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Recap / Battlestar Galactica 2003 S 03 E 06 Torn

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Season 3, Episode 6:

Torn

Galactica's air patrols finally begin running training exercises with the pilots who were living on New Caprica, but things go awry when Kara deliberately crashes her Viper into Narcho's out of bitterness and frustration, just before landing on the Battlestar's flight deck with no fuel. Lee, who has taken up his position as CAG once more, accuses her of having a deathwish and pulls her from active duty.

Meanwhile, in Tigh's quarters, he has begun drinking as a way to dull his pain from Ellen's death. He hallucinates her voice and sees someone he thinks looks like her in the nearby hallway, only to discover it's someone else.

On the Basestar, Baltar is dreaming about HeadSix. He says that he's relieved she has appeared to him, while she tells him to be mindful and find out as much as he can about the Cylons, before once again reiterating that she is an instrument of God. He wakes up afterwards and sees Caprica-Six and D'Anna, who have come to visit him. D'Anna asks if he has knowledge of where Earth is, and while he initially tries to deny it, he does reveal that he has done research on its probable location. Caprica-Six tells him that they want to find Earth so they can use it as their new home.

In Galactica's crew quarters, Kara returns to her bunk, only to be accosted by Kacey and her mother Julia, who wants to thank her for rescuing her daughter. Kara coldly dismisses them and tells them never to come back. Elsewhere, Lee is finishing a rigorous training session with Helo, who congratulates him on losing his excess weight.

On Colonial One, Gaeta meets with Bill and Roslin to discuss Baltar's actions over the intervening year on New Caprica. Gaeta tells them that Baltar was trying to find the route to Earth, and had done much research to find its whereabouts. He says that Baltar had used ancient scrolls to find the location of a nebula that had further directions to the planet, which could be helpful for the fleet.

At the same time, Baltar gives directions to the nebula he discovered to the Cylons, and they dispatch another Basestar to investigate it. While they do so, Caprica-Six tells him that although he is a valuable asset, the Cylons still aren't sure if they can trust him or not. They walk together through the Basestar, and Baltar asks her what happened to the other five out of the twelve Cylon models whom he hasn't seen on the ship or on New Caprica. Caprica-Six tells him that it's not a matter they discuss, but when he presses for more information, they are interrupted by D'Anna, who tells them there is a situation.

The trio head to the Basestar's command center, where a copy of Doral tells them that the Basestar that went to investigate the nebula hasn't returned, and when they check the logs, they discover that it was infected with some type of virus. The Cylon fleet decides to stay away for fear of spreading the virus further, but Baltar offers to investigate and bring back information.

In Galactica's ready room, crewmen are still celebrating the victory at New Caprica, and congratulate Sharon for her heroic deeds. Hot Dog gives Sharon a new nickname, "Athena", as a way to differentiate her from Boomer and honor her accomplishments.

Elsewhere on the ship, Kara and Tigh, still bitter over their experiences, begin insulting several of the pilots who stayed on Galactica during the settlement, and despite Helo's attempts to calm them down, they continue to sow dissent. Helo goes to Bill and asks him to talk to them.

On the Basestar, the Cylons give Baltar a confiscated Raptor and Colonial flight suit for his mission. Before he leaves, he runs into the Hybrid, a Cylon being connected directly to the Basestar—in essence, she is the Basestar. Caprica-Six tells him that the Hybrid's conscious mind goes insane from the connection, and that most of the Cylons believe her constant mutterings are nothing but gibberish, except for the copies of Leoben, who believe the Hybrid is quoting God.

Baltar sets out to the other Basestar with the Raptor and lands successfully. As he enters the darkened ship, he discovers numerous dead Cylon models. He collects several samples, and takes pictures of various corpses and locations, including a large unknown device in the ship's hold. He comes across a copy of Six who is dying, and she tells him that the device they brought onboard was a probe made by the Thirteenth Tribe. She then accuses him of leading them into a trap and tries to attack him, and Baltar is forced to strangle her to stop her. He returns to the other Basestar and relates his findings, but says he couldn't find anything that caused the outbreak. Caprica-Six, however, notices the probe in one of Baltar's pictures.

In Galactica's rec room, Tigh and Kara are sitting and drinking together when Bill enters, dismisses everyone else, and throws a loaded handgun on the table between them. As Tigh angrily accuses him of being reckless, Bill dares them to shoot him, and calls them out on their constant complaining. Bill then calls both of them cowards, and when Kara tries to interject, he kicks out her chair from under them.

Bill tells Kara she's become a cancer, then orders her to either get herself together or leave the ship before she leaves in humiliation. He then turns to Tigh and tells him that although he knows the latter is still broken up over Ellen's death, he should either shoot him or shape up. Tigh tells him that the man he knew is gone, and walks out. Spurred by his words, Kara cuts her hair and returns to duty, then goes to apologize to Kacey and her mother.

Gaeta finishes deciphering Baltar's research, and gives Bill the coordinates to the nebula. Sharon and Racetrack pilot a Raptor to the location and are happy to see that the coordinates were correct, but then see the dying Basestar in the distance…

Tropes:

  • All There in the Manual: The Six that Baltar encounters on the infected Basestar is referred to in the script as "Raven-Haired Six".
  • Ascended Extra: Narcho, who has gone from the Pegasus to Galactica's Viper squadron with the destruction of the former ship.
  • Body Horror: The Hybrid.
  • Broken Ace: Kara, as a result of her experiences on New Caprica and Death Seeker tendencies.
  • Brutal Honesty: Adama pulls no punches in his "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Starbuck and Tigh, calling them out on their blatant disrespect and disobedience since returning from New Caprica.
  • Death Seeker: Kara, which causes Lee to tell her that he'll open up an airlock for her if she wants to die. It takes a serious dressing-down from Bill to snap her back to reality.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: Tigh, in the wake of Ellen's death.
  • Enforced Method Acting: Katee Sackhoff really did cut her own hair at the end of the episode.
  • Entertainingly Wrong: The infected Six on the diseased Basestar accuses the humans of the Thirteenth Tribe of planting the beacon with the virus as a trap for Cylons. An understandable conclusion... except that the Thirteenth Tribe is later revealed to the Cylons themselves.
  • Fanservice:
    • While Caprica-Six and Baltar are walking through the Basestar arguing they pass through a room (notably without any doors or locks) that has an Eight practicing Tai-Chi naked showing as much as they could probably get away with on TV. Gaius is temporarily flummoxed while Caprica-Six treats it like an Unusually Uninteresting Sight.
    • Lee is shirtless when he weighs himself on the scale.
  • Formerly Fat: Lee loses all of the weight he gained during the New Caprica arc.
  • Foreshadowing: Baltar, who was previously told by Caprica-Six in the Miniseries that twelve humanoid models like herself exist (and himself left an anonymous note for Adama to that effect), notices that he's only ever seen seven of them on New Caprica or the Cylon Baseship, and tries to ask about the "final five".
  • Guy in Back: Following the events on New Caprica there's now more pilots than ships. Racetrack offers to be Athena's ECO as the alternative is sitting around in the mess with nothing to do.
  • Important Haircut: Kara trimming her hair after the confrontation with Bill.
  • Mad Oracle: The Hybrid, who riddles off nonsense that only Leoben believes is coming direct from God.
  • Meaningful Rename: Helo asks the other pilots for a new callsign for Sharon Agathon after she rejects being called "Boomer", pointing out that that name belonged to a different person. After they make a few joking suggestions based on her Cylon nature, Hot Dog proposes "Athena", the goddess of wisdom and war, which she happily accepts.
  • The Millstone: Kara and Tigh have become this since the rescue; Kara is a reckless Death Seeker in the cockpit, and Tigh is a bitter drunk hurting the morale of the crew.
  • Mythology Gag: Sharon Agathon's new callsign, Athena, was the name of Adama's daughter in the original series.
  • Never My Fault: The Cylon Basestar picks up a beacon that delivers them a virus after getting to the location Baltar gave them. As per usual for the Cylons, they immediately start screaming about how Baltar and the other monstrous humans doomed them rather than admit to it being their own damn fault.
  • The Nicknamer: Baltar coins the term "Final Five" for the last five unrevealed Cylons, a name which will stick for the rest of the series.
  • Pet the Dog: While coming up with a new callsign for Sharon, the other pilots jokingly suggest Cylon-inspired nicknames such as "Chrome Dome", "Titania" and "Raptor Adaptor". It's obvious that none of them hold it against her anymore and that they've fully accepted her as one of them.
  • Reckless Gun Usage: Bill throwing a loaded gun on a table between Kara and Tigh, causing them to jump back and angrily remark that there's a live round in the chamber.
  • That Man Is Dead:
    Bill: You can get your ass back into your quarters and not leave until you're ready to act like the man that I've known for the past 30 years.
    Tigh: That man doesn't exist anymore, Bill.
  • There Are No Therapists: Saul and Kara are clearly dripping (in Saul's case, literally) with trauma and psychological issues, but no one ever seems to think of the suggestion that maybe they should talk to someone trained to deal with that kind of thing.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Bill gives an epic one to Kara and Tigh after they try to sow dissent among the crew:
    Bill: (To Kara) You were like a daughter to me once. No more. You're a malcontent and a cancer, and I won't have you on my ship. So you have a choice. You can figure out how to become a human being again, and an officer, or you can find another place to live off of this ship. You're dismissed. (turns to Tigh) You're full of bile, hatred, and I know it has something to do with Ellen. I'm sorry for that. And if you need time Saul, you take all the time you want, but I gotta run a ship. And the last thing I need is a one-eyed drunk sitting down here, sowing discontent and disobedience.
  • She's Back: Kara, after her confrontation with Bill.
  • Training "Accident": Kara causes two in quick succession - deliberately crashing into Narcho's Viper and landing on the flight deck without fuel.
  • Two Lines, No Waiting: Baltar's experiences on the Basestar take up screentime for the next few episodes.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: Kara and Saul call the crew and pilots who stayed aboard Galactica during the occupation a bunch of dirty cowards that left them at the mercy of the Cylons. Helo reminds them that the crew fought tooth and nail to get them off New Caprica, and they'd all still be stuck down there if they hadn't.
  • Wetware CPU: The Hybrids are plumbed directly into the Basestar's mainframe.
  • What the Hell, Hero?:
    • Lee calling out Kara for endangering fellow pilots and landing a Viper with virtually no fuel left.
    • Tigh and Kara freak out when Bill (deliberately) throws a loaded weapon onto the table between them.
  • You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Played with. Bill challenges Kara or Tigh to shoot him, noting that their slander and riling up of the crew is accomplishing exactly the same thing. Neither of them can do it, and Bill calls both of them cowards.

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