“A Day in the Life” is episode fifteen of season three of the new Battlestar Galactica.
The admiral is looking out of a window on a planet when a sound disturbs him. He’s in his quarters on Galactica and Colonel Tigh is there to see him. There looked to be a woman next to Adama, but there now isn’t. Tigh supposes he should wish Adama happy anniversary.
Chief Tyrol is heading back to his cabin but doesn’t seem overly happy. Nicky is crying and the chief tells Cally they need to get ready for morning watch. Cally thought they were spending the day with Nicky. So did Tyrol, but two people called in sick. Yes, he volunteered them, but the deck is shorthanded. Cally says the deck has been shorthanded since they got here; the daycare workers see more of Nicky than they do. Yes, and that’s going to be the way for now. He’ll take Nicky to daycare.
Tigh is filling Adama in on what’s being done. Now most of the Vipers are out of drydock, the chief is going to take a look at an airlock that has problems. Tigh suggests he handles first watch but Adama will keep his schedule. It’s just another day. Adama is now hearing his wife; she says they had good and bad times. More bad. He brings her back this one day year after year; she can’t understand why.
The chief arranges duties and tells Seelix she’s coming with him and Cally. Seelix enters the observation booth as they enter the airlock itself. Cally comments that it’s a mess, the Cylons really blew it to hell; the chief says no-one has been down there since damage control plugged the holes. Cally thinks it didn’t have to be her helping; the chief doesn’t want to be seen giving his wife special treatment. Cally says they can’t pretend their lives are like how they were before New Caprica. They’re married and have a son. She’s concerned that the rough patch is all they have left.
Then the airlock doors close. Seelix didn’t do anything and says there’s a pressure differential. Nothing drastic, but they’re losing air. The chief says the doors closed as a safety precaution. Seelix is reading a hull breach. Nothing dramatic but the air is going somewhere. The chief thinks a patch must have cracked. Plug it and the pressure doors will open. He finds the leak.
Adama is on the way to meet the president; his former wife is suggesting he do something about what he feels. Roslin is sure this could have been settled over the wireless, but she was going stir crazy on Colonial One. Adama says she’s always welcome. The president wants to discuss Gaius Baltar’s trial. Adama asks if they can’t just give him back to the Cylons. Roslin would love to, but from what Caprica Six said, even the Cylons wouldn’t take him back. With Baltar, what law do they use? What sort of trial? She plans to set up a committee but getting a room full of legal scholars to stay on task is like herding cats. It will need a chairman, and she was thinking Apollo.
In the pilots’ briefing room, once everyone has settled down, Apollo wants a show of hands as to who can do maths. Starbuck doesn’t raise her hand until the admiral enters. Apollo has been hearing constant refrains about how long it’s been since the last Cylon contact, when the real number is one. All it takes is one pilot, one ESO to mess up and the Cylons will be on top of them and people will die.
Starbuck waits behind after everyone has been dismissed. Her only problem is that he didn’t give this speech last week. But he needs new material; Adama has been saying this ever since they got there. Apollo says to steal from the best. Once Starbuck leaves, the admiral explains what President Roslin wants. Apollo admits he did consider a legal career, but as for chairing the committee, as CAG he has no time.
Galactica is still in bad shape after the pounding it took at New Caprica, and the airlock is only part of the problem. The chief and Cally are losing air, and will run out of it quickly. The plan devised to help them is a bit dangerous to say the least. Adama spends his day seeing his former wife.