Battlestar Galactica: Season 2-09: Flight of the Phoenix

The Best Scenes in BSG 209:

The Flight of the Phoenix Is An Act of Faith Realized!

By Koenigrules

This is the second stand-alone episode since the Home-Part 2 resolution, and once again, it manages to lift one's spirits as The Final Cut did.  It's major focus is on Chief Galen Tyrol (Aaron Douglas) who needs something to believe in, after he found out that his now 'dead' girlfriend, Lt. Boomer, was a Cylon agent.  It does not help the situation that another Boomer copy is aboard the Galactica or that she is pregnant and carrying Helo's child.  After a slugfest with Helo, Tyrol decides to build his own viper and soon enough, gets the entire crew involved in his off -duty project. 

Some might argue why anyone might want to do something like this.  I recall reading psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's Search for Meaning; in the text, the author relates how he survived those terrible days in the concentration camps: 

Mental health is based on a certain degree of tension,         the tension between what one has already achieved and what one still ought to accomplish, or the gap between what one is and what one should become. What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task (p. 127). 

That is what kept Viktor alive: the thought that there was something more, something better than the ever-present apathy he could fall into at any time.  Chief Tyrol is like Viktor.  He too wants to devote himself to something formidable and perhaps impossible to achieve: the construction of a Viper that can fly!  His whole reason for his existence is wrapped up in this task, and the pursuit of this task is what gives the Chief's life meaning and purpose.   

There are the doubters aboard the Galactica, individuals like Colonel Tigh and Lee Adama, who believe the damn thing will never get off the ground.  But others like Starbuck and Dualla work with Tyrol, believing in his dream and perhaps their own potential as humans.

A side plot is inserted along the way: a Cylon computer virus has been hacking into the Galactica's systems and turning the ship against its crew (e.g., depriving Starbuck and Apollo of oxygen in the firing chamber; exploding Dualla's console dangerously close to her face).  And then everything is crystal clear when an armada of Cylon ships approaches the battlestar, waiting for the virus to make the Galactica totally defenseless so they can fly in for the kill. 

Commander Adama, however, puts his faith in the Boomer copy who links with

the virus through a cable connection that she inserts into her hand.  As the

vipers launch to engage the Cylons, Boomer orders a total wipe of the hard drives so that the Galactica can be reset in the safe, pre-war mode.  Then she feeds back the virus to the Cylon craft, disabling them long enough for the Vipers to do their job.  Adama does order 'the thing' (Boomer) back to her cell, but tells Laura that he found the common ground with the Cylon: namely, the desire to live.  Preservation of each species' life instinct might be the very factor that might put an end to the human-Cylon war- perhaps- as both might face a greater enemy than themselves (Iblis?). 

Returning to the Chief's new construction, the leaner and meaner Blackbird is ready for its maiden voyage with Kara Thrace at the helm.  Once she gets it free of the hanger, Kara is able to do some stunning maneuvers- disappearing right in front of Lee's Viper & then reappearing behind him.  As the crew celebrate the Chief's 'Herculean' accomplishment, he surprises everyone by christening it Laura (the name of the President).  Like Roslin, the ship symbolizes an act of faith, something to believe in and that will help them get through the daily trials and tribulations.  Adama's remark that "they wanted to do it for you" is an admission that Roslin is holding the battlestar together.  Yes, the Commander might control her military, but those all-important network of human relationships has Laura at its center.  And she will be the glue that will keep them together for as long as their travels will take until they reach the promised land, Earth.  She obviously inspired the Chief enough to complete his task!  That is Laura's strength! 

I would rate The Flight of the Phoenix 10+ on every count: great story, great acting, and some great effects (with the Blackbird & the Cylon armada).  Based on next week's episode, The Pegasus, Galactica will go out with the same bang that it has been generating all season long.  It is to the show's credit that I was able to relate Frankl's text to the episode.  This is not just another space opera.  It is a great visual text of the human condition at its strongest in times of stress and difficulty.  So Say We All!