2.16
“Sacrifice”
“Sacrifice” is a very decent filler story. There is not much advancement in the overall arc, but there are meaningful moments, and importantly, very logical progressions.
On board Cloud 9, Sesha Abinell is writing a propaganda piece about the fact that the military chiefs are allowing a Cylon to live on the Galactica. She is protesting this, believing that all Cylons should be terminated. She claims this is a political motivation, but in reality we see through a few well timed (good step forward for the series) flashbacks that her husband was killed during a Cylon attack, making it a much more personal motivation.
On board Galactica, we see Adama, Billy, and Roslin discussing exactly how much the public know about Sharon and what they should tell them. Billy suggests the truth, merely saying that they would not destroy the one source of information that they had. Billy has grown some more conviction recently in saying what he believes. This conviction leads him to propose to Duella.
Unfortunately, Duella is not reciprocative. It was kind of an interesting choice, but not exactly out of character for Billy to kind of bumble into it. What’s worse though is what happens next. In a bar on Cloud 9, we see Duella and Apollo on what could only be a date and this only two episodes after Apollo brushed her off.
Billy comes into the establishment and sees Duella and Adama together. Apollo leaves them to talk, while he meets up with Ellen Tigh at the bar. While scoping the bar, Apollo notices Sesha and a few others acting suspicious. Apollo quickly gets Ellen to go to the bathroom with him. Ellen comes quickly enough believing Apollo wanted to have sex with her, but Apollo keeps her quiet as Sesha and her henchmen take the bar hostage, sealing the door.
Apollo uses quick judgment and grabbed Ellen’s drink which has dry ice in it. He used the dry ice to sabotage the oxygen sensors, hoping they’ll be forced to open the door. In the meantime, Ellen leaves the bathroom, announcing herself to the terrorists. It’s an interesting ploy, playing into Tigh’s promiscuity.
Abinell tells Adama that she will kill all the hostages unless he turns over Sharon. She believes that Sharon is compromising the fleet and that it all happened before when the Cylons first attacked.
I liked the realism of the situation. It’s far from the perfect terrorism plot, but nothing implies that a citizen like Abinell would know any better. It’s a few lives in a casino vs. Fleet reputation. The fact that there also appears to be no exit strategy shows how single-minded Abinell has become. She doesn’t care what happens afterwards, she just needs to finish her job.
Abinell sends a henchman in to the bathroom to round up anyone else, but Apollo gets the jump on him, taking his gun. Using him as a hostage, Apollo makes his way back to the room. Abinell doesn’t believe he’s a killer (maybe she should ask Phelan? Further cementing my idea that “Black Market” was a script for some other show, that was shoehorned into the BSG universe…but that’s another story). She threatens Duella and Apollo backs down, surrendering.
However his sabotage has worked to a degree forcing the alarms to go off. Abinell demands from Adama that they fix the oxygen or else his son will die.
Starbuck happened to be on Cloud 9, getting some R and R as are a few marines. They are sent to help with the situation. Starbuck disguises herself as a technician and they let her in. Her job is recon, but when Ellen Tigh recognizes her, and it is noticed by the terrorists, Starbuck is forced to open fire. During the firefight, Starbuck accidentally hits Lee, forcing her emotions to overwhelm. She gets out, and the door is sealed again.
On board Galactica, there is a lot of healthy debate between Adama, Tigh, and Roslin about the value of Sharon, the demands of Abinell, and from Tigh and Roslin, the idea that Adama perhaps has been relying on Sharon too much. Adama himself questions his motives.
In a ingenious idea, Adama can have it both ways. He tells Abinell that he’s giving into her demands but on his terms. He would kill Sharon personally and deliver the dead body to her. Abinell agrees to this and indeed a dead Sharon is wheeled into the establishment.
Of course it’s the older, already dead Sharon, not the new and pregnant one.
It distracts Abinell and her men enough for the marines to come in and attempt another rescue, this one successful. Unfortunately Billy is shot in the process, killing him almost instantly. It is a realistic ending, that is still clever, and with the weight of Billy’s death, something that will leave an impact.
Apollo does survive and Duella promises to stick by him until he gets better. Standing behind them unknown at the hospital, Starbuck stands in an emotional whirlwind, not quite healed from Scar, and not sure where she stands with Apollo, all the while watching as Duella and he get closer.
Overall it is a good standalone story, that does everything such a story needs to do.
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