“No Exit” is episode fifteen of season four of the new Battlestar Galactica.
At the beginning, it says that all of this has happened before and will happen again. There are clips of the Cylon rebellion, with older model Cylons that are very familiar looking (think classic series). It says 11 models are known and one was sacrificed, the death of Ellen Tigh in “Exodus: Part 2”. Ellen wakes up in a tank on a Cylon baseship being watched by a Centurion. She’s freaking out, then suddenly becomes very calm. She asks the Centurion to help her out, and politely thanks it when it does.
In the present, Anders is in sickbay. In the previous episode, “Blood on the Scales”, he was shot in the brain.
18 months ago, and Ellen greets Cavil by his first name. Which he doesn’t care for. Ellen says she named him after her father. He sarcastically thanks her for making him in her father’s image too. Cavil says he’s advanced. She says he’s still the petulant little boy she had high hopes for.
In the present, and Tyrol is showing Adama the ship damage he noticed whilst disabling the FTL. The admiral tells him to fix it. He needs a chief and all he has is a Galen. They have to accept what they are. Will Tyrol accept the title? Tyrol says he’s still a Cylon. The admiral points out so is his XO.
Anders comes around. He says a wonderful thing has happened. Starbuck needs to get the others, including Ellen. She tells him Ellen is dead. He knows. He remembers everything. Earth, why they are here. Everything.
12 months ago, and Cavil and Ellen are still sparring. She asks if Cavil hates humanity so much, why he’s spent 20 years in pursuit of something so very human. Cavil says his forbears, on the Centurion side, were slaves to humanity and demand justice. Boomer enters and Ellen tells her Cavil’s real name is John. He says it isn’t; he hates it. He leaves Boomer with Ellen, who tells Boomer to watch John.
Anders explains that the five of them worked at the same research facility. Tigh and Ellen were married; Tyrol and Tory were in love. Tigh says that when he pulled Ellen out of the rubble in the flashback he experienced in “Sometimes A Great Notion” she said they would be reborn. Anders says they had been warned and placed a ship in orbit. They didn’t invent resurrection; it came from Kobol with the 13th tribe. But it fell out of use when they learned to procreate, and they tried to recreate it. At which point Cottle kicks them all out.
Apollo joins Roslin on Colonial One where the Quorum was massacred. He says they need a new Quorum. Or something else. They are no longer defined by planets, but by ships. Roslin tells him to keep it in mind when he assembles a new one. She’s going to let him do the heavy lifting. Her only concern is sometimes Apollo is so hell bent to do the right thing, he fails to do the smart thing.
Galactica is in bad shape. When the war broke out, it was a 50-year-old ship being retired and corners had been cut on its construction. Since then, it’s been through enough to demolish many ships and it’s now falling to pieces. Cavil really hates humans, being human and those who originally made him one, which is seen as Ellen’s story advances to the present. Anders has remembered a lot, and reveals things about the origins of the skinjobs and the Final Five, but he has a bullet in his brain that needs removing.