1.06: Litmus

[Dave]

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A Cylon attack on board the Galactica reveals that the enemy agents can be indistinguishable from humans, prompting a tribunal inquiry that puts Valerii and Tyrol on the spot.

 

[Rik_the_Riff]

*Spoilers below*

Well, this was pretty good. Seems to answer a couple of questions which have been hanging over the series, at least for now. Firstly; the Cylon-occupied Caprica storyline appears, from the dialogue between the three human-form cylons, to be a kind of social experiment. Second, it appears that No.6 is indeed a manifestation of Baltar's subconscious (so much for my theory).

Things I liked this time through; the focus on some of the smaller characters, a bit more of an examination of what is rapidly becoming the key relationship of the show (Boomer and Tyrol), and the Commander's stand against the witch-hunt tribunal.

However, while the absence of Apollo and the near-absence of Tigh and Starbuck was a pleasant change, they were missed. The three techs (who - particularly the girl - seem wayyyy too young) were not adequate replacements. And the President's line "The Cylons have the ability to mimic human form, they look like us now" was weak and annoying.

The final scene - of Tyrol breaking up with Boomer - was pretty good, and wonderfully ambiguous as we wonder whether it was the Cylon or the human side that was out during the argument. And it was nice to see jealousy and rivalry among the human-form cylons (can we come up with an acronym for that.... please? It's too long to type every time) - being human in form seems to have its disadvantages

Just a thought,

Rik

 

[RangerOne SG13 SOR]

Another good episode even though the pace had dropped a little bit.

It all get very confusing when trying to pin down who actually left the hatch open on causeway "C".

A painful ending for Chief Tyrol, excellent script writing.

Baltar`s No6 let a few things slip as well, expressing her intent on survival against the Cylons!! Whether she is an implanted concious or Baltar has lost the plot Im still not sure, but it is still a gripping storyline.


Helo and the Caprica story, well I am getting more and more confused. The 3 Cylosn spoke as if he was an experiement but if so, to what end? There has to be a reason for this.

It does not appear to be about getting info about the Galactica or trying to find and kill remaining Caprica forces (if there is any) so I will just have to see how it pans out!!

 

[Dave]

Originally posted by RangerOne SG13 SOR
It does not appear to be about getting info about the Galactica or trying to find and kill remaining Caprica forces (if there is any)

It has struck me how we haven't seen anyone else at all. There were plenty of humans who left the cities and didn't get transport off-world because we saw them. And nuclear explosive bombs were used on the cities, not enhanced radiation neutron bombs, because we saw them destroy and leave mushroom clouds. So maybe this city was deliberately left as a stage for this particular experiment, and Helo is the only human there.

Originally posted by Rik_the_Riff
The final scene - of Tyrol breaking up with Boomer - was pretty good, and wonderfully ambiguous as we wonder whether it was the Cylon or the human side that was out during the argument.

After that I was convinced that she must be a very good liar and therefore lied about her loss of memory after the water tank explosions. Tyrol gave the impression that he wasn't so sure about her telling the truth any longer too. But I take it that you still think that is a possibility?

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

Well, this was more like it!
After the somewhat staid (IMO) last few episodes, this one ratcheted up the paranioa and tension back to 10. The now general knowledge of "human cylons" is a good thing, although I think it will cause massive distrust amongst the fleet and this has forced Tyrol to completely re-evaluate the last few weeks with Boomer. Shame it appears he still can't admit to himself he fell in love with a Cylon!
The trial scenes were great and I thought Adama was shown to have made a bad choice by giving Sgt Hadrian complete autonomy. Definitely a case for "absolute power corrupts absolutely". Ironically she was on the right track - although the residual fallout from the trials would have no doubt swept up several innocents so maybe Adama was right to suspend it. However, by doing so he has left many question marks hanging over important members of his team which should come back to bite him in the ass.

And as for the Helo/Caprica storyline....my, my - the plot does thicken...