'Battlestar Galactica' Retro Recap: 'Faith'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

​When we last left Kara Thrace and her unsettled crew on Battlestar Galactica, the situation was grim. After all, there was mutiny in the air over Starbuck’s decision to roll the hard six and take the crew of the Demetrius along to investigate Leoben’s Basestar and considering the fact that the prior episode ended with a cliffhanger, I got the distinct feeling that the next chapter in this story, ‘Faith’, was going to be quite the intense affair with all of that bad blood hanging in the air. As it turns out, I was definitely right about that part, but this episode offered up so much more for the audience, and all of it related to the title of this tale.
 
But before we get too deep into that, let’s take a moment and talk about how this story resolved the cliffhanger in question, because that’s what generated all the tension in this episode, and with good reason. Because the attempt to take over the ship ended in violence when Sam defended his love, going so far as to shoot Gaeta to hammer home the point that Kara is in charge and oddly enough, the violence turned out to be an effective way to diffuse the situation since everyone stood down to prevent further bloodshed and the respite in this moment allowed for Kara to convince Helo to give her a Raptor to take to the Basestar instead of the entire ship.
 
As for what she and a small group found in space, well that’s where the notion of faith and quite frankly, destiny, came into play. Because the Basestar in question and its location, was a dead ringer when it comes to Kara’s visions and after some tense moments aboard the ship, the all-important meeting with the Hybrid took place, and the chilling message from Razor came about once again, along with other riddles that led everyone to realize that the Final Five hold the key to finding Earth since they are from there, which means the time has come to unbox D’Anna, since she has seen all of their faces. But all of that aside, it’s nice that Kara’s unwavering faith in Earth was rewarded in this tale and now…the people of the fleet are going to have to take her a little more seriously.
 
Yet, while Kara dealt with her dilemma, the show slowed things down severely aboard Galactica, where the president was receiving more treatment for her cancer. And while received said treatment in sickbay, she met a woman named Emily and the two of them discussed the finer points of religion and what might happen to them when they pass into the great beyond and well…this was a surprisingly beautiful part of the plot and I like that the series didn’t condemn or endorse faith in this segment of the episode, it merely examined what it can mean for people in times of trouble and it was also cool to see Nana Visitor, a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine alum pop up in this part of the story as Emily. 
 
When all is said and done however, I love that the plot is continuing to come together as this season rolls on. Suddenly it’s crystal clear that Kara has indeed been through something incredible since her visions are coming true, and I love that the ‘harbinger of death’ message came back into play because that makes it clear we are moving toward some big things in the weeks to come. Either way, this was a good one, it definitely kept my attention and honestly, there’s little else to say other than, I’m ready to roll on another episode, because I’m dying to be refreshed upon what D’Anna has to say about the Final Five. So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to watch the next one to see where this incredible plot is headed. Until next time. 

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