“Maelstrom” is episode seventeen of season three of the new Battlestar Galactica.
Starbuck is in her apartment on New Caprica, covering the mandala she told Helo she’s been painting since she was a child with white paint. Leoben is there, and the two are making out when she wakes in her bunk. Helo finds her getting ready; he says she’s up early. She says he is too; it seems Hera has nightmares and by the time Helo calms her down, he’s wide awake. Starbuck wishes Helo had never shown her the mandala image in “Rapture”; she dreams of it and Leoben every night. Starbuck feels as if she’s losing her mind. Helo suggests a psychiatrist he’s taking Hera to see, then suggests an oracle. Starbuck sees a young girl in the mirror. Helo asks if Starbuck is okay. She doesn’t know.
Starbuck goes to see the oracle, she gives her an image of Aurora that Starbuck picked up. Starbuck says she can’t sleep because of her nightmares. The oracle says it’s about when Leoben held Starbuck captive. Leoben knows Starbuck better than she knows herself. He sees the truth about her destiny. Starbuck’s mother believed suffering was good for the soul and so she made her suffer. The oracle repeats something Leoben said to Starbuck and says Starbuck learned the wrong lesson form her mother. She confused the messenger with the message. Starbuck’s mother was trying to teach her something. Leoben knows. He sees the patterns and he’s coming for Starbuck soon. She can’t stop him. Leoben will show her the way.
Starbuck is with Anders; he wants her to come with him. Anders hates to say it, but the oracle had a point. Starbuck’s mother fracked her head up long before Leoben. Her mother said she wasn’t like other kids and anger keeps you alive. Starbuck got back at her with insects, which her mother was terrified of. And got her hand slammed in the door as a result. Which was worth it.
Day 4 of refuelling operations and Starbuck and Hot Dog are patrolling in the atmosphere of the planet they’re orbiting. Starbuck sees a Heavy Raider and calls Galactica. Hot Dog doesn’t see it and Gaeta can’t see it on DRADIS. Tigh says the radiation from the planet interferes with DRADIS; that’s why they picked the place. Hot Dog still doesn’t see the Cylon as Starbuck follows it into a storm system not dissimilar in shape to the mandala. The Raider crashes into her. Apollo is now telling her to pull up and she’s seeing Leoben. Finally, she pulls out of the storm.
On the hanger deck, Chief Tyrol can’t see any mark from hitting the Raider. Starbuck’s gun camera doesn’t show anything either. Finally it’s suggested it wasn’t there. Later, Apollo is talking to his father, who asks if he’s going to ground Starbuck. According to Cottle, she’s physically fit but an emotional basket case. For Starbuck, that’s saying something. In peace time, Cottle would ground them all. Adama says it’s Apollo’s decision. Apollo says that, even screwed up, Starbuck is the best Viper driver he has. Adam says even the best can burn out, does Apollo think Starbuck has? Apollo doesn’t know, but he thinks Starbucks identity as a steely-eyed Viper jock is the only thing keeping her together. The admiral asks if she can handle it when the bullets fly.
Apollo finds Starbuck by the wall of remembrance. She asks him where he wants to go on it. She wants to be next to Kat. A royal pain in the ass but a hell of a stick. Apollo will go next to Duck and Nora. Starbucks says that whoever is first, the other will make sure their photo goes in the right place. And what did the old man say? That it’s Apollo’s call. And he trusts her eyes over DRADIS any day. Starbuck asks if Apo0llo doesn’t think she’s nuts, then. That’s not what he said. She’s a raving lunatic, as demented and deranged as the first day he met her. Starbuck is now seeing the mandala in wax and drips.
Starbuck is definitely not in good shape and is definitely seeing things. The young girl, her when she was young, and Leoben. So, is the Heavy Raider that no-one else has seen actually there or not?