By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
In Battlestar GalacticaThere was perhaps no more surprising relationship than that between Apollo and Dualla (better known simply under the name of “Dee”). At first, the show implied that Apollo and Starbuck were intended for each other, which made him even more surprising when Apollo and Dee were married. Fans have often wondered how these characters met in the first place, and this follows mainly from showrunner Ronald D. Moore being impressed by the dynamics of the characters in the episode of season 2 “Resistance”.
Now, Apollo and Dee do not have many interactions in this episode … They speak a little earlier in the episode while he is imprisoned in the Brick, and she helps him later, he and President Roslin, escapes from the guard. For the occasional spectator, there are not many clues here that these two characters are probably together. However, the writers included a little moment when Dee looks at Apollo when he comes out of a scene, which was to refer to the future romantic developments between these two characters.
Of course, Battlestar Galactica is sadly famous for alluding to things that do not happen … Heck, Moore admitted later that even the famous “they have a plan” of the opening credits of the series was a lie because he was doing a lot of that as he followed. Why, then, did this brief non-verbal interaction between Apollo and Dee led the two characters to get married later? In a later podcast commentary, the showrunner said he just liked to see their dynamics in “resistance” and wanted to develop their relationship more.
What developed was interesting, but he remained one of the most confused romantic relationships of the whole show. They go to an appointment in “Sacrifice”, and she later visited Apollo in Sickbay where he recoveries a friendly fire with the kind authorization of Starbuck. Speaking of this, Starbuck has an crushed expression on her face when she sees Apollo and Dee in the Sickbay, which strongly implies that she was hot for him and was sad to see him with another woman.
At the beginning, Apollo and Dee try to keep their relationship discreet, but he is anything but discreet when he deceives Dee by having sex with Starbuck. The next day, Starbuck runs away with Anders, making it propose that Apollo in Dee. They get married, but that does not prevent Apollo and Starbuck have a later deal.
Strangely enough, it is not the affairs that these two break up … Instead, Dee separates from Apollo after defending Gaius Baltar when the crazy scientist is tried for crimes against humanity. They separate but maintain a happy relationship, the one who made us ask us if each of them would find love. This has never happened for Dee, however, who committed suicide in a shocking way after finding the planet Earth nothing other than a ball of devastated dust.
The death of Dee, like his relationship with Apollo, seemed to come out of nowhere, leaving the fans to debate why these two characters met in the first place. Interestingly, the whole relationship comes from the Ronald D. Moore Showrunner who loves their atmosphere in “resistance”. It turns out that Moore himself is a bit like the cylons after all … He may have always had a plan for these characters, but he has created an entire sprawling story based solely on their chemistry in a single episode.
