Battlestar Galactica (2003)/Scar

Scar
Season 2, Episode 15
Airdate	February 3, 2006
Written by	David Weddle & Bradley Thompson
Directed by	Michael Nankin
Nielsen Rating	1.9
Fleet Survivors	49,593
← 2x14 Black Market	2x16 → Sacrifice
Battlestar Galactica (2003) — Season Two

Scar is the fifteenth episode of the second season of Battlestar Galactica, and is the twenty-eighth 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), Aaron Douglas (Chief Galen Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Karl "Helo" Agathon), Alessandro Juliani (Lt. Felix Gaeta), Kandyse McClure (PO Anastasia "Dee" Dualla)

Cast: Luciana Carro (Louanne "Kat" Katraine), Bodie Olmos (Brendan "Hot Dog" Costanza), Christopher Jacot (Ensign Brent "BB" Baxton), Sean Dorry (Ensign Joseph "Jo-Jo" Clark), Christian Tessier (Tucker "Duck" Clellan)

Uncredited: Leo Chiang (Tattooed pilot), Michael Trucco (Samuel Anders) (archive footage)

Plot Summary

Galactica sends Vipers to protect mining units on an asteroid from Cylon Raiders. But one in particular, filled with rage and unwilling to die a permanent death, gives the pilots the most trouble. Questioning what she herself has to live for, Starbuck enters a competition with Kat to gun it down for good.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Thanks to drilling a metal ore-rich asteroid, the fleet can begin building new squadrons of Vipers.

• Much like the humanoid Cylons, Raiders also resurrect.

• With the loss of the Resurrection ship, the Cylon Raiders develop different strategies as they can no longer afford casualties.

Characters

• Kara gives up on being able to reunite with Anders, but begins to have hope that he's still alive, keeping her from a suicide run.

• Kara initiates sex with Lee, but she gets too aggressive. She breaks it off and asserts there's nothing between them and that she just wanted a "quick lay."

• A rivalry begins between Kara and Kat.

Referbacks

• Kara makes a couple of comments about Kat's stim addiction from "Final Cut".

• Several pilots killed in previous episodes are remembered:

• Jolly - killed during the Cylons' initial attacks (miniseries)
• Flat Top - killed in a hangar accident ("Act of Contrition")
• Chuckles, Stepchild, and Fireball - killed during the attack on the Cylon tylium refinery ("The Hand of God")
• Flyboy - killed by a Cylon Centurion ("Valley of Darkness")
• Crashdown - shot by Baltar on Kobol ("Fragged")

Trivia

The Show

• There is suggestion that Scar is the same Raider that Kara shot down in "Act of Contrition" and flies in "You Can't Go Home Again", especially as footage from the latter episode is played in the recap. However, this remains unconfirmed.

• The recap includes footage of Kara arguing for a rescue mission to Caprica that was cut from the aired version of "Pegasus", but restored in the extended cut.

Allusions and References

• The piece of music played during Kara and Helo's talk together is a song entitled "Cavatina" by Stanley Myers from the film The Deer Hunter.

Goofs

• When Lee and Kara are getting intimate, a bandage can be seen on Kara's back, which jumps from one side to the other.

Quotes

• Kara: This isn't duelling pistols at dawn, this is war. You never wanna fight fair. You wanna sneak up behind your enemy, and club 'em over the head. You see, Scar understands that. And so do I. So that's why I'm going to kill him.

Kat: You? Starbuck, you can barely walk.

Kara: Look who's talking, stim junkie.

Kat: You know, I wouldn't be calling anybody a junkie if I were you, Starbuck. Not the way you've been pounding back that booze lately. One Tigh on this ship's enough.

• Kara: Raiders reincarnate.

Sharon: Makes sense, doesn't it? It takes months for you to train a nugget into an effective Viper pilot, and then they get killed and then you lose your experience, their knowledge, their skill sets. It's gone forever. So if you could bring them back and put them in a brand new body, wouldn't you do it? 'Cause death then becomes a learning experience.

• Kara: I can't get Anders out of my head. I can't get over this insane hope that maybe he's alive.

Helo: You got something to live for now, not just die for.