'Battlestar Galactica': Secrets and Allies

THE DILEMMAS OF TIGH AND TORY

It's almost as if, when Laura takes her wig off, the kid gloves come with it. When Tory came bounding into Roslin's office, the president greeted her with the harmless-sounding ''What is it about the Galactica that gives you such a glow?'' Then, in a heartbeat, Laura exposed Tory's fling with Baltar and directed her to find out who's been supplying Gaius with the information for his pirate broadcast. ''I've just been informed,'' Laura said, ''that you've been spotted down there enough times to be a charter member of his nymph squad.'' After Tory confessed, Laura finished by saying: ''I don't really care if you have to spend the night on your knees praying, or just on your knees, I want a name.''

I'd like to pause here for an oh, snap!

How quickly Tory's credibility evaporated. Smacked down by Laura, she ran back to Baltar to find the secrets about those secrets. Which she did, because the good doctor never could resist a sexy Cylon.

As for Tigh, he's one of the few people in on the details of the joint Cylon-human mission, which could expose him, Tyrol, Tory, and Anders. Despite his passionate urging to blow that resurrection hub all to frak and never mind the identities of the Final Five — and thus keep his secret — the plan stays on track.

WHAT THE HERA WAS THAT?

Me, personally, I would've loved to never have set foot (or eyes, I suppose) back in that opera house. That whole unified-dream thing between Roslin, Six, and Sharon — all chasing after the hybrid baby Hera — never sat too well with me. Just one of the plunges into deep-dish spirituality this show occasionally indulges in that pull me right out of the gritty reality.

Because of this Dream of the Opera House, this episode tumbled a little off the rails for me. Because of that dream, Athena thought her daughter was going to run off with Natalie Six (okay, Hera's creepy 6 drawings and her cryptic ''bye-bye'' didn't help) — and shot Natalie down. Because of that dream, Laura and Baltar headed over to the baseship for an audience with the off-line Cylon hybrid. When they reconnected her, she jumped the basestar to parts unknown.

As much as that was a mind-blowing cliff-hanger — for my money, better than any of the recent two-parters — I didn't dig the way they got there. Still, it was an episode that continued last week's trend of delivering events that promise to have far-reaching implications.

What did you think? Did you feel as bad for poor Gaeta as I did? (Though Alessandro Juliani does have a beautiful voice, if that's indeed his.) How come there wasn't any fallout from the mutiny on the Demetrius? Did you buy Natalie Six's speech about the rebel Cylons' newfound desire for mortality — or was that just one more seduction, on a grand scale?

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