After engaging a group of Cylon Raiders, Captain Apollo crash-lands on a planet with a tiny and forgotten human colony, where a law-deriding thug by the name of Lacerta controls a seemingly indestructible henchman, who turns out to be a Cylon Centurion which everyone calls "Red Eye".
Uncertain as to why a Cylon would be on the planet and working for a human con man, Apollo decides to investigate. During his investigate he meets the young Puppis and his mother Vela. Vela is at first very suspicious of Apollo. Which Apollo later learns is due to her late husband being a Colonial warrior who was murdered by Red Eye. Apollo later learns that Lacerta found Red Eye among the wreckage of a crashed ship. Somehow, he reactivated the Centurion, whose programming got scrambled, and mistook Lacerta for its Imperious Leader.
Apollo returns to town where he confronts Lacerta who quickly calls Red Eye to his defense, and a western styled duel begins. Red Eye draws his gun, but Apollo is quicker on the draw and blasts the Centurion to oblivion. With his powerful henchman defeated, Lacerta is quickly run out of town.
Later, Vela helps Apollo retrieve the fuel from Marten's crashed Viper to refuel his ship. He says his goodbyes to her and Puppis and heads off into space. He is quickly found by Starbuck and Boomer, and guided back to the fleet.
Tropes:
- Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: Bootes, drunk from half his herd being taken as tribute, decides to challenge Red-Eye.
- Battle Trophy: Martin's pistol. Red-Eye subsequently appropriated it for his own use.
- Big "NO!": Apollo when he sees Red-Eye kill Bootes.
- Covered with Scars: Red-Eye's armor is littered with dents from failed attempts to kill him.
- Cowboy Episode: On an alien planet in a series about people who live in space.
- The Dragon: Red Eye serves this role to Lacerta. Also counts as Dragon-in-Chief since Lacerta's authority is based around the fact that he has a virtually unkillable enforcer at his beck and call and once Apollo kills Red Eye, Lacerta is done for.
- Expy: A fistful of them, given that the episode is a Whole-Plot Reference to Shane:
- Apollo=Shane, a warrior/gunslinger who winds up in the town.
- Veela=Marian Starett, a mother who takes the warrior in.
- Puppis=Joey Starett, the son who is drawn to the weapons of the warrior.
- Red Eye=Jack Wilson, a ruthless, laconic enforcer from the world of the gunslinger.
- Lacerta=Rufus Ryker, the Big Bad who is intimidating the citizens of the town.
- Bootes=Frank "Stonewall" Torrey, a citizen of the town who is killed to show off the enforcer's skills.
- Fat Bastard: Lacerta
- The Gunslinger: Apollo proves he's quite the accomplished marksman in this episode.
- Meaningful Name: Puppis, who is very like a Puppy.
- My Boy Back Home: When stranded on Equellus, Apollo often laments he has a son waiting for him. It doesn't help that Puppis' restlessness and childish expectations remind him so much of Boxey.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Red Eye. He's only a mere Mecha-Mook but on a planet like Equallis, he's unbeatable because their air-powered weapons can't penetrate his armor. When he goes up against someone who does have weaponry that matches him, however...
- Oh, Crap!: Red Eye reacts like this when he realizes Apollo is faster than him."Uh-oh".
- Posthumous Character: Martin. He was a Colonial Warrior who crash-landed on Equellus and was nursed back to health by Vella, whom he married and sired a son named Puppis. When Red-Eye appeared, Martin tried to attack Red-Eye and was killed.
- Quick Draw: Red-Eye proves to be an excellent marksman unlike most Cylons.
- Apollo, during his stand-off with Red-Eye.
- Red Right Hand: Red-Eye's sensor makes a notably different sound than most other Cylons, possibly from damage suffered in the crash.
- Sacrificial Lion: Poor Bootes.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Lacerta chooses to flee at the end of the episode after Apollo kills Red Eye.
- Space Western: Apollo lands on a planet were people dress like typical movie cowboys and even a Cylon rides around on a horse.
- Villain in a White Suit: Lacerta, the episode's Big Bad, wears a white suit with a matching fedora.
- Wacky Wayside Tribe: Apollo's adventure with the little human colony is very self-contained and tangential to the series' main plot arc.
- Whole-Plot Reference: To Shane.
- Would Hurt a Child: Lacerta has no problem with having Red-Eye kill Puppis for shooting him.
