He That Believeth in Me

Battlestar Galactica is finally back for the show's fourth and final season. In other words, do not call me between 10:00 PM and 11:05 PM for at least the next ten Friday nights (I need that extra five minutes after 11:00 for recovery). Lucky for me, Allison and some of my friends are big fans, so this won't really interfere with my social calendar too much.

Going into this season premiere, there were a few questions on my mind. Not that I expected them to be answered in the first episode, but they're there and I'll probably come back to them as the season progresses:

1. Who is the final Cylon?
2. What happened to Kara after "Maelstrom" and how did she survive?
3. How will Anders, Tigh, Tyrol, and Tory react now that they know what they are and what will be the repercussions of this?

I don't expect the first one to be answered anytime soon. If rumors are correct and SciFi plans to split the final season in half, it may be revealed as the mid-season cliffhanger, but not earlier than that. I'm still hoping for it to be Admiral Cain, but that's wishful thinking. I'm still fairly sure that it isn't Starbuck.

As far as Starbuck is concerned, we don't get all the answers, but what we get is fairly compelling. Kara has been presumed dead for two months, but she says that it's been only six hours. Her Viper is brand new and as Tyrol puts it, "right off the showroom floor". This is the most distressing point about her return. There is no logical explanation for this that she can provide which casts a great deal of doubt about her story. Her gun cams took pictures of Earth and its moon, so she has some evidence of what she saw; not that anyone believes it. And finally, every time the fleet jumps in the opposite direction from Earth, Kara fells it and it seems to cause her some deal of pain.

Which brings us to the Revealed Four. This bunch is still pretty much where they were left at the end of the season finale, except for one startling revelation. When Anders flies out in a Viper with the squadron and comes literally face to face (or should I say eye to eye) with a Cylon Raider, the entire attacking armada turns tail and runs. The most immediate repercussion of this is that the regular Cylons may now know that a member or members of the Final Five are with the Colonial Fleet. This may spare the fleet from some devastating attacks like the one at the beginning of this episode (over 600 souls were lost).

Faith is a big issue this episode and the title reflects this. There's Kara's need for her friends and superiors to trust her so that she can guide them to Earth, as well as Baltar's new messianic status. This has the potential of blowing up into a new power struggle within the fleet if he commits to the role and amasses a large following. I'm glad that the decision was made to cut his hair and beard. The Jesus imagery was bit too obvious. Baltar's prayer to the monotheistic god has a very "garden of Gethsemane" feel to it. James Callis continues to play Gaius with an equal amount of humor and tragedy.

Best Scene of the Episode: Tigh's brief daydream during the Cylon attack in which he pulls out a gun and shoots Adm. Adama in the face. It's played in a slo-mo and lingers just long enough to make the viewer wonder, for a micro-second, that this may have really happened. As always, Paul Hogan sells Tigh as a compelling character full of doubt and despair.

Big Question Asked: Does it really matter if someone you love or loved turned out to be a Cylon? Lee asks Daddy Adama this; more specifically if it was Lee's brother Zak that suddenly returned. Sadly, when Anders tells Kara that if she was a Cylon that he'd still love her, her response is the opposite. She says if she found out that he was one she'd put a bullet between his eyes.

The Cliffhanger: Starbuck is tired of the constant headaches from the fleet going the wrong way, so she decides to confront the one person who has the authority to reverse this: Laura Roslin. Oh, and she has a gun pointed at the Prez's head, too.

Overall, this was a solid BSG outing but not overly remarkable. That being said, decent BSG equals an awesome hour of television. Hopefully, we'll get to see what's going on in Cylon Town soon. I can't wait to see their reaction to Final Five being "activated".

7 out of 10