Battlestar Galactica & Caprica Reviews

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BSG - Season 2 - Episode 16

BSG - 2x16 - Sacrifice - Originally Aired: 2006-2-10

My Rating - 2

Fan Rating Average - 5.33

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Synopsis
Fleet-wide paranoia reaches a new peak when word leaks out that the Cylon Sharon is secretly being kept alive aboard the Galactica.

Sesha Abinell, a civilian who is grieving her husband's tragic death during a Cylon raid several weeks earlier, is incensed by the thought of a Cylon agent being trusted to provide intelligence to Galactica's officers. She is convinced that the Cylon is manipulating Admiral Adama and leading the fleet to its destruction.

Assisted by three sympathizers, Sesha takes drastic action. She pulls a weapon in a bar aboard the luxury ship Cloud Nine and holds its occupants hostage, among them Ellen Tigh and the uneasy romantic triangle of Lee Adama, Anastasia Dualla and Billy Kekeiya. Sesha's demand is simple: Turn over the Cylon spy Sharon Valerii to be executed, or else the hostages will die.

Lee is at first able to avoid detection; he tries to undermine Sesha and her accomplices by triggering mechanical malfunctions. He is soon flushed out, however, and Sesha makes it clear to Admiral Adama that if Sharon isn't surrendered to her, she will kill his son.

Kara Thrace makes a bold move in an effort to rescue the hostages, but the op goes terribly wrong and Lee is critically wounded. With time running out, Admiral Adama endorses a desperate plan to end that stalemate, with disastrous consequences. Sesha's wrath exacts a heartbreaking toll when an innocent human life is sacrificed on her altar of vengeance. [Blu-ray] [DVD]

Problems
None

Factoids
- Survivors, according to the main title: 49590.
- Baltar and Six do not appear in this episode.
- Adama's "cut the wire" line doesn't actually mean anything. He adlibbed it and the writers thought it sounded cool so they left it in.

Remarkable Scenes
- The scene depicting Sesha Abinell's husband's death during a Cylon attack.
- Billy proposing to Dee and Dee saying no.
- Ellen hitting on Lee.
- I love Ellen's comment insulting Sesha's clothing.
- Apollo leading Ellen into the bathroom on false pretenses. ;)
- Starbuck accidentally shooting Apollo.
- Boomer refusing to tell Adama who the other Cylons in the fleet are.
- Sesha shooting the dead Boomer.
- The revelation that it was actually the corpse of the other Boomer.
- The shootout, resulting in Billy's death.

My Review
This episode is sad and kind of annoying. The big thing here is the departure of the character Billy. I understand why the writers offed him, the actor wanted out. But it should have been handled better than this. In the end, this entire episode's plot feels like an excuse to kill Billy which doesn't do much justice to the character. Manufactured danger.

Only small details redeem the episode. The best part of the whole episode was the scene in which Apollo is accidentally shot by Starbuck. Also, it was fascinating to see Boomer refuse to tell Adama who the other Cylons in the fleet are. But beyond that, what is there in this episode? A canned hostage plot based on rather trite motives. I can see the realism behind what Sesha was trying to do, but her point of view just wasn't explored deeply enough.

The whole episode boils down to threats and fighting. And really, it just feels too common. How many times have we really seen this story played out in other TV shows? This episode is just unusually unoriginal for Galactica.

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