Friday, April 04, 2008

Battlestar Galactica, "He That Believeth In Me": Dead, Canadian or Cylon?

Spoilers for the fourth (and kinda sorta final) season of "Battlestar Galactica" coming up just as soon as I try for an extra-close shave...

A friend of mine who also got to see this one in advance complained to me that very little happened to advance the developments from the last 15 minutes or so of season three. We don't have any further details about the origins of the Final Four (or the identity of the Final Fifth), nothing significant on the nature of Starbuck's survival, etc.

And I see what she's saying, to an extent. Very little in "He That Believeth In Me" moved the stories forward, save maybe us getting more details about the religious cult that rescued Baltar from the angry mob. But my friend's complaint reminded me of some of the few negative comments I heard about this season's "Lost" premiere, from people who felt that it spent an hour reiterating things we had learned in the last five minutes of the previous season. My retort, then as now, is that sometimes plot has to take a backseat to character. If we don't care about the people involved in these crazy stories and how they're responding to the events as they unfold, how can we care about the events themselves? The "Lost" premiere was about the emotional response to the mind-blowing revelations of the previous cliffhanger, and that's primarily what "He That Believeth In Me" has on its agenda.

No, we're not any closer to understanding exactly how Saul Mother-Frakking Tigh is a Cylon, how Starbuck survived the explosion of her Viper (or if she even survived at all), but we got to see more of the characters reacting to these two stunning developments. And given this superb cast, and the fact that it was our first visit with these characters in a little more than a year -- not counting the flashback events of "Razor" -- I'm more than happy with that. A lot of very heavy knowledge was dropped on us and the characters at the end of "Crossroads," and it's not the sort of thing that can be just taken as fact while we move straight into the plot. Finding out you're a Cylon sleeper agent, or that you've been presumed dead for the last two months and are currently suspected of being a Cylon, takes some getting used to, and I'm glad we're not glossing over that.

This is the last season -- or the next to last season, depending on your view of semantics and how Sci Fi winds up scheduling these 20 episodes -- and I expect Ron Moore to answer every single question of import by the end of the run. I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of Tigh and Tyrol's true identities, of Kara's survival, of the identity of the last of the 12 Cylon models, the nature of the schism between the 7 and the 5, even the nature of the figment of the imagination versions of Six and Baltar.

I've got faith that all that information is coming, and therefore was able to groove on that mind-frak of a pre-credits sequence (the craziest space battle they've ever given us), or Baltar again using a mixture of Chip Six hallucinations and religious rhetoric to get laid, or Kara calmly telling Anders that she would put a bullet between his eyes if she found out he was a Cylon, or all the other wonderful character moments in this hour.

And there were little clues here and there for us to spend the next week picking over, including:
  • If the Cylons -- or, at least, the advanced skinjob models like Number Six -- are programmed not to even think about the Final Five, who programmed them that way? And what kind of residual programming was left so that a simple scan of Anders' eye would cause the Cylon fleet to retreat, instantly?
  • Even if Kara herself somehow bailed out of her Viper before the explosion (which I doubt, since as I recall, the canopy looked intact from Lee's point of view), where did the shiny new perfect duplicate Viper come from?
  • Caprica Six tells Laura that "The Five are close. I can feel them." I'm sure everyone has been assuming that the last of the 12 was a character we've already met, and this should clinch that. So who? It almost seems too obvious to be Starbuck.
  • Near the end of "Razor," the Hybrid told Kendra Shaw that "Kara Thrace will lead the human race to its end, she is the herald of the apocalypse, the harbinger of death; they must not follow her." If he was telling the truth -- and we know so little of him and his motives that I have no idea about his honesty level -- then Laura is absolutely right to lock up Kara and jump the fleet away from Kara's directions. But, again, why should we assume the Hybrid was telling the truth? Maybe Lee was right, and Kara was the next signpost they were supposed to find.
  • Whether the "Galactica" universe has one true deity or a pantheon, why have the heavens been so kind to Baltar? Again, he's the recipient of divine intervention, both with the healing of little Derek and his improbable survival in that bathroom ambush, and again Chip Six seems to know what's going to happen before it does.
  • And, not that it comes up here, but I feel like reiterating some of my Final Four questions from the end of last season: Given how long Adama and Tigh have known each other, and that Tigh fought in the first Cylon War, does that mean that skinjobs can age? That Tigh and the others actually replaced human versions of themselves? And what are the odds that four of the Final Five Cylon models would survive not only the initial genocide, but all the later skirmishes, and Sam's time on the wasteland of old Caprica, and the insurgency on New Caprica (where these four, along with Laura, were, coincidentally or not, the leaders of the resistance)? Could there, in fact, be many copies of these four as well? Is there some guy on one of the ore processing ships in the ragtag fleet who's constantly being told he looks like that famous Pyramid player Sam Anders? Does Tigh have a long-haired, peace-loving doppleganger out there who's like the Oscar Bluth to his George?
Lots to chew on, but I'm so glad to have these folks back. What did everybody else think?

40 comments:

Mrglass said...

I really liked this episode. But no need to compare it to Lost, because BSG is so much better. When Lost has become irrelevant and repetitive, BSG only seems to get better. That is the upside of low ratings, the story is not delayed endlessly, and it looks like four seasons was the perfect length to tell this story.

(If only Sci-Fi erratic schedule didn't translate those four seasons in 6-7 years)

My only complaint is that after such a long hiatus, it didn't feel right to end the episode with a cliffhanger. I would rather have two episodes for the first night, with a little more explanation on the season 3 revelations. Especially after the disappointing Razor.

But well, it is very good news to see Galactica start the last arc so strong, and it really is the best drama on the air at the moment.

Tucker Stone said...

I loved it--i'm one of the (i assume) lucky viewers who hadn't seen Crossroads until last night, so I was still reeling from the surprise. And I totally agree with what you said about it being a character building ep--which is exactly what I wanted. The whole reason Crossroads worked so well for me was because I'd had the time to watch those characters develop in the smaller, emotional moments. (Excepting Tory, who still strikes me as having no discernible personality.) This was my first time even tuning into the SciFi channel, and while I didn't enjoy dealing with the commercials, i'm looking forward to watching the show with you and your always intelligent commenters. (I was a huge Wire via Sepinwall fan.)

Anonymous said...

I really really liked that they showed everyone going through the normal thought processes about all that's happened. To continue the Lost comparison you started, in that universe too much is taken for granted and moved on. But here in BSG, they're like, "WTF?"

I thought it was a great episode although the to be continued kind of pissed me off. I'm fine with character fine tuning after the big revelations, but would it hurt to have 2 episodes on the season premiere?

Oh and if everything else about this show sucked, we'd at least have James Callis as Gaius Baltar. That man is an incredible actor and that character is so amazing. Luckily, we have that and the rest of the show is amazing.

I used to be a truly devoted Lost fan but after re-watching BSG these past couple of weeks and listening to Ron Moore's podcasts, I not only think I have a favorite new TV show, but I have a creative man-crush in Ron Moore. Damn if that guy just doesn't seem to be the coolest most down to earth guy writing in television this side of Lindelof and Cuse. Heck, he even admits mistakes unlike Darlton.

Unknown said...

One of the BSG jokes between me and a friend whenever something in the show doesn't make sense (including the revelation of the four Cylons) is an eye-rolling "Oh, that's right: They have a plan!" We know (via various things from Moore and Eick themselves) that they didn't plan who the final Cylons would be until relatively recently; it's not like they had this in mind from Day One. Which is fine... but it just means that I'm likely not going to put too too much effort in making all the details fit together. (Just enjoying the ride!)

Having said that, I've got a great idea for the Final Fifth: Laura Roslin. After finally giving in to the simmering sexual tension between her and Adama, they end up hitting the sheets. As they're (tastefully, of course) cavorting about, they roll over so Laura's on top... and all of a sudden, her spine glows red!

I'm sure there are a million reasons why Roslin can't be a Cylon (just like Tigh, so whatever), but that would be a heckuva reveal.

Anonymous said...

Alan, a few comments on your questions --

-I don't think we're supposed to think of the final five as just another bunch of skinjobs. So it could well be that the skinjobs don't age (which makes sense, since they seem to "download" into bodies of the same age as the version that was killed, and all coexisting copies of each version seem to be the same age), but that the final five are more like regular humans in that respect.

-On the Kendra/hybrid interaction, I'm inclined to think that the hybrid is right, but only in a manner of speaking: Kara will lead the show's humans to some sort of rapproachment with the Cylons, which will lead them to form, together, a new race of humans. (I happen to believe that those will be "us," but that's not essential to the theory.) So, in one sense humanity -- as they know it -- will end on Kara's account, but only because it will give way to something new and maybe better. Hence "this has all happened before and it will happen again."

Just theories, of course...

-Russ

Anonymous said...

I didn't take it that it was a scan of Anders' eye, but that it was a scan of Anders' whole area and he responded to it automatically somehow, and what we saw of his eye was just an external indication. And the way he survived this might explain how he survived so long on New Caprica as well.

Watched the Crossroads two-parter before this, and I'd forgotten how COMPLETELY FRAKKING AMAZING this show is. There is more psychological realism in this show than pretty much any other drama on TV, and those other ones don't have spaceships and robots. More fool them.

Mrglass said...

Kara will lead the show's humans to some sort of rapproachment with the Cylons, which will lead them to form, together, a new race of humans. (I happen to believe that those will be "us," but that's not essential to the theory.)

I don't speculate a lot on BSG story, or try to find "clues" in the series about the "mysteries" of the show. I leave that sort of things to Lost fans, since so little ever happens in Lost compared to BSG.

Galactica episodes are enjoyable and the main plot is not entirely based on keeping the audience in the dark, except for the religious component (that I don't particularly like; and I sure hope the final episodes won't be a pure deus ex machina reconciliating humans and robots). The first mini-series didn't actually have any mysterious "questions", except for that Caprica 6 in Baltar's mind, it was just a grippling tale of survival.

But I will make two predictions: the Earth Galactica will find is in our (far) future, and that chain-smoking old doc is the last Cylon!

Mo Ryan said...

Does Tigh have a long-haired, peace-loving doppleganger out there who's like the Oscar Bluth to his George?

Now that is a motherfrakking funny idea.

Oh and if everything else about this show sucked, we'd at least have James Callis as Gaius Baltar.

Word. What I love about Callis/Baltar is that the character and actor provide so many fine comedic moments -- of course they're pitch-black comedy, which fits in with the nature of the show, but there's something so funny about him being faintly unimpressed with the low-rent cult he's been presented with but not being so noble that he refrains from getting it on with an acolyte. On that topic, I think one of my favorite lines of the entire series is when Baltar recounts Gaeta's attempt to kill him with a pen. When he says "Butterfingers!" it slays me every time.

Having said that, we not only have Callis - there's Michael Hogan too, who can convey more panic and nervous energy with one eye that most actors can convey with their entire bodies.

I'm with those who thought of this more or less being a re-introduction episode, but it absolutely needed to be that, I thought it was spot-on as such. We needed to get back into this world and back into the heads of these people, and that's what the episode did. But I also was thinking, if only Sci Fi had shown two eps tonight! I sorta felt the need for a double shot after a year away from the BSG universe. But all in all, I liked the episode and thought it was a very good scene-setter for the major madness that is sure to follow.

joshjs said...

I was pretty disappointed with this episode. I'm all about character development and I agree this show has wonderful characters and actors, but character development doesn't have to come at the expense of plot development.

That said, I do expect the season as a whole to work, so I'm not sweatin' it.

I'll really be very surprised if the final Cylon isn't either Baltar or Starbuck. And my money's on Baltar.

What other options are there, really? Roslin? Pheh. (I did smile at the Roslin scenario mentioned by a previous poster, but I just don't see it fitting the story.)

R.A. Porter said...

My massive crush on Kara Thrace, further enhanced by her little one-sided two-on-one skirmish on her way to Roslin. Man, she could kick my ass any day. :)

I had the same take as Russ did after seeing Razor, namely that leading the human race to its end would really just bring about the next stage, probably joining the Cylons and children of Kobol into a new race - us. So that's two of us independently coming to the same conclusion, for whatever that's worth.

When I saw Anders' eye turn red, I didn't think the raider had scanned him and determined he was a Cylon, I actually thought some buried recess in Anders' subconscious had delivered a command to the raiders to retreat. Maybe that's reading too much into the exchange, but it's how it looked to me.

I don't think there are any copies of these final four, and I don't care that it's ridiculously improbable that they would have survived and all come together because I just love this ride. Although... it's possible the final five are something totally different. Maybe "All Along the Watchtower" was a carrier wave that transmitted the consciousness of the final five (or four of them, anyway) to four humans who were either targeted, or were appropriately evolved. Then they weren't Cylons all along, but instead have ascended to become Cylon. That does solve the improbability issues.

tucker stone, just do what I do every time the cypher who is Tory comes on screen: think of Billy. The honor of being one of the final five would almost certainly have fallen on him if he hadn't left the show. Then lament the death of Billy (and curse Dualla, that beyatch for betraying him) and click your heels together three times and say "Nobody's Watching, Nobody's Watching, Nobody's Watching." Maybe we'll get something good out of it.

One last thought in my rambling. Something in our neck of the woods also looks similar to that mandala and the nebula: The Great Red Spot. Maybe it's a portal, or end of a wormhole. (Not the real one, just the BSG one.)

Anonymous said...

While I really liked this episode because it was the most realistic portrayal of what would happen in real life in the aftermath of the battle, I'll admit to nearly yelling "Frak" when the show ended with the (admittedly excellent) cliffhanger.

The only thing that truly bugged me about the episode was Adama and Lee's talk about Lee's future within the government. It spite of the setup with Lampkin and with Lee's speech during the trial, I still don't feel like we were shown enough of Lee thinking he needed a "change." Moreso than Tigh being a Cylon (I prefer to explain away his aging as a result of long-term alcohol abuse damaging even a Cylon's system), felt like the writers putting a character where they need him to be for story purposes rather than being a natural character progression. Nonetheless, I trust that ultimately I'll like where the writers go with this storyline.

I wish it was next Friday already.

Anna said...

The writers always make such a point in their scripts to say that if you're a cylon, then you've always been a cylon, that I think we just have to believe that. There was never a human being named Saul Tigh or Sam Anders who was killed and replaced by a cylon version like the real Francie was replaced by an evil clone on Alias. They have always been cylons as long as their names have existed.

And what's more is that we know that the final five have a connection to the Temple of Five, which was built four thousand years ago. So it's not even crazy that Tigh has existed for forty years... what's crazy is that it seems like he and the rest of them have existed for four thousand.

And maybe the reason the final five have survived up to now is because God is protecting them, much like he is apparently protecting Gaius.

Also, I think Roslin has a good chance of being the final cylon. But at the same time I think she might be too obvious.

Anna said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

One last thought in my rambling. Something in our neck of the woods also looks similar to that mandala and the nebula: The Great Red Spot. Maybe it's a portal, or end of a wormhole. (Not the real one, just the BSG one.)

And although less obvious than Saturn, Jupiter is a gas giant with (small) rings -- just like Starbuck said.

Anonymous said...

I love Tigh, in his current Bender-like state, cursing himself.

Questions and a comment:

1) I forget...are both the Athena and Boomer versions of Grace Park's character on the Galactica now?
2) When Tigh pulls the gun out of his locker, is he saying "let's not be armed" or "let's plan on killing ourselves soon".
3) Who did D'Anna meet in her documentary episode that she offended? If anyone at all...

Lastly the comment, though Doc Cottle would be a great final Cylon, there's one character who's been peripherally involved in big events throughout the show's history: Callie. She killed Boomer (thus maybe allowing Boomer to resurrect back "home"), she married another Cylon, and her and Tyrol's baby would be then be the very first Cylon-Cylon baby - surely a huge development in this universe.

Thoughts?

Anna said...

siddhartha:

1) Boomer's on a basestar.

2) I didn't know what was going on at that part either. I was like, did they just all agree to kill themselves there? That was confusing.

3) I'd say she kind of offended everyone. But I assume you're trying to figure out which of the final five she apologized to. It could be Tigh because they ripped out his eye on New Caprica, or it could be Sam because she was about to kill him in "Downloaded." Or it could be whoever the fifth turns out to be.

And I actually think that the only two people who we can safely assume 100% are not cylons are Cally and Helo because they've had babies with cylons. I would be really pissed off if it's her too, because I love cylons and I HATE her, so I'd say she is definitely not worthy of being so cool.

Dirk Digler said...

OK...I'm not much of a religious guy, but are you all completely missing the Christian undertones here?

Let suppose a few elements:
-- Gauis Baltar is the Jesus figure
The trial, the doubts, the shuttling out after he said/did too much, the hair/beard, the robes, the laying on of hands, leading to the redemption (from one of the commercials "The Redeemed" I think it said about him (not sure on that one)...also his One True God announcement and the healing "miracle"...very non-traditional to show a Christ figure so flawed, sure, but look at the Scorsese/Kazantzakis Last Temptation of Christ for more clues

With that sre starting thesis, let's further analyze:

-- The 12 Cylons are the apostles
-- Earth is heaven?
-- Either Kara Thrace or 6 is the Mary Magdalene figure (and you can go to the Gnostics for this one)
-- So who is the 12th? Maybe Gaeta...Judas...the most hated (in the New Testament) and yet necessary apostle

Still working through this, but I think this is where they are going.

Unknown said...

Before Anders left, he said, "What if they flip a switch?" I thought that was exactly what happened. The Cylons attack the fleet, draw everyone out looking for one of The Four (or Anders specifically), and when they find him, they send the signal, Anders' eye goes red, and then all the Cylons leave.

Dirk Digler said...

Oh yeah, another random thought...don't treat this as a treatise please; Saul Tigh lost one eye to the hand of God just as Saul/Paul was blinded by God in the NT....so maybe Col. Tigh isn't an apostle at all (not one of the 12), but just disciple on which the new religion/civilization on Earth will be based. Which leaves room in the apostle roster for Lee to be the "Peter".

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed this episode, agree that after 'crossroads' an episode allowing the characters to catch their breath and get their heads around everything is probably neccessary. loved the space battle. liked that the writers didn't tip their hand by having helo weigh in one way or the other re: starbuck. bought baltar's epiphany also. first time watching this show as it airs (like alan i was very skeptical, i'm not generally a scifi fan and my first instinct when i heard they were doing it was 'why in god's name would you remake that?'; now i'm a huge fan.

Doug S said...

I hope those of you who love bashing Lost, which to me is an infinitely more interesting show than BSG, will enjoy Kara's Michael-ish wailings of "We're going the wrong waaaaaaay" for the next several weeks, at least. Enjoy as well the dozens of surreptitious looks to be exchanged by the final four-of-five as they conveniently find themselves together amongst non-cylons who talk about cylons and what they'd like to do if a cylon was there.

Great battle scene though.

Anonymous said...

I get the feeling that these 4 (and/or the 5th unknown one) Cylons are different and whatever or whoever activated them has adifferent agenda than the Cylons we know. In fact it would seem, given the circumstances that this power is on the side of humanity rather than working against it like the other Cylons.

Also, just as an aside, I stick by my prediction (since I first a started watching the) that we will find that Earth is the decendents of Cylons and not humans.

Nicole said...

Gaius definitely had the Jesus look for the first half of the show and I think the 12 Apostle mythology will come into play at some point. Even the promo shots seem to play on that theme, although not all twelve Cylons are in the photo.

I too thought that it was Anders subconsciously giving a command to the Cylons to leave.. the 4 are still getting used to being Cylons and may not be aware of everything they can do.

As for the questions about Tigh's Cylonicity, I trust that Ron Moore will create a backstory that will make sense. He's dealt with sci-fi fans before in Trek and I just can't see him making Tigh a Cylon without having thought it through a little bit. I really want to see an "Oscar" Tigh.

There should have been two hours because there was so much more to tell.

Anonymous said...

I thought this was a great episode. It effectively set the stage for the rest of the season while giving us a taste of the radical implications of last season's reveal.

Here is my hypothesis about Anders being scanned by the Raider (for what its worth): we learnt from the first season that Raiders are organic and sentient, but not self reflective. As Boomer indicated, they are sort of like a dog or a horse.

It makes sense therefore that a Raider might have some intuitive feeling about the presence one of the lost Cylons in a way that a more analytical skin job might not.

My guess is that after the Raider detected the Anders, it reported back to the fleet that at least one of the original five was on the human fleet. To prevent themselves from accidentally killing the lost Cylon, the skin jobs called off the attack.

legion said...

Chris w. said: I really really liked that they showed everyone going through the normal thought processes about all that's happened. To continue the Lost comparison you started, in that universe too much is taken for granted and moved on. But here in BSG, they're like, "WTF?"

Completely! As Kara was sitting in the hall pontificating on all the things she might be, my mind jumped briefly to Lost. Where, after a season or two, they might have Hurley wonder out loud "so, what about that smoke monster, eh?" Well, I like both shows, but BSG certainly has the quicker pace.

It was a great show, and there was a bit more plot that jumped out on my after a second viewing. But on the whole, I'm confident that the season will rock. It was a veyr strong beginning, well done team Galactica!

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed the ep, and think the tension between Starbuck and Roslin is good. For a while I've wondered if Starbuck could be a human/cylon hybrid; I think there was something odd about her soldier mother and absent father. What if she's JOhn the Baptist to Hera's messiah--or is it Baltar. He would be a smashing false prophet.

If they find future earth, does that mean the four channeled the ghost of Dylan; if Earth is the descendents of Cylons and humans, does that mean the Dylan channeled the Cylons? Did anyone else notice the dismissal of the song, with only a few sitar-y twangs to refer to it?

R.A. Porter said...

girl detective: "...Watchtower" certainly was less prevalent in this episode, but I'm not sure we won't hear strains of it again throughout the season. Then again, if my spitballed argument above was right, maybe we really never will hear it again. Hard telling.

If you want to have an in-depth look at the score and various character themes in play during this episode, check out Bear McCreary's blog where he goes into great detail about the choices he made for this episode. Bear promises to be going into great detail all season, so I'm pretty excited about that.

Especially note his thoughts on Baltar, Baltar's new theme, and the lyrics of that theme.

JakesAlterEgo said...

I think we're attaching too much importance to the scan of Anders. Or, I think we're just assuming that because we just saw it happen.

The Raiders scan a lot. We've seen them scan a lot. Sometimes, it cripples ships--like in the initial assault on the 12 colonies--but what if they've always been searching for the Final 5? What if it's some sort of WWII-like call and response, like Thunder and Flash. What if Anders' eye flashing is exactly what should have happened when a Cylon scanned one of the Final Five?

And if that's true, does it really matter?

Rand said...

Since we've got some clear time manipulation here, I'm going to guess that this whole thing will end up a closed loop. The final four or the fifth I think will end up somehow sparking the creation of the Cylons and I'm guessing that when they get to Earth they'll spark its destruction leading to an exodus that becomes the original twelve tribes. Or otherwise somehow a closed loop, especially given what was said in Razor, which I always tend to find disappointing since it is really cheating.

My guess for the fifth: Lee or maybe his brother Zach (somehow, just throwing that out there). He's the only one left in the main cast who's still in motion identity-wise.

K J Gillenwater said...

I am one that absolutely LOVED this season opener. I think we got a lot of information here, just not the info some were hoping for.

I found Kara's return especially intriguing. She's been gone for months when she thinks it's only been hours. She can't exactly remember how she got to Earth or how she got back. I really don't know what to think of the shiny new raider. Some kind of weird time-travel stuff?

I always go back to the line about everything has happened before and will happen again. Does this have something to do with the final five? Does it have something to do with the future on Earth?

I don't believe it is a future Earth that they are headed towards. If that were the case, wouldn't Kara have notice satellites around the planet itself? Lights? Something beyond just a planet out in space? I think it is most definitely pre-civilized Earth. Pre-man earth.

And I agree, I do think the warning about it being the end of the human race means that future earthlings will be cylon-human combos. However, this would also likely mean that all humans and all cylons will be destroyed, leaving only the combos alive. I think the final five are combos. I'm leaning toward Kara being the last one...but if not her, it will be another woman. They seem to be pretty even-handed about major roles going to both male and female characters.

I'm *so* looking forward to this reast of this season!

Antid Oto said...

I love BSG, but one small thing has irritated me ever since the beginning of the show: Tricia Helfer's veneers are so huge she can't even open her mouth to talk. Drives me batty.

Anonymous said...

Just once I would like to read a review and comments section of a scifi TV without comparisons to Lost.

Anonymous said...

I think little baby Derek is the last cylon. He recovered just when it was an opportune moment to help Baltar. All part of the secret cylon plan. (And when he grows up he'll look like a character we recognize.)

SJ said...

Someone over at TVsquad.com posted a very compelling theory as to why it could be Doc Coddle.

First, Athena, 6 and Roslyn all shared the vision when they were "near" Coddle. Maybe he is the "God" cylon?

But here's the interesting part:

"I just realized that, when you look at who the final five are in terms of their position within Galactica, you could narrow the possibilities down:

Tory Foster: Government
Anders: Combat
Tigh: Command
Tyrol: Engineering

They're all in quite different places within the operations of Galactica. Think of it sorta like the larger roles within the Enterprise. So, if they were "switched on" like sleeper agents, they're all deep within their respective areas within the Galactica. With that logic in mind, what's one key area of Galactica operations that's NOT covered? Medical. Yep, that gives credence to the Doc Cottle theory and suddenly makes a lot more sense. Switch all of those Cylons on and they can tear the ship apart from their respective roles within the ship's operations.

Thing of this, though -- what are the odds that all five Cylons were drawn together to the Galactica? What made Galactica so special? Were they purposely spared all along because of the sleeper agents on board?"

Anonymous said...

I guess one of the unfortunate consequences of Lost is that we will go for years having to take this silly discussions about a show's pace.

Anonymous said...

Not sure if there are any BSG viewers here who also watched "Babylon 5", but in case there are...Was anyone else reminded of Sinclair at the Battle of the Line when Anders was being scanned? Single ship, in the middle of an awesome battle, facing an enemy ship, which is not firing on it...time slows down, practically stops...the enemy detects something in one individual that immediately causes it to completely withdraw from a fight where they were about to triumph overwhelmingly...humans left wondering WTF happened, and why are we still alive?

R.A. Porter said...

anon: That's not exactly how the Battle of the Line played out. Sinclair was trying to ram a Star Cruiser with his fighter when he was then brought aboard. After it was determined he had a Minbari soul, they released him and surrendered.

Seeing how that all played out, I'm not sure it would have mattered *who* had been brought aboard the Star Cruiser; whomever it had been would have someday become Valen.

Anonymous said...

Loved this episode -- thought it was a great season premiere. Like everyone else, I've been trying to figure out the identity of the last cylon. Lee would be a good choice since he is drawn to (obsessed with?) Starbuck like Sam and Leoben. Of course, I wouldn't mind if we found out that there was another copy of Kendra Shaw on one of the other ships...
Darren

Anonymous said...

the Hybrid told Kendra Shaw that "Kara Thrace will lead the human race to its end, she is the herald of the apocalypse, the harbinger of death; they must not follow her."

Kara will lead the human race to its end--Earth! She is the herald of the apocalypse for the Cylons, the Cylons harbinger of death.

Anonymous said...

the Hybrid told Kendra Shaw that "Kara Thrace will lead the human race to its end, she is the herald of the apocalypse, the harbinger of death; they must not follow her."

Kara will lead the human race to its end--Earth! She is the herald of the apocalypse for the Cylons, the Cylons harbinger of death.