Line #62 Recap/BattlestarGalactica2003S03E04ExodusPart2


1	'''Season 3, Episode 4:'''
2	!Exodus, Part II
3
4	Onboard the ''Pegasus'', Lee is still worried for his father's safety, and tells Dualla that he's not sure whether he can lead the rest of the fleet to Earth. She tells him that she believes in him, even if he doesn't believe in his father.
5
6	In the settlement, Tigh and Tyrol are making final preparations for the evacuation when the former is confronted by Anders about his wife's betrayal and collaboration with the Cylons. Anders tells Saul to "take care" of Ellen, or else someone less sympathetic will do it for him.
7
8	Tigh goes to his wife and offers her a cup of coffee. She tells him that she has always looked out for him, even if it meant betraying the Resistance, then takes a look at her cup before drinking it. As he tells her how much he loves her, she passes out, having been poisoned. Tigh cries over his wife's dead body.
9
10	On ''Colonial One'', a fed-up Baltar tells the Cylons that they should just leave, because their occupation and grand experiment with the colonists has failed. A recently-downloaded D'Anna counters that the colonists' descendants would come after them again in retaliation for their actions.
11
12	The conversation is cut short when a series of deafening explosions appear in the sky, and the Cylons realize that ''Galactica'' has returned to save the colonists. Outside, Tyrol, Tory and others fire off bombs to cause confusion while they begin the evacuation. Elsewhere, Anders and a number of resistance fighters retrieve their weapons and go to rescue the imprisoned colonists in the Detention Center.
13
14	In orbit above the planet, ''Galactica'' launches a squadron of Vipers and Raptors, then sets up false signals to mimic the appearance of two other Battlestars. The Cylons, falling for the trap, dispatch their Basestars away from the planet to intercept the false signals.
15
16	At Kara's apartment, Leoben is monitoring Kara and Kacey when he sees fighting break out, and moves to leave. Kara tries to beat him and escape, but is knocked unconscious and left behind with Kacey.
17
18	In the settlement, fighting continues. Tom Zarek finds a despondent Jammer and orders him to protect Roslin and a skeleton crew as they make their way to Colonial One, while Tigh, Tyrol and other fighters try to break into the nearby shipyard where the grounded vessels are kept. In space, Bill asks if they're ready to make their jump, and Helo replies in the affirmative.
19
20	''Galactica'' jumps into the upper atmosphere of New Caprica, where it begins to freefall due to gravity. Bill orders all Vipers to be launched, and Hot Dog, Kat and numerous other pilots fly out. As a stunned Tigh and Tyrol watch below, ''Galactica'' jumps out just before impacting on the planet's surface. The Vipers destroy the Centurions defending the shipyard and begin to attack other Cylon targets, allowing the assault team to move in and get the pilots to the grounded ships.
21
22	In the Detention Center, Anders, fellow resistance fighter Charlie Connor and others discover the unconscious Kara and begin to carry her out, but Kara wakes up and tells Anders she has to go back for Kacey.
23
24	Back in orbit, Bill and the rest of the command crew see that the mission is going well, but their plan to draw off the two Basestars is thwarted when two more jump into range and begin attacking. As the four Cylon ships pound their defenses, the FTL drive fails and the ship's weapons go offline. Bill realizes that they can't survive, and tells the crew that ItHasBeenAnHonor serving with them. The four Basestars surround ''Galactica'' and begin pounding it with missile attacks…
25
26	…and then the ''Pegasus'' appears, firing off a missile salvo that destroys one of the Basestars. Lee calls Galactica and lets them know that he's bought them some time to escape, and that they should get to work repairing their systems. Bill initially lets out a curse at his son for coming back to rescue him, then thanks him under his breath.
27
28	As the grounded ships become airborne and FTL-jump out, Vipers and Raptors continue to engage Cylon Raiders. The Cylons realize that the battle is lost and decide to evacuate, but D'Anna wants to set off their last-resort option—a nuclear bomb that will annihiliate anyone left on the planet. She also tells Baltar that he can leave with the Cylons if he wishes. Baltar moves to leave, but is confronted by Gaeta, who is holding a gun at his face.
29
30	In orbit, ''Pegasus'' engages the three operational Basestars, while ''Galactica''[='=]s crew repairs its FTL drives. Bill realizes that Lee is using the ''Pegasus'' for a one-way trip and doesn't intend to bring it back, as it has no Vipers left onboard. He subsequently recalls ''Galactica''[='=]s fighters and jumps away before the ship is attacked by another missile salvo.
31
32	On ''Colonial One'', Gaeta tells Baltar that he believed in the latter's idealism, but that Baltar has betrayed all of humanity. Gaeta tells him that the only way to make things right is to stop D'Anna from setting off the bomb, and leaves.
33
34	In orbit, Lee makes the decision to abandon the ship, and plots the ship on a collision course with the nearest Basestar. He turns to take one last look at the bridge before leaving, and the crew evacuate in Raptors. The unmanned ''Pegasus'' continues on and rams into the Basestar and explodes. One of the flight pods breaks off in the blast, and slams into a third Basestar, destroying it as well.
35
36	tn the Detention Center, Kara goes inside looking for the child, only to discover her with Leoben. As the Cylon once again asks whether Kara loves him, she appears to give in and kiss him. However, she uses a hidden knife to stab him to death, and leaves with Kacey and Anders.
37
38	D'Anna goes to Selloi's tent and finds it empty, while Baltar heads out with Caprica-Six and they find Hera moving around next to Maya, who was shot and killed during the fighting. D'Anna comes to them and asks to take the child, then walks off. Six tells Baltar that D'Anna has lost interest in using the nuke, and says that they should leave. Confused and disillusioned, Baltar walks off with her.
39
40	Roslin, Jammer and other resistance fighters storm the abandoned ''Colonial One'' and survey the area. Roslin orders them to leave the planet, and the ship jumps away.
41
42	Back on ''Galactica'', numerous civilians are offloaded and shepherded by Tyrol through the hangar bay. Kara and Kacey are disembarking a Raptor when a woman comes up and thanks Kara for rescuing her daughter. A stunned Kara watches as Kacey plays with her mother, realizing it was yet another of Leoben's tricks. Lee also returns to the ship and is greeted by his father, who thanks him for not following his orders.
43
44	Tigh arrives on a Raptor soon afterward and Bill greets him, although Tigh is despondent over having killed his wife and the loss of so many colonists in the fighting. The civilians and crew begin to chant for Bill and he is hoisted in the air to cheers from the crowd, while Kara and Tigh look on in their grief.
45
46	As Roslin checks the status of ''Colonial One'', Tory arrives and tells her that Hera and Maya likely didn't escape the planet, but Roslin realizes that it's part of something much bigger than them.
47
48	In Bill's quarters, he shaves off his mustache and walks out into the ship's corridors, where ''Galactica''[='=]s and ''Pegasus''[='=]s crews fill the hallways. Smiling to himself, Bill walks down the hall.
49
50	!Tropes:
51
52	* AbandonShip: Lee orders the ''Pegasus'' crew to evacuate just before it rams into the Basestar. It is shown that he was planning to do so anyway, and only kept a small complement of escape Raptors aboard to evacuate the skeleton crew that he brought along for the battle.
53	* TheAtoner: Baltar becomes this after Gaeta threatens him to stop D'Anna from setting off the nuke in order to save the colonists still on the planet. Subverted, in that he doesn't stop her so much as she gets distracted by Hera and walks off. He's still about to shoot her, but Caprica-Six talks him out of it.
54	** In a strange way this is also true for the ''Pegasus'' herself. After Admiral Cain turned her back on the people of the Colonies and used the ship in her quest to simply kill every Cylon she could, the Battlestar goes out saving ''Galactica'' and ensuring the vast bulk of the surviving Colonial civilians get clear - and even killing two final Base Ships in her unmanned ramming attack. Emphasized by Lee's quiet "Thank you" to the ship's abandoned bridge before he is the last out.
55	* BeyondTheImpossible: In-universe, Bill uses ''Galactica'' to conduct a jump into the upper atmosphere of a planet, which Gaeta previously said was "impossible". ''Galactica'' subsequently deploys an entire squadron of Vipers before jumping out, to the shock and amazement of the colonists below.
56	* BigBudgetBeefUp: The majority of the episode revolves around the rescue operation and evacuation of the settlement.
57	* BigDamnHeroes: Twice in the same episode, no less.
58	** ''Galactica'' executes a jump into New Caprica's atmosphere in order to deploy fighters as the rebels are being pinned down by Centurions.
59	** ''Pegasus'' shows up to rescue ''Galactica'' after the latter is besieged by three Basestars.
60	* BittersweetEnding: New Caprica is evacuated, Baltar leaves with the Cylons, the ''Pegasus'' has been destroyed and not everyone makes it off the planet's surface (including Hera, who has been taken by the Cylons). However, the fleet gains a sense of unity for the first time in a long while.
61	* TheCavalry: The ''Galactica'' looks like it's going to be destroyed by the Basestars... until it's rescued by the ''Pegasus'' arriving and vaporizing one of them with its opening salvo. ''Pegasus'' gives ''Galactica'' an opening to escape, at the cost of the former, though its crew manages to escape the now unmanned Battlestar.
62	* ChekhovsSkill: Bill was previously told by Gaeta in "Home, Part II" that jumping into the upper atmosphere of a planet is "impossible". In this episode, he proves that statement to be incorrect by jumping ''Galactica'' in, deploying Vipers and jumping out before it would have impacted on the surface.
63	* ContractualImmortality: The battered ''Galactica'' survives and jumps away from New Caprica, while the tactically-superior and more advanced ''Pegasus'' gets [[RammingAlwaysWorks rammed into a basestar]] for no real reason other than a last "frak you" to the Cylons.
64	* CradlingYourKill: Saul holds onto Ellen as she passes away.
65	* DeathSeeker: When Gaeta confronts him at gunpoint, Baltar asks the former to shoot him, out of guilt for only being concerned about himself. Gaeta tells him to stop D'Anna instead.
66	* {{Determinator}}: Bill and the rest of the ''Galactica'' crew, who pull out all manner of tricks to throw off the Cylons during the rescue. The only time he admits defeat is when the ship is being pummeled by four Basestars and they have no immediate escape.
67	* DoNotGoGentle: The battlestar ''Pegasus'' goes down swinging, destroying one Basestar with a withering head-on volley, a second by ramming it, and a third with a huge chunk of debris breaking off (namely one of its flight pods) after a cascade explosion obliterates her.
68	* TheDreaded: ''Galactica''[='=]s presence causes the Cylons on the planet to have a MassOhCrap, because they realize Bill has returned to rescue the colonists.
69	* DynamicEntry: ''Galactica'' lets the Cylons know it's back by jumping into the planet's atmosphere and falling straight down while launching its Vipers, before they jump back into space.
70	* FearlessInfant: Baby Hera stays pretty calm throughout the initial chaos of the evacuation. Tory quips that she wishes everyone else was as calm as she is.
71	* FighterLaunchingSequence: A variant of this is used when Hot Dog and the other Vipers leave ''Galactica'' as it's freefalling through the New Caprica atmosphere.
72	--> '''Hot Dog:''' Well, this ought to be different.
73	* FiveSecondForeshadowing: Right when Helo remarks that the mission is going as expected with ''Galactica'' facing only two Basestars, two more Basestar icons appear on dradis.
74	* GunshipRescue: Two of them. ''Galactica'' jumps into atmosphere above New Caprica to launch its fighters and back out before hitting the ground. When the Cylon Basestars are firing on it the ''Pegasus'' arrives to draw fire away so the more heavily damaged ship can escape.
75	* HeroicBSOD: Both Kara and Tigh get this after the fleet is reunited (the latter for realizing that Kacey is not her daughter, and Tigh for his wife's death and realization of all the people that were lost).
76	* HesBack: Bill, when he shaves his mustache off and walks out to the fully-staffed ''Galactica'' at the end of the episode.
77	* HomeworldEvacuation: Of New Caprica.
78	* HyperspeedAmbush: The ''Pegasus'' uses this to surprise the Basestars attacking ''Galactica'', via a well-placed salvo of missiles that completely destroy one of them.
79	* ImportantHaircut: Bill shaves his mustache off (and clips part of his haircut) at the end of the episode, signaling that things are (relatively) back to normal.
80	* {{Irony}}: Zarek asking Jammer to protect Roslin as she escapes, as Jammer was leading the police force that arrested Roslin and tried to have her and Zarek executed.
81	* ItHasBeenAnHonor: Bill says this to the crew just before the ''Pegasus'' arrives to save them from the Basestar attack.
82	* JerkassBall: Anders being the one to pressure Tigh into poisoning Ellen seems out of character (especially since he's the one who nopes out of the Circle next episode) and done only to advance the plot, because someone had to. It's also never brought up again whenever Ellen's death is mentioned.
83	* MacrossMissileMassacre: The Cylons lob several at ''Galactica ''(which damages her armor), and then the ''Pegasus'' drops one on a Basestar that severely damages it (if not outright destroys it).
84	* MassOhCrap:
85	** The Cylons, once they see the explosions outside ''Colonial One''.
86	---> '''Boomer''': ''Adama's back''.
87	** The ''Galactica'' crew also get this when two more Basestars decide to jump in to fight, in addition to the two they're already trying to hold off.
88	* MercyKill: Tigh's justification for poisoning his wife, rather than let another Resistance member do something far worse to her.
89	* MutualKill: The evacuated and unmanned ''Pegasus'' pulls this by ramming one of the Cylon basestars attacking it, with the added bonus of taking out ''another'' basestar when the initial explosion sends a severed flight pod careening off into space among the rest of the debris.
90	* MythologyGag: To an original series comic book of the same name.
91	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Lee sacrifices the tactically-superior ''Pegasus'' to destroy a pair of Basestars, though it's somewhat justified in that the entire rescue operation would have ended in failure if he hadn't returned to make a GunshipRescue.
92	* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: Referenced; Bill waits until all the grounded ships have escaped New Caprica before finally jumping out of the system.
93	* NukeEm: Subverted. D'Anna plans to nuke the colony, but changes her mind when she discovers Hera and leaves the device behind.
94	* PlotArmor: Of the two Battlestars it's the one that ''doesn't'' have its name in the title of the show that gets destroyed by the Cylons.
95	* RammingAlwaysWorks:
96	** The ''Pegasus'' manages to take out two Basestars by doing this. The first one is a direct hit, while the second is taken out by a piece of its debris.
97	** Close inspection reveals multiple Cylon raiders crashing into the ''Pegasus''[='=] severed flight pod after the initial ramming maneuver, some of which may well have been trying to divert it from hitting the nearby basestar which it destroys immediately thereafter.
98	* ResetButton: The fleet is essentially reset to the way it was prior to the ''Pegasus'' arc, with the concession that they now have the crews of both ships as well as the ''Pegasus''[='=]s complement of Mark VII Vipers.
99	* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: Anders urges Tigh to execute Ellen for betraying the resistance.
100	* ShoutOut:
101	** Lee's look back at the ''Pegasus'' CIC just before abandoning it is highly reminiscent of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' (another show Creator/RonMoore was involved in), where Benjamin Sisko does the same thing just before evacuating the ''Defiant'' (which is also destroyed immediately afterwards).
102	** As the fleet is lifting off New Caprica, the corporate logo for Pan American World Airways can be seen on the underside of the rear wings of one of the large passenger liners.
103	* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: Tigh poisons his wife's drink after he's learned of her treachery, ostensibly to spare her from a worse death from one of the other resistance members.
104	* ThemeMusicPowerUp:
105	** ''Galactica''[='=]s entry into the atmosphere is backed by triumphant bagpipe music, and ''Pegasus''[='=]s arrival at the battle is accompanied by the dramatic drumbeat that was absent for the preceding few minutes leading up it.
106	** Also inverted, when ''Pegasus''[='=]s {{leitmotif}} builds to a crescendo, and then abruptly cuts off at the moment that the vessel pulls a MutualKill by ramming a Cylon basestar.
107	* TotalPartyKill: Almost. The ''Pegasus'' manages to take out three Basestars, one after the other. The first gets taken down with a surprise missile barrage to start, the second is rammed and obliterated by the ship slamming into it, and a third is wasted by a chunk of the ''Pegasus'' flying into it. Numerous Cylon fighters are also destroyed after that. Only one Basestar manages to leave the battle unscathed.
108	* WhamEpisode: To the point where it's considered by many fans to be the pinnacle of the show's run.
109	* WordOfGod: The actress who plays Ellen Tigh, Kate Vernon, has stated that Ellen knew about the poison in her drink when she consumed it.

Context Recap / BattlestarGalactica2003S03E04ExodusPart2