Time Immortal

Spoiler Warning: this entire article is pretty much one big act of musing about the direction the series is going to go in the second half of its fourth and final season, which is set to begin airing episodes on January 16th. As such, pretty much everything I’m about to write should be considered to be a potential spoiler.

You’ve been warned, good Reader. If spoilers aren’t your bag, it’s best to skip to the next article and be done with it.

As I noted previously, series creator Ron Moore has said that he is committed to telling a story from within the framework of naturalistic science fiction, which means that the show more or less conforms to the scientific realities that we, the viewers, should know and be familiar with (apart from a set of core assumptions concerning Macguffin-esque technology that is necessary to drive the plot forward).

In other words: jump drives and artificial gravity are in. Aliens, transporters, replicators, phasers, and all the rest are out.

Because the show is built around a naturalistic sci-fi framework, its purpose won’t be to tell an “origins story” — the Colonial fleet will not be the “latest new Ark,” and its people will not be the “latest new Adam and Eve.” The emergence of humanity as a product of millions of years of evolution is reasonably well-documented, and it would defy Ron Moore’s stated commitment to that naturalistic framework were he to suddenly pull back the curtain and reveal, say, William Adama and Laura Roslin, or Lee Adama and Starbuck, to be the real Adam and Eve.

If anything, I think it will be revealed that humanity initially came from Earth and that BSG is set many thousands of years in the future. I think it will be revealed that at some point, pace Firefly, humanity fled Earth and found Kobol, and that centuries or millennia later they were forced to flee Kobol as well. I’m not sure if, or how, the Lords of Kobol will play into the story as the season progresses, and whether or not any revelations will be made about who, exactly, these beings were (if indeed they existed).

The arrival at Earth, then, will not be a discovery so much as it will be a return.

In the main, looking again at the above-linked reflection some months after having written it, and especially in light of the last episode of BSG that aired (in which what was apparently Earth was discovered), it seems that my basic assumptions were correct. What’s been interesting to observe, as the series has progressed, is that as the Colonial fleet has drawn steadily closer to Earth and discovered artifacts of either their ancestors or the Thirteenth Tribe, the age of those artifacts has been steadily increasing. The ruins on Kobol were about 2,000 years old. The beacon found in the nebula was about 3,000 years old. The Temple of Five, on the algae planet, was about 4,000 years old.

This suggests one of two things: it could, on one hand, be taken as tacit confirmation of the fact that humans originated on Earth, and subsequently took to the stars…or it could be confirmation of the fact that the Thirteenth Tribe left Kobol well in advance of the other tribes, went to Earth, and then voyaged back to Kobol at some later point in time.

This latter theory would, at least, explain why the Pythian scrolls that are so often quoted in the series would seem to chronicle a journey to Earth. At the same time, this theory is contradicted by the fact that in at least one episode, it is suggested that all thirteen tribes departed Kobol at roughly the same time. On the other hand, it is supported by the observation that the Zodiac signs that represent (and give name to) the Twelve Colonies are all constellations which are visible from Earth. Then again, that could just as easily be indicative of the fact that humanity originated on Earth, and that even though Earth itself became myth as the centuries rolled on, aspects of that history were nevertheless preserved.

I find, more and more, that I’m tending toward the theory that the Pythian prophecy speaks of a cyclical history that has now fulfilled its event arc three times: human habitation of Earth ended in catastrophe, so humanity fled to Kobol. That colonization in turn ended in catastrophe, so humanity fled in turn to the Twelve Colonies. Now those colonies have ended in catastrophe, and humanity has once again fled to the stars. But rather than flee to someplace new, they are fleeing to someplace old: Earth, much as the Thirteenth Tribe fled to Earth after the Exodus from Kobol.

And I think — still think, really — that BSG is shaping up to be an “eschatological myth” for our times. It’s not a story about humanity’s beginning, but about humanity’s end. The cyclical nature of history has been a recurring theme in the show; I think, before the end of the show, the cycle will be broken, and history “as it is known” will come to an end — and then, quite possibly a fiery, sudden end. The show is not so much a re-working of the Book of Genesis as it is a re-working of the Book of Revelation.

To my thinking, this theory was given strong support indeed by the last episode to air, Revelations, which dealt with the theme of breaking out of history’s brutal cycle. But now the question becomes: if history is indeed cyclical, within the framework of the show, then what does breaking the cycle mean? Does it perhaps signal the end of history.

Consider, for example, Edward James Olmos comments concerning the end of the series:

Edward James Olmos has said that audiences will not be prepared for the upcoming finale of Battlestar Galactica, in a panel at London’s MCM Expo and an exclusive interview with SciFiNow.

“It’s not a happy ending, we end up with almost nothing,” the 61-year-old actor told journalists from the magazine over the weekend,

Meanwhile, rumours swirl that the show’s finalé will feature a full-scale conflict and “gigantic, never before seen effects.” Coupled with Jamie Bamber’s revelation that the last scenes he shot for the series invovled Lee Adama “running around ’shooting at stuff’ with extras,” this suggests that massive battles and destruction may be the order of the day for the closing moments of the show. Numerous other hints of just such a battle have also emerged.

The series finalé seems to be shaping up to also incorporate a number of flashback-type sequences. In particular, several scenes featuring Laura Roslin were shot at Simon Fraser University’s Academic Quadrangle, which was used as the backdrop for the “Riverwalk” district in Caprica City earlier on in the series.

And then there’s Tahmoh Penikett’s statement to consider:

Everybody dies. We have a dark ending…Obviously you know, those last couple of episodes, they’re going to blow your mind. They are going to go down in history as the best television ever done.

Flashbacks, dark endings, and people left with almost nothing…yet at the same time, a satisfying, organic ending which signs everything off really well? That sort of mixture of hardship and hope is the same sort that would seem to accompany eschatological tales of virtually every sort, including (and perhaps especially) Christian eschatology. Great suffering, followed by hope and the promise of a future beyond all imagining, a future beyond the brutal confines of history and sin.

Update: One potential wrinkle in all of this could be if Ron Moore takes the story in a different cyclical direction, escaping humans and Cylons from their cycle of violence and exodus only to reveal that they represent a kind of evolutionary cycle in terms of species development. There are scattered rumours emerging that Cylon remains will be found on Earth, suggesting that the extant humans of the BSG universe are, in fact, descendants of the Cylons that the original people of Earth, or possibly Kobol, developed.

This would also tie in to the plot threads surrounding Cylon reproduction that have swirled through the show’s four seasons.

TK writes in with a comment on my surprisingly prolific final Cylon theory (which, for the Reader who does not know, points to Karl Agathon — Helo, by callsign — as the final Cylon yet to be revealed on the television show Battlestar Galactica).

I’m finding myself somewhat in agreement with your hypothesis regarding Helo as a Cylon, well the numero uno cylon. I was watching The Farm the other day and I noticed when Starbuck had her vision (dream), that it was [Samuel Anders] and Helo who held her wrists while Anders said he wanted to have a baby with her. When it was all said and done, it turns out Anders is a Cylon, and they are interested in procreation. Why was it not Lee Adama holding Kara’s other hand??? He is her other love interest, so why shouldn’t he be there in opposition to Anders?? Your essay was well thought out and presented. I wish we did not have to wait until 2009 to see who the big kahuna Cylon is.

TK

TK raises a valuable point, one I had previously not considered — the vision in The Farm. I am going to have to re-watch that episode this weekend to refresh my memory as to the specific sequence, but if so, it could indeed be another valuable clue.

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Mind the spoilers!

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It is a pity that we have to wait until 2009 to find out who the last Cylon really is, but I don’t imagine that we’ll have to wait that long once the series starts back up again. The next episode, Sometimes A Great Notion, would have served as the series finalé had the WGA strike gone on too long. Since I can’t see Ron Moore leaving us hanging in such an eventuality, there’s a good probability that the opening episode of the second half of this final season of BSG may in fact see the last Cylon revealed.

Certainly, the trailer for the next episode implies this to be the case. And really, I can’t see the producers thinking it a wise choice to waste time — when there’s already going to be fan tension due to a delay — going back and re-shooting parts of the episode just to prolong the tension a bit more.

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You may resume reading now, O avoider of spoilers!

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At any rate: thanks, TK, for adding your own insight to this matter.

To which Kathy asks: Do I have to start watching this stupid show now?

To which I reply: Unless the very fact that the backdrop outside the few windows that appear is a starry one rather than a city will be a source of insurmountable frustration and disgust, I rather suspect the Furious One might just like Battlestar Galactica (the new version).

Get it on DVD — that way, you can always chapter-skip the more tedious parts of the Lee Adama/Starbuck “affair.”

Update: Welcome, TotalFark readers!

Well, Grace and I just watched the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica, Revelations, and I have to say that on the whole, I rather agree with Barb Nicolosi as far as the last few minutes of the show are concerned. The discovery of Earth (pictured below) is a delight, a moment of pure and unrestrained joy. It’s exceptionally well-filmed (or well-rendered, in the case of the effects), well-timed, and well-scored (in fact, the music is phenomenal)…so uplifting.

And then, three minutes later, the show leaves you with the feeling that you’ve been punched in the gut, as the show ends in “desolation and shock.” The transition between high and low is at once sudden and (impossibly) gradual, as Earth turns out to be not the “promised land” that everyone on the Colonial fleet — even the atheistic William Adama — thought it would prove to be. Instead of teeming with vibrant human life in the form of the Thirteenth Tribe, Earth is a burnt-out, irradiated wasteland.

What is more, the nuclear holocaust does not appear to be a recent one — this is not the handiwork of the Cylon faction headed by the Cavils (Number Ones). The series producers were very good about showing us a world in the immediate aftermath of a nuclear attack with the scenes set on post-apocalyptic Caprica; it was yellow, the atmosphere was murky, and it was obvious that fallout had polluted the atmosphere. By contrast, Earth is blue, its skies cloudy, but not in that “airborne dust” kind of way. Whatever the nature of the destruction that is evident in those final, gut-wrenching moments of the mid-season finale of BSG, it is not a recent destruction.

The episode as a whole is intense — some of the best television I’ve seen in a while, in fact. About halfway through the show, Grace remarked that there was a lot of interesting stuff happening, and indeed there was…the events of the show could easily have been spaced out into at least two, maybe three episodes. I suppose, taken in comparison to the relatively plodding pace of events so far this season, the argument could be made that Revelations feels rushed. But I observe that for myself, the only reason that the rest of the season feels rather plodding has to do with hindsight. I’ve had no problems with the pacing of the other episodes this season, either as rushed or as plodding, and I’ve no problems with the intense level of action and narrative that is in this mid-season cliffhanger.

The episode splits into roughly three acts: a first, longer act that deals with D’Anna’s attempts to liberate the Penultimate Four Cylons from the Fleet, a shorter second act that deals with the Colonials playing hardball right back, and a third act that deals with Earth both as a legitimate destination that is finally within reach, and as a larger, unifying principle. Spread throughout each act are the seeds of an idea that Kara Thrace explicitly states during the bridge between second act and the third: something or someone beyond human comprehension is orchestrating events.

What’s more, her reasoning is edifying. It’s rare when I actually applaud (inwardly, at least) something theological said on a television show these days — most of the entertainment industry, it seems, has no clue about how serious, intelligent religious people actually think. But there went Starbuck with her analysis of events, and it really was spot-on. With a dubious Lee Adama, sarcastically dismissing the notion that a “higher power” might be at work in events, Starbuck replies with conviction and clarity, and makes her case well:

Kara: Gaeta’s confirmed it. The channel is empty except for this Viper. [pause] It’s gotta be a signal from Earth.

Lee: You’re reaching, Kara.

Kara: C’mon Lee, add it up. [Lee gets out of the Viper] I vanished into a storm, ride this Viper to Earth. Coming back, I get a vision that leads me to the baseship. It’s Hybrid tells me that the Final Five Cylons have been to Earth. But we need the missing Three — D’Anna — to bring them out to the open.

Lee: [somewhat sarcastically] And now we’re starting to get messages from the beyond.

Kara: You heard the signal. The final Cylons led me to it. If it’s Earth, they’ve given us the home of the Thirteenth Tribe…just the way the Hybrid said it would happen. Like it or not, Lee, something is orchestrating this for a purpose

Lee: [still sarcastic] *sniff* A higher power.

Kara: Call it whatever you want. But it seems to want us to find Earth with the Cylons.

God has, within the BSG universe, been ever more present as the plot has progressed, and here again He turns up, defying the expectations of most. It will be interesting to see how the second half of the series, which all leads up to the finalé, will handle the issue of deity.

(Interesting note: in the final scene, as the camera pans over the various people standing amidst the ruins on Earth, take note of the cross rather plainly emblazoned onto the rock near Helo and Athena.)

>> The Final Five

Well, it turns out that I was completely wrong on one account — Samuel Anders was not the first of the Final Five to be outed. Indeed, the argument could be made that he was the last one to be outed, in a more or less complete reversal of what I had expected. Tory Foster is the first one revealed (though not on Galactica proper; she uses duplicity to get onto the rebel basestar and it is there that she outs herself, eventually telling off Laura Roslin).

What is interesting is how the rift that had previously emerged in the Penultimate Four has now, more or less, become a fixed divide. Foster more or less completely embraces her Cylonity, to the point of misanthropy. Her hatred of humanity is palpable, and I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point she flipped sides to join Cavil’s faction, when next we meet them.

Tigh’s revelation to Adama was shattering, and Adama’s flipping out was a perfectly natural result. Kudos to Edward James Olmos for a dramatic and heart-rending scene; one would totally believe that Adama had, in the span of mere minutes, been totally broken and reduced to primal rage, and then to tears. A lifetime worth of emotional pain exploded out of the Admiral in the aftermath of what was, for him, one final act of betrayal…and then by his best friend of three decades. Every act, every bad call, and every kid he sent out in a Viper to get killed haunted and hounded him, until he was drooling and sobbing into his son’s arms.

It was a painful scene to watch.

>> Old ways, new ways

I liked that Lee Adama raised an interesting point when talking with Number Three — D’Anna Biers. It was actually a point I’d raised before: throughout the mythology of the series, the idea that history is somehow cyclical has been the predominant philosophy. The way out, if any existed, was in my view to somehow break that cycle, to strike out in a new direction.

Lee Adama said this directly when proposing an alliance, and a peace, with the rebel Cylons.

What was interesting is how soundly this episode utterly rejected, in multiple ways, the old paradigm of eternal conflict between man and Cylon. D’Anna is operating on that paradigm, and Tory Foster (expressing her anti-human sentiments well) eggs her on in a violent, standoffish course when it comes to dealing with the humans. The humans react in kind, and the situation escalates almost to the point of a nuclear exchange between the two sides, which surely would have resulted in the near-anhiliation of humanity and the rebel Cylon faction (and, quite probably, the Final Five).

Into the midst of this, nothing less than God steps in to intercede. Baltar appeals to D’Anna, arguing passionately that the violent course of action failed on New Caprica and then again on the algae planet just prior to her being boxed — why would she think that this time, violence would achieve the desired ends? Meanwhile, Starbuck pleads with Lee Adama that events have been unfolding in an orchestrated, planned, intentional way that involves both humans and Cylons playing the agentic roles in God’s greater design. She all but begs Lee to realize that whatever the way forward must be, it must be in partnership with the Cylons, because everything unravels without their involvement as well. Both arguments — that of Gaius Baltar and that of Kara Thrace — are arguments from faith, and have resounding, and astounding, power.

There seems to be dawning, on everyone, a realization that the old way of doing things — hatred, distrust, eternal war — will only lead both human and Cylon closer and closer to their respective endings, which are already dangerously close enough.

>> The Other Cylons

Just a couple of remarks here. I agree with Dale Price’s remarks concerning Leoben. The Leoben Conoy Cylons began as tricksters and deceivers, like Loki with stubble and a slightly raspy voice. Since then, they have become genuinely devout prophets and servants, and are increasingly benevolent in both their desired ends and the means they use to achieve them.

I also observe that the Number Eights are still fickle, and readily swarm to the aid of D’Anna when she returns and launches her initially anti-human crusade for the Final Five.

>> Earth

One thing I noticed right off the bat was that the producers weren’t showing us everything about Earth.

Think about it for a minute, O Reader. At the end of Season 3, in the final wild, galactic-scale zooming shot, the Earth was very visibly our planet — North America was prominently featured:

And yet now, with the fleet having finally arrived at this fabled planet, the shots are murky or dark (and one notes that there’s a subtle visual clue in the dark portions of Earth suggesting it is abandoned — were it populated, lights of cities would surely be visible!), clouds obscure the continental landmasses, and in the ruins there are no easy visual indicators suggesting a familiar location to the viewer (some have tried to suggest that the one bridge-like ruin in the background might be the Brooklyn Bridge — I remain agnostic on this point).

So is this Earth? It would seem to be, especially since Felix Gaeta confirmed the presence of constellations. And yet, the producers are being deliberately vague; it is possible that the Fleet has gone astray, and somehow arrived at the wrong place in spite of all the signs. Is this Earth?

The issue of Laura Roslin actually…you know…surviving to see the surface of the planet is a key point here; if she really is the dying leader of the Pythian prophecy, she shouldn’t actually get to see Earth (think of Moses and the Promised Land). But here she is, standing right beside Bill Adama on the surface of the planet. Most intriguing…either this isn’t Earth, or else Roslin isn’t the dying leader the thought she was (though she is dying, to be sure).

I’m of two minds about the planet that everyone seems to think is Earth, myself.

On one hand, it could very well be Earth. As noted, everyone — even the non-believers — had built themselves up a myth of Earth as some kind of promised land. I don’t know why, but it honestly seemed as though the people of the Colonies thought they could just show up in orbit of their long-lost brothers and sisters in the Thirteenth Tribe, drop anchor (so to speak), land, and be welcomed with open arms into a lush, fruitful land overflowing with ambrosia and…uhm…Tauron sugar biscuits…?

Whatever…the point is that their expectations failed to take one thing into account: the Thirteenth Tribe was also composed of humans, flawed and imperfect, and prone to things like murder, dishonesty, and all the same sins that Bill Adama listed off in his speech during the Miniseries. Not more than a few hours prior to finding Earth, humanity and the Cylon rebels were no more than a handful of seconds away from using nuclear weapons to wipe each other out…can they really be surprised to find, then, that the Thirteenth Tribe may well have done the same?

On the other hand, maybe this isn’t Earth. Maybe it was just a way-station on the way to Earth, just another marker/pointer like the beacon, the algae planet, and the Ionian Nebula. It’s wholly possible that Kara Thrace’s mission as guide is not over, and that her Viper was just pointing out the next waypoint rather than the final destination. This seems unlikely given Gaeta’s confirmation of the constellations, however — it would be very nearly impossible to find another point in the galaxy in which all those stars appeared to align in just that way.

Whatever the reality, the discovery is going to cause real problems in the coming episodes. The alliance with the Cylons is fragile enough as it is, and this could potentially weaken it to the breaking point again. Or it could make the alliance stronger, as humanity and Cylon have now come face to face with the fullest implications of their mutually destructive ways.

It will almost surely trigger a wave of despair and suicides in the body of the Fleet proper. Riots too, most likely. For many of the Colonial survivors, Earth was not only their final hope, but their only hope — now that it’s gone, it will drive many of them to instability and violence, either against others or, more probably, against themselves.

>> The Last Cylon

If we pick apart D’Anna’s curt statement — that there are only four Cylons in the Fleet — we have to come to one of a handful of conclusions as to where the final Cylon might be. As I see it, the possibilities are thus:

1. Earth
2. The rebel basestar
3. Cavil’s basestar (or one of the other ships loyal to him)
4. Caprica
5. The final Cylon is not someone currently known to be living (e.g. a character currently listed as “dead”

Each of these theories is problematic, save one. Every other possibility save for the second has one major glaring flaw, and that is the scope of D’Anna’s knowledge. She has been boxed for (about) a year. In that time, she has received no knowledge of what has transpired between humanity and the Cylons, nor does she have the slightest reason to think, apart from the claims of those on the ship with her, that any other humans besides those that are on the rebel basestar are even alive.

The question that we must raise here concerns the scope of D’Anna’s knowledge of individual human beings. One of two things is possible:

1. Either she knew all of the Final Five on sight when she encountered them in her vision, or
2. She only knew four of them; the fifth was someone she’d never met before

The latter option is unlikely; D’Anna has always, always maintained that she knows all of the Five. So really, the former is the only option that makes sense, both from the perspective of the narrative thus far, and from the perspective of the quality of the series (introducing some new face just to out him or her as a Cylon would, I think, be a rather insulting cheap-shot by the series producers).

Assuming, then, that D’Anna knows who all of the Final Five are, her knowledge that only four of them are with the Fleet means one of three things:

1. D’Anna encountered the final Cylon on the rebel basestar, but did not acknowledge him or her
2. D’Anna has exterior knowledge of every human being currently in the Fleet, and knows that none of them is the final Cylon

That second option splits into two possibilities:

• Her knowledge stems from when she was briefly among the people of the Fleet as a journalist; she was somehow able to catalogue every last survivor and knows all of them on sight
• Her knowledge has a supernatural origin

Personally, I discount the two possibilities above as unlikely, which renders the second point above them equally invalid. I trust the Reader can see why I elect to do this.

Which leaves the first point — D’Anna encountered the final Cylon on the rebel basestar, but said nothing. This is actually a very reasonable conjecture — D’Anna’s silence can be explained away by the fact that the D’Anna Cylon model always has an agenda, and her silence could easily be useful in service of that agenda.

>> Predictions (mind the spoilers)

1. Invigorated by the fact that D’Anna specifically stated that only four of the Final Five were in the Fleet, I remain steadfast in my conviction that Helo — Karl Agathon — is the final Cylon.

The reason for this renewed conviction has to do with what Grace and I discussed about D’Anna’s meaning when she said that only four of the Final Five were in the Fleet. Grace agreed that the statement most likely meant that the fifth was on the basestar…but she wondered why D’Anna had not singled the fifth out in that case.

My reply was the last line of the analysis section pertaining to this topic, above: D’Anna has an agenda. Grace wondered what her agenda would be, and how her silence would benefit it. In thinking about this today, it seems to me that the answer might once again be little Hera Agathon. D’Anna was passionate in her search for the child, and could well be after Hera once again (for all we know). She could well be keeping silent on the matter of Helo’s Cylonity in order to achieve that end.

Which brings us back to the issue of the First Hybrid’s prophecy that the final Cylon would be revealed only in the “howl of terrible suffering”. Given Sharon Agathon’s passionate defence of Hera in the past — including her willingness to kill any Cylon who might even remotely threaten her child (even by way of mere proximity) — it stands to reason that if D’Anna harbours any designs on Hera, that fact will bring Sharon and D’Anna into direct conflict in the near future.

And perhaps neither Sharon nor D’Anna will survive the encounter. Perhaps Hera will be gravely endangered. And perhaps Helo will weather that terrible suffering only by discovering, and somehow coming to terms, with his Cylonity.

2. It is ultimately Roslin, in a tender, loving moment, who pulls Adama out of his abyss. More and more, she is affecting him, and it’s a beautiful, if subtle trend.

I think she’ll eventually lead him into the fold of faith; I don’t think he’ll end the series mired down in atheism.

3. As noted above (and as predicted), Tory is increasingly anti-human in her outlook and actions. When next we see Cavil (and we will see him soon, methinks), I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Tory joined up with his forces.

4. The basestar Hybrids seem to have their own agenda as well, and I’m thinking that Cavil’s people will find out from their own Hybrids that Earth has been discovered.

Update: Welcome, Dale Price readers!

That’s about the only way I can really describe the Cylon Resurrection Hub — a critical, single point of failure in the entire Cylon apparatus. As to why the Cylons made resurrection dependent on a single facility that could be destroyed, I don’t really care to speculate — I’d be willing to accept that the process of resurrection is so ludicrously complex to manage that they had not yet thought out a way to develop a distributed solution (the Cylons aren’t gods, after all — at least as far as we know).

The Hub was a great episode, and one that had a reasonably happy ending (something that’s been in short supply this season of BSG). Grace, especially, rather liked it, and I share that view. As expected, the episode happens in parallel with the previous episode, explaining the “other side” of events only briefly glimpsed beforehand. And it ends where the previous episode ended, with the rebel basestar appearing where William Adama’s drifting Raptor is waiting, fulfilling his hope and faith in the president’s survival.

Which, of course, led to what might have been the best scene in the episode (and also the last): Adama and Roslin finally professing their love for one another. In a season as dark as this one has been, that maybe isn’t that much to go on…but it’s still a beautiful thing, and not really something one can categorize using measures and weights.

>> The Resurrection Hub, proper

As I said was probable, the Resurrection Hub has been destroyed — Cylons are mortal now. This will have interesting implications in the future.

Also, the battle sequence was excellent; it was nice to see a good, action-filled episode.

>> Three is back

D’Anna Biers has been unboxed — but only one copy! Still, there is hope that my theory about Anders being the first of the Penultimate Four Cylons to be “outed” might yet pan out. And I still think he’s the one that D’Anna apologized to in her vision last season.

>> My God, but humanity is corrupt

This is specifically in regard to Laura Roslin’s double-cross of the Cylons — she is utterly unable to trust them which, I suspect, stems from her inability to love (the flaw that Elosha, in Roslin’s visions, points out). There is a turnaround at the end, when Roslin belatedly rethinks her decision to let Gaius Baltar die from his wounds after he admits his unknowing complicity in the holocaust of the Twelve Colonies…and yet, she still goes on to demand a first, and then private, audience with D’Anna — Number Three, as the Cylons know her.

At every turn, now, the show goes out of its way to demonstrate that the Colonial understanding of what is just, fair, or justified is, in fact, in error and destructive. Whether it’s “eye for an eye” justice, an inability to trust, or an inability to love or forgive, humanity is at every turn seeming to be in a real rush to destroy itself.

For the first three seasons, Saul Tigh was perhaps the most visibly destructive human in the show — now, in the fourth season, Roslin has taken hold of that mantle. She is so bloody-minded, and harbours such a deep hatred of Cylons (even ones that risked everything — their very immortality given up! — to help her achieve a goal she dearly desired). There’s little doubt left in the viewer’s mind, after each scene in which Roslin speaks, that were it up to her she would see the rebel basestar destroyed and the Final Five airlocked.

D’Anna ultimately calls her out on this, and on her duplicity, in fact. And the Six’s disappointment with Helo after he admits the need to follow the president’s orders is also palpable, scathing…and damning.

This tendency for pretty much every human on the show — even Starbuck, mind — to display irrational hatred of Cylons is another reason I’m inclined to think that Karl Agathon might be a Cylon; he has, consistently, been the one human who has tried to do the right thing, rather than the expedient or advantageous thing, as the series has progressed. His disappointment at what he is forced to do by loyalty to the chain of command is profound.

Almost too profound; Helo is essentially unique among the human characters in his ability to look past the human/Cylon division.

>> Baltar’s evangelism

I have no idea what Baltar was up to in this episode — whatever apparent humility he had displayed previously has been replaced by a mutated form of his customary arrogance, to the point where he thinks himself singularly able to “calm” the basestar’s Hybrid (which provides for a bit of comedy, it must be noted). His evangelism to the Centurion is both interesting and annoying. Interesting, because I think Baltar is right that the (very active, very involved) God of the BSG universe is, in fact, dearly interested in the fate of Centurions. Annoying, because his motive doesn’t seem to be a genuine concern for God’s work or the Centurion as much as it seems to be an attempt to widen the scope of the Centurion rebellion.

>> Laura Roslin, Cylon?

Well, it would be ironic and perhaps poetically just were Roslin to turn out to be the last, missing member of the Final Five. But I very much doubt she is — I think the teaser trailer’s red herring presentation of D’Anna’s revelation, coupled with the way that red herring is itself revealed to be another red herring (since D’Anna was evidently just playing a joke on Roslin), has pretty much put Laura Roslin in the clear, as far as Cylon speculation is concerned. It would be painfully contrived for her to be “outed” now.

>>Predictions — mind the spoilers!

1) I’m still convinced that Helo is the last Cylon, more so now in light of D’Anna’s throwaway remark to the Number Six that expresses disappointment in the corridor toward the end of the show. Double-crossing, D’Anna explains, is a human trait. She’s not really addressing Helo with that remark, not by her tone, and it should be noted that Helo himself really doesn’t want to betray his new allies, especially after they’ve spoken at length about the value of shared trust.

It might just be…telling.

2) With the Hub gone, the only way the Cylons can survive is through reproduction — that’s more or less a cut-and-dried fact now. With that in mind, and given that at least one of the Final Five now seems to have demonstrated the ability to reproduce with a fellow Cylon, I’m thinking we’ll see further revelations in this regard in the second half of the season.

3) I’m still convinced — especially since his faith in Roslin has paid off in spades — that Adama won’t end the series as an atheist.

The passage he reads from the detective novel is interesting, too — it is really a sinner’s lament. Taking the form of a description of a man trying to build a garden on the shore of an island that he washed up on, it describes how the fruits of the man’s labours seemed to be but an ugly scar along the face of the beach; a wholly unfitting tribute to the island that had saved the man’s life. That’s certainly a rather apt description of the guilt of sin when sin is understood in light of the perfection of the divine, and how that sin mars the beauty of its creation.

4) As predicted, Galactica made no attempt to engage the Hub. I expect that Adama has the coordinates for where the fleet jumped to stored on his Raptor, and so will be able to guide the rebel basestar back to the Fleet. That, I think, will be the start of the next episode (which will be the mid-season finalé, unfortunately).

5) With the Threes back in action in the form of D’Anna, we can’t be far from seeing some of the Penultimate Four Cylons being outed (I don’t think we’ll get all five before the mid-season break). Some of this is confirmed in the trailer for next week’s episode: Tigh admits being a Cylon to Adama, and Tory apparently elects to return to “her people” aboard the basestar. Also, it appears that at least three of the Four will nearly be executed by Lee Adama, in his capacity as President of the Colonies. But apparently, Starbuck will intervene, claiming that the Cylons in question somehow revealed to her the coordinates for Earth.

6) I’m thinking that the discovery of Earth will have something to do with at least three of the Penultimate Four (Tigh, Samuel Anders, and Galen Tyrol) being summoned to, and perhaps tampering with, Kara Thrace’s Viper — she discovers this later on, and interrupts the execution of the Cylons. As to why the Cylons are to be executed, I’m not sure, but I wonder if perhaps it doesn’t have something to do with Tory, who chooses at some point to board the rebel basestar. Perhaps she continues her progression toward a more anti-human mentality, and in the capacity of a messianic leader elects to go against both the plans of the Cylons to co-operate with the humans, and against the humans themselves. That might be enough to movitave Lee to respond by threatening to execute the other three Cylons.

7) It looks like they find Earth, at least from the trailer. That was kind of expected, according to various rumours floating around; equally, the expectation is that Earth will be abandoned, and perhaps even post-apocalyptic.

I note, from the trailer, that Roslin appears to make it to Earth. This would seem to fly in the face of the idea that she is the dying leader foretold in ancient Colonial prophecy.

9) I still think Anders will be the first Cylon outed, and that this will have something to do with D’Anna’s apology to one of the Final Five in her vision last season, just prior to her being boxed.