Battlestar Galactica Season 2 Epiode "Home, part 2"

March 7, 2007 11:02 AM

Please help me understand the second season of Battlestar Galactica, especially the episode "Home, part 2" (spoilers inside)

I don't understand the scene in the tomb of Athena (and what happens after that). This is a summary of the scene:

They are now in center of a room surrounded by twelve monoliths, and above each monolith is a cluster of constellation patterns identical to the gem patterns that are set in the monoliths. Billy asks, "Where the hell are we?" Laura replies, "I don't know. Tomb of Athena, I think." Adama comments, "I thought we were already in the tomb" and Kara adds, "I think that was the lobby." Laura tells them, "Again the ancient symbols. These patterns... were on the original flags of the Twelve Colonies back in the days when the Colonies were called by their ancient names: Aeries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Libra, Virgo." Adama adds, "The jewels match the constellations." Kara tells them they're standing on Earth. "The scriptures say that when the the Thirteenth Tribe landed on Earth, they looked up into the heavens and saw their twelve brothers." Laura tells them, "Earth is the place where you can look up in the sky and see the constellations of the Twelve Colonies."

Kobol is Earth! Mission accomplished!

But then this follows:

Kara asks, "What are we supposed to do? Search the entire galaxy for one particular star pattern?" Lee points to one. "There in Scorpio. I've seen that before. It's the lagoon nebula." Commander Adama tells them, "Astro body M8. That's a long way for here." Laura replies, "Yeah. But at least now we have a map and a direction."

What!? Search for what? A map of what? Directions to where? Didn't you just find Earth? Huh?

After this, they take off again and in the rest of the season Earth seems to be irrelevant and they're back to fighting the Ceylons as usual as if they're still searching for Earth. I don't understand this. Have they left Earth because the Ceylons know that humans have returned? Is the plan to return to Earth after the Ceylons have been defeated? Where are they actually going right after they leave Earth? (I have seen the whole season and Earth stays completely out of the picture...)

posted by CKZ to Media & Arts (12 answers total)

When they are in the tomb they enter a holographic projection of what it is like to be standing on Earth. So all they have determined is what the stars looked like when viewed from earth - e.g., they have a rough idea of where it is and how to get there (a map and a direction).

the Cylons are trying to find earth as well, but don't have this insight, so keep pursuing BSG.
posted by googly at 12:05 PM on March 7, 2007

To clarify: Kobol isn't earth; the tomb of Athena just puts them on a "virtual earth" looking up at the stars.

Also: more information than you could possibly need on the episode can be found here.
posted by googly at 12:09 PM on March 7, 2007

Television Without Pity's recaps of BSG on an episode by episode basis. It goes scene by scene instead of overall summary.
posted by hindmost at 12:37 PM on March 7, 2007

Kobol is where everyone started out, a weird place that had opera houses and generous warfare. Everyone left and settled other planets: the zodiac planets like "Sagitaron" and "Caprica" and a 13th tribe settled on Earth.

It's sort of like landing on a prehistoric island. They couldn't stay there since the cylons on the basestar they destroyed in orbit would have downloaded and led other cylons there eventually. And....ya know....it's a creepy planet.
posted by cowbellemoo at 12:40 PM on March 7, 2007

The tomb is a virtual planetarium. Also, the humans are fighting the Cylons, not Sri Lankans. ; )
posted by Gamblor at 12:43 PM on March 7, 2007

Also see the Battlestar Wiki for details.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 12:51 PM on March 7, 2007

My wife and I are watching the entire series right now. We're up to the second season finale, which we'll watch tonight. I thought it was pretty clear that this was just some sort of holographic projection. (Though it makes little sense how or why it exists.

Actually, a lot of things with BSG make little sense. Don't get me wrong — I like the show — but I think it's far too mercurial to be as good as it wants to be. People are always angry at each other. There's no such thing as a permanent alliance between characters. Does Adama agree with Roslin this episode? Let's roll the dice! It drives me nuts.

But I do have to say that the second half of season two has really picked up in quality. The past four episodes, starting with "Scar", have all been quite good. I attribute this to the writers finally letting go, and only tracking a few subplots per episode instead of trying to keep tabs on everyone.)
posted by jdroth at 1:10 PM on March 7, 2007

Duh! A projection -- of course! Thanks for the responses everyone. BTW, battlestarwiki.org is a really great resource. I googled for BSG episode guides but didn't see battlestarwiki.org listed.

Thanks again!
posted by CKZ at 1:11 PM on March 7, 2007

This question's been answered pretty thoroughly, but I wanted to say, jdroth, you and your wife are in for quite a treat.
posted by brozek at 1:47 PM on March 7, 2007

Yeah, jdroth. Episode three is where it's get all, "Oh snap that ess is tight". In other words, really good.
posted by billysumday at 1:59 PM on March 7, 2007

Sorry, I meant SEASON three, not episode three. Ha!
posted by billysumday at 2:00 PM on March 7, 2007

Battlestar Wiki is a great site, but I'd advise being careful going there if you're only up to season two.

The main insight that the Tomb of Athena gave them is that the symbols that represent the Twelve Colonies (that we, IRL, know to be Zodiac signs) are constellations visible from Earth.

And yeah, Kobol is definitely not Earth.
posted by neckro23 at 2:52 PM on March 7, 2007