WRITER: Jane Espenson DIRECTOR: Michael Nankin
CAST: Luciana Carro (Kat), Edward James Olmos (Adama), Jamie Bamber (Lee), Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck), Lucy Lawless (D'Anna/Number 3), Mary McDonnell (Roslin), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Alessandro Juliani (Gaeta), Kandyse McClure (Dee), James Callis (Baltar), Michael Hogan (Tigh), Leah Cairns (Racetrack), Kandyse McClure (Dee), Donnelly Rhodes (Dr Cottle), Grace Park (Athena), Brad Dryborough (Hoshi), G. Patrick Currie (Enzo), Tiffany Lyndall-Knight (The Hybrid), Sebastian Spence (Narcho), Bodie Olmos (Hotdog) & Ian Rozylo (Convulsing Pilot)
With food running low, the fleet is forced to find safe passage through a dangerous radiocative star cluster...Revered writer Jane Espenson (Buffy The Vampire Slayer) crafts her first BattLestar Galactica episode, choosing to focus on a secondary character, hotshot pilot Kat (Luciana Carro), and the difficulties of space travel.
The Passage finds the fleet running low on food, with Athena discovering a life-saving algae on the other side of a radioactive star cluster. Unfortunately, the dangerous levels of radiation make conventional navigation impossible, resulting in a dangerous mission for Galactica's Raptor pilots...
Too often BSG's standalone episodes lose focus on the bigger picture and suffer as a result. I'd rather every episode contained something relevant to the fleet's search for Earth and, fortunately, The Passage's plot ties in with the overall story of this epic journey and the Baltar/D'Anna subplot.
Espenson is very good at characterisation and it was nice to see a peripheral character given some attention. Luciana Carro's Kat becomes a more interesting and rounded individual as a result, nicely played by the young actress. It's just a shame this sudden development and insight into Kat's past and personality ultimately reaches a dead end. Still, Espenson's script is solid work and offers a believable scientific obstacle to overcome, together with some emotional moments.
As mentioned, the Baltar/D'Anna subplot back aboard the Cylon Basestar gently nudges a new facet of BSG's mythology along -- that of D'Anna's glimpses of something between life and death when she "downloads". This new thread seems to be heading towards explaining Baltar's relevance with regard to the Cylons, and it's interesting to see Lucy Lawless getting more screentime than Tricia Helfer these days.
Given the expensive early episodes of season 3, it's obvious recent stories have had an eye on recouping costs (best exemplified in last week's Unfinished Business), but The Passage gets the balance right. BSG doesn't have to be bursting with effects to be memorable, but it's also true that the show seems lifeless when it goes "off topic". Star Trek Voyager didn't need to focus every episode on its own journey to Earth, but BSG doesn't Trek's broadness.
Overall, The Passage may displease some because it doesn't focus on a main character, but the dexterity of plotting and characterisation is very strong, so I'm looking forward to Espenson bringing her skills to an episode with more consequence.
