Battlestar Galactica

Episode #214 - "Black Market"

This document is ©2005, John Larocque. All rights reserved.

49,597 survivors in search of a home called Earth.

The Cylons were created by man. They evolved. They rebelled. There are many copies. And they have a plan.

Synopsis

Adama, Laura and Fisk are in a meeting in Adama's quarters. Fisk comments on her remarkable recovery, and Laura replies that she's now playing catch-up, as she had lost focus and let things slide during her illness. She informs them, "Supplies are running low and people are worried." Fisk answers, "Well, I think that in this case, they're entitled. Our inventory levels are tight, but they're not critical. But all the way across the fleet, people are reporting shortages of essential goods and what they do get comes at a high price." Or as Adama put it, "They're turnin to the black market." Laura adds, "Last week, one of my aides came down with pneumonia. Billy had to trade liquor to get the antibiotics." Fisk states, "It's the nature of the beast. People want what they want." "A few trades would be one thing, Commander Fisk, that's reality. But, I'm talking about criminals making outrageous demands on the people, so bottom line is, I'm implementing a new fleet-wide trade policy. We need to be in control of our supply chain, not black market thugs. I am hoping that I can have the military's support on this." Fisk tells Adama, "Admiral, if you want Pegasus to run these dogs down, you just give us the word." "Our people will do whatever it takes to get this under control."

Fisk asks Baltar in the hallway, "Is Madam President always so right in your face?" "Her last-minute resurrection seems to have invigorated her somewhat." "Yeah, well, maybe too much. She doesn't really think her made-up plans and regulations are going to change anything, does she?" "As if we don't have enough to do. No, Madam President sets a great prestige by her office and Adaa supports her, at least for the moment." "Well then, so do I, just for the moment. By the way, did you get the cigars I sent over?" "I not only got them, I enjoyed them, as well." "Oh, my pleasure, Mr. Vice President. Well, I've got a ship to run. Look forward to our next visit." "As do I."

On Cloud Nine, as Lee gets ready to leave, he has a flashback of him breaking up with his girlfriend on Caprica. He also notices a bottle of anti-biotics, and Shevon tells him, "I got them from a friend." Her daughter Paya enters, and Lee tells her he has a surprise for her, an ugly doll. "I've never been great with kids. Maybe next time I'll get one with, uh, two eyes." He also says, "Look, I'm not sure when I'll be able to make it back." "I know. Oh... I'm gonna have to ask for an extra hundred since you spent the night." Fisk returns to his quarters and meets someone. "Well, I wondered when you were going to show up." Someone strangles him from the rear with piano wire. Lee is flashing back to the ejection incident and the breakup on Caprica, when Racetrack's Raptor returns from patrol.

Cottle is in sickbay with Fisk's body and tells Adama and Tigh that it looks like he was garroted. "Admiral, you might want to take a look at this. Looks like our friend, Fisk, hit the jackpot." He pulls a cubit out of Fisk's throat." "Fidn anything else, let me know right away." "If I find anything else, I may retire early." "Someone's sending us a message." Tigh adds, "Or running us in circles. Maybe there's another Cylon in the fleet." "I almost prefer that to the alternative. We start killing our own, all they have to do is sit back and watch."

In Adama's quarters, Lee asks the Commander, "Do we have any idea who did it?" "No. But we will do a full investigation, and I want you to lead it." "Don't you think it would be better if someone from Pegasus dealt with this?" "Even though Cain's gone, her influence lingers. I need someone I can trust." "You know, there were times when that was in short supply between us." "We've both been through an awful lot, son. And I hope that we've grown stronger for it. I need your help." "I'll call up a flight to Pegasus right away."

Lee is with a Marine and searching Fisk's quarters aboard Pegasus. "Anyone else been inside?" "Just the medical team, sir." He finds expensive trinkets and several boxes of Caprican cigars. Baltar is trying to enter the room, but the Marine stops him. "No one's allowed in." "What? Do you know who I am? I am the Vice President of the Colonies, let me in!" He's surprised to see Lee there. "Captain Adama. Commander Fisk didn't tell me you were invited." "Let him in." "They were going to let me in. Oh, my gods! What's going on in here? Where's Fisk". "On a slab in Galactica's morgue." "What, he's dead?" Lee asks Baltar, "Isn't this your brand?" Number Six offers Baltar some advice. "Careful, Gaius. You've bought yourself some good will by saving Roslin. But it's fading. Their old suspicions are returning." He asks Lee, "What are you doing, Captain?" "I was about to ask you the same thing." "Wait a minute. Are you interrogating me? I'm not sure I appreciate your tone." "This isn't a diplomatic exercise. A man was butchered. His head was practically severed from his body with piano wire."

Number Six tells baltar, "You're Vice President of the fleet. Why are you acting like a child with your hand in the cookie jar, hmm? Wonder what she would say if she saw you like this." "You know I can't believe it's even necessary for me to explain myself to you. But obviously, no, I had nothing to do with Commander Fisk's death. For the record, I just came here to discuss President Roslin's new trade policy." "Oh, I thought that was settled." "No, Commander Fisk had some reservations." "I'll bet." "And as the Vice President, I decided to assuage his doubts. Of my own free will. Is that sufficient? Or would you like me to provide you with an alibi? I'm sure I can rustle one up." "Enjoy the cigars." He instructs the Marine to escort the Vice President to his ship.

Tigh and Adama are in the hangar bay with Lee. Tigh comments, "The wireless is going crazy. Word of Fisk's murder has spread out through the entire fleet." Adama replies, "When we lose a command officer aboard a warship people are going to be concerned about their security." "Crew can fall apart when their Commander is killed. Pegasus lost two in a matter of weeks." Lee tells them, "Maybe, this time, they were lucky. His personal log shows that he was rerouting supply runs, on-and off-loading freighters without command authorization. He raided the McConnell, and at least a dozen other ships in the last week. I also found a small warehouse of high value merchandise in his quarters." "He was working the black market." "Well, half the fleet's working it. Fisk was getting greedy." "If he crossed one of his suppliers on a deal, that would explain the cubits that Cottle found." Tigh points out, "Still doesn't tell us who did it." "Well, he's going to need trading partners." Lee replies, "And they wouldn't be hard to find, even on Galactica."

Lee is in Tigh's quarters and asks him about a bracelet he found in Fisk's quarters. "Is your wife around, Colonel?" "No. Why?" "Is this hers?" "Oh yeah. She lost it a couple weeks ago. Where the hell did you find it?" "On Pegasus. In Commander Fisk's quarters." He continues, "We got shortages across the fleet. People begging for scraps. Somehow, you and Mrs. Tigh have fresh fruit, real liquor..." "All right, what the hell is this about?" "You must have known she was trading with Fisk. Or maybe I'll talk to her." "She didn't give it to Fisk. I did. I traded it for a few necessities, a coupl eof things to help her get by. Big frakkin' deal. There's nothing illegal about it." "Not yet." "Don't you play holier than thou with me. I haven't done anything that most people on this ship haven't done. Including you." "Doesn't make us right, Colonel, just a whole lot of people wrong."

Lee is flashing back to a scene in Shevon's apartment on Cloud Nine. Shevon is worried about Paya. "I"m scared. Paya's cough keeps getting worse." "I'll bring her something on my next trip." "Which could be weeks if there's another Cylon attack. I keep hearing about shortages on the other ships. People trading anything they can for food and for medicine." "Really?" "Have you seen all the new working girls outside? Lee, when your baby's crying because it's hungry, you'll do anything to make it stop." He motions for Shevon to hug her, and she gets up to look after Paya. "She's burning up." Lee asks, "What did they say at the infirmary?" "Antibiotics have all been rationed out. THey said they might have something at the end of the week."

Lee and Dualla are in the gym and Lee is hitting a punching bag. She says to him, "You didn't make it to class today." "Yeah, I've been pretty jammed up. Anyway, I'm not sure you need me holding your hand anymore." "Is that what you were doing? Holding my hand?" "I meant it as a compliment." "Permission to speak franky, sir?" "You don't need my permission, and you don't need the sir." "Maybe that's the problem. I don't really know what to think any more. So I'll just ask. Is this going somewhere... Please don't pretend you don't like you don't know what I'm talking about. You know our time togethyer, our workout. Something's changed between us." "I'm just not sure what you want me to say." "Then don't say anything."

In the hallway, Lee receives a priority ship-to-ship call from Cloud Nine. Aboard Cloud Nine, Paya is crying. "Oh my gods! What did they do?" "They said they knew about you and me. They wanted to know what we'd been talking about. I don't understand why they'd care." "All right, get what you need. I'm taking you and Paya back to Galactica." "Lee, wait." "It's the only place I can keep you safe." "What are you going to tell them about us?" "I'm not fooling myself. I know what this is." A thug from the hallway enters in and attacks Lee, another one subdues Shevon. He begins to strangle Lee with piano wire, when Phelan enters the room. "You listening? I hear any more talk about Fisk, I'm going send your whore back to you piece... by piece. And then I'm going start with the little girl. I know who you are. I know whose son you are. And I don't care. You tell Adama to let it go." His kicks Lee in the head and the henchman releases him. Lee loses consciousness and has another flashback to a conversation with Shevon. She asked, "Is that when you knew that you loved her?" "I thought so." "But you hurt her." "Yes." When Lee wakes up, there's a dead assassin in the room, and Shevon and Paya are missing. "This is Captain Adama. I need a medic and a security team on L deck, ASAP."

Aboard Colonial One, Laura thanks Baltar for coming to see her, and offers him tea. She says, "I'm never quite sure where we stand with each other, doctor. Why do you think that is?" "I can't imagine why. I've never had anything but the utmost respect for you, and your office." "I understand that you and Commander Fisk planned to meet just prior to his death." "As I have already explained to Captain Adama, Commander Fisk had several lingering concerns about your new trade policy. What can I say?" "And that's it?" Number Six interjects, "Gaius, she's afraid of you." Baltar replies, "Why... are you asking me this." "You saved my life. And I'm grateful. But I sense that there is some unease in you about assuming the presidency, and I'd like to offer you an out." "You what?" "Resign. Return to your scientific work on Galactica. No one will question your motives. You can consider it a second chance, like the one you gave me." "Charming." "Doctor. This is a one-time offer. I suggest you reconsider." "You know, Madam President, I've never been particularly interested in politics. I never wanted any lofty position of power. I never wanted to be the Vice President. That is, until this very moment. Because right now, I can't think of anything I want more."

Security is in Shevon's quarters, with visitor Tom Zarek. Lee tells him he didn't shoot the victim in the head. "I was attacked. Found him there when I woke up." "Security bulletin said Commander Fisk was garroted with a wire. Whatever happened, looks like you found your guy." "What about Shevon, and her daughter." "Cloud Nine's an open port. Chances are, they're already off ship. I'll get a team down here." Zarek tells Lee he's just heard and asked him if he's all right. "What are you doing here?" "Attending a Quorum meeting. Nothing as exciting as all this. I assure you. I know these places are legal. But still, the son of the almighty Adama...." "Talk to me about the black market." "Not much to say. It's widespread, inevitable, and according to President Roslin... illegal." "So, it's no surprise that you and Fisk were in it up to your necks." "Fisk, maybe, but not me. I represent Astral Queen. I have to be careful about the company I keep." "This is Fisk's log. He says, he made three runs to astral queen in the last ten days, and I doubt it was to discuss prison reform."

"What do you want from me, Captain?" "Names of ships. Contacts." "I can't help you. Why do you think Fisk approached me?" "To get a piece of your black market scam. To offer you protection.""You and your father are so blinded by the past. Fisk's black market was up and running when he approached me. He knew Adama would pick up on his unauthorized shuttles, so he tried to force me into taking over the deliveries, creating a firewall between Pegasus and the illegal shipments." "So, you're trying to tell me that you turned him down." "At great cost. Check the fleet logs. See how many supply ships made stops at the astral queen after last Fisk's trip. The answer is none." "So, if Fisk was trying to starve you out, why didn't you bring it to the Quorum?" "Roslin's acting like the black market's some sort of aberration, but I thought you were smarter than that. Did you really expect some utopian fantasy to rise from the ashes? I heard the security officer. They gave you Fisk's killer for a reason. They're offering you a way out." "You know something, don't you?" "Just rumors. There's a freighter, Prometheus. Some people say it's gone off the grid. But if you want something bad enough, that's where you go. The deals are brokered by an ex-military mercenary named Phelan. Lee. I hope she's worth it."

Lee is now mixing in with the black market bazaar aboard the Prometheus. He finds a locked room with children inside, including Paya and tries to comfort her. "You just hang in tight. I'll be right back." He finds Phelan at bar at the back. He tells Lee, "You may find this hard to believe, but my father was in the service too. Strict as hell. Probably the same as your old man. But, when the Cylons attacked, all his duty and honor didn't add up to squat." "Is she dead?" "I can see why you want her back. She's one of my best." "One of yours." "A good escort understands it's about a lot more than sex. She knows when to listen and when to call for help." Shevan says, "Lee, I had to."

Phelan continues, "Don't blame her. The only reason you're alive is because I was able to see you through Shevon's eyes. And what I saw seemed reasonable. Like Fisk. Fisk was a pig. He tried to force us to renegotiate." "So you killed him." "No. I gave you the killer. The murder weapon, the prints. Everything you needed to close the case legitimately. Despite the President's objections, the fleet needs us. Rationing's too tight, ship comes in too late, we're the pressure valve, we provide. When Shevon needed antibiotics, she knew where to go. Without us, people would have nowhere to turn. The fleet would tear itself apart." "And what about those children outside? How are they helping the fleet?" "Everyone has needs. Some settle for cigars or liquor. You wanted Shevon. Others are more demanding. It's hard to find the moral high ground when we're all standing in the mud. I'm not not like my old man, Captain, and you are not like yours."

Lee gets up but one of Phelan's guards pulls a gun and he sits down again. "I came alone. But, Galactica tracked me on dradis. All they'll need to vent this ship into space is an excuse. So, let's make a deal. I want Shevon, the girl. I walk out of here, and you shut down this operation. And all of you will live." "Sorry, the little girl's been paid for. No refunds." Shevan shouts, "Oh, gods! No!" Lee gets up, walks toward the gun and positions the guard's gun towards his own chest. "Come on, do it." "I made you a fair offer." "So did I. Yeah, you're probably right about everything. You, me, Fisk. Nobody can stop it, and maybe nobody should. But it needs limits. There's lines you can't cross. And you crossed them."

Lee now has his gun aimed at Phelan. "You're not gonna shoot. You're not like me..." Phelan dies. Lee tells them, "All right, it's done. Fleet relies on the black market. Much as we'd like, we can't wish that away. So, you're still in business. For now. But if they are any more killings, if you hold back essential medicines, if you ever touch a child..." He walks opver to Shevon. "No, I don't want to see..." "Shevon, it's over." "Stop! I can't be what you want me to be." "I don't want you to be anything." "You want me to be her. That's what this is about. That's what this has always been about... Come on, Lee. I know my job. I'm a replacement...For a lot of things. Things that men can't get anywhere else. Things they've lost. She wanted to give you a child. But you were afraid, so you pushed her away and then you ran. And you didn't stop running until it was too late. Well, I'm not her! And Paya is not, and will never be, your child."

Lee reports back his findings on Fisk's murder to Laura and the Commander aboard Colonial One. "Commander Fisk's murder has been resolved, and Pegasus' crew appears to have accepted Galactica's conclusions. That's all, Madam President." "Not quite. What about the ship, Prometheus? I understand it's the hub of the fleet's black market." "We will keep an eye on them." "It's not exactly the solution I had in mind. Whether or not we allow a criminal enterprise to thrive in this fleet is not a matter of choice, Captain. Admiral?" "I've given Lee full authority on this issue. The decision is his." Lee tells her, "I support your trade policies wholeheartedly Madam President. But, we are never going to have a perfect system. There will always be some kind of black market. At least this way, I know names, I know faces, I know where they are, and we will monitor the situation."

Aboard the Prometheus, Zarek is being escorted by one of Phelan's former henchman. Elsewhere on Galactica, Billy is helping Dualla do situps in the gym, and he kisses her on the cheek. In Adama's quarters, Lee remarks, "President wasn't very happy day." "No. Ever since you ejected from the Blackbird, you've been different. Harder to reach. I'm just trying to understand." "Well, like you said, dad. We've all been through a lot." "Fair enough. But you should have told me about the woman."

Ron Moore's Commentary

1/27/2006 -- It's a classic device, this is not rocket science. It's take the end and put a piece of the end at the head of the episode so that you tease the drama. You're essentially setting up a jeopardy situation that's intriguing and compelling and we'll let that pull that audience into the show... The theory works and it does provide a certain amount of tension throughout the episode. In fact, that's one of the few things that the episode has going for it in my opinion, that we do have that underlying question of what is that confrontation about, and when are we going to get to it? (source: Black Market podcast)

1/27/2006 -- This is far too conventional. If I had to sum up what's wrong with this episode, it's that this time we went for a much more TV conventional tale and execution. The murder of Fisk with the gadget, the reveal of the villain smoking a cigar, you kinda feel like this is a scene from another series. And I think that's what disturbs me the most. This doesn't feel as much like Galactica as it should. It feels a little bit more of television. A lot of television is very comfortable, very predictable. The stories are quite conventional. You tune into most hour-long dramas on the air and you kinda know where the story's going as soon as you tune in. And there's a familiarity and a comfort to that, that audiences look forward to at some level. In our case, I don't think that comfort and familiarity work for us. I don't think it's helpful or useful that the audience knows where this story is going from the opening moments. I don't think it is in keeping with what the show tries to be. (source: Black Market podcast)

1/27/2006 -- Heart of Darkness is one of those archetypes that's tossed about a lot in writer's rooms where you're taking a character. He is literally or metaphorically going up a river of darkness, getting darker and darker, and going to places the character never really thought that he would go. And this is Lee's journey up the river, ultimately, finding Kurtz as it were, the Bill Duke character...

We have these two contradictory impulses going here in this episode... There's a procedural aspect to this show that is driving the plot forward and sending Lee up the river. But on the other hand, we're trying to tell this more texturalized complicated backstory about one of our central characters and peeling away layers of the onion as it were and discovering things about him. I'm still not quite sure on some level why that doesn't gel better than it does... I think it's more how in how we've executed this, and how we've actually chosen to tell these particular stories. The procedural aspect isn't quite complicated enough to make the plot rocket forward and give you enough "Oh my god, I wasn't expecting that to happen." And on the character side of the street, the revelations of Lee and past never quite get beyond the teasing phase. But the tease never quite leads you to consummation... It's classically standing on two chairs and falling off both of them. (source: Black Market podcast)

1/27/2006 -- Sometimes it's suprising that you get happy with a script and you think it's working really well. There are points in the process of this one when I was defensive about criticism of this. I thought this was quite a good episode. And then you get to the place where you watch and go, "Oh my God, what was I thinking?" In fact, I actually alluded to that in a blog I wrote around the time that I watched the first cut of this episode. It really depressed me, and I was very unhappy with myself. I was unhappy with what I had done as executive producer, with the piece of material that we had produced, and realized that all the decisions, all the fundamentals of why the show didn't work and what was wrong with it could all be laid at my doorstep. (source: Black Market podcast)

1/27/2006 -- This scene with Tigh and Lee is my favorite scene in the episode. This scene works really well because this scene is actually Battlestar Galactica. This is two of our characters coming into confrontation over something personal. It deals with actual ethical issues. Tigh and Ellen and Ellen's involvement in the black market, and she's getting things for Tigh, who is a senior officer on Galactica. There's a whiff of corruption here, and what does it mean? We don't take the easy way out. Tigh isn't shocked at what his wife is doing, and promises never to do it again. He understands what she's doing. There is an implication of who knows what else Ellen Tigh is doing with Commander Fix. I'm not sure that's a picture I want in my mind. And Lee is also a bit dirty in this scene. Lee is also engaged in things that are probably not that above board. There's an implication that Lee helped get that medicine for the little girl and probably went outside official channels. And it's a personal emotional confrontation with people with conflicted and conflicting motivations. (source: Black Market podcast)

1/27/2006 -- There was another scene that we cut where Dualla was following Lee out of the Raptor when Lee arrived back on Galactica earlier and they had a similar conversation in that she was hinting that there was something going on between them and he didn't want to talk about it. He was caught up in his own demons about the girl he left behind on Caprica... We cut and recut this scene. There was a lot more dialog here where Lee explained himself more, talked more in general terms about themselves. But ultimately it got to the same place, he didn't know what to say. And we chopped all of that dialog and stripped the scene down to its emotional essence. (source: Black Market podcast)

1/27/2006 -- Bill Duke is a great actor, I so like Bill Duke. I've always liked his work. He's also a great director at this point, and having him on the show is a big plus. It's a big plus in the episode because he brings a presence and a weight and a threat that gives you a needed discomfort and a sense that something really terrible is going to happen. (source: Black Market podcast)

1/27/2006 -- This scene works well, this scene with Baltar and Laura is nice. I like the fact that it's following up on the end revelation from "Epiphanies." That Laura knows Baltar's secret, or at least knows in her gut, even if she doesn't have a shred of evidence. But there's not a single thing that she can do to actually out Baltar. What can she really say? ... Three's nothing to back it up. It's his word versus her word. It's also nice that we've innoculated Baltar from that particular charge in season one during "Six Degrees from Separation," the episode where the other Six, the Shelly Godfrey character show up and accuses him of just that thing, and is ultimately exonerated. If Laura came out and started accusing him of the exact same charge now, there'd be a sense of "been there done that," and I don't think she would get anywhere. Nevertheless, she doesn't trust him, doesn't like him, wants him to go away. So this is Laura's tack, to go to him one on one and try to get him quietly to go do something else, and to try to play to the fact that she knows he doesn't like being Vice President any more.

But it pricks Baltar's ego. That's the thing that I think anyone and everyone probably underestimates about Gaius Baltar, is the truly astonishing size of the man's ego. There's a very straight line that can be drawn from here to the season finale, the story of a disinterested political player who fell into the vice presidency for other reasons, to the point where he is going to be seriously considering a presidential run himself. It kind of begins here with this moment, where the character just cannot be insulted. The character cannot be told that "you're not up to the job," or "maybe you should do something else." Any implication that he's not capable of doing something, the man can react in extraordinary ways. You saw this at the end of "Epiphanies." The criticism from Laura's letter to him prompting this reaction to give a nuclear weapon to terrorists. The man is a dangerous man because of the incredibly fragile nature of his ego, combined with the amazing breadth of his intellect. (source: Black Market podcast)

1/27/2006 -- This kind of tips us into a different territory. Now there's kids being handed around, and now there's kids being bought and sold is an implication. This is the only place that you kinda get to, "Oh, now I see why the black market's a bad deal, because have kiddies being traded back and forth." I don't think that's quite fair to the audience or the characters. It's sorta a cheap shot we've gone for here. "Its the kids." I always hesitate when we start doing it. When you do something like that in order to undergird the point, it's because you haven't really established the rest of it as clearly being bad enough. It's almost a desperation move. (source: Black Market podcast)

1/27/2006 -- The convention of that particular story has always been, the good guy won't shoot the bad guy unless the bad guy threatens him in some way. But it's a complete manipulation because the audience's only interest is to see the bad guy get shot. But the audience wants to have it both ways. The audience wants to have their bloodlust satisfied, in that, "Thank God, I got to see Walker Texas Ranger shoot this guy, but, you know, his hands are clean, because the bad guy kinda reached for a gun, or flinched or he double-crossed him." And that's why the good guy is still good. And I was interested in subverting that, in that, "You want your bloodlust satisfied? Fine. The hero's going to shoot the bad guy, but guess what? The hero's just going to shoot him. He's just going to execute him, and how do you feel about that?" That's the territory that I'm more intertested in, and the show is presenting more complicated moral dilemnas to the audience, to not giving them the pure clean comfort of hero shoots bad guy because bad guy did something bad. (source: Black Market podcast)

1/27/2006 -- This is an interesting callback to the end of "Bastille Day," which was a similar concept, in that it was an all Lee story which dealt with him wrestling with moral issues, and then gets to a place where he had made decisions and went back and had to tell the higher ups about what he had decided. (source: Black Market podcast)

1/27/2006 -- This scene had a lot to do with Mark Stern. He is our network executive at Sci-Fi Channel. The interaction between Lee and Adama, I think he wanted more in the script [and] a more interesting beat at the end because there wasn't much there. This was his idea, and thank God he gave that note. A lot of times you hear writers/producers bagging on studio and/or network execs about intereference, dumb notes, or whatever. That's not always true. Sometimes they hand things that are quite valuable. If Mark hadn't of given us the idea of the scene and talked to us about the content of the scene, we wouldn't have a nice ending to the show. We have a great little ending to the show now. (source: Black Market podcast)

Commentary