Introduction

“Crossroads” (Parts 1 and 2) are the nineteenth and twentieth episodes of the third season and season finale from the science fiction television series, Battlestar Galactica.

Neither episode begins with a survivor count.

Outline of Series 03, Episode 20

As Anders and Tory continue to hear the strange music and begin making love, Chief Tyrol is awakened by the music. Both he and Colonel Tigh begin their own searches for its source, but neither can find it. On the hangar deck, Anders realises that Tyrol is humming the strange music, and the two agree it sounds like something they remember from childhood.

After receiving an injection for her cancer treatments in sickbay, Roslin has another vision of the opera house on Kobol. Also in sickbay, Sharon enters the same vision while holding Hera in her arms and both women wake up screaming. Sharon confirms having shared the experience and likens it to the Cylon ability of “projection.” They proceed to question Caprica Six in her cell, and immediately discover that she had the same dream as well. Caprica talks of feeling compelled to protect Hera.

The trial resumes and Felix Gaeta takes the witness stand. He perjures himself by saying Baltar willingly signed the death order to have Roslin, Zarek, and others executed. Rather than attempting to disprove this during cross-examination, however, Lampkin acts on Lee Adama’s suggestion and moves for a mistrial, based on prejudicial statements Admiral Adama had made to Lee concerning Baltar’s guilt and the trial’s outcome. Lee then takes the witness stand, but refuses to testify against his father, instead returning to Lampkin’s original line of argument that Baltar, for all his failings, could not be faulted for the tragedy on New Caprica.

By a vote of 3 to 2, the tribunal finds him not guilty and the courtroom erupts in furore. His service having been completed, Lampkin abandons Baltar. Reflecting on the trial, Baltar wonders how he will survive. In CIC, Admiral Adama admits to Roslin’s dissatisfaction that he was one of the “not guilty” voters. When the fleet makes the final jump into the Ionian Nebula, Roslin feels faint and a few seconds later all of the ships suffer a power outage and drift. The Galactica crew struggles to restore power. Moving through the darkness and trying to hide his face, Baltar is suddenly surrounded by three people, including the woman who had asked him to bless her child. They take him to what they tell him is “[his] new life.”

Caprica Six returns again to the opera house and sees herself, Baltar and Hera looking up at the glowing, robed apparitions of the Final Five Cylons looking down on them from a balcony. Compelled by their own shared auditory hallucination, Tory, Colonel Tigh, Tyrol, and Anders converge on the Galactica gym, where they all hum the melody together, then sing the lyrics, and come to the distressing conclusion that they are all Cylons. When power is restored, DRADIS identifies four Cylon basestars bearing down on the fleet and Admiral Adama orders general quarters. All of the newly discovered Cylons return to their posts but are wary of what they might do. As the other pilots scramble to their ships, Lee returns to his locker to grab his flight gear, despite having been removed from flight status. After launch, Apollo separates from the other Vipers to chase a new DRADIS contact in the nebula. The contact turns out to be Starbuck; she tells a surprised Apollo she has found Earth, and she will lead them there.

As the Cylon and Galactica fleets prepare for battle, the camera zooms out (to show the entire galaxy), and zooms back into a nearby section of the galaxy to show a single planet: Earth.

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.

• Apollo is the last person to see Starbuck before her “death”, in “Maelstrom“, and is also the first person to see her after her “re-appearance”, in this episode, both occasions where they are each flying a Viper.
• To keep Starbuck’s return a secret until the end of the episode, Katee Sackhoff was not listed in the opening titles of the episode, but rather in the closing credits.

Production & Filming Details

• Director: Michael Rymer.
• Writer: Mark Verheiden.
• Release Date: 25 March 2007 (UK).
• Running Time: 45 minutes.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

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