Battlestar Galactica Season Three, Episode "Maelstrom", Page 1
With the addition of some newborn babies, there are 41,400 humans left in the fleet at the beginning of this episode, which starts out onboard the Battlestar Galactica. The camera zooms in very close on Starbuck, who is fast asleep and dreaming about the strange image she painted on her apartment wall, back on Caprica. The image resembles the artifact found in the "Temple of Five" and the Supernova the fleet witnessed in that system.
During her dream, she imagines herself using a brush to apply a fresh coat of white paint over the image, but moments later she is in a rush to destroy it, so she throws the entire gallon at the wall to completely cover it up. Suddenly, the Cylon Leoben, enters her dream and walks up behind her to caress her passionately. Instead of defending herself, she turns around to embrace Leoben's seductive advance. Briefly, the scene switches back to reality, where Starbuck is rolling around on her bunk in a state of arousal, then back to her dream, where the two lovers fall to the floor in the heat of passion. As she is lying on the floor with Leoben pressed upon her, she watches as the image gradually shows itself through the white coat of paint, as if she never covered it up. Starbuck, is startled out of slumber and opens her eyes. She lies there for a moment, trying to figure the whole thing out, then the camera pans over to show a bunkmate ask her, "What's up?", to which she replies, "Nothing, go back to sleep."
Maelstrom Recap: Scene 2
Still onboard the Battlestar Galactica, Starbuck is in the washroom splashing water on her face, when Helo enters and says, "You're up early." Starbuck splashes more water on her face and replies with, "You too." Helo begins to shave and replies, "Yeah, Hera gets these nightmares ...wakes up crying and shaking. By the time we calm her down and get her back to sleep, I'm wide awake." Starbuck finishes washing up and walks over to grab a towel, then Helo continues, "All that crap she went through on New Caprica, really left this mark on her." As Starbuck begins drying off, she replies, "Yeah, I know just how she feels. I wish you had never shown me that picture. I dream about it and that bastard, Leoben, every gods damn night. I feel like I'm losing my mind, here." Helo pauses from his shaving and advises her, "You know, kara ...there's a um ...psychiatrist aboard Inkin Vale(sp?). We've made an appointment for Hera. Maybe, you should think about seeing her." Starbuck does not put much stock in psychiatrists, so she replies with, "Are you kidding me? Those shrinks are more Fracked, then their patients are." Helo nods his head, then replies, "You know, you might want to check out that oracle, camped in Dogsville."
Suddenly, Starbuck notices a small blonde haired child in the mirror, while Helo continues to tell her, "People say she interprets dreams ...sees things in them, predicts events.", however, when she turns around, no one is there and she gets spooked. Helo notices Starbuck's reaction and says, "Hey? You ok?", which startles her out of her blank stare, as she turns to face him. She pauses for a moment, then smiles as if it was nothing and says, "I don't know." and continues to brush her teeth.
Maelstrom Recap: Scene 3
Still onboard the Battlestar Galactica, Starbuck has gone to see the oracle, as Helo suggested. Upon arrival, she finds a dark room, lit only by candlelight and tries to utter the nervous words, "Hel ..", but has to clear her throat before continuing, "Hello?" There is no answer, so she walks further into the room and notices a small figurine, located on the table. She moves her hand over the statuette and as she picks it up, a female voice is heard in the distance, "The goddess Aurora." Starbuck turns quickly, to see a woman sitting at a table, almost completely out of site, then hears the kind words, "Take it. It's yours.", but Starbuck is rude with her reply, "What the hell am I going to do with this?" The woman replies with, "You'll know when the time comes."
The scene fast forwards a bit, to show the woman holding her hand out and asking Starbuck to sit down. Kara, reluctantly, takes a seat and the woman's outstretched hand, before saying, "I uh ...I can't sleep. I'm having these nightmares." Not surprisingly, the Oracle knows exactly what Starbuck is referring to, when she asks the rhetorical question, "About the Cylon? The one who held you captive on New Caprica ...Leoben." You can see that Starbuck is shocked to hear her speak, as if she witnessed the whole event, before starting to say, "I know that he was just ...", only to be interrupted by the oracle, "He knows you better, than you know yourself ...Kara Thrace. He sees the truth, about you ...about your destiny." At this moment, Starbuck is frightened that the woman knows such intimate details and tries to pull her hand away, but the Oracle holds fast. Unable to pull away, Starbuck glares at her with fear and demands, "Enough of that. The only destiny I have, is a world class Frackup." The Oracle sarcastically replies, "Who hurts everyone she cares about ...That was your mothers gift to you, wasn't it? You were born to a woman, who believed suffering was good for the soul, so you suffered."
As the oracle speaks, Starbuck has a flashback to the prison cell onboard the Battlestar Galactica, where she was interrogating Leoben. She sees the Cylon lying on the floor after being drowned, tortured, and beaten bloody. The oracle begins to repeat every word that Leoben told her on that day, "Your life is a testament to pain ...you won't believe it, because that means that you're bad luck ...you're like a cancer that needs to be removed ...because, you hear her voice every day and you want her to be right." Starbuck cannot believe what she is hearing and demands, "Someone told you, what Leoben said to me." Strangely, the Oracle replies with, "Do you think, I would tell any one, about that?", as if Leoben was speaking through her. The Oracle continues with, "You learned the wrong lesson from your mother, Kara. You confused the messenger with the message. You're mother was trying to teach you something else." Starbuck gets angry, but manages to control the volume of her voice when she says, "You don't know crap, about my mother.", but the Oracle replies, as if it were a matter of fact, "Leoben does. He sees the patterns ..." Just then, Starbuck begins to have flashbacks, again. This time she sees a young girl , presumably herself, hiding near a doorway, while crying in pain and fear. The Oracle continues to say, "He sees how it all fits together. He's coming for you ..." Starbuck begins to be very uncomfortable, because the Oracle is making her remember things from a very traumatic time in her life and demands, "Shut up!", as the flashbacks continue. Again, she sees the little girl crying, but this time her mother slams a door shut over the child's hand. The Oracle continues with, "...soon." and Starbuck leans forward and demands, "Shut the Frack up!". As she gets up to rush out of the room, the Oracle bids a final warning, "You can't stop him ...and he will show you the way."