When Ellen Tigh was killed on New Caprica it was assumed that she was dead; but now we learn that she did in fact download in the same way as other Cylons; this fact remained hidden because she was kept hidden by Cavil. The episode follows her time aboard the basestar and current events on Galactica where a seriously wounded Anders remembers their past on Earth and tells the story of how the Final Five survived the nuclear holocaust there and returned to the Colonies. By jumping between the two time lines we learn that the five Cylons from Earth had intended to help the colonies avoid the problems they had but arrived too late; the first Cylon war was already raging. At this point they set about creating the eight new 'skin-jobs'; the first of which, John Cavil, didn't share his creators desire for peace and despised them for designing him with a human body with human weaknesses. For this he killed them and when they resurrected he stripped them of their memories and left them to live amongst humanity. We also learn of Daniel, Cylon number seven, who is permanently killed by Cavil. Away from the Cylon history lesson Tyrol informs the Admiral that he has discovered cracks in Galactica; not just one or two; the ship is riddled with them and without Cylon technology it is only a matter of time before there is a catastrophic failure.
After the non-stop action of the previous two episodes this episode seemed much slower paced; this was probably needed to settle things down and prepare us for the inevitable conflict when Cavil's Cylons catch up with the fleet. It was interesting to learn how the Final Five could be linked to an Earth that had been destroyed two thousand years before and what their connection was to the models we knew before. It was also good to learn why Sharon was number Eight if there were only seven known models... even if I do suspect it was just the series creators correcting an oversight! It was nice to see Kate Vernon return as Ellen and it is always fun to see Dean Stockwell's performance as Cavil; I hope we'll see plenty more of him in upcoming episodes.
After the non-stop action of the previous two episodes this episode seemed much slower paced; this was probably needed to settle things down and prepare us for the inevitable conflict when Cavil's Cylons catch up with the fleet. It was interesting to learn how the Final Five could be linked to an Earth that had been destroyed two thousand years before and what their connection was to the models we knew before. It was also good to learn why Sharon was number Eight if there were only seven known models... even if I do suspect it was just the series creators correcting an oversight! It was nice to see Kate Vernon return as Ellen and it is always fun to see Dean Stockwell's performance as Cavil; I hope we'll see plenty more of him in upcoming episodes.