Maybe just maroon them on Ceti Alpha Five while the loyalist fleet sails on.
It was so nice to see bad-ass Kara back. “I could do this all day!” Hee.
I was sorry to see Racetrack among the mutineers. How are they going to find anything without Racetrack in a Raptor.
Beside not giving up his ship, I thought Admiral Adama stayed behind to make sure the President’s Raptor got away. He couldn’t know for sure that it would be able to leave before the mutineers busted through the door, so he stayed to slow them down.
A prediction/though for next week:[spoiler]Since the previews stated that Tigh was dead, I am going to assume that he’s not. I predict that he somehow gets away (maybe with Lee and Kara’s help), but the “good guys” make Zarek and the mutineers think he’s dead.
I won’t count on it though. This exactly the kind of mind-frak Ron Moore would do - tell us in the previews that Saul’s dead so we all say, “He can’t really be dead, because the previews said he was, and the previews always misdirect us.” And then Moore says, “Psych!”[/spoiler]
I clearly remember a shot of Kara & Lee going down a ladder out of the secondary storage airlock. They’re not on the raptor, so Adama & Tigh’s last stand makes no sense. As soon as the raptor disengaged from the airlock, there’s nothing the Marines could do to it, so it would have made much more sense for them to escape the same way Lee & Kara did. Yeah, Adama can’t abandon his ship, but he can (and I think his duty and oath requires him to) work to regain control from the mutineers.
Too late to edit: I just watched the scene again, and Kara and Lee’s escape route (they climbed up a ladder behind a grate) is in the hallway outside the storage airlock. So I retract what I said in the previous post - the last stand does make sense. The Marines were on the way, and the shuttle hadn’t left when Adama & Tigh closed the large airlock doors, so they were defending the shuttle. Once the shuttle had left, they didn’t have access to Kara & Lee’s escape route, without opening the airlock doors.
When did Starbuck get the tattoos on her left arm? Did she do that herself?
I thought Adama was simply refusing to be driven off his own ship, not that he was defending the shuttle. Tigh wouldn’t leave his old friend.
Shit.
From the Battlestar Wiki:
Adama and Tigh being escorted from CIC by two Marines brought to mind the pilot of Andromeda, where the exec kills the detail escorting him to the brig (then walks away muttering “I should have trained them better”). To me, it telegraphed just how that was going to play out.
And maybe I missed something, but there seemed to be no motivation for the President’s transformation from apathy to action. Seemed like a bit of a Roslin ex machina to me.
She got properly laid. Snapped her right out of that funk. It finally dawned on Adama what his duty was.
I would be very surprised if anything death-related happened to either Adama or Roslin before the end of the series. EJO and MMD basically anchor the cast, they’re the 2 best actors among the really “crucial” characters that drive the action forward (I’d say Baltar, Kara Thrace and Six are the other 2). Also, for better or for worse, they’re Mommy and Daddy to what’s left of humanity/the friendly cylons. Michael Hogan has also come into his own as an actor and he’s part of the Final Five mystery so that’s the biggest reason to keep him around, I’d think.
If any of the major players get offed, it’s going to be in the finale, after they drive the series to its conclusion. I can’t believe Ron Moore would give up the power of their performances anytime before that. Not to mention the chemistry between EJO and MMD. It’s like watching your parents in love-gross but comforting.
She and Adama are both mission-oriented. Given a specific goal, even one that seems impossible, they’ll drive themselves relentlessly to accomplish it. Then the huge letdown at finding Earth* a radioactive ruin left them adrift, and Roslyn apathetic.
But now there’s a mutiny and a coupe, directly challenging both of them, attacking what they most believe in. Game on.
You, too? I knew exactly how that was going to go down. Didn’t make it any less fun, though.
They went back up the shaft that they came through. expect more badass from them next week
Frak yeah.
Mother frak yeah.
Best episode since the first season. Including “Downloaded.” Including “Pegasus.” Including “Guess What’s Coming to Dinner” earlier this year. I’m only now beginning to unclench my jaw. And I don’t know how I’ll be able to wait a week.
One small thing that seriously impressed me: The mutineers’ plan made sense. It is not a trivial task to commandeer a capital ship; in too many shows like this, the details are glossed over, or an unlikely situation is contrived to make it possible (think TNG’s episode “Starship Mine,” where the Enterprise is drydocked and completely evacuated for maintenance, allowing the small pirate team to board unnoticed, except by Picard who goes back for his, er, saddle). Here, no such narrative shortcuts were taken. The staged distraction, the critical role of Gaeta in CIC, the frantic raids on weapons stores, the corridor-by-corridor battle, the securing of critical points like the hangar bay… The mutiny was actually plausible. At no time did I feel like the show was blowing smoke, asking us to overlook some contrivance or other in order to have the mutiny succeed. Gaeta and company didn’t win overwhelmingly; they just barely managed to pull it off, and not without internal disagreements (the uncertainty about Gaeta’s order to shoot down the raptor) or unexpected setbacks (e.g. Roslin’s broadcast). This was quality storytelling, and this is what made the tension work, and why we all find ourselves quivering with excitement: because the show played fair, and we bought the situation. Major kudos here.
Also worthy of praise: That scene between Roslin and Baltar was delicious. “Maybe we’re both frauds.” Awesome.
Very bad things ahead: The specter of Pegasus and of rape as a tool of war raises itself again. Jesus frakking Christ, what a horrific moment. I don’t hope that guy gets airlocked. I hope he gets wedged against a slightly ajar airlock and finds himself pulled into space slowly.
Oh, and one more thing: Since the question was asked, I agree that previews are off limits for discussion. In previous seasons, I might have dissented, but now, with questions mounting and uncertainty about characters’ fates increasing, as this narrative avalanche accumulates momentum toward the (fingers crossed) epic finale, the previews will, necessarily, begin giving away major plot points, which many people will reasonably want to avoid.
So, proposed new spoiler rule:
If you want to discuss a plot point from an upcoming episode, something you know is going to happen because it’s been revealed in interviews or some other canon source, including the preview for the following week, put it in a spoiler box, and label the box so we can decide for ourselves whether or not it’s something we want to know (example here). If you’re simply speculating about what might happen in an upcoming episode, or if you’re discussing something that has already aired in the episode (not including the preview), there’s no need for a spoiler box.
Discussion of what’s in the preview can either be spoiler-boxed (clearly labeled as such) or can be handled in a separate thread. Personally, I favor the second option. In fact, here’s an idea: Oakminster has already started a separate thread to discuss the events in the preview for next week. I think it might be overkill to have two threads every week, one for the episode, one for the preview; what if that one thread becomes the running discussion point, week after week? A request can be made to retitle it (“all discussion of BSG previews, for those who don’t watch the ‘coming next week’ segment,” or something), and it just grows week after week until the finale.
How does the spoiler policy sound? Any objections? And what do you think about a dedicated “preview discussion” thread?
Final postscript: Yet again … god damn, what a fucking great show this is.
Lee and Starbuck certainly seem to see it that way - did you notice how uncomfortable they looked at the end of the ep, when the Admiral and Roslin kissed in front of the shuttle? 
In fact, it’s far from clear that they’ve pulled it off yet - one thing we see in the episode, and that Ron Moore emphasized on the podcast, is that Galactica is a big, underpopulated ship with a lot of isolated pockets of resistance left. For that matter, there are probably plenty of isolated pockets of people on both sides who have no idea whether the mutineers have seized CIC or not.
Another cool thing - I really bought Zarek as an effective guerilla/revolutionary fighter. The pained look on his face when Gaeta told him that Adama hadn’t been shot yet - I think Zarek understands far better than Gaeta exactly how dangerous Adama is, both as a man and a rallying point for the loyalists. Frankly, shooting Adama and Tigh right on the CIC, or just outside, would have been the correct move. Gaeta’s an amateur, Zarek is not - and it’ll be fun to see how that plays out.
I wasn’t sure if it was the Raptor Gaeta ordered shot down, or the Basestar. Or both. It’ll suck if they lose the Basestar, though. I was hoping it would be involved in some more space battles. It kinda seems they’re saving some of their special effects budget, hopefully for that.
It was the Raptor, definitely. I doubt Galactica could take out the Basestar right now. Not in the middle of a mutiny/ coup.
The total number of humans left is going to take a big hit after this. Going to be lots of bodies.
And let me join the chorus saying that badass Kara is really badass. She knows how to deal with mutineers.
Well, Gaeta said “arm all weapons, engage the target and destroy.” The “arm all weapons” part made me think they are about to unload on the Basestar, rather than just one Raptor. Being so close to the Basestar and hitting it with everything could probably do quite a bit of damage.
Too good for him.
I know all the shows are in the can, so there’s no way that Mr. Moore et al can listen to our wishes and incorporate them in the show. I also know that they love teasing us, playing with our expectations, and generally throwing us for loops.
But they must, must allow Helo to beat the ever-loving crap out of the guy from Pegasus who threatened Athena. Helo’s a big dude, and even though he’s usually pretty even-tempered you don’t, I repeat don’t, frak with his family. I want to see Helo go completely bonkers on that guy. It’ll be cathartic for Helo, and it’ll sure as hell be cathartic for me.
Man, what a good episode that was. I think I’ll be watching it a couple more times this week. It’s the only thing that’ll keep me going until Friday.