Battlestar Galactica (2003)/Sacrifice

Sacrifice
Season 2, Episode 16
Airdate	February 10, 2006
Written by	Anne Cofell Saunders
Directed by	Reynaldo Villalobos
Nielsen Rating	1.8
Fleet Survivors	49,590
← 2x15 Scar	2x17 → The Captain's Hand
Battlestar Galactica (2003) — Season Two

Sacrifice is the sixteenth episode of the second season of Battlestar Galactica, and is the twenty-ninth episode overall.

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

Michael Hogan (Colonel Saul Tigh), Paul Campbell (Billy Keikeya), Alessandro Juliani (Lt. Felix Gaeta), Kandyse McClure (PO Anastasia "Dee" Dualla)

Guest Star: Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh)

Guest Stars: Mark Houghton (Vinson), Eric Breker (Chu), David Neale (Page)

and Dana Delany (Sesha Abinell)

Cast: Michael Ryan (Ray Abinell), Adrien Hughes (Lt. Terry Burrell), Erica Carroll (Civilian), James Upton (Environmental Specialist), Georgia Hacche (Petty Officer Sian)

Plot Summary

A team of terrorists led by a woman named Sesha Abinell take a lounge on Cloud 9 hostage. They've found out about Galactica's Sharon unit, and Sesha wants it released to them so she can kill it in revenge for a Cylon raid on the Fleet that cost her husband his life.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Rumours have gotten out about Sharon.

• Sharon warns Adama about the Cylons ambushing where there is DRADIS interference.

Characters

• Billy asks Dee to marry him and she refuses. Dee later goes to a bar on Cloud 9 with Lee where she admits she doesn't know where she stands with Billy or with Lee. Billy catches them and chastises her for not telling him about Lee.

• Adama tries to figure out whether or not he should trust the information he's getting from Sharon enough to keep her rather than releasing her to the terrorists to get the hostages back. Even though she directly tells him that she's not willing to disclose who the other Cylon agents operating in the fleet are, he decides that she's worth keeping. He appears to give up Sharon's dead body, only for it to be Boomer's body. His changed feelings toward her are furthered by the fact that he now refers to Sharon by name.

• When the terrorists realise they've been had, they ready to kill Dee. Billy then attempts to take one of the guns, only to be fatally shot in the process.

• Kara accidentally shoots Lee and is wracked with guilt over it.

• Dee sits by Lee's side in the sickbay, assuring him she'll be there when he wakes up.

• Roslin confesses that Billy is the closest thing to family she has left. When Billy dies, she visits him in Galactica's morgue and grieves.

Referbacks

• Kara standing out of sight, watching Dee as she tells Lee he has to stay is a parallel to "Resurrection Ship, part 2" when Dee overhears Lee admit to Kara that he didn't want to come back.

Trivia

The Show

• Final appearance of Billy Keikeya in the series.

• Eric Breker previously played the Gemenon Captain in "Flesh and Bone".

Behind the Scenes

• Billy Keikeya was written out of the show because the producers couldn't get Paul Campbell to commit to a five year contract and couldn't write any stories with his tether to the show in question.

Memorable Moments

• Apollo swiftly takes away a nearby goon's weapon and uses it himself, similar to "Bastille Day" and, more recently, "Black Market". This is rapidly becoming Apollo's signature move.

Goofs

• When Starbuck is reaching into her case, she's wearing a cap but when she spins around to face the terrorists, the cap is no longer there.

• When Lee gets shot, the blood that initially spurts onto his shirt disappears a couple of shots later.

Quotes

• Adama: Saul, we can't give her Sharon. I hope you know that, right?

Tigh: I know that. We can't start dealing with the terrorists. If we start now, it'll open the floodgates, and it'll never stop. But by the way, it's not Sharon. It's a frakking Cylon.

Adama: You don't think I know that?

Tigh: I think there's part of you that looks into that thing's eyes and still sees that young girl that reported aboard two years ago as a rook pilot. Well, it's not. It never was. Bill, it's a machine.

• Roslin: Gentlemen, everyone in that room is someone's son, someone's wife, someone's mother. Billy is the closest thing that I have to family left in this world. And if you don't think that that confuses things emotionally for me - let's not be naïve.

• Roslin: (referring to Boomer's body) Is this what you gave them?

Adama: It was a calculated risk.

Roslin: It wasn't worth it.