Battlestar Galactica (2003)/Downloaded

Downloaded
Season 2, Episode 18
Airdate	February 24, 2006
Written by	Bradley Thompson & David Weddle
Directed by	Jeff Woolnough
Nielsen Rating	1.8
Fleet Survivors	49,579
← 2x17 The Captain's Hand	2x19 → Lay Down Your Burdens (1)
Battlestar Galactica (2003) — Season Two

Downloaded is the eighteenth episode of the second season of Battlestar Galactica, and is the thirty-first episode overall.

Edward James Olmos (Admiral William Adama), Mary McDonnell (Laura Roslin), Katee Sackhoff (Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace) (credit only), Jamie Bamber (Commander Lee "Apollo" Adama) (credit only), James Callis (Dr. Gaius Baltar), Tricia Helfer (Number Six), Grace Park (Sharon Valerii)

Michael Hogan (Colonel Saul Tigh), Aaron Douglas (Chief Galen Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Karl "Helo" Agathon)

Special Guest Star: Lucy Lawless (D'Anna Biers)

Guest Star: Michael Trucco (Samuel Anders)

Guest Stars: Donnelly Rhodes (Dr. Cottle), Matthew Bennett (Aaron Doral)

Guest Stars: Rekha Sharma (Tory Foster), Kerry Norton (Paramedic Layne Ishay)

Co-Starring: Alisen Down (Jean Barolay)

Cast: Erica Cerra (Maya), Diego Diablo Del Mar (Hilliard)

Plot Summary

Sharon's baby is born prematurely, leading to what decision must be made over what to do with it for fear of what the hybrid child might mean to the Cylons.

On Caprica, Boomer resurrects after being shot and refuses to integrate into Cylon society, leading D'Anna Biers to assign the Six that worked with Dr. Baltar, now christened Caprica-Six, to help her.

Notes

• This episode had the highest Nielsen rating of the evening for Sci Fi Friday.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Sharon's baby is born premature and delivered via C-section. It's placed in an incubator until it's lungs develop. In the meantime, Roslin makes the decision that the baby is a danger. She has Cottle fake the baby's death and places the real baby with a new mother under the guise that it was given up by a Pegasus officer for religious and political reasons.

• The Cylons have been rebuilding Caprica for themselves.

• It's established that despite their identical appearance, Cylons can differentiate between copies of the same model.

• It's revealed that a Cylon can be boxed where in which their memories can be put into cold storage.

• Boomer and Caprica-Six are hailed as "Heroes of the Cylon", but D'Anna attempts to put them together in an effort to get them boxed because she understands they have changed perception of the attacks. They kill her and hope before her resurrection they can convince the others that the attacks on the Colonies were a mistake and find a new way to live in God's love.

Characters

• Sharon names her baby Hera. Upon learning that it's dead, she become enraged and attempts to kill Cottle before she's pulled away. Tyrol accompanies Helo in a Raptor as he spreads the ashes.

• The Number Six that resurrects after dying in the nuclear attacks is named Caprica-Six by the other Cylons. She immediately sees Baltar, much in the same way the real Baltar sees Number Six. He similarly helps and guides her, but is a bit more direct, yet more sarcastic.

• Caprica-Six still loves Baltar deeply, telling only Boomer and admits that she hopes he could have loved her eventually.

• Boomer has trouble integrating back into Cylon society, taking up her original residence and continues to go by her human name. She expresses pain for the betrayals of everyone she loved on Galactica.

• Anders is still alive and working with the resistance. He's caught in the explosion and trapped, rescued by D'Anna. She wants to kill him, but Six and Boomer decide they don't want him to die and let him escape, giving him back Kara's dog tags D'Anna took off him.

• Number Six confronts Baltar after the apparent death of Sharon's baby and alleges that he has committed an unforgivable sin for which humanity will suffer God's vengeance.

Referbacks

• Anders still has the dog tags Kara gave him at the end of "The Farm" and D'Anna even mentions she was on the planet a couple of weeks ago.

Trivia

The Show

• It's revealed that the model number of the Cylons known as D'Anna Biers is Number Three; Aaron Doral is Number Five; and Sharon Valerii is Number Eight.

• Awards: This episode was nominated for an IVy Award for the 2005-06 season for Best Individual Episode of a Drama Series.

• This episode had been nominated for the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.

Behind the Scenes

• The Cylons known as Simon and Leoben Conoy are seen, but are only in the background and from behind. The characters are played by body doubles. This is simply because the characters were not featured in the script and it was felt unnecessary to bring in Rick Worthy and Callum Keith Rennie.

• A majority of the dialogue overheard narrating in the recap appears to be exclusively written, not taken from any previous episode.

• The music that accompanies the Baltar that Caprica-Six sees is the music associated with Number Six, only played backwards.

Allusions and References

• This episode marks the first use of the term "skin job" in reference to the humanoid Cylons. The term originates from the film Blade Runner, which not only also starred Edward James Olmos, but also deals with robot replicants of humans, the term "skin job" being applied in a derogatory fashion. Co-writer Bradley Thompson has said that the term was applied as a quick method of categorisation in the script, and was simply never shot down in the approval stages.

Quotes

• Cottle: (to Sharon) I find it absolutely amazing you people went to all the trouble to appear human and didn't upgrade the plumbing.

• Number Three: If we don't turn her around soon, there's talks of boxing her.

Caprica-Six: Putting her memories in cold storage? You can't be serious!

Messenger Baltar: Well, that's a charming way to deal with emotional problems. One might almost call it inhuman. Oh, that's right, you are.

• Caprica-Six: Following God's path is never easy.

Messenger Baltar: Oh, don't go all religious with this one. What are you thinking?

Boomer: Do you think I care about your God?

Caprica-Six: Look, God loves you.

Boomer: (picks up a picture of the Galactica crew) This is love. These people love me. I love them. I didn't pretend to feel something so I could screw people over. I loved them. And then I betrayed them! I shot a man I love. Frakked over another man, ruined his life, and why? Because I'm a lying machine! I'm a frakking Cylon!

• Sharon: Oh, she's our little girl. We made her.

Helo: Almost makes you want to believe in the Cylon God. (off Sharon's look) Almost.

• Boomer: She's frakking with you, can't you see that?

Caprica-Six: But why?

Messenger Baltar: Oh, it's so perfectly obvious. You know, for self-aware cybernetic lifeforms, sometimes you can be unbearably obtuse.

• Caprica-Six: Don't kill him.

Number Three: Why not?

Messenger Baltar: Hmm. Why not kill him? You've already killed billions of people. Do you honestly believe one more body's gonna weigh any heavier on your conscience? Which is something that you don't have. Do you?

• Messenger Baltar: Life is short, but the next one's not.