Episode Name: Daybreak, Parts 2 & 3 Episode Number: 420 Written by: Ronald D. Moore Directed by: Michael Rymer Original Air Date: 3/20/09 on SciFi Channel
Analysis:
Coupling together the flashbacks from Daybreak, Part 1 and this episode, it's now clear that the flashbacks were about some pivotal choices that directly led to what happened in the series:
Adama had a chance to take a high-paying civilian desk job, but he didn't really want to give up commanding a spaceship. The lie detector test rankled him just enough that he had an excuse to not take the job and remain in command of Galactica .
Because of Baltar's love for Caprica Six, he gave her access to the defense mainframe which led to the Cylon attacks.
Because Kara and Lee did not hook up that night, she stayed with Zak who then died and led to all the angst that they had. They never really got beyond that same point that night where they could ever fully commit to one another.
Roslin decided not to continue seeing Sean Ellison, but rather pursue Adar which led to her inclusion in his cabinet and ending up on Galactica during the attacks.
Because Adama didn't take the job, Tigh didn't retire and continued to be Adama's XO.
Because Boomer was given another chance to stay on Galactica as a rookie pilot, she had a chance to repay her debt to Adama when it really mattered and return Hera. It is also likely that if Boomer had not remained on Galactica , Helo would not have become the subject of the Cylons' experiment and Hera might never have been born.
The one flashback that does not fit in this structure is Anders. His flashback seems to better echo the fact that he's become part of the machine in the finale and the perfection of the mathematics of computers.
When Cottle departs, Roslin apparently has only hours to live.
With Adama and Lee's departure on the rescue mission, new military and political leaders for the fleet were needed. Since Tigh, Helo and Kara are also going on the rescue mission that leaves Hoshi as the highest ranking officer left. The line of succession to Romo Lampkin isn't as clear other than the fact that he's served as an advisor to Lee.
Baltar decides to stay with the rescue mission at the last second.
The rescue plan was as follows:
Galactica jumps into the "parking spot" and engages the batteries.
Anders, stationed in CIC, plugs in and shuts down firing control.
The Vipers provide air cover for Galactica to ward off the Raiders.
The Raptors jump to a location on the opposite side of the Colony "in the soup" carrying assault team 2 led by Kara.
Galactica then rams the Colony itself, which allows assault team 1 led by Lee to go in directly.
With assault team 1 drawing most of the Cylons' attention, assault team 2 could move in quickly, secure Hera and link up with assault team 1.
The Centurions that were part of the rescue mission were painted with a red stripe to differentiate them from the Colony's Centurions.
Reserve forces were also left on Galactica in order to combat the inevitable boarding of the ship by the Cylons. Baltar and Caprica Six were part of the reserve force.
Presumably, once Hera was secured, they would have then jumped to the rendezvous point.
The old style Cylon Centurion and the model baseship from what was to be the museum on Galactica when she was retired still sit in the port flight pod. What is of particular note is that the glass casing housing the Cylon Centurion is somehow still intact after four years of running battles.
When Tyrol tells Anders to cut back on the power he's pulling through the systems, he responds, "Open your mind and hear what your heart wants to deny."
Because of Baltar's selfless of choosing to remain on Galactica , Caprica Six is finally proud of him. This seems to awaken the love she previously had for him.
It turns out that Inner Baltar and Inner Six were visible to both Caprica Six and Baltar. There is a certain symmetry to a Cylon and human seeing Cylon and human "head" characters and also having a shared role in the fate of their races.
During the fighting on the Colony, it is revealed that there were still a number of old model Cylons still in action.
Boomer had become squeamish with the idea of what could happen to Hera from the moment she returned to the Colony with her. Finally, she takes action by killing Simon and heading for the rescue team.
When Cavil finds Simon dead, he changes from a defensive posture to being on the offensive.
Boomer meets up with Kara, Athena and Helo. She hands Athena over to Hera. She seems to understand she made a series of pour choices and has to pay for them. Even so, her final choice of bringing Hera to her parents was finally the "right" choice.
Athena personally delivers the capital punishment to Boomer that the Cylon model Twos, Sixes and Eights had wanted because of her betrayal. Boomer had also personally betrayed Athena by assaulting her, sleeping with her husband and kidnapping her daughter.
The Opera House vision is finally explained. The Opera House turns out to be Galactica herself and the stage was CIC with the balcony being the upper deck or Core of CIC.
Roslin's role was to keep Hera safe from Cavil while he roamed the corridors. Otherwise, one can only assume that she was included in the vision because of her position of power and ability to influence members of the fleet.
Caprica Six and Baltar have to take Hera to CIC so that the final "act" is set in motion.
In the end, it wasn't Baltar's impassioned speech about a higher power that persuaded Cavil, it was Tigh's offer of resurrection. Even so, it seemed inconsistent with his character to even give Baltar's arguments thought since the examples that Baltar gave would have sounded like madness to Cavil.
Tory's murder of Cally ended up having dire consequence for herself and many Cylons. The humans actually came out of it largely unharmed.
Tyrol's love life turned out very, very badly. No wonder he was tired of people and wanted to live alone:
Boomer turned out to be a sleeper agent who tried to kill Adama and was killed (for the first time) by his future wife Cally. Once Tyrol was finally reunited with Boomer, she used him to help her escape and kidnap Hera. She was finally killed by Athena, her 'sister'.
His wife Cally actually killed Boomer, albeit after she was revealed to be a Cylon. Then Cally became distraught when she learned that Tyrol and the others were Cylons themselves. Tory killed her to protect their secret.
According to Ellen, he and Tory had been engaged back on Earth. Tory ended up killing his wife Cally to protect the secret of their Cylon-ness. Tyrol ends up killing her with his own hands when he learns that she killed Cally.
The Dorals possibly had their own agenda within the confines of Cavil's leadership:
Upon finding Boomer has taken Hera and killed a Simon, Doral says that Cavil shouldn't have trusted her.
Doral also doesn't seem to be particularly happy with Cavil's condescending comments to Simon as they leave.
A lone Doral attacks the party escorting Hera. He couldn't have expected to recapture Hera especially armed only with a single sidearm. It's seems more likely that he wanted to kill someone in the party, presumably Hera.
The Doral in CIC didn't appear fond of the truce that Cavil had made with Adama especially as another Doral lay dead on the dead.
As soon as the download is interrupted by Tyrol, the Doral immediately calls it a trick and starts firing. He seemed to be looking for an excuse to start the fighting again.
Long ago back on Caprica, it was a Doral who said that they need to kill their parents, who was humanity. There is no indication that that resolve had changed.
Though the Colony was heavily damaged by the nukes and presumably knocked off its orbit and now susceptible to the pull of the singularity, there was no indication that all Cylons were gathered at the Colony, so it's probable that there are some surviving Cylons on baseships somewhere. Of course, without Resurrection, the humanoid Cylons have a limited lifespan.
The rebel baseship was turned over to the Centurions so at least some number of Cylons are sure to have survived.
The song ("All Along the Watchtower") that "switched" the Final Five on, that Hera drew the notes to and that Kara was taught as a child turned out to contain the coordinates to a habitable planet as realized by Kara.
Adama dubs the new planet Earth even though it's not the original Earth. Based on his argument, Earth was a dream and so any planet that fulfilled that dream IS Earth.
Adama points out that one continent of Earth has more wildlife than all the twelve colonies. Perhaps, he was exaggerating, but his statement can be taken to mean that Earth is a more diverse and viable planet than where they had lived before the attacks.
Instead of rebuilding their cities and civilization, Lee suggests that the 38,000 surviving humans forsaske technology in an effort to break the cycle.
We have to second Romo Lampkin in our skepticism that all 38,000 people would so quickly and willingly give up technology. Considering the technology that they still had on those ships and the raw materials to be found on Earth. They could have very easily quickly reestablished a civilization with plenty of room to grow. The fact that no one wants to take that route seems more like a utopian idea of the writers more than anything else.
As the dying leader, Roslin did end up leading the fleet to its new homeland.
Kara's fate as the harbinger of death was fulfilled.. sort of. By jumping Galactica to Earth, she ends up bringing human civilization to its end once everyone agrees to forsake technology, though humanity itself survived.
After having jumped Galactica to Earth, Kara finally felt like her destiny or journey was complete. She then simply disappeared without explanation.
It is possible that Kara's resurrection was another manifestation of the "higher power" that was also responsible for Inner Six and Inner Baltar, but there is no hard evidence that they are connected. The one thing we seem sure of is that she was not a Cylon at least not in the sense like any other Cylons portrayed.
The Final Five, Kara's return, the song and Hera were tied together, while Caprica Six, Baltar, Inner Six, Inner Baltar, the Opera House Vision, Athena, Roslin, the book of Pythia and Hera were tied together. Both had Hera in common. It Is almost as if there were two plans in motion in which Hera played a role. The Opera House vision was about Hera or rather the fate of the Cylon and human races, while the song was about Earth or a home for the survivors.
The events of Battlestar Galactica were set 150,000 years in our past.
The survivors of the Colonies settled on Earth, integrated with the land and presumably the natives.
Hera turned out to be Mitochondrial Eve who is supposed to be the most recent ancestor of Homo sapiens. This also means that Homo sapiens are descended from Cylons.
In our modern day, Inner Six and Inner Baltar pay a visit to New York City. Though there are signs that we are on the path to restarting the cycle, yet Inner Six expresses hope. However, her hope is grounded in mathematics as much as it is in humanity.
When Inner Six makes a reference to 'god', Inner Baltar sternly points out to her that 'it' doesn't being called that.
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