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Episode Studies by Clayton Barr
enik1138 at popapostle dot com
Battlestar Galactica: Sacrifice

Battlestar Galactica

"Sacrifice"

TV episode

Written by Anne Cofell Saunders

Directed by Rey Villalobos

Original air date: February 10, 2006

 

As rumors and conspiracy theories about a Cylon on the Galactica run through the press, events come to a head when a group holds the Cloud 9 hostage in exchange for the delivery and execution of Sharon Valerii.

 

Read the summary of the episode at the Battlestar Wiki Site

 

Didja Know?

 

The opening titles show the fleet at a population of 49,590. This is down 3 from the last episode "Scar". However, 4 Viper pilots died in the storyline of that episode, Reilly, BB, Jo-Jo, and Beano. Possibly another birth took place in the fleet to make up for one of the four deaths.

 

Characters appearing or mentioned in this episode

 

Sesha Abinell (dies in this episode)

Boomer (photos only, deceased)

Ray Abinell (seen in photos and Sesha's memories only, deceased)

news broadcaster (unnamed, voice only)

Admiral Adama

President Roslin

Billy Keikeya (dies in this episode)

Caprica-Valerii

Dee

Apollo

Ellen Tigh

Kern Vinson (dies in this episode)

George Chu (dies in this episode)

Nelson Page (dies in this episode)

Colonel Tigh

Petty Officer Sian

Lt. Gaeta

Starbuck

Lt. Terry Burrell

Billy's brother (mentioned only, deceased)

 

Didja Notice?

 

As the episode opens, Sesha Abinell has a number of news articles about the Cylons on her desk and pinned to a post board. Below are screen grabs where the articles are partially readable. There is also some all-but-obscured speculation on Sesha's screen at about the 33-minute mark of the repeated Cylon pursuits of the fleet that occurred in "33".
NetroViruses Can Cylons Reproduce?
   
eugenics program

 

The article "Is Our Food Supply Contaminated by NetroViruses?" describes NetroViruses as capable of attaching themselves to certain DNA sequences for pre-programmed purposes. The term "NetroVirus" is fictitious, but there artificial viruses (actually modified versions of existing ones) to do such things for medical or bio-control purposes.

 

The article "Can Cylons Reproduce?" has a pull-out quote from Dr. Baltar in it, "Reproduction is merely an extension of the programming that went into making them."

 

The article "Cylon Infiltration! What the military is hiding from you," is mostly indecipherable.

 

Articles pinned to the post board include "What Every Colonial Should Know About Cylons", "Your Neighbor Could Be a Cylon, Here's How to Tell", "Dynamics of the Enemy", "The Second Wave of Cylon Research Underway, a Pan Fleet Initiative Who's Time Has Come", and "Machines, No Matter How Complicated They Are, Are Still Machines". There is also an article about Cally's assassination of Boomer (which occurred in "Resistance").

 

After listening to the civilian news broadcast about the existence of a Cylon prisoner aboard Galactica at 3:22 on the Blu-ray, Admiral Adama wonders how the information leaked out to the press. He seems to have forgotten that reporter D'Anna Biers already saw Caprica-Valerii in Galactica's sickbay in "Final Cut", though she did not include that information in her documentary. Assuming for a moment that it was not Biers, then who did leak the information?

 

At 8:13 on the Blu-ray, a pair of Colonial shuttles is seen in the docking bay of Cloud 9.

 

The pistol wielded by Sesha is a Makarov PM. George Chu wields an Intratec CAT 9. Nelson Page carries a CZ 52. Kern Vinson carries a Škorpion vz. 61 submachine gun.

 

Gaeta reports back to Adama that Sesha's husband was killed when the Cylons attacked the freighter Greenleaf about 10 weeks ago. The Greenleaf was previously mentioned in "Epiphanies".

 

Starbuck refers to Colonial Marine Burrell as "Gunny", implying he is a gunnery sergeant, but the episode's ending credits list him as Lieutenant. Possibly, he has retained the nickname Gunny by others from habit and respect for his service during his time at that rank.

 

At 22:13 on the Blu-ray, a sign in the background identifies the club aboard Cloud 9 as the Starlight Lounge.

 

In her disguise as the repair person for the oxygen line, Starbuck pulls two Vektor CP1 pistols out of her toolbox in the lounge.

 

After the botched infiltration attempt into the lounge, Starbuck reports to Adama that two of the marines are probably KIA. KIA stands for Killed in Action.

 

    Adama can't bring himself to fully trust Caprica-Valerii's information, despite her reminder that she has helped save his ship 5 or 6 times. Caprica-Valerii first assisted the fleet in "Home" Part 1 and has continued to advise and assist while still being held in the brig since then.

    Adama goes on to say to her, "You know that there are Cylons within this fleet. You know what they look like. You know where to find them. If I were to ask you, would you tell me who they are?" and she responds with "no," which he believes. But it seems like he would have already asked her that very question long ago (she's been a prisoner aboard Galactica for months now), so it would be rather pointless to use it now!

 

The marines who bring Boomer's body to Sesha at the lounge are armed with Beretta CX4 Storm rifles.

 

Memorable Dialog

a Cylon agent.mp3
I really am an idiot.mp3
it's not Sharon.mp3
are you playing with me?.mp3

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