| "Resistance" | |||
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| Battlestar Galactica episode | |||
Starbuck and Helo talk to Sam Anders. |
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| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 4 |
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| Directed by | Allan Kroeker | ||
| Written by | Toni Graphia | ||
| Original air date | August 5, 2005 | ||
| Guest stars | |||
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Michael Trucco as Sam Anders |
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| Episode chronology | |||
"Resistance" is the fourth episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on August 5, 2005.
In the episode, Marines fire on civilians following Colonel Saul Tigh's declaration of martial law. President Laura Roslin and Lee "Apollo" Adama escape Galactica, Commander William Adama recovers, and Specialist Cally kills Galactica-Boomer. On Caprica, Starbuck and Helo join a human resistance group led by Sam Anders.
Contents |
In "Kobol's Last Gleaming", Commander Adama staged a military coup and confined Roslin to Galactica's brig. Apollo was arrested for mutiny for supporting Roslin during the coup.[1] In "Fragged", Commander Adama remained unconscious in Galactica's sickbay following Galactica-Boomer's assassination attempt.[2]
Civilian ships protest martial law by refusing to supply Galactica. Ellen Tigh persuades her husband to escalate the conflict; he orders supplies taken by force. On the civilian ship Gideon, Marines open fire on a hostile but unarmed crowd of civilians, killing four. Roslin, fearing a split in the fleet, hatches an escape plan with Apollo. With the clandestine help of Anastasia "Dee" Dualla, Racetrack, Roslin's Marine guard, and others, Roslin and Apollo escape to the civilian fleet, where Roslin's erstwhile political enemy[3] Tom Zarek hides them. Roslin's chief of staff Billy Keikeya declines to accompany them, citing the possibility of civil war.
Tigh suspects Chief Galen Tyrol is a Cylon because of his past romantic relationship with Galactica-Boomer. Tigh threatens Tyrol with execution and has him thrown into Boomer's cell. Boomer attempts a reconciliation, but Tyrol rejects her overtures. Specialist Cally demands Baltar help Tyrol or she will reveal that Baltar fragged Crashdown. Tigh orders Baltar to determine whether Tyrol is a Cylon. Instead, Baltar injects Tyrol with poison and forces Boomer to reveal the number of Cylon agents aboard the fleet by withholding the antidote. After Boomer says there are eight agents, Baltar administers the antidote.
Ellen berates her husband for allowing Roslin to get away when he could have ordered her Raptor shot down. She leaves after a conscious Commander Adama appears. Tigh confesses he has made mistakes, but Adama sympathizes with the pressures of command. He then asks where his son is.
After clearing Tyrol, Baltar tells him about plans to perform experiments on Boomer. An angry crowd gathers to witness her transfer to a specially constructed holding cell. During the transfer, Cally shoots Boomer for getting Tyrol in trouble. Boomer declares her love for Tyrol and dies in his arms.
Starbuck and Helo encounter humans who survived the initial Cylon attacks and formed a resistance group. After a firefight and a Mexican standoff, the two groups persuade each other they are not Cylons by discussing sports. Starbuck grows close with Anders.
In his podcast commentary on "Resistance", executive producer Ronald D. Moore discussed his views of what the episode's events reveal about several of the characters.
Moore notes that Tigh's actions in "Resistance" make it easy to think badly of him despite Tigh's positive contributions; Moore cites examples in the miniseries that served as the series's backdoor pilot and the episodes "33", "Scattered", and "Valley of Darkness". Moore suggests this raises questions about "the nature of heroism".[8]
Moore compares the shooting aboard the Gideon to the Boston Massacre. A group of ill prepared soldiers, faced with a hostile mob, hears a shot fired and panics. Moore is careful to point out that who fires the first shot on the Gideon is unknown.[4]
Questioned by Ellen why Tigh did not shoot down Roslin's Raptor, Tigh replies, "It was his son." However, Susan Tankersley of Television Without Pity argues Tigh would not have shot down Roslin's Raptor even if Apollo had not been aboard. In her analysis, Tigh is by now aware of the negative impacts of his bad decisions and unwilling to kill someone he knows is not truly his enemy. Tankersley also speculates things might have ended differently if Tigh were drunk, but in this scene he "seems sober."[9]
In "Scattered", in return for parole, Apollo agreed not to "make any attempt to free [Roslin] or sow insurrection among the crew" while on duty.[6] Moore is unsure whether Apollo's actions in "Resistance" constitute a parole violation, since he secures passage to the launching bay by telling his guards he is needed to help a Raptor Pilot. In Moore's view, the question is important for Apollo's character as "a point of honor".[4] Jason Davis of Mania calls Apollo "mutinous".[10]
Two shots with blood dropping on the floor appear in the episode: one after Tigh interrogates Tyrol, and one after Boomer dies. Davis says this "recurring visual motif... continues the philosophical debate on what it means to be human/Cylon".[10]
Moore, Tankersley, Davis, Jen Segrest of AOL's TV Squad, Jacob Clifton of Television Without Pity, and Simon Brew of Den of Geek compare Cally's actions in this episode to those of Jack Ruby.[4][9][10][11][12][13]
During development, "Resistance" was known as the "Kent State episode" because of how Tigh's heavy-handed tactics lead to civilian deaths. Moore later came to believe the incident bears greater resemblance to the Boston Massacre.[4]
Early plot outlines for "Resistance" included scenes in which Baltar would interrogate Boomer. The writers replaced these scenes with the Tyrol subplot after realizing that other characters would likely suspect Tyrol following his rescue from Kobol in the previous episode, "Fragged". Later the writers considered establishing a love triangle among Baltar, Boomer, and Six.[4]
In early drafts, Ellen was shown playing a direct role in running Galactica, giving orders and urging Saul to shoot down Roslin's Raptor in the CIC. The writers decided this was less believable than her indirect influence through manipulating Saul's emotions.[4]
Boomer's last words are, "I love you, Chief." Moore had her call him by his title rather than his first name because Moore thinks "Galen" sounds funny and feared it would interfere with the audience's experience of the moment. For comparison he cited George Costanza's reaction in Seinfeld to learning that Kramer's first name is Cosmo.[8]
The writers had Billy decline to go with Roslin because actor Paul Campbell would be unavailable to shoot the next episode.[4] Campbell was in Los Angeles filming a pilot for another series that was not picked up.[14]
Director Allan Kroeker shot the first scene set on Caprica, in which the resistance fighters spot Starbuck and Helo and decide to kill them, is filmed from the resistance's perspective. He did this to provide a different flavor to a situation in which protagonists mistakenly target other protagonists, which Moore called "a very traditional plot move."[4] The shootout and standoff were filmed in one day, but because of safety issues and the complexity of the choreography it took, in Moore's words, "an ungodly amount of time."[4]
The scenes in the launching bay before Roslin's escape were filmed in front of a green screen, as the crew did not have access to a large enough set. The blood drops in the shots at the beginning and end of "Resistance" are both CGI.[4]
Asked in a December 2005 interview what was the most difficult scene in the series to shoot, actor Aaron Douglas (Tyrol) said, "The scenes where someone dies in the Chief's arms are difficult to do because they take a really long time to shoot and you are constantly in a state of loss and sadness. They are very draining."[15]
"Resistance" received favorable critical review. In a positive review, Segrest especially praised actor James Callis (Baltar).[11] Tankersley gave "Resistance" a B, praising Callis and the scenes between the Tighs, but criticizing the scenes on Caprica as alternately confusingly frantic and boring.[9] Davis praised the performances of actors Michael Hogan (Saul Tigh) and Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh), and the episode's treatment of "the dangers and moral uncertainty underlying any breaking of the chain of command".[10] Davis compared Battlestar Galactica favorably to Babylon 5 in this regard.[10] Brew also reviewed the episode favorably, expressing appreciation for the focus on conflicts among humans rather than between human and Cylon.[13]
Eric Goldman of IGN ranked Tigh taking command at #11 on his list of the top 20 storylines and moments in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica.[19]