Battlestar Galactica (2003)/Maelstrom

Maelstrom
Season 3, Episode 17
Airdate	March 4, 2007
Written by	Bradley Thompson & David Weddle
Directed by	Michael Nankin
Fleet Survivors	41,400
← 3x16 Dirty Hands	3x18 → The Son Also Rises
Battlestar Galactica (2003) — Season Three

Maelstrom is the seventeenth episode of the third season of Battlestar Galactica, and the fiftieth episode overall.

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

Michael Hogan (Colonel Saul Tigh), Aaron Douglas (Chief Galen Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Captain Karl "Helo" Agathon), Alessandro Juliani (Lt. Felix Gaeta), Kandyse McClure (Lieutenant Anastasia "Dee" Dualla)

Guest Star: Michael Trucco (Samuel Anders)

Guest Star: Callum Keith Rennie (Leoben Conoy)

Guest Star: Dorothy Lyman (Socrata Thrace)

Cast: Bodie Olmos (Hotdog), Leah Cairns (Racetrack), Don Thompson (Figurski), Camille Atebe (Sarah Ryan), Georgia Craig (Oracle Brenn), Erika-Shaye Gair (Child Kara)

Plot Overview

After dreaming of Leoben and the mandala she painted as a child, Kara's fitness for flight is questioned when she encounters a Cylon Raider no one else sees.

It is then that the issue of her destiny as spoken of by Leoben comes into the foreground.

Arc Advancement

Characters

• While Kara's relationship with Anders is still strained, but Lee notes his marriage with Dee has improved.

• Ever since Helo showed her the mandala, she's been seeing it again and again. She's also been having dreams about Leoben.

• Kara chases down a Heavy Raider no else seems to pick up. These leads her to chase it into a storm cloud, getting dangerously close to the hard deck. Eventually she gets hit and passed out. She awaken to find herself in her apartment on Caprica with Leoben. He takes her to the last time she talked to her mother, the day she learned she had cancer. Leoben tells her it was the day she started to become afraid of death as Kara lashed out at her mother and told her she was going to leave and never come back. He then takes her to her mother's deathbed. She is finally witness to her mother's final moments as she tells her that she knows Kara can do what she prepared her for because she's her daughter. Assuring her that there's nothing terrible about death, he confirms that he's isn't really Leoben and is there to prepare her for her passage to discover "what lies in the space between life and death."

• Kara then accepts death and flies directly into the storm where her ship is crushed. Lee witnesses it and reports to everyone on Galactica over wireless that there's no chance of rescue.

Referbacks

• The oracle recites to Kara exactly what Leoben told her in "Flesh and Bone".

• Leoben tells Kara that he's there to prepare her to discover what lies in the space "between life and death." Those are the exact words Three used to describe the place where something miraculous lies in "Hero".

Trivia

The Show

• When this episode originally aired, Samantha Ferris was credited as Sarah Ryan for playing Pollux despite the fact that she doesn't appear in this episode. However, the DVD corrects this, as it seems there was an apparent mix-up due to the fact that a character in this episode was named Sarah Ryan, also a deckhand.

• When the oracle first appears onscreen, there's a doll in a glass case right next to her. This appears to be the same one beside Socrata's deathbed.

• The appearance of the Heavy Raider is ambiguous. While it seems to only appear through Kara's vision, it is visible briefly in Lee's line of sight when he finally gets visual on her (although Moore states Lee did not see it). It is also visibly fleeing when Kara's Viper explodes.

Bonus Scene

• Kara notices her Viper is leaking hydraulic fluid and lashes out Tyrol as she's clearly concerned despite his assurance how normal it is.

Behind the Scenes

• Adama destroying the model ship was an improvised moment by Edward James Olmos. What he didn't know was that the ship was not a prop, but an actual model that was being rented. Thankfully, it was insured.

• The oracle that Kara goes to see in the teaser was originally going to be played by Amanda Plummer reprising her role from "Exodus", but due to reasons of both budget and scheduling, a new character was introduced for the part.

• A scene that was cut, but has yet to be commercially available is one in which Luciana Carro reprises her role as Kat (or perhaps some entity that has assumed her form) in which she appears to Kara just before she dies in a brand new Viper, telling her not to worry.

Quotes

• Kara: (talking about her mother) During the first Cylon War, she was stationed with the first marines on Medra. Stinking jungles you wouldn't believe. Had this phobia of insects for the rest of her life. Hated the damn things. So I go out and I buy a bunch of rubber bugs, and I slip into her closet, and I put them all over her shoes.

Anders: And?

Kara: She screamed her frakking head off. I go in, and she's trying to smash them with her shoes, but that's just making them bounce around even more.

Anders: You must have caught hell for that.

Kara: She grabbed my hand, held it in the door jam and slammed the door.

Anders: Oh, frak me.

Kara: It was worth it, though.

• Leoben Conoy: See, there's nothing so terrible about death. When you finally face it, it's beautiful. You're free now, to become who you really are.

Kara: You're not Leoben.

Leoben Conoy: Never said I was. I'm here to prepare you to pass through the next door, to discover what lies in the space between life and death.

• Kara: Lee, I'll see you on the other side.

Lee: Kara, please. Listen to me. Come back.

Kara: Just let me go.

Lee: Godsdamn it, Kara. You come back! Come back!

Kara: It's okay. Just let me go. They're waiting for me.

• Adama: Lee, do you have her in sight? Can you see her?

(long pause)

Lee: Negative. She - She went in. She went in.

Adama: We're sending in the search and rescue birds right now. We'll find her.

Lee: No, dad. It's no use. Her ship's in pieces. Her ship's in pieces. No chute. We lost her.