Episode Name: A Day In the Life Episode Number: 314 Written by: Mark Verheiden Directed by: Rod Hardy Original Air Date: 2/18/07 on SciFi Channel Review Posted: 3/4/07
Lee walks into the briefing room and the humor is over. He immediately jumps into a speech about counting the days since the last attack. He channels Adama when talking about not slipping up and making a single mistake, because no matter how long it's been since the last Cylon appearance all it takes is one slip-up. Adama stands in the hallway by the doorway listening. Adama has one of his "proud papa" moments and his Inner Carolanne wants him to tell that to Lee. Adama says that Lee knows and Carolanne wonders if Lee knows he's considered a good officer or is loved by his father. She continues by questioning whether Adama's "command façade" extends to Lee as well.
Lee brings the briefing to an end. Starbuck sticks around to long enough to tell Lee that he needs to be more creative and not use the same speech that Adama has used again and again. Lee pays his father a compliment about "stealing the best" and Adama takes that as his cue to walk in. Starbuck leaves. Lee almost immediately can tell that something is off with his father, but Adama brushes him off. Adama then tells Lee about Roslin wanting him for the job of heading the legal proceeding commission. Lee says he's not a lawyer. Adama points out, much to Lee's surprise that he knew Lee used to sneak into his grandfather's office to read his books and legal papers. Lee says that law was one of many occupations that he considered before the military. He then says that he doesn't have time to accept the position because of his duties as CAG.
With Baltar's trial coming, the writers have apparently decided to remind the audience of the backstory of Adama's father having been a lawyer. This hopefully is a sign that Lee will be involved in spite of his declining here. Because his character is by-the-book, Lee has previously been much more interesting when he's involved with the non-military and non-Kara stories.
And we're back to the airlock for another quick update. Tyrol's attempt to patch the leak backfires as the leak is significantly worse.
Act 2:
Adama, Tigh and Lee are now aware of the problem with the airlock. They reach the observation booth and Tyrol admits that he made matters worse and hopes that they can get the doors open.
Adama, Lee and Tigh have to go all the way back to CIC to discuss what to do about the airlock, or at least what they can't do. The manual override is unavailable. They have less than a hour's worth of air and it would take more than an hour to cut through the blast doors. If this were Star Trek, that plan would have been the one used. An explosion that blows out the observation room would also take out Cally and Tyrol. Adama, his façade slipping off, heatedly demands a plan. Lee and Tigh are taken aback, although Tigh shouldn't be since he knows that it's Bill's "special" day. Any other day and Adama wouldn't be batting an eye about how close Nicolas is to being an orphan.
Apparently, they have come up with a plan that involves using a Raptor. No one apparently ever bothered to time the Raptor door closing before, because now they time it to find that it takes seven seconds plus another ten to re-pressurize the Raptor. Starbuck and Athena are there as well. Athena is going to pilot the Raptor and says they need to move since time is short. Without a bigger storyline, Starbuck seems to be taking over the lesser pilot-speaking bits that had been going to Kat.
The air is getting thin and it's getting cold in the airlock. Cally and Tyrol put on what little gear is around. Adama comes along to explain the plan of blowing out the door so they end up in a Raptor outside. Cally, to no surprise, is concerned about being exposed to space. Adama just puts up his façade and tells them that humans have been able to survive in space. He also talks down Tyrol's doubts.
After the Raptor is seen taking off, Cally voices her concern for Nicolas. She doesn't want him orphaned twice, so she tells Adama about a civilian family that she wants to look after him. Tyrol finally stops being distant from Cally and admits that he was being selfish by assigning her to the same job. He wanted her near him like she always had been, but hadn't considered Nicolas. Cally is now the one who tries to be positive and says that Adama will get them out of it, so they can start taking care of Nicolas together.
This could be the moment when Tyrol starts acting like a father. First, he was the union leader, then he was a resistance leader and now he's slid back into the Chief, who works double shifts and hardly takes a break. Most fathers don't have to go through quite such a traumatic experience to get the message, but this is Battlestar Galactica, after all. As Cally and Tyrol continue in the background, Colonel Sourpuss has to remind the audience just how dangerous the plan is. Adama says to make ready Cottle's hyperbaric chamber.
