Battlestar Galactica: Every Starbuck Episode Ranked Worst To Best

The opening four episodes of Battlestar Galactica's third season rank among the best in the show's entire run. They took the series - already as dark as pitch - to new levels and left long-term trauma on many of the main characters. It may be a toss-up between Tigh, Baltar and Starbuck for who goes through the most in this time.

Starbuck is captured in the opening moments of the occupation by Leoben and kept in a cell, shaped like an apartment, by him. He tries over and over to get her to love him, seemingly hoping for stockholm syndrome to kick in.

Her abuse is horrific, not for any physical acts of cruelty he visits on her, but for the prolonged nature of her captivity. Though she tries again and again to fight back, he constantly tries to find new ways to wear her down.

His final attempt before Galactica's return is to convince her that she has a daughter, Kacey, that they must raise together. It almost works. After months of this, he has found a weakness in her armour. Save for the arrival of Adama and the exodus of the humans again, who is to say how far it would have gone?