The setup is 6 people in a small room (a Raptor). All the action is taking place within the confines of a raptor flight, it was supposed to be a 15 minute flight to the Zephyr but instead became a lost crew not knowing how to find the fleet. The mystery is.. how did the Raptor mis-jump, and was it an accident or did someone do it accidentally.
The beginning setup is that Gaeta is "seeing ghosts on the Dradus" and that Col. Tigh is telling him to take a rest on the Zephyr. Along the way he meets up with a buddy who provides some pilfered Morhpa and then they kiss as they part. Ah, Gaeta is gay? Not a big surprise really.. but wait there's more.
During the flight there is an appearance on Dradus of Cylons. From the bits it's clear this is immediately after the last episode which was seen, three days after they left the devastated Earth. It isn't said why but for whatever reason having found Earth they decided to leave. The devastated condition would be one reason to leave, maybe, but also there's mention of Cabal's Fleet meaning they are likely on the run from Cabal and the Cylon Civil War subtheme is continuing.
Because the Cylons appear the fleet makes an emergency jump and that's when the Raptor misjumps.
Next bit of intrigue is "Sweet 8's" behavior towards Gaeta. Sweet 8 says to Gaeta "do you remember me" as if they have a special connection. This plays out with flashbacks to the New Caprica occupation period. They, Gaeta and an 8, are conspiratorially making lists of people with the 8 proclaiming difficulties with rescuing people from Cylon detention. They're also acting very friendly (intimate) and in one scene Gaeta is sleeping naked on a bunk..while.. the 8 is handing the list to another 8 and telling the other to kill everybody on the list. Uh..
Presumably this connection between Gaeta and this 8 is the source of the information Gaeta had in turn been funneling to the resistance. But this scene makes it appear Gaeta was being played for some purpose of this specific 8.
One piece to this is Sweet 8's expectation she will be treated badly from humans and be rejected by them because she is a Cylon. Of course the treatment she gets from the humans play into this feeling, such as when Brooks dies they immediately jump to the conclusion that the 8 did it. But the fact that she did do it (revealed toward the end) is a curious thing that's sort of a self fulfilling prophecy.
Gaeta and Sweet 8 had become close enough that she explained to him the projection process. Hm.
What the Frak? Ezra & Finn dead with their throats sliced? And what's that evil grin from Sweet 8? "I picked you over my own kind, over my own model" and "I protected you from something you never could have done but you were thinking all along". These are some of the core statements in webisode 8 which lays the ground for why sweet 8 did the deeds.
Then in webisode 9 it's explained further, tying it to Gaeta's attempt to kill Baltar during the interrogations in season 3. Let's return back to that episode. Gaeta thought he could question Baltar and get some information, but it turned into a discussion between Baltar and Gaeta over who is the worst traitor. It wasn't really explained at that time because Gaeta was too quick to stab Baltar with his pen, however Baltar implied that Gaeta had some implication in the deaths of humans during the occupation.
Gaeta had been presented as the source of intelligence funneled to the resistance, and therefore was a war hero. But we see now a different side, that he was in cahoots with sweet 8 and that liaison resulted in the deaths of civilians. And there is a question of denial, which isn't just a river in egypt but is a behavior pattern in humans to not see things the individual refuses to see. And now Gaeta kills sweet 8 because she's implicating him in culpability in the deaths of humans, just as Gaeta also tried to kill Baltar for the same implication.
Then, the rescue raptor finds them. The only one left alive is Gaeta, with a compartment full of dead people and Gaeta in possession of a large quantity of Morhpa. Hurm.. Somehow this is brushed over because, as Tigh explains, the old man has a soft spot for Gaeta. But clearly Gaeta is intent on taking on the way things are seemingly because he believes there is danger to the humans from cooperation with the dissident Cylons.
Gaeta: There shouldn't be an alliance, Tigh: Cylon Technology is what's going to keep this fleet moving Mr. Gaeta
This is a twisted situation, that's for sure. Is sweet 8 another renegade 8? Or is the division among the cylons deeper than there simply being two factions: Pro-human-cooperation & Kill-the-humans?
The history of the current situation is -- Two cylons (Caprica 6 & Boomer) had realized the violence the cylons committed was itself a sin -- they convinced the rest of the cylons to break off the war intent on destroying all of humanity -- the cylons then found New Caprica, and performed the occupation of New Caprica supposedly under the theory of finding a way to cooperation between Human and Cylon -- events progressed towards a split in the Cylons with three models joining together with Brother Cabal's fleet, the others joining together with the Humans -- they find Earth -- They find that Earth has been devastated -- Currently the humans and some Cylons are in the lam from Brother Cabal's fleet.
Since one of the 8's joined with Cabal, what if there is further division amongst the various Cylon models? That is, do all the 6's agree with each other? That would be very human for each individual to be making their own decisions and for there to be a great deal of disharmony among the Cylons.
Entering into the beginning of this retelling of Battlestar Galactica the Cylons were presented as a kind of hive mind, or borg, where there are individual bodies but they have some kind of joint communication with each other and they are all in unified agreement with each other.
Over the course of telling the story the divisions of individualness have been stronger amongst individual Cylons. This is of course a human trait, for individuals to have their own minds and opinions. By taking on human bodies have the Cylons become human?