Act of Contrition (Battlestar Galactica)

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Battlestar Galactica episode
“Act of Contrition”
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 4
Writer(s) Bradley Thompson & David Weddle
Director Rod Hardy
Production no. 104
Original airdate UK: November 8, 2004
US: January 28, 2005
Episode chronology
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Episode chronology

"Act of Contrition" is an episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series.

[edit] Plot

Survivor Count: 47,958

After an accident on the hangar deck, in which several pilots are killed by a misfired recon drone, Lt. Starbuck is assigned to quickly train replacements (who are referred to as "nuggets"). Elsewhere, President Laura Roslin has a check up with the ship's medical officer, Dr. Cottle. Cottle tells Roslin her cancer is inoperable and gives her a few months to live, however he recommends a powerful medication that can help her, but it's not without its side effects. Roslin wishes to explore alternate treatment with an unproven extract.

Meanwhile, Starbuck's training task brings back painful memories of the unfortunate death of her fiancé, Zak Adama. Starbuck feels responsible for Zak's death since she had passed him for Basic Flight despite knowing he wasn't good enough. She temporarily escapes the feelings with a card game between Lt. Crashdown, Lt. Felix Gaeta and Dr. Baltar, during which Galactica-Boomer catches word about Baltar's "Cylon Detector".

Still racked by guilt, Starbuck is overly harsh and critical of the nuggets performance and promptly flunks them all. A mix-up in communication between Commander Adama and Apollo leads to the Commander finding out what Starbuck did for Zak. As a result, Adama and Starbuck's relationship is seriously strained. Hurt and angered, he orders her to return the nuggets to flight status and complete their training.

During a training exercise, a few Cylon Raiders show up and attack. Starbuck orders the trainees back to Galactica but one of them, Lt. Brendan "Hot Dog" Constanza, disobeys and stays to help her. Starbuck's Viper is damaged and sent hurtling to a nearby planet.

Meanwhile, on Caprica, Helo and Caprica-Boomer track the signal they picked up to its source; a restaurant with a bomb shelter filled with food, water and anti-radiation medication.