BSG: Epiphanies

189 days have passed since Laura received the report from her doctor on Caprica that she had terminal breast cancer. In the present, on the Galactica, she is being rushed to the intensive care unit on a stretcher as she enters her final hours.

This episode, like many Galactica episodes, makes effective use of flashbacks. Laura, as she weaves in and out of consciousness, is drawn back to the scenes of her life on Caprica, where she served as the Secretary of Education under President Adar. From the flashbacks we see where Laura got some of her negotiating skills (settling a teachers’ strike), but more interestingly we see that she and Adar were having an affair. We discover that Laura happened to be in the same plaza as Baltar and Number Six on the day of the Cylon attack -- and she subconsciously remembers seeing their little tryst.

As Laura lays dying in ICU, other things are going on. Newbie pilot Kat (who is becoming increasingly arrogant) bitches with Starbuck, but the two are forced to table their arguing when it becomes apparent that their Vipers have been sabotaged. This uncovers an entire “peace” movement comprised of people who feel that surrender to the Cylons is the best option. To demonstrate they mean business, they plant bombs and damage the Tylium factory, leaving the fleet once again low on fuel and vulnerable to attack. The Cylon sympathizers have a headquarters on the Cloud Nine ship and Baltar discovers that they’ve taken in Gina, the Cylon clone who murdered Admiral Cain (but they don’t know her true identity).

Laura, in a lucid moment, gathers Adama, Baltar and Doc Cottle by her bedside and tells them that Sharon’s pregnancy must be terminated for the good of the fleet. Her decision is prompted by Cottle’s report on blood abnormalities in the fetus. Adama has no problem with complying, but Baltar argues against it.

Helo is, predictably, enraged when the Marines come for Sharon and drag her kicking and screaming to medical where the staff is ready to do the abortion. Baltar, however, appears and neatly solves two problems by revealing that he’s discovered that the Cylon-human fetus’s blood has the ability to cure cancer.

How convenient!

He simply extracts fetal blood from Sharon’s womb, injects it into Laura and, voila! Laura’s cancer is completely gone within hours.

Things I Liked:

• Laura’s look of horror when she woke up and looked at Baltar, who she now knows for sure is intimately connected with the Cylons.


• Baltar is unbelievable pissed when he reads the letter Laura left him in the event of her death. Everything she said about his character was true.


• Gina rejects Baltar’s advances and gives him a bloody lip.

Things I Didn’t Like:

• I can’t believe that anyone would believe they can sue for peace with the Cylons. If you look at the original mini-series you’ll see that that was tried the day they bombed the Colonies. It didn’t work then, why would it work now?


• Simply injecting a couple cc’s of Cylon-hybrid blood into Laura repaired all of the cells in her body that were ravaged by cancer? That’s weak sci-fi science at its best.


• How come there was no mention of whether Baltar was ever questioned about the Cylon that escaped and killed Cain? No one cares about that? He’s not being held responsible for Gina’s escape?


• There was no mention of how the crew of the Pegasus is adapting to being under Adama’s command.

Fears:

• There’s more bad science to come.