Battlestar Galactica: The Reckoning

This episode is why I love this series: great action, great story, and great acting.  It’s unfortunate, though, that the writers haven’t been able to give us great episodes like this since probably the revelation of the Final Four Cylons.  But all is forgiven this week as we get the exciting conclusion of the mutiny and coup aboard Galactica and Colonial One.

Before the last episode break, marines threw a flash grenade into the chamber with Adama and Tigh, who were ensuring Roslin and Baltar’s raptor got safely away to the Cylon Basestar.  Neither Adama nor Tigh are seriously injured but Tigh is taken down to the brig while Adama is brought to the CIC.  Meanwhile, Roslin and Baltar get aboard the Basestar and convince Tory and the other Cylons not to attack or jump away–instead she tells them to move into the fleet to use the fleet as a type of human shield.

Back on Galactica, Adama refuses Gaeta’s order to call for Roslin to resign.  So instead he’s going to be court-martialed.  They bring in everyone’s favorite lawyer, Romo Lampkin, to serve as his defense counsel, but when he learns that Zarek will be sitting as the judge, he refuses to participate in the sham proceeding.  Zarek gets Romo to change his mind by threatening him with death.

Zarek is equally persuasive with the Quorum and orders they be executed after they refuse to support Zarek’s coup and Gaeta as the new commander.  After Gaeta sees the dead Quorum members, he begins to have doubts about what has gone on.  Of course these doubts aren’t enough for him to call his plan off.

Tyrol, who’s been crawling through the ventilation system of Galactica, runs into Captain Kelly.  Kelly decides not to arrest Tyrol and lets him continue on his way.  In the corridors, the fighting continues but Kara and Lee manage to break everyone out of the brig.  On their way to safety, Anders gets shot by a marine.  It looks very serious.  Kara tries to carry him to the medical bay but struggles along the way.

Back at Adama’s kangaroo court-martial, Adama is petulant and dismissive of the entire process–in short, he’s Adama at his finest.  Zarek pushes him over the edge, though, by falsely saying Tigh had been killed in an escape attempt.  Adama refuses to continue with the proceeding and suddenly Roslin manages to break through the jammed radio frequency to broadcast a message to the fleet.  As Romo is escorted back to his room, he stabs his guard in the neck just as they run into Kara and a very bloody Anders.  Romo reluctantly agrees to help her and they head to medical.

With Adama’s “trial” over, Gaeta has Lieutenant Narcho assemble a firing squad to dispense with Adama.  As the marines escort Adama to his execution, one escort, Kelly, has a change of heart and breaks free from the group.  Unable to kill himself, he is captured by Lee and decides to return his allegiance to Adama.  Kelly leads Lee, Tigh, and Athena to the hanger bay where they free Adama and capture the would-be executioners and Narcho.  Yippie!

Zarek communicates to Roslin that Adama is dead and that she should surrender.  In a passionate speech–”Not now.  Not ever!”–Roslin vows she will retake control of Galactica or will die trying (and kill as many of the rebels as she can along the way).  She orders the Basestar to prepare to attack Galactica.  Instead, Galactica and about 25 other ships prepare to jump.

As the countdown begins, we see Adama and a growing band of supporters marching toward the CIC.  Tyrol’s journey through Galactica gets him to the FTL drive, which he disables just in time before Galactica can jump.  Immobilized for the moment, Zarek tells Gaeta to launch the vipers against the Basestar.  Gaeta, however, realizes his mutiny is quickly fading and he stands down, recognizing the inevitability of his defeat.  Just then Adama bursts into the CIC, resumes command, and orders Roslin to stand down.  The conflict ends in that instant and Zarek and Gaeta (and hopefully the other conspirators) are taken into custody.

Roslin returns to Galactica and Colonial One and she and Adama start to clean up the mess of the past few hours; yes, thanks to the handy reference times on the screen, we know this all happened in a single day.

Our failed coup ends with an emotional cigarette and drink between Gaeta and Baltar; they forgive each other for their past transgressions, which perhaps gives some consolation to Gaeta’s itchy amputated leg before he and Zarek are executed in the same hanger bay where some time earlier he ordered Adama be put to death.

I’d say I was looking forward to next week’s episode but the promos already told me Ellen is back . . . so much for that surprise.

Season 4, Episode 14: Blood on the Scales (originally aired February 6, 2009)

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