'Battlestar Galactica' Retro Recap: 'Resistance'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

It was pretty obvious at the end of the last episode of Battlestar Galactica that Saul Tigh's decision to dissolve the Quorum of Twelve and declare Martial Law was a bad idea that would lead to trouble, the only thing we didn't know at that point, was exactly how much trouble it would stir up and what kinds of consequences would come from it all, and the next episode 'Resistance', answered all of our questions and unfortunately, we were treated to some ugly answers in a story that saw a fleet divided and a surprise vendetta come to light.

But before we get too deep into that, let's talk about the big bright spot in this episode, the storyline on Caprica. Because let's be honest...it was tense at first to see Helo and Starbuck run into what seemed to be some unsavory human beings, before it became a joy to discover that the people that put them under fire, were a Pyramid team known as the Caprica Buccaneers and we learned that they have been surviving purely on daring raids the entire time since the fall of Twelve Colonies. It was just wonderful to know that someone else had survived the nuclear holocaust and while it didn't do much to advance the plot, the cut away scenes to Helo and Starbuck interacting with them was a nice palette cleanser from the darkness.

Speaking of that, let's get back into the thick of things and return to the mess unfolding aboard Galactica, because the first real issue that came about from Tigh's declaration, was that the people of the fleet, specifically ships that provided Galactica with important supplies, cut the ship off from what it needed, demanding that the President be reinstated immediately. It forced Tigh to send a platoon of marines to get what they needed and of course, in the midst of the chaos and with a pilot in charge, things got ugly and four citizens lost their lives. It was enough to motivate Lee and a few others aboard the ship to quietly put together a plan to free the President and get her safely to Cloud Nine, where she can hopefully bring peace to the fleet.

Yet the show wasn't done dropping our jaws with just that, there was also the matter of Sharon and her fate for shooting the Commander and unfortunately, her actions got the Chief in trouble because Tigh thought the poor man was also a Cylon and in on the whole thing, which led to an intervention from Baltar, forcing him to use his Cylon detector once again...but not before using the Chief as a guinea pig to get Sharon to admit to exactly how many Cylons were currently in the fleet. Thankfully, Tyrol was cleared of any wrong doing or Cylon blood lines and released back to duty, but Sharon...well she didn't fare so well. While she was being transferred to a brand new Cylon-proof cell, Cally took the opportunity to exact a little revenge for both the Commander and the Chief...by plugging Sharon in the stomach, where she died in Tyrol's arms. 

So yeah...this was quite the bleak episode to say the least, and I have to say I'm impressed with the fact that the show has managed to shift from a philosophical nature to this pedal to the medal method of storytelling where tons of events happen in rapid fire. It's allowing for one plot thread after another to be wrapped up in neat and tidy fashion, all while presenting us with new challenges as well, like the insurrection brewing in the fleet for example. But at least there was one extra bright spot in this episode that we didn't cover in depth because it was so brief, the fact that the Old Man is awake from his surgery, and ready to take command once again, and we'll see how he handles the mess that Tight has left for him because man, it's a doozy. Until next time.

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