Introduction

“Lay Down Your Burdens” is the two-part second-season finale of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series.

Part 01 aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on 03 March 2006; Part 02 aired on 10 March 2006 as a 90-minute special.

Outline of Series 02, Episode 19

Captain Starbuck is green-lit to lead a group of 20 Raptors back to Caprica to rescue the human resistance led by Samuel Anders. The team utilises a captured Cylon navigation device wired into the Cylon prisoner Sharon Agathon, to increase the Raptors’ jump range allowing them to get back to Caprica in only ten jumps. On the first jump however, they lose track of a Raptor piloted by Racetrack, whose mis-jump causes her to arrive inside a nebula. Debating with her ECO whether or not to try to catch up with the others, they stumble across a planet hidden in the nebula that, although somewhat harsh, can support human life.

Vice President Gaius Baltar finds himself behind in the polls with two weeks remaining until the presidential election. Once Racetrack returns with data on the new planet, Tom Zarek realises that it provides a crucial election issue: an opportunity for permanent colonisation. He convinces Baltar to push the idea in his campaign, believing that people cooped up in the fleet for nine months will support it overwhelmingly. President Laura Roslin suspects that the Cylons may already know of the hidden world and that their stay should only be long enough to gather fresh water and to grow food supplies.

In Galactica’s hangar, Chief Galen Tyrol is found after sleepwalking, restlessly asleep on the deck by Specialist Cally. He snaps and violently assaults her after she wakes him. He later seeks religious counselling from a priest named Brother Cavil. Tyrol explains his dreams of jumping off a hangar bay catwalk to his death. Cavil believes it is Tyrol’s subconscious desire to kill himself manifested from a fear that he too could be a Cylon “sleeper agent” like Boomer. When Tyrol asks how Brother Cavil can be so certain he is actually human, Cavil sarcastically reassures him that he is not a Cylon “because I’m a Cylon and I’ve never seen you at any of the meetings” and that Tyrol should return to his duties without worry.

On Caprica, Starbuck’s rescue team arrives and locates the survivors including their leader Samuel Anders. Their resistance force has been reduced to no more than sixty. The survivors inform their rescuers that they are being pursued by Cylons and they come under immediate attack.

Battlestar Galactica TV Series, Films & Webisodes

You can find a full index of Battlestar Galactica TV series, films, and webisodes here.

Trivia

You can read interesting trivia and background details about the BSG franchise here.

Production & Filming Details

• Director: Michael Rymer.
• Writer: Ronald D. Moore.
• Release Date: 03 March 2006 (UK).
• Running Time: 45 minutes.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

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