"Battlestar Galactica" Retro Recap: "Litmus"

Written by John Edward Betancourt

When we last left the intrepid crew of the Battlestar Galactica, we enjoyed an in depth look about the value of human life, both as a whole and as an individual with the rescue of Starbuck. As it turns out, that was merely the beginning of something special for this show as clearly the writers realized they could do some incredible things story wise by breaking down the most basic concepts of our society.

But while it seemed like for a moment we were about to delve into the finer parts of the human psyche, that simply wouldn't be the show's style. This was always a character study about difficult issues and facing our greatest challenges and it only took one episode to return to that kind of storytelling as the show decided to take a in depth and amplified look at something the characters experience more often than not...fear. 

Of course it would be too simple to just put the characters in danger or give them something to quiver and quake about. This was an episode that needed to show us something more and they certainly delivered in that department by not only returning to fear...but by showing us what the effects of it can really do when it strikes too close to home. That all arrived from the violent act of a Number Five Cylon...who manages to sneak aboard the Galactica to perform a suicide bombing. The losses are light from the act, but it sets off a chain reaction of terror throughout the fleet. Since now it is revealed that the Cylons look like humans and well, everyone wants to know how this particular model got its hands on explosives on the normally secure Galactica.

It leads to Adama convening a military tribunal to dig into the incident and that's when things get interesting. In fact this is the most fascinating portion of the episode to watch and perhaps the most poignant about what we are and who we become when it comes to fear since Sergeant Hadrian, the officer in charge of the tribunal is relentless in her hunt for finding someone responsible, even going as far to putting the Commander on the stand. It's an action that puts an end to the whole tribunal when her line of questioning shows that the Sergeant is more interested in proving a conspiracy that doesn't exist...in fact exists...and because clearly this has become nothing more than a witch hunt. But despite the wild nature of said tribunal, a few key things do come out of it. Boomer and Tyrol's affair for one, and that it looks like a deckhand left a door open where Number Five could have gained access to the explosives he needed.

It's not concrete proof, but it does get the deckhand put in the brig, something that infuriates Tyrol because he believes in the man's innocence. But Adama is quick to teach his Chief a lesson, that had Tyrol been concerned with his duties as opposed to alone time with Boomer...none of this would have happened regardless because he would have known what his team was up to and that either way, the fleet has the guilty party in custody. It leads Tyrol to end it with the Lieutenant that's where we leave the crew, as rattled as ever and man...what a great episode, simply because of how poignant it is in the end. The deeper discussion about fear, what it does to us and how it transforms us was brilliant. As was the piece on duty and honor that came together between the Chief and the Commander at the end. Either way, it was top notch writing in this episode, and another sign of the incredible journey to come. Until next time. 

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