Who knew Edward James Olmos had it in him? He's proved time and again on BSG that he's more than a capable and competent directors: he really knows how to get the best out of his fellow actors, sometimes to astonishing degrees such as here, and he also can pull off a distinct style at the helm. With this episode it does two things that I like very much on their own, but Olmos and writer Michael Taylor's combination makes it something very special. One half of the episode concerns getting information from Gaius Baltar - this time by any means necessary, which in this case, by Adama's suggestion, means prying into the very deepest recesses of his mind by a kind of hallucinogenic LSD-inspired torture. This half of the episode is intense and admirably trippy (the scenes inside of the pool of water Baltar is in, and how Adama gets this info under this sort of "truthiness" state, is nothing less than fantastic. The other half of the episode, however, is quite different in tone, as Lee, Thrace and their significant others have to grapple with what's going on: the disintegration of their marriages what love really "means" at this point.
By themselves, each of these parts could make for a compelling BSG episode. But the level of ambition with the wild style Olmos chooses and how frakkin revelatory Baltar's scenes are, PLUS the emotional truth and superb balancing act of the actors in the 'relationship' scenes, is kind of miraculous. If one could make cinematic comparisons it's 50% Altered States or Pink Floyd's the Wall, and 50% Scenes from a Marriage. It's got that wonderful sense of mystery and depth and the attention to how the characters have culminated to such a point as this. Especially noteworthy is when Baltar reveals his point of view on what happened on Caprica, and how, ultimately, the verdict is in: Baltar just doesn't see himself as fully guilty, even under duress and pain of death. And as for Thrace/Adama/everyone else, it hits all the right notes, never making anyone too sympathetic or too easy to hate. It's just really great work all around, and particularly good to see before it dips into some filler episodes in season 3.