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"Sacrifice" is the sixteenth episode of the second season of the reimagined ''
Battlestar Galactica ''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. It began with the original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel series, '' Galactica 1980'', a line of book adaptat ...
'' television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on February 10, 2006. In the episode,
Dee Dee or DEE may refer to: People Surname * Dee, an alternate spelling of the Welsh surname Day * Dee, a romanization of several Chinese surnames, including: ** Those listed at Di (surname) ** Some Hokkien pronunciations of the surname Li () ...
spurns
Billy Keikeya ''Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series), Battlestar Galactica'' is a 2004 American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica, ''Battlestar Galactica'' franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore and ...
and goes on a date with Lee "Apollo" Adama at a bar. An armed group takes control of the bar, demanding the captive Cylon
Sharon Sharon ( 'plain'), also spelled Saron, is a given name as well as a Hebrew name. In Anglosphere, English-speaking areas, Sharon is now predominantly a feminine given name, but historically it was also used as a masculine given name. In Israel, ...
in return for the lives of their hostages. Lee is badly wounded when Starbuck attempts a rescue. Billy is shot and killed saving Dee just before a team of Marines raids the bar and rescues the remaining hostages. The episode focuses on Admiral
William Adama William "Bill" Adama (callsign "Husker") is a fictional character in the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' television series produced and aired by the SyFy cable network. He is one of the main characters in the series and is portrayed by Ed ...
's relationship with Sharon as he weighs the gunmen's demands. It also presents the gunmen's motives and raises questions about whether there is merit to their point of view. According to executive producer
Ronald D. Moore Ronald Dowl Moore (born July 5, 1964) is an American screenwriter and television producer. He is best known for his work on ''Star Trek,'' as well as on the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' television series, for which he won a Peabody Awar ...
, Billy was killed to release actor Paul Campbell to do other projects. Campbell said in an interview that it was because he was unwilling to sign a five-year contract for the series. In early drafts of the episode, Colonel
Saul Tigh ''Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series), Battlestar Galactica'' is a 2004 American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica, ''Battlestar Galactica'' franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore and ...
clashed with Adama over his handling of the crisis, but in the final version episode the two of them and President
Laura Roslin Laura Roslin is a fictional character in the reimagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' series. Played by Mary McDonnell, she is the President of the colonies and a key character throughout the series. The character is noted in part for a realistic moral ...
all agree that they cannot bow to the demands of a group they call terrorists. Critical reaction to "Sacrifice" was lukewarm. Moore discussed his own disappointment with several aspects of the episode in his
podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...
commentary on the episode.


Plot

The press has learned that a Number Eight model Cylon is being held in '' Galactica''s
brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the l ...
. Admiral Adama insists to President
Laura Roslin Laura Roslin is a fictional character in the reimagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' series. Played by Mary McDonnell, she is the President of the colonies and a key character throughout the series. The character is noted in part for a realistic moral ...
that Sharon is a valuable source of intelligence. Billy, Roslin's chief of staff, urges Adama to tell the fleet about Sharon. Billy proposes marriage to Dee, but Dee turns him down. Later he discovers Dee on a date with Lee in a bar on ''Cloud 9'' and is heartbroken. Gunmen led by Sesha Abinell take over the bar, demanding that the Admiral hand over Sharon. Learning that Abinell is seeking revenge for her husband's death in a Cylon attack, Adama refuses and orders Starbuck to plan a rescue with several marines. A ruse by Lee convinces the gunmen that the bar is losing oxygen, giving Starbuck an opening. Her attempt backfires, and she accidentally shoots Lee during the confusion. Dee and Billy attend the bleeding, unconscious Lee. Roslin argues to Admiral Adama and Colonel Tigh they cannot give in to terrorists. As Abinell threatens
Ellen Tigh Ellen Tigh is a fictional character from the 2004 ''Battlestar Galactica'' reboot series, portrayed by Kate Vernon from 2004 to 2009. She is the manipulative wife of series regular Colonel Saul Tigh ( Michael Hogan) during the first three seasons ...
, who is among the hostages, Adama agrees to hand over Sharon, but not alive. Adama sends over the corpse of Sharon "Boomer" Valerii, the Number Eight copy who shot him and died, to give Marines time to storm the bar. Abinell shoots Boomer's corpse but discovers the deception shortly after. She orders Dee killed. Against Dee's advice, Billy grabs a gun and shoots the would-be executioner dead. As he dies, the executioner also shoots and kills Billy. The Marines kill the remaining gunmen, including Abinell, and free the hostages. Roslin mourns Billy, whom she described as "the closest thing I have to family left". Dee awaits Lee's recovery in ''Galactica''s
sickbay A sick bay is a compartment in a ship, or a section of another organisation, such as a school or college, used for medical purposes. The sick bay contains the ship's medicine chest, which may be divided into separate cabinets, such as a refriger ...
as Starbuck looks on.


Analysis

Moore says in his podcast commentary on "Sacrifice" that the episode "is all about Sharon in some measure, because even though she's off-camera for most of it, all the events are driven by her presence and what she's about." He notes that Sharon's motives and whether the humans can trust her are open questions. Moore says that Admiral Adama feels an emotional connection to Sharon despite her being a Cylon and despite having been nearly killed by another Number Eight copy. He contrasts this with Colonel Tigh, who is more skeptical. At several points in the episode, Tigh reminds Adama that Sharon is a machine, a "thing". Amanda Keith of the
Los Angeles Newspaper Group The Southern California News Group (SCNG), formerly the San Gabriel Valley News Group and the Los Angeles News Group, is an umbrella group of local daily newspapers published in the greater Los Angeles area of southern California by Digital Fir ...
writes that Adama's trust of Sharon places him apart from other characters in this episode and that Billy's life is the price of that trust. Moore notes that Abinell has a fundamentally different perspective on the events of the series than the audience. The audience sees the fleet's leadership in action and understands why Adama and Roslin make the decisions they do. By contrast, Abinell's perspective is shaped by what she hears from the press and other characters. Moore said one aim of the episode was to raise the question of whether the audience could understand her point of view and should sympathize with her. He also notes that, in at least one respect, Abinell is right where Adama and Roslin are wrong: she believes correctly that the defense ministry of the
Twelve Colonies ''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. It began with the original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel series, '' Galactica 1980'', a line of book adaptat ...
was infiltrated by Cylons before the
Destruction of the Twelve Colonies ''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. It began with the original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel series, ''Galactica 1980'', a line of book adaptati ...
. Abinell is also correct that Sharon is not being as helpful as she could be, she refuses to turn informer against other Cylon agents in the fleet. Jacob Clifton of
Television Without Pity Television Without Pity (often abbreviated TWoP) was a website that provided detailed recaps of select television dramas, situation comedies and reality TV shows along with discussion forums. These recaps were written with sarcastic criticism a ...
argues that "all of her info is pretty much on target" and says her group and the Cylon sympathizer group Demand Peace "are right about ''everything''". In his judgment she is wrong to take her grief out on the people in the bar, because everyone in the fleet has lost loved ones for no good reason. He also argues that Abinell's initial resistance to Adama's offer to bring Sharon dead and her violent reaction upon seeing the corpse prove that her motivations are personal rather than political. This accords with what he sees as one of the series's themes: that political questions and conflicts generally boil down to personal ones. Clifton connects Starbuck's botched rescue in "Sacrifice" with her failures in the previous episode, "
Scar A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrosis, fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other Organ (anatomy), organs, and biological tissue, t ...
". He sees them as part of a disintegration of the professional competence that helps Starbuck endure her broken personal life. He compares the process of stripping Starbuck of her protection to
Eustace Scrubb Eustace Clarence Scrubb is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis's '' Chronicles of Narnia''. He appears in '' The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'', ''The Silver Chair'', and ''The Last Battle''. In ''The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'', he is accompan ...
losing his dragon skin in ''
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader ''The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'' is a portal fantasy novel written by British author C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1952. It was the third published of seven novels in ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' (1950–1956). Macmillan US p ...
''.


Production

Moore said that Billy was killed in "Sacrifice" because Campbell was being offered good roles on other television series, and the scheduling conflicts were interfering with filming. The writers found it implausible that Billy would simply quit as Roslin's chief of staff and could not think of any other good excuses for the character to be missing from the narrative for long stretches, so they decided to kill the character. Moore called Campbell's departure sad and said in his podcast commentary, "It's not something I thought we'd be doing when the season began." Campbell said in an interview that he was not surprised by the decision. He said that he was unwilling to sign a five-year contract, and the producers concluded he was not committed to the series. Moore said the plot was influenced by the film ''
Dog Day Afternoon ''Dog Day Afternoon'' is a 1975 American biographical crime drama film directed by Sidney Lumet and produced by Martin Bregman and Martin Elfand. The film stars Al Pacino, John Cazale, James Broderick and Charles Durning. The screenplay ...
''. In the film, as in "Sacrifice", a "true believer" stands at the top of the hostage takers, who are ultimately unprepared for the arrival of the authorities. Early drafts of the episode focused on a conflict between Admiral Adama and Colonel Tigh over the hostage situation. In these early versions, Tigh pressed Adama to give the hostage-takers what they asked for to protect Ellen. The confrontation was even supposed to turn violent. Eventually the writers decided that Tigh would not want to give in to the demands of people he considered terrorists, and the conflict was removed from the script. Moore notes that Adama and Roslin also have loved ones in the bar (Lee and Billy, respectively), but the emotional connection does not affect their decisions, either. In a scene that was cut because of time and financial constraints, Starbuck's presence aboard ''Cloud 9'' was explained by showing her about to have a liaison with a man she had just met. This was intended as a counterpoint to Lee pursuing a relationship with Dee rather than Starbuck and as further demonstration of Starbuck's self-destruction over her feelings about
Sam Anders ''Battlestar Galactica'' is a 2004 American military science fiction television series, and part of the ''Battlestar Galactica'' franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore and executive produced by Moore and David Eick as a re-imagini ...
. Moore noted that showing this in "Sacrifice" would have contradicted the previous episode, "Scar", in which Starbuck finds a measure of peace over Anders. Executive producer
David Eick David Eick () (born 1968) is an American writer and producer, best known as the executive producer of ''Battlestar Galactica'', for which he also wrote several episodes. Eick executive produced '' Caprica'' and '' Battlestar Galactica: Blood & C ...
knew actress
Dana Delany Dana Delany (born March 13, 1956) is an American actress. After appearing in small roles early in her career, Delany received her breakthrough role as Colleen McMurphy on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television drama ''China Beach'' (1 ...
(Abinell) personally and convinced her to make a guest appearance in the series. He first approached her about it during the first season. The bar scenes were filmed on a film set rather than in an existing location. The writers considered having the hostage situation occur aboard a shuttle. They moved it to a bar because they did not have a shuttle set available, and building the bar was less complicated and less expensive. The shots of the Marines preparing for the final assault were taken from the first-season episode "
Bastille Day Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. It is referred to, both legally and commonly, as () in French, though ''la fête nationale'' is also u ...
".


Reception

"Sacrifice" received a lukewarm response from critics. Rose Wojnar of ''
The San Diego Union-Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...
'' gave the episode a B−, criticizing "overuse of Sesha’s flashback of her husband dying and the predictable shot of her falling dead on Sharon’s body". Clifton gave "Sacrifice" a B+, praising Delany's performance but criticizing the lack of context for Lee and Dee's relationship. Overall, he called it "the best episode in a while". Keith McDuffee of
TV Squad Weblogs, Inc. was a blog network that published content on a variety of subjects, including tech news, video games, automobiles, and pop culture. At one point, the network had as many as 90 blogs, although the vast majority of its traffic could b ...
was glad to see Lee back to form after several difficult episodes but questioned the plausibility of the terrorists falling for the Boomer-switching trick. Amanda Keith responded favorably to the episode in general but felt the writers "flubbed how they portrayed ee'srelationship with Lee". Simon Brew of Den of Geek wrote, "it was good telly, but the show has inevitably struggled to recapture the flat-out brilliance of the middle of the season." Moore felt the episode fell short in several respects. He felt that the episode did not spend enough time with Abinell, getting the audience to understand how the loss of her husband radicalized her after the loss of the Colonies did not; he said Delany's strong performance made up for some of this. He hoped there would be more tension surrounding how Admiral Adama, Roslin, and Colonel Tigh each had a loved one in the bar. He also disliked how Starbuck's raid was filmed and thought that the script fell short by not explaining why the Marines don't storm the bar from the back through the passage where Lee tampers with the oxygen sensor. Moore emphasized that he believed the episode's shortcomings were his responsibility as
showrunner A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over th ...
and that his criticisms were directed at himself and not at anyone else. He praised the performances of actors
Jamie Bamber Jamie St John Bamber Griffith (born 1972/73), known professionally as Jamie Bamber, is a British actor, known for his roles as Lee Adama in ''Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series), Battlestar Galactica'' and Detective Sergeant Matt Devlin in t ...
(Lee), Paul Campbell (Billy),
Kandyse McClure Candice McClure (born 22 March 1980), known professionally as Kandyse McClure, is a Canadian actress. She gained prominence through her roles in the Fox Family Channel, Fox Family series ''Higher Ground (TV series), Higher Ground'' (2000), the N ...
(Dee),
Mary McDonnell Mary Eileen McDonnell (born April 28, 1952) is an American film, stage, and television actress. She received Academy Awards, Academy Award nominations for her roles as Stands With A Fist in ''Dances With Wolves'' and May-Alice Culhane in ''Pas ...
(Roslin), and
Katee Sackhoff Katee Sackhoff (born April 8, 1980) is an American actress known for being Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace on ''Battlestar Galactica'' (2004–2009), Niko Breckenridge on '' Another Life'' (2019–2021), Victoria "Vic" Moretti on '' Longmire' ...
(Starbuck). Overall, he called it "a decent episode, not my favorite but I don't think a disaster."


Notes and references


External links

* "Sacrifice" at the Battlestar Wiki
"Sacrifice"
at Syfy * {{Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series) episodes 2006 American television episodes Battlestar Galactica season 2 episodes fr:Saison 2 de Battlestar Galactica#La Vengeance