 |
Battlestar Galactica
"Faith"
TV episode
Written by Seamus Kevin Fahey
Directed by Michael Nankin
Original air date: May 9, 2008
|
Roslin and Starbuck face difficult
leaps of faith in parallel situations.
Read the summary of the episode at the Battlestar Wiki
Notes from the BSG
chronology
As the episode opens, it is still Day 58 of the Demetrius' mission,
as it was during
the previous episode "The Road Less Traveled".
Didja Know?
The opening titles show the fleet at a population of 39,675,
down
one from the previous episode
"The Road Less Traveled"
due to the death of Sgt. Mathius in that episode.
The character of Emily Kowalski in this episode is played by
Nana Visitor, best known as Major Kira Nerys in Star Trek:
Deep Space Nine.
Characters appearing or mentioned in this episode
Starbuck
Helo
Lt. Gaeta
Sam Anders
Hardball
Athena
Leoben
Admiral Adama
Jean Barolay (dies in this episode)
Hot Dog
President Roslin
Tory Foster
Dr. Cottle
Number Eight
Number Six
the hybrid
Natalie
Emily Kowalski (dies in this episode)
Nurse Sashon
Baltar (voice on wireless only)
Leslie Starus (mentioned only)
Kathy (Emily's sister, mentioned only, deceased)
Emily's parents, husband, daughters (mentioned
only, deceased)
Roslin's mother (unnamed, in vision only)
Didja Notice?
|
The painting Starbuck made on the wall of her Demetrius
quarters in "The Ties
That Bind" turns out to be from a vision of the
future she had of the damaged rebel baseship they track
down in this episode. |
 |
 |
| Damaged rebel
baseship |
Starbuck's
Demetrius painting |
Apparently, the damaged rebel baseship is unable to initiate an
FTL jump without mating to the jump drive of Starbuck's raptor. But
couldn't the Cylons have done the same thing far more easily by
mating it to a Raider's jump drive?
|
In the Galactica sickbay to receive
her latest doloxan treatment, President Roslin approaches the
sick bed of Emily Kowalski, who is a terminal cancer patient. As
she does so, the voice of Baltar is playing over a wireless
unit, one of his treatises on God. He can be heard to remark,
"...shuffle off this mortal coil, the undiscovered country."
Baltar seems to be referring to a soliloquy in William
Shakespeare's 1602 play Hamlet! I suppose, like most
things in the BSG universe, Hamlet has happened before
and will happen again!
In the Hamlet soliloquy, the phrase "the
undiscovered country" refers to whatever lies beyond death:
|
| |
|
| |
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of. |
A Number Six on the rebel baseship recognizes Barolay as the
human resistance member who drowned her in a septic tank on New
Caprica more than a year ago. This past incident was not depicted in
any episode. It seems somewhat odd that the Cylon occupiers did
not track down Barolay on New Caprica shortly after this Six's
resurrection, based on her physical description.
Emily tells Roslin of a woman named Leslie Starus who makes
beautiful scarves on the Aurora. This is the first and
only mention of both Ms. Starus and the Aurora.
Possibly, the ship is named for the Kobolian goddess of dawn
Aurora, previously mentioned in "Maelstrom".
At 24:17 on the Blu-ray, we are introduced to a seemingly newer
version of Cylon Centurion. It has more angular details on the
head and body, five fingers (instead of four talons), and a
strange spinning sphere in its chest. This model is seen for the
rest of the season, along with the previous model. Through the
rest of the season, it seems to generally be the case that the
new models are with the rebel Cylon group and the older model
with Cavil's group in the Cylon civil war.
At 30:06, the hybrid refers to Starbuck directly as Kara Thrace
and tells her she is the harbinger of death. This is similar to
what is said of her by another hybrid in
"Razor" Part 2, "She is the
herald of the apocalypse, the precursor of the death."
Roslin reveals that her mother was a teacher who devoutly
believed in the gods. Roslin herself was also a teacher before
becoming Secretary of Education of the Twelve Colonies before
the holocaust and then president of the colonies afterwards.
When Athena pulls back from comforting the dying Number 8 at
35:17 on the Blu-ray, Sam steps in and seems to be able to
comfort her, saying, "It's okay. I'm with you." Is he
sympathetic and able to comfort her because he is also,
secretly, one of the Final Five Cylons?
After the end credits, the R&D TV Productions closer presents a reference to
the classic 1958 science-fiction/horror film
The
Fly.
Memorable Dialog
