Act of Contrition (Battlestar Galactica)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “Act of Contrition” | |
|---|---|
| Battlestar Galactica episode | |
 Starbuck embraces with Zak Adama in a flashback |
|
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 4 |
| Written by | Bradley Thompson & David Weddle |
| Directed by | Rod Hardy |
| Production no. | 104 |
| Original airdate | UK: November 8, 2004 US: January 28, 2005 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "Bastille Day" | "You Can't Go Home Again" |
| Episode chronology | |
"Act of Contrition" is an episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series.
[edit] Plot
Survivor Count: 47,958
After a fatal accident on the hangar deck in which several pilots are killed by an accidentally launched recon drone, Starbuck is assigned to quickly train replacements (who are referred to as "nuggets"). The remaining Galactica pilots feel their most recent losses as a body blow and morale is low.
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. He recommends a powerful medication that can help her, but having watched her mother suffer through treatment with it she knows it is not without its side effects. Roslin wishes to explore alternate treatment with an unproven plant extract, a request that Cottle receives sceptically. Cynically, he suggests she try prayer as an alternative.
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 to be a Viper pilot. 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 over Zak's death, Starbuck is overly harsh and critical of the nuggets' first day 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 by her actions, he orders her to return the nuggets to flight status and complete their training.
During a training exercise with the nuggets, a Cylon Raider patrol shows up and attacks. Starbuck orders the trainees back to Galactica at best speed while she faces off the entire patrol. However one of the nuggets, Brendan "Hot Dog" Constanza, disobeys and stays to help her. Starbuck's Viper is damaged in the resulting dog fight and sent hurtling towards a nearby planet out of power and out of control. The last surviving raider is damaged by Starbuck at the last moment and also tumbles down.
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.
