# BSG #17: Someone to Watch Over Me/S4 Finale/09



## Truth Seeker (Feb 27, 2009)

*Someone to Watch Over Me*

Writers: David Weddle, Bradley Thompson

Director:Michael Nankin

Stars:Edward James Olmos (William Adama)
Mary McDonnell (Laura Roslin)
Katee Sackhoff (Kara "Starbuck" Thrace)
Jamie Bamber (Lee "Apollo" Adama)
James Callis (Gaius Baltar)
Tricia Helfer (Caprica Six/Sonja)
Grace Park (Sharon "Boomer" Valerii/Sharon "Athena" Agathon)

Recurring Role:Michael Hogan (Saul Tigh)
Rekha Sharma (Tory Foster)
Brad Dryborough (Lt. Hoshi)
Bodie Olmos (Brendan "Hot Dog" Costanza)
Tahmoh Penikett (Karl "Helo" Agathon)
Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh)
Donnelly Rhodes (Doc Cottle)
Aaron Douglas (Galen Tyrol)
Michael Trucco (Samuel Anders)

Guest Star:Roark Critchlow (Slick)
Iliana Gomez-Martinez (Hera Agathon)
Sonja Bennett (Specialist Marcie Brasko)
Darcy Laurie (Dealino)
Erika-Shaye Gair (Young Kara)
Samantha Caine (Off-duty Crew Person)
Patrick Gilmore (Rafferty)
Cherilynn Fulbright (Dionne)
Curtis Caravaggio (Nathanson)
Ivan Cermak (Corporal D. Wallace)
Torrance Coombs (Lance Corporal C. Sellers)

Kara befriends a piano player who reminds her of her father. She also receives a mysterious drawing from young Hera Agathon.

"Boomer" faces punishment for her support of Cavil in the Cylon civil war. She reconnects with Chief Tyrol and shares her visions of a peaceful life on Picon. However, her life on Galactica is much less tranquil​


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## RangerWickett (Feb 28, 2009)

1. Great episode.

[sblock]2. I always thought the piano player was her dad, but I figured he was the 13th Cylon, and he'd resurrected, but it had been too long and he was too young looking for her to recognize him. Even with him being a figment of her imagination, I am nigh positive her dad was a Cylon.

3. I totally fell for it. Not only did I think the piano player was real, I also thought Boomer was honestly contrite, up until I saw her walking free down the hallway, smiling. I love evil Boomer![/sblock]

I'll completely forgive the show for last episode, because I loved this one.


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## Ahnehnois (Feb 28, 2009)

spent most of the episode scratching my head wondering what was going on. The one thing I do appreciate was bringing Chief Tyrol back into the forefront; it seems like he hasn't had much to say this season. Bad things are always happening to people on this show, but his story has always been the most sympathetic because he does his best in everything and keeps getting screwed by his girl again and again. Here's hoping something good happens to him by the end of the series.


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## Steel_Wind (Feb 28, 2009)

Good episode.

I think the impression left by Starbuck's tale was that dear old Dad was this new "Daniel" Cylon we learned of in  episode #15. She's a human Cylon hybrid.

As for Boomer's tale - she's a sly monster  - no doubt about it. And the Chief got sucked right in again.

I am becoming increasingly depressed that this series is ending. We watch _BSG_, _Heroes_ and...that's it. We don't watch anything else. [Edit: I have been downloading the _Legends of the Seeker_ episodes, I suppose. But it's sure as hell not "appointment TV".] 

We have three episodes left to wrap all of this up. And oh yes - the Cylon BSG "movie", too.

I cannot help but think the result is that we will NOT be wrapping this up. Much of it will still hang there unresolved.

*le sigh*


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## Truth Seeker (Feb 28, 2009)

'Boomer' is so frakkin' lucky to escape...and she was determine to do it.

The mind frak was just damn beautiful.

The jump effect was damn great, again, someone has been doing their frakkin' homework. But BSG, she is suffering hard...

And yes again, the Chief gets it up the arse!!!


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## Wolf72 (Feb 28, 2009)

the cliff hangers are killing me ...

between Hera and Starbuck, both sides have a hybrid they can us to find whatever they're looking for ... a new planet with a resurrection hub.  Does it get destroyed? do the final 5 sacrifice themselves to stop cabal? do they find a way to free the enslaved centurians and raiders?

are they really going to leave galactica behind? the only warship they have left is a damaged basestar.

does athena kick the crap out of her hubbie for doin' it with her sister?

what will the chief do? did boomer and cabal come up with this plan to fool him? (they both have had intimate knowledge of him ... boomer w/ relationship, cabal put him in the colonies and talked with him as a 'priest')


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## Mark (Feb 28, 2009)

This Daniel model and the song are key to the whole thing.  Didn't sound like Watchtower.


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## Steel_Wind (Feb 28, 2009)

Steel_Wind said:


> I am becoming increasingly depressed that this series is ending. We watch _BSG_, _Heroes_ and...that's it. We don't watch anything else.
> 
> We have three episodes left to wrap all of this up. And oh yes - the Cylon BSG "movie", too.
> 
> I cannot help but think the result is that we will NOT be wrapping this up. Much of it will still hang there unresolved.




Looking at what I just wrote and thinking about it some more, it seems that some of these questions will end up being pursued and explored in the new _Caprica_ series...

Which, I expect, is their hook to drag in as much of their BSG audience as they can.  

RDM is a tricky bastard, and he has a vague plan.


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## Mark (Feb 28, 2009)

It's less like tricking the audience into following a new series and more like tricking the network into allowing a full overhaul of the current series, knowing the fans will stick around.


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## Jack7 (Feb 28, 2009)

That was a much, much better episode than most of the more recent ones.


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## Steel_Wind (Feb 28, 2009)

One serious question regarding "Daniel" and Starbuck that arises is the implication of the fantasy piano player...

As the cut away at the end of that scene suggests - there never was a piano player at all. It was all Starbuck as the victim of some self-projection, creating an entirely illusionary person with whom she was having meaningful and seemingly real interactions as a way of self-discovery and dealing with incredible stress and alienation.

She couldn't talk to anybody about finding her own body. The only person other than herself who knew - Leoben - ran from her in fear.

But looking back, she's not the only person we have seen start to project internal confessors to share secrets with - secrets so horrible that they cannot tell anybody else, is she?

The tie-in with the projection story between Boomer and Tyrol is made plain. It's all themes on Cylon projection - and the implication with Starbuck is that the Hybrids can self-project on a smaller scale and do it unknowingly to themselves...

Which leads us back to Baltar and the logical implication that Baltar is also a hybrid. He may be another of Daniel's sons - or some other Cylon parent, one of the Final Five or otherwise. 

The brain scans on him reveal no chip - because there is no chip to find in a hybrid. The tests cannot detect him either. He appears human  - but he is not.

Wheter or not Baltar was a sleeper hybrid, or it was just an accident of fate that he was the scientist who proved an easy gateway to the defence codes is unknown...for now.

But as a friend of mine has been saying for years, we *know* Baltar is a Cylon. After all, we see him destroyed by a nuclear weapon at the beginning of every show and have since the show started. Nobody could survive the shredding of that overpressure and scything glass  - whether he was crouched below Caprica Six or not. 

That Baltar died. He had to have died.

Like Starbuck, he resurrected and was left with no memory of his death and no knowledge of what he was.

And after resurrection, his mind started projecting another into it....like Starbuck's is now doing.

I think the "Cylon Movie" will reveal to us more about Baltar - and the truth of his origins. But all of this seems to fit the facts, as it were.


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## RangerWickett (Feb 28, 2009)

Anyone know where I can find the Battlestar Galactica version of All Along the Watchtower in mp3 format?


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## Volaran (Feb 28, 2009)

RangerWickett said:


> Anyone know where I can find the Battlestar Galactica version of All Along the Watchtower in mp3 format?





No specific locations online, but it is on the Season 3 soundtrack.  A few of the other songs on that soundtrack also incorporate bits of it, even if the aired version did not.  In fact, I would recommend all the BSG soundtracks.

On a different note, has anyone noticed that Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol) looks like he had lost significant weight in the last few episodes?  I have to assume that this is due to parts of "The Plan" telemovie taking place much earlier in the series, as he was much slimmer when we first met him in the mini-series.


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## Steel_Wind (Mar 1, 2009)

RangerWickett said:


> Anyone know where I can find the Battlestar Galactica version of All Along the Watchtower in mp3 format?





Your Google Fu is weak!   

_mod edit: Dude, that's copyrighted stuff.  Link deleted.  Don't link to material that isn't yours to distribute again, please._


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## Krug (Mar 1, 2009)

Meh... this episode really dragged for me. Thought the Galactica would have prepared better for a situation where 



Spoiler



Cylon look alikes masquerade as each other.


 Guess I was wrong.


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## GSHamster (Mar 1, 2009)

Krug said:


> Meh... this episode really dragged for me. Thought the Galactica would have prepared better for a situation where
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Well, for most intents and purposes, Cylon models of the same type are interchangeable.  Boomer/Eight is really the only split. Remember the big thing about the Cylon vote was that it was assumed that all Cylons of a specific model vote the same way, and thus it was a big shock when Boomer split off from the Eights.


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## Mustrum_Ridcully (Mar 1, 2009)

Volaran said:


> No specific locations online, but it is on the Season 3 soundtrack.  A few of the other songs on that soundtrack also incorporate bits of it, even if the aired version did not.  In fact, I would recommend all the BSG soundtracks.




Yep, the soundtracks are awesome. I guess that's symptomatic for the entire show. Yes, I know it had its weak episodes (there are also weaker pieces on the soundtrack), but there is just too much interesting stuff going on.

I will _really_ miss the show when it's gone. I don't want it to go.
But I also want to know how it ends. I need the closure, too.


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## Kaodi (Mar 1, 2009)

I thought the implication here was that Kara *IS* Daniel. Remember, Ellen said that Cavill had had a hand in creating the other Cylon models, but that he had messed around with the Daniel embryos. I suppose for those who believe that Baltar is a Cylon, he could also be a Daniel, but I think that is unlikely because he and Kara are just way too far apart. Personally, I am in the camp that thinks Head Six and Head Baltar are something else entirely.


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## Kobold Avenger (Mar 2, 2009)

I didn't realize the piano player was a hallucination until watching the episode again. And it does seem to imply that he's also Kara's father.


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## Mark (Mar 2, 2009)

Kaodi said:


> Personally, I am in the camp that thinks Head Six and Head Baltar are something else entirely.





I don't recall a Head Baltar except when Head Six was also there, and that was in the head of Roslin, right?  Seems like Roslin, Baltar and Kara have/can each have someone in their head, as could the Chief when he was physically contacted (which he was able to resist and then reinitiate later on his own).  Could it be that a Cylon can do this to another willing Cylon, or to a half-Cylon as desired, and that Kara, Baltar and Roslin are all half-Cylons?


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## LightPhoenix (Mar 2, 2009)

Mark said:


> I don't recall a Head Baltar except when Head Six was also there, and that was in the head of Roslin, right?




IIRC, it was in the first season, where Caprica Six kills D'Anna.  Head Baltar gives this wonderful speech, and Six goes and brains her to save Anders.


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## Ahnehnois (Mar 3, 2009)

Caprica saw Head Baltar after being resurrected in Downloaded (s3); he has popped up inconspicuously once or twice since. Baltar also saw a Head Baltar once sometime during Season 4.0


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## Mark (Mar 3, 2009)

Hmmm.  I guess Boomer did project someone other than herself into the Chief's head, namely a fictitious(?) daughter.


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## Volaran (Mar 3, 2009)

Head Six 
- Appeared to Baltar beginning in the crowd scene when Boomer's raptor was taking off, after leaving Helo.
- Personality seems based on Caprica Six in the mini-series, but we've known since the second season episode 'Downloaded' that she is a different person
- Possibly the only of the 'head people' to appear in the flesh, as 'Shelly Godfrey' in season 1.  Her only goal, to the audience, seemed to be to raise Baltar's profile in the fleet, something the Cylons in general have never seemed to be interested in.  In addition, she appears after Head Six stops responding to Baltar, and Head Six only reappears when Shelly vanishes.

Head Baltar
- Began appearing to Caprica Six immediately following her first resurrection, depicted in 'Downloaded'.
- Personality and mode of dress seem closely modeled on Gaius as he was before the attack on the colonies.
- Early in season 4, Head Baltar is seen by Gaius, and has a conversation with him regarding Tory (a lot more Baltar/Head-Baltar scenes were apparently filmed for other episodes, but then cut).

Head Leoben
- Possibly first showed up as dreams that Kara had after being held Captive by Leoben on New Caprica
- Lead Kara to make peace with her mother in Maelstrom, and confirmed that he was not actually Leoben before Kara's death.
- Possibly present much earlier in the series, as Laura had visions of Leoben before she met him in 'Flesh and Bone'.  In my opinion, this is not likely the case, as Laura had numerous visions not associated with the Head People.

Slick (The Piano Player)
- Appeared to Kara
- Seemed very reminicent of her father and, along with Hera Agathon, lead Kara to remember that her father had taught her 'All Along the Watchtower' when she was a girl.
- The face of Kara's father on his album cover had longer hair, but did seem very reminicent of Slick
- I am of the opinion that Slick may be the same person as Head Leoben, since Kara's encounter with Head Leoben allowed her to make peace with her mother, as Slick's appearance seems to have lead to a similar proxy-reconciliation with her father

An additonal note about the Head People.  When Sam was telling the other Final cylons about their flight from Earth, he briefly mentions that they were warned of the coming danger by people that no one else could see.  He mentions that he saw a woman, and that Tory saw a man.  In the podcast for 'No Exit', Ron Moore refers to the Five's head-beings as 'The Messengers'.

There are other examples which may not count.  For instance, Adama sees and converses with his dead wife, Carolanne on their wedding anniversary each year, but Ron Moore has confirmed that this was just a dramatic device, and one he regrets using to some degree due to confusion with Head-Six, etc.  Colonel Tigh also saw Caprica-Six as Ellen, saw himself shoot Adama, etc., but looking back now, these may have all been unconsious uses of Cylon Projection.

There have, of course, been many other uses of visions and prophecy in the series, but these seem fairly well woven into the nature of colonial culture.  One would assume that if their preditctions are so accurate, there are probably quite a number of them in the fleet aside from the two we've met.  

Edit: Was reading the Battlestar wiki, and I had forgotten about Elosha (the priestess).  Laura sees her when she is undergoing cancer treatments, as the Galactica jumps.  Of course, this may also be part of Laura's more general prophetic visions.


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## Fast Learner (Mar 3, 2009)

Excellent review, Volaran, thanks!


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## Steel_Wind (Mar 3, 2009)

Mark said:


> Could it be that a Cylon can do this to another willing Cylon, or to a half-Cylon as desired, and that Kara, Baltar and Roslin are all half-Cylons?




I think Kara and Baltar are both half-Cylon.  

I no longer think that Roslin is a Cylon (though I once thought she might be the Fifth). 

The plot device for Roslin's "supernatural visions" can be explained away by:

1 - they were simply hallucinations( i.e., the snakes were drug inducued hallucinations); and
2 - by the presence of Hera's blood within Roslin's body. The blood transfusion from a Half-Cylon is the source of the visions, not her genetics _per se_. She has a particularly strong connection to Hera as a result.


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## Volaran (Mar 4, 2009)

Steel_Wind said:


> I think Kara and Baltar are both half-Cylon.
> 
> I no longer think that Roslin is a Cylon (though I once thought she might be the Fifth).
> 
> ...




How would you explain the accuracy of the visions of the two Oracles we have seen thus far?


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## Kobold Avenger (Mar 4, 2009)

I think that the supernatural things happening in BSG will be entirely supernatural...

And we really don't have a good explanation on what the Lords of Kobol themselves are, beyond the fact there names are Zeus, Hera, Athena, Hades, Poseidon and so on.


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