Short wrap-up and ponderings here: Episode 2 was a big ol' bowl of lining up the plots and players for this final season.

Hands down, though, my favorite scene owed everything to the past and all we've learned about Adm. Adama and Roslin.

It's one thing for buds Adama and Roslin to disagree about which survival strategy might be best, but after a couple drinks the other night, it seems neither was above bringing out the heavy-duty personal ammo. Roslin, coddled but deluded prophet; Adama, sentimental but deluded daddy figure. Ouch.

Also, feeling nostalgic: The farewell between Starbuck and Lee had a certain finality. It would make total sense that Starbuck for some reason is never coming back -- though of course, that's extra-narrative. For Lee, he was just leaving Galactica and the pilot milieu. But, perhaps, a heartfelt farewell between the sparring pair for viewers who've been privy all along ... 

But most of other scenes served to set up new threads:

* Tory taking one for the New Four Cylon team by cozying up to Baltar, who has another new buddy, Imaginary Baltar.

* Starbuck and Helo, off to find Earth her way. Seriously, did Adama just send her so everybody would be spared her "we're going the wronnnnnnnnnnnggggggggg waaaayyyy!" meltdowns? Put her back in the air – good move.

* A lot of trouble aboard the Cylon HQ. One batch of skinjobs is lobotomizing raiders (aren't there zillions of these?); the others have upped the thought mechanisms on a bunch of angry centurions. It was kinda shocking when the centurions unloaded into the dissenting Cylons, but how dead are they? And won't they resurrect even madder? A lot of the Cylon stuff feels rushed and confusing – why can't Cylons consider the Final Five? Why is there dissent among numbers, per Boomer? Free thinking is breaking out all over! I anticipate (and hope) the Cylon dramas will sort out into logical threads that will alos likely involve Galactica folks and/or the New Four.

* What about the raider that won't shoot Sam and called off the attack? There is still a war on – it was a quick throwaway but 600 people on one ship were vaporized at the start of Episode 1.

* Lee's off to law. This is something a stretch for me – plus, don't they need pilots more than attorneys? -- but presumably some as-yet-revealed legal or political battle will absorb him. Maybe the rebelling Cylons need a mouthpiece? Or the New Four?