Battlestar Galactica (2003)/Black Market

Black Market
Season 2, Episode 14
Airdate	January 27, 2006
Written by	Mark Verheiden
Directed by	James Head
Nielsen Rating	1.8
Fleet Survivors	49,597
← 2x13 Epiphanies	2x15 → Scar
Battlestar Galactica (2003) — Season Two

Black Market is the fourteenth episode of the second season of Battlestar Galactica, and is the twenty-seventh episode overall.

Edward James Olmos (Admiral William Adama), Mary McDonnell (Laura Roslin), Katee Sackhoff (Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace) (credit only), Jamie Bamber (Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama), James Callis (Dr. Gaius Baltar), Tricia Helfer (Number Six), Grace Park (Sharon Valerii) (credit only)

Michael Hogan (Colonel Saul Tigh), Paul Campbell (Billy Keikeya), Kandyse McClure (PO Anastasia "Dee" Dualla)

Guest Star: Richard Hatch (Tom Zarek)

Guest Star: Graham Beckel (Commander Fisk)

Guest Stars: Claudette Mink (Shevon), Donnelly Rhodes (Dr. Cottle)

and Bill Duke (Phelan)

Cast: Leah Cairns (Racetrack), Amy Lalonde (Gianne), Hayley Guiel (Paya), John Mann (Linden), James Ashcroft (Security Officer), Brad Mann (Pegasus Marine), Gustavo Febres (Herbalist)

Plot Summary

Captain Lee Adama is tasked with stopping the burgeoning black market in goods and services in the fleet.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• A black market has formed in the fleet. Its hub is the freighter Prometheus which is "off the grid" - nearly totally lawless. Lee kills the head, Phelan, but permits the market to continue to run on the conditions there are no more murders, it doesn't hold back on essential necessities, and ceases the child prostitution.

• It's established that Jack Fisk succeeded Cain as commander of Pegasus. However, he is killed by the black marketeers.

• After the death of Phelan, Zarek is seen walking through the market on Prometheus with one of Phelan's henchman.

Characters

• Lee was involved with a woman on Caprica. When she became pregnant, he was unwilling to commit to a relationship, and she left him shortly prior to the Cylon attack on the Colonies.

• Lee has been seeing an escort on Cloud 9 and was building a relationship with she and her daughter. However, she breaks it off, knowing Lee was using her as a substitution for another woman.

• Roslin offers Baltar a chance to resign as Vice President. He declines.

• Dee confronts Lee over what is an apparent shift in their relationship, but he doesn't have anything to say. He later pauses to see her working out with Billy. She watches him leave before resuming her attention on Billy.

• Adama works to repair his relationship with his son, going so far as to take Lee's side against Roslin regarding the black market.

• Tigh has been using the black market to get a hold of various commodities such as fresh fruit and real liquor, finally explaining how he keeps himself stocked with bottles of booze.

Trivia

Behind the Scenes

• In the podcast commentary for this episode, Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore called Black Market "an episode that I don't particularly like."

Quotes

• (Cottle retrieves a cubit from Fisk's mouth)

Adama: You find anything else, let me know right away.

Cottle: I find anything else, I may retire early.

• Tigh: Maybe there's another Cylon in the fleet.

Adama: I'd almost prefer that to the alternative: we start killing our own. All they have to do is sit back and watch.

• Tigh: Don't you play holier-than-thou with me. I haven't done anything that most people on this ship haven't done, including you.

Lee: Doesn't make us right, Colonel, just a whole lot of people wrong.