Plot Summary - Juliet and Mike must go undercover on the Mothership to retrieve a list revealing the names of Resistance headquarters and leaders.  The Visitors prepare to celebrate the Feast of Romalon with a sacrifice -- Lydia's younger brother!
 

Detailed Review -

• Lt. James greets a shuttle of Resistance prisoners and informs them that they will be used for experimentation.  His squad captain has also obtained a computer disk listing the locations of Resistance headquarters and the names of their leaders throughout the area.   Jonathan, a Fifth Column technician working on another craft, overhears their conversation and follows the captain to his quarters.  Jonathan steals the disk but is spotted by two troopers, who shoot him.  Jonathan manages to evade them and makes his way to the Romalon room, a hall being decorated for the upcoming Feast of Romalon.  He hides the disk in a large sculpture, then stumbles back out to the corridor.

• In another part of the Mothership, Philip checks in on Dr. Stephen Maitland, a human biologist working with the Visitors to develop a virus against humanity, in exchange for his freedom.  Maitland assures Philip that the virus is nearing completion.  Leaving the lab, Philip comes across the dying Jonathan, whom he recognizes as a fellow Fifth Columnist.  Jonathan manages to tell Philip that the disk is hidden "in the volcano" before he dies.  Hearing Diana's approach, Philip leaves Jonathan's side and re-approaches after Diana's arrival, wiping off Jonathan's blood from his hands before he does so.

• Philip meets with Juliet and Mike to inform them of the disk.  When he mentions Maitland, Julie flashes back to her time with him in medical school, when they were lovers.  Since the Fifth Column cannot search the ship without arousing suspicion, Julie and Mike decide to infiltrate the Mothership to handle the search.  Philip arranges for their false identification.  Mike and Julie inform Kyle and Willie to carry on without them if they don't make it back.

• Oswald prepares the Romalon room for the upcoming festivities.  Later, he meets with Diana to inform her that her 'sacrificial lamb' has arrived, and to update her on Lt. James search for the disk.  Oswald is told to inform James that if he doesn't find the disk, he will join the sacrifice.

• Mike and Julie arrive on the Mothership with passes identifying them as visiting Visitor doctors.  They are nearly seen as Diana and Lydia pass them in the corridor, heading for the bridge.  Lydia is looking forward to the Feast of Romalon, and Diana assures her that it will be Lydia's most memorable Romalon ever.

• Mike and Julie are taken to Stephen Maitland, who recognizes Julie but doesn't blow their cover.  Mike accuses Stephen of being a collaborator, while Julie once again flashes to a moment in their past, when Stephen was making plans for their future that didn't take into account Julie's own wishes for a career.  Stephen agrees to help the Resistance leaders -- he and Julie decide to search one level of the ship, while Mike takes another.

• Diana arrives on the bridge with Lydia's younger brother, Nigel.  Lydia's pleasure at seeing him again is short-lived when she discovers that Diana arranged his early commission and transfer to Lydia's ship.  Asking Nigel his date of birth, she finds that Nigel is the youngest officer on board, which means that he will be sacrificed at the upcoming Feast of Romalon.

• While searching, Stephen inquires as to Julie's relationship with Donovan.  She tells him that they are just friends, because there isn't time for anything else but the war.  She tells Stephen that she feels that she made a mistake by leaving him years ago.  Stephen shows Julie the prisoners he has been testing the virus on, made 'vegetables' by its use.  Julie is disgusted, but Stephen reassures her that he alters the virus so that its effect only lasts for 12 hours.  He has been delaying his work until the Visitors trust him enough to let him work with the active virus, which is stored separately, and which he intends to destroy.   Julie refuses to tell Stephen what she and Mike are searching for, and asks for his trust.   As they leave, Stephen flashes back to the moment when Julie left him because she felt restricted by his love.

• Lydia goes to Philip and begs for his help to save her brother.  Philips informs her that the only way to stop the sacrifice is by unanimous vote of the ship's three line officers: himself, Lydia, and Diana.  Philip agrees to vote to halt the practice, but concedes that Diana will be hard to convince.  Lydia immediately goes to see Diana, who has brainwashed a young Fifth Columnist into revealing her contacts.  Lydia tells Diana that she will do anything to save her brother, and Diana asks for Lydia's life in return.

• Mike and Julie meet up and narrowly miss being seen by Diana in the corridor.  Ducking into the lab, they wait till they think it's safe, then attempt to leave -- only to be stopped by Diana and her guards at the door.  They feign surprise and confusion when they are arrested, insisting that they just arrived from the home world.  When Diana accuses them of being human, they become irate and rip off their human 'masks' to reveal reptilian heads.  Diana releases them and demands that her guards find out who ordered their human masks.  Julie and Mike escape to a nearby lab, where Stephen discovers them removing the last of their Visitor 'masks'.  Mike and Stephen continue to bicker over Stephen's role on the Mothership.

• Julie heads to the Romalon room, where she overhears Diana mention that Stephen's virus is completed.  Julie returns and confronts Stephen, who denies everything, insisting that he is just playing for time.  He asks for Julie's trust.  Stephen informs Julie that Diana knows about the Visitor masks and is looking for her and Donovan.  He tells her that he still loves her, and they kiss.

• After reminiscing with her brother, Lydia goes to see Philip and tells him that Diana suspects that he is a Fifth Columnist.  Philip commends her for telling him, but doubts her loyalties.

• Discussing their situation, Julie comes to the conclusion that one of the only places they haven't searched is Lt. James' room.  She convinces the others that she must attempt a search.  Arriving at James' quarters, Julie seduces him.  She gets him to leave the cabin while she undresses, but he is stopped from leaving by the arrival of Diana and some guards, who take Julie into custody.  Julie is taken to the Romalon room, and Diana orders James to get Philip.  Juliet notices the sculpture's resemblance to a volcano.  Mike and Stephen, in the corridor, overhear James' order to double the sentries, and realize that Julie has been captured.  When Mike wishes aloud for his weapons, Stephen suggests that they make some weapons in his lab, which houses several volatile chemicals.  Meanwhile, Diana informs Julie that all she has to do to save her own life and that of Donovan is to identify Philip as her contact in the Fifth Column.  Juliet feigns ignorance of the name.

• Stephen and Mike mix some chemicals in the lab, and Stephen insists that they destroy the active virus after they rescue Julie.  Mike apologizes to Stephen for doubting him.   Avoiding a Visitor patrol, the two men leave the lab.

• In Philip's quarters, he and Lydia are still carrying on their conversation.  Lydia tells him of Diana's brainwashed spy in the Fifth Column, and asks for his help in return.  They are interrupted when James arrives to bring Philip to the Romalon room.  En route to the room, they hear an explosion, and the corridors begin to fill with smoke.  Diana leaves two guards with Julie and goes to investigate, while Philip, James, and a guard run in from the other direction.   Using the smoke in the halls as a screen, Mike and Stephen attack the guards and Philip helps them to knock one out and drag them away.  Mike puts on a Visitor trooper uniform and attacks the guards in the Romalon room, while Julie jumps up and searches the volcano-like sculpture.  Mike dispatches the guards, Julie find the disk, and they escape.

• Diana realizes that the smoke in the corridors was only a diversion, and orders all corridors and doors in the sector sealed.  Mike and Julie manage to jump a pair of Visitors and place human 'Julie' and 'Mike' masks on them, while Philip and Stephen assist.   They then go to the viral lab, where they set an explosion to destroy the Visitor virus -- which they will be unable to duplicate as it comes from the home world.

• Diana is briefly stopped by the Visitors disguised as the Resistance, but they begin speaking in their mother language and Diana quickly begins to search again.   Mike is able to use the time this bought them to lead Stephen and Julie to a ventilation shaft leading to the shuttle bay.  They steal a shuttle and escape.

• The Feast of Romalon is held.  Nigel is placed on an altar as a sacrifice, and Diana prepares to kill him with a ritual sword.  She is stopped by Philip (who was believed killed by the Resistance), who confronts Diana about her accusations of his Fifth Column involvement, and asks for her proof.  Diana feigns ignorance, and Philip says that he will then charge her with mutiny . . . unless she changes her vote and abolishes the sacrificial portion of the Feast.  Diana agrees, but swears that Philip is a traitor and that she will prove it.  Nigel and Lydia happily embrace.

• Mike, Julie, and Stephen meet up with Kyle and Willie on Earth.  While Mike joins Kyle and Willie, Julie tells Stephen that she wants to stay with him.  Stephen refuses her though, telling her that they still have their own paths to walk and believing that she will regret her decision.  They kiss goodbye.  Believing that Juliet is staying behind, Mike and the others begin to walk away, and are stopped when Julie yells for them to wait up.  They happily welcome her with open arms.

Freedom Network Medal of Valour - There was no Freedom Network broadcast this week.
 

Bloopers and Nitpicks -

• The 'Julie' mask, seen being held by Julie and being placed on another Visitors head, looks about  as realistic as a Hallowe'en mask.

• When Mike and Julie put their masks on the two Visitors, Philip and Stephen are seen to be assisting               them, but their is no explanation as to how Philip and Stephen got there.   Jackie adds:  When was               Stephen clued in to Philip's Fifth Column allegiance?  Early in the episode, Philip is demanding results              from Stephen.  They are hardly friendly with each other.  Now they are working together, even though              Julie has told him nothing and asked Stephen to simply trust her!

• For that matter, why would Julie and Mike choose human masks of their own faces?  Thanks to Nick               for this nitpick!

• Jackie says:  Why do the Visitors use 3 1/4" floppies?  As "advanced" as they are, haven't they at               least come up with a data storage device that has a higher capacity?  My answer:  the disk belonged to the Resistance, and the Visitors hadn't had the chance to convert the info on it to their own format yet. :-)

• Another one from Jackie:  If the Fifth Column would be at risk by searching for the disk, how does               smuggling two humans aboard to conduct the search reduce this risk?  The act of searching is               presumably what could attract undue attention, and this will only be more obvious if you have two               humans, unfamiliar with the ship's layout, checking in every nook and cranny for a floppy disk!

• Also in regard to the search for the disk:  The ship is 1 mile wide in diameter, based on what we were               told in the original miniseries.  We also know it has multiple deck levels, as we saw Martin and Mike               using stairs in The Final Battle.  Unless the fleet was somehow "shrunk", how will two people possibly              search the entire vessel for a small floppy disk, much less gain access to all crew quarters, recreation               areas, and command centres, except for James' quarters . . . all in one afternoon?  Thanks again,               Jackie!

• More on the Visitor 'masks', from Jon:  When Diana confronts Mike and Julie in lizard masks, Julie has no human skin around her neck in one scene but as she turns around to walk down the corridor it magically appears.  The effects were really awful at this stage!  Then, when Mike and Phillip jump on 2 passing Visitors and drag them inside a chamber to disguise them as humans to confuse Diana (yet again) they put on the masks but forget to cover the Visitors 'lizard skin' hands.  Yet in the next scene, the Visitors seem to have acquired human hands!!

• (Lydia, Diana, and Oswald discuss the Feast)                                                                                                  Diana:  Obviously Oswald, you don't understand.  The Feast of Romalon is a joyous occasion, and                    looked forward to by the vast majority of our people.                                                                                       Oswald: Yes, well the whole idea makes me shudder!                                                                                       Lydia:    I suppose next you'll be claiming you object to orgies and random sacrifices.

• (Lydia begs Philip's help in stopping the sacrifice)                                                                                          Lydia:  We must stop it!  There must be something in the law!                                                                            Philip:  What about your love for ritual, Lydia?  For maintaining a sense of ourselves as warriors?               Lydia:  You win -- I'm a hypocrite, whatever you like.  But please, don't let her kill my brother.

• (Julie and Mike discuss Diana's reactions to their Visitor disguises)                                                                Julie:  Did you see Diana's face?                                                                                                                       Mike: I was hoping she'd have a stroke!

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