Review: Torn
Written by: Anne Cofell Saunders

It has finally come. After a few episodes teasing us with the prospect, we finally get to see Gaius Baltar living on a Baseship. I have been waiting for this plot line to develop for a while now, and so far it has been everything I could have hoped for.

In episode 3.6, Torn, a beleaguered Gaius Baltar (James Callis) finds himself an uneasy guest aboard a Cylon Baseship. No longer welcomed among the human race, and at odds with his robot hosts, Baltar is quite the torn individual. Meanwhile, on the Galactica, Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff) and Tigh (Michael Hogan) begin sewing discord in their depressed stupors.

Being my favorite character on the show, any episode focusing on Gaius Baltar is a good one in my book. No longer the arrogant scientist he was at the start of the series, Baltar boarders on insanity with each waking minute. The uneasiness and paranoia he's experiencing while aboard the Baseship is almost palpable. It's just such a surreal situation, and James Callis is performing the role with skill.

On the Galactica side of things, Tigh is having some problems of his own. Drinking the booze like a fish, he's starting to imagine hearing and seeing is dead wife. And, along with Starbuck, their depression is starting to hurt the moral of the crew. Luckily, Adama doesn't stand for that kind of crap. The man gets results--throwing Starbuck to the ground and tempting Tigh a gun. Wow...what a hard-ass.

At the episode's conclusion, it seems this show will be taking an interesting route in the next couple of episodes. The revelation of an anti-Cylon disease is certainly a big one. Also, with Gaius Baltar taking the direct action of killing a Cylon model and consistently lying to them, it seems he's screwing over the Cylons as much as he did humanity.

Rating: 8.5 / 10 "Well Done"

~Khyron, 2006