This is what I got out of the opening scene:

Starbuck’s losing her mind, but it’s completely understandable. She absolutely, positively is not a Cylon. So Says Me.

But how utterly, completely and absolutely fabulous was it when Lee, first, told Kara he believed her and then the Admiral not only expressed belief in her, but gave her a ship and her own crew to go find earth?

And you just know that Adama’s right.

No frakkin’ way that Starbuck’s a Cylon. Sorry. She just ain’t.

I have no inside knowledge except for my gut, which is, indeed, inside me. I just don’t believe it. It doesn’t make any sense at all because it’s so incredibly obvious to believe that she’s a Cylon. And if Moore & Eick are anything, it ain’t obvious.

And I wanted to hug Helo, too. He knows Starbuck oh so well and even though he did have his doubts (even Starbuck couldn’t deny that of course others would believe she’s a Cylon. But she knows she’s not. And she knows what she knows.

But the more important aspect of this episode all happened on the basestars.

Cavil watching the nearly naked Sharon dance ballet was completely weird and creepy. Obviously, something related to that resulted in the split among the Eights.

What, exactly, does Cavil know?

Honestly, I thought they were going to have to unbox D’Anna before naked dancer Sharon decided she’d vote with Cavil. We can’t forget that Cavil’s the one who boxed D’Anna. Was there a vote taken then?

I’m thinking now that Six and Eight are going to unbox her. We know she’s unboxed for at least a few episodes this season.

But who programmed the Cylons to not be able to think about the Final Five? Speaking of unsolved mysteries, I’ve always wondered why the Seven Cylons were numbered 1-6 and then 8. Why aren’t they 1-7?

Cavil is different. He fancies himself the leader of the Cylons even though there, technically, isn’t a leader. (No imperious leader, here….) I mean, he’s the one who boxed her in the first place. Was there even a vote on it?

But, indeed, something completely weird is going on. The idea that they’re “mechanized copies” but “something has changed” is interesting. Cavil refuses to believe that the raiders could possibly have found the Final Five. To him, the raiders aren’t even pets (remember Season 1 when Starbuck came back to the Galactica inside a damaged raider that she piloted back and pre-aware Boomer talked about treating it like a pet?), they’re tools. Which is very much in line with the caste system; the Cylons have perpetuated the same thing against each other as the humans did against the Cylons.

Does that negate the moral high ground the Cylons have been working from? That they were, basically, humankind’s slaves; they now have enslaved their own.

I wonder if the idea that models can now vote against themselves is relatable to the idea of free will; the idea that even though everything has been set into motion by a one god, but man has free will in deciding how to live his own life.

It’s interesting, though, that the raiders are sentient and the centurions could have free will but have an inhibitor placed in them to ensure that they HAVE to follow what the skinjobs tell them to do. There is a real schism now between the two sets of skinjobs. And the rebel Cylons are being led by Natalie, the new model of Six we met last night.

How weird was it when Boomer was staring at the Boomer who had voted against her fellow Eight?

As for Baltar and the Hidden Four:

He doesn’t know who they are. But the Gaius hallucinated by Six who’s now being hallucinated by Gaius seems to sense it, at least. Is that Caprica Six’s Gaius who he saw? Does this mean that Baltar’s a Cylon? Again, that seems far too obvious. But I can’t dismiss him as out of hand as I dismiss the idea that Starbuck’s a Cylon. Of course, I’ve always wondered how Gaius survived the nuclear blast. The Six who shielded him from the blast didn’t survive. She was resurrected; was Gaius resurrected but is programmed not to remember any of that?

We see him in the blast, then we see him far away from there, hardly worse for the wear.

OK, I’ve decided that if Zack Adama is not the final Cylon, then Baltar is.

A final few notes:
• Best. Insult. Ever. Starbuck calling the Admiral “the president’s wet nurse.”
• How girly was that shirt that Lee was wearing to his pilot’s wake?
• All of Baltar’s female followers are just a wee bit creepy.
• Did Tory really want to sleep with Baltar or did she really just prostitute herself? I didn’t think she’d do it. Ick.
• Best. Quote. Ever. Roslin saying to Adama, “I want to hear Admiral Athiest say a miracle happened.”
• How much like an old married couple are Adama and Roslin? Down to the ability each has to say exactly the thing that is going to be completely devastating to the other?
• I was oddly sad that Dualla and Lee are divorced. Nice line, though, that she gets the house.

I have to admit it, it was sad that Lee’s leaving the military life. He was a damn good pilot. Not such a great commander, but an excellent CAG. By the way, in the photo above, that’s Bodie Olmos in the far right, Edward James Olmos’ son in real life.

Photos courtesy of NBC Universal.