The majority of this week’s edition of Battlestar: Galactica boiled down to monologue by the Hybrid. Very little else of major consequence happened in this episode, although there were some lovely character moments setting Roslin up for her major story arc to come. That arc is also described/predicted in the Hybrid’s speech, so let’s get down to it, shall we?

Thus will it come to pass.
The dying leader will know
the truth of the opera house.
The missing three will give you the five
who have come from the home of the 13th.
You are the harbinger of death, Kara Thrace.
You will lead them all to their end.
End of line.

So the dying leader, Roslin, will know the meaning of the events of the opera house vision shared by Gaius, Caprica-6, and D’Anna. Roslin herself has had visions of the Opera House in the past, but to my knowledge never had the Final Five in them.

The missing three, aka Deanna, will now be unboxed, which means hell to pay for the hidden final five. D’Anna, remembers, asks forgiveness of the Final Five, and thus will know who they are upon being awakened. The “13th” is the 13th colony, or Earth, meaning that these five models are meant for at least one race to make it to that planet. Where it gets tricky is when things get to Kara Thrace, as it’s incredibly unclear whose end she will effect. Is she the harbinger of doom for the humans, or the Cylons?

Given that even the final five aren’t entirely sure of their own purpose, one can assume either option’s currently in play. If Starbuck’s at the center of things, Roslin is a close second, with both women certainly attune to the music of the universe more than the majority of remaining humans. Roslin’s music consists of the doleful, yet oddly beautiful, dreams of a fellow patient. The point of these interactions seems to be priming Roslin for resilience in the face of undoubtedly dire circumstances ahead. (As for her last scene with Adama…I mean, that wasn’t even fair, guys. Bravo. Bravo.)

As for Anders…he’s certainly hearing his own kind of music as well, between his shooting of Gaeta, interest in the baseship interface, and almost tender comforting of Eight as she lay dying after a Centurion attack. The resurfacing of the D’Anna model will certainly put he and the other three hidden cylons at huge risk, even as the Cylon ranks grow thinner and thinner thanks to their bloody civil war.

What’s left to be seen is if this show is actually about acceptance of those things we create, or great sacrifice in the name of a brighter future. The former sees the two sides actually working together to find earth; the latter sees the Final Five eradicating their own kind as a means to preserve the human race. Either way, there’s plenty of pain to go around until that path is chosen.

More than any episode this season on Battlestar: Galactica, “The Road Less Travelled” felt like a stop-gap, a place-holder, a way to get people into psychological frameworks for the actions yet to come. This is all fine and well, but considering the second episode of the season also sought to do this, it’s all a bit too much talky talky and enough enough bangy bangy. (That type of analysis is why I make the big bucks, people.)

The theme of this episode? “Making peace with your past,” or rather, just how hard it is for just about everyone to live with the choices they’ve made that have led them to this particular moment in history. Tyrol and Starbucks especially suffer from this problem, weighed down not only by their current situation but their actions, once a seeming random series of occurrences, now seen as the potential work of invisible hands.

There’s a great contrast in those who struggle against the removal of personal accountability in the show. Baltar’s cult thrives on being relieved of both responsibility and imperfection, with chief acolyte Tori at the head of the “everything’s allowed” school of thought. Ironically, those whom destined for greatness shun such major responsibilities. The cult can’t wait to be told they are perfect and the apple of God’s eye. Tyrol and Kara are focused on the Eye of Jupiter. Which eye truly exists? Both? Neither?

Into this mess comes Leoben, Ultimate Mindfrakker extraordinaire, coming with a message of alliance with the humans in the civil war between the Cylons. He also wants Kara to talk to the hybrid in order to locate Earth. But let’s remember the final scene of the tele-movie Razor, in which the hybrid talked to Kendra Shaw and said the following:

Hybrid: Then come closer. There’s something I have to tell you. Come. [She stumbles forward, and he grabs her hand] Kara Thrace will lead the human race to its end. She…

Shaw: What?

Hybrid: …She is the herald of the Apocalypse. The harbinger of death. They must not follow her.

So, why is Leoben so keen on her speaking with the hybrid? Is Earth the ultimate Cylon end-game? Or is there a hidden meaning in the hybrid’s word? I don’t analyze the minutiae of the show quite as much as I do that of Lost, but then again, I think the Boob Tube Babe believes I spend less time analyzing the minutiae of our relationship as much as I analyze Lost. So don’t feel too bad, Battlestar. I still love ya.

And I’ll love ya even more when you get to the second part of this cliffhanger-laden episode. Given the previews for next episode, it looks like this hour will not have been ill-spent. Still, with the show in its last season, they can’t take too many more time-outs such as this week along the way. Earth should be getting closer each week; right now, it feels like we’re in a bit of a holding pattern.