Battlestar Galactica' may sacrifice a character

Source: Metromix

One of the central themes of "Battlestar Galactica," which has its midseason finale at 8 p.m. Friday on Sci Fi, is sacrifice. What are people willing to give up in order to survive, the series asks, and is it always worth it? Are people willing to die, or even kill their own kind, for the greater good?

This season, we've seen the Galactica's second in command, Saul Tigh, sacrifice his own wife on discovery of her treason with the Cylons, who are bent on subduing and destroying humanity. Other lives have been lost along the way, but in Friday's episode, Admiral Adama entertains the idea of a pretty stunning sacrifice. (Don't read further if you don't want to see spoilers for Friday's episode and beyond).

The Galactica and her rag-tag fleet find a planet that has a sacred relic, the Eye of Jupiter, that could tell the remnants of humanity how to find Earth. The catch is, there's a good chance the Cylons might locate the artifact first. The thought of the Cylons finding Earth is more than Adama can stand, and he considers nuking the planet -- despite what, or who, is at stake.

"Several of [Galactica's] people are down on the ground in `Eye of Jupiter' -- [Adama's son] Apollo, Starbuck, Dualla and Anders -- who all happen to have very conflicted relationships these days," executive producer Ron Moore said in a recent interview. "A lot of the drama down on the surface has to do with [the fact that], as they are forced to work and fight side by side, the Cylons try to make a play for the artifact."

Adama is determined that the Cylons should not "get the key to Earth," Moore said. "When faced with the idea that not only might he lose this battle but the Cylons might actually get to Earth . . . he's willing to sacrifice people as well," Moore says.

Friday's episode is the first half of a two-parter that concludes Jan. 21, when "Battlestar Galactica" returns and moves to Sundays. And speaking of sacrifice, Moore warns that when the show comes back in January, "there are more losses still to come."

"There's a pretty big loss coming midway through the second half of the season," Moore said. "You'll be pretty shocked about what happens to somebody."

That somebody, he hinted, would be a lead character. But wouldn't the death of a major character alter the nature of the show?

"It would," Moore replied. "And I'm not really saying that we're doing that. I'm just saying that there's a fairly significant loss that will happen" before the third season ends.

The next batch of episodes also "has a couple more stand-alone episodes that delve more into the civilian aspects of the fleet more than we've done in awhile," Moore adds. We'll find out about the five human-looking Cylon models that we haven't seen yet, the half-human, half-Cylon child Hera will come into play, and the wily Gaius Baltar will find a way to survive yet again. We'll even get a glimpse of Adama's ex-wife.

That all sounds quite intriguing, but once Moore mentioned the big "loss" that's coming, it was difficult to contemplate anything else.

Then again, nothing is certain in the world of "Battlestar Galactica." And sacrifice is part of the deal.

"There are things that you could do to the show that would fundamentally alter it," Moore said. "The question for us is, we want to play the loss and the mortality of all the characters without completely disrupting the fabric of the show, and that's sort of the challenge of it."