The Patriot Resource: Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5 Episodes: Sometimes a Great Notion (#411)

Season 4.5 Episode Summaries:
Episode Name: Sometimes a Great Notion
Episode Number: 411
Written by: David Weddle & Bradley Thompson
Directed by: Michael Nankin
Original Air Date: 1/16/09 on SciFi Channel

Analysis:

Earth was nuked 2,000 years ago and is still uninhabitable due to the presence of low-level radiation in the soil and water.
Earth turned out to be populated by Cylons, which means that the thirteenth colony was not human but Cylon in origin.
The fact that 2,000 year old remains could be identified as Cylons means that they resemble the humanoid Cylon models in some fashion. Yet, Anders, Tory, Tigh and Tyrol are Cylons and yet appear to be human. Now that the thirteenth tribe has turned out to be Cylon, there is the possibility of some sort of intertwining of the two races with the loose tie being the machine models. There's still some missing link yet to be explained in the mythology.
Tyrol, Tory, Anders, Tigh and Ellen Tigh lived on Earth and were killed in the nuclear holocaust. It is not explained how they turned up on the colonies believing that they were human, although it's possible that they were downloaded and resurrected in a similar fashion to how the humanoid Cylon models resurrect.
Kara and her ship crashed on Earth. It was her transponder signal that the "pristine" Viper locked on to, which allowed the fleet to find Earth. Though Kara it appears that isn't a Cylon (old or new), she seems to be tied to them somehow since her ship ended up on the Cylon homeworld and her new ship was triggered by the proximity of the Cylons.
It's possible that Kara was "reborn" like the final five apparently were.
The Kara that returned to the fleet burns the evidence and then reports that she lost the signal and didn't find anything.
Between finding a desolate Earth and Kara's body, Leoben doubts himself and his trust in Kara especially after she mentioned the hybrid's prophecy. This doubt likely affects the other Cylons as well.
The disappointment of Earth's inhabitability leads Dee to commit suicide after spending a pleasant evening with Lee. She seemed to have given up and wanted to die clinging to a pleasant thought.
Dee still loved Lee and regularly babysat Hera.
After finding a desolate Earth, Roslin loses her faith in the Book of Pythia (burning it) and has no interest in taking her cancer treatments.
Between Tigh turning out to be a Cylon, Roslin giving up, Dee killing herself and finding a desolate Earth, Adama gives up. He tries to bait Tigh into shooting him and getting it over with, but instead Tigh reminds him that the fleet looks to him.
The crew and remaining passengers of the Galactica appear to have taken the disappointment of Earth hard with graffiti.
Nothing of the reaction of the rest of the fleet to finding a desolate Earth was seen in the episode, although Lee apparently made some sort of speech in an attempt to quell unrest.
Adama extended an invitation to extend the alliance with the Cylons and they appear to have chosen to stay with the fleet when it leaves Earth in search of another habitable planet. It can be assumed that the four Cylons will have some freedom within the fleet or at least on Galactica as long as the alliance with the Cylons remains in place.
D'Anna chooses to stay behind on Earth and die on the planet of her ancestors.
D'Anna points out that Cavil is still out there and likely to continue to come after the fleet even without the Hub.
Ellen is revealed to be the final Cylon. D'Anna could easily have known of her death on New Caprica and thus would know only four of the five were left in the fleet.
Tigh appears to have retained his position in the command structure in spite of his being a Cylon and his deception about it.

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