“Scattered”

Scattered is an apt title for an episode that is very frenetic throughout. Starting with Adama lying on the table, with two bullets in him, is always an eye opener, even if you had watched the previous season finale. Adama is quickly brought to the infirmary, while Tigh remands Boomer and Apollo to the brig.

Suddenly there is chaos, when Gaeta suggests that Boomer’s attack might have been a prelude for an all out Cylon attack. As they begin plotting out how that could have happened, sure enough the Cylons arrive, forcing the fleet to jump.

Unfortunately in the chaos, Gaeta does not transmit the updated jump coordinates to the rest of the fleet, meaning that the Galactica ends up in one place while the rest of the fleet goes to the previous jump coordinates.

And here comes a problem, that was hard for me as a viewer to get over. As Tigh, Gaeta, and Captain Aaron Kelly discuss the situation, Tigh asks that if they jumped back, how long would it take to recalculate the coordinates. Gaeta says twelve hours.

Well that must be a plot device. In the first episode they were jumping every thirty-three minutes. And then secondly, don’t they already HAVE the coordinates? Were they completely wiped from the computer when they updated. It’s hard to believe they couldn’t back it up to get the coordinates.

Tigh blames himself, for not checking that the backup was down, and we get into the first of many flashbacks of young Adama and Tigh. Flashbacks are fine as long as they move the current story forward. These didn’t at all. We didn’t need the flashbacks to tell us that Adam and Tigh were close. We knew this.

On Kobol, Personal Six claims that the baby she is showing Baltar is their baby of the future, but is woken up soon after by Cally telling him that they have to move. Sure enough a sonic boom is heard signalling the Cylons have arrived. Lt. Crashdown is starting to lose whatever steel he has as he panics, and makes a ton of bad decisions despite Tyrol trying to reason with him.

One such decision is when they realize they’ve left a medic kit behind that has a drug that is necessary for their wounded comrade, Crashdown sends one man, Tarn, back after. Tyrol and Cally convince him to allow them to go with Tarn and it’s a good idea as the Cylons attack and kill Tarn. Aaron Douglas gives a very good performance.
Gaeta comes up with a plan for their supposed problem. If they network their computers the time to plot the coordinates goes down to ten minutes. Of course the problem is that Commander Adama had strictly forbidden there to be networks on Galactica. But it’s Tigh’s ship now and he agrees. He lets Apollo out of the brig on parole so he can lead the Viper squadron, but when he’s off duty it’s back to the brig.

After a brutal beat down of Boomer, and a few more flashbacks, it’s time to jump back.

The Caprica storyline is short and sweet this episode. Starbuck and Helo fight over pregnant Boomer, who steals Starbuck’s Cylon Raider, as Starbuck mutters,

“Bitch stole my ride.”

As the fleet jumps back, the medic is able to stabilize Adama even without Dr. Cottle. The plan goes off without a hitch.

Well almost. A new type of Cylon ship crashes into the Galactica before she is able to jump…so you know that’s going to come into play.

So the Scattered frenetic episode comes to an end. It works as a conclusion, but there still leaves a lot to be desired.

C+

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