn’t know the way there. He also considers other prophecies about the Arrow of Apollo and Kobol as just stories. Roslin has a plan to use the captured Cylon raider to jump back to Caprica, retrieve the arrow of Apollo and use it to find Earth. Adama thinks this plan is ridiculous.

A landing party is dispatched via raptors to to Kobol. Unfortunately, they find a base star waiting for them. The raptors jump back to Galactica except one - with Baltar, Callie, Chief, Seelix, and others - which crashes on the planet surface.

Adama devises a plan to take out the basestar using the Cylon raider. But Roslin tells Starbuck about the Arrow of Apollo back on Caprica. Roslin asks Starbuck to defy Adama’s orders and fly the raider to Caprica to get the arrow. Starbuck is skeptical, so Roslin tells her that Commander Adama doesn’t actually believe Earth exists and he only pretended to know the way there.

As Starbuck flies the raider away from Galactica on a practice run, she asks Adama directly what he knows about Earth. He confirms what Roslin said. She activates the raider’s FTL drive and jumps away.

In the hospital, Chief talks with Boomer after her botched suicide attempt. She confesses that she wakes up every day not knowing who she is, and whether she will hurt someone.

Back on Caprica, Helo holds the wounded Sharon hostage at gun point, unsure whether to trust or kill her.

Thoughts

Some of the “big questions” from earlier in the season return, namely Adama’s fabrication of the location of Earth, they Cylon transponders, and the use of the captured Cylon raider.

The religious story grows stronger, as we get into the possibility that Roslin is a preordained leader and something larger than both the humans and Cylons will happen on Kobol.

I’ve always felt Grace Park was one of the weaker actors on the show - she doesn’t seem up to some of the heavier material dealing with life, death, and suicide.

Naturally as this is a two part episode leading up to the first season finale, its ending is completely abrupt. Luckily, part two lives up to the promise laid out here.

Next Episode: Kobol’s Last Gleaming (2)
Previous Episode: Colonial Day

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