Battlestar Galactica's 15 Biggest Plot Twists And Reveals
4. One Year Later (Lay Down Your Burdens—Season 2, Episodes 19-20)
A focus in the second season of Battlestar Galactica is the presidential election between Laura Roslin and Gaius Baltar. The question that ends up being at the center of the contest is whether to settle on a newly discovered planet, which Baltar favors, or to continue to search for Earth, as advocated by Roslin.
The election draws to a close in the midst of much chaos, but in the end Baltar wins and the decision to settle on “New Caprica” is made. On another show, this turn of events might have been undone in the next episode, but Battlestar Galactica instead surprised us by abruptly jumping us forward one year in the story.
For the last few minutes of the season, viewers were treated to life on New Caprica, including their eventual rediscovery by the Cylons. This turn of events completely upended the status quo of every part of the story.
Even though the survivors were back on Galactica a few episodes into the third season, the year on New Caprica continued to impact the characters deeply for the rest of the series.