Battlestar Galactica S4 ~E6/E8 "Faith" *SPOILERS*

Episode Name: Faith  (Battlestar Wiki)
Episode Number: 406/408
Written by: Seamus Kevin Fahey
Directed by: Michael Nankin
Original Air Date: 5/9/08 on SciFi Channel
Episode Summary:

The mutiny that began in E5/E7, "Escape Velocity," continues after Helo refuses to follow Kara Thrace's order to jump to the Cylon Basestar so Kara can learn more about the path to Earth via the Hybrid. In the commotion that follows, Kara attempts to jump the ship herself and Anders shoots Gaeta who was following the counter order to jump the ship back to Galactica. Chaos continues only a few more moments as they, with Kara most prominent, move to help Lt. Felix Gaeta, the writhing, swearing guy with a literal "blown out" kneecap. Everyone agrees to stand down and help him. Kara admits that she was "wrong," that she never should have considered risking the lives of the crew. She says instead she and Leoben will fly only a Raptor to the baseship with Athena and Anders as crew. They have but 15 hours to complete the mission before the Demetrius must jump to rendezvous with the Fleet or be left behind.

On this, day 58 of their mission, the crew prepares the Raptor. Despite the mutiny, Athena promises to work with Kara, as does Jean Barolay, a former Resistance fighter. The Raptor makes the jump and finds a endless graveyard of Cylon baseships and Raiders, lifelessly floating in space.

Kara seems relieved and in awe. They are near a large gas giant in a trinary star system, just as her visions foretold.

Bear McCreary, BSG's composer has this to say about it: (SPOILER-ish)

"I also have to mention that the entire visual effects team are outdoing themselves this season.  The debris field left in the wake of the basestar battle, and the ringed gas giant are some of the most compelling images they've ever produced. And they’ve got even more impressive visuals coming in the next four episodes."

On the Demetrius, Gaeta is heavily medicated with morpha for the pain. He asks Helo to promise to not let Doc Cottle amputate his leg, as he realizes that the longer they put off treatment the more likely he will lose the leg.

The Raptor carefully searches for the baseship amidst the exploding weapons of Cylon civil war. Kara hears music which Leoben mentions is a rare trait. She takes over control of the Raptor directing it towards the gas giant. She sees the "comet" that has been in her dreams/premonitions, but not in the form she thought she'd seen. Instead, Leoben's crippled baseship flies by, trailing gas that gives it a comet-like appearance. The Raptor cruises past a warhead, which explodes too close to them. Kara awakens from a knock to the head to find the Raptor safely landed within the baseship interior. When Athena disembarks from the Raptor she finds herself surrounded by an army of her twins--the Number Eights, who admire her for being unique because she was the first Cylon to rebel against her programming. They ask her to help mutiny against the oppressive Sixes who they once trusted but now fear. Athena, clearly disdainful, dismisses their pleas telling them to find their own individuality and help her or get out of her way.

Athena accesses the liquid datasteam interface in order to determine how to mate the Raptor's jump drive to the baseship. Doing so requires disconnecting the Hybrid. As the group preps, Anders considers touching the interface but stops himself.

A Six who appears to be suffering from PTSD, attacks and kills Jean Barolay (Alisen Down, below) in retaliation for killing her on New Caprica. Anders takes the Six down and is ready to kill her but Kara Thrace manages to distract him, talking him down. "PTSD" Six who killed Barolay speaks to Natalie, admitting that she thought she had put her (own) death on New Caprica at the hands of Barolay behind her but now it's obvious she "couldn't." After kissing the distraught Six, Natalie grabs Anders' hand and pulls the trigger on his gun, killing the Six permanently as there is no Resurrection Ship nearby, asking
the shocked Colonials if this "justice" is enough for them.

Kara arrives in the Hybrid's chamber. The Hybrid speaks continuously, rambling on, discussing ship functions, status reports, all the while repeating "prophetic babble." None of this makes sense to Kara who grows more tense as the clock ticks down. You probably noticed a weird camera movement/close up on Kara's face, in the Hybrid's chamber meant to evoke the Eye of Jupiter, with Kara's single blue eye in the center, "ringed" by her bloodied eyebrow and blonde hair.

Kara and Natalie continue to listen to the Hybrid's nonsensical ramblings though Leoben tries to aid Kara in listening by telling her that the Hybrid can't be rushed and that they have to absorb the Hybrid's words. He says that "the fate of two races can't be expected to come easily."

Athena appears, reporting that the modifications are complete and they must leave to make it back to the Demetrius in time. Kara listens to the Hybrid for a few more moments and then orders the Hybrid taken offline.

The Eight's body falls beside the Hybrid's tub and blood drips into the tub as the Hybrid continues to scream. Kara leans over the Hybrid and wants to know what it wants from her and then says, “please, I need you.” The Hybrid stops screaming and reaches towards Kara, touching her face and says, "The dying leader will discover the truth about the Opera House, the missing Three (D'anna Biers) will be used to find the (Final) Five, who come from the home of the Thirteenth Tribe (Earth?)," and that she, Kara Thrace, is "the harbinger of death that will take all to their end." Kara is understandibly totally freaked out by this news.

The group deciphers the Hybrid's message. All come to the conclusion that the final five Cylons came from the Thirteenth Tribe and so must also know the way to Earth. The Number Threes will lead them to the Final Five having gazed upon them in the Opera House before being boxed by "Brother" Cavil. Athena fully disconnects the Hybrid's cable, throwing the basestar into darkness. The group leaves to meet the Demetrius.

The Demetrius, led by Athena's husband Helo, is prepping to leave as the seconds count down... Just as he is about to order the jump, the baseship arrives and broadcasts a Colonial identity. Both ships begin preparing to jump to the Galactica and the Fleet.

On Galactica, President Laura Roslin meets with Admiral William Adama in his quarters. She tells him that something may be truthful in Baltar's words, but Adama is reluctant. A sad and weary Adama talks of Starbuck's death and return, son Lee's quitting the military. He worries too, about all the crew he sent with Kara, wondering if he will see ever see "those kids again." Roslin is a comfort to him, telling him she is "right here."

Another tender moment is shared between the two--both smiling, tearing slightly--as Adama tells Roslin that she helped him to believe that they really will find Earth (in a a voice like only EJO could be the owner of).

Things that make me go "hmm" in this episode:

Why did director Michael Nankin not realize how ridiculous that skull cap made Mary McDonnell look?
It took me right out of the scene and into the land of WTF?

I understand the point was to "shock" the audience--the diloxin treatments have left Roslin bald but for one thing, it's really not at all shocking as we've seen the President pulling clumps of her hair out, weeping. What would've worked--and been so easy to do was to use the skull cap with a kerchief/scarf/bandanna tied over her head so one could see that she was "bald" but not that Mary still very much has a full head of hair under the skull cap. (See photo above for my suggestion in action.)

Anders' bizarre behaviour was distracting--there was too much ping-ponging about.

He's had many months to reconcile (as well as one would guess he could) that he is Cylon. He's spent the past two months living and working aboard the Demetrius with Sharon "Athena" Agathon, a Cylon who has adapted extremely well, living as part of the Fleet.

Instead, he is all over the map in a weird, just for the helluva it way and this is leaving aside shooting Gaeta through the kneecap--kind of an un-Fleet-like thing to do.

When first viewing the control area of the damaged Cylon baseship Anders surreptitiously contemplates dipping his hand into the liquid datasteam interface but before he can he is called away. So he's confident enough to be curious.

Then he goes completely off the rails when a Six kills Barolay in a hand-to-hand fight. It's possible that the killing was accidental as Barolay hit her head against the Raptor (granted, the Six hit her twice). Anders never made any time for assessment; he would have just blown the Six's head right off if Kara hadn't talked him down.

After that situation was more or less straightened out, Anders enters the Hybrid's chamber whilst Kara is trying to understand the Hybrid's monologue stream before the Hybrid must be taken offline for the ship to be able to jump with the Raptor back to the Galactica.

Husband and Wife: Sam Anders and Kara Thrace (Michael Trucco and Katee Sackhoff)

When the Hybrid screams out in shock/agony and the sentient Centurion shoots down the Eight who is trying to disengage the Hybrid, Anders tenderly holds the hand of the dying Eight and gently tells her he is "with" her.

I was left going huh? It was just too much in too short a time unless Anders is truly losing his mind.

Finally, It didn't sound right to me when Kara said that the Cylons don't know how to work an FTL drive and Battlestar Wiki confirms this saying, "Why should the Cylons have any trouble figuring out the Raptor's FTL system? They have previously used Raptors (Torn)."

Indeed.

Regardless, this was a fantastic episode. I couldn't wait to re-watch it (and in fact, I didn't).

While all that drama was happening with the Demetrius and the Cylons on the Galactica there was a bit of drama as well. I thought Mary McDonnell as the cancer-stricken President Laura Roslin was fantastic but the story itself--it's been on the Lifetime Channel, Movie of the Week, and many other places, many other times. I'll just recap it and be thankful that they gave Mary McDonnell some significant screen time on her own, mostly. (With help from the The Patriot Resource and Battlestar Wiki).

Laura Roslin is finishing the last two diloxin treatments, where she'll be on Galactica and indisposed during that time. Laura tries to encourage her trusted assistant (murdering Cylon) Tory to watch out for sudden moves by the Quorum of 12, nearly breaking down in tears while doing so.

In sickbay, amidst Gaius Baltar's voice on the wireless discussing his god, Laura encounters a woman, Emily Kowalski (Nana Visitor) who is dying--very soon--of cancer as well. Their first encounter does not go well as Laura offends Emily when she dismisses Gaius Baltar's speech on the wireless and Emily reacts by ordering her to leave.

Laura meets again with Emily--who apologizes and gives her a scarf as a present. The two make small talk of what they will do after they get well. She warns the President that her sickness will get worse and to be prepared.
Emily goes on to tell Laura why she listens to Gaius Baltar speak on the wireless. The night after Doc Cottle gave Emily the news of her impending death, she had a dream in which she saw people standing on the opposite side of a river: dead loved ones. She felt a presence, a warm loving presence that calmed her. Laura questions the dream but Emily notes that the dream is real.

Emily and Laura continue to discuss the authenticity of the Lord's of Kobol and Baltar's God. Laura becomes upset when she talks of her mother's death from cancer and the striking lack of anything noble or calming at that moment. As Emily tries to comfort her, the woman suddenly has a violent seizure of pain. Doc Cottle arrives with medication, but tells Laura that Emily's end is near.

Emily's vision of a river comes to pass in a dream Laura experiences. The two stand on a boat, looking at a shore where human figures begin to appear, smiling and waving at Emily. Emily disappears to meet them, materializing on the shore. Laura feels joy, then sees her own mother, smiling and waiting for Laura to join her. She tells her she is not yet ready, stepping away from the boat's side, as the dream ends.

Awakening from her dream, Laura goes to see Emily but finds her bed empty. She died some time while she slept. Only her wireless receiver remains, still switched on.

Quote
"Kara comes back from the dead. I let her go off chasing her vision of Earth. Well she's overdue. Lee turns in his wings. Helo. Athena. Gaeta. Will I ever see those kids again?" -- William Adama

Survivors: 39,675
Main Characters That Appear: Admiral Adama, President Roslin, Kara Thrace, Athena, Baltar (voice)
Recurring Characters That Appear: Tory, Gaeta, Anders, Helo, Seelix, Barolay, Leoben, Doc Cottle
Guest Characters: Emily
Cylons That Appear: Tory, Anders, Athena, Natalie, Leoben, Hybrid, Centurion, Eights, Sixes

Starring :

Edward James Olmos
Mary McDonnell
Katee Sackhoff
James Callis
Tricia Helfer
Grace Park

Co or Guest-starring:

Michael Trucco as Ensign Samuel Anders

• Tahmoh Penikett as Karl Agathon
• Rekha Sharma as Tory Foster
• Alessandro Juliani as Lieutenant Felix Gaeta
• Callum Keith Rennie as Number Two / Leoben Conoy
• Donnelly Rhodes as Doctor Cottle
• Bodie Olmos as Lieutenant Brendan "Hotdog" Costanza
• Alisen Down as Jean Barolay
• Tiffany Lyndall-Knight as Hybrid
• Jennifer Halley as Ensign Diana "Hardball" Seelix
• Nana Visitor as Emily Kowalski
• Alana Husband as Nurse Sashon