Battlestar Galactica: The Face Of The Enemy

January 13th, 2009

Over the past few weeks, SciFi has been running some Battlestar Galactica pre-season 4 “webisodes” which cover a sub-plot where Gaeta gets separated from the fleet in a raptor, along with two number 8s and a few “red shirts” aboard. While they’re away, crew members start dying one by one and nobody knows who is responsible.

The script uses the webisode format effectively, with a mini-cliff hanger at each of the breaks. It’s quite amazing how much information can be communicated in under two minutes.

Two questions are answered. The first: whether Gaeta was a eunuch during all the past seasons, with his seeming lack of romantic entanglement. It turns out he was bonking a Number 8 model Cylon and a colleague named Hoshi. So he swings both ways. Well, that does lend more evidence that Gaeta might be the last Cylon and my unfortunate, ridiculously silly theory of the Cylon sex disease.

The other answered question: what exactly Baltar whispered in Gaeta’s ear to cause him to go ballistic and try to do everybody’s favorite religious leader / traitor in with a pen (Taking A Break From All Your Worries). Scratch one off my personal list of answers I must have by the end of the series.

Other than those two points, the webisodes were amusing but probably not crucial viewing in preparation for Season 4. Still, if you’re interested, check out the whole shebang over at the SciFi Channel Website or Hulu.

Here are part-by-part synopses:

Part 1: A week after the fleet arrives at Earth, Gaeta boards a shuttle with two 8 models aboard. Their ship becomes separated from the fleet after a jump. We learn Gaeta had a relationship with another man named Hoshi who gives him drugs to dull the constant pain of his amputated leg.

Part 2: As the crew argues on how to return home, one of the Number 8s asks Gaeta if he recognizes her Back on Galactica, Hoshi asks Tigh for a raptor so he can search for Gaeta. Meanwhile, the crew computes the amount of time they have left. They worry about irrational behavior as the air runs out.

Part 3: In a flashback, we learn Gaeta slept with the “friendly” Number 8 model. The other Number 8 tries to fix a computer, electrocutes herself, and dies. The tool has been tampered with. Gaeta suspects sabotage.

Part 4: The crew argues about who altered the tool. They decide to jettison the body. Flashback to New Caprica. Gaeta has a list of humans that have gone missing. The surviving Number 8 model offers to find them. Meanwhile, a raptor takes off in search of Gaeta.

Part 5: The crew release the dead Number 8 out into space. As everyone sleeps, Gaeta’s leg hurts, and he injects himself with a painkiller. The 8 model secretly watches. Flashback to New Caprica. The Number 8 tells Gaeta what she learned about some of the missing people, showing a surprising amount of empathy. Gaeta kisses her. In the present day, the number 8 wakes Gaeta, saying she could interface with the Raptor’s computer and find the corrupted memory address that threw off their jump. Just then, a crew member is found dead with two empty hypos beside him.

Part 6: While the rest of the crew sleeps, Gaeta gives the Number 8 a scalpel to cut herself and interface with the computer. Flashback to Gaeta sleeping with the same Number 8, back on New Caprica. In the present day, the Number 8 says she has found the corrupted memory address.

Part 7: After a jump, there is still no fleet. Gaeta wakes to find the two other crew members murdered, their throats slit. Gaeta realizes he is trapped aboard the raptor with a killer — the Number 8 he trusted to save him.

Part 8: Hoshi, aboard the rescue raptor, is about to give up. Number 8 tells Gaeta that they needed to preserve the air, and Gaeta needs protection. It turns out back on New Caprica, she had everyone on the list executed.

Part 9: Gaeta can’t believe what the Number 8 did. The lack of air is making him weak, and he feels stupid for trusting her. Flashback to Baltar talking to Gaeta about what they did on New Caprica, and Gaeta trying to kill him after he says “I know what your 8 did.” The Number 8 says there isn’t much difference between the Cylons and the humans.

Part 10: Gaeta has bloody hands. He has killed the Number 8 model and is the only living person aboard the raptor. As the air runs out, he injects himself with pain killers, while mumbling a song. Hoshi, aboard the other raptor, locates and rescues Gaeta. Back aboard Galactica, Gaeta bypasses Tigh’s chain of command to speak directly to Admiral Adama about the alliance with the Cylons — essentially his belief that the Cylons are not to be trusted. Gaeta wanders off to talk to someone — presumably Adama — but we can’t be sure.