“Daybreak: Part 1” is episode nineteen of season four of the new Battlestar Galactica and the first part of the three-part season and series finale.
It opens in Caprica City before the Fall. Some time before it, it looks like. Adama is being asked to do something. Gaius and Caprica Six, who seem to have only just met, are in a limo when he gets a call that upsets him. Roslin is hosting a baby shower for one of her two sisters. Starbuck is at home with Zeke, cooking, when Apollo shows up; this seems to be the first time they have met. Gaius’ call was because his father had stabbed his nurse with a steak knife. He tries, and falls, to get the nurse, the third one so far, to stay. In the morning, two police officers arrive at Roslin’s door. Her father and both sisters were killed by a drunk driver.
In the present, Apollo is dealing with requests for bits of Galactica from the fleet’s captains, the admiral having given the order to abandon her in the previous episode, “Islanded in a Stream of Stars”. A specialist is upset that they are tearing out the mag accelerators from the launch tubes; a battlestar’s entire purpose is to launch Vipers. Apollo knows how he feels. They can be done last.
Adama is packing up his stuff for his new quarters on the baseship. Gaius is being told that his group now holds significant numbers in the fleet, more than any other group. The time is now. Six agrees. Humanity’s final chapter is about to be written and Gaius will be its author.
Cavil wants to start experiment on Hera as soon as possible. Boomer looks like she may be having second thoughts.
There are more clips from Caprica, before it was nuked, and the admiral asks for Starbuck’s help in asking a question of Anders. He makes the decision to have Galactica do one last mission; one to rescue Hera.
The story continues in “Daybreak: Part 2”.