Battlestar Galactica Episode 3.18 The Son Also Rises

The aftermath of Kara Thrace's Viper crash is a time of mourning for her husband and friends, but the business of the fleet grinds on despite their grief. Most significantly, Gaius Baltar's trial is approaching. Admiral Adama is chosen by lottery to serve as one of five officers on the judges' tribunal, and, as Racetrack prepares to ferry Baltar's lawyer home from a meeting on the Galactica, a bomb explodes aboard her Raptor. She survives, but the lawyer doesn't.

Laura Roslin refuses to let terrorism derail a fair trial for Baltar. She assigns him a new defense attorney: the eccentric Romo Lampkin, who, accompanied by his cat, coolly declares that he was born to handle this case. Admiral Adama reassigns Lee from the pilot squadron to lead Lampkin's security detail. With Kara's death haunting them both, Adama isn't comfortable with his son flying a Viper.

Lee is irritated by his new job until Lampkin mentions that Lee's grandfather Joseph, a prominent defense attorney, was his mentor. Intrigued, Lee supervises Lampkin's first meeting with Baltar, then agrees to accompany the lawyer to Colonial One to collect case files. When the landing signal officer, Aaron Kelly, reminds Lee that his father has forbidden him to fly, Lee rebelliously boards the Raptor anyway.

It's only because Lampkin's cat escapes that Tyrol, pursuing the animal beneath the Raptor, spots another bomb attached to the craft's underside. Lee and Lampkin have barely escaped another attack. Furious, Admiral Adama berates his son for taking irresponsible risks.

Clues indicate that the bomber is a member of the crew, which provokes tension and suspicion among the pilots and deckhands. The only person seemingly unconcerned about the attempt on Lampkin's life is Lampkin himself. He's absorbed in a devious plan to win supporters for Baltar.

First, he meets with Caprica Six and manipulates the Cylon prisoner into confessing her love for Baltar. Next, he confides in Lee, saying that his entire plan is rooted in lessons he learned from Joseph Adama. This conversation cements Lee's increasing desire to walk in his idolized grandfather's footsteps.

The bomber strikes again, and this time, Lampkin doesn't escape the blast. He survives, but he's temporarily confined to a hospital bed. Officially, Lee's job is to find the bomber hidden in his crew. Unofficially, and in defiance of his father, he now believes that he has another calling: to help the injured Lampkin defend the most hated man in the fleet.