Season 3, Episode 9:
Unfinished Business
To quell tensions within the fleet and help the crew let off some steam, Bill organizes a boxing tournament on Galactica, where pairs can fight in sanctioned matches and Tigh is acting as a referee.
One of the first matches has Lee face off against Helo. As the two combatants spar, Lee has flashbacks to his time on New Caprica, and remembers waking up on a patch of ground and looking around in confusion. Helo begins to pummel him, and Cottle stops the fight because of Lee's condition.
Elsewhere on the ship, Kara and Anders are talking in bed together, and he asks what the status of their marriage is. She dodges the question and leaves, but also has flashbacks to her laying on someone's chest with an expression of fear and confusion.
Bill and Kara both arrive at the ring in time to see the conclusion of Lee's match, while Roslin greets the senior Adama and tells him how much she loves boxing. As he's leaving the ring, Lee has another flashback to kissing Dualla.
Bill reminsces on his own, remembering a moment he shared with Roslin on the planet. They sit together and talk about how beautiful the planet is, and she squeezes his arm in appreciation.
Another match is organized between Kara and Hot Dog. After Hot Dog brags about what a great boxer he is and takes a few shots at her, she lays him out cold with a single, well-timed punch, then exits the ring. As she leaves, she flashes back to a number of the command crew holding a dance.
Bill is watching the fights when a member of the deck crew comes up to complain to Tyrol about a Viper that needs repairs. Tyrol brushes the complaint off, and Bill has a flashback to a conversation he had with the deck chief. During their talk, Tyrol asks Bill if he can settle down with Cally on the planet. Bill denies it. Later, Bill changes his mind when Roslin tells him all the crew should be able to live a normal life, and begrudgingly grants Tyrol's request.
In the present, Bill challenges Tyrol to a match. In the ring, Bill coldcocks the deck chief in the face just as the match begins, and they begin sparring. Tyrol gets angered and begins mercilessly punching Bill. Roslin is concerned, but Bill tells her during a break in the match that he's being beat up deliberately, and that he's not looking to win.
Kara has another flashback where she is at the dance with Lee. Anders is drunk, and Dualla is off-planet, and Kara becomes intimate with Lee. They leave the dance and make love at a campsite outside the settlement, then wake up a short while later. Both of them take turns yelling out that they love one another to the night sky, though Kara is clearly uncomfortable about it. They go back to sleep, but Kara wakes up later, gets dressed and leaves, while Lee wakes up alone in the morning.
Lee walks back to camp and sees his father, who tells him that Kara got married to Anders. Lee is in shock, but hides his emotions when he runs into the newlyweds. He shakes Anders' hand and tells him he'll need all the luck he can get.
In the present, Tyrol knocks a bloodied Bill to the ground. Bill stands up and addresses a shocked Tyrol and the crowd, telling them that he failed all of them by letting them get too close, and that it is a mistake he will not repeat again. He leaves the ring with Roslin and Cottle.
With the mood of the crowd soured, Tigh calls off the matches, but he is interrupted by Kara calling out Lee. In the ring, and with their respective spouses watching, Lee and Kara begin beating each other and the fight escalates due to the absence of the referee. As they continue to act more and more violent with each other, the remaining crowd leaves in disgust. Anders and Dualla realize what is happening and both leave in anger.
Exhausted, Lee and Kara fall into a boxer's hug, and they both confess that they missed each other…
Tropes:
- Artistic License – Sports: There are no divisions by weight class or sex. While this may be potentially justified by the fact that it isn't an official tournament, the fact that the resulting horrific mismatches aren't all disgustingly one-sided isn't, and it also defies belief that no one would take this into consideration even informally.note
- Bottle Episode: The entirety of the episode involves a boxing tournament, with no mention of the Cylons at all (besides the presence of Sharon at ringside).
- The Boxing Episode: The crew revive an old fleet tradition of boxing matches to blow off steam.
- The Cameo: Jammer and Duck can be seen among the guests during the dance scene.
- Conflict Ball: Tyrol, normally the most dependable guy in the fleet, turns into a slacker so Bill can teach everyone an Aesop about taking their responsibilities seriously.
- Lady in Red: In the flashbacks Laura wears a very flattering red dress to the groundbreaking celebration. While it isn't as skimpy as Head Six's dress it still gets Bill's attention.
- Mixed Martial Arts: The final match devolves into this, as Kara begins kickboxing as a way to keep Lee off-balance. Likewise, an earlier match features a cameo from MMA fighter Paul Lazenby.
- My Greatest Failure: Bill clearly regards the entire settlement of New Caprica as a massive failure on his part, and blames himself for letting his crew get too close, which caused the deaths during the Cylon occupation. He concludes by saying it's a mistake he won't repeat again.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Helo beating up Lee, and later, Tyrol when facing off against Bill.
- One-Hit KO: Kara knocks out Hot Dog with a single punch.
- Relationship Upgrade: Lee and Kara.
- Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony: In one of the flashbacks, to inaugurate the colonization of New Caprica.
- Sexiled: Apparently placing a pair of boots outside the door to the bunkroom is the fleet's signal for "people are having sex in here, do not enter".
- Ship Tease: Bill and Roslin apparently had a close friendship on New Caprica, to the point that she can hold his arm affectionately. It's never made clear if their relationship went any further during this time.
- Shotgun Wedding: Kara gets married with a surprised Anders just after she's spent the night with Lee.
- Throwing the Fight: Bill intentionally loses the match against Tyrol so the latter (and the crew) can vent some steam by watching their commander get beat up.
- Took a Level in Kindness: In a Deleted Scene, Kara tells a drunken Tigh about her lovemaking with Lee, and they both laugh at the absurdity of the situation, setting up their closeness during later events.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Judging by the behaviour of the assembled crew at the last match, Lee and Kara show garners this, starting with their reactions to the brutality of the fight. When they go from fighting to embracing in the ring Anders and Dualla are particularly upset and the former leaves with several others in disgust.
