Written by Michael Taylor

It's the episode most of the first half of season 2 has been working towards. After a brief stay with the Cylons, ex-President Gaius Baltar has finally made his way back to humanity and the Battlestar Galactica. Man...is he in for a world of hurt.

In episode 3.13, Taking a Break From All Your Worries (whew..what a mouthful), Gaius Baltar (James Callis) finds himself being interrogated by a rather pissed off Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell). Although he doesn't have much to tell regarding the Cylon's plans, Mr. Baltar is finally forced to confront his guilt regarding his participation in the genocide of mankind. Meanwhile, the love-square between Anders, Starbuck, Dee, and Lee gets even more frakked up after Apollo starts frequenting Galactica's new bar and gets advice from Tyrol.

Directed by veteran actor and the show's main star power, Edward James Olmos, Taking a Break From All Your Worries (or TaBFAYW, for short) delivers easily one of the most gripping episodes of the series. With James Callis and Mary McDonnell giving their best performances yet, it is certainly a candidate for being one of BSG's standout episodes.

It's just too bad there was a fatal flaw holding it back from true greatness. That flaw is the twisted love affair between Apollo and Starbuck. Maybe it's just me, but it seems this plot line--which was never all that interesting to begin with--has been beaten to death. It feels like every episode since the infamous boxing episode has had the two come back together, only to have them break apart again in the closing minutes. How many times do we need to see Lee stare longingly at Starbuck as he holds Dee? Answer: once was enough.

Usually I can tolerate this plot as it works in the background, but with TaBFAYW I reached my breaking point. I'm not sure what Olmos was thinking (as the rest of this excellent episode was directed in top-notch form), but it bothered me to no end when, just as Gaius' mental torture scene was reaching its climax, they'd switch scenes to drunk Lee stumbling around the Galactica's corridors. Frakking A.

I was trying my best to stay in the moment of the distraught Gaius spilling his guts to the exceptionally intimidating Admiral Adama, but the interruptions were just too much for me. Which is a real shame, too, because as I said above, TaBFAYW featured what is probably James Callis' best performance yet. As far as I'm concerned, he is now the main character of this show. I've always had a preference for the Gaius Baltar plotline since the mini-series, but by now Callis has definitely taken his place as the central character of BSG.

One of the best Gaius-centric episodes as well as best of the series material, TaBFAYW is brought down only by an uninteresting side plot that interrupts the good stuff far too often. Hopefully Edward Olmos will get the chance to direct again in the coming seasons--after the whole love affair thing gets resolved, of course.

Rating: 9 / 10 "Free Gaius Baltar!"

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