Picking up where we left last week, Starbuck saves the day by coming back to stop the two fleets from firing on each other. Adama and Cain agree to delay their showdown (and Helo and Chief’s execution) until after the attack on the Cylon resurrection ship. In the B plot, Baltar continues to reach out to Gina.

A note to first time BSG watchers; these aren’t the reviews for you. I plan to write about the show with the ending in mind. If you haven’t seen the show, you will be spoiled on stuff that happens at the end. You’ve been warned.

I think this is the first time I’ve seen the entire course of the episode (or arc) laid out in the teaser. You have two fleets facing off against each other; neither one is really willing to make the first move of aggression, but both leaders feel there is no other recourse. But, once the bigger picture shows up, they scrap their fight and vow to work together to destroy the real enemy. The tensions haven’t been erased, and both leaders use the break to plot their next, post-battle move.

Ok, my metaphor might have fallen apart there, but really, it’s true. The fight, the delay, the backstabbing, it’s all in the first five minutes. Like all of the two parters before and after in this series, part one is really just the setup; all the pieces are placed on the board and all hell is going to break loose when we come back next week. Yes, it’s slightly formulaic, but it doesn’t stop “Resurrection Ship, Part One” from being a fantastic episode.

I think it’s partly because while it’s setting up the next episode, it’s also offering some groundwork for the rest of the season (and that killer finale).

The extended cut of “Pegasus” opens with Starbuck proposing a rescue plan to Adama and Roslin. It’s a crazy plan (hell, it’s a Starbuck plan, that goes with the territory) and while our leaders our sympathetic, they are not willing to let their people go on a mission with that many variables.

Into this Starbuck turmoil comes Admiral Cain, who wants the same thing Starbuck does. Starbuck is immensely disappointed in her leaders, and here is a woman who promotes her, believes in her, and is willing to do what Adama and Roslin were not (fight the Cylons instead of fleeing).

But, here’s the point Starbuck’s missing; Cain has been fighting the Cylons for six months, killing and dying to regain home worlds that cannot be regained. The Colonials could kill every Cylon in the galaxy, and they would still not be able to drink the water on Caprica.

Roslin realized on day one that going home wasn’t possible, and as hard as it has been for the Colonials, they are better for going forward rather than looking back at what they have lost.

Another suffering from the “looking back” disease is Gaius Baltar. He sees a damaged, suicidal Six model in Gina, and thinks that if he helps her, she can be the real live girlfriend he’s been missing. But his need to recapture the past is so strong that he’s missing who Gina is. She’s broken, she can’t be fixed, and she will sooner destroy the Colonials than run away with him.

I love the Gaius in this arc (the only time that happens) because while he definitely is helping her to have sex with her, he genuinely wants to heal her. It’s the first time we see that he cared about his Six. (I’m having trouble believing that I wrote that sentence, but I did. Dammit.).

One last thought for this week: during my first watch of the series, I didn’t notice the downside to Cylon resurrection, because what would be the downside? No matter what happens, you will never die. You live forever. With the specter of death hanging over our characters, who wouldn’t want that?

Gina wouldn’t. It will be a few seasons before we see just how wrong eternal life is, but here we have the first glimpse of it. A person who can live forever chose instead to kill herself (and took a bunch of others with her).

Nobody wins.

Next up: “Resurrection Ship, Part Two”