I guess "Flight of the Blackbird" didn't sound quite as catchy....
While I did find it enjoyable, I was also a tad disappointed (perhaps overhyped by an awesome pilotlove tease of a picture and hearing the premise). It felt... clichéd. I grew up watching the Star Trek formula of problem, resolution, reset where everything is hunky dory and back to normal at the end of the episode. BSG always felt different, somehow. The plot and the characters seemed to get deeper and deeper into trouble every week -- it felt progressive, rather that cyclical. This episode was different and I can't put my finger on why. In "Hand of God," which is a similar episode in many ways, there was a sense of peril and tension because you didn't know if they were going to succeed. I didn't get that here -- there wasn't a sense of desperation, of struggle, or of overcoming impossible odds. I knew Lee, Kara, and Hot Dog would survive. I knew Adama would eventually trust Boomer, and that they would succeed in foiling the Cylons. From a show that's had the balls to kill off a lot of characters and that's made me fear for them on a regular basis, that's surprising to me and I don't like it. I liked it when everything they did or tried just created new problems. It's one of my favorite things about the show, because it's smart writing. I realize that's easier to do with a 13-episode arc than a 20-episode one, but still. This should not have been a stand alone episode.
Does Adama know about Laura's terminal cancer? It seems likely the answer is yes, since she announced it to the Quorum in Tigh's presence, but damn. That's a scene I would have absolutely killed to see. From the subtext between them it seems like he does, but I kept waiting in vain for him to say something or confront her.
How much did I love the (thankfully subtle) parallel between the Cylon virus and the Prez's cancer in the scene between her and Adama, omg? The look on her face as Adama was describing what it could do to the ship was miraculous. I love Mary McDonnell.
...And as much as I do, I still cringed at her monologue at the end. They must have used up their subtlety quota in the scene I just mentioned, because sigh. Yes, building the Blackbird gave them purpose. We get it. Thanks. Now can someone pull that anvil out of my television?
...And speaking of the Blackbird, that's a plotline that should absolutely have been stretched over several episodes, like with the Cylon Raider. It would have felt more natural and had more punch when they finally succeeded. It also seems odd given that the 'A' plot with the Cylon virus is supposed to be very compressed but it should have taken them longer to build the Blackbird.
All that being said, BSG still kicks the collective ass of most of TV, and there was lots to like: the pilotlove rolling around on the floor, Boomer's nifty trick, tensions running high on the ship and everyone finally starting to snap, some fallout for Helo, the fistfights, the interaction between a Six-less Baltar, Gaeta, and Tigh, cool Cylon ships and explosions, and of course the awesomeness that is Mary McDonnell.