Battlestar Galactica 4.19 - "Someone to Watch Over Me" (spoilers)

Spoiler policy: 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.

This week’s episode title: “Someone to Watch Over Me.” Written by David Weddle & Bradley Thompson; directed by Michael Nankin. On this basis alone, the episode should be a good one: Weddle & Thompson are among the show’s strongest scripters (“Act of Contrition,” “The Hand of God,” “Scar,” “Downloaded,” “Exodus 1 & 2,” “Revelations,” and many more), and several cast members have said that Nankin is their favorite director.

Regarding episode numbering, see comment here. Note also that on the scifi/battlestar site, this is officially episode 419, despite what’s found on other sites.

Sci-Fi’s preview for the episode. Also, from Canada’s Space network, a not-so-different preview. Spoilers in both.

Links to previous threads:

4.13 - “Sometimes a Great Notion” (in which the discovery of the ruined Earth has serious repercussions for the fleet, and various people melt down and give up: Roslin burns her scriptures, Adama begs Tigh to kill him, and Dee shoots herself, among others; the Penultimate Four experience flashbacks while on Earth, and realize that they lived there two millennia ago; Starbuck finds her own corpse in the wreckage of her viper, and Leoben wigs out; and Ellen Tigh is revealed as the Final Cylon)

4.14 - “A Disquiet Follows My Soul” (in which Adama presses the fleet to tolerate the Cylons and adopt their technology, causing resentment to grow in the fleet, including among Colonial officers, chiefly Gaeta, who begins plotting resistance efforts with Zarek, while Baltar stokes negativity of his own; Tyrol discovers he’s not the father of his child; and Roslin finally joins Adama in his bunk)

4.15 - “The Oath” (in which mutiny explodes, led by Zarek and Gaeta; all known Cylons on Galactica, except Tyrol, are confined in the brig; and Tyrol helps Roslin and Baltar flee the battlestar, with the assistance of Adama and Tigh, who have escaped their own captors, and who choose to stay behind to defend their ship)

4.16 - “Blood on the Scales” (in which the mutineers target Adama for execution; Roslin and Baltar escape to the basestar; Zarek has the Quorum liquidated; Adama, aided by Starbuck, Apollo, and Tyrol, retakes his ship, though Anders is badly injured; and Zarek and Gaeta eat a firing squad’s bullets for their crimes)

4.17 - “No Exit” (in which Cavil secretly resurrects final-Cylon Ellen Tigh, and Anders unexpectedly begins recovering final-five memories due to his brain injury, both of which storylines result in a metric frakload of backstory being shoveled into the audience’s lap; in other developments: Roslin recruits Lee to help her hold together the remaining tatters of government; Boomer spirits Ellen off Cavil’s basestar; and Tyrol convinces Adm. Adama to allow a Cylon-tech fix to Galactica’s overstressed frame)

4.18 - “Deadlock” (in which final cylon Ellen Tigh returns to the fleet, and has a jealous freakout over Saul-and-Caprica’s pending pop tart, which drives her to cast the tiebreaking cylon vote in favor of a cylon withdrawal; Adama is losing control of his own ship due to an implied shortage of Marines; Baltar pushes his cult to stand up to local thugs, who are operating with impunity because of the aforementioned shortage, and who laugh at the cult’s effort to resist; Adama stares at his ship’s skeleton a lot, before deciding to arm Baltar’s cult; Caprica Six suffers a miscarriage; and Anders might be waking up)

And thus do we barrel toward our finale.

I’ve been meaning to ask, how does it come to pass that the final five just happen to meet up on Galactica? That strikes me as somewhat toaster ex machina. :slight_smile:

Tory nor Anders were not part of Galactica until after Galactica was the last remaining battlestar - when you’ve only got 30-40 ships left, and they all hang around Galactica - its not a stretch for them to “end up there” one way or another.

Tigh was, Ellen made it there due to Tigh. Tyrol was also part of the crew.

What’s a stretch is that those particular implimentations managed to survive the attacks, etc, well enough to make it there.

I can suppose much like the time Anders almost got shot by a Raider, that also explains his survival on Caprica - but clearly they want us to believe the second incident had meaning that the earlier ones didn’t.

Cavil no doubt knew where Tigh was, and could’ve easily arranged for Tyrol to end up the same place. It is certainly likely that Cavil got Ellen into the fleet, given the circumstances of her original appearance there. And Cavil came back to the fleet with Anders when Starbuck rescued them, so it seems likely he’d been keeping track of Anders on Caprica, as well.

Where Tory came from is a bit of a mystery, though, since we don’t really know anything of her backstory on the Colonies.

edit: ninja Simster snuck in, but Ellen didn’t make it into the fleet because of Tigh. They had separated before the miniseries, she was waiting for him to return (from Aerilon? to Aerilon?) to see if they could reconcile… then she mysteriously showed up in the fleet, having no memory of how she got there.

That was the point of the callback to her arrival, last episode, from when Adama had originally retrieved her after being discovered in the fleet, and brought her back to Galactica in a raptor. And then everyone thought she was a Cylon plant (both, in the show, and all over the frackin’ internets).

My prediction for tonite’s episode (spoilers ahead):

[spoiler]We get to learn what the frack is up with Kara. The “actor who can play piano” they were looking to hire will probably be her father.

That won’t turn out to be Daniel.

It will probably turn out to be another of the “head beings” who are in the place “between life and death” – same as the Head Leoben who invited her to explore “between life and death” way back in “Maelstrom”.

I don’t think her reincarnation was at all Cylon-related, but entirely arranged by the “head beings”.[/spoiler]
I’m interested to see if I’m right, though.

You’re right that she didn’t make it to the fleet because of Tigh - but she was specifically allowed/welcomed on board Galactica due to her relationship with him.

Tonite should be good… I’ll bet your right.

What does it mean, Head Beings? The unknown guy behind the green curtain?

This is all discussion-terminology stuff, so I’m not spoilering it for this part:

“Head Beings”, or as the Battlestar wiki calls them “Virtual Beings”, are terms to refer to the characters who include: the Six who appears to Baltar, the Baltar who appeared to Caprica, the Baltar who appeared to Baltar, the Leoben who appeared to Kara (in “Maelstrom”), the Elosha who appeared to Laura (while the basestar was jumping), presumably the messengers who appeared to the Final Five on Earth, and possibly the beings who appeared in D’Anna’s visions.

D’Anna talked about there being something “between life and death” and the Leoben vision that talked to Kara in “Maelstrom” invited her to explore “between life and death”. So whatever they are, that apparently has something to do with it.

Fan theories abound, varying from reimaged Ship of Lights people (like “John” from the original series), to Lords of Kobol or posthumans, to angels.

Unfortunately, since the show has never named them, no one knows what to call the damn things when talking about them. “Head Six” seems to be the most common descriptor, hence “Head Beings”.

I like the idea that they might be ‘beings’ with thier own agenda(s) - instead of just hallucinations, which is how I always took them - They can obviously take on whatever look ‘works’ with the persons current mental state or needs.

I thought in one of the early interviews, Head Six was specifically called a hallucination (aka ‘not real’)…

Maybe I’m overly optimistic, but it seems to me this show has a tendancy to follow up a weak episode with at least a good one. Last week was pretty bad. Maybe not “Black Market” or “The Woman King” (think that was the title…the one with Helo trying to deal with refugees) level bad, but close. This week ought to be better. Maybe some action…some non-senior citizen frakkin…and other good stuff.

Bonus points if they let Caprica 6 rip Ellen’s head off or something.

Question: Does Tyrol know who killed Callie? Would he particularly care?

Regarding that,

Last week when Starbuck asks the bartender “where’d you get a piano” he looked at her kind of funny. At first I figured it’s just because she’s not well liked these days, but I wonder if there is even a piano there.

Speculation based on previous spoiler:

[spoiler] Wouldn’t it be cool if the piano playing actor happened to be Billy Joel?

Just me? Oh. Nevermind then.
[/spoiler]

Sing us a song… wouldn’t bother me any.

Unless Anders’ reference to “angels” meant them, not the “Beings of Light” or heavenly emissaries from the Lords of Kobol or the One True Cylon God.

Nobody else does.

He’d understand it had to be done to keep him alive, not just the other 3. He might be miffed over not being consulted first, though. But a good frak from his old GF might get him over that, too.
carnivorousplant, that wasn’t deus ex toaster, that was part of The Plan. Whose plan exactly, we’ll soon know.

If the PC guy could show up as a brain surgeon, anything’s possible.

I thought Callie was presumed to be a slightly eye-raising suicide, but I don’t think anyone knows. Tyrol does know Tory was present, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he has mild back of the brain suspicions.

Would he care? I think so. At least there go Tory’s chances for nookie from him.

If the final 5 could resurrect, could they not have made copies of themselves too? Maybe the ones they sent to the 12 colonies were just copies. Maybe their goal is to get cylons and humans to coexist, so they are orchestrating this entire thing. Starbuck resurrecting could have been their doing, maybe she’s the daughter of Daniel, or the final 5 can also resurrect humans. This would be in agreement with the theory that on Kobol there was a war between humans (who later became humanoid cylons) who could resurrect and those who could not.

Darn it, I worked so hard on that phrase, too.

That, or someone from the original “our” pre-Kobol earth is around, orchestrating things.

When the 13th Tribe (re)settled earth, did they ever say what state they found it in when they got there?

As far as I know, there’s never been much detail about how…or even when (our time) the 13th Tribe settled Earth. Anders was apparently in a cover band, or at least played “All Along the Watchtower” on a guitar, but for all we know, the Cylons may have done the “Kill all Humans” thing when they got there…or they could have been the original inhabitants.

I’m inclined to agree with those speculating that there is some as yet unseen entity involved. Dunno if/how that entity is related to the Head People. Head 6 seems to be evil…or at least Chaotic Neutral (for AD&D fans). I don’t remember Head Baltar being especially evil. Wonder if there are different factions of Head People…

Starting now.