Act of Contrition (Battlestar Galactica)
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| “Act of Contrition” | |||||||
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| Battlestar Galactica episode | |||||||
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 4 |
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| Written by | Bradley Thompson & David Weddle | ||||||
| Directed by | Rod Hardy | ||||||
| Production no. | 104 | ||||||
| Original airdate | UK: November 8, 2004 US: January 28, 2005 |
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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 a fatal accident on the hangar deck in which thirteen pilots are killed by an accidentally launched recon drone, Starbuck is assigned to quickly train replacements (who are referred to as "nuggets"). The senseless losses are a blow to the morale of the remaining Galactica pilots.
Elsewhere, President Laura Roslin has a checkup 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 from using 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 skeptically. Cynically, he suggests she try prayer as an alternative.
Meanwhile, Starbuck's training assignment bring 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 wracked with 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, a Cylon Raider patrol shows up and attacks. Starbuck orders the trainees back to Galactica at best speed while she holds 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 control due to a loss of power. 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.
[edit] External links
- Act of Contrition at the Battlestar Wiki
