Wow. Simply... wow...

SPOILERS WARNING: IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THIS EPISODE, DON'T READ THIS

Once again, Galactica astounds us with easily the best episode yet (for this season, possibly for the entire run of the show!)

If the production team for BSG doesn't get an Emmy for this episode, then there ain't no justice.

Since COLLABORATORS is airing tonight, I think it's high time to post some ruminations on EXODUS 2. Plot points will be revealed here.

What an amazing finale to the Caprica 2 experience! It was a great, unique setting that allowed for some amazing plot development and great character building, but I'm glad to see it in the fleet's wake. This is a show about a journey ("Exodus" is a fitting title for this episode), not about colonizing planets. Press on to Earth, says I.

In short GALACTICA comes back to take on (they think) two Cylon Base Stars and recover a huge amount of people from the surface. To execute this maneuver, they needed launch keys to get the grounded ships off the planet. We are not privy to how the word spread around the entire human population of Caprica 2, but we have some hints of it when the guerilla forces stage a demonstration to keep the Cylons occupied while the Galactica jumps in.

The maneuver that the Raptors were practicing last week (that Adama Senior bitched out Adama Junior over) was deploying drones. Now we see why. It was to fake out the two Cylon guardships and have them broadcast the signal for two battlestars. While they are ringing their hands in consternation over this, Guerillas on the ground (led by Anders, Tigh, and the Female marine troop from last week) blow up several buildings and engage the toaster Cylons on the ground. This is all a setup for simply the best visual effect I'v ever seen on BSG or maybe any other SF themed show. At one point, Anders turns to Tigh and says "Where's GALACTICA?" And Tigh says something like "The Old Man will be here, don't worry". At that moment, you look waaaaay up in the sky and see a little smudge. It's the Galactica, a ship designed to never enter Atmo, Jumping in about 11000 feet above the compound. And it proceeds to drop like a rock, with air burning off all around it and heating up from friction. That's when the Vipers launch off of all bays (points to the writers for adding the little bit from the thoughtful pilot saying to himself: "Hmm. This should be interesting"..) As the Vipers rush to engage the Cylon fighters, Galactica jumps out to orbit from about 600 feet above ground! Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be designed to do this sort of thing and we got lots of fizzing, popping, and what not and the jump drive goes down. Uh OH!

At this moment, In jumps two more Cylon base stars. Adama's reaction is perfectly written. "Well, That's it. We can't take on Four. Gentlemen, It's been an honor." What a fantastic little bit that is. He doesn't freak out, he calmly accepts the facts, knowing he's done his duty. At that moment, PEGASUS arrives, guns blazing.. going right into the heart of four base stars. One star goes down... then PEGASUS gets bracketed by three base stars... giving GALACTICA the time it needed to fix its drive and jump away. (Odd note: this is almost exactly a reprise of the OLD series demise of their PEGASUS, if you think on it). The mighty PEGASUS goes down under a hail of gunfire, but not before ramming one star head on and losing an engine nacelle by plowing it into another star, destroying it. What a fantastic ending for the Peggy. I'll miss her, but if you have to go out, it's best to take 3 enemies with you.

Not all the action was 100% sepcial effects. The show began with one of the most heart-wrenching sequences I've ever seen on the series, where Tigh feeds his own wife (who betrayed the resistance, albeit for noble reasons) poison. and holds here while she dies. Quite a tear-jerker. And the little bits with Laura taking "Her ship" over again, and Gaius leaving with the Cylons (where else could he go, after all?) were well done.

It's going to be hard for the BSG creative staff to top the EXODUS PART II episode, but I can hope...