Galactica has a surprise visitor, a lieutenant who was believed to have been killed during a secret mission ordered by Adama. The soldier's arrival makes Adama reexamine his past and his role in the war with the Cylons. Lt. Daniel Novacek: Carl Lumbly.

Episode Recap

When three Cylon Raiders Jump into the middle of the fleet, the Galactica braces for a fight. But two of the Raiders are actually chasing the third. Taking advantage of their enemies' preoccupation, Starbuck and Kat gun down the two pursuing ships. Then a man calling himself "Bulldog" sends a desperate radio signal from the third Raider. Hearing it, Adama orders the craft escorted onto the Galactica. A haggard man disembarks. DNA comparisons confirm that he is Lt. Daniel "Bulldog" Novacek, who once served under Adama.

Novacek and Adama tell Roslin that they conducted a mission together about a year before the Cylons attacked the Colonies. While investigating illegal mining near the Cylon armistice line, Novacek was shot down by the miners. Adama gave him up for dead, but Novacek ejected and was picked up by the Cylons. For three years, they held him in a cell aboard a baseship, but he finally escaped, stole a Raider, and fled to the human fleet.

Roslin suspects that this simple narrative is not the whole truth, but Adama just asks her to trust him. Later, he confides the true story to his son, Lee. The admiralty actually ordered Adama to spy on the Cylons, not on renegade miners. While he observed aboard the battlestar Valkyrie, Novacek, his best pilot, flew a small stealth ship over the armistice line to hunt for evidence of Cylon military preparations. There, an unknown vessel attacked Novacek. As more mystery spacecraft circled in for the kill, Adama ordered Novacek's ship destroyed by a missile to cover up the spy mission. Having endured guilt about that decision for years, now he must face the additional fact that, despite his actions, the Cylons discovered and captured Novacek. Indeed, Adama now believes that this failed spy mission provoked the Cylons' massive attack on the Colonies.

While Adama confesses this to Lee, Novacek hears the same story from Col. Tigh, who was also aboard the Valkyrie that day. Novacek never knew that the missile strike which sent him into enemy hands was ordered by his own commanding officer. He's appalled to learn the truth.

Meanwhile, as Starbuck reviews film of the Raiders' high-speed chase, she notices that the pursuing Cylon ships deliberately fired their weapons past Novacek's craft, missing him. She can only conclude that the Cylons wanted their prisoner to escape. Whatever the reason for that, it can't bode well for the human fleet. Then, without warning, Novacek violently ambushes Adama. Betrayed and furious, he'll be satisfied only when Adama is dead...

Remarkable Scenes

Tory: "Is there really any place left in the universe deserving of such a rare and distinguished item?" Roslin: "I was thinking put it in the bathroom right over the toilet." Tory: "Excellent choice."
- The raider chase.
- The raider being taken aboard Galactica and Bulldog emerging.
- Roslin after being told what supposedly happened to Bulldog: "So you gonna tell me what really happened?" Adama: "You're gonna have to trust me on this one, okay? It's my mess. I'll fix it." Roslin leaves, then Adama throws a chair across the room.
- Adama going to see Tigh about Bulldog.
- Tigh: "So, you here to talk to your friend or to your XO? Last time I checked, I was neither."
- Tigh revealing Adama's secret to Bulldog and Adama revealing his secret to Apollo.
- The flashback to the Battlestar Valkyrie.
- D'Anna ordering a Centurion to execute her, then revealing to the other Cylons that "there's something beautiful, miraculous between life and death."
- Starbuck watching the footage of the raider chase, wondering why the Cylons kept missing.
- Starbuck revealing to Tigh that the Cylons let Bulldog escape.
- Bulldog attacking Adama.
- Tigh saving Adama.
- Tigh: "You don't wanna believe it do you? No. The truth hurts, Bulldog. But it's better to know the truth than to live a lie. We're all soldiers Danny. We're all expendable. And we did what we had to do to protect the mission. It's ugly, but there it is. The Cylons let you go. The question is why. Ask yourself that, Danny. Because up until a minute ago, you were doing exactly what they wanted you to do. Come here and learn the truth and seek revenge. And that's exactly what you did. You almost gave them what they wanted. The dirty little secret is the toughest part of getting played is losing your dignity. Feeling like you are not worth the oxygen you are sucking down. You get used to it. You start to believe it. You start to love it. It's like a bottle that never runs dry. You can keep reaching for it over and over and over again." Adama: "So how do you put that bottle away, Saul?" Tigh: " I don't know. One day you just decide to get up and walk out of your room."
- Tigh going to see Adama to talk to him about what happened to Ellen.

Additional Notes

-A word was censored from Adama's comment to Bulldog early on in the initial Sci Fi broadcast of the episode. Adama said he had been worried that the Cylons had beaten the ___ attitude out of Bulldog. However, the iTunes version was not censored.
-As of the beginning of this episode, there are 41,421 survivors, one more than in the previous episode. The additional survivor is Daniel "Bulldog" Novacek.
-- The dossier Billy prepared for Roslin about Adama includes a short biography, but actually conveys a lot of information. Among the legible things in it included Adama's place of birth, Qualai, Caprica, a small coastal community. His mother's name is Evelyn Adama, an accountant. Most importantly, however, is Adama's military service, which reads:

D6/21311 First commission, Battlestar Galactica, fighter squadron
E4/21312 Commendation for shooting down Cylon fighter in first combat mission
D5/21314 Mustered out of service post-armistice
R6/21317 Served as Deck Hand in merchant fleet and as common ... aboard inter-colony tramp freighters
D1/21331 Recommissioned to Fleet
D6/21337 Major: Battlestar Atlantia
R8/21341 Executive Officer: Battlestar Columbia
C2/21345 Commander: Battlestar Valkyrie
C2/21348 Commander: Battlestar Galactica

- That info connotes that the current year is 21356, if we add 45 years to 21311, the date of Adama's first commission. This also puts Adama at 66 years of age. The current year being such a high number is intriguing, as it connotes over 20,000 years of recorded history for the Colonials.