Season 4, Episodes 9 & 10

Episode 9: The Hub

• Why is Laura having these visions during a jump? At first, I thought she was visiting the afterlife, since she saw Priestess Elosha. However, over the course of the episode, it became more clear that this is in fact Head Elosha. Another Head Character to add to the list!
• Gaius trying to calm the Hybrid was hilarious. And his idea of "focusing" on her just meant shouting. That whole scene with him and Laura arguing ineffectually over the Hybrid was just flawless.
• Cavil and Boomer got to D'Anna first! And then D'Anna strangling Cavil without even getting out of the bath! Fist pump!
• The battle for the resurrection hub was really beautiful, especially the explosion.
• The scene with Laura first trying to save Gaius' life, then letting him bleed, then deciding to save him again was so great. This is the first time he's admitted to anyone that he gave the Cylons the access codes, and he now chooses to tell this to Laura! Wow!
• I was totally fooled as Laura at D'Anna's assertion that she is the Fifth! What a great bluff, especially with the music! However, is this proof that Laura isn't the final Five, since D'Anna laughed it off so frivolously?

Quotes

Laura (to Gaius): "I think you're going to live. As usual."

Laura: "I love you."
Adama: "About time."
-This was both so touching and really funny. Adama's response reminded me of Han Solo's "I know" to Princess Leia's declaration of love!

Episode 10: Revelations

• Starbuck is weirdly sane.
• Poor peg-legged Gaeta!
• D'Anna's assertion that the Fifth is not on the fleet really narrows it down. We can now be sure that it is not Gaius, Laura, Adama, Lee, Starbuck, Gaeta, Dee or Helo. Could it then be someone who we thought was dead, or are they already on Earth and we've never met them before?
• Of course Tori would be the first of the Four to "join her people"!
• I loved the use of the "All Along the Watchtower" theme again to bring Tigh, Tyrol and Anders together to Starbuck's viper, and then the complete lack of music as Tigh reveals to Adama that he's one of the Five! He has finally embraced it, and no longer seems scared. I wonder, however, how they are going to explain away the fact that Tigh has aged since Adama met him.
• Starbuck talking to Kat's picture on arrival at Earth was touching.
• Where is Caprica Six, who we previously saw in the brig? Was she the Six who was walking up behind Tigh in the final scene on Earth? Is she going to give birth?

Quote

D'Anna: "All of this has happened before..."
Lee: "But it doesn't have to happen again." 

Season 4, Episodes 7 & 8

Episode 8: Guess What's Coming to Dinner

• Nice how the camera focused on Six as Athena was counting down to the basestar and Demetrius' FTL jump.
• How did Tigh know the basestar was friendly?
• Does Laura think she's one of the Five because of her shared vision with Six and Athena?
• The resurrection hub ship looked cool!
• I wish Gaius had gone in to talk to Gaeta when he was lurking in sick bay, watching him sing.
• Athena waking up from her shared vision with Six and Laura to Hera saying "bye bye" was so creepy! Not to mention her drawings of Six!
• The ending was so epic! I'm disappointed Athena shot Natalie. Is she really dead now? I can't wait to see what happens between Laura, Gaius and the Hybrid on the rebel basestar! And the music; oh, always the music. It seemed like several themes were being united in the final scene, which seemed to reflect how these character's destinies are converging.

Quotes

Tigh: "We blow the hub, and billions of skinjobs loose their bath privileges." - How does he know they resurrect in to a bath? He's never seen it happen, has he? Maybe Athena told him, or is it latent knowledge from being one of the Five? No one else seemed to pick up on it, so I'm guessing they knew, and I've just forgotten.

Laura (to Tori): "I've been informed that you've been spotted down there enough time to be a charter member of his nymph-squad."

Episode 8: Sine Qua Non

• Zarek as President. I guess I should have seen this coming, eventually.
• Was the Hybrid's quote "the dying leader will know the truth of the Opera House" referring to Natalie rather than the President? In her final vision/projection as she was dying, she seemed to have some sort of revelation? However, Natalie and the Six in the Opera House don't seem to be the same Six at all - the one in the Opera House is probably Caprica Six, no? Is this misdirection?
• Squee for Head Ellen (or Ellen Six?)!
• The CGI of Racetrack spacewalking to the damaged rapter looked pretty fake.
• Wow, I did not see Caprica Six's pregnancy coming. Is it really Tigh's baby? Adama seems to have made his mind up about that, but couldn't it be Gaius' from the time he spent with her and D'Anna on the basestar?
• Tigh's fight with Adama seemed a bit overly macho and was kind of predictable, but Adama's comment on having to repair his model ship again was rather meta, and hilarious.
• Sharon (Athena) being back in the brig felt like old times. (Oh my, I'm already nostalgic for this show!)
• Romo talking to his imaginary cat. Hmm.
• Now Lee as President and Tigh as Commander of the Galactica. Wow.
• What a lovely manhug between Tigh and Adama.
• Husker!

Season 4, Episodes 5 & 6

Episode 5: The Road Less Traveled

• Starbuck going mad is reminiscent of Laura's religious fervour in leading the fleet.
• Leoben saying how much Kara has changed since New Caprica could be evidence for my theory that she's a clone.
• Kara only found herself able to kill Leoben on New Caprica when she knew he'd download, but now she can't bring herself to do so, as then he'll really be dead.
• Leoben sees Kara as an angel.
• I didn't find the ending (the mutiny on the Demetrius) as dramatic as I think it was supposed to be.

Quote

Tyrol: "All I now is that if there is a God, he's laughing his ass off."

Episode 6: Faith

• Sam shooting Gaeta. At least this made Kara a bit saner and realise she shouldn't risk the whole ship in going to the basestar.
• Laura trusting Tory to basically do her job. I wonder if she will take advantage of this in later episodes.
• I loved the transition between the CGI of the planet and stars to Kara's painting.
• Sam trying to interface with the basestar was such a tease! He was so close!
• I felt really sorry for the Six that killed the redshirt. I guess Natalie killing her was the only way she could think to help her, as well as regain the Colonials' trust.
• After the Centurion shot her, was the Eight's blood running in to the Hybrid's pool symbolism or foreshadowing? Of what?
• Laura crying about her mother was so touching.
• Sam reaching out to the dying Eight after Athena pulled back. Is he still afraid of what he is, or is he starting to embrace it?
• Adama's smile to Laura was so cute!

Quote

Hybrid: "Thus will it come to pass: the dying leader will know the truth of the opera house, the missing Three will give you the Five, who have come from the home of the Thirteenth. You are the harbinger of death, Kara Thrace. You will lead them all to their end. End of line."

Thoughts

I wonder if perhaps we can make a connection now between Head Six and Kara Thrace. Leoben says that he thinks of her as an angel of God, which is just how Head Six has described herself, who also told Gaius that she was there to protect him until the end of the human race (season 2, episode 7: Home, Part 2). What the Hybrid told Kara could be taken to imply the same thing. Perhaps this new Kara who came back from the dead is in fact Head Kara, but not just for one person, but for everyone. That is to say, she truly is an angel!

Season 4, Episodes 3 & 4

Episode 3: The Ties that Bind

• Boomer and Cavil? That's kind of creepy.
• Laura's so lucky to have Adama to read to her in bed!
• The Centurions now only take orders if asked nicely!
• Could we interpret Kara's feeling that she's watching herself and not actually in her own body as evidence of her being a clone, with her consciousness having been downloaded in to it?
• Is this the beginning of a Cylon civil war?
• Cavil doesn't believe the Cylons have souls. Is he also an atheist?
• When Cally overheard the fact that Tyrol is a Cylon, whose memory/vision was that of him cutting his finger and licking the blood off? His or hers?
• So awesome how Cally heard Tyrol's voice as a machine when he came back in to their quarters!
• Tory killing Cally was kind of harsh. But, I guess she had to die because she found out about the Four.

Quote

Cally: "See, that's what I like about you, Doc. You just pretend to be a bastard."

Episode 4: Escape Velocity

• So it seems like maybe Laura's shared vision with Athena and Six was prophetic, as she had the same wig in that vision as she now has, due to having lost her hair from chemotherapy.
• Does Tory even know that she killed Cally, or has it been erased from her memory? How does everyone else think she died?
• Caprica Six as Ellen was genius! The transition shot was so seamless, I almost didn't notice it was a different actor at first, but for the voice. Is this foreshadowing Ellen as the Fifth? Or is it Head Ellen for Tigh?
• Speaking of the Final Five, how old are they? Were they ever children? Do they have parents, or are all their memories manufactured? For example, was Tory planted on the fleet after Billy died, or was she always on the fleet and had in fact lived on one of the Twelve Colonies her entire life?
• Racetrack and her co-pilot didn't die in that crash? Wow. Suspension of disbelief, I guess.
• Tyrol's daydream of Adama saying to him that Cally couldn't take being married to a Cylon was very similarly shot and staged to Tigh's daydream of shooting Adama in CIC.
• Tyrol hated Cally. That's sad.
• Caprica Six smiling as she was punching Tigh in her cell was creepy.
• Head Six moving around and lifting up Gaius like a puppet, while slightly ridiculous, may have given us some evidence of her existence in the physical world. When we saw Gaius from the guard's point of view, he was being lifted off the floor by an invisible force. No doubt this will later be viewed as a miracle by his groupies.
• The way Adama trailed off in to his own words when reading to Laura without her realising, was just lovely.

Quotes 


Gaius (to Tory): "I think I preferred it when you cried."

Tigh (to Six): "No we are not going to talk about the fragile body of Gaius fracking Baltar!"

Season 4, Episodes 1 & 2

Episode 1: He That Believeth in Me

• Does Tigh think Starbuck is a Cylon? His vision of shooting Adama was so believeable, and very reminiscent of Boomer's shooting.
• How did that raider know Sam was a Cylon? It must have programmed him with something, because as soon as it did, the Cylons retreated, like their aim for this attack was achieved.
• How does Gaius get himself in to these situations? Leader of a cult...or harem? Oh dear, Gaius.
• Hasn't Starbuck looked at her hair? Clearly she's been gone for more than a few hours, as she has a different hairstyle!
• I loved the staging for the scene in which Laura, Adama and Lee are talking about the fact that the Final Five could be on the fleet and they wouldn't even know. Tory, Tigh and Tyrol standing around them, blocking them in. Wonderful.
• I wonder if Kara's reaction to jumping further and further away from Earth is the same or the opposite reaction that Laura had at the end of season 3 when they jumped away from the Ionian nebula.
• Was Gaius really willing to die for that boy? Does he truly believe in God now?

Quotes

Tigh: "Those bastards can't programme me to help them." - This feels like foreshadowing. Also, Tigh is so much more interesting to me now that he knows he's a Cylon.

Lee: "Dad, what is Zack had come back to us in that viper? If my brother had climbed out of that cockpit? Would it matter if he were a Cylon? If he always had been? When all said and done, would that change how we really feel about him?"

Kara: "You are a better person than I am, Sam, because if I found out that you were a Cylon, I would put a bullet between your eyes."

Episode 2: Six of One

• Laura really looked scared at gunpoint. I don't think we've ever seen her scared like that before.
• Starbuck does seem like the product of some kind of brainwashing or conditioning. She is really determined to find Earth. Her destiny?
• The new Six we are introduced to on the basestar looks a lot more like Gina (from the Pegasus) than any of the other Sixes (it's the hair).
• The fact that Boomer's vote against the rest of the Eights sways the vote in favour of reconfiguring the raiders means there must be equal numbers of each of the seven models.
• Gaius sees Head Gaius! This blew my mind. And I loved the interaction between them.
• The whole scene between drunk Adama and Laura was just wonderful. I wanted to quote the whole thing! Seeing her cry at the end of it as she pulled out some of her hair just broke my heart.
• I'm so glad Lee and Kara kissed, instead of just leaving on a handshake. I think they're going to end up together, though.
• We hadn't really seen much of Dee in a while before this episode. Seems like she and Lee are no longer married. I wish she'd ended up with Billy.
• On the basestar, how would the Six's threat of having Centurions shoot Cavil, the Fours and Fives be persuasive? They'd all just download, surely?
• Does Tory really always cry during sex, or was she just disgusted by Gaius, or at herself for being a Cylon?

Quote

Cavil: "There's millions of Twos have that nose, millions of Sixes possess that mouth, Eights share those breasts and Ones have this brain." - Millions? Wow!

Head Characters

I wanted to talk here a little about the Head character's we've seen, and what this could all mean. Right back in season 1, Head Six tells Gaius that maybe he sees her because she implanted a chip in his brain, and given the lack of a better explanation, I took this to be the case. But then, back in season 2's "Downloaded", we see that Caprica Six sees Head Gaius. Woah. How's that possible?

Now we discover that Gaius also sees Head Gaius, which, if we assume the Head Gaius Caprica Six sees and the one Gaius himself sees are the same, then it would seem that these Head characters are independent of the people seeing them. Now, we could also consider the Leoben that Kara saw in season 3's "Maelstrom" to be a Head character, since he stated that he never claimed to be Leoben.

Are these Head characters angels, as Head Six claimed to be for Gaius? As far as we know, the people they represent don't seem to have any memory of the interactions with the people who see them, so it would also seem that they are independent from the people they represent. So why are they choosing to take these particular forms for certain people? I really hope we get to see more Head characters, and that give us some clues as to who they really are and why those who see them, do. So many questions!

Razor (plus "Razor Flashback" webisodes)

Razor Flashback webisodes

• I enjoyed how the actor playing Adama took on the mannerisms, voice quality and all. Very nice job.
• Interesting to see old Cylon models, and to see what they see.
• How convenient this planet that Adama parachuted down to has a breathable atmosphere.
• "All of this has happened before, and will happen again." I didn't recognise that voice. Whose was it?
• If there's one thing we should all have learnt from television it is that you do not put your hand in a bath of opaque orange water in a room full of pieces of human bodies. You should know better, Bill.
• Was that guy in the room who Husker was trying to get out Leoben? Or is it the actual human that Two was based on? And if so, is that how Adama figured out Leoben on Ragnor station in the Miniseries was a skinjob? Also, could this mean that this is the person Kara was being lead by through her memories with her mother in Maelstrom?

Razor

• Hooray for more Starbuck!
• Flashbacks within flashbacks. At first I thought this would get confusing, but surprisingly, no.
• Gina's surname meaning "resurrection" was interesting, though a little uncreative of the Cylons.
• Why is Cain such a bitch to Shaw, and why is it funny?
• Gina awkwardly joining in with the chant of "so say we all".
• Gina and Cain as lovers was interesting, but it made me realise how this show seems to have no problem presenting lesbian relationships (or at least implied ones, for example between Three and Six with Gaius), but there haven't been any gay ones yet. Unfortunately, this seems to be  a common discrepancy on television (c.f. Buffy the Vampire Slayer).
• Cain killing her XO was just the first of many unbelievable things she did. Does she have a licence for that or something?
• It was kind of sloppy of the Cylons to send a Six with the Pegasus boarding party. They must have realised that would increase the chance of Gina's cover being blown. Perhaps they intended that, as a punishment, or they knew it would happen eventually and were treating her as despensible.
• Which Eight is it that we meet on Pegasus, chained up giving information to Adama and the President? I can't keep up with all the Sharons!
• The man in Adama's flashback is definitely Leoben, or at least the man Leoben is based on.
• I found it very distrubing watching Cain give the order for Gina's interrogation.
• I can't believe Cain gave the order to shoot the families of those who refused to come aboard the Pegasus from the civilian fleet. Worse, however, was that Fisk and Shaw actually carried them out.
• So, we discover, that voice in Adama's flashbacks was in fact the First Hybrid, who unlike the other Hybrid, is able to carry out a coherent conversation. I am inclined to wonder if this Hybrid is in fact the man that Adama tried to save from the Cylon lab, the one upon whom Leoben was based. If he had been taken at that time and made in to a Hybrid but still aged naturally, he would probably look like that 40 years later. This might also explain his knoweldge of Kara being the bringer of the apocolypse. Maybe?
• Could we see Kara being the bringer of the apocolypse as evidence of her being a Cylon? Perhaps, but I think she's possibly even more important. I think she's the daughter of either the Cylon Leoben or the First Hybrid (who may be the same person, essentially, if you follow my previous theory).

Quotes

Adama: "Didn't think it possible, you could find an XO meaner than Saul Tigh."

Gina: "No one can survive entirely on heir own. Trust me, Lieutenant, in the end, we're all just human."

Husker: "This cocksucker's mine!"

Season 3, Episode 19 & 20

Episode 19: Crossroads, Part 1

• Six really is very angel like, at least she appears to be in Laura's "dream".
• Lampkin's rant was unexpectedly brilliant.
• Adama referring to Caprica Six as "it".
• I heart Head-Gaius so much.
• It was very brave of Caprica Six to talk to Tigh in the way she did and to hit him back. Was she hoping he would order her to be shot, so she'd download to a baseship?
• It makes me sad to see Adama so angry at Lee. I can deal with the reverse, but this just brakes my heart.
• Lee looks hot in a suit.
• Laura has cancer again. Oh dear. I guess at least now she can take on her role of dying leader again.
• Why is Tory being so touchy about the President revealing her use of chamala?
• I expected a cliff hanger ending, so this disappointed. I guess really this and the next episode are meant to be watched as one.

Quotes

Adama: "You're my oldest friend, Saul. You never embarrass me." This is especially touching after seeing the end of the next episode.

Laura (to Tory): "Pull it together and focus on your job fast. Or I can find someone who can handle the press as well as pull a comb through their hair once a week."

Helo: "Weather's changing, Felix. We need to be ready for it. There's a storm coming." Foreshadowy, much?

Episode 20: Crossroads, Part 2

• I still totally ship Laura and Bill, but I'm starting to judge them for working together to take down Gaius.
• Sam and Tory. Really?
• Laura looks pretty glamorous in her shared dream sequence. This, and the fact that she's sharing this dream with two Cylons (therefore, possibly "projecting") could be seen as evidence for her being the final Cylon. This seems unlikely, however, as when she had cancer the first time, she was cured by the blood of a half Cylon child.
• Gaeta really disappointed me not standing up for Gaius. Bad show, Felix. Bad show.
• Lee sticking up for Gaius, however, was unexpected and his speech, recounting basically the whole history of the show so far, was awesome!
• I would have liked to see the defense call Caprica Six as a witness. No doubt, that wouldn't have been allowed, though.
• All the lights go out, but not in Six's cell. Hmm.
• The last 10 minutes of this episode were what I had been waiting for for the whole 2 episodes.
• So we now know that Tory, Sam, Tigh and Tyrol are four of the Final Five. (Unfortunately, I know who the fifth is, but really wish I didn't). I was kind of hoping at least one of them would be revealed in this episode, but was a little disappointed we discovered all these four at once, because now there's very little suspense left regarding who's a Cylon for me. However, we still don't know who Number Seven is. But then this means there are in fact 13 models, not 12!
• That look between Tigh and Tory as they reported to their seniors was really touching.
• Starbuck is back! Or is she? She seemed rather more sane than usual. Could she just be in Lee's head (i.e. Head Starbuck)? When she said "Hi Lee", it didn't seem to be coming through his comm; it was like she was sitting right next to him.

Quotes

Gaius: "The whole fleet knows this man tried to stab me through the neck and you missed! Butterfingers!"

Lampkin: "As much as I hate to use a cat metaphor, Doctor. I think you'll land on your feet."

Adama: "Not guilty. It's not the same as innocent."

Roll on season 4!