[Ken Chan]

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I think it's stupidity of the writers to put in something that they don't even an explanation for. IMHO writers should always know what they're doing and where they're heading.

I might agree that would be better. But given the realities of series TV, where they don't know how long they will be on, they may end up with too much or too little material. So there's some element of winging it and seeing how things develop naturally. Better writers can make it work; others -- [cough]24[/cough] -- not so much. I don't listen to the podcasts because of spoilers, and would rather not know. I definitely noticed the line though.

Just before that, when Adama first saw Apollo and Starbuck: the expression on EJO's face alone -- that guy can act.

[Chris Atkins]

As much as I'd love for there to be a renewed sense of unity in the fleet (for all the excellent reasons that Adam identified), it looks like that unity will be once again tested in next week's episode.

So we'll see how the writers handle this. I haven't liked the writing in this season as much as last year's, though the production values are higher this year, which helps to offset the subpar writing (compared to last year, anyway--this is still one of the better TV shoes I've ever watched).

[seanOhara]

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As for Baltar, I don't even recall concrete proof that his testing works. I could be forgetting something, though.

He pegged Boomer as a toaster last season.

[Kevin Hewell]

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I think it's stupidity of the writers to put in something that they don't even an explanation for. IMHO writers should always know what they're doing and where they're heading.

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The moment didn't cross the line for me. It still doesn't, even knowing that the writers didn't have it fully thought out.

The writers didn't write that line. According to the podcast EJO thought the line up on set for Park to say and, during editing, they thought it was cool so they kept it in.

[Mikah Cerucco]

seanOhara said: He pegged Boomer as a toaster last season.

I recall that, but my memory, trickster though it is, says there was other information he used to do so. Don't take me as saying you're wrong. I'm just going to lay out my memory. I've already told you what condition that's in.

Boomer came to Baltar wondering about herself. He was afraid of being found out in terms of his test not working. Six was working on him heavy then. He decided to go with "no," even though that wasn't the right answer. He later found out she really was a Cylon. As I said, I remember him being challenged on the veracity of his tests and him being very nervous about being found out (that the test doesn't work).

Anybody remember more detail? I have all the episodes, so I could go back and watch if anyone has any idea where this all played out last season.

[David Forbes]

Mikah, Baltar's test definitely pegged Galactica Boomer as a Cylon (the lights on his machine were all red). He freaked out a bit, and told her they were green because Six was whispering in his ear that if he told her what she really was, her programming might kick in and she'd kill him on the spot.

Oh, and Doctor Cottle (sp?) is the greatest doctor ever!

The entire map sequence was really beautiful and evocative. There was a mystical quality to it that I really enjoyed. The way Starbuck said they really were on Earth, and then the president said the "old" names of the colonies -- which perfectly matched our astrological signs -- were eerie in their effectiveness. And I couldn't help but think that if this was a Star Trek episode, they would have wasted two minutes talking about how it must be a virtual environment or holographic projection or some other technobabble nonsense just so it could be explained, whereas the Galactica writers feel no need to offer explanations for the mystical (and rightly so).

Great, great show.

[Graham Perks]

The "And you ask why" line for me was a total "OMG check out the implications!" moment. Especially given the cut back to Adama asked dead-Boomer "Why?" It sucked to hear on the Podcast that there are no implications at all.

So now I have to go with the general, "And you wonder why we are killing you all".

Finding the location of Earth: Adama's in a hot spot. He now knows where Earth is. If the others blab to the populace, "Now we know where Earth is!", then Adama will have some explaining to do. He already promised that he knew where Earth is. Now he has to say, "*Now* I know where Earth is, honest!"

Rosalin etc taking off for Kobol to find Earth makes is rather obvious that Adama had no idea about Earth.

Oops.

[Mikah Cerucco]

seanOhara said: He pegged Boomer as a toaster last season.

David Forbes said: Baltar's test definitely pegged Galactica Boomer as a Cylon (the lights on his machine were all red).

Thanks, guys. Hmmm. This needs to be fleshed out. What does his test check for? A missing or existing protein? DNA? Is the testing of the fleet still going on? Etc. I'm sure they'll get back to it at some point.

[Patrick_S]

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This needs to be fleshed out. What does his test check for? A missing or existing protein? DNA? Is the testing of the fleet still going on? Etc. I'm sure they'll get back to it at some point.

Why would it need to be fleshed out? In season one Baltar spent a moment discussing how the test works and to the audience it was shown to work.

The audience knows it works and that Baltar has not been honest with some of the results. I think the writers have gotten everything they wanted out of the situation and I just can't see any reason to revisit it anymore.

[Jason Seaver]

I think it's interesting in terms of how, if it is this hard to tell a humaniform Cylon, then you're eventually going to reach a point where the likes of Boomer #2 are effectively human. At some point, that's going to become an issue, since Boomer #2 can make an effective claim that she's been imprisoned despite not having personally committed any crime, and if she can breed with human beings, what makes her not deserving of human rights? And if she can work in that she remembers Baltar telling Boomer #1 that she wasn't a Cylon (which, sure, would undermine an "I'm human" argument, but you can point to President Roslin and her visions to say that psi abilities don't preclude humanity)... Well, then Baltar either has to fess up that he was manipulating the results or say that the testing is, in fact, useless.