Battlestar Galactica - “Flight of the Phoenix”
Written by Scott Collura Monday, 19 September 2005
Colonel Tigh’s stint as fleet commander continues to haunt the Galactica, though this time around the blame can only be aimed at the Cylons. The Galactica’s systems, it seems, have been overrun by a debilitating Cylon computer virus that has been lurking, and building, since the events of the season premiere when the Galactica was separated from the fleet. And while that virus snowballs to a potentially cataclysmic conclusion, Helo and Chief Tyrol continue to attempt to come to grips with their situation now that the original Sharon – the Chief’s Sharon – is dead, and the new Sharon – Helo’s Sharon – is onboard the Galactica, very much alive.
After the misstep of last week’s episode, Galactica returns to fine form with Flight of the Phoenix, an episode that’s plot synopsis might sound like a rehash of any number of lame sci-fi show episodes (“A computer virus takes over the ship!”), but is in fact yet another richly realized character piece that just happens to have a cool take on that age-old genre plot as well.
When the episode begins, we see that Helo isn’t exactly being warmly accepted by the other members of the crew since his return to the ship, the result of his association with Sharon. And Tyrol is a man stricken since the original Sharon’s death, able only to focus on his work it seems – which eventually leads to his taking on the unlikely task of constructing a brand new viper from the ground up. But first, a knock down, drag out fight between him and Helo resolves nothing for either man aside from the release of some long built-up tension – and Tyrol’s admission that he and his Sharon had planned on leaving the service and having children of their own. And now it’s Helo who is the father-to-be of Sharon’s (or, a Sharon’s) child.
As for Sharon, she’s of course the key to shutting down the virus that has almost crippled the ship. Once the program completes its takeover of the Galactica, it will be able to turn the vessel’s weapons against the rest of the fleet, while also suffocating the ship’s complement. Starbuck and Apollo get a taste of this firsthand, though luckily the pilots are in the firing range when their air supply is shut down – and a trusty sidearm comes in handy when blowing a hole through a bulkhead window. But as an armada of Cylon raiders approaches the Galactica, following the signal that the computer virus is broadcasting, Sharon – either by force at the barrel of Adama’s gun, or by sheer force of will, or both – must turn the virus against her former comrades.
It all makes for a great episode, one which amps up the tension of the virus subplot throughout (which seems to evolve over a period of days or even weeks) while also filling in a lot of the character questions that have lingered in our minds this season. And Tyrol’s viper project, his little viper that could, winds up being a truly important motivating force for the burned out crew. As Adama points out, it’s been months since the Cylon attack, and it’s finally setting in among the group that their current bleak existence could possibly be all their future has to offer them. After all, when Lieutenant Gaeta curses out his XO in the command center, you know tensions are running high. But Tyrol’s new viper, dubbed “Laura” by the crew, proves to be more than just a new class of ship, especially for President Roslin, who has learned that she now has only weeks to live.
But first, next week: the long-awaited return of the Battlestar Pegasus in the mid-season finale. Think that’ll go smoothly for the gang? A-
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