Battlestar Galactica: Sacrifice

"Sacrifice" is the sixteenth episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on February 10, 2006. In the episode, Dee spurns Billy Keikeya and goes on a date with Lee "Apollo" Adama at a bar. An armed group takes control of the bar, demanding the captive Cylon Sharon in return for the lives of their hostages. Lee is badly wounded when Starbuck attempts a rescue. Billy is shot and killed saving Dee just before a team of Marines raids the bar and rescues the remaining hostages. The episode focuses on Admiral William Adama's relationship with Sharon as he weighs the gunmen's demands. It also presents the gunmen's motives and raises questions about whether there is merit to their point of view. According to executive producer Ronald D. Moore, Billy was killed to release actor Paul Campbell to do other projects. Campbell said in an interview that it was because he was unwilling to sign a five-year contract for the series. In early drafts of the episode, Colonel Saul Tigh clashed with Adama over his handling of the crisis, but in the final version episode the two of them and President Laura Roslin all agree that they cannot bow to the demands of a group they call terrorists. Critical reaction to "Sacrifice" was lukewarm. Moore discussed his own disappointment with several aspects of the episode in his podcast commentary on the episode.