TV Recap: Battlestar Galactica - Sine Qua Non

Hello people, it’s nice to be back with the Battlestar Galactica fans in our own pursuit of what the hell is happening on the show this season. Unfortunately we at Blend Television ran into a few technical issues with “Sine Qua Non.” Chief among them is a Tivo malfunction. We’ve road tripped the entire evening only to arrive at our destination to discover the designated Tivo was not connected to the cable box in such a way to allow Sci Fi to record. I have no idea what kind of evil plot is up here, but we did eventually get BSG to appear. So starting with Adama ordering Tigh to get some info from Six we begin this week’s tale.

But first some help from our friends at Wikipedia: The episode apparently opened with Natalie being taken to sick bay where she has some visions and then dies. The Quarom scramble to find a replacement President as Zarek assumes the position. Lee goes to Romo Lampkin (yay!) to get some help in finding a suitable temporary President. Admiral Adama asks Athena why she shot Natalie and she tells him about seeing Natalie and Baltar taking away Hera in her opera house dreams. Adama sends her to the brig.

What Are You Going To Do About That Woman?

Whatever other motivations Admiral Adama may have had they are all put on the back burner in his pursuit of Roslin. As decisive and great a leader as Adama has almost always been, I’ve rarely seen him so focused on a goal. He is determined to find the rebel Base Star and find Roslin (along with a number of his crew). Adama orders Tigh to go see Caprica Six and get info about the resurrection hub. A task I’m sure the Colonel looks forward to as he’s been spending a lot of time with Six lately. Once again, Tigh hallucinates Six's face turning into Ellen's and before he can get any information out of her a damaged Raptor jumps into the area and puts the fleet on alert.

Racetrack is sent to check out the “dead” Raptor and finds a dead pilot (a random redshirt type whose name I didn’t catch) and the flight data recorder shows where the ship came from. They take a little trip back and find the remains of some Basestars, as well as the famed resurrection hub. Adama insists that Roslin’s Basestar is still intact and he orders 4 Raptors to stay behind in case it returns.

This week the Admiral didn’t get to have his tender moment with Roslin, but the emotions and feelings still ran high. Doc Cottle tells Adama that Caprica Six is pregnant…I’ll wait while you try to breathe. OK, better now? You saw this coming, didn’t you? Adama goes back to Tigh and confronts him. Adama can’t understand why Saul would put the fleet at risk by sleeping with the enemy, and Tigh comes back at the Admiral claiming that his pursuit of Roslin is just as risky. Then the two handle the dispute in the manly fashion of throwing their fists at each other’s face. Eventually they both stop, realizing that they’re both in emotional turmoil over recent events.

Adama decides that he is indeed risking the fleet with his actions regarding Roslin and decides to resign as Commander. He goes to Tigh and gives him command of the fleet, thus putting a Cylon in charge. Adama then goes and gets in his flight suit and Husker takes to the “sky” to wait for his lady.

Hail To The Chief

After Zarek reluctantly lets Lee begin a search for the replacement candidate we get Romo back on the show. I’ve been looking forward to this moment all season, and he did not disappoint. At first Romo is unable to come up with any reasonable person to take control as President. Later, while bouncing ideas off his wife’s cat Romo has his eureka moment. If Baltar was an abomination of a President, and Roslin has been blindly leading them down her own path then there’s but one person who is the happy medium. Lee Adama.

Romo finds Lee and congratulates him on being the next President of the Colonies, and then he pulls a gun and tells him it won’t last very long. The thing about Romo has always been that he has a lot to say about things, but when it comes to himself he truly has little clue of what’s going on. After the Cylon attack he lost his wife and two daughters, and he is clearly still distraught over it. Romo doesn’t believe the human race deserves the hope that Lee could bring. Lee promises to do everything he can to make things better and Romo accepts this. Lee is then sworn is as the next President.

The episode ends with Admiral Adama all by his lonesome floating out in space, waiting for Roslin. I’m not sure if it’s the travel lag I’m feeling or the episode itself, but I can’t help but feel a bit blaise about this week’s Battlestar Galactica. And that shouldn’t be as we got some huge news with Tigh and Six having a kid. Let’s not forget that this is the first Cylon/Cylon child that we know of. Then there’s the touching – if a bit misguided – determination by the Admiral to find Roslin. In the end he takes a step back and removes himself from power, but at what cost? Even if Tigh were not a Cylon we saw what happened last time he took command. Will Lee be able to balance things out within the fleet or is everything about to get frakked?