If Paya is around, Shavon can't be far off, and so Lee goes to find Phelan, who is in the middle of a bar, enjoying his money like only gangsters know how. This whole time, Lee had been working to protect Shavon, but Shavon worked for Phelan. It comes as a big surprise to Apollo that the head of the black market might be running prostitutes, and he is even more surprised to find that his prostitute not only worked for Phelan, but also was the one who told Phelan that Lee was going to visit her on Cloud Nine. Phelan laughs at Lee's revelation, and begins to preach the reasons why the black market is necessary.

At first, Apollo tries to play nice. He says that the Galactica has tracked him there, and he says that Phelan can save everybody a lot of trouble if he just handed over Shavon and the girl, and shut down his operation. Phelan laughs and says that Paya is already bought and paid for, and he doesn't give refunds. Finding out that Phelan is selling children sends Lee over the edge. He steals a gun from one of the guards, and then shoots Phelan. With their boss dead, all of Phelan's lackies sort of shrug and lay down their weapons; so much for solidarity among thieves. Lee says that as long as they don't touch any children, he won't have to find them and kill them.

The only thing left to do is for Apollo to take Shavon and Paya away from this place and build a new family together. People might think that it is strange that he is living with a hooker, but hey, at least she's not a Cylon, and that does count for something these days. The only problem is that Shavon doesn't want a life with Lee. Throughout the episode, we have had these constant flashbacks to Apollo and this blonde on Caprica, and now Shavon fills us in. The woman in Apollo's dreams wanted to have a child with Apollo, but he was scared, and he ran away from her. Then the Cylons attacked, and he was never able to make it up to her. After the crash made him question his mortality, he looked for a substitute, but Shavon didn't want to be that woman, and Paya was never going to be his daughter. You would like to feel bad for Apollo because he seemed like he cared for this woman, and I am not saying you can't have a happy relationship with a prostitute, but if she is still charging you extra to spend the night, you probably don't have a chance.

His job now done, Apollo reports to the President. He found Fisk's killer, but he isn't willing to shut down the black market. They will watch the Prometheus (where Tom Zarek now walks like he owns the place), but this underground economy has a place, and it shouldn't be stopped, especially if they can keep it under control. For as adamant as Roslin was about stopping it earlier, she doesn't put up much of a fight against Apollo's new decision. It's sort of an empty victory for Lee, and his life isn't getting any better. He wasn't even able to salvage his relationship with Dualla, who decides that Billy is just as good of a workout partner. He might not be the stud that Apollo is, but Billy does seem to know what he wants in the relationship, and that is spending as much time with her as possible. She might think about Apollo again, but for now, she'll take Billy.

What did you think of this episode?

Posted by J-Unit on February 1, 2006 10:47 AM