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Battlestar Galactica Commentary: 4.5, "The Road Less Traveled"

The last couple Battlestar Galactica episodes have really moved the story along.  From the murder of Cally to the emergence of Baltar as a cult leader to the Cylon civil war, the writing has been solid and there are, at this point, so many mysteries but minor and major that it is easy to forget the big mystery:

Where is Earth?

I think we forget this mystery because, well, we all know where it is.  Right beneath our feet.  It is difficult to see why this is the primary mystery for many of the characters in the story, since it doesn't require any faith for us to believe that Earth exists.

So we dwell on the mysteries to which we do not have solutions.  Who is the final Cylon?  Significantly, is Starbuck a Cylon, crazy, or just a plain old prophet?  Episode Five, "The Road Less Traveled," begins on the Demetrius.  Starbuck is insisting on reexamining sectors that have been scanned twice.  She's having trouble hearing the sound again, the one she believed was pointing the way to Earth.  The crew think she's lost her mind.  Reason why there is discipline in the military, #748.

Baltar now has a throne.  He's holding wackjob court, hearing the grief of the ailing and dispossessed.  This appears to have caused Chief Tyrol to shave his head and begin jumping rope while listening to Baltar on the radio.  That might have been the most terrifying scene in all four seasons of the show.

Starbuck has decided to fly a Viper on their current mission.  She comes across a heavy Cylon Raider that has been badly damaged.  It turns out to be her Cylon suitor, the one who held her captive and tricked her into thinking she had a child.  He tells her he knew she would be looking and that he has come to offer a truce between the Cylons and the Humans.

Tyrol is starting to realize that the circumstances of Cally's death don't jive with her character, or the fact that she was taking antidepressants.  Tory wants to know if he suspects foul play, but Tyrol tells her that she is spending way too much time with Baltar.

Leoben reveals to Anders that civil war has broken out between the Cylons.  He doesn't appear to know that Anders is a Cylon.  Leoben suggest an alliance between the rebellious Cylon faction, arguing that if the humans save the rebellious Ones Who Look Like Us that their old one, Grotesque Bathtub Cylon, will show them all the way to Earth. The crew of Demetrius is contemplating mutiny because Starbuck is considering teaming up with the Cylons. 

It seems like Baltar and Tory spend more time in bed that I do, and they only exist for an hour a week.  I'm not jealous, though.  They have sex and then talk about either the President or Baltar's new religion.  Who wants to have sex and then talk about the Bush Administration and Scientology?

It's dangerous to be Baltar.  He asks Tyrol to take his hand, for Cally's sake, and Tyrol nearly strangles him.  Tyrol goes back to his quarters and get very close to gun suicide, but he sees a picture of Cally and can't bring himself to do it.

The heavy Raider docked with the Demetrius explodes and Starbuck accusing Leoben of setting them up.  Leoben convinces Starbuck that she has to seek the damaged Basestar, and when she tells the crew the first overt signs of mutiny appear.  Helo pistol whips the first man to voice an open objection to following Starbuck's orders, so for now the mutiny is quelled. When the FTL drive is spooled up, Helo is put to a choice.  Allow the jump to the Basestar, or disobey orders and refuse to jump.  He refuses, and Starbuck relieves him.  All the other officers refuse, as well, so Helo relieves Starbuck of command.  And then our fast friend, "to be continued..."