Season 1, Episode 12:

Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 1

Onboard Galactica, various activities are occurring. Lee and Bill are having a father-son sparring match. Boomer is contemplating shooting herself, but can't bring herself to go through with it. Baltar is having sex with Kara, when she suddenly calls out Lee's name and ruins the mood. Kara leaves as Baltar loses his concentration and reflects on what has happened.

On Colonial One, Roslin's prognosis is getting worse. She is informed that ther cancer in her body has spread to her lymphatic system, and she may only have months to live. On Galactica, Kara walks in on a game of Triad whose participants include Baltar and Lee. The former's flippant behavior towards both him and Kara tips Lee off that the doctor slept with Starbuck.

Boomer and Crashdown head out on a recon mission, but stumble onto an unknown planet that matches the description of the lost world Kobol. They return to Galactica with the news that they may have discovered the fabled planet.

Meanwhile, Lee confronts Kara in the hangar bay and tells her he knows what happened between her and Baltar. The two end up trading blows, and Kara tells him that she'll always be a screwup.

Bill, Tigh and Roslin look over Boomer's scans and their own scriptures about the planet, and come to realize it is the fabled planet. Roslin, however, is affected by a vision of the City of the Gods. She later has two more visions about specific items—the Tomb of Athena and the Arrow of Apollo—and realizes that the prophecies are coming true.

Later that day, Baltar sees the emotionally disturbed Boomer, who is still harboring suicidal tendencies, while looking for Kara. Head Six indicates that Boomer and her entire Cylon line is weak, but she will ultimately carry out her mission. Ultimately, Baltar tells her to do what she thinks is right, and after she leaves, she turns the gun on herself and pulls the trigger.

However, her Cylon programming stops her from shooting herself, and the bullet goes through her cheek. She is rushed to the infirmary, and gives the excuse that her gun accidentally discharged.

Elsewhere, Bill is still reviewing the evidence, and decides to order an extensive search of the planet to see if it can support the Fleet living there. Baltar, who is warned by Head Six to leave Galactica before anyone suspects he may have been involved in what happened to Boomer, volunteers to take part in the recon mission. Afterwards, Roslin explains the nature of her visions to Bill, and states that the only way to find the way to Earth is to go back to Caprica with the Cylon Raider and obtain the Arrow of Apollo. Bill scoffs at the idea.

Three Raptors, one of which has Baltar, Tyrol, Cally, Socinus and Crashdown aboard, jumps to the planet. Suddenly, one of the Raptors is struck and destroyed by a Cylon Raider, revealing that the three ships are in the direct path of a Basestar and Raider squadron. In the ensuing moments, Crashdown's Raptor is damaged and plummets to the surface below, while the remaining Raptor manages to jump out and warn Galactica.

The crew meets, and Bill decides that if they want to rescue their crew, they'll have to take out the Basestar first. Kara offers to destroy it with a mini-nuke and the captured Cylon Raider. However, Roslin speaks to her afterwards and convinces her that Bill doesn't know where Earth is, and that they need to find the Arrow of Apollo.

Meanwhile, on Caprica, Helo is still on the run when he encounters Sharon, who tries to reason with him. Angered, he wounds Sharon, but can't bring himself to kill her. He ends up taking her with him, and tells her that she is just the means to an end to get off the planet.

As the command crew performs a weapons test on the captured Raider, Kara (who is in the Raider) radios Bill and says she believed in what he said about Earth, before insinuating that she's going to follow Roslin's plan. Bill tells her that she'd better be ready to live with the consequences if she goes through with it, and Kara jumps away…

Tropes

• Ancient Astronauts: The Thirteenth Tribe of Kobol, who left their planet in spacefaring vessels 2000 years before the start of the series.
• Ate His Gun: Boomer tries it, but her programming forces the gun towards the outside of her mouth as she fires.
• Break the Cutie: Boomer during and after her suicide attempt.
• Continuity Nod: When Kara steals the Cylon Raider. Also counts as an Ironic Echo if considering the Deleted Scene where she says the same thing.
  Bill: What are you doing, Starbuck?
  Kara: Bringing home the cat, sir.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Lee has a bought of this after figuring out that Kara had a one-night stand with Baltar (based on the hostile tension between Kara and Baltar during their card game).
• Double Standard: Averted spectacularly. Kara tries to punch Lee in the face during their confrontation in the hangar bay... and he punches her right back. No one comments on it.
  • Undercut by the fact that Lee spent the previous two minutes aggressively harassing Kara for having casual sex off the clock, after never batting an eye at Tyrol and Boomer's trysts while on duty.
• Driven to Suicide: Boomer, although her programming prevents it.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Although he's figured out that the Sharon who conveniently rescued him on Caprica is a Cylon, Helo still thinks the one he knew before on Galactica is 'the real thing', not realizing that Galactica Boomer is also a Cylon and that there never was a human original.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Caprica-Six is shocked when Baltar nudges Boomer into shooting herself.
• Foreshadowing: Bill and Roslin's disagreement over military policy versus the spiritual course of action the latter wants to take.
• Hellish Copter: The Raptor plummeting through Kobol's atmosphere and crashing into the planet.
• I Cannot Self-Terminate: Boomer's attempt to shoot herself fails because of this. All she can do is blow a hole in her cheek.
• The Immodest Orgasm: Kara.
• Jump Scare: One of the three Raptors being plowed into by a Cylon Raider almost immediately after they jump to Kobol.
• Moment Killer: Subverted. Although Baltar manages to bed Kara, the mood is ruined when she calls out Lee's name during sex.
• Oh, Crap!: Baltar's wild-eyed expression when the Raptor he's in plummets towards the Kobol surface.
• Prolonged Prologue: The opening prologue is 12 minutes long—the longest for any of the episodes in the series.
• Throwing the Fight: Discussed and Played With. Lee mentions that he was letting his father win their boxing matches, which causes Bill to nearly knock out his son for real.
• Wrong-Name Outburst: Kara, while she's having sex with Baltar. The only problem is that she's calling out Lee's name, which leads to a Moment Killer.