Season three was a pretty wild ride, starting with the Cylon occupation of the nascent human colony on the planet of New Caprica, progressing through the heart-pounding rescue of the settlers (in the midst of insurgency and treachery), and the eventual trial and acquittal of Gaius Baltar who may have been the instrument (unwittingly or otherwise) of humanity's destruction. We witness the death of Viper pilot Kara Thrace (always amazingly played by Katee Sackhoff), and we learn the identities of four of the five remaining unknown Cylon models. At the end of the final episode, Kara returns — much to the shock of the entire crew — and says she's been to Earth and has come back to lead everyone home.

When we commence season four with this episode, everyone is trying to wrap their minds around Kara's return. Adding to the mystery, her formerly beat-up Viper sits on the hangar deck looking brand new, as if it's just rolled off the assembly line, and she thinks she's been gone for a matter of hours when in fact she's been gone for two months. Her hair has grown a couple of inches in the interim, and she seems to have shed the soul-crushing depression and loss of direction that preceded her disappearance. Her new sense of purpose is to lead the fleet to Earth. Was Lee Adama mistaken when he said he saw her Viper break into pieces two months earlier? Is this a resurrected Kara? And if it is a resurrected Kara, is she a Cylon, or are there higher (or at least different) forces at work here? Kara is adamant that she knows the way to Earth and that she needs to lead the fleet there, but the Cylons have reason to mislead the fleet on that score. Is she a beacon or an instrument of deception?

Col. Tigh, one of the newly revealed Cylons, has a horrifying dream in which he draws his gun and shoots Admiral Adama, and this raises a whole host of questions about the four. Does Tigh's dream presage a coming event, or does it represent his worst fears? Are the four sleeper agents of some sort, a group of humanoid Manchurian candidates? Are we just waiting for them to collectively activate, wreaking havoc on the fleet? After all, two of them are the closest colleagues of the leaders of the colonists (Tigh is Adama's executive officer, and Tory is President Roslin's chief of staff). Will the four be able to overcome any Cylon programming they may be implanted with simply by the strength of their own wills (and should they)? Why are the other Cylon models seemingly unaware of the identities of the four, now that they've been activated and revealed? Is their ultimate purpose to help or to hinder humanity?