Battlestar Galactica: The Road Less Traveled: S4. E6 a/k/a/ S4. E8 *SPOILERS*

Bear McCreary's Awesome BSG Score-flavoured Recap of TRLT

As usual, I depend on of BSG's composer Bear McCreary's, awesome interpretation of each episode to jiggle my brainpan and help tremendously in a deeper understanding of each episode.

Also awesome are a couple of Battlestar Galactica sites which you should be checking in with: The Patriot Resource and the sublime Battlestar Wiki. There are many more good BSG sites out there but my site is simply the viewpoint of a fangirl. Hopefully, you'll find an interesting tidbit or two.

"Wiki" confirmed what or who actually, I thought was missing last night from Episode 405/407: The Road Less Travelled--both Commander Adama and President Roslin--for the first time ever were not featured in a BSG episode!

The episode title is derived from the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Almost the entire episode takes place on the waste recycling ship the Demetrius or in the space around it, which led by Kara Thrace, has now been on it's mission to find Earth for 58 frakkin' days.

The crew is completely exasperated, worried about the ever-closing window of time they have to rendezvous with Galactica. They are on the verge of mutiny as in their eyes, Kara has gone completely  off the rails.

Helo, the Captain, is constantly running interference between Kara and the crew, no small job; good thing he's built for it.  

(I know Tahmoh Penikett was originally meant to have a small but pivotal story arc in the miniseries, then left behind for dead on the nuked Caprica colony, but look at what we would have missed if they hadn't reconsidered and kept him for the duration(!). In my opinion, he and "Chief" Galen Tyrol are two of the most sympathetic and therefore likeable characters in that they both have a solid moral center and are generally kind, decent men.)

So this is pretty much how this Episode goes down:

Episode 405: The Road Less Travelled; Originally aired on May 2, 2008

Synopsis: A Cylon heavy raider docks with the Demetrius and it turns out to be Leoben.The prospect of a truce between humanity and the Cylons encourages Kara to trust a shipwrecked Leoben while her crew begins to openly doubt her competency for command. Conoy offers an alliance between the humans and his faction in the Cylon civil war and Kara wants to accompany him to his baseship in order to learn what the Cylons know about Earth. Kara orders a jump and Helo refuses to execute it. She then turns to Gaeta, who also refuses. Her crew refuses to carry out the order. Kara Thrace's entire crew (except for husband, Sam Anders) has mutinied.

Back on the Battlestar Galactica, Baltar's group of followers is growing and "Chief" Tyrol continues to struggle with Cally's so-called suicide.

Another scene has Tyrol, who has shaved his head, holding a gun to his own head as he screams." From SciFi Channel Promo

The context of the scene referenced above is that Chief quite literally has reached his breaking point.

Drawn to one of Gaius Baltar's "sermons," Gaius notices him in the crowd and beckons him to come forward because "Cally would have wanted that." Gaius notes that Cally was spiritual and again that she would have wanted Tyrol to  move forward and to shake Gaius's hand. 

Tyrol looks as if he's a human bomb about to go off. He spits out that Cally may have forgiven Baltar for all his heinous acts but he hasn't and as Gaius goes on and on about Cally's wishes the foreshadowing of what Chief will do when he reaches Baltar becomes clear as the audience feels the same way about Gaius: Who is he trying to fool? What does he want of Chief? And how dare he be such a pompous, presumptuous bastard? When he reaches Baltar, Chief attempts to throttle him but is restrained by Baltar's followers. Both men appear unhurt by the encounter.

However, Gaius just won't leave it alone and later is escorted undercover to Tyrol's quarters where Tyrol has been staring at family photos from their days on New Caprica before the situation on the planet went from bad to worse. The gun remains on his midsection as he lies stretched out on his bed when Gaius enters. Gaius wishes to apologize for being an ass earlier. Tyrol doesn't react though Gaius is fully aware that it is him, Chief, and Chief's gun alone in the room. It's notable that when surrounded by his followers Baltar referred correctly to "Chief" as Mr.Tyrol (as Admiral Adama has fired Chief Tyrol). However when alone, Gaius switched to calling Tyrol, "Chief," almost a term of endearment.

Gaius continues with his soliloquy about knowing that he committed heinous acts, that once he thought he knew who he was--a scientist but things change for reasons not understood and now he is seeking redemption.

Chief doesn't seem to react  to anything Baltar says but when Gaius turns to leave Chief extends his hand to Baltar.

Big Questions:

As we know now/believe,Tyrol is Cylon. Tyrol's child Nicky is a cybrid. Baltar has a pivotal role to play with the humans and Cylons. Gaius almost always has a hidden agenda--even when he seems sincere. What does he want with Tyrol? Has Tory told Baltar during one of their intimate encounters that she is Cylon and so is Chief or does Baltar sense something, having had plenty very close contact with the Cylons? What role does little Nicky, who seems to have an affinity for Baltar's voice as it comes across the wireless, have?

Further questions:

Does Leoben sense that Anders is a fellow Cylon?  He seems to be skating really close to the truth when he references Anders' knowing that he's always been destined for something greater than star Pyramid player. Anders is clearly shaken by this.

                                                     Leoben Conoy and Sam Anders: having a Cylon to Cylon chat~

When Saul Tigh tries to give chief a lecture about Chief's behaviour, Chief dismisses him saying the scuttlebutt is that Tigh and "the Six" have been spending a lot of time together, so who is judging whom?  Has Tigh taken Caprica Six as a lover or is it the other way 'round? Or neither?

Next on BSG: FAITH 5/09/08: "The return of her cancer adds to Roslin's wariness of a potential truce between the Colonials and the Cylons. But she's not the only one struggling with her faith, for impulsive Kara Thrace is uneasy about those "toasters", too." "Unlikely alliances are forged." From TV Guide

****NOTE *The telefilm Razor, aired late last year, is being included "officially" as part of the series's episode's sequential numbering. However, unofficial recaps I've seen are ignoring this and referring to the episodes as they have been televised this year, hence every episode will have two episode numbers assigned to it until l can figure out a better way of doing it. (It's confusing me!)