So there we have it.

Kara Thrace: Harbinger of death or angel full of God’s light?

Or both?

As much as I found the first few episodes of the season to be amazing, I have to admit I was rather relieved this week to find a more subdued Kara Thrace. No more holding her head screaming, “We’re going the wrong way!!!” or having frak fights with Anders.

Plus, any time Kara and Leoben share screen time, the intensity ratchets up. He is the only one who really seems to know what Kara is, whatever that may be. I wonder, did he sense Anders is a Cylon? What did he mean about Anders and Kara being meant for one another? Does that mean Kara is, indeed, a Cylon?

And even though I knew from last week’s previews that Leoben would make an appearance this week, I found myself still gasping when the badly burned heavy Cylon raider carrying Leoben (speaking to Kara telepathically?) came upon the Demetrius.

What we learned this episode:

Kara does need to trust her instincts. She didn’t go out on patrol in how long and the first time she does, a Leoben who escaped the attack by Cavil & Co. appears?

Look, we’re in the odd position of knowing that most of what Leoben had to say is true. Everything he said about the civil war is accurate. Why should we think that anything else he had to say wasn’t? In fact, the only thing I can think of that we know for sure Leoben has lied about (besides pretending to be a human at various points on Galactica and in the pilot when he was trapped with Adama) is that that little girl on New Caprica was her daughter.

OK, admittedly, that’s a pretty big lie. But still. More often than not, he has told the truth, we now know. And we also know Leoben comes down on the “right” side in the Cylon civil war.

I find Sharon “Athena” Valerii’s reaction to Leoben to be quite interesting; I find myself wondering if her mistrust of him is more a desire on her part to overcompensate for being a Cylon herself.

But ponder this: Sharon, a Cylon, basically fomented the rebellion on the Demetrius. It wasn’t a hard push for some of the crew members, especially after Matthias died (I really do think it was an accident), but we know that the Eights are a divided (perhaps the only divided) model skinjob, with one Sharon in love with Cavil and the others with the Sixes and Leobens.

The Eights are easily fractured. Remember that Sharon, back on Caprica, ended up choosing to go with the humans rather than stay with her kind. The Cavil/Natalie split, I realize, isn’t the first time the Sharons have turned on one another.

Sharon’s model is the one that most confuses me —  why isn’t she a Seven? I’ve asked before, but why do the known model numbers skip No. 7? That’s never made sense to me and now I find myself wondering if that has anything to do with what happened tonight.

As for tonight’s (only) other plot, I thought Tori was on the verge of telling the Chief what really happened. If she truly, truly, truly believed everything she has been telling herself and everyone else, she’d tell him. Something’s keeping her pulled back. Though she has always been quite duplicitous (see her telling Roslin about Baltar’s illicit broadcasts and even suggesting she speak to the Admiral about it)…

But Tyrol isn’t ready to hear all the god-stuff that Tori’s spouting. I’d forgotten that Cally had been really into Baltar’s manifesto way back when. I had to applaud when Tyrol reached out to choke Baltar. Baltar didn’t know Cally at all. Whatever Tyrol’s feeling, Baltar had a helluva lot of gall presuming to know what Cally would or wouldn’t want.

I was quite surprised when Baltar was so genuine with the Chief in his quarters. And I think he was truly genuine. That’s why he didn’t want his creepy followers to come inside with him. He doesn’t like people to see him express true frailty and emotion. It’s one thing to preach about how he’s a fallible man and has done wrong, it’s another to actually show examples of how he has been so.

Methinks Tyrol is going to be Baltar’s tipping point. Tori pointed out how he didn’t have any notable followers (she’s not going to go public with her support of his beliefs, that’s for sure. She likes her position alongside the president); Tyrol will be that first noteworthy follower. Like anything else, once you have someone well-known following you, others are far more likely to give you a listen and to join in.

The previews for next week make it seem Starbuck will be making the jump to the base ship. The hybrid tells her something we’ve heard before, from the, perhaps, original hybrid.

But what does it mean for Starbuck to be harbinger of the apocalypse? Whose apocalypse? And is that necessarily bad?

Photos courtesy of NBC Universal.  They don’t necessarily go with the text they’re next to, but how am I not supposed to use photos of sweaty Helo and Anders. I mean, get real.