From The TV IV

The Captain' Hand is the seventeenth episode of the second season of Battlestar Galactica, and is the thirtieth episode overall.

Secondary Stars: Michael Hogan (Col. Tigh), Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol), Nicki Clyne (Cally), Alessandro Juliani (Lt. Gaeta), Kandyse McClure (PO Dualla)

Guest Stars: Richard Hatch (Tom Zarek), Donnelly Rhodes (Dr. Cottle)
And: John Heard (Cmdr. Garner)

Co-Stars: Christian Tessier (Tucker "Duck" Clellan), Stefanie Von Pfetten (Cpt. Marcia "Showboat" Case), Kavan Smith (Lt. Richard "Buster" Baier), Amber Rothwell (Rya Kibby), Patricia Idlette (Sarah Porter), Rekha Sharma (Tory Foster), Brad Dryborough (Hoshi), Aaron Pearl (Ensign Abel Thornton), Christina Schild (Playa), Tammy Hui (ECO Lyla "Shark" Ellway), James Bell (Lt. Steve "Red Devil" Fleer), Kimani Ray Smith (Pegasus Sergeant), Kurt Max Runte (Ensign Charles Bellamy)

Contents 1 Plot Summary 2 Notes 3 Arc Advancement 3.1 Happenings 3.1.1 Battlestar Pegasus 3.1.2 Battlestar Galactica 3.1.3 Apollo and Dee 3.2 Characters 3.2.1 Starbuck 3.2.2 Apollo 3.2.3 Roslin 3.2.4 Baltar 3.3 Referbacks 4 Trivia 4.1 The Show 4.2 Allusions and References 4.3 Memorable Moments 5 Quotes 6 Reviews

[edit] Plot Summary

A heated political struggle breaks out between the President and a faction in the Fleet, paving a path for Baltar to announce his candidacy for President. Meanwhile, the newly-minted Major Apollo visits Pegasus as the ship undergoes a crisis: two Raptors have gone missing while on a training mission.

[edit] Notes

• The survivor count is reduced by 5 to 49,579 visible on Roslin's whiteboard by the end of the episode after the Cylons nuke Pegasus, which only counts the deaths of the two Raptor crews and Commander Garner.
• It has been nearly a month since the previous episode.
• This episode was the lowest-rated episode of the season for Battlestar Galactica. It was still the highest Nielsen rating of the evening for Sci Fi Friday.

[edit] Arc Advancement

[edit] Happenings

[edit] Battlestar Pegasus

• Pegasus' new commanding officer is Commander Barry Garner, the ship's former chief of engineering, who was promoted to command after Commander Jack Fisk's demise. Garner is a consummate micromanager whose command style apparently worked extremely well during his time as chief of engineering but has alienated him from the crew.
• Pegasus has been nicknamed "the Beast" by the Colonials.

[edit] Battlestar Galactica

• Galactica, on the other hand, has apparently been nicknamed "the Bucket".

[edit] Apollo and Dee

• Apollo and Dee have apparently taken the next step in their relationship and are sleeping together in the pilot bunkroom, gaining privacy by locking Apollo's fellow Viper pilots out. This, needless to say, is not a popular choice with the pilots.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Starbuck

• Starbuck is temporarily assigned to Pegasus as its training officer and is running regular training missions with the Raptor and Viper crews. Commander Garner hates her and attempts to sabotage her at every opportunity, taking actions such as ordering her pilots to shut her out from important information.
• Starbuck manages to piss Garner off and he relieves her of duty until she can be transferred back to Galactica.
• Apollo and Starbuck fight, but they finally make up at the end of the episode, and things are "all right" between them again.
• Starbuck takes over as Galactica's CAG after Apollo's promotion.

[edit] Apollo

• Apollo visits Pegasus and ends up sucked into the ongoing conflict between Starbuck and Commander Garner.
• Garner and Apollo clash several times over the proper course of action in retrieving the missing Raptors and whether or not this is a Cylon trap. Admiral Adama takes Starbuck and Apollo's side and orders a recon mission before Pegasus leaves, but Garner disobeys the direct order and takes Pegasus to retrieve the Raptors. Their crews are dead, and three Cylon baseships jump in and open fire on Pegasus, severely damaging it.
• Garner, being the ship's most experienced engineer, gives Apollo command of Pegasus and heads to the engine room to take over damage repair. Apollo is initially uncertain, but quickly drops into the role of command and orders a head-on attack on the Cylons that forces them back long enough for Garner to get Pegasus' FTL back online. Garner is killed in the process.
• Upon returning to the fleet, Adama promotes Apollo to (presumably provisional) Commander and places him in charge of the Pegasus.

[edit] Roslin

• President Roslin has a new aide, Tory Foster. Tory was involved in politics back in the Colonies, and was a precinct captain in Delphi on Caprica for five years.
• A Gemonese girl looking for an abortion, which is illegal under Gemonese religious law, comes to Galactica looking to get Doctor Cottle to perform the procedure, This sparks trouble as Gemenon's Quorum representative comes to Colonial One to attempt to strongarm Roslin into returning the girl to her parents. However, the girl is granted asylum and remains on Galactica.
• Adama makes the point to Roslin that there aren't many people left in the fleet and there aren't many babies being born, and abortions may be counterproductive to the survival of the human race. Roslin visits Baltar, who informs her that at the current rate of reproduction the human race will be extinct within 18 years. Roslin makes the difficult choice to impose a moratorium on abortions in the Fleet.

[edit] Baltar

• Baltar is meeting with Tom Zarek about his chances in a Presidential campaign. Zarek doesn't believe that he personally has a chance, but he does believe that Baltar could potentially win.
• Baltar takes advantage of Roslin's abortion moratorium to make a speech about personal freedom and what makes humanity different than the Cylons, and thus launches his presidential campaign on the claim that under his Presidency he will not stand for violations of freedom. Six applauds his speech with a slow clap that echos the one that Adama led for Roslin in "Home, Part II" when she was reinstated as president.

[edit] Referbacks

• 1x13 Kobol's Last Gleaming (2): Apollo stood by Roslin at the standoff on Colonial One when Adama ordered her presidency to be terminated.

Apollo: I bucked authority once, and I almost lost everything.

[edit] Trivia

[edit] The Show

• According to early spoilers, Commander Garner's name was originally intended to be Barry Trammell.

[edit] Allusions and References

[edit] Memorable Moments

[edit] Quotes

[edit] Reviews

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