Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
As the first season opens, Galactica and a ragged civilian fleet are trapped in a pursuit: the Cylons locate them after each jump and attack again 33 minutes later. Exhaustion and dwindling supplies make every decision urgent. When a Cylon agent sabotages the ship’s water stores, President Laura Roslin and Commander William Adama must find a new source and negotiate with prisoners sent to mine ice. Their representative, Tom Zarek, turns the crisis into a challenge to Roslin’s authority, while the fleet learns that Cylons can wear human faces.
On Galactica, Kara “Starbuck” Thrace is forced to train replacement pilots and confront her guilt over the death of Zak Adama, then is shot down during a patrol. Adama risks the fleet’s security to launch an extensive search for her. An explosion aboard ship prompts an inquiry that puts Chief Galen Tyrol under suspicion and exposes the danger of hidden Cylon agents. Gaius Baltar’s detector and his dealings with the imagined Number Six deepen mistrust around him. Meanwhile, stranded on occupied Caprica, Karl “Helo” Agathon protects a Cylon copy of Sharon Valerii, and the two form a bond neither side fully trusts.
When the fleet’s fuel falls critically low, Adama orders an attack on a Cylon tylium refinery, while political and religious tensions sharpen as Roslin forms a civilian council and begins to believe scripture can guide the fleet to Earth. When scouts find Kobol, she persuades Starbuck to retrieve the Arrow of Apollo from Caprica, against Adama’s orders. He has Roslin arrested after she refuses to resign. The season closes with Galactica’s Sharon discovering copies of herself inside a Cylon basestar over Kobol. After destroying it, she returns and shoots Adama, leaving his fate unresolved.