'Battlestar Galactica': Lighting a fire

Things are going from bad to worse for the folks about Battlestar Galactica. Sure, the fleet's been at odds before, but with Earth revealed as a radioactive mudball, the despair is sending humanity into a self-destructive tailspin.

[You know where to find these spoilers.]

Folks, I went to a lot of years at university to learn how to write -- how the heck did my parents ever let me switch from law? -- and one thing profs love to teach is repetition. Repetition of events is second only to bringing a story back to the beginning in every writer's bag of tricks. I say that not to criticize this episode, but because I sort of loved it and sort of hated it. Read on...

Adama wakes, goes through his morning routine, and strides through Galactica more composed than he's been in a long time. He stops to pick up some trash; the admiral may have a new goal in finding humanity a home, but his crew is still falling apart.

Over at the medbay, Doc Cottle shows Tigh and Six an ultrasound of their impossible Cylon baby. Six even comments on how impossible it is! Apparently, those Final Cylons can reproduce. Or... can they? The nurse goes next to Gaeta, who isn't happy about being ignored in favor of skinjobs. Just as the nurse is about to tend to him, Chief comes in -- his own half-Cylon baby is peeing blood. And then Cottle calls the nurse back over to Tigh and Six. Gaeta is not happy.

Adama, Apollo and Tom Zarek address the press, and Apollo lets slip the last Cylon is not just dead but a she. The press goes wild. Oops. This press conference is over! I suppose Tigh told our heroes about Ellen. Zarek isn't happy about the continued alliance with the Cylons, saying there would be consequences. Adama fires back, saying if anything happens, he's coming for Zarek.

"I'm not hard to find," Tom says. "I'm right here where I've always been, running the government." Oofda.

Speaking of the alliance, Tigh and Chief (speaking for the Cylons) want to fit the fleet's ships with upgraded faster-than-light drives, and in return want to be recognized as Colonial citizens. That way, Galactica is obligated to protect them from Brother Cavil. Adama and Apollo are interested, but they need to run it past Roslin.

Chief is back in medbay, where Cottle says his son has acute renal failure. They caught it in time, but the li'l spud will need dialysis. And hey, they have plenty of blood on hand? What, half-Cylon blood? Errr, no, turns out the kid is all human. Chief's not the dad.

Roslin, meanwhile, throws away her cancer meds. Hrm.

Later, with Adama present, she agrees the Cylons should get citizenship, but doesn't want to address the fleet. Yet, she says, but we all know she's stalling.

Gaeta, just getting started in his new role as malcontent, confronts Starbuck in the mess and having been married to stupid Cylon Anders. He promises there will be a reckoning.

"You know where to find me," says Starbuck, echoing Zarek.

Zarek, meanwhile, is addressing the Quorum with a proposal: The decision on whether to allow Cylon crew members (and, so, the new FTL drives) should be up to each ship's captain. Welcome to States' Rights 101. The Quorum votes overwhelmingly in favor.

Adama is awakened by his phone. He goes through his morning routine, but messily. He's shaken, but not too much to pick up trash. Why is he shaken? Roslin is jogging like a maniac through the halls. She just wants to live a little! Hoo boy, she's already given up. Adama agrees; he'd like to live a little too. Roslin gives him a quick kiss.

Baltar sermonizes on what sort of father would abandon his child, and yes, it resonates with Chief. He spies Hotdog in the crowd, and somehow knows HD's his son's father. He's right, which leads to a brawl. Don't worry; Chief and Hotdog make up in the medbay, and Chief tells Hotdog to not leave his son's bedside. This makes me think, because the entire episode is parallelicious, the Tigh isn't really the father of Six's child. Am I off-base?

Don't answer yet. There's more action: The commander of the fleet's fuel ship has mutinied. The ship leaps away before Galactica marines can storm it, but Adama's already intercepted a communication to Zarek. The veep is brought in and brigged. Adama knows Zarek would love to be a political prisoner, but swears he'll leak documents that showed the former revolutionary fomented the new unrest to make money. People love a rebel but hate a rebel who's only in it for the money!

It's a bluff, but it works, and Zarek writes down the fuel ship's coordinates on a piece of paper, then crumples and throws it. Adama picks it up just like all the trash he's been collecting this episode. Hooray for symbolism! Still, the coordinates check out and the fuel ship is brought back. Adama would be happy, but by the time he finds out, he's in bed with Roslin.

All's not well, though. Zarek and Gaeta become partners, with the latter promising he's got the willpower and followers to really light a fire...

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