Battlestar Galactica: The Flight of the Phoenix

Sharon: "Sometimes you gotta roll the hard six. Right, Commander?"

Tired, discouraged and grieving, the crew really needed a miracle – and Chief Tyrol gave it to them. Yes, creating a stealth viper from scratch is far-fetched, but dramatically sound. I loved it.

There were so many great scenes here that it's hard to pick a favorite, but for me it was probably Helo and Chief finally "discussing" Sharon. I thought they were going to be civil at first. Wrong. I didn't know who to root for when they started punching each other out; I love them both.

Their discussion about Sharon's baby made me wonder, though. Why Helo? Didn't she have a lot more opportunity to get pregnant with Chief Tyrol? And exactly what's going on with the Chief, emotionally? Is he mad because she's dead? Because she's alive? Or because her baby is Helo's? The scene at the end strongly suggested that he still had feelings for her, whether he wanted to or not.

I also loved all the emotional scenes with the newly constructed stealth viper, the touching christening scene, and the hypoxia scene at the firing range, as well as Adama overcoming his anger and using Sharon the way he did. It seems that Sharon has completely cast her lot with the humans now, but why did she lie? She said the Cylons wanted her dead, but she must know how important her baby is to them. And therefore, I have to believe that the fleet still exists because the Cylons want it to exist. I'm so confused.

In other news, Cottle said Laura was close to checking out. Is she really, or is a plot-necessary remission approaching? I personally don't want to lose her as a character because she creates such a great balance with Adama. And Gaius as president of the colonies? That can't be good. Would that make Number Six their first lady?

Bits and pieces:

— This week's survivor count: 47,853, same as the last episode.

— The fiber optic link that Sharon pushed into her hand was cringe-worthy.

— Dr. Cottle was totally serious in that scene with Laura: no sarcasm, no smoking.

— Was there some Lee and Dee sexual tension in that wrestling scene?

— Gaius was the one to identify the virus. Was he being helpful for real? He and Gaeta appear to have become buddies. Must have been that bonding they did in the unisex toilet last season.

— Helo had a little rite of passage here. I guess you don't knock up a Cylon and immediately get welcomed back into the poker game.

—- When Helo showed Sharon the printout, it appeared to physically affect her.

— Cally was out of the brig, but it looked like murdering the Chief's girlfriend did not endear her to him.

— Gaeta blew up at Tigh. Gaeta was such a bland character for so long. Looks like it's his turn for character development.

— During the christening scene on the deck, I was completely faked out. I was sure Laura was going to smash the bottle. Don't break the new ship, Laura! Don't waste the champagne! (Or ambrosia, or whatever.)

— Tigh (or Tight) took a jar of the Chief's moonshine. Guess we know where his future supply is coming from.

— Laura returned that mystery novel to Adama. She was tying up loose ends.

— Tricia Helfer was not in this episode. I wonder why?

Another excellent episode. And again, I'm starting to second guess my ratings. What did you all think?

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

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