Written by Jeff Vlaming
Directed by Rod Hardy
“You’ve lost your way, Sergeant. You’ve lost sight of the purpose of the law: to protect its citizens, not persecute them. Whatever we are, whatever’s left of us – we’re better than that. Now these proceedings are closed.”
Every show has one really good courtroom/witchhunt episode. Some have more than one. This marks Galactica’s first foray into this sub-genre, and it’s a great success — very in-your-face, very claustrophobic, and with a final glorious confrontation scene that makes your heart sing.
The best thing about the episode is not the actual tribunal itself, but the effect is has on characters. It destroys the relationship between Tyrol and Boomer, because Tyrol can’t live with the fact that the people he protects, under his command, have suffered because of his own selfish desires…and Adama points this out to him in no uncertain terms.
It also sheds some light on Sergeant Hadrian, who has been slowly introduced in past episodes as a no-nonsense woman, and who is now exposed as someone too caught up in the machinery of justice to actually dispense real justice. This woman becomes more and more terrifying as the episode progresses, particularly as her blindness to the lives she is disrupting seems to spread so easily to other people.
And then, there is Adama…who reveals so much about the passions that underly his character. We learn his father was a civil liberties lawyer, and this has obviously influenced his upbringing. When he condemns the tribunal as a witchhunt, and puts an end to it, it’s one of those fabulous hair-standing-on-end scenes that makes you want to cheer. This man is clearly an enlightened ruler — a philosopher king who disguises much of his depth under command protocol. Plato would be proud.
It’s not quite a classic episode — it’s far too linear, with not enough interaction from the rest of the cast (although the Caprica scenes are getting more and more fascinating AND creepy…), and some rather flat direction…but it does manage to hold the audience’s attention with an iron hand. Solid, workman-like, with many flashes of brilliance. If this is Battlestar Galactica on cruise-control, we’re in for a hell of a nice ride.
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