Battlestar Galactica: Season 1-04: Act of Contrition : by ernestborg9

Well, this is an odd little kettle of fish. The story is both captivating in terms of character development, but also so very carefully contrived in so many respects.

Starting at the top: the bon homme between Starbuck, Apollo and Adama as seen in the teaser doesn’t work. Coming on top of the clear division between Adama and Apollo following the latter’s activities on the Astral Queen (given this episode takes place some 48 hours after the events in “Bastille Day”), the level of comfort and ease that Adama demonstrates just doesn’t sit well with his character as seen to date – or indeed, elsewhere in the episode.

Also, while hi-jinx are to be expected, even in the most dire situations – the crew are going to have to let off steam at times – the whole “1,000th” landing idea smacked too much of a contrivance to get Galactica’s pilots together in order to knock a bunch of them off.

And what the heck was in that “communications drone” beside fuel to cause it to explode with enough force to rattle all 4,500ft of Galactica, but result in just one corner of the hanger bay being dusted?

Moving on, we then have Adama's cosy tête-à-tête with Starbuck regarding the role of instructor. Here two problems raise their little paws. Firstly, no matter how Adama feels about Lee's actions regarding the Astral Queen, it's hard to see him going straight over the head of Galactica's CAG and asking a pilot under Lee's direct command to take on what amounts to a senior, and important role. Doing so could undermine the CAG's authority and place him at odds with the nominated pilot.

Then there is the cosy little cuddle at the end of the scene. Until now, Adama has been portrayed as approachable but aloof. Personnel of all ranks have been comfortable in talking to him openly, and have clearly regarded him with respect. However, there has always been a degree of separation

between him and those around him. But Adama a man given to hugging people? No matter what the reason, this is a hard thing to accept. And while it has been established right from the opening of the mini that he and Thrace share an understanding, the hug comes across as a rather transparent means

of adding the depth needed within their relationship to set him up for the inevitable revelation of her part in Zak's death.

And this is the big failing of this story: taken on their own, each scene is very much a set-piece, contrived and directed towards three things: Adama learning the truth about his son's death; the capture of a Cylon Raider and Starbuck's MIA situation. In these latter regards, “Act of Contrition” could be said to be little more than a 40+ minute set-up for the next episode. Again, in this, the arrival of the Cylons at the end of the show came as absolutely no surprise – nor did the lack of any accompanying basestar.  Perhaps the only thing we were saved from was the expected cliché of the rookies earning their Viper wings through a baptism of fire….

BUT – and this is the nub of the matter: the entire story is beautifully constructed in terms of the balance between the past, the present and – in Thrace's case – the future; and the acting throughout is outstanding. Indeed, it is fair to say that the framing of the episode is its saviour. The interweaving of past and present, Zak's burial and the service for those killed in Galactica's hanger bay; the gradual revelation of Starbuck's relationship with Zak (even with the outcome – their engagement – being somewhat obvious), serve to lift this episode from the mundane, with Starbuck's struggle aboard her Viper serving not only to break the episode into distinct “acts”, as well as conveying Zak's actual loss in a Viper accident of some description.

Alongside of this sits the central performances, which are among the strongest we've seen to date. In this, Edward James Olmos clearly silences any critics of his acting abilities. With barely a turn of the lips, an opening or narrowing of the eyes, he conveys everything we need to know about Adama's reaction to Thrace's admission in his cabin: confusion, hurt, betrayal, loss, anger and finally – fury. It's been a while since such a range of emotional reactions have been so powerfully portrayed, and full kudos to Mr. Olmos and to the episode's director and director of photography for the manner in which the scene is crafted.

Katee Sackhoff deserves praise as well in her handling of Thrace's memories and dilemma. Here, for the first time, we get to see what goes on behind the “Starbuck” mask; and the flashback scenes to her time with Zak are handled with extraordinary poise, and add the required depth needed to

reinforce her guilt at his loss, and her fear of what might happen should she ever be put in a similar position again – or that Adama should ever discover the truth.

Returning to the story itself - as with previous episodes, other arcs are moved along, either directly, or through dialogue. It is through the latter that we learn that the water situation in the fleet is still not

resolved, and that operations are continuing on the ice moon discovered by Boomer and Crashdown in “Water”; we also learn – via the card game – that secrets on Galactica are proving hard to keep: rumours are already spreading that Gaeta is assisting Baltar in the development of his Cylon detector.

Given a more direct reference is Roslin's illness. In a nice follow-on from “Bastille Day” she meets the Galactica's medical officer. Something of a cliché himself (a healer killing himself through smoking), the doctor is unsurprisingly direct to the point of bluntness in confirming the original prognosis of the cancer. Even so, he is a useful foil for opening a new mini-arc to Roslin's character: her determination to fight the cancer through orthodox and possibly unorthodox means.

Helo's situation on Caprica is also given an airing, and after last week's odd departure film-wise, we're back in familiar territory. Or at least weather – rain. From wandering in the Caprican city at random looking for supplies in “Bastille Day” Helo and Valerii seem to have recovered their purpose: locating the source of the signal first encountered in “Water”.

However, for anyone hoping to see further enlightenment as to what is happening with Helo: stand by for a disappointment. In many respects, this segment is as baffling as the one we witnessed in “Bastille Day”.  After the apparently cautionless meanderings into the city, and the ruminations between Doral and Six last week (which were in themselves an interesting insight to the Cylons), this week we get an empty fall-out shelter and an enigmatic appearance by Six. Taken together, those two Helo scenes are coming close to suggesting that while the Cylons may well have a plan – they may not have actually told the writers what it is. That said, I've still got the nagging doubt about taking everything we see on Caprica at face value. Just don't ask me why.

Truth be told, while both the Roslin and Helo scenes may help to move these particular sub-plots forward, they don't entirely fit with the overall arc of “Act of Contrition”. Indeed, were one to be unkind, one could sum them both up in a single word: “padding”.

Overall, a vastly different episode from all that has gone before and one that is, as stated before, saved from mediocrity only in the interweaving of the various story elements – future, present and past – and the outstanding performances from both Sackhoff and Olmos, well-supported by Bamber and Callas.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

What do we learn in this episode:

It is 48 hours since the prisoner uprising on the Astral Queen

Water replenishment ops are still underway, although there was no direct evidence of this, merely a throwaway line from Lee Adama

The Galactica has a remaining contingent of 40 Vipers on top of her 5 Raptors (revealed in “Water”), but now only has 21 combat-ready pilots and a further 8 newbie “nuggets”

The Colonial military use HumVees and Deuce-and-a-half trucks!

Cylon Raiders have guns of an apparently similar nature to those mounted on Vipers

Zak and Starbuck were engaged, and that lead to her passing him for flight duty

Adama's relationship with Starbuck is not as long-standing as the mini appeared to suggest: they have only served together for 2 years

Word is leaking out about Baltar's “Cylon detector”

Helo and Valerii still appear to be the only “people” left alive on Caprica. Neither seem in any hurry to get off the planet.
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