Episode Commentary: Rebirth

“You give in on the little things, you forget the big things,” advises Ha’la’tha (a Tauron-based crime syndicate) member Sam Adama (Sasha Roiz) to his 11-year-old nephew, Willie (Sina Najafi), as the two are being arrested on a Caprican street. He also tells him that the key to dealing with a person trying to make you feel guilty about something is to find what they feel guilty about, and talk about that, instead.

William Adama remembered that lesson well, the episode shows.

As Dr. Amanda Graystone (Paula Malcomson) continues to get visits from the police regarding her late daughter, Zoe’s (Alessandra Torresani), alleged involvement in the act of terrorism and the Soldiers of the One, Joseph Adams (Esai Morales) begins to warm to the notion of seeing Tamara’s (Genevieve Buecher) avatar again, but Daniel (Eric Stoltz) is too overcome with grief over his loss of Zoe’s and pays the suspiciously-connected attorney no heed.

Meanwhile, it seems that the aforementioned avatar is not quite so lost, after all. Consumed with a need to understand precisely why only one Cylon unit is able to effectively display artificial intelligence, Daniel has it sent to his home lab.

While the answer is no surprise to viewers, the psychologically tortured genius is left in the dark, though his highly analytical brain is showing signs of discovering the nature of this mystery.

To help a fellow closet monotheist overcome her grief, Sister Clarise (Polly Walker) decides to take Lacy (Magda Apanowicz) home to dinner to meet her various husbands and wives, one of whom (Scott Porter) takes a more than casual interest in the distraught teenager.

The overall effect of “Rebirth” is absolutely explosive. From the magnetic intensity of Morales, Malcomson and Stoltz, to the harrowing conclusion of the installment, it maintains a gripping, kinetic and ultimately intriguing pace.

It also serves as a catalyst for a storyline that will undoubtedly require various forthcoming episodes to even begin to resolve –after all, the way of the Ha’la’tha is to repay blood in blood, and while protagonists each tend to have extended an lifespan, the specific quality of that life is left up to question.

Knowing Ron Moore, however, it’s going to get much, much worse before it gets better – and even then it’s only temporary, given the events of “Battlestar Galactica.”

“Rebirth” – as its title perhaps inadvertently suggests – is precisely the seal of encouragement that was needed to live up to its predecessor.

As undoubtedly expected, with Moore’s newest brainchild, quality on the Syfy channel is now reborn.

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