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Recap / Battlestar Galactica 2003 S 02 E 16 Sacrifice

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Season 2, Episode 16:

Sacrifice

Onboard one of the ships in the fleet, an unseen figure is reviewing news clippings and information that reveals Sharon is onboard the Galactica before heading out.

On Galactica, Billy pulls Dualla aside and asks her to marry him, but she refuses and leaves, leaving him stunned.

Conflicted over what to do, Dualla asks Lee to join her on Cloud Nine's restaurant for a drink and to discuss what happened. At the same time, Billy goes there to drown his sorrows, and sees Lee and Dualla, leading him to think they are seeing each other. Lee leaves Billy and Dualla to talk and goes to the nearby bar, where he discovers Ellen Tigh drinking as well.

Suddenly, everyone in the restaurant is interrupted by a burst of gunfire and the arrival of four terrorists, who order everyone to get down. Seeing what is happening, Lee pulls Ellen away from the bar and hides with her in the washroom, while the woman announces herself as Sasha Abinell, and that she has come to make the fleet pay for letting her husband die ten weeks earlier in a Cylon attack.

In the washroom, Ellen is giddy and thinks Lee has pulled her in for sex, but he tells her to go outside and surrender while he sabotages a nearby oxygen sensor. Ellen heads out and surrenders herself.

Abinell radios Galactica and tells the CIC to turn over Sharon to her, as she wants retribution for her husband's death. She also tells them that Sharon has compromised the fleet's security.

Afterwards, Abinell sends a man into the washroom to bring out any other patrons, only for the man to be ambushed by Lee. Lee threatens to kill the henchman if Abinell and the others don't put their weapons down, but she counters by threatening to kill Dualla. Lee drops his weapon and surrenders. Abinell then discovers that the ship's oxygen sensor isn't working, and orders Galactica to send a team to make the necessary repairs.

Kara and a group of Marines go to Cloud Nine under the guise of being repairmen, and are allowed into the restaurant by Abinell, but their cover is blown when Ellen recognizes Kara and inadvertently outs her. A shootout erupts, which results in Lee being wounded and Kara's group having to retreat and regroup.

In Bill's quarters, he summons Sharon for a conversation and asks for her opinion, and his view of her is increased when she says how many times she saved the fleet. Although Tigh is angered that Bill has put his trust in a machine, the latter decides to have Boomer's body taken from the morgue and used as a double.

At the bar, the body is delivered and Abinell shoots it, only to discover the deception. She orders one of her men to kill Dualla, but Billy grabs another henchmen's weapon and shoots him. The distraction allows Kara and the Marines to move in, but not before Billy is shot by gunfire from the terrorist he gunned down. The Marines storm the bar and kill Abinell and the surviving terrorists, while Dualla grieves over Billy.

Later, Lee is taken to the infirmary to recover, and Dualla promises to stay with him, while Kara witnesses this and leaves. At the same time, Roslin goes to see Billy's corpse and breaks down over his death, saying he was the closest thing she had to a family…

Tropes:

  • Character Development: Bill begins calling Sharon by her actual name and not referring to her as "it", showing that he doesn't think of her as a soulless machine any more.
  • Death of the Hypotenuse: Billy is killed off just as Dualla begins to develop serious feelings for Lee, to the point that in the next episode, they're already in a relationship together and she never mentions Billy again.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: Both Billy and Dualla go to Cloud Nine independently for a drink.
  • Hostage Situation: Sesha's group takes the patrons of the Cloud Nine lounge hostage to force the military to give them Sharon.
  • Ironic Echo: The ending scene is reminiscent of "Resurrection Ship, Part 2", except that Dualla and Kara's roles are reversed.
  • Karma Houdini: Ellen screws up the assault team's first attempt at rescuing the patrons, which results in Lee getting shot and the situation escalating. No one calls Ellen out on this afterwards.
  • Killed Off for Real: Billy.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: Kara disguises herself as the repairman sent to fix the oxygen sensor, wearing just the guy's uniform and hat. It works at first, since none of them recognize she's a Viper pilot, but she ends up exposed when Ellen puts two and two together, resulting in a gunfight.
  • Real Life Writes the Plot: Billy's actor, Paul Campbell, was given an ultimatum from the production team after he tried out for another pilot, and when he didn't want to stay, the writers killed off his character.
  • Room Full of Crazy: Abinell's hideout/evidence room in the opening sequence.
  • Searching the Stalls: Played with—one of Abinell's men is searching the stalls for Lee, until the latter jumps him from behind.
  • Shout-Out: To Apocalypse Now, via a silhouetted photograph of Sharon that looks very much like the "Believed to be Col. W.E. Kurtz" photograph from the film.

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