Battlestar Galactica

Episode #207 - "Home, Part II"

This document is ©2005, John Larocque. All rights reserved.

47,855 survivors in search of a home called Earth.

The Cylons were created by man. They evolved. They rebelled. There are many copies. And they have a plan.

Synopsis

Tyrol can't imagine navigating without a guide, and Gaeta mentions the last rescue reported no signs of the Cylon ships anywhere near Kobol. Adama tells them, "We'll set the jump arrival coordinates to the upper atmosphere. Just in case." "Sir, that's risky, and it's certainly not possible with a ship of this size." "I'll be going down in a Raptor." Tigh remarks, "What?" "I'm not gonna leave the fleet undefended. And it's too risky to try to take all of us." "We'll send a search party for frak's sake." Adama quotes scriptures. "And Zeus warned the leaders of the Twelve Tribes that any return to Kobol would exact a price in blood." Tyrol adds, "It certainly did for us." "No more bloodshed. Enough loss. I'm only gonna take people who are absolutely necessary. Don't try to argue with me, Saul. Truth is, I'm the only one that can reach out to Roslin. It's always been between us anyway. We may have gone down separately, but we're gonna come back together. Hopefully on our feet. But even in body bags, we're gonna be coming back together."

On Kobol, Laura and her group are going up a steep hill. Meier slips and nearly falls but Zarek catches him and helps him back up. Sharon wins a race with Helo over who can race to reach a ledge first. It's now starting to rain and she tells Helo they should take shelter until the storm passes. Elsewhere, Zarek wants to to contact the Astral Queen but Lee stops him. "You're not in charge here, Tom. All comm traffic goes through me. Try to remember that." Meier takes Zarek aside and asks him how much longer he wants to wait. Zarek advises him, "Just keep your eyes on him."

The group finally reaches the summit. Sharon tells Kara, "There's a formation of twin rocks ahead. I think those are the Gates of Hera. I'm putting together a lot of pieces from a lot of sources beyond your scriptures. If I'm right, that's the spot where your god supposedly stood and watched Athena throw herself down onto the rocks below out of despair over the exodus of the Thirteen Tribes." Zarek asks, "Suppsedly? I thought the Cylons believed in the gods." Starbuck answers, "Yeah, don't get her started. They believe in one true God or something like that." "And we don't worship false idols." Lee remarks, "You were quick enough to come on this mission. Lead us all to some tomb only actually mentioned in our false scriptures." "We know more about your religion than you do. Athena's Tomb, whoever, and whatever she really was, is probably up there. That part is true." Kara tells Laura, "Madam President, we won't make it up there before nightfall." "Let's go, see how far we get."

Baltar is talking to Number Six in the holding cell that was originally built for Galactica's Sharon. "This is a depressing place. Part of me is glad poor Sharon never made it in here." Number Six is now sitting naked on a chair. "You decided to brighten up the place a little, did you?" "Our child will be born here. In this room. You're not listening." "Oh, you noticed. No, I've had enough. Do you seriously expect me to listen to you while you sit about stark naked, prattle on about this mythical baby of ours... Do you you have any notion of how ridiculous you've become? The whole turn of our conversation completely shot to pieces. I'm the father of a baby who'll be born to me from my fantasy woman who I see solely in my head. My fantasy woman, by the way, who stopped being my fantasy. You're not my fantasy any more. No, sadly, no. You're nothing more than a common tease."

"I never said I would bear the child." "Oh wonderful. More doubletalk, more mind games. All right then, who's it going to be? Who's going to bear our secret love child? It's not Starbuck, is it?" "Careful, Gaius. You're in dangerous territory now." "Then I guess I'm really scared. So what's it gonna be this week? Don't tell me, I'll guess. The ship's gonna blow up! Done that one. So it's gotta be someone else. Yes, of course, me! I'm gonna explode! Good! God is gonna make me spontaneously combust in a great big ball of flame, and then the whole crew of Galactica can celebrate on ambrosia. Get really drunk." Number Six is now laughing and is clothed in a sweat suit with her hair in a ponytail. "OK. Enough. I can't do this any more. You're right. Game's over. You win." "What did I win?" "You don't get it? Come on, Gaius. Wake up and smell the psychosis already... There is no Cylon chip implanted in your brain. I'm not real. You're not really getting secret messages from the Cylons. You're just crazy."

"Very funny. Hysterical. Do you write your own material?" "You don't believe in me, do you?" "No, I don't." She laughs. "That's great. I love it." "Is it? Good. I've had enough of this. All right? So can we just stop playing this stupid game?" "Oh, I'm sorry. But it's the truth. There is no chip." "If there is no chip, then who, or what, are you exactly?" "I'm you. I'm your subconscious frakking with your mind... You helped the Cylons commit genocide against your own people and your fragile little mind couldn't handle it. So poof, I appear and start telling you how special you are. How God has chosen you." "Yeah, right. Well, I don't know what game you're playing any more. But I don't like playing these stupid games." "Why don't you get yourself checked out? Go down to sickbay and get a brain scan. That would settle it, wouldn't it? Go ahead, I dare you."

Adama's Raptor prepares to jump to Kobol and Racetrack is trying to decipher Tyrol's map. "Look, I marked the terrain as best I could, but we're not... topography's for pansies anyways." Billy tells Adama, "I still don't think this is a very good idea, Commander. The last time she saw me, she wasn't too happy with me." "She trusts you, values your counsel. She'll listen to you." "I doubt that very much. I'm her assistant. She doesn't put any more stock in what I say than..." "She thinks you'll be President one day... That's what she said to me once, that you reminded her of President Adar when he ran for his first office." "I don't really know how to respond to that sir." "Don't let it go to your head. Adar was a moron." The Raptor jumps into the atmosphere and are subected to strong G forces during reentry. "Perimeter's clear. No Cylon presence." "See? Nothing to worry about. Having good luck already."

On Kobol, Lee sees Helo and Sharon in the distance and tells Kara it gives him the creeps. She replies, "He loves her. And yeah, he knows she's a machine. He doesn't care. He loves her anyway." "Frak! How can one of us get roped in by one of them? You know, we should keep an eye on him too." "Helo's a friend of mine, all right? He's one of the good guys." "Yeah? Sharon was a friend of yours too." Sharon says to Helo, "Just being with you and Kara feels like I've come home. It's like I'm back in the fleet." "But you were never in the fleet. That was the other Sharon." "I know that. But I remember all of it. Like getting my wings. My first trip aboard the Galactica. You know, the memory of being in a uniform is so strong, is so potent, it's like, I'm Sharon Valerii and this is my family. That's pretty weird, huh?" "That's OK. I like weird."

Zarek is talking with Meier. "Losing that priest really frakked her up." "She's lost a lot of people. Friends. Supporters. All she has left is her young prince. We're here. He's here. We know what we have to do." "Terrain's rougher than we thought. Don't know how far until we reach this tomb." "Why are you backing out of this now?" "I'm not backing out of anything. Getting blood on your hands is a lot harder than washing it off." "Then let the Cylon do it. What if the Cylon were to get a weapon and shoot him herself? There would be a lot of confusion, stress, panic. And the Cylon could find herself getting shot real easy." "How would you propose such a thing might happen?" "This has to happen, Tom. You know that." "Not until we find the tomb."

Laura's group is on the move again. Sharon corrects Helo's grammar and apologizes for being smarter than he is. "Well, that's OK. The baby can have your brains as long as he gets my looks." "Yeah? That'd be a real blessing for her." "Her? You know it's a girl?" Kara describes the situation on Caprica to Laura. "So far as I could tell, the Cylons have a plan for Caprica. They're cleaning up the bodies, bringing in the heavy machinery to fix the infrastructure." "I understand." "But they haven't killed everyone. There's a resistance. Once we find the tomb and get the map, I think our first order of business has to be planning a rescue mission back to Caprica." "Lieutenant, I hope you know how grateful I am for everything you've done and what you've risked, but right now I can't think about anything but finding that tomb. Thank you."

Aboard the Galactica, Baltar is going through an MRI scan in sickbay. Number Six teases him and starts to touch him, and Baltar moves and bangs his head. Dr. Cottle tells him, "Oh, frak. I told you not to move." "I'm so terribly sorry doctor. It won't happen again." "Great. Now I have to reset and start from the beginning." Baltar asks Number Six why she's doing this to him. "Come on, Gaius. Even back when you weren't nuts, there was always that little voice in your head. The little voice helping you through the rough times, remember? I'm just the latest version of that little voice." "I don't believe that for one moment. No. God has a plan for me." Cottle is listening to Baltar talking inside the chamber. "Hey. Will you stop going crazy in there?" "I'm not crazy." Later he hands Baltar the results of the scan which shows nothing. "We're absolutely positive, aren't we, that there's no, um... unidentified objects?" "Well, you can obsess over these as much as you like on your own time. Freakin' hypochondriac. One on every bloody ship."

At the campsite, Meier tells Sharon, "Once you find this tomb, you know he's going to have you killed, right?" "He's not like that." "He's a soldier. You're the enemy. Nothing's going to changed that." Sharon tells Meier she doesn't remember shooting Adama. Meier hands her a gun and asks her if she knew what happened to Galactica's Sharon. He informs her, "She was murdered by one of the crew, and everyone aboard Galactica just let it happen... They're not going to let your child be born. You think they're going to let you raise a potential enemy right in their midst? You want to get off this planet alive, you better start looking out for yourself."

Lee and Kara hear something and prepare for intruders. It's Commander Adama and his group and they have arrived near the camp. Lee and Commander Adama initially point guns at each other, and then hug, as the Commander starts to cry. He sees Laura and says to her, "It's good to see you." She sees Billy. "You have no idea what it means to me to have you here." And then Tyrol sees Sharon. "Oh my gods. Commander? Commander!" He raises his weapon to defend Adama but Helo informs him, "She's with us, Commander." Adama has a flashback to the moment with Galactica Sharon's corpse in the morgue. He jumps on her and starts throttling her. "I want you to die." Laura and Helo ask him to stop, and Adama has an attack, loses his strength and lets go. Sharon regains her breath and says to him, "And you ask why?"

Helo comments to Sharon, "I can't believe the Old Man reacted like that." She relays to him what Meier told her. "You know how they killed the other Sharon? In cold blood. Not even a trial." Tyrol arrives and they greet. "Sharon?" "Hello, Chief." "You know who I am?" "Yes. We haven't met but..." She gives him a hug. Elsewhere, Zarek and Meier are relieving themselves in the forest. Meier asks, "Where does that leave us?" "Back to where we started. Under the yoke of President Roslin and Commander Adama." "Not if we go back to the ship with a map to Earth. And a sad story of how many people were killed down on Kobol by the Cylons." "It's over. Let it go. For now."

Adama and Laura have a heart to heart talk. "You interfered with a military mission, and you broke your word to me." "It's the second part that really bothers you, isn't it?" "Laura, I forgive you." "Thank you, pal. I didn't ask for your forgiveness." "Well, you have it anyway." Laura brings up what Kara told her about what's happening on Caprica. "They're fighting for their homes. Does it give you pause? Maybe your impulse the day the Cylons attacked was right. Maybe we should have stayed and fougth for our homes. Maybe the President of the Colonies should have stayed with her people." "I didn't come here to navel gaze. Or to catalogue our mistakes. We made a decision to leave the Colonies after the attack. It was the right one then, it's the right one now. 'Cause every moment of every day since then... is a gift." "From the gods." "No, from you. For convincing me that I should go on. I would be dead. My son would be dead. Whatever else the cost, I won't second guess that outcome."

Sharon and Helo continue their conversation over the fate of Galactica's Sharon. "So Cally kills Sharon, and the Old Man gives her 30 days in the brig." "30 days for murder." "They don't see it as murder, Helo. That's what I'm trying to tell you. That's what you're not hearing. To him, to the President, to all of them. Cylons aren't people. I'm not a person to them. I'm a thing." "I won't just stand by and let them kill you like the other Sharon, OK?" "I believe you, Helo. I do. But if we're going to have any future together, any at all, I'm gonna have to take matters into my own hands." "What are you talking about?" "Do you love me?" "Yes." "Do you trust me?" "Yes." "Then don't ask me what I have to do." "Sharon, what the frak are you talking..." "Trust me. Trust us." As the party approaches the Tomb of Athena, Meier asks Sharon about his plans. "Have you had a chance to think about our conversation?" "I haven't thought about anything else." "And?" "When we get to the entrance, they'll be distracted. I'll take the father, and you take the son."

Laura tells Kara, "Lieutenant Thrace, I hope you have that arrow handy." As Sharon and Meier arrive at the entrance, Sharon pulls a gun on Command Adama and Meier pulls one on Lee. Sharon then turns and shoots Meier, then Lee shoots one of Meier's men who is about to shoot Sharon. She then points her gun on Commander Adama again. She says to him, "I need you to know something. I'm Sharon, but I'm a different Sharon. I know who I am. I don't have any hidden protocols or programs lying in wait to be activated. I make my own choices. I make my own decisions. And I need you to know this is my choice." She gives her gun to Adama, who then passes it to Tyrol. Tyrol remarks, "This is one of the old stallions. It's not military issue. Where the hell'd you get this?" "It's his." Zarek is tending to the fallen Meier. "Take it easy." "Just wanted... to see you get you due." "You never did listen to me." Meier dies.

They are having problems opening the door to the tomb, and the arrow has no effect on it. Laura quotes scripture. "And the Arrow of Apollo will open the Tomb of Athena." Commander Adama's idea is to push the door, which they do. The rock door breaks loose and opens, and Laura, Commander Adama, Lee, Kara and Billy enter, while Helo is ordered to stay outside and Tyrol is put on guard duty. Inside the tomb are broken statues. Kara asks, "If the arrow didn't actually open the tomb, how do we know this is the right place?" Laura responds, "The scriptures say you need the arrow to find the map." "These broken statues, I recognize them. The ram, Aerilon. Gemenon, the twins. These are the icons of the Twelve Tribes, the Twelve Colonies. I mean, this is really where it all began. We all came from this place." They recognize the fish as Picon, a lady statue as Virgon, and the goat for Caprica. Commander Adama notices Sagitarron is missing something, and Kara places the Arrow of Apollo in the bow of the archer. The door closes and the room goes black.

They are now in center of a room surrounded by twelve monoliths, and above each monolith is a cluster of constellation patterns identical to the gem patterns that are set in the monoliths. Billy asks, "Where the hell are we?" Laura replies, "I don't know. Tomb of Athena, I think." Adama comments, "I thought we were already in the tomb" and Kara adds, "I think that was the lobby." Laura tells them, "Again the ancient symbols. These patterns... were on the original flags of the Twelve Colonies back in the days when the Colonies were called by their ancient names: Aeries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Libra, Virgo." Adama adds, "The jewels match the constellations." Kara tells them they're standing on Earth. "The scriptures say that when the the Thirteenth Tribe landed on Earth, they looked up into the heavens and saw their twelve brothers." Laura tells them, "Earth is the place where you can look up in the sky and see the constellations of the Twelve Colonies." Kara asks, "What are we supposed to do? Search the entire galaxy for one particular star pattern?" Lee points to one. "There in Scorpio. I've seen that before. It's the lagoon nebula." Commander Adama tells them, "Astro body M8. That's a long way for here." Laura replies, "Yeah. But at least now we have a map and a direction."

In one of the hangar bays, Adama reintroduces Laura to the assembled people. "We have struggled since the attacks, trying to rely on one another. Our strength and our only hope as a people, is to remain undivided. We haven't always done all we could to insure that. Many people believe that the scriptures, the letters from the gods, will lead us to salvation. Maybe they will. But the gods shall lift those who lift each other. And so, to lift all of us, let me present once again the President of the Colonies, Laura Roslin. There is sustained and coordinated clapping by those in attendenace.

Sharon is in her cell and lets Helo know she's OK. He tells her, "It's just I don't want our baby born in this cell." Baltar overhears. "Their child?" "I told you a child would arrive. Told you it would be born right here in this room. How could you ever doubt me?" "Boomer is going to bear... our child?" "An honor for which she is hardly deserving. But one doesn't question God's will." "Well, you're not a chip. That we've established." "Yes." "But Sharon being pregnant does suggest that you are rather more than a simple manifestation of my subconscious. And I'm not... crazy?" "No." "Then who, or what, are you exactly?" "I'm an angel of God sent here to protect you. To guide you, to love you." "To what end?" "To the end of the human race."

Ron Moore's Commentary

8/26/2005 -- This Baltar/Six plot, it was a late developer in the script -- that shot's right out of Scandal, which I love. This whole storyline with Six telling Baltar that he's actually just crazy is something that I think dates back to season one. We were in love with this idea that at some point, Six would change the game, and tell Baltar, "You know what? Just kidding. You're nuts. There's no chip in your head, you moron, you're just having a psychotic break." And it was a really delicious idea and I always wanted to play it, and for some reason it went in and out of a couple of storylines, and then we kind of forgot about it. And then we were working on this script and had to flesh this out into a full-blown episode on its own. And then the question came, what is Baltar doing during all this? ... I love that he just goes off in such a typical Baltar rant there, James off doing his thing, and then suddenly she's laughing. And this is really closer to how Tricia actually looks. Trish wears her hair in a ponytail quite often and wears sweats, and this is kind of who she is. It's kind of fun to just suddenly change the character so completely, and he would be so taken off stride by just how natural she is, and that she seems perfectly genuine that she's telling him that he's just crazy... The look on James' face. He conveys fear so well. (source: The Home, Part II podcast)

8/26/2005 -- This scene was one of the few times that we've actually run up against broadcast standards and practices and they slapped us back down. We argued to no avail. The original line that Tyrol has coming up here is, "Topography is for pussies." And then I added in the beat later where Adama says, "And Adar was a prick." And they wouldn't let us say either one. I actually called broadcast standards and made some whole eloquent pitch about, "Well, it's context." He's not calling someone a pussy. It's not used as an epithet. It's really just sort of a general statement of life. And then Adar is a prick is a joke. It's not harsh, it's not demeaning. And they just kind of went, oh that's really interesting, no you can't say it. It's just really annoying, and it's so arbirary. And it's cable so it's like they really do just make up their own rules. There's no FCC, it's just whatever. (source: The Home, Part II podcast)

8/26/2005 -- "And you ask why?" What does that mean? It's an interesting creepy moment. It's a legitimate question. How did she know that? I don't know. Write it in... [Re: Eddie's saying, "they're stronger than we are."] I did like that. When you read it in the script, it made perfect sense. (source: The Home, Part II podcast)

8/26/2005 -- Adama's the one who doesn't want to navel gaze. What's past is past. He owes his life to Laura, which I think is an interesting and unacknowledged truth in the show. That Laura saved all of them back in the miniseries... What I like too about that scene about the two of them, is it's the first time that they use each other's first name. He calls her Laura, she calls him Bill. It's the first time they ever did that. (source: The Home, Part II podcast)

8/26/2005 -- There used to be a Cylon attack after this whole thing with Sharon went down. The centurions came and attacked during the upcoming planetarium sequence. And we eventually cut that... We changed this very moment right here, where Adama gets the gun. It was a late change in the editing room. Originally he took that gun and put it to Sharon's head. And we were playing the beat of will he shoot Sharon or not. And then we just made that lift within the last week, so it plays out more emotionally here, instead of putting another gun to another person's head. (source: The Home, Part II podcast)

8/26/2005 -- A lot of struggle too with Zarek and his responsibility for what happened. Eventually the way this all works, it feels like essentially that because Meier did it, went for this assassination attempt, even though Zarek had told him not to, you kind of feel like you can let Zarek off the hook now. It's sort of why they don't slap the cuffs on Zarek and throw him in jail. The characters don't know of anything that happened or why, but we the audience know that Zarek did try to stop it and then it didn't work. (source: The Home, Part II podcast)

8/26/2005 -- This notion of the constellations is something that I came up with. I wanted to connect it to our present day mythology of the Zodiac. The show is replete with symbols and references to Zodiacal things. Somehow, these names for these Colonies are not random, there is a connection, and here's the connection. That these people of the thirteenth tribe looked up into the sky and made up these constellations and assigned them to their brethren, the lost tribes. (source: The Home, Part II podcast)

10/14/2005 -- There was an original ending where the Cylons attacked the Tomb at the last minute, blotting out the information and preventing us from gathering more, but we lost that mostly due to budget constraints and to a sense that the show was over dramatically and another battle was unnecessary. I assume that Adama et al, simply walked out of the chamber once the projection was over (I also assume it was a holographic projection of some sort.) We set up in the script that the Scriptures predicted a "price in blood" would be paid by anyone visiting Kobol, so that would presumably keep Adama from inviting yet more people down to the surface for work inside the Tomb. It's a fair question and very logical, but I think that my assumption is that the ground team got enough accurate information from the projection before they left in order to have a decent idea of the general location of Earth -- or at least as much information as was available.

9/19/2006 -- I have a question about the Cylon attack which (according to the podcast) was originally scripted to cap off the Kobol storyline in Home, Part II: Were the live action elements for these scenes ever filmed? If so, is there any possibility of having the finsished sequence reintegrated into the episode?

The scenes were cut before they were shot, unfortunately.

David Eick's Commentary

8/26/2005 -- This is a high pressure air blaster I was very adamant about us using all throughout prep. I was being told it was impossible because it could cause an embolism. It's blowing so hard into your flesh that it can cause an air bubble and kill you. But I had to have it, and I felt the actors had lived very rich lives. If something were to go wrong, they would die with their boots on. I'd seen it in a James Bond movie the first time called Moonraker, in which Roger Moore is in a contraption that's simulating the G-forces you pull in outer space. I didn't know how they did it until we had our prep meeting here. I said, in Moonraker how does Roger Moore's cheek ripple. Our special effects guys said it's a high pressure blaster, they're dangerous. And I said, how dangerous? Define dangerous. (source: The Home, Part II podcast)

8/26/2005 -- In early drafts of this, I really didn't have Adama reacting to Sharon. Eddie was talking about this scene he was shooting in Episode 205 where Adama weeps at the corpse of Sharon ("Why?"). He had just got through shooting that, we're on the set, and he said to me, "I love doing that scene, because now I know, if I ever saw that character again, I wouldn't stop at anything until she was dead." And here I was sitting with my draft of this episode, which had him showing up at this location and sort of dismissing her presence. So this scene came into being... [I said], "Yeah, you're right. He wouldn't stop at anything until killing her. I'll be right back." ... The ultimate moment which has since been cut was Eddie saying they're stronger than we are. It struck a chord of confusion that I didn't really ever see, and it was actually a network note that I thought was valid, which was that, does that mean she just gave him the heart attack? Is he referring to her in a literal sense, being stronger than him, or in a greater sense? Had it been covered a little differently, I think it would have resonated but we were so limited by the coverage that we had for good reason. (source: The Home, Part II podcast)

8/26/2005 -- Sagittarian has this prominent arrow and there was this whole mythological story which goes along with his father and why the arrow was bestowed upon him. So it seemed like, well, if the arrow is the thing, then if you put it back in Sagittarius' bow, it is the trigger that gets you to the map of Earth. (source: The Home, Part II podcast)

8/26/2005 -- Now Jeff [Woolnough] did do a fairly faithful interpretation of the end of the film Brubaker which I was watching here in my office a couple of days before we shot this. It's a direct lift, there's no shame about it. I wanted there to be a sense of a polite applause... Michael Rymer saw this yesterday and he said, "Isn't that kind of the same scene as the [end of the] miniseries?" Yeah, kind of. But what I liked about it in the movie Brubaker and what I like about it now, is it speaks to a sense of tradition or ritual. That to demonstrate respect you would clap in unison. And I don't really know why that would be and I don't know that it requires explanation, but it seems to work. In Brubaker it was Yaphet Kotto's praise for Robert Redford, now it's Eddie Olmos' praise for Mary McDonnell. (source: The Home, Part II podcast)

Commentary

"She says she sees things. Images, prophecies, whatever. The point is that she believes in them. And so do the people that are with her." This is Adama on Laura's visions. "And Zeus warned the leaders of the Twelve Tribes that any return to Kobol would exact a price in blood." Adama is quoting the same scriptural passage that Elosha referenced in the previous episode.

Sharon identifies the formation of twin rocks to the Gates of Hera from the scriptures. "That's the spot where your god supposedly stood and watched Athena throw herself down onto the rocks below out of despair over the exodus of the Thirteen Tribes." Also, "We know more about your religion than you do."

Baltar has had enough of the Number Six visions. She finally tells him, "You're not really getting secret messages from the Cylons. You're just crazy." Also, "I'm your subconscious frakking with your mind." She advises him to go down to sickbay and get himself checked out to prove there is no chip in his brain.

According to Adama, Laura thinks Billy will be President one day. "You reminded her of President Adar when he ran for his first office." He also calls Adar a moron.

Caprica Sharon has the same memories as the Shadon on Galactica. "I remember all of it. Like getting my wings. My first trip aboard the Galactica. You know, the memory of being in a uniform is so strong, is so potent, it's like, I'm Sharon Valerii and this is my family."

"Getting blood on your hands is a lot harder than washing it off." This is Zarek on the price of spilling blood. Meier convinces him to use Sharon to take out Lee, but not until they find the tomb. Later Meier explains that Lee will kill her as soon as they find the tomb. "They're not going to let your child be born. You think they're going to let you raise a potential enemy right in their midst?"

"The Cylons have a plan for Caprica. They're cleaning up the bodies, bringing in the heavy machinery to fix the infrastructure. But they haven't killed everyone. There's a resistance." Kara tries to convince Laura to send a rescue return to Caprica.

"Even back when you weren't nuts, there was always that little voice in your head. The little voice helping you through the tough times." "I don't believe that for one moment. No. God has a plan for me." Baltar is convinced that Number Six is not just a fantasy, even though he's had enough of what he calls doubletalk and mind games.

"And you ask why?" This is Sharon's response to Adama's desire for her death. But how does she know what Adama said to Galactica Sharon's corpse in "The Farm"?

Adama forgives Laura and supports her original instincts to not return to Caprica. "We made a decision to leave the Colonies after the attack. It was the right one then, it's the right one now." He credits that decision for both his survival and that of his son.

Zarek is resigned to living under the yoke of President Roslin and Commander Adama. "It's over. Let it go. For now." However, Meier still wants to go through with his plan. She tells him, "When we get to the entrance, they'll be distracted. I'll take the father, and you take the son." The assassination is thwarted when she shoots Meier at the tomb entrance before he can shoot Lee.

"I'm Sharon, but I'm a different Sharon. I know who I am. I don't have any hidden protocols or programs lying in wait to be activated. I make my own choices. I make my own decisions. And I need you to know this is my choice." Sharon is telling Adama to treat her as her own person.

"The scriptures say that when the the Thirteenth Tribe landed on Earth, they looked up into the heavens and saw their twelve brothers." This is Kara's explanation to where they are in the map room. Or as Laura puts it, "Earth is the place where you can look up in the sky and see the constellations of the Twelve Colonies."

Sharon's pregnancy is proof that Number Six is more than a simple manifestation of his subconcious and that he's not crazy. She explains, "I'm an angel of God sent here to protect you. To guide you, to love you." "To what end?" "To the end of the human race."

In late July 2005, a spoof rumor appeared at Tachyon TV that Galactica had accidentally cancelled itself. "We got to the point where we were being so gritty and realistic and not afraid of pulling any punches that we accidentally killed off the entire cast of characters... An ingenious fan suggested that we turn the whole episode into one of Baltar's dream sequences but what he doesn't realise is that Baltar spontaneously combusts in episode six. It's a tough universe."

James Neyland's The Official Battlestar Galactica Scrapbook (Grosset & Dunlap, 1978) had this to say about the connection between the Zodiac and Colonies from the original series. "The twelve human Colonies in space bore names that are easily recognizable on Earth... Caprica, Gemoni, Canceria, Piscon, Sagitara, Leo, Libra, Aquaria, Virgon, Aeriana, Taura, Scorpio -- all are similar to the names that Earth humans have given to the constellations visible in their night sky, the only twelve that the star appears to pass through during the span of a year."

The novelization for the original series episode "Lost Planet of the Gods" links the location of Earth to the tomb on Kobol, and documents taken from Kobol to the museum on Caprica. "The legend has it that [the Ninth Lord of Kobol] received communication from another exploration ship that gave precise clues to the location of Earth. He, unfortunately, was a sceptic and did not believe in the hope that Earth represented. He also did not believe his planet was dying. It was said that he arranged for the crew of that exploration ship to be killed, and that he kept the secret of Earth's location to himself. His secret would not have been discovered but for some documents he left behind, documents that were carried to Caprica and enshrined there in the Planetary Museum... It said that the last Lord of Kobol had carried the secret with him to his tomb."

"We introduce another Number Six, and a very damaged, vulnerable-but-strong Number Six... It's a definite new side to [her] that we've never seen before. It's essentially another side to the Six that's in Baltar's head. But it's not a separate clone -- it's another side of Baltar's Six." -- Tricia Helfer (Number Six) on 7/30/2005 (source: SFX Magazine)

"There is a change in Number Six that we haven't seen before that was really fun to shoot. This clone is a very vulnerable, damaged Number Six who's wearing sweat pants and a sweat shirt and no make-up. It's great fun playing that side of her, in a bizarre twisted way... Number Six is still messing with Gaius Baltar's head and getting him to follow a certain path, but over the episodes it's starting to be revealed more and more where Number Six is coming from and what the Cylons really want. Which has a lot to do with the baby." -- Tricia Helfer (Number Six) on 9/3/2005 (source: TV Zone)

"Lee stands over his father's comatose body on two occasions and each time feels a connection to his dad despite his apparently treacherous actions. His father's recovery he only experiences as a reported event while in exile and he seems doomed not to be able to put things right, as he is committed to denouncing his father's actions for the sake of democracy's cause. So when at the eventual meeting of the two men not a word is said about the past, it is so much more powerful. They now need each other on such a deep, family level that no past event can damage that. They have reached a point of acceptance of each other and each other's convictions, different as they may at times be." -- Jamie Bamber (Apollo) in December 2005 (source: Sci-Fi Magazine)

"When Sharon -- who I loved like a member of my own family -- is lying in the morgue and I ask her 'Why', then later I discover the other copy of Sharon on the surface of Kobol while I'm trying to reunite the family and the fleet, and she whispers in my ear, 'And you ask me why?', I realize the full implications of what we're dealing with and I say to Lee later, 'They're much stronger than we are.'" -- Edward James Olmos (Adama) on 1/4/2006 (source: Robert Falconer)