'Battlestar Galactica' Retro Recap: 'The Captain's Hand'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Often times when a television show goes on a tear when it comes to a particular theme or concept, you truly expect the series to maintain the status quo as the season rolls on, and as I settled in to watch the next episode of Battlestar Galactica, I indeed expected more of the same. I was ready to learn more about what season two had made a grand focus, in regards to death and how we face it, and as it turns out, 'The Captain's Hand' decided to surprise us all by going in a bold new direction...by taking the time instead to analyze the importance of life.

Granted this particular story did feature death and plenty of it, but once you get past the lives lost in this one, it truly is a celebration of life and the importance of preserving it and all of that was accomplished with two key storylines; wherein the show tackled abortion in its own special way and by having Lee spend some time aboard the Battlestar Pegasus as a consultant, with a shiny new promotion to Major, in the hopes of smoothing things out between Kara Thrace and the ship's Commander, a former engineer turned skipper of the boat named Barry Garner, and well...Lee's timing simply could not be better because things aboard Pegasus are a bit of a mess.

Because Garner, is a bit of a hard-ass, and not the productive kind that is tough but fair. He has little idea how to command a Battlestar and its vast and dynamic crew and that's precisely why he and Kara are butting heads and exactly why Lee needs to be there, especially when a pair of Raptors go missing because Garner gets the bright idea to jump the entire ship to the last known location of his men and in the process, flies the Pegasus right into a massive trap, one where the ship takes on serious damage to the point where Lee is left in charge while Garner does his best to repair said damage in order to keep his valiant crew alive and in doing so...the Commander sacrifices his life to get the ship back home. It's a stunning moment to say the least, because it's clear Garner suddenly came to realize keeping these people alive, whether they loved him or not mattered more and his sacrifice saved thousands of souls.  

However, the show wasn't quite done looking at the needs of the many, because back in the fleet, a young woman from Gemenon stows away to the Galactica in the hopes of seeing Doc Cottle, and the reason for making such a dangerous trek is simple...she wants to have an abortion. Unfortunately the people of Gemenon don't believe in such procedures, putting the President in a tough place, one where she has to decide as to whether or not she should respect a particular culture's beliefs since the young woman asks for asylum, until the Admiral points out that with so few humans left in existence, at some point the luxuries of old are no longer affordable, and that would include the ability to terminate a pregnancy, and after running the numbers with Vice President Baltar, Laura comes to realize Bill is right and puts a freeze on abortions, but not before the young woman from Gemenon gets her own mere hours before the Executive Order is put into motion, giving Laura one last sense of the old life and the freedom that everyone enjoyed before making a grand and sweeping effort to ensure the human race survives...

Either way, kudos to the show for briefly tackling an issue that continues to rage on to this day and finding a solution for it that works strictly for the story rather than trying to hammer out a solution for the real world and well, despite the darkness surrounding the death of Commander Garner, this was quite the uplifting episode. Lee found himself promoted, again, to Commander of the Pegasus, the fleet understands now that life matters above all else and I guess if there is only one other dark or concerning spot hanging over this one, it's that Baltar declared himself a presidential candidate for the upcoming election and I think we all know, that's a bad idea. However, I love the fact that the series closed out a dark story arc in positive fashion, and I'm quite curious to see where this new arc is taking us because I'm fairly certain this will all somehow tie together as the second season finale draws closer and closer. Until next time. 

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