“Escape Velocity” is episode four of season four of the new Battlestar Galactica.
In the previous episode, “The Ties That Bind”, Cally discovered Tyrol was a Cylon. She’d decided to kill herself and Nicky, but Tory stopped her, saved Nicky and spaced Cally. The episode begins with a service for Cally. President Roslin tells Adama that she likes this service. She just wanted him to know what she likes. Afterwards, the chief grabs Tigh and Tory, evidently suspecting they were involved.
Tigh checks in on Caprica Six to tell her that her request to see Hera has been denied. She asks why he felt the need to tell her in person and why he’s coming here every day, asking questions. Is there something he wants from her? During the conversation, Tigh is seeing Ellen at times, not Caprica.
Tory and Tigh head to see the chief; neither is happy about him grabbing them in public. The chief no longer knows who he is and what memories are real or programmed. Tory says they are perfect; they don’t need guilt. They were made to be perfect. He can shut the guilt down. Tyrol wants to be a man until the day he dies, as Tigh said. Tory says they are not the same as human. Tigh tells the chief what he feels is what any normal human would. It won’t end anytime soon. Feel what he has to feel. But don’t risk them.
Tory heads to see Gaius and wakes him by plucking a hair from him. She’s talking about pleasure and pain when a gas cannister is thrown in and people storm the place, demanding to know where Gaius is and trashing everything. They know how long they have before the marines get there.
Tyrol is working on a Raptor having memories of Cally. Racetrack and Skulls take it out, but there’s a problem and they have to make an emergency landing on Galactica.
Gaius is talking about the attackers to someone looking into the matter and Six tells him he can read the old texts. The attackers call themselves the Sons of Ares. Gaius gets distracted by a woman who has something in her hand; a talisman of the god of healing. Six tells him the old gods are fighting back.
Racetrack’s Raptor is being looked over and the chief discovers he forgot to replace a part. Skulls says they could have died. The chief says he fracked up. They can tell him that. Racetrack says he’s only human. Tyrol tells her not to call him that. Someone say he fracked up. No-one does.
Six is talking to Gaius about him and the old gods, and how he can be godlike. Gaius just wants to be a man. But he starts talking to his followers, saying they have been targeted and it’s time to make a stand. They crash a service to the gods.
Adama finds the president in sickbay; she’s leaving as it wasn’t a treatment, just a blood test. He’d brought a new book. A classic. His favourite, but he’s never finished it. He likes it so much he doesn’t want to be over. They talk about Baltar being back in the brig.
Tigh is seeking answers from Caprica Six. He might be letting on more than he thinks. Chief Tyrol isn’t doing so well. Roslin is worried about the amount of damage Gaius might do with religious power. There’s only a brief clip from the Demetrius, at the very end. Tory seems to have decided that, as a Cylon, she no longer needs to feel guilty about anything she does, or be held back from doing what she wants.