Battlestar Galactica is dying — both literally, referring to impending series finale, and figuratively, referring to the titular ship.  And ever since the Gaeta/Zarek mutiny, that theme has pervaded the show —  the gradual acceptance on behalf of what’s left of our cast that the ship, Laura Roslin and perhaps both the Cylon and human races are going to all soon meet their inevitable ends.  The ship itself is literally falling apart, and as we learn in this episode, even the Cylon treatment its recently undergone won’t be enough to stop it.

Two storylines dominate this week’s outing — the first features Kara Thrace, mourning the imminent death of her husband, drowning her sorrows in Sam’s Bar and encountering a piano player named “Slick.”  Slick is struggling to finish a new composition, and through his experimentations on the bar’s dilapidated piano, Kara unlocks memories of her father and childhood that have long been buried, memories that may explain who she is and why she’s here.  The second storyline deals with the original Boomer, incarcerated on Galactica.  The Cylons have requested that the human extradite her to their custody for treason, while Chief Tyrol struggles to deal with his lingering feelings for her.  Both storylines are character-driven and emotional and artfully set up the show’s grand finale.

I’ve had mixed feelings about Kara over the past four seasons, but I’ve never related to her as much as I did this week.  Slick, who I initially thought was a throwaway character, turns outto have profound importance, as he increasingly serves as a proxy for her lost father.  We learn that Kara’s dad was a concert pianist and composer, and that he imparted his gifts onto his daughter, who rejected them after his death.  Working with Slick unlocks those memories, as Kara labors to remember one of her father’s compositions.

Meanwhile, Galen Tyrol goes to visit Boomer in the brig.  Using her Cylon projection mojo, she transports them to the house she always imagined they’d have together on Picon, and the Hera-like daughter they both dreamed about.  At first Galen resists, but ultimately he yields to the fantasy, believing that his relationship with Boomer is at long-last being rekindled.

But Tyrol’s fantasy happiness is short-lived — despite his protestations, Laura Roslin signs the order to release Boomer to the Cylons for trial.  This makes Tyrol go off the deep end — he stages a power outage and kills a random Eight aboard Galactica, swapping her for Boomer.  We soon learn that this act of murder puts poor Galen in the John Lock League of Chumps.  Because Boomer has always been a sleeper agent, despite her many internal conflicts.  As we soon see, she’s here on a mission.

First, she knocks out Athena, ties her up and puts her in a locker in one of Galactica’s many bathrooms.  Helo shows up to say goodbye, as Athena was scheduled to go on a long-range Raptor mission to find a habitable world.  Thinking that Boomer is his wife, Helo wants a little — uhm loving — which Boomer eagerly obliges.  Tied up and gagged, Athena is forced to watch her husband unknowingly enjoy the company of her evil doppleganger.  Boomer has always resented Athena for having the life she wanted — now she figuratively gets to screw her!

Boomer then goes to to the Galactica daycare and takes Hera away.  It suddenly becomes clear that this was her mission for Cavil — to steal the hybrid child.  She loads Hera in one of the long-range Raptor food crates and even has Tyrol help her load it into the ship!  It’s unclear whether Hera is alive or dead, but the fact that Galen didn’t realize that Boomer was duping him puts him at the head of the League of Chumpitude!  Even John Locke isn’t this much of a chump!

Back in the A-story, Kara has dreams of playing the piano and of watching her father play.  She also tells Slick about finding her corpse on Earth — which seems a bit odd, but makes sense by the end of the show.  Together they begin to work out the song that Kara is trying to remember, and Slick starts to scrawl out the notes on a piece of improvised music sheet.  The notes spark a memory in Starbuck who pulls out a drawing Hera made for her at the beginning of the episode — that drawing is actually the musical composition of the song!

Together, Slick and Kara begin to play.  At one point he reaches out and touches her face.  Some may have thought this romantic, but as a father myself, it was clear to me that Slick was actually Kara’s dad.  Immediately we cut to a flashback of young Kara sitting at the piano, her real father touching her face in much the same way.  After all these years, I finally understand Kara Thrace — how damaged she was by loss, and how she was never able to replace the ones she really loved.  Her dad, her mom, Zack Adama.  Taken in this light, everything makes sense.  And in some way I think that Slick helps her come to terms with it.

Together they begin playing the song in full and it becomes clear what it is — “All Along the Watchtower,” the song heard by the sleeper Cylons in last season’s finale. Tigh is in the bar getting loaded, and he’s shocked to hear her playing it.  He rushes over to the piano to find out how she and Slick know it, except Slick isn’t really there.  Whether or not he was real, or a head character is unclear, but I’m more certain than ever now that Kara’s father was Daniel, the lost Cylon murdered by Cavil.  Somehow one copy must have survived and fathered Kara Thrace.

Meanwhile, Athena manages to untie herself and limp down to the pilot ready room, where Helo is training some recruits.  She tells Helo what happened with Boomer, and they quickly realize that she has kidnapped Hera.  Suddenly the dreams Laura Roslin shared with Six become clear — Bomer was stealing the baby, and the two of them were trying to rescue her in the Opera House.

In the launch pod, Boomer begins to prepare her Raptor to return to Cavil’s fleet.  Adama is alerted to her identity and tells her to stop.  She starts to spin up her FTL drive, and manages to fly out of the closing launch pods.  Once outside, she jumps in close proximity to the ship, tearing a gaping wound in the side of its hull.  All hell breaks lose, while Athena cries for her lost daughter.

Except I suspect that even if Hera is lost, there is (in the words of Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back), another hybrid.  And that hybrid is Kara Thrace.

In her quarters, Laura Roslin collapses, realizing that Hera has been stolen.  It’s unclear whether or not she’s dead, but someone checks for a pulse.  

The episode ends with Tyrol, returning to the imaginary Picon house to find it empty — even the imaginary daughter is gone.  Boomer has chumped him again.  And if anyone is ready to dish out some ass-whipping revenge, it’s Galactica’s chumpish Cylon deck chief.  And unlike John Locke, Galen Tyrol is no one’s bitch.  

Whoa, talk about using a quiet, melancholy show to set up what will no doubt be a stressful, tense, and death-filled finale.  Galactica and the Rebel Cylons are going to have to take on Cavil to get Hera back — and the old dying Battlestar barely has any fight left in her.  How will they get out of this?  I have no idea, but I can’t wait to find out.  As disappointed as I’ve been with the show, it has finally achieved its former greatness.  The stakes are higher than they’ve ever been, and I’ve never hated (and loved) two onscreen antagonists as much as I hate Cavil and Boomer.

For the first time since the New Caprica storyline, Galactica earns a flawless 5 out of 5 Chrome Toasters.  Take the old girl out in style, Admiral.  Do us proud.