Battlestar Galactica, Episode 4.15: The Oath: Screen Caps, Recap Video, Season 4.5 Episode 16: Promo Video, Blood on the Scales *SPOILERS*

Opposition to the Cylon alliance turns violent, and those in support of the union find themselves under a deadly attack.

I just finished watching this for the second time and it still was a total mind-frak.

"The Oath" may be the best episode since the first--the miniseries.

Someone online said that it was like a punch in the gut (and then they went on to diss it, which I find unfathomable) and that's exactly what I said after the first viewing.

Felix Gaeta, who with Tom Zarek has cultivated the seeds of a full-out mutiny on the Galactica says to Zarek, "It's as if the whole world is upside down," by way of justifying the horrendous actions he's about to instigate. But that's exactly how it felt as a viewer. Nothing seemed real--it was surreal. People who have been on the show since the beginning, secondary characters we've seen over the four year-run of the show and so feel like we 'know"--they acted like complete strangers.

In particular, the behaviour of Racetrack and Seelix was truly appalling. Both women seemed to have lost their minds in almost as shocking a fashion as when Dee put a bullet in her brain. It's obvious that many of the crew have stopped feeling as human beings and have lapsed, ironically, into a robot-like state, a very violent one. I just did three hours of screen-capping the best scenes and there were a ton of them but they are so very disconcerting. More than that--they ripped the fabric of who I thought the Galactica crew was into teeny, tiny shreds.

One exception was the presence of every surviving Pegasus member as part of Felix's gang of mutineers. It seems that the logic in choosing them specifically would be that they were used to a vicious way of life aboard their ship and most of them still have a large streak of viciousness running through them--so they'd be good candidates for inflicting pain.

To put this in perspective, during the airing of the series over the past four seasons there have only been a small handful of truly shocking, "I almost can't bear to watch," scenes. I will name them. One. The miniseries when Caprica Six snapped the neck of the newborn just prior to the holocaust. Two. The Pegasus rape scene with Athena. Three. The scene on the Pegasus where the Six "Gina," was introduced as a near comatose, tortured/raped prisoner of war--and Gaius's and Head!Six's reaction to her. And here, now, in Season Four is the fourth time I've been shocked senseless by an episode of BSG.

Was this episode perfect in every way? No. One thing that annoyed was the upgrade in the coiffures of the women--new haircuts and dye jobs. Just how does one manage that when they are down to subsisting on algae mash for their three squares every day? And how did so many crewmen that we thought we knew change so violently? Sure, four years homeless in space would change people but the the degree of enabling mass murder? So many of them? I would have liked to have seen a few more scenes in previous episodes showing that things were going horribly sour for many. Instead we got way-too-many scenes of Baltar's flock. Yes, we saw Gaeta's descent since his leg amputation and, if you saw the webisodes, "The Face Of The Enemy," the horrendous experiences there. And true, Dee just killed herself, but the cylon Eight has been an accepted crew member for some time so the idea of acceptance of the Cylons should not be so very repulsive. We have many real-world examples where we've had to befriend those that were once our mortal enemies for the betterment of both.

The episode is only available for 30 days on this post so watch it here or wherever you wish but do watch it. Screencaps follow next week's preview. EDIT to add/I loved how Adama and Tigh acted in tandem, non-verbally to overcome both their well-armed Marine captors.

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For now, a preview of next week's episode 4.16, "Blood On The Scales"

Thanks to indysid

Click the photos to enlarge them.

With a smile on her face, Seelix (Jennifer Halley) sets Sam up for a brutal beating and imprisonment. (I want her dead now.) She talks to Sam about the good old days back on New Caprica before the invasion and he agrees.

She is however a woman scorned. She tells Sam she use to wonder why he just wasn't into her. Was it your programming? she snarks. Sam seems puzzled but before he can say much, he is taken down and beaten severely.

Seelix looks bemused as she watches Sam's beating.

His attackers look at her and see no sign of distress. They seemed puzzled by how serene she seems./end scene

Felix has released Tom Zarek from the brig and Zarek returns to goad Lee into returning to Galactica so he can be ambushed. Racetrack flies Lee right into an assassination attempt. Bitch.

Kara interrupts after Connor finishes speechifying.

Bet he did not see that coming.

Kara invites them to join the dead marine. Skulls runs his mouth and the next instant he finds himself sprawled on the floor with a shoulder wound.

No more takers so Lee and Kara make their exit.

Thugs, including the rapist from the Pegasus, invade Helo and Athena's quarters. The Pegasus thug threatens to rape Athena as soon as he gets a chance. Predictably, Helo is angered and they bash his head in.

All three Agathons are thrown in the brig. Helo has a bad head wound. Six, who has also been beaten, worries that they will all be killed.

Sam helps Athena with Karl's wound but says he has no more ideas about what to do than anyone. Athena suggests that he might want to keep that on the down low.

Much more after the jump:

After discovering that there is a mutiny, Pvt. Jaffee reports to Adama. Felix calls the Sergeant of the Guards to get his men. They begin shooting for no apparent reason.

Felix yells at Adama that he is being arrested for treason. Adama, Tigh, and others are taken away by the Marines.

Lee finds that he cannot rescue his father and begins fretting aloud. Kara reacts thusly.

"I haven't felt this good in weeks," she says. "Right now all we can count on is you and me.

Take a breath, Lee. Feels good being alive, doesn't it?" They continue working their way through the ship.

That noise in the corridor is Admiral Adama. Kara's immediate reaction is to move to kill the mutinous marine that Adama and Tigh have prisoner. Adama is not cool with that and he tells the marine to go.

Click the photos to enlarge them.

Kara is not cool with that and disobeys but is thwarted by Adama who is quick for an old man.

Tyrol helps coordinate an escape for Roslin and Adama. When they reunite they smooch it up.

It is like watching your parents make out.

There's no time left and Adama will not go. He could not live will himself he later tells Tigh, if he did. The Raptor carrying Roslin and Baltar heads toward the Cylon basestar.

The Raptor is spotted on dradis and Gaeta orders it's destruction./end scene. The marines have discovered Tigh and Adama and they have nowhere to escape.

Adama tells Tigh that "It's been an honour to have served with you, my friend." /end scene

To be continued next week with the episode "Blood On the Scales."

Guest cast credits thanks to: Battlestar Wiki