Episode no. Season 1
Episode 6 | Directed by Rod Hardy | |
Written by Bradley Thompson
David Weddle Original air date UK: November 8, 2004
US: January 28, 2005 | ||
"Act of Contrition" is the fourth episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series.
Plot
After a hangar accident that kills thirteen pilots, Starbuck is assigned to quickly train replacements from the civilian population. This brings back painful memories of her fiancé, Zak Adama, whose death she feels responsible for because she had given him a passing flight exam knowing he wasn't ready. She takes aggressive control of her "nuggets" (the term for flying recruits) and then flunks them all on the first day. She is then compelled to admit to Commander Adama her role in his son's death. Hurt and angered by this revelation, Adama orders her to return the nuggets to flight status and complete their training.
During a training exercise, a Cylon Raider patrol shows up and attacks. Starbuck, with the help of one of the nuggets, fights the raiders off. However, her damaged Viper hurtles out of control into the atmosphere of a nearby planet. She goes into a flat spin and she punches out, free-falling along with the Viper.
On Caprica, Helo and Sharon Valerii track the signal they picked up to its source; a restaurant with an underground bomb shelter filled with food, water and anti-radiation medication. Meanwhile, a Model Six watches them enter the bomb shelter.