Resistance (Battlestar Galactica)
"Resistance" is the fourth episode of the second season of the reimagined "Battlestar Galactica" television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on August 5, 2005. In the episode, Marines fire on civilians following Colonel Saul Tigh's declaration of martial law. President Laura Roslin and Lee "Apollo" Adama escape "Galactica", Commander William Adama recovers, and Specialist Cally kills "Galactica"-Boomer. On Caprica, Starbuck and Helo join a human resistance group led by Sam Anders. Plot. When civilian ships protest martial law, acting commander Tigh orders Marines to take withheld supplies by force. On the civilian  ship "Gideon", Marines open fire on a hostile but unarmed crowd of civilians, killing four. Fearing a split in the fleet, President Roslin and Apollo enlist help from Racetrack and Dualla to escape the brig, and go into hiding with Tom Zarek, Roslin's erstwhile political enemy. Tigh has Chief Galen Tyrol thrown in a cell with Boomer who has recently been found to be a Cylon. He then orders Baltar to determine whether he is also a Cylon. Instead, Baltar injects Tyrol with poison and demands that Boomer reveal the number of Cylon agents still secretly aboard the fleet . After Boomer guesses that there are eight agents, Baltar administers the antidote and later clears Tyrol of being a Cylon. On Caprica, Starbuck and Helo encounter humans who survived the initial Cylon attacks and formed a resistance group. After a firefight and a Mexican standoff, the two groups persuade each other they are not Cylons by discussing sports. Back on "Galactica", a still-weak Commander Adama resumes command. Tigh confesses he has made mistakes, but Adama sympathizes with the pressures of command. An angry crowd gathers to witness Boomer's transfer to a specially-constructed holding cell. During the transfer , Specialist Cally shoots Boomer, who dies in Tyrol's arms declaring her love for him. Characterization. In his podcast commentary on "Resistance", executive producer Ronald D. Moore discussed his views of what the episode's events reveal about several of the characters. Analysis. Moore notes that Tigh's actions in "Resistance" make it easy to think badly of him despite Tigh's positive contributions; Moore cites examples in the miniseries that served as the series's backdoor pilot and the episodes "33", "Scattered", and "Valley of Darkness". Moore suggests this raises questions about "the nature of heroism". Moore compares the  shooting aboard the "Gideon" to the Boston Massacre. A group of ill-prepared soldiers, faced with a hostile mob, hears a shot fired and panics. Moore is careful to point out that who fires the first shot on the "Gideon" is unknown. Questioned by Ellen why Tigh did not shoot down Roslin's Raptor, Tigh replies, "It was his son." However, Susan Tankersley of Television Without Pity argues Tigh would not have shot down Roslin's Raptor even if Apollo had not been aboard. In her analysis, Tigh is by now aware of the negative impacts of his bad decisions  and unwilling to kill someone he knows is not truly his enemy. Tankersley also speculates things might have ended differently if Tigh were drunk, but in this scene he "seems sober." In "Scattered", in return for parole, Apollo agreed not to "make any attempt to free [Roslin] or sow insurrection among the crew" while on duty. Moore is unsure whether Apollo's actions in "Resistance" constitute a parole violation, since he secures passage to the launching bay by telling his guards he is needed to help a Raptor Pilot. In Moore's view, the question is important for Apollo's  character as "a point of honor". Jason Davis of Mania calls Apollo "mutinous". Two shots with blood dropping on the floor appear in the episode: one after Tigh interrogates Tyrol, and one after Boomer dies. Davis says this "recurring visual motif... continues the philosophical debate on what it means to be human/Cylon". Moore, Tankersley, Davis, Jen Segrest of AOL's TV Squad, Jacob Clifton of Television Without Pity, and Simon Brew of Den of Geek compare Cally's actions in this episode to those of Jack Ruby. Production. Writing. During development, "Resistance" was known as the "Kent State episode  because of how Tigh's heavy-handed tactics lead to civilian deaths. Moore later came to believe the incident bears greater resemblance to the Boston Massacre. Early plot outlines for Resistance" included scenes in which Baltar would interrogate Boomer. The writers replaced these scenes with the Tyrol subplot after realizing that other characters would likely suspect Tyrol following his rescue from Kobol in the previous episode, "Fragged". Later the writers considered establishing a love triangle among Baltar, Boomer, and Six. In early drafts, Ellen was shown playing a direct role in running "Galactica", giving orders and urging Saul to shoot  down Roslin's Raptor in the CIC. The writers decided this was less believable than her indirect influence through manipulating Saul's emotions. Boomer's last words are, "I love you, Chief." Moore had her call him by his title rather than his first name because Moore thinks "Galen" sounds funny and feared it would interfere with the audience's experience of the moment. For comparison he cited George Costanza's reaction in "Seinfeld" to learning that Kramer's first name is Cosmo. The writers had Billy decline to go with Roslin because actor Paul Campbell would be unavailable to  shoot the next episode. Campbell was in Los Angeles filming a pilot for another series that was not picked up. Filming. Director Allan Kroeker shot the first scene set on Caprica, in which the resistance fighters spot Starbuck and Helo and decide to kill them, is filmed from the resistance's perspective. He did this to provide a different flavor to a situation in which protagonists mistakenly target other protagonists, which Moore called "a very traditional plot move." The shootout and standoff were filmed in one day, but because of safety issues and the complexity of the choreography it took , in Moore's words, "an ungodly amount of time." The scenes in the launching bay before Roslin's escape were filmed in front of a green screen, as the crew did not have access to a large enough set. The blood drops in the shots at the beginning and end of "Resistance" are both CGI. Asked in a December 2005 interview what was the most difficult scene in the series to shoot, actor Aaron Douglas (Tyrol) said, "The scenes where someone dies in the Chief's arms are difficult to do because they take a really long time to shoot  and you are constantly in a state of loss and sadness. They are very draining." Reception. "Resistance" received favorable critical review. In a positive review, Segrest especially praised actor James Callis (Baltar). Tankersley gave "Resistance" a B, praising Callis and the scenes between the Tighs, but criticizing the scenes on Caprica as alternately confusingly frantic and boring. Davis praised the performances of actors Michael Hogan (Saul Tigh) and Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh), and the episode's treatment of "the dangers and moral uncertainty underlying any breaking of the chain of command". Davis compared "Battlestar Galactica" favorably to "Babylon 5" in  this regard. Brew also reviewed the episode favorably, expressing appreciation for the focus on conflicts among humans rather than between human and Cylon. Eric Goldman of IGN ranked Tigh taking command at #11 on his list of the top 20 storylines and moments in the re-imagined "Battlestar Galactica".