'Battlestar Galactica' Retro Recap: 'He That Believeth in Me'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Well my fellow nerds and geeks, the time has come. After a long and winding journey through the stars, we have finally come to the final season of Battlestar Galactica and well, I won’t lie, it’s a touch strange to realize in likely a few short weeks, my second run through this magnificent series will come to an end. But, before we reach our final destination with the fleet, there’s still some wonderful stories to get through, so without any further ado, let’s begin digging back into this incredible series with a look back at the series four premiere, ‘He That Believeth in Me’.
 
Now this particular tale, was one that I couldn’t wait to re-watch, simply because I distinctly recalled that this one was packed to the brim with intense and powerful moments and truth be told, I completely forgot just how intense this episode turned out to be, because it was in essence a non-stop ride, one that kicked off by immediately picking up where Season Three left off, with a battle brewing in the Ionian Nebula and well, this particular fight was a devastating one to say the least. Because despite the fact that every bird was in the air, the Cylons were able to do some incredible damage to the fleet, and if it wasn’t for a chance encounter with Anders, wherein a Raider found a way to communicate with Sam, mankind likely would have perished.
 
Instead, the Cylons turned tail and ran after that encounter and while it was indeed quite the blessing, there were pieces to pick up after this battle, most of them involving the Final Four as they tried to come to terms with their true identities and whether or not they meant the fleet harm as Boomer did so long ago and of course, there was some question as to how exactly Kara Thrace had come back from the dead, and some were curious as to whether or not she was a Cylon agent. And as the leaders of the fleet tried to unravel those mysteries, Gaius Baltar worked to adjust to life in his new home, amongst a cult that worshipped the one true God and despite being a man of science, a few harrowing moments seemingly made him ponder upon the power of faith. 
 
But despite seeing Gaius grow up a little bit and try to do things for others instead of himself for a change, the plot continued to roll back toward Kara, because her return to the ship isolated her like no other, to the point where her peers outright ignored her, and we also came to learn that she’s connected to the planet she discovered. In fact, they are tied together so closely, that every incorrect jump away from that world causes her physical harm and in a stunning twist at the end of the episode, in order to get the fleet pointed in the proper direction, Starbuck made the call to personally change the President’s mind with force when it comes to their current course and that’s where this episode leaves us, with Kara pointing a gun at Laura Roslin…
 
So yeah, wow. This one simply took my breath away once again, because it was wild from the get go. From the intense battle sequence that made my heart race to the anguish that came with watching Kara seemingly lose her mind, this episode never let up in the slightest and well, I loved it. It speaks to the fact that season four held nothing back storytelling wise, almost as if the mantra for this year was ‘go big or go home’ and considering how much I love the series finale over anything else in this season, it’s good to be surprised once more by the little nuances that came before it, and I cannot wait to see what other surprises the series is going to remind me of as we barrel toward the end of Battlestar Galactica. Until next time.  

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