Battlestar Galactica - The Road Less Traveled

It took about 58 days but on the Demetrius Starbuck faith in her is lost by the crew, only worsened by a damaged Dradis ship containing only Leoben onboard. Leoben convinces Starbuck that he can help her (along with the hybrid still held by Caville and his Cylon allies) find Earth if she will trust him. A core breach on Leoben's ship explodes killing a crew member on the Demetrius, and that only loses Starbuck her crew even more, especially when her “rest in peace” funereal speech is anything but emotionally resonating. But deciding not to meet back with the fleet considering the Demetrius is in dire need of supplies, instead forwarding ahead through Leoben’s plea that Starbuck trust that she has a purpose, something special that will fill the void empty sex and space fights can’t satisfy, is the death knell…even Helo, who has been an honorable XO and agreed to her orders, fails to any longer agree to follow her command. A mutiny where all her crew will no longer obey leaves Starbuck without, only Leoben on her side. Helo, to his credit, withstood a lot of the crew’s criticism and attitude, having completely abandoned faith in anything Starbuck believed, as she continued to look for that voice, as even Sharon and Gaeta were fed up with her eccentric “wall painting”, irritable and often erratic behavior, and mood swings. But siding with the plea of Leoben, a Cylon “skinjob” was the last straw. That disregard of Starbuck’s orders closes the episode, telling us quite loud and clear that she is on her own. How Admiral Adama and President Roslin will respond to this will be quite interesting.

 

A strong subplot involves Gaius Baltar and Galen Tyrol. Tyrol is beset by rage and turmoil. Cally’s death, the mystery behind it, and a search for truth keep Tyrol ill at ease. And Baltar’s “pirated messages” are actually favored by Tyrol’s son, as Galen tries to figure out whether or not Gaius’ message--that the old gods are simply unreal and that in each other can they find peace, that the one true God is who they should instead believe in--is legit. But with Tyrol, who begins to attend Baltar’s “sermons”, he listens on, resisting him until addressed by the “preacher”, trying to strangle Gaius in a fit of anger because he happened to bring up Cally. He’s obviously pulled away from Baltar who will not give up on Tyrol, willing to go to him into his chamber and talk. Because Baltar doesn’t expect anything from his “flock” but belief in themselves and their one true God (and in his relationship to God), he would appear to be a messiah unlike the Jim Joneses, Charles Mansons, and Koreshes, but time will tell exactly where this all leads. Because Baltar is willing to approach Tyrol reasonably and gently, with a soft voice and without any demands, it does appear, thanks to a hand shake, that all is well between them.

 

So you have Leoben convincing Starbuck that they are close to finding their way to Earth, and that something extraordinary is guiding them, while on Galactica, Baltar has a growing movement that believes in God (the God that Head Six eventually convinced Baltar is true, does exist, is actually legit), disavowing the old gods that Roslin put such faith in. Lots of division all over the place.

 

I don’t want to fail to mention, Tory Foster. She’s not in the episode a lot, but there is an important scene where Foster finds Tyrol where she killed Cally, looking to manipulate him away from any further investigation or pursuit of truth, seemingly nudging him towards Baltar, because she also believes in his message. So you see how humans and Cylons alike seem taken to Baltar. 4/5