Nina's Known Universe

Original US Airdate: March, 4, 2005

***These articles are full of Spoilers from the entire series to date as aired in the USA...Continue At Your Own Risk--Moreover, the format assumes the reader has seen all of the episodes and specials aired through the first half of season 4, up to and including “Revelations”***

^Borrowed material is duly credited^ Thank you in advance to battlestarwiki.org, surfthechannel.com and any other entity directly mentioned in my ramblings...a polite email to ninanintius@gmail.com will add any notations you desire or remove any references/links to your sites as you wish. Thank you again.

Read the Prior Episode Commentaries Here
Re-Watch the Episode Here First

^Time Line^
***
^Day 21:^ First recollection by any of the Rising Star crew members of giving Ellen Tigh medical assistance.
^Day 26:^ Ellen Tigh regains consciousness.
^Day 28:^ William Adama retrieves Ellen Tigh from the Rising Star.

Colonel Tigh's world is turned upside down when his wife arrives on Galactica -- but is she all she claims to be? And what of the seemingly lost raider that coincides with Adama bringing Ellen back to the Galactica?

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Imperial Commentary

This is the episode that finds Saul Tigh giving up booze for all of half a day before being faced with his presumed dead wife. And if the final cylon is someone that they practically tattooed cylon on their forehead to make them so obvious as to be too obvious then it most definitely is Ellen.

This is also the episode where they manage to tell the fans that the colonies follow the same 24 hr day 365 day year as we do on Earth. Not to mention the most hysterical scene of Baltar getting caught molesting his invisible friend by Kara.

Did you notice the CIC had a balcony? It just shows how, at least for me, how we miss the little details while focusing on the bigger picture. It would be a random trivia question I would get wrong because I couldn't recall that detail as pertinent to the overall plot.

But that is the greatest treat when watching these episodes over again...seeing the detail...not to mention the grandness of the set. This balcony is not so different from that in the future images of the mysterious Opera House, wrapping around the main stage below in a half circle. I wonder if that was an accident or if it was on purpose?


The balcony has consoles and work stations with personnel doing their duties. There is a glass shield that is similar to those in hospitals that have a gallery for watching surgical procedures without being in the room. The CIC also has a central computer console that retracts up into the rafters like the score board at some arena's.

As the first scene takes shape we see President Roslin lurking up above on the balcony while Cmdr Adama stands at the center just below the computer screens being lowered from the ceiling. Gaeta approaches, gives the Cmdr a report from Baltar and advises him that the President is waiting for him.

Adama looks up and they make eye contact. She is still reeling from the comment made by the LeOben about "Adama is a cylon" but waves and smiles, a gesture he returns.

I figure her motives in the last episode to have the cylon airlocked were no more than political moves on her part. She had to show Cmdr Adama she had the brass to do what he was going to do from the start. Show him that she, the President, would decide who gets airlocked and she would do it herself.

She doesn't need him coddling her. And he did seem to approve. I wonder if he would have been as happy if she had kept her word and not airlocked the cylon? Would he have challenged her authority and tried to have the cylon executed or would he just beat him to death like he did the first one at Ragnor? Or would he cave to her will?

Later in the flashback movie Razor, young Adama bludgeons a cylon centurion and sees a man that some say looked like Leoben, personally I thought he looked far more like Tyrol. Or say Tyrol's father. The scene where he beats the centurion to death is very similar to the one at Ragnor years later.

Cmdr Adama is my other hopeful for the final cylon. Simply because they made a big stink about him putting it in his contract that he woudn't be a cylon - that just sounds insanely made up - and also because it would turn the whole show on its ear.

It's not so crazy to rationalize him as the final cylon. I mean they had 360 degrees of direction to choose from out into space away from their home solar system...how did he just happen to know what direction to pick?

I suppose that it is possible, though not mentioned, that they knew in what direction Earth was supposed to be according to legend, just not exactly how far or specifically where, just in what general direction to go looking.

Cmdr Adama meets with Roslin and tells her the cylon detector is done. They then start a bit of cat and mouse hinting about who should go first to be tested. She says "If your a cylon, I would really like to know" to which he replies "If I am a cylon you are really screwed" they both laugh but the banter continues.

She wants him to go first to show the people that the leadership can be trusted. He says then she should go first...she doesn't smile. And he concedes. Dang she has him so whipped already. LOL

In addition to the expected features of a Battlestar, Galactica has a small observation lounge complete with telescopes and chairs for cuddling while star gazing. Billy and Dee {who apparently are an item now and whose last name should be Williams... ;)} sit by the main window as 2 vipers on CAP do a fly by. Dee says they did that because they knew she was in there.

We hear over the PA that those in the lounge are about out of time. Apparently this room is in demand and therefore time for its use is limited. I presume that all those present are in the military or there as guests of someone in the military like Billy.

He and Dee share a kiss then Billy starts grilling her about the Old Man. Dee gives up a few details about how Adama has been behaving lately before realizing she was being prodded. Apparently Adama has been making mysterious calls off ship with no log record. Behaving distractedly. Going off ship with no flight plan. Later Billy relays the intel to Roslin. And tells her he can't believe they actually think Cmdr Adama is a cylon or somehow replaced by a cylon duplicate.

Baltar is in the lab with head 6 asking if suicide is really a sin, she says its a mortal one. 47,905 people in fleet...11 hrs to confirm each test result...21,956 days or approximately 61 years to test them all...he would rather kill himself. {Do the math here to see that they have a 24 hr day and 365 day year.} After a bit more self pity she then offers him some perks, to which he giddily and perversely accepts.

He is soon interrupted by Kara...one of the funniest scenes ever. Baltar tries to explain his frottage of the desk as stretching exercises...Kara tells him to zip his fly and clearly doesn't see head six bent over the desk with her skirt up to her waist. Nice ass by the way. LOL

Colonel Tigh sits alone in his quarters staring at the remaining bits of booze in his bottle. He pours out the last of it into the trash then pulls out the burnt image of his wife Ellen, which he crumples and throws out also. "At least I did that much today" he says to himself before being summoned to the CIC.

A lone cylon raider has jumped into the fleet. Lee is on CAP and goes after the bird, takes out the weapons and then the raider jumps away. But it doesn't go far before appearing again. This raider is wounded they think. Tigh asks about the Old Man. Dee advises that Cmdr Adama is not on board and hasn't been on board for over an hour.

Tigh is dumbfounded that Adama is gone missing but maintains his focus on the task at hand. He sees an opportunity to get better intel from the raider so he orders a raptor in the air to get readings off the bird before it jumps away again. Meanwhile Adama returns in his raptor with a passenger. Colonel Tigh's presumed dead whore of a wife Ellen.

Down on Caprica, Helo and Sharon are running from the cylons through storm drains. When Helo can't understand why all of sudden the cylons are out in full force just for them, she tells him the cylons are after her because she overheard plans that they are establishing a base at the city of Delphi. Sharon also plans for them to steal a ship from there to get off the planet.

Back on Galactica the president is dismayed to learn that Adama has canceled his blood test for that of someone named Ellen with no last name given. Roslin orders him to resume the test on Adama and hangs up.

Ellen and Saul embrace, as she details her whereabouts. She claims she has been on the Rising Star. That she was on Picon getting a ticket home when she was apparently knocked out and some random stranger saved her. She claims to have been unconscious this whole time until just a few days ago. Saul is clearly ecstatic she is back and wants to start over telling her that the past is the past. She wants some booty but he is on duty. Then he gets called to go meet with the President.

Tyrol, Adama and Kara are in the CIC discussing the goofy raider. Every time it jumps they get more intel on the FTL drive, which Kara sees as a good thing in helping them with the one they have in the hanger bay. Lee walks up, he is briefed and then Adama invites him to dinner.

Tigh meets with the President on Colonial One, getting defensive when she starts questioning Adama. She wants to know if Tigh has seen any odd behavior then mentions the timing of him being off ship while a cylon raider is bouncing around the fleet. He explains to the President that Adama went to get his wife. Ellen. The president tells him she is happy that his wife has been found then excuses him. After he leaves she calls Baltar and requests that the test on Ellen be resumed immediately. LOL

Ellen manages to acquire some Ambrosia which she surprises Saul with. He is still on duty but she talks him into celebrating. They get a good buzz on before having dinner in the Cmdr's quarters. The President, Cmdr Adama, and Lee are all there too. Ellen gets even more drunk talking non stop. She wants to know where Earth is then starts mentioning Zack. When she says that Lee is the spitting image of his mother, I wonder if that is a dig to Bill that maybe Lee isn't his? Ellen settles down when the Cmdr advises her that Zack is dead. Ellen then starts playing footsie under the table on Lee's leg.

Bill states there is some mystery about how she got on the Rising Star - no one gave her any treatment until last week. And she knows that cylons look like them now - a fact only just recently revealed to the public. If it weren't so obvious that the writers want us to think she is a cylon I would say she was as likely as anyone. but then again, maybe being obvious is the best way to throw us off.

She would be the last cylon. She would be unknown to the others. And was already dead by the time the music played at the end of season 3. She could even be the one who Deanna shakes hands with in her vision of the final 5 during season 3. Because Ellen worked for Cavil and was fraking him to get Saul out of the Detention Center. So Deanna should have known her.

She may even have known she was a cylon and that Saul was too always trying to get him more power, though bringing out his drunkenness was counter productive to his advancement so maybe she didn't know. In any case, cylons are obviously attracted to each other sexually giving more weight to the idea of Ellen being the final. Tyrol and Boomer. Caprica and Saul. Anders and Tory. Saul and Ellen? Cavil and Ellen?

However, if she is not the final cylon then it is likely she had a boyfriend that she was shacking up with this whole time and maybe he put her in the hospital and she made up the rest so she could get back with Tigh. As of the end of mid season 4, she hasn't been revealed to be anything but a slutty manipulator that wants her hubby to get ahead so she can be on his arm. Although she did get him out of detention, she nearly sacrificed all of humanity for it. Clearly a selfish move.

During dinner when Adama says that anyone of them could be a cylon there is a long silence as they all look at each other across the table suspiciously until Ellen yells "Boo!" and makes them all jump. Her and Tigh bust up laughing.

Cmdr Adama ends the party and thanks everyone for coming. Ellen gropes Lee while Tigh tells the Old Man how happy he is. After the Tighs leave, Lee says to his dad and the President, if Ellen 'isn't' a cylon then they are all in a lot of trouble. I find that too damn funny. Adama states that Ellen has slept with half fleet according to scuttlebutt, while Tigh was off in space. And she has a penchant for bringing out the worst in Tigh...a self destructive nature. Roslin points out that he clearly loves her deeply. Adama adds 'and blindly.'

Flashing back to Helo and Sharon on Caprica, we see they are underground in some kind of sewer storm drain. She peers out a man hole to see lots of centurions on patrol. She tells him they have to find another way out. He is tired and can't understand why she doesn't ever need to stop. She says its just adrenaline and to move!

Saul and Ellen stumble while giggling through the hall back to their quarters on Galactica. She is flicking Adama crap even though Tigh tells her to cool it...then climbs up on a scaffold wrapping her legs around Saul's head. She gyrates and chants that "Bill Adama doesn't know where earth is" in a very child like tone, just as Baltar walks up. He says I don't believe I have had the pleasure and starts to introduce himself to Ellen who already knows who he is and states that the pleasure is all hers.

Head Six appears...which strikes me now as interesting. She says to Baltar 'There is something here isn't there?' Then says that he should definitely be watching her. Ellen invites him for a night cap but then he gets paged to his lab. After Baltar leaves, Tigh and Ellen have a tense moment about her flirting. Then she tries to tell him that Bill put his hand on her leg at dinner but Tigh says he won't fall for it. She adds that Bill came to visit her on the Rising Star and that Bill would touch her while she pretended to sleep. She then drags him off to Baltar's lab to prove it.

When I was studying the different archetype personalities, the one that I found to be missing was 'The Child'. Up until I re watched this episode I figured it was likely going to mean either one of the now known 11 cylons was more child like than I was getting from their personalities or the final cylon was Boxey. But now...now I am wondering if it really is Ellen?

In the lab there is discussion about why the test on Ellen was stopped, Roslin takes the blame. There is a lovely argument going about who is a cylon and then Ellen tries to say that Bill wants her in the physical sense, but really he just wants to keep an eye on her.

The officers get called to CIC - the wounded raider is back. The XO orders the alert fighters to launch. Kara says the raider is just playing them. Just then the raider is suddenly not as injured anymore and makes a b-line for the ship. It has no weapons but can still play Kamikaze. However, since Saul ordered the alert fighters in time, they managed to take out the target before it could cause any damage to The Galactica.

Later when Bill and Tigh discuss what happened with Ellen in the lab, Bill thanks Saul for doing his job and saving the ship. He just doesn't want Ellen or anything to come between them. Bill needs Saul without the cup of booze in his hand. Saul claims he was just celebrating.

On Caprica the Six and Doral are discussing how Sharon and Helo managed to escape. Six says that Sharon loves Helo now and thinks she cant live without him. Sharon's compassion has made her resourceful. Doral asks Six if it bothers her because she has never experienced that feeling. Doral even wonders what it would be like to feel that intensely about someone else. The look on Six's face is one of holding back tears, indicating to me that she has had that feeling which also tells me that she is definitely the Six that saved Baltar the one we will know later as Caprica Six.

At the end, all of the players from the dinner party are gathered back in the lab where Baltar tells them that Ellen's test is very green - she is not a cylon. Ellen hugs Bill and tells him not to frak with her, he replies 'don't frak with me either.' Head Six then appears to comment about how they don't know that everyone passes this test. Baltar says its much simpler really, no muss no fuss. When she asks him what the real result was...he says...'I will never tell'...then grins.

Frak - if not for what Head Six said about watching her - watching Ellen - I would have dismissed all the clues to her obviously being a cylon as red herrings and too obvious. Then again - watching her because Ellen has her own agenda and perhaps as an angel of god Head Six sees Ellen for the spawn of hell she really is. LOL

From Wiki - an Excerpt from the Official Season 1 Companion Book regarding Baltar's Cylon Detector...

Q. "What is Baltar hoping to gain from keeping the test results secret?"

* Answer: The official Season 1 companion book explains this more fully. Basically, Baltar does not know if the Cylons in the Fleet are capable of communicating with each other. That's why in "Flesh and Bone" he didn't call in the Marines to grab Sharon as soon as she left his lab; if he reveals one or two of the Cylons, while more are still at large, he is afraid that the others will then target him for assassination. More or less, Baltar's plan is to screen out as many people as he can to find all of the Cylons, and then reveal them in one fell swoop.

Even if they don't possess a communications net, they might just realize his Cylon detector works if one of their number like Boomer is revealed by the test; he wants them to think it doesn't really work. Alternatively, as it might take years to test the entire Fleet, Baltar would do what he will do later on in "Resistance"; find one Cylon, then interrogate it to find out who the other Cylons are, etc. For the moment, he is biding his time.
***

Thank you for reading
~99

^Additional^ notes from http://en.BattlestarWiki.org regarding this episode - available here.
***In the next episode, 'The Hand of God' the Fleet faces another reality, that fuel does not last forever. If they don't find a source of Tylium soon, they are fraked. With only enough fuel left for 2 more jumps, they have to decide between attempting to take what they need from a Cylon refinery discovered on a nearby asteroid or risk using up the fuel they have to find a safer source.
***

Thank you for reading,
~99

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