# Battlestar Galactica 2.13 — "Epiphanies" (there will be spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 20, 2006, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878 "2006-01-20T20:16:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2006, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878/41 "2006-01-21T22:43:55Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Sure, the cancer cure thing was stupid, but we all knew it was coming. Not I. I thought this was a classy joint and they were going to kill her off. The immediant recovery of the President. That’s poetic license. It would be better if a week passed, but they couldn’t stop the other plot aspects. They _should_ have, but it’s understandable, unlike Magic Alien Child Cure. You sure they aren’t remaking V? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2006, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878/42 "2006-01-21T23:03:58Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > I didn’t think this was a bad episode. Sure, the cancer cure thing was stupid, but we all knew it was coming. It was kind of like the producers looked at the audience, shrugged with embarrassment, and said, “Let’s just get through this dumb thing and we’ll get back to normal.” What they could have done, is take care of this cancer thing back on Kobol. We, the audience were already primed for these mysterious Lords of Kobol to possess super advanced technological miracle machines. When Roslyn, the dying leader leading them to Earth walked into the planetarium, and the planetarium showed them the way to Earth, the prophecy was fullfilled, and the magical holodeck planetarium could have taken care of her cancer at the same time. They’d still have had to flee Kobol, leaving their one-time deus ex machina behind. Now they’ve got magic baby blood to use whenever they need an instant cure for something. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2006, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878/43 "2006-01-21T23:24:37Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Now they’ve got magic baby blood to use whenever they need an instant cure for something. could be worse, they could also have Magic Fix-Everything-Transporters “run the fetus blood thru the transporter pattern buffer and allow the Heisenberg Compensators to randomly de-modulate the antihydrogen isotopes in the matter stream into an isokinetic compound, that should create a highly cancerphagic antitoxin…or kill us all, i’m not sure which…” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2006, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878/44 "2006-01-21T23:40:59Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > could be worse, they could also have Magic Fix-Everything-Transporters Okay, Pal, put Kirk and Apollo in a room with baseball bats and see who comes out alive. ^ :dubious: ^ ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878/45 "2006-01-22T00:29:41Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Okay, Pal, put Kirk and Apollo in a room with baseball bats and see who comes out alive. No, no, no. You’ve got that all wrong. Put Nurse Chappell and Starbuck in a room with 18"DHIBJD’s and … Uh, I’ll be in my bunk. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878/46 "2006-01-22T00:35:17Z")
> [@Ponder Stibbons](#): > > DHIBJD’s 😕 Dual headed - - - and I know what D stands for… ---
**Author:** ![Cleophus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Cleophus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleophus)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878/47 "2006-01-22T05:00:19Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > 😕 Dual headed - - - and I know what D stands for… (18") Double Headed Ice Blue Jelly Dong Anyway, I’ll go so far as to say this entire episode is cliche-ridden. Starting from the opening scene (and why was Kat firing at nothing? They had to get the sabotage in there, somehow), continuing to Ms. Freedom’s “You may catch me but you’ll never stop the other’s” speech, and finishing with the 10-minute wrap-up at the end, the writers were asleep with this one. It’s rather telling that even with all that, it’s still the best sci-fi on US TV. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878/48 "2006-01-22T05:49:36Z")
> [@Cleophus](#): > > (18") Double Headed Ice Blue Jelly Dong BAND NAME! 😉 > [@](#): > > why was Kat firing at nothing? They had to get the sabotage in there, somehow. i can think of 2 possibilities… 1; target practice (with no targets…) 2; Kat still has the D.T.s from coming off stims, and was firing at Pink Toaster Elephants (Band name!) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878/49 "2006-01-22T14:51:39Z")
> [@Cleophus](#): > > (18") Double Headed Ice Blue Jelly Dong Yes, that would hurt. > [@Cleophus](#): > > (and why was Kat firing at nothing? “Request permission to clear guns.” From reading too many airplane books, to be sure they worked before she had to shoot at a Cylon. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878/50 "2006-01-22T20:45:16Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > I didn’t think this was a bad episode. Sure, the cancer cure thing was stupid, but we all knew it was coming. It was kind of like the producers looked at the audience, shrugged with embarrassment, and said, “Let’s just get through this dumb thing and we’ll get back to normal.” This is how I read it also. They spent the minimum amount of storytelling time on explaining what they were doing with the blood and why they thought it would work, but they put the bulk of the narrative in other areas: Adama’s hard-nosed pursuit of the “peace terrorists,” Roslin’s Lost-style flashback, Gina’s new role in the fleet, the abortion debate, and so on. They tried to background the details of the cancer in favor of character-oriented material, which is no doubt a lesson Ron Moore took from Trek, wherein Dax and Bashir might spend pages arguing about cellular matrices and theta-band radiation. As far as I’m concerned, Roslin’s shocking realizations about Baltar more than make up for the dopiness of the cancer plot. (That being said, I will be sorely disappointed if, Trek-style, they completely drop the curative-properties-of-the-baby’s-blood angle. Humans being the self-absorbed shitheads they, I mean we, are, they should quickly realize they’ve got a medical breakthrough on their hands, and they’ll start thinking about how they can manufacture a whole cargo ship full of human-Cylon hybrids whose veins they can tap for cures to cancer, hypertension, bird flu, VD, male pattern baldness, and whatever else might be ailing them.) _Galactica_, by design, is not a show that dwells on or is distracted by its maguffins. It’s annoying when they’re as prominent as they were in this show, but like **Smeghead** said, I think they just gritted their teeth and plowed through because they knew it had to be done, and they made a point of throwing in a bunch of other important stuff as well. And as **MacTech** said, even a subpar episode of this show is still superior to virtually everything else on the tube. It’s sort of a double-edged sword when a show is consistently great and occasionally magnificent, in that the infrequent dips to merely being good seem worse by comparison. Maybe we’re just spoiled. 🙂 The next couple of weeks will tell the tale. In any case, I’m not ready to start nitpicking the maguffins yet. (Re Cat’s firing at nothing: I thought she had to clear her ordnance before coming back to _Galactica_, that it was a routine safety procedure, sort of like modern jet fighters dumping most of their fuel before certain types of landings to reduce the risk of turning themselves into a huge fireball in the event of mishap. I haven’t listened to the podcast yet, so I don’t know if this is discussed. I’ll probably get to that tonight.) ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878/51 "2006-01-22T21:30:05Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Anyway, I didn’t see the Cylon comercial either. What are you talking about, **minty**? Guess you just had to be there . . . About midway through the show, they cut to a commercial break, and the first commercial out of the box was a shot of a developing fetus with a voiceover about the uniqueness of each individual life, how special it is, etc. Then the fetus’ spine glows red and they show the BSG logo. Pretty funny, and a dead-on send-up of a sentimental anti-abortion commercial. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878/52 "2006-01-23T01:10:42Z")
Well, I see my “GinaSix killed HeadSix” theory lasted less than a week… Anyways, while not a great episode I still love the series, and it’ll take more Deus ex Machina moments than these to wreck it all. Anyways, will Roslin move against Baltar, or will she watch him? If does move, will he play his “I know where the nuke is” card? It had also occurred to me that Roslin would no longer be ‘the dying leader’. So, the question becomes, did the prophecy say that “a dying leader would take them to earth” or “a dying leader will show them the way to earth”? Becomes kind of important now that she isn’t dying anymore. Anyways, with Roslin…maybe it was just something that makes her better…for a while? What if she needs frequent doses? What if it gives the Cylons a door to her head? **John** - I don’t think Roslin actually REMEMBERED about Baltar and Six until she re-lived it in her flashbacks. Now that she knows about it…who knows what she’ll do? She’s not the type to just sic Adama on him. Not right away, anyways. As for the crazy hippy-types, it was stated directly in the episode. The Galactica has been fighting a running battle with the Cylons from Day One. What’s next? What is the plan? Keep going, living in cramped and unpleasant space ships until the Cylons get lucky? **levdrakon** - you’re operating with a lot of ideas that are NOT common knowledge. The Nuke - I think that as far as Adama and the like are concerned, it’s GONE. It’s not like Baltar said “gimme a nuke for my very own self and I’ll give you a Cylon Detector.” From the conversation way back then I’d figured that Baltar needed pieces of the nuke. Presumably the plutonium. So, no need for a guard. Speaking of which, I totally figured that the nuke was going to go off when Gina opened it. Roslin seems to have forgotten that you can’t be totally canded with some people - especially when it’s a narcissist that you need something from. Cat was ‘clearing the guns’, as stated in the episode. The do the exact thing in _Memphis Belle_, actually. Just because we haven’t seen it done before doesn’t mean that they haven’t been doing it all along. Ah well, I liked it overall. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878/53 "2006-01-23T01:23:07Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > And… it’s just not believable that Helo wouldn’t understand the danger that fetus might pose. Well, actually, _I_ don’t really understand the danger the fetus might pose. OK, it’s got “abnormal blood”. It’s a human-alien/android/whatever-the-hell-the-meatbag-Cylons-are hybrid. Of _course_ it’s got abnormal blood. What makes it a _threat_? Has it got liquid plutonium in there or something? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878/54 "2006-01-23T01:32:43Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > What makes it a _threat_? The simple fact that it’s an unknown makes it a possible danger, as irrational as that might be. It’s the old “I can’t prove it’s dangerous, but you can’t prove it’s _not_ dangerous, so let’s proceed as if it is just to be safe” thing. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878/55 "2006-01-23T01:50:44Z")
> [@stochastic](#): > > … to transfuse the blood directly from **Pop-tart** into Roslin, It’s official: the baby is now Pop-tart. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878/56 "2006-01-23T02:02:00Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > The simple fact that it’s an unknown makes it a possible danger, as irrational as that might be. It’s the old “I can’t prove it’s dangerous, but you can’t prove it’s _not_ dangerous, so let’s proceed as if it is just to be safe” thing. They seem to be safe enough with Boomer in the brig. They can’t put the baby in the brig because…? If they’re going to say “the only good Cylon is a dead Cylon”, fine. But killing the baby is just pointless. Unless they think Boomer is going to pop out a Cylon Locator Beacon or an H-Bomb that baby is no more dangerous than Boomer. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878/57 "2006-01-23T02:17:15Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > **levdrakon** - you’re operating with a lot of ideas that are NOT common knowledge. I’m not sure what you mean, but if you think I know spoilers, I swear to you I don’t. It seems like most of my guesses are wrong anyway, like my theory about Chip Six being gone. I haven’t looked at the Sci-fi website, or any other BSG related websites all season. Seriously, _I don’t know anything that hasn’t been shown on TV!_ ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878/58 "2006-01-23T02:22:37Z")
Hi guys, It’s ironic, some of you all are saying this show is going downhill. I just started whatching two shows ago and now I’m hooked. I’m only pissed because I 'm not sure I understand half of what’s going on. I guess that’s what I get for not whatching the series from the beginig. Can some one please tell me though. That invisible lady the doctor guy/vice pres sees, real? or is he just “whacked in the mellon.” ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878/59 "2006-01-23T02:37:26Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > It’s official: the baby is now Pop-tart. 😛 I’ve always wanted to call it Baby Boomer. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878/60 "2006-01-23T03:04:41Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > That invisible lady the doctor guy/vice pres sees, real? or is he just “whacked in the mellon.” Baltar worked on, I believe, the Caprica defenses or maybe software for all the colonies. He let the Woman Known to Dopers as Six in on some technical stuff. Unbeknownst to him, but beknownst to us, she was a Cylon. In the scene shown during the credit start of each episode, she is standing behind him when the city is nuked and the building they are in is whacked. Now it is beknownst to Baltar that she is a Cylon, but unbeknownst to us where she exists as an implant in his head, or a metaphorical harpy of his own imagination. Did she die in the explosion shielding him and transfer her conciousness into his implant? Hence the incorrect theory held by your correspondent, that PegasusSix could have replaced her in his head chip. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-2-13-epiphanies-there-will-be-spoilers/340878.md?page=4)