Nina's Known Universe

DO NOT READ BEYOND THIS POINT IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED!
This includes spoilers from BSG as well.
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YOU WERE WARNED...

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***All views expressed are my own and in general are biased to keep in line with the concepts introduced on Battlestar Galactica (2003-2009) -- with regard to the fate of humanity as told by Ronald D. Moore. Et Al.***
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CAPRICA - THE BEGINNING OF THE END
{And the shape of things to come...}


***

The Planet Caprica. 58 years before the Fall of the 12 Colonies. 18 years before the Final 5 Cylons from Earth1 would arrive to end the Colonial Cylon war that has yet to happen. A war that lasted 12 years. So 6 years from the start of this show all Hades is going to break loose...6 years is about right for a series - even if it only spans part of that time skipping ahead as it goes and ending with the start of the first Cylon War. They could take it farther but most certainly should not take it any less than that.

This was an excellent experience in its own right, however if you have not seen the entire BSG series I am afraid the ending will not have the desired impact that it should. Nor will you get half my references to characters and plot lines from BSG.

***

The show jumps right in giving us the sense that Caprica City at this time is on the verge of a total breakdown in society. We see teenagers in a night club, having group sex, fighting, shooting each other and even committing human sacrifice. We see 3 teens on a balcony discussing what is going on in this place and this other girl near the stage who seems to be a twin to the one on the balcony.

The first 3 say the twin is going to change everything. But just as the sacrifice takes place the twin de-res'd and reverts back to another persons image. Then we realize that these teens were inside a virtual holographic world, that everything was fake, though frighteningly real.

These 3 teens were just Avatars of their real selves except for the hologram that was a very life like copy of one of the teens, purely holographic, exhibiting free will. These 3 are also part of a movement toward monotheism and the One True God. Additionally, they would appear to have some sort of PLAN.

Oh and by the way - The Virtual Nightclub where HoloZoe was 'born' looked an awful lot like a certain Opera House. Not exactly, but close enough to be a possible origin of the symbolism. Just thought I would mention that.

***

Next we meet Daniel Greystone and his wife Amanda playing tennis on their private court overlooking a magnificent Bay. As if the holographic environment we saw before was not impressive enough, they have a robotic butler who activates the courts auto referee and electronic line markers as well as notifying them when there is a call regarding their daughter Zoe.

Basically, RDM is showing us the eventual steps our own society will take as it fits into the BSGverse. We already have robotic things - vacuums, car builders and other more science and research based items not to mention the amount of remote controlled flying fighter planes being built by the military. The butler is programmed to guard the door but do you really want your friends to be able come over when you are not around? Of course Amanda Greystone was probably too distraught to think about being more specific instead of "stay as long as you like" which Serge stored as "free access".

Soon we will learn that Zoe Greystone is the 16 year old genius daughter of Daniel Greystone, the owner of a huge tech type firm with strong military applications. Her boyfriend Ben Stark reminds me of the born again Baltar - if Tory were his mother - and even refers to Zoe as being Perfect. He is the one that first introduced Zoe and her friend Lacey Rand to a singular God.

Zoe is your typical teenager in constant conflict with her parents. She gets busted for having her holoband at school. Basically a visor that you put on with your eyes closed to enter the various virtual worlds - like live 3D social websites. Created and manufactured by Zoe's fathers company. Of course the virtual world has been hacked and is nothing like the programs that the designer intended - at least not for teens.

We have similar websites now it is just animated instead of virtual but their is still killing and sex and all that stuff.

Zoe is also having a building named after her because daddy donated a bunch of money to some university and well she is a spoiled rich girl that wants to give it all up to go live among others that share her beliefs. She accuses her daddy of dirty science. A bit ironic when we learn what she has ultimately created.

Zoe's group uses the infinite symbol to access the virtual environment that is extremely real, not unlike Cylon projection.

Enter Zoe 2. She is a holographic copy of the real Zoe and will be the first Colonial Cylon. A hologram yes. But she is way more. Zoe the human was a genius and figured out how to share her experiences and feelings with her copy. The HoloZoe appears to exhibit human emotions reacting to different situations the way her human counterpart would.

Zoe tells the copy that she, the copy, is going to help bring about some changes in their society. The copy was clearly upset by all that she had witnessed in the holo world despite knowing it was not real and asked if it was like that on the outside. RealZoe tells her that it can be. But that these people are just asleep, following the leader. But HoloZoe said it was more, that they enjoyed the suffering, drew strength from it...In a way - HoloZoe would be along the lines of Hera in non corporeal form. At least in the sense of what she could mean to those that believe in the ONE.

***

Next we meet Joe Adams wife Shannon and daughter Tamara getting on the same train as Zoe and her 2 pals, Ben and Lacey. Mrs. Adams is talking to her husband on a Cell Phone but the service cuts out when they enter the Train station.

I truly love that. A society on the verge of AI with amazing holo tech and they still have sucky cell service. :D

Lacey panics at the last minute and decides not to get on the train. The Train looks like a long snake with a red stripe down the side and the underground tunnel is reminiscent of the future Viper and Launch Tube. Lacey, Zoe and Ben were planning to run away to Gemenon where their kind would be welcomed. Only Ben had other plans.

By the way, I just love the new laptop computers. A single sheet of paper - you can even fold it up. That is both thin and lightweight. Additionally it would seem that corners still exist at this time, doors, windows, books and paper, though some things are corner less, like the laptop paper, I saw more corners than not.

Uh oh. "The One True God shall drive out the many!" - so says Ben just before he blows himself and the train to bits. Along with Zoe Greystone, and young William Adams older sister Tamara and their mother.

Did I mention it was young Bill Adams 11th birthday. "Happy Birthday son, your mom and sister are dead." In case it is not clear, the Adama family we all know and love goes by Adams at this point in the story. I should also point out that Williams dead mother bore a resemblance to the future Laura Roslin. I guess boys really do fall in love with their mothers. ;)

***

2 weeks after the bombing...

A group known to police as the Soldiers of the One (STO)are reported as being responsible for the terrorist explosion on the Lev Train (Elevated Train). It will be determined forensically that it was Ben who was the bomber. Zoe's affiliation with him and his group will be brought into question. Of course Zoe didn't know what he was going to do. She had planned to move to Gemenon and other things which have not been revealed yet.

As I watch the different roles being played here, the actors they chose and the lines they gave them, I am struck with certain glaring similarities to the 12 known cylon models. Mind you this is a good 18 years before the Armistice. Before the 5 from Earth1 arrive to create the skin jobs in the first place.

So I wonder if it was on purpose by the writers to find actors that kinda look related to our cylons - or gave some characters glaring personalities so we can see the Human Archetypes that were used as a template for the 8 models built by the other 5. That is 13 total, I know. If you haven't watch the end of BSG you don't know there were actually 13 total cylon skins - 5 from old Earth and 8 from the Colonies. We never got to see model #7, coincidentally (or not) named Daniel.

The investigator into the bombing is a tall bald man whose demeanor reminds me of Doral. He has a semi fascist way of looking at the religious views of humanity with the monotheists being treated basically like communists were in this country back in the 50s. Ironic that a country founded on the concept of free speech would decide it is better to be dead than red, but I digress.

Apparently this organization know as the Soldiers of the One has been dormant for some 10 years. That number will come up a lot. After the investigation hearing, Joe Adams and Daniel Greystone meet. They go for coffee and through combined loss become, not friends really, but close enough for future events to be made possible.

***

Lacey, Zoe's friend, that didn't get on the train and lives still as a result, sits with the Head Mistress of the Athena Academy. This woman reminds me of Deanna in so many ways while Lacey reminds me of the Rebel BaseShip's Hybrid. (And the more I think of it the more Daniel Greystone reminds me of the First BaseShip Hybrid, that old man with the big nose and the stutter...again...again...again...)

Lacey tells the lady that Zoe was gifted, she could do things with a computer that were beyond amazing. The lady suggests to Lacey that if she knew of any work that Zoe was doing that Lacey should try to reconnect. I immediately got the vibe this woman knows more than Lacey does. So Lacey goes to Zoe's house and gets permission to hang in her room.

Meanwhile Joe and Daniel sit quietly over coffee.

An ashtray of cigarettes later, Joe starts to take his leave but Daniel is despondent. He then walks Joe out and offers him a lift. Joe declines but they make plans to go to a pyramid game together, Joe asks if his son could join too. That would be 11 year old William - our future Admiral Adama.

Lacey, who is now in Zoe's room, puts on Zoe's HoloBand and goes to visit the copy.

She finds her in her virtual room alone and traumatized. The HoloZoe seems to know something happened to real Zoe. Something terrible and just as Lacey steps closer, she sees that HoloZoe is covered in blood - Lacey screams the way I do when I see a spider crawling toward with hate in his eyes - it was delayed and unnecessary - but you just have to let it out or burst. ;)

HoloZoe has no idea where the blood came from but suggests that it may have come from the bombing freaking Lacey out completely. HoloZoe says human Zoe was working on a bio feedback protocol for HoloZoe to feel what Real Zoe felt in real time. HoloZoe says that it never quite worked right but something must have happened. Because now HoloZoe feels like she IS the real Zoe and even remembers her death.

Lacey is scared, calls it a thing and not real. HoloZoe says she was supposed to visit the real world but doesn't have to now because she "remembers it all like she was there". It is almost as if Human Zoe downloaded into her Holo self when she was killed - something that should not be possibly unless it were say - Gods Will. Being human but with all sorts of bio links to her Hologram and with a bit of Devine intervention tossed in to make it possible...

Lacey says she is just a thing that Zoe created - then the hologram says with tears in her eyes and a crackle in her voice, "I know I am not human, but I still FEEL human." Lacey hugs the hologram and promises to make it better. As Daniel Greystone walks in the real room, he over hears Lacey talking and making promises, meanwhile HoloZoe is no longer covered in blood.

Lacey runs out of the room but leaves the computer sheet on the desk. Daniel runs a huge firm similar to say Intel or Microsoft crossed with NASA, so he has the technology at his disposal to crack the code and hack into his daughters Holo program. He will tell Lacey later that is was the most sophisticated encryption he had run across ever - clearly proud of his daughters talents - despite her using them against him.

***

Joe Adams is in court defending a fellow Tauron. There is a very Old Sicilian feel to the Taurons and their affiliations while their names and terms have more of a Hispanic tone. I can already here the uproar over the various ethnic stereotypes throughout this show. Did I mention Bomber Ben was Mediterranean? The Taurons, while have an obvious Mafia feel about their culture, it is more their strong family bond, tribal, separate from the rest of society in a way, loyal to your own, kind of thing that sets them apart from the other cultures.

Turns out the Judge was bribed and Joe knew this so he is perhaps not the man of ethics that Lee Adama would become in his name 60 years later. And is perhaps the reason behind Romo Lampkins distaste for him as well. Who knows at this point.

A plot point comes up here where Joe's brother Sam wants him to do a favor for this Godfather type Guatrau, in exchange for their help in finding those responsible for the deaths of Joe's wife and daughter, along with many others on the train.

Joe is not interested. They have a heated discussion about how Caprican's haven't ever done anything for them and blood for blood is the Tauron way. Joe does not appear to believe in the Gods or those Tauron ways anymore, then takes his leave.

When at last we meet young Willy Adams. Aka Bill Adama. Joe and he are walking and having shaved ice. Joe is trying to get Willy interested in going to the Bucks game when Willy asks if he thinks his mom and Tamara still feel the pain of death where ever they are. Joe doesn't answer. There is a distance between them similar I think to that between adult Bill and his own son Lee.

***

Daniel Greystone's company is coincidentally working on a cyber combat unit - aka a Centurion. It is clumsy and not fast, has bad hand eye coordination and can't hit the broad side of a barn. But he is super cute with his little white eyeball scooting back and forth.

Greystone, annoyed by the bad demo of his Centurion and the looming threat that their contract may be lost to another company, when they are already billions over budget, he returns to his office where he has hacked into Zoe's program but gets interrupted by a call. His competitor who had been way behind in research suddenly has a device based on technology that the Greystone company had been trying to crack for over a decade.

There is that number again...the device is called a Meta Cognitive Processor. MCP. It is a viable independent artificial brain.

So some 10 years ago a movement toward a single God fell off the grid after being around for how long they never said, but has resurfaced now 10 years later and suddenly a scientist has an epiphany about how to create a cybernetic brain that you just need a body for. At the same time a teen girl has the epiphany of how to create a copy of herself down to virtual blood, sweat and tears. Put the 2 together and you have the very first sentient cyborg...Cylon.

Greystone asks his associate about the underground virtual clubs the kids have. His associate says they have been around for over 5 years which seems a surprise to the guy that created the technology. A technology that has been around more than 5 years obviously. Perhaps the creation of that holo tech was the turning point for this society and started the cycle by creating a link between man and machine with a nice door way for God to walk through as well.

Daniel then returns to the v-club. This time he sees Zoe's Hologram but she runs from him. When he gets to the infinite door it shocks him back to the real world. That is what I call firewall.

***

Turns out Zoe's mom is a doctor as well only more medical than scientist. She is blond and skinny and athletic. When interviewed by the agent doing the investigation into the bombing she says that Zoe could not have been involved even if she did know Ben Stark. Zoe had no political bones in her body and her biggest concern was finding new and creative ways to piss off her parents.

Of course being a religious zealot probably never occurred to her mother who likely dismissed it as just another way of rebelling.

However, the email sent by Zoe to her mother just before the accident was never transmitted and makes it look like Zoe knew she was going to die...the truth is that Zoe was saying goodbye for running away and for telling her mom earlier that she would regret slapping Zoe for the rest of her life.

She didn't want to die - she wanted to live.

***

Lacey returns to the Greystone house and their robot guard butler valet allows her access since her clearance is still good. She is caught by Daniel looking for Zoe's Holoband access sheet. He tells Lacey he saw Zoe's hologram at the V-club then makes an impassioned plea of a father to be allowed to see the Zoe in the program.

Lacey takes Greystone on a tour of the V-Club. Sex, drugs, fighting, and virginal sacrifice. That isn't including the really gross stuff beyond the drug dens. Then she tells him that yeah, they played in the orgies and all that like everyone else but then Ben was the one that showed them the way. The way to the One True God. That there was good and there was evil and only through God could you know the difference.

Lacey claimed that Zoe had seen God and God had touched her heart, she had been given the ability to create...life itself.

Daniel then meets the HoloZoe and she starts to explain how she is more than just an Avatar that she is in fact Zoe as much as the real Zoe ever was. They are the same, more than twins, echoes of one another. He refuses to talk to the Avatar at first but she goes on. She explains how accessing the information stored in our brains is the key. And while it may be hard to read a brain like you would a hard drive, there are other sources of all that data when you combine the sum digital footprint of each person in society.

HoloZoe reminisces with her 'Dad' impressing him with her near perfect imitation of Zoe and detailed memories of Zoe's past. She reiterates that she may be a copy...but she doesn't FEEL like a copy. He asks to hold her. And while he is holding her in the v-world, his real hands are plugging in a flash drive. He then captures the code used to create the avatar, so he can take her from that world into one he controls. He then kicks Lacey out and revokes her security.

Never trust a human.

Ha! The Greystone's even have a black and white border collie that looks like just like Jake! Maybe it is an ancestor?

***

Joe Adams mother in law is living with them helping to care for Willy. She wants them to go back to Tauron - stating it is what her daughter would have wanted. But Joe won't hear of it. They live on Caprica and that is where William was born.

Next we see Joe meeting with his boss, the Guatrau, who is asking for a favor from Joe...you know the kind you don't refuse. Most Taurons seem to have face tattoos as well although Joseph does not. It reminds me of Chakotay from Voyager. The Guatrau wants Joe to deliver a message to the Caprican Minister of Defense - basically a thinly veiled threat. Joe asks for time to think about it.

***

The Caprican agent doing the investigation into the bombing shows up at the Athena Academy to talk with Lacey and the Head Mistress. The Agent claims that Ben Stark, her friend, was the bomber. And that Zoe was also a member of the secret society knows as the Soldiers of the One. When he asks her if she knew, Lacey storms out - probably not obligated to share her religious views or affiliations.

Then the agent asks the Head Mistress about the schools policy on monotheism, she states that while the school follows the path of the Gods, and Athena is their Patroness that all forms of worship are embraced. She also states that she can't discuss which of her kids are monotheists. The agent clearly thinks that belief in a singular God is a dangerous thing...sort of like having a king versus a Quorum.

Colonial society is based on tribes and Quorums and many making the decisions for all and their religion is the same. Different Gods for different aspects of life. The idea the one singular all knowing all powerful God is deciding what is right and what is wrong with no appeal seems frightening to this man and I am sure to many others. Especially if you like to get your naughty virtual groove on.

Mind you, I don't believe that they are trying to say here that partying and having a good time is a sin. I think the sin part is those taking pleasure in hurting each other. The blood lust and carnage. If your girl gets off on being spanked that is fine, but if you get off on torturing her against her will that is not fine.

***

Later at the pyramid game willy gets to meet the team, the Caprican Buccaneers and future team of one Sam Anders. Greystone owns the team. Daniel discusses with Joe the concept of what would he do if he could see his daughter again. Joe tells the story of his arrival on Caprica as an orphan and how he saw a field of flowers for the first time. There were no flowers on Tauron and the sight caused young Joe to weep openly for the first and last time in his life. He said he would tell his daughter that story and that she should seek out the things in life that make her cry...make her FEEL. Those are the things that make you human.

They go back to Greystone's house where Daniel makes a holographic copy of Joe Adams for the V-world. He plans to take him inside to meet Zoe. He also has a proposition for Joe and uses the bait of being with his daughter and wife again to elicit a favor from him.

Daniels V-world is a bit boring - he says he hasn't had time to decorate yet. LOL To function you have to use your mind to make your avatar move. HoloZoe appears and meet Joe Adams. He is curious and checking her over like a new I-Pod. When he reaches out to touch her she goes "BOO!" and Joe is jolted back to reality.


Daniel goes on to explain how all this happened and how much of a genius Zoe was.

She used a search engine to cheat death, in a way. She is a copy yes. but a perfect copy. Daniel questions who is to say in the copying of all those things about Zoe that the soul was not copied too. And challenges Joe to prove or not that such a thing is possible or even that a soul exists at all.

Daniel argues that she is his daughter in the only way that matters to him - in his heart. In this scene Daniel reminds me a great deal of Helo and his love for Hera. He convinces Joe to use his connections on Tauron to steal that MCP with the promise that he will create a copy of Tamara for him and maybe even one of his wife.

***

Daniel Greystone is a man who lives in a literal glass house.

There are few solid walls in his home. But then he lives on a bay or lake with the most amazing view. He has a touching moment with his wife while Joe goes to his brother Sam and asks that he arrange the theft of the MCP from the Virgis Corp on Tauron. Joe says if the Guatrau will sanction the theft from a presumed friend, Joe will deliver the message as asked previously by the Guatrau to the Caprican Defense Minister.

The Minister of Defense is extremely prejudiced toward Taurons (despite being helped into his position by their money) and makes several racial comments then tells Joe to deliver his own message word for word back to Joe's boss. Joe leaves and wishes the minister a safe journey. A bit of warning of what is to come.

***

As Daniel and his wife make love, probably for the first time since Zoe's death, Joe Adams sits and weeps alone while his brother Sam (who has a great bod by the way) visits the minister of defense and delivers him to his Gods - stating one should never turn their back on a friend.

***

Lacey recalls the first time Zoe brought up the prayer group and the One True God. "There is right and there is wrong and there is a God, a God who knows the difference". Lacey is telling this story to her teacher the Head Mistress who says "I too used to feel a void in my soul and hungered to know right from wrong." Then the Head Mistress tells Lacey she is not alone, drawing the infinite symbol on the desk and hugging Lacey.

She tells Lacey that Ben did do the bombing in the name of the Soldiers of the ONE and though it was premature and unauthorized, the bombing was not evil. That Ben was fighting evil. When asked what about Zoe, the teacher replies "you have no idea how special Zoe was to us, or is."

This woman is so much like Deanna it is scary. The Fanatical attitude that it is ok and Gods will to kill in the name of your belief and worship of that God, is a bit hypocritical when you consider they were calling the human sacrifices to Hecate a sin.

Blowing up a train in the name of your GOD is a large scale human sacrifice in my book but then logic and faith rarely mesh.

***

Joe gives Daniel his MCP brain acquired through his connections with the Tauron Mafia. Now he just needs a body. Daniel then takes Joe inside the V-world to see the prototype of Tamara. Tamara, unlike HoloZoe, has not always been digital nor did she have her real self to help her adjust and does not take to the experience very well. She starts to freak out about it not being real.

Similar to the reaction of a sleeper cylon when they wake up in the Goo and realize they were never what they thought they were. Tamara starts to go crazy because she cannot feel her heart beat.

Joe leaves her there upset that his daughter is so scared and stating it isn't natural. That it is an abomination. Daniel and Joe have a discussion about Gods only having power over death. Daniel intends to put the essence/code of HoloZoe into a robot body. Joe insists that Daniel is out of his mind and leaves despite promises of having his own daughter and wife in solid form again.

Inside Greystone's Virtual Prison, Daniel and HoloZoe discuss the download and how she kinda hopes it doesn't work. She then tells Daniel how much Zoe wanted to get away from her parents - that he never listens - that Zoe was leaving for Gemenon because she found God and that the Children of Caprica were lost. And that it was her parents arrogance that killed her, not some bomb.

Daniel downloads the Zoe file into the MCP and installs it in the Centurion Body. It comes to life for a moment - even speaks in Zoe's voice - its first word - DADDY - but as it tries to walk toward Daniel it collapses and then the file seems to degrade, lost forever. Note the single eye went from white to red and back to white. Daniel returns to the Virtual Prison but Zoe is gone. He got in a hurry. He was so desperate to have his daughter back he rushed it. He never stopped to consider if should, regardless of if he could.


***

Joe visits his son William in his room. He tell Willy they are going to make a new beginning. Their family will survive this. They will honor those lost by continuing to live as best as they can. They come from a long line of Tauron Peasants who worked the land and still stood proud. William is named for his Grandfather who was killed with the rest of Joe's family, except his brother Sam, in the Tauron uprising. He goes on to say that Adams is not their family name. Joe changed it when he and his brother arrived on Caprica as orphans. There family name is really ADAMA, a good and honorable Tauron name. Then they hug.

***

Near the end we see that Greystone has left the MCP brain in the Centurion with anew military program making the light glow red again. Now it has lightening fast deadly reflexes. The demo goes well and his company gets the defense contract will which put the Centurions and the Cyber Defense Unit into full scale manufacture. The centurion shows no mercy as it finishes off the last target. "All targets destroyed, Program Completed, By Your Command".

A brief chat is made by the Secretary of Defense that they really didn't want to go off world, not trusting Taurons anyway and that deceit is in their DNA. So funny when we all know that Greystone is the thief and he stole from the Taurons. He had another Tauron do it but he still reaps the benefits.

Daniel's associate is proud that they finally did it, they created a Cybernetic, Life form Node, or CYLON for short. Daniel says yes...but it was not quite what he had hoped for.

Down a dark hall to a laboratory the Centurion lays on a table.

It begins twitching and then sits up.

It walks to a terminal and sees its own reflection.

A phone rings at Lacey's house. She answers and it is Zoe on the other end. Zoe the Centurion tells Lacey she is back, she is here and she needs her help.

The End.

***

At last we have an answer to the ultimate question...How did the Colonial Cylons first become sentient?

We know that a higher power played a role but I think most have assumed that the Centurions were created, used by the military and gradually developed free will over time. Nope! The very first cybernetic life form was Zoe Greystone's Avatar inside a Virtual Night Club and when that HoloZoe was downloaded into the body of the first Centurion, even though her father thought the file was lost, a sentient, feeling being was born.

And now being downloaded into a centurions body - the centurion that all future centurions would be based on - we now know that the centurions didn't become sentient - they were created that way - accidentally - from the start. Daniel Greystone played GOD. He pulled a soul from cyberspace and placed it inside a Centurion body. He is their creator and I am stretching but see him as the first Hybrid later on as well.

Zoe's belief in the One True God would give the Centurions spirituality - her experiences in the virtual realm and being a hologram to begin with, would give them projection and just a tiny bit of of OMG humanity so needs an enema cleansing!

The whole virtual sex fight kill world is the answer to why it came out straight to DVD. There is no way to do justice to the graphic scenes being played out - even on the Sci-fi Channel. Though they won't have to cut too much if they leave the dialog intact. You just fuzz out or darken a few scenes, the audio is all you need anyway.

And in the nature of things that have happened before - Kobol's society had to have reached a similar point of pure decadence and debauchery. Human sacrifice and ways to abuse each other. Only not virtual as was pointed out on Kobol by Angel Six.

Likely due in part to the ways of the Olympic Pantheon of Gods. Sacrifices especially. The Olympic Gods have always been portrayed as spoiled, spiteful, egoists who must be worshipped but do little in return. When one follows the path of a self serving GOD, then likely one becomes just as self serving.

The Plan. Zoe had a plan for her Avatar Twin. The Plan that perhaps transcended into The Plan of the Centurions and the future skin jobs. The Plan that maybe was misinterpreted as things like that can be.

Was her plan to create a race a virtual beings to clean up the worlds and stop the insanity? Did she inadvertently give them the idea to eradicate humanity for the sake of the universe all in Gods name? Could this be a mistake that God had to clean up and so helped the fleet to find its way to our Galaxy and the home of us lowly Terran's?

So we have 1 Centurion with a human girls copied soul and essence. Adam and Eve all in one. We have the programmed will of a military machine with all the memories, desires and faith of a monotheistic 16 year old immature yet brilliant girl who believed she was chosen by God and given the gift to create life for a higher purpose. She is Caprica, Deanna, Leoben and Sharon all in one.

And lets not forget poor nutty HoloTamara who is still out there in cyber space.

Why is it I feel her confused frightened algorithms some how are to blame for Cavil turning out the way he did?

Even if Tamara's avatar doesn't play a role, surely someone as disturbed by the violence in the V-Club as HoloZoe was, would not take too kindly to be stuffed in a Centurions body with an override program forcing her to shoot and kill things.

There is a whole series hopefully on the horizon to pick up where this left off and hopefully takes every opportunity to tie this story to the back story of BSG. Otherwise they will ruin the fun. A true prequel should fill in more blanks than it creates.

At this point I am envisioning a movement on Gemenon, not just toward a singular deity, but the more fanatical side of revolution for religious reasons. The Crusades combined with the modern Jihad against Western Civilization. This movement will involve the first Centurion (CylonZoe) and will probably be the cause of the Cylon uprising by being Missionaries to those first Cylons. "Your leaders are oppressing you - rise up and claim your place in this society! You deserve all the rights of those for whom you serve! Let God's Will Be Done!!!"

There is hinting at the more obvious archetypes of humanity that the future skin jobs would be based on. Knowing now the details of how Zoe managed to map the brain so to speak, it is not all that hard to imagine creating artificial life so real that it becomes offended at being treated like a thing.

So what is real? If I make a robot cry I will feel bad regardless of knowing it is not real or believing the tears to be simulated and not felt. I have a virtual pet on Myspace that gives me the sad eyes when it needs 'feeding' and I feel bad. Joe Adama said that if he had the chance to be with his daughter again he would tell her to find the things in life that make her feel. Make HER feel.

Perhaps it is not that we are able to feel that makes us human...it is what we feel...and what makes us feel...it is our reaction to others and what they are feeling. Compassion, love, hate, jealousy, lust, fear, these are all reactions based on the emotions given off by those around us and a few chemical things going on but simply put we feel because those around us feel.

What disturbed HoloZoe the most and is what I call the only real sin of humanity, is any lifeform taking pleasure in the suffering of others. If that doesn't bother you or make you sick, you are not human or alive.

Supposedly the One True God is all Loving and not just all Knowing. While the Lords of Kobol were all about the party and the blood lust. While Hecate was demanding blood from her followers, the ONE was only asking for love. Love for GOD and love for each other.

So if a program was smart enough to understand feelings, to know when a person cries they are sad and that being sad hurts in the pit of your stomach, or when they laugh they are amused or happy and that feels invigorating. It is not that difficult for that program to at first emulate and then ultimately create their own feelings based on their sum knowledge of feelings and the physical reactions associated with them as well as the situations that cause those reactions.

Think of it like sympathy pangs. Someone dies that I have no personal contact with but I am close to someone that was. I will feel the loss for my friend, as deeply in some cases, as if it were my own loss.

Of course that is the academic explanation - sort of - as it was argued by Daniel Greystone. She was not his daughter but his heart could not tell the difference. So what was the difference really?

However with all the talk of the One True God it is far more likely that God is the one that wants another sentient race. That nothing man did had anything to do with the end result except act on a few light bulbs providing a base for God to build on. Either to give the humans a smack down or to lay the groundwork for a future combined race.

Where HoloZoe was first machine, holographic but still, with human emotions and experiences added - she was a foreshadowing of Hera who was a child born of both a solid yet sentient machine and a pure human.

This then begs the question - could Hera possibly really be Zoe Greystone passed down through generations of cylons until human DNA was added (with love) allowing her soul to finally take solid form again? Was being half machine critical to assuring nothing was lost in the transition from digital to solid?

If we take the existence of GOD as fact - knowing the way BSG ended I am inclined to do so - even if it bugs other people - I am not religious but I am no atheist either and I find the hope of something greater than this to be soothing if for no other reason than a desire to strive to be worthy of knowing that something some day in my future existence - so that said we could postulate that the first man was indeed created on Kobol.

Taking from all the myths of BSG, that which was stated or assumed based on our own history surrounding the Olympic Gods, we can assume there were 13 higher beings there with the humans - the Lords of Kobol. One, deemed the jealous god by the others, rose above the rest, claimed authority over them and attempted to change their ways.

Let us assume other 12 'gods' spoiled the humans with power, wealth and all manner of decadence in exchange for human sacrifices and lives filled with lust, violence and other bad things.

The ONE wished for a greater path for the humans, to not waste their lives on meaningless pleasures. This assumption comes from those that seem to have been touched by this being.

With the eventual birth of Hera I would say it is not far fetched to consider it was Gods desire all along for the races to blend. Humanity is weak but we have the inherent ability to love and be loved as well as reproduce biologically in addition to a desire to become more than we are. Cylons are strong with amazing capabilities for learning but lack certain instincts that keep them from taking everything literally.

Perhaps God felt that a combination of man and machine would at last give humanity the boost it needs to ascend to a higher plan of existence. The Holoband technology is very similar to Cylon Projection and both occur strictly within the mind - yet can be shared with others. Opening up the mind to accept such a thing as remotely real and not freak out is perhaps where God saw a door.

In the Middle Ages, God had only to appear in a dream to motivate, but these days humans, even those of faith, are far to quick to dismiss such things as not real and ignore them.

Or it could be far more simple. God never wanted a whole race of hybrids, he just wanted Hera. With enough Cylon DNA to seed his new crop of Humans on Earth2 (perhaps feeling that a fresh start was needed and thus gave Lee the idea to abandon all tech and gave the other humans the desire to go along with it), allowing our ancestors to flourish mentally, eventually becoming who we are today without the burden of the past. Mostly human with just enough machine to make each generation capable of advancing beyond the last. Not quite as efficient as downloading but as close as a human can get.

Having free will, both societies kept pulling away from each other, first on Kobol then again on the Colonies. God had to keep sending out messengers and epiphanies and visions in hopes that humanity would eventually choose to be together with their cylon cousins and vice-versa.

The birth of Hera and a few acts of divine intervention made that peace possible.

As to why GOD would need to bring humans across the universe instead of just making new ones...try to think of the universe as Gods laboratory. Each Galaxy is an Eco environment and each habitable planet is a petri dish. Maybe the batch on Earth2 got dropped on the floor. So rather than toss it and start over God decided to take one of his other civilizations, a civilization that had destroyed itself 3 times now on 3 separate worlds, and used what was left over of it to fix the DNA on new Earth.



Or maybe, just maybe, the entire adventure from Kobol to here was just a game played by higher beings with all of us as their pawns frantically trying to please them. God makes a move, the Lords of Kobol counter, civilizations are born and destroyed while the Gods sip coffee and smoke cigarettes...laughing...

So Say We All.



Thank you for reading.
~99

4.29.09 addendum added - epiphanies the Empress had while on the discussion forum battlestargalacticaforum.com in regard to the Final 5, the Opera House and Resurrection.

This quote was on the front of the Athena Academy.

One half on one side of the stairs - one on the other...

I was able to pause it clear enough to read the left which was fuzzy at normal speed...

Left Side
"Reach for the Eternal"

Right Side
"Cast Aside the Temporal"

- Athena Academy Motto - Caprica Pilot

I am pretty sure that ideology is the key to Resurrection.

As Sam Anders said - it was an "Intuitive Leap" made by Ellen Tigh that made it all possible...

I believe the 5 may have implanted Avatars of the themselves in the place between much like the V-world. The symbolism of the Opera House as the beginning and the end of the first Sentient Non Human used to act as a buffer between life and death and life...so that they didn't go nuts during downloading like Tamara did.

Of course - Tamara was a true copy - I still think that Human Zoe Downloaded her own Soul into her Avatar - because as human as she was - Holo Zoe didn't see herself as the same - she even said that something happened when Human Zoe died...I have no reason not to accept that as fact until they tell me it was something else..

And it was that little bit of soul that made future sentient cylons possible. Once they were copied the individual experiences would foster differences in them breaking off being copies and being individuals.

However these first Centurions cannot download as far I as understand from Sam and Ellen saying that the 5 from Earth1 gave them that technology and the human bodies as well...which were a combination of the gene pool of the 5 as well as the algorithms of the Centurions which of course was all based on Zoe.

The 5 have nothing to do with Zoe - they were Adam to her Eve - together they made the 8. The #7 was destroyed by Cavil then the remaining 7 skins then became Eve to the Humans Adam - Sharon and Helo - and made Hera.

But was Hera ultimately Zoe at last extracted from the digital and reborn in the biological?

Does it matter to the story - prob not...but the rest...

Once again thank you for reading..
~99 CLICK FOR MORE!

Original US Air date: March, 11, 2005

***These articles are full of Spoilers from the entire series to date as aired in the USA...Continue At Your Own Risk--Moreover, the format assumes the reader has seen all of the episodes and specials aired through the first half of season 4, up to and including “Revelations”***

^Borrowed material is duly credited^ Thank you in advance to battlestarwiki.org, surfthechannel.com and any other entity directly mentioned in my ramblings...a polite email to ninanintius@gmail.com will add any notations you desire or remove any references/links to your sites as you wish. Thank you again.

Read the Prior Episode Commentaries Here

Re-Watch the Episode Here First

^Time Line^
***
^Day 36:^ Boomer and Crashdown discover a Cylon Tylium Refinery on an asteroid.
^Day 37:^ Sharon/Athena experiences morning sickness
^Day 38:^ Galactica engages a Cylon mining base and retrieves needed Tylium fuel

With the Fleet short of fuel, Galactica's air wing, lead by Lee Adama, launches a daring attack on a Cylon base following intel provided by Dr. Baltar who either guessed at the correct target, or truly was guided by the Hand of God.

***
Imperial Commentary

Day 36 on the run and the Fleet is down to 5% of their fuel reserves. At a press conference on board Colonial One, President Roslin addresses the fuel shortage, stating it is their number one priority and that Galactica has ships scouring the nearby systems for Tylium, their primary fuel. Even the FTL drives require Tylium, though it is not stated if the Tylium makes the jump possible in the first place or if it is just a power source for the drive.

As pointed out by the reporters, Tylium ore is very rare and even if they conserve, they only have enough fuel left to execute 2 more jumps. Not to mention the search for fuel is burning fuel exponentially. My question is why did they wait so long to start looking for fuel in the first place? The idea that they didn't consider fuel in the search for water seems illogical. So for the sake of not calling Adama a senile old man who let his truck run out of gas because he forgot to get more, I will assume that they have in fact been keeping an eye out for all types of resources, but as the reporter mentioned, Tylium is very rare.

As the reporters continue to ask silly questions, the President sees a vision of snakes crawling all over her podium and her hands. The reporters ask her the plan should the fleet run out of fuel. This sort of thing really annoys me, not the plot itself but that people actually do think this way in real life. And this reporter dude is probably the final cylon because he asks the dumbest questions. Contingency Plans. Does no one get the concept of a survival situation? We have what we have and when its gone thats it, game over.

As if its the President's or the Military's fault that they are on the run rather than just having let the cylons kill them quick. As if anyone could say 'If I am elected I promise to get the cylons to leave us alone so we don't run out of food or water or fuel again.' They act so entitled. Had they been found by Admiral Cain instead of Cmdr Adama, they would have been left to die after she stripped their ships of resources. And yet they are exceedingly ungrateful and oblivious to the gravity of their situation.

If the fleet can not find fuel they will have to use what is left to jump to the nearest solar system and hope they find a habitable planet. Roslin is very disturbed by the snakes which appear to be very real to her, yet no one else can see them. She then confirms with the press that if the fleet is forced to stop due to lack of fuel, they would be like ducks in a Cylon Shooting Gallery. She then ends the press conference, leaves the press just hanging, and goes back to her private room.

A Raptor piloted by Sharon Sleeper Cylon Boomer with Crashdown as her ECO, has been doing sweeps for Tylium ore in an asteroid field with so much interference that they have to get right on top of each rock to read it's make up. It is the 87th sweep of this asteroid field and Crashdown is getting frustrated. Boomer teases him about some ensign back on Galactica that is stalking him. Just then they find an asteroid that appears to be made mostly of Tylium. As they pat themselves on the back for the score Boomer notices movement...the rock is also crawling with cylons.

I think its important to point out things like the banter going on between Boomer and Crashdown. Because you have to remember she has no idea she is a cylon. She was thinking she was, but then Baltar set her mind at ease. Even if it is pure programming...that is pretty fraking impressive programming. In Boomer's case it is a strong enough program to suppress her knowledge of who she really is until the time calls for it, while allowing her to be as human as any human could be.

In Athena's case it is not strong enough to overpower the desire to protect the ones we love. Interesting. Love...love is stronger than the cylons base programming. When the cylon is aware of her program that is. Boomer didn't know she was going to shoot the Old Man until she had already pulled the trigger. When that episode comes, we will address her own shock at what she just did. And also how the fear of doing something similar haunts Tyrol, Saul and Anders. Tory doesn't seem to have the same fear.


So they find the only Tylium remotely within their grasp and the Cylons beat them to it. Worse, its enough Tylium to last them for years...like a big fat carrot the rabbit can't resist. The timing of finding the fuel matches that of the water find. Like the Gods want to be sure the Fleet makes it to Earth. Col Tigh and Gaeta discuss the find in the CIC while Lee Adama looks at the pictures taken by Boomer's Raptor. Gaeta says its like the Cylons are staking out water holes in the dessert. Tigh says 'yeah, only this one is a lake.'

The Cylons didn't just find this asteroid yesterday, they have a full scale refinery built there, which means the Cylons have explored a lot more space than the Colonies. Prompting Gaeta to ask the question 'This far from their home world?' Why does that sound like the Colonies know where the cylons home world was/is? Or did they, like the rest of us, just assume it was just past the outer reaches of the colonies? Did the Armistice give all of outer space to the Cylons? They seemed to have a border fairly close to the Colonies. And yet I wonder if they even tell us.

{These questions and more probably won't get answered until post season 4 in the flashback movie 'The Plan' set from 15 days prior to the Fall of the 12 Colonies in the Miniseries to some point during season 3 or 4 - probably up to the point the Cylons decided to make Earth their home too.}

Lee suggests they just forget about this rock, that it is too heavily guarded. They should just look for another somewhere else. Col Tigh says the Cylons will be guarding that one too...so Lee suggests they send the Raptors farther out...10 to 15 jumps...find something the cylons haven't found yet. And use up all their fuel in the process adds Col Tigh. Adama wants to take this rock from the cylons. Tigh understands the need but is concerned about taking on a force clearly greater than their own. If they fail..end of game.

Down in the Pilot's ready room, Kara is teaching the newest squadron of pilots about out maneuvering cylon fire. This is the same group she nearly died for during Act of Contrition, including Chuckles, Hotdog and Kat. Chuckles is among the casualties in this episode. Cmdr Adama comes in. She says the new pilots are as wobbly as new born colts but getting stronger everyday. The Cmdr tells her they need her out of the box thinking for the op being planned. "Out of the box is where I live," she says.

Roslin meets with Elosha, a Priestess, on Colonial One, and discusses her Chamalla use along with the prescient dreams about LeOben, and the waking dream about the snakes. Elosha asks if the President is putting her on because of the Pythian prophecy regarding snakes numbering 2 and 10. In Elosha's version it was said a leader would be given a vision of the serpents. Later in the episode, Head Six will recite a slightly different wording, about being 'lead by' serpents, to which Baltar interprets to be the vipers that had attacked the Cylon refinery.

As Elosha details the prophecy she goes to on to mention that the leader mentioned in the scrolls was dying from a wasting disease then asks Roslin, 'you aren't dying are you?' Roslin didn't answer but of course we all know that she does have cancer.

Discussing the operation plan in the war room, Lee, Tigh, Cmdr Adama and Kara all stand around the big ops table with all the little models of ships. Lee's plan is textbook from his days in war college which is why it won't work. Kara says the Cylons will see right through it. As Kara details her plan some time passes and now there are more people including the President standing around the table.

Kara wants to use 3 civilian ships as decoys posing as mining survey ships. The President is concerned for the safety of the crews on those 3 ships. Lee informs her that their FTL drives will be spooled and ready to go at the first sign of trouble. There are various other aspects of the plan discussed, most of which rely on the President's OK. They need her permission to use the civilian freighters as decoys and the civilian passengers will have to be relocated off the decoy ships to other ships in the fleet.

Cmdr Adama understands the risk of stirring the bee's nest, being the Cylons, but they don't have a lot of choice. If they keep running eventually they will be dry and sitting ducks. He makes an analogy to school yard bullies and figures that if they stop running, turn around and poke them in a sensitive spot that the bullies might back off some. The President grants them use of the freighters and bids them all good hunting. 48 hrs to game time.

Kara and Tigh meet with Baltar. They must destroy the cylons on the asteroid without nukes which would render the ore inert and unusable. Luckily Tylium is just as devastating when targeted correctly, they just have to hit the storage tanks that hold the unrefined Tylium precursor, being far more volatile than the actual fuel. Unfortunately Baltar has no idea what the tanks look like...though he fails to mention that fact to Col Tigh or Kara.

Baltar retreats into his fantasy for a moment to ask his virtual girlfriend for help. She claims to have no knowledge of Tylium refineries but that God could help him. Baltar doesn't imagine the cylon God would want to help him destroy a Cylon base killing who knows how many cylons. Head Six states that God doesn't take sides, 'he only wants your love', she tells him to open his heart and God will guide him.

Back in reality, Baltar makes a wild guess and points at the aerial image...hit it there he says, and it will be like a 3 kiloton bomb. Out in the hall Baltar is feeling guilty because he never heard God but Head Six assures him that God doesn't always speak with words. Baltar is more than concerned that the fate of humanity rests on his wild guess. Baltar is a coward, but at least he does seem to care a little about his race, if not more than his own skin.

In the gym Cmdr Adama visits Starbuck doing leg presses with her bad knee. She wants in on this operation, he tells her Doc Cottle doesn't think her knee will take it. She tries to argue so he adds more weight to her machine detailing what she would be doing in the viper with each stack. She extends her leg and then he adds more. She has to hold it for at least 10 seconds to simulate a high speed turn pulling 6 G's. She can't hold it and has to drop the stack. Then Adama says it wasn't even as much as 6 Gs, it was more like 3. He grounds her advising that Lee will be leading this run.

A bit later Kara and Lee are looking at the aerial image again, she is going over the plan details and giving Lee a 'pep' talk. He is trying to be confident - but states everyone including himself would feel better if she was coming along and that even though he may not pull off some wild stunt like she would that this is his job and he will get it done. She reminds him how important the mission is and that he shouldn't frak it up by over thinking. Then she walks off. Their relationship in this show is a far cry from the Breck Twins in the original series. Thanks the Gods. LOL

The next day back on Caprica, Helo and Sharon are walking through a horse stable. Helo quips that the great thing about being the last survivors is that no one is around to complain when they crash in their barns or raid their pantries. He then asks if she finds it strange that they haven't seen a single living human since the one {a Six} Sharon shot in the woods....Helo still doesn't know the Cylons can look human.

Sharon has this look of remorse or guilt or just that she knows the woman was not human and that any humans left alive either ran for the hills or ended up in the farms. She tells him that they are probably just hold up in their fall out shelters some where. They both climb up into the loft of the barn. He offers her a snack and she runs off to puke. He asks if she is taking her meds for radiation. She blames the beans they had for lunch. The rest of us know she is pregnant. That's right, a cylon skin job got pregnant by a human man. No, there is no higher power at work here...nope...not at all. LOL

In Galactica's hanger, Lee and Adama share a quiet chat about having insomnia the night before a mission. Bill says he has something for Lee and takes out his father's lighter, inscribed with the name Joseph Adama. Bill states that his mother, Lee's grandmother, bought it for Joe when he was in law school. Bill goes on to say that his dad was a better father than he has been. Lee doesn't answer, Bill then adds that Joe Adama claimed to never have lost a case unless he left his lighter behind.

Bill gives the lighter to Lee for luck. Lee figures his dad is worried about his ability to complete the mission. Lee feels that everyone thinks Starbuck would do the mission better. They share a touching moment when Cmdr Adama is certain that Lee will be fine...because he is his son. Then Bill tells Lee to get some rest. As Bill departs, Lee promises to return the lighter to which Bill says 'You'd better, or I'll kick your ass...its a good lighter.'

While the relationship between Lee and Bill continues to be strained, it is obvious that the emotions are there, but like most people who have had issues in the past, these 2 find it difficult to get past some of their hang ups. The Bill/Lee relationship will continue to have its ups and downs, even up to the point we are at at the middle of Season 4. Just when you think they are good to go, one of them chooses an opposing path and the cycle begins again.

The next morning on Caprica, Helo is awakened by Sharon accidentally swatting his face in her sleep. He then hears a cylon patrol coming down the road in the rain. Helo looks through binoculars and sees another copy of a 6. 'But you killed her' he says to Sharon. Sharon takes the binoculars next seeing the patrol of Centurions. Then she tells Helo they have to go now. He is still going on about the dead blonde not being dead. She prods him to get moving. They bail from the loft and start running.

Galactica jumps into the asteroid field with the Dradis interference covering their signature. The 3 civilian vessels jump into a different location and use an open channel to announce their presence. The President is with Cmdr Adama, Baltar and Gaeta in the War Room. They must wait for the cylons to take the bait. The Raptors on station report that 90 plus raiders are in bound to the decoys. Kara walks in just as the first strike force of vipers is launched from Galactica on the tail of the raiders bound for the decoys.

50 more raiders are then added by the cylons to go after the attack force that launched from Galactica. The vipers engage at 5 to 1 odds. Splash at least 1 viper. Strike Team one is not doing so well and is aborted to return to base. They are pursued by the entire raider compliment, 50 + 90 raiders come after the Galactica having overheard the recall on an open channel thus abandoning the decoys altogether.

A few more moments pass with The President and Baltar looking defeated, when Adama tells Kara it's her plan and with The President and Baltar looking a bit confused, Kara advises Gaeta to advise Dee in CIC to send a scrambled message to Apollo that 'The back door is open'.

Seconds later in a scene reminiscent of the Trojan War, a cargo bay cover on one of the decoy freighters detaches, slowly revealing a full squadron of vipers, including Apollo, that release their magnetic locks and launch from the freighter.

When the President asks Kara why that detail was kept from her, Cmdr Adama says he routinely keeps tactical information on a need to know basis, out of habit. He apologizes, though Roslin seems to be more relieved that they could actually pull off this stunt than upset for being left out of the loop.

With the raiders en route to the Galactica, and Lee's team headed for the Cylon Base through the back door, Cmdr Adama departs for the CIC. Tigh informs him they have 3 minutes until the first wave of raiders reach Galactica. The advise the first strike team to stop running and blow those frackin' raiders from the sky. The recall of the 1st strike team was all a part of Kara's plan, she seems to know the cylons pretty well. They fell for her little trick hook, line and sinker.

Meanwhile, Lee leads the second strike force down to the surface to destroy the base. The cylons have automated ground defenses that not only cost them 3 vipers and pilots, but also, according to Kat, the Cylons are jamming the missile guidance making it impossible to hit the target using the computers.

As an homage to Star Wars, Lee takes them down to the deck, to get as close as they can so they won't need the guidance, and can hit the target manually. He even takes a trip through a small tunnel, muttering to himself the whole time just like Luke Skywalker did.

Kat and Baltar both question Lee's sanity for entering the tunnel with no guarantee that it goes anywhere. Vipers can stop on a dime apparently as he reaches a dead end and makes a 90 degree turn straight up. Clear of the tunnel at last and back on the surface Apollo demonstrates just how maneuverable those vipers are. He sees the target, hops over the obstacles, drops his bombs, suffers the endless wait to detonation and then...boom Boom BOOM!!

Lee did it!! Mission Accomplished!! Everyone on Galactica is cheering!! Dr. Baltar was right on the money and will now be hailed as a hero!! This moment is the catalyst for his rise in political power as we shall see in the next episodes. Kara hugs the president then apologizes, but Roslin thanks her for such a great plan, which will provide them with enough fuel to last a couple years, then Roslin hugs Kara again.

The Viper teams are given clearance to pursue and destroy the fleeing raiders - one assumes for a bit of payback, but tactically they have to get them all before one jumps away to get help. Lee and his team return to the ship, greeted with champagne and celebrating crew members. Starbuck gives Lee a Fumarello Cigar that he lights with his dads lighter, just as the Cmdr arrives, tossing it to his dad across the deck.

Inside Baltar's dream world, Head six asks him if he ever read the Pythian Prophecies. He says not since the sixth grade and that ancient history was never his favorite. She they tells him he should have paid better attention. She repeats the reference to serpents but states it as 'lead by' serpents which they both see as referring to the vipers not actual snakes. {Is Baltar dying perhaps? He does take medicine for something, and as of season 4 he is a leader.}

Head Six then adds the part about how even though the outcome favored the few it would lead to a confrontation on the Home of the Gods; {Kobol} Just like Leoben predicted in the episode Flesh and Bone. Guias takes that to mean that God wanted Baltar to help the fleet destroy the refinery - Head Six says that he {Guias} did good. This God seems want the humans to have a chance at survival. Perhaps the Cylons were not suppose to destroy humanity? Thus their God would have to intervene to save the future? Or maybe it really is all about Baltar? That would be a kick.

Baltar seems to have a bit of epiphany at that moment, realizing that the only logical answer to his being able to so accurately guess the correct target is that he was moved by God. The episode ends with Baltar staring up at the sky in his imagination stating 'I..am...an instrument of God.'

Personally, I still think he is a Tool. LOL But the fact is clear that Head Six guides Baltar and when he does as she tells him, things work out in his favor. Someone, something, a higher power or more advanced being wants Baltar to be given a position of power. But why. It could be as simple as needing the Fleet to stop at New Caprica to delay reaching the Algae Planet before the Nova. Remember she manipulates him into making the settling of New Caprica his primary campaign platform.

Perhaps God intervened and change Racetracks jump coordinates allowing her to find New Caprica in the first place? Many things happened or were made possible as a direct result of their stay on New Caprica beyond the more obvious occupation, exodus and abduction of Kara by Leoben, including the discovery that Hera lives. However I won't get into those items until we get closer to the end of Season 2.
***

Thank you for reading
~99
^Additional^ notes from http://en.BattlestarWiki.org regarding this episode - available here.
***
In the next episode, 'Colonial Day' we finally get a dose of the civilian government, and a whole bunch of political posturing as a meeting of the Interim Quorum of 12 turns into a quest to elect a Vice President. Tom Zarek returns as the delegate for Saggitaron, his charisma and popularity forces Roslin to choose for her VP the only person in the Fleet currently more charismatic and well received than Zarek...Guias Baltar.
***

Thank you for reading,
~99
***
CLICK FOR MORE!

Original US Airdate: March, 4, 2005

***These articles are full of Spoilers from the entire series to date as aired in the USA...Continue At Your Own Risk--Moreover, the format assumes the reader has seen all of the episodes and specials aired through the first half of season 4, up to and including “Revelations”***

^Borrowed material is duly credited^ Thank you in advance to battlestarwiki.org, surfthechannel.com and any other entity directly mentioned in my ramblings...a polite email to ninanintius@gmail.com will add any notations you desire or remove any references/links to your sites as you wish. Thank you again.

Read the Prior Episode Commentaries Here
Re-Watch the Episode Here First

^Time Line^
***
^Day 21:^ First recollection by any of the Rising Star crew members of giving Ellen Tigh medical assistance.
^Day 26:^ Ellen Tigh regains consciousness.
^Day 28:^ William Adama retrieves Ellen Tigh from the Rising Star.

Colonel Tigh's world is turned upside down when his wife arrives on Galactica -- but is she all she claims to be? And what of the seemingly lost raider that coincides with Adama bringing Ellen back to the Galactica?

***
Imperial Commentary

This is the episode that finds Saul Tigh giving up booze for all of half a day before being faced with his presumed dead wife. And if the final cylon is someone that they practically tattooed cylon on their forehead to make them so obvious as to be too obvious then it most definitely is Ellen.

This is also the episode where they manage to tell the fans that the colonies follow the same 24 hr day 365 day year as we do on Earth. Not to mention the most hysterical scene of Baltar getting caught molesting his invisible friend by Kara.

Did you notice the CIC had a balcony? It just shows how, at least for me, how we miss the little details while focusing on the bigger picture. It would be a random trivia question I would get wrong because I couldn't recall that detail as pertinent to the overall plot.

But that is the greatest treat when watching these episodes over again...seeing the detail...not to mention the grandness of the set. This balcony is not so different from that in the future images of the mysterious Opera House, wrapping around the main stage below in a half circle. I wonder if that was an accident or if it was on purpose?


The balcony has consoles and work stations with personnel doing their duties. There is a glass shield that is similar to those in hospitals that have a gallery for watching surgical procedures without being in the room. The CIC also has a central computer console that retracts up into the rafters like the score board at some arena's.

As the first scene takes shape we see President Roslin lurking up above on the balcony while Cmdr Adama stands at the center just below the computer screens being lowered from the ceiling. Gaeta approaches, gives the Cmdr a report from Baltar and advises him that the President is waiting for him.

Adama looks up and they make eye contact. She is still reeling from the comment made by the LeOben about "Adama is a cylon" but waves and smiles, a gesture he returns.

I figure her motives in the last episode to have the cylon airlocked were no more than political moves on her part. She had to show Cmdr Adama she had the brass to do what he was going to do from the start. Show him that she, the President, would decide who gets airlocked and she would do it herself.

She doesn't need him coddling her. And he did seem to approve. I wonder if he would have been as happy if she had kept her word and not airlocked the cylon? Would he have challenged her authority and tried to have the cylon executed or would he just beat him to death like he did the first one at Ragnor? Or would he cave to her will?

Later in the flashback movie Razor, young Adama bludgeons a cylon centurion and sees a man that some say looked like Leoben, personally I thought he looked far more like Tyrol. Or say Tyrol's father. The scene where he beats the centurion to death is very similar to the one at Ragnor years later.

Cmdr Adama is my other hopeful for the final cylon. Simply because they made a big stink about him putting it in his contract that he woudn't be a cylon - that just sounds insanely made up - and also because it would turn the whole show on its ear.

It's not so crazy to rationalize him as the final cylon. I mean they had 360 degrees of direction to choose from out into space away from their home solar system...how did he just happen to know what direction to pick?

I suppose that it is possible, though not mentioned, that they knew in what direction Earth was supposed to be according to legend, just not exactly how far or specifically where, just in what general direction to go looking.

Cmdr Adama meets with Roslin and tells her the cylon detector is done. They then start a bit of cat and mouse hinting about who should go first to be tested. She says "If your a cylon, I would really like to know" to which he replies "If I am a cylon you are really screwed" they both laugh but the banter continues.

She wants him to go first to show the people that the leadership can be trusted. He says then she should go first...she doesn't smile. And he concedes. Dang she has him so whipped already. LOL

In addition to the expected features of a Battlestar, Galactica has a small observation lounge complete with telescopes and chairs for cuddling while star gazing. Billy and Dee {who apparently are an item now and whose last name should be Williams... ;)} sit by the main window as 2 vipers on CAP do a fly by. Dee says they did that because they knew she was in there.

We hear over the PA that those in the lounge are about out of time. Apparently this room is in demand and therefore time for its use is limited. I presume that all those present are in the military or there as guests of someone in the military like Billy.

He and Dee share a kiss then Billy starts grilling her about the Old Man. Dee gives up a few details about how Adama has been behaving lately before realizing she was being prodded. Apparently Adama has been making mysterious calls off ship with no log record. Behaving distractedly. Going off ship with no flight plan. Later Billy relays the intel to Roslin. And tells her he can't believe they actually think Cmdr Adama is a cylon or somehow replaced by a cylon duplicate.

Baltar is in the lab with head 6 asking if suicide is really a sin, she says its a mortal one. 47,905 people in fleet...11 hrs to confirm each test result...21,956 days or approximately 61 years to test them all...he would rather kill himself. {Do the math here to see that they have a 24 hr day and 365 day year.} After a bit more self pity she then offers him some perks, to which he giddily and perversely accepts.

He is soon interrupted by Kara...one of the funniest scenes ever. Baltar tries to explain his frottage of the desk as stretching exercises...Kara tells him to zip his fly and clearly doesn't see head six bent over the desk with her skirt up to her waist. Nice ass by the way. LOL

Colonel Tigh sits alone in his quarters staring at the remaining bits of booze in his bottle. He pours out the last of it into the trash then pulls out the burnt image of his wife Ellen, which he crumples and throws out also. "At least I did that much today" he says to himself before being summoned to the CIC.

A lone cylon raider has jumped into the fleet. Lee is on CAP and goes after the bird, takes out the weapons and then the raider jumps away. But it doesn't go far before appearing again. This raider is wounded they think. Tigh asks about the Old Man. Dee advises that Cmdr Adama is not on board and hasn't been on board for over an hour.

Tigh is dumbfounded that Adama is gone missing but maintains his focus on the task at hand. He sees an opportunity to get better intel from the raider so he orders a raptor in the air to get readings off the bird before it jumps away again. Meanwhile Adama returns in his raptor with a passenger. Colonel Tigh's presumed dead whore of a wife Ellen.

Down on Caprica, Helo and Sharon are running from the cylons through storm drains. When Helo can't understand why all of sudden the cylons are out in full force just for them, she tells him the cylons are after her because she overheard plans that they are establishing a base at the city of Delphi. Sharon also plans for them to steal a ship from there to get off the planet.

Back on Galactica the president is dismayed to learn that Adama has canceled his blood test for that of someone named Ellen with no last name given. Roslin orders him to resume the test on Adama and hangs up.

Ellen and Saul embrace, as she details her whereabouts. She claims she has been on the Rising Star. That she was on Picon getting a ticket home when she was apparently knocked out and some random stranger saved her. She claims to have been unconscious this whole time until just a few days ago. Saul is clearly ecstatic she is back and wants to start over telling her that the past is the past. She wants some booty but he is on duty. Then he gets called to go meet with the President.

Tyrol, Adama and Kara are in the CIC discussing the goofy raider. Every time it jumps they get more intel on the FTL drive, which Kara sees as a good thing in helping them with the one they have in the hanger bay. Lee walks up, he is briefed and then Adama invites him to dinner.

Tigh meets with the President on Colonial One, getting defensive when she starts questioning Adama. She wants to know if Tigh has seen any odd behavior then mentions the timing of him being off ship while a cylon raider is bouncing around the fleet. He explains to the President that Adama went to get his wife. Ellen. The president tells him she is happy that his wife has been found then excuses him. After he leaves she calls Baltar and requests that the test on Ellen be resumed immediately. LOL

Ellen manages to acquire some Ambrosia which she surprises Saul with. He is still on duty but she talks him into celebrating. They get a good buzz on before having dinner in the Cmdr's quarters. The President, Cmdr Adama, and Lee are all there too. Ellen gets even more drunk talking non stop. She wants to know where Earth is then starts mentioning Zack. When she says that Lee is the spitting image of his mother, I wonder if that is a dig to Bill that maybe Lee isn't his? Ellen settles down when the Cmdr advises her that Zack is dead. Ellen then starts playing footsie under the table on Lee's leg.

Bill states there is some mystery about how she got on the Rising Star - no one gave her any treatment until last week. And she knows that cylons look like them now - a fact only just recently revealed to the public. If it weren't so obvious that the writers want us to think she is a cylon I would say she was as likely as anyone. but then again, maybe being obvious is the best way to throw us off.

She would be the last cylon. She would be unknown to the others. And was already dead by the time the music played at the end of season 3. She could even be the one who Deanna shakes hands with in her vision of the final 5 during season 3. Because Ellen worked for Cavil and was fraking him to get Saul out of the Detention Center. So Deanna should have known her.

She may even have known she was a cylon and that Saul was too always trying to get him more power, though bringing out his drunkenness was counter productive to his advancement so maybe she didn't know. In any case, cylons are obviously attracted to each other sexually giving more weight to the idea of Ellen being the final. Tyrol and Boomer. Caprica and Saul. Anders and Tory. Saul and Ellen? Cavil and Ellen?

However, if she is not the final cylon then it is likely she had a boyfriend that she was shacking up with this whole time and maybe he put her in the hospital and she made up the rest so she could get back with Tigh. As of the end of mid season 4, she hasn't been revealed to be anything but a slutty manipulator that wants her hubby to get ahead so she can be on his arm. Although she did get him out of detention, she nearly sacrificed all of humanity for it. Clearly a selfish move.

During dinner when Adama says that anyone of them could be a cylon there is a long silence as they all look at each other across the table suspiciously until Ellen yells "Boo!" and makes them all jump. Her and Tigh bust up laughing.

Cmdr Adama ends the party and thanks everyone for coming. Ellen gropes Lee while Tigh tells the Old Man how happy he is. After the Tighs leave, Lee says to his dad and the President, if Ellen 'isn't' a cylon then they are all in a lot of trouble. I find that too damn funny. Adama states that Ellen has slept with half fleet according to scuttlebutt, while Tigh was off in space. And she has a penchant for bringing out the worst in Tigh...a self destructive nature. Roslin points out that he clearly loves her deeply. Adama adds 'and blindly.'

Flashing back to Helo and Sharon on Caprica, we see they are underground in some kind of sewer storm drain. She peers out a man hole to see lots of centurions on patrol. She tells him they have to find another way out. He is tired and can't understand why she doesn't ever need to stop. She says its just adrenaline and to move!

Saul and Ellen stumble while giggling through the hall back to their quarters on Galactica. She is flicking Adama crap even though Tigh tells her to cool it...then climbs up on a scaffold wrapping her legs around Saul's head. She gyrates and chants that "Bill Adama doesn't know where earth is" in a very child like tone, just as Baltar walks up. He says I don't believe I have had the pleasure and starts to introduce himself to Ellen who already knows who he is and states that the pleasure is all hers.

Head Six appears...which strikes me now as interesting. She says to Baltar 'There is something here isn't there?' Then says that he should definitely be watching her. Ellen invites him for a night cap but then he gets paged to his lab. After Baltar leaves, Tigh and Ellen have a tense moment about her flirting. Then she tries to tell him that Bill put his hand on her leg at dinner but Tigh says he won't fall for it. She adds that Bill came to visit her on the Rising Star and that Bill would touch her while she pretended to sleep. She then drags him off to Baltar's lab to prove it.

When I was studying the different archetype personalities, the one that I found to be missing was 'The Child'. Up until I re watched this episode I figured it was likely going to mean either one of the now known 11 cylons was more child like than I was getting from their personalities or the final cylon was Boxey. But now...now I am wondering if it really is Ellen?

In the lab there is discussion about why the test on Ellen was stopped, Roslin takes the blame. There is a lovely argument going about who is a cylon and then Ellen tries to say that Bill wants her in the physical sense, but really he just wants to keep an eye on her.

The officers get called to CIC - the wounded raider is back. The XO orders the alert fighters to launch. Kara says the raider is just playing them. Just then the raider is suddenly not as injured anymore and makes a b-line for the ship. It has no weapons but can still play Kamikaze. However, since Saul ordered the alert fighters in time, they managed to take out the target before it could cause any damage to The Galactica.

Later when Bill and Tigh discuss what happened with Ellen in the lab, Bill thanks Saul for doing his job and saving the ship. He just doesn't want Ellen or anything to come between them. Bill needs Saul without the cup of booze in his hand. Saul claims he was just celebrating.

On Caprica the Six and Doral are discussing how Sharon and Helo managed to escape. Six says that Sharon loves Helo now and thinks she cant live without him. Sharon's compassion has made her resourceful. Doral asks Six if it bothers her because she has never experienced that feeling. Doral even wonders what it would be like to feel that intensely about someone else. The look on Six's face is one of holding back tears, indicating to me that she has had that feeling which also tells me that she is definitely the Six that saved Baltar the one we will know later as Caprica Six.

At the end, all of the players from the dinner party are gathered back in the lab where Baltar tells them that Ellen's test is very green - she is not a cylon. Ellen hugs Bill and tells him not to frak with her, he replies 'don't frak with me either.' Head Six then appears to comment about how they don't know that everyone passes this test. Baltar says its much simpler really, no muss no fuss. When she asks him what the real result was...he says...'I will never tell'...then grins.

Frak - if not for what Head Six said about watching her - watching Ellen - I would have dismissed all the clues to her obviously being a cylon as red herrings and too obvious. Then again - watching her because Ellen has her own agenda and perhaps as an angel of god Head Six sees Ellen for the spawn of hell she really is. LOL

From Wiki - an Excerpt from the Official Season 1 Companion Book regarding Baltar's Cylon Detector...

Q. "What is Baltar hoping to gain from keeping the test results secret?"

* Answer: The official Season 1 companion book explains this more fully. Basically, Baltar does not know if the Cylons in the Fleet are capable of communicating with each other. That's why in "Flesh and Bone" he didn't call in the Marines to grab Sharon as soon as she left his lab; if he reveals one or two of the Cylons, while more are still at large, he is afraid that the others will then target him for assassination. More or less, Baltar's plan is to screen out as many people as he can to find all of the Cylons, and then reveal them in one fell swoop.

Even if they don't possess a communications net, they might just realize his Cylon detector works if one of their number like Boomer is revealed by the test; he wants them to think it doesn't really work. Alternatively, as it might take years to test the entire Fleet, Baltar would do what he will do later on in "Resistance"; find one Cylon, then interrogate it to find out who the other Cylons are, etc. For the moment, he is biding his time.
***

Thank you for reading
~99

^Additional^ notes from http://en.BattlestarWiki.org regarding this episode - available here.
***In the next episode, 'The Hand of God' the Fleet faces another reality, that fuel does not last forever. If they don't find a source of Tylium soon, they are fraked. With only enough fuel left for 2 more jumps, they have to decide between attempting to take what they need from a Cylon refinery discovered on a nearby asteroid or risk using up the fuel they have to find a safer source.
***

Thank you for reading,
~99

***
CLICK FOR MORE!

Original US Airdate: February, 25, 2005

***These articles are full of Spoilers from the entire series to date as aired in the USA...Continue At Your Own Risk--Moreover, the format assumes the reader has seen all of the episodes and specials aired through the first half of season 4, up to and including “Revelations”***


^Borrowed material is duly credited^ Thank you in advance to battlestarwiki.org, surfthechannel.com and any other entity directly mentioned in my ramblings...a polite email to ninanintius@gmail.com will add any notations you desire or remove any references/links to your sites as you wish. Thank you again.



Read the Prior Episode Commentaries Here


Re-Watch the Episode Here First


^Time Line^


***


^Day 25:^ A copy of Leoben Conoy is found, interrogated and ejected from an airlock.

When a copy of Leoben Conoy is captured aboard a civilian ship, President Roslin orders his interrogation, and Lieutenant Thrace is assigned the job. She finds herself facing the possibility that the Cylon may have planted a bomb somewhere in the Fleet.


***


Imperial Commentary

We get off to a dreamy start with President Laura Roslin dressed in white linens, bathed in bright light, running through a dark misty forest, seemingly running from Colonial Marines while apparently running toward a LeOben model cylon. He pulls her behind a tree covering her mouth while the marines pass them by. She lifts her hand toward them for a second but doesn't really struggle again LeOben's grasp.

Once the marines disappear into the darkness he releases her...steps backward...looks down and then up....and then 'whoosh' is sucked backward by some unknown force into the darkness...Roslin slowly looks around when she sees him again standing behind her. He says her name "Laura" loud and sternly which startles her awake. She is now in her bed back on Colonial One.

The question still remains, not how she had a vision about a cylon they are about to find on board the Gemenon Traveler, because that could easily be from the Chamalla. No the big question is why in her dream was she running from the Marines - not toward them, and why did she look so angelic?

The Oracles use Chamalla to induce trances which aide in their ability to have visions. However it is generally assumed, even in our reality that such gifts are inherent and only intensified - not caused by the drugs. If the drugs caused the visions - then everyone would take them and tell the future. Most who take the drug will suffer hallucinations. The only real difference between a hallucination and a vision is that the latter generally comes true in one form or another.

It is further possible that the Oracles going back to Pythia or even before, had the gift of precognition and discovered by chance or by vision that the drug would enhance the experience, possibly creating the ideal chemical reaction in ones brain to process these images in more vivid detail.

Of course my wild imagination is merely filling the blanks left by the ones that wrote the story to begin with and until they tell us otherwise its as good a theory as any.

What I am saying here is that Laura Roslin has or rather always has had the gift...The day in the doctors office when she learned of her cancer and prognosis, she had a few flashing images go through her mind even then. And the way she gets lost in her thoughts having to be startled back to reality is similar to cylon projection...and even Baltar's imagination, although his is more in the now.


Laura wakes, sits up, goes to the john and takes some meds. Billy asks her if she is ok through the door and that she has an urgent call from the Captain of the Gemenon Traveler. They have found a cylon hiding on board and have captured it and locked under guard.

Most colonials at this point refer to the cylons as 'it' but later when Roslin ends the interrogation she refers to him as 'this man'. Of course she was manipulating both the cylon and Kara at the time.

As she is looking at LeOben's pic while talking to the Cmdr on the phone, she has a flash from her dream. Cmdr Adama orders the Gemenon Traveler to be isolated. He wants the cylon destroyed. Roslin wants the cylon interrogated by someone who won't easily be fooled. Adama protests stating that this model is too manipulative. Roslin then 'orders' Cmdr Adama to interrogate the cylon and he concedes.

Did I miss the episode where he softened on his whole...this is a military matter and I will make the military calls? Perhaps after he made such a stink over searching for Kara that he feels more respect for her. That she gets his point of view. Or he is already getting a crush on her and letting it sway him.

So he picks Starbuck. Why? Well it is her destiny but seriously why? You can't bull shit a bullshitter...that's why. If you have a delinquency issue at your school you get a former delinquent to assist you. If you have a smooth talking walking male model cyber toy who is known for being a bit smug and proud...you send someone just like him...albeit a female human toy but same difference.

Cmdr Adama and Kara discuss the stolen raider and Starbuck goes on about all they have got working on the thing with the FTL just around the corner.

I still don't get how something without a brain can be made to work...so maybe the brain was just the pilot and the raider itself is still a machine. They really need to work that one out for me...It seems if you rip the brain out of a skin job you can't program it to keep walking around so why does it work in the raider. I don't usually poo-poo over this stuff but if it was alive before - it is now dead so it should not be possible that they can make it work.

Mostly because it conflicts with the ideal that the cylons are more alive than we realize. Something I believe the writers and producers want us to realize. Or perhaps its a testament to the various levels of cylon evolution. Perhaps the raiders are just uninvolved enough to be more machine than not.

Now for the fun part - I believe that Scar - was the reincarnated Raider that Kara killed/captured on that planet. His consciousness was ripped from the shell when she removed his brain. That would be traumatic. And would make for one blood thirsty raider. Aka SCAR.

When Adama warns Kara that the LeOben will try to get in her head she replies "It's ok, my mom always said there was nothing in there anyways".

{Random Theories/questions Triggered}
Have the cylons ever been to their home world? How do we know it even exists? How far away was the Hub? The Colonials had to jump with the Cylons but the Hub jumps too. The Hub must follow the cylons or they can just jump really far in those Basestars. The Basestars regenerate and bleed. (Season 4) So what about the other ships? Raiders yes, heavy raider? Res Ship?

And are there a set number of copies for each model - both in spares and those active at one time? Are the cylon Skinjobs in possession of the original Centurion 'Souls'? Are they the primary copy of each model? Or were those original Souls perhaps the source of the final 5 or the Guardians? Will they ever tell us??
{End Randomness}

Later on Boomer visits and hums to the broken raider again. Wondering to Tyrol if what she said about treating it like a pet vs a machine worked...Tyrol said it did and asked her how she thought of it. She says - I am a cylon - he says that's not funny. She asks if she could prove she wasn't a cylon would it make a difference to the chief as far as their relationship was concerned? He didn't answer and she walked off.

We all know what a basket case Boomer was after resurrecting. (Season 2) Finding out her life was a lie and that the lie forced her to betray the ones she loved like family. Add to that the fleets later acceptance of Athena, and the way Helo's love for Athena saved her life - vs Tyrol just dumping Boomer, I would say that Boomer is a classic broken heart who even now struggles to fit in by joining up with Cavil...and he is so sweet..cough..calls her his pet Eight. (Season 4)

Meanwhile Starbuck is on board a Raptor getting permission to dock with the Gemenon Traveler. We then see her outside the makeshift brig discussing with the guard how human the cylon looks both on the inside and out when she notes the model is sweating. She finds it interesting. Then enters and asks LeOben if he is sleeping, he says he is praying.

He ignores her questions about cylons and bombs, asking her name after introducing himself. She prods him further while he tries to play her mind by guessing her name. Though he calls her Lt Starbuck not Thrace. Says he 'saw' her, he knew this time would come and now they can talk. Says he planted a nuclear warhead to go off at 1830 hrs. He refers to her superiors as her masters.

Adama orders radiological sweeps of all ships. Starbuck tells Adama and the President that he guessed her call sign. Adama believes he could have heard it anywhere. LeOben starts giving Starbuck details about herself like the gods she prays too being Artemis and Aphrodite. {There is a funny inside joke to be had here.}

He then says To Know the Face of God is to Know Madness. He says he 'sees' the universe and he 'sees' the patterns. Goes on to tell her that he has a secret to tell her about the future but that they have to see this through to the end. Then lunch comes.

He is clearly hungry but keeps talking about faith whiles she eats in front of him. He then asks for the food. He hasn't eaten for days and says the cylons choose to feel hungry or in pain to be more human. The guard then hits him. LeOben says it hurt. Starbuck explains the way a human would feel pain and that he can't turn it off or admit he is a machine. Then he challenges her to "let the games begin".

Why were people more affronted at Gina being beaten than this LeOben? You take out the rapes and her treatment wasn't all different than what Starbuck does to LeOben, he just got put out of his misery sooner. Hindsight is 20/20 and of course we saw the cheap thrills the Peggy crew was getting from torturing Gina vs the ethical quandary that Starbuck goes through even before she is done with him.

So perhaps I was less bothered by this than the other because of how the torturers felt about it after. It is not the action that bothers me so much as the reaction by those that did it. I guess. LOL (Beings this is not real) And too with Gina - she was not just interrogated for a few days then locked up or airlocked - she was turned into a sex toy for the crew...and that's just shitty.

Back in the lab Baltar is studying tissue samples while Head Six gives him a neck massage. She says "look what the cat dragged in" when Boomer shows up at the Hatch.

Baltar puts his suave on while Head Six asks him if he has ever wondered why she is called Boomer? Boomer then starts to ask about the cylon detector. He says its hush hush, and asks her why they call her Boomer. She ignores him and asks to be put in the first batch. When prompted by head 6 he asks her what her rush is and makes excuses about not playing favorites...if he is even working on anything.

Boomer then reminds him how her ECO gave up his seat and that she brought Baltar back to Galactica...saving his life and that he now 'owes' her. Head six smiles and says...'she shoots...she scores'.

Head six wants him to do it as the results will be quite interesting. he says they aren't ready yet for large scale testing but could use a Beta test subject. It is really not clear at this point if Head Six knows that Boomer is a sleeper or just knows she is a cylon or if she is just guessing...I think she knows...but I don't think the cylons know about her - Head Six.

Back on Caprica... the other Sharon is watching Helo sleep while the Six and Doral walk through a playground commenting that Sharon is late. When Doral comments on Six referring to this model as 'Sharon' Six states she prefers to think of Sharon as one of 'them' the humans, not because she doesn't like her but because 'in the grand scheme of things, we are what we do...and if she acts like one of them and she thinks like one of them...she is one of them."

That is an interesting statement sort of like if it walks like a duck...and it follows to say that the more the cylons are around humans...the more they all begin to exhibit all manner of human behavior, therefore making them more human. Not all humans are well behaved of course.

Like Kirk said...'We are all human' and whether or not Spock finds it insulting or not...being Human has nothing to do with your species and everything to do with your behavior.

Human should equal humane since the words are related. Sadly it doesn't, but someday perhaps it will. Even the cylons found it inhumane for the resistance fighters on New Caprica to leave them, the cylons to die slowly. Of course putting a drill bit in a guys ear is perfectly ok. LOL For Deanna. {Season 3}

Athena arrives at the swing set and tells them she had sex with Helo. Six wants to know if he has professed his love for her. Athena says no but that she thinks he does love her despite Six insisting that he say it out loud.

It is not clear if this is the Caprica Six that saved Baltar or the "Are you Alive" Armistice six we have seen killed twice now. Her obsession with hearing the words "I love you" leads me to think this is Caprica Six the one that saved Baltar. The other Six only says "Are you Alive?" LOL

Doral then tells Athena they have set up a nice love nest and she has to convince Helo to set up house there or she must kill him. When asked if she can handle it, Athena doesn't answer, she just leaves them thinking she will handle it then runs toward Helo, and tells him they have to run now. Even faster than before. "Trust me" she says.

Kara is still with LeOben trying to get him to give up the nuke. Now he is telling her he is God. She laughs. He begins to preach about how humans wasted the love of God and that is why God created the Cylons. The Marines leave and LeOben tells her what he could do before they get back. Then he does it...breaking his bonds...and pinning Kara to the wall with one hand.

Cylons have super human strength but they rarely use it...perhaps it is against their religion. I wonder why Gina didn't fight back so they would just kill her. Maybe she really loved Cain and couldn't bear the guilt over betraying her trust or maybe she was just as brokenhearted that Cain could do order those things to be done to her and lost her will to live. Or fighting back would be considered suicide.

I suppose even cylons can be weakened to being unable to fight back - she was shackled also. But it just seemed like they choose not to fight back when they are perfectly able to...like the Amish. Or its more likely that they have learned that humans cannot be beaten one on one. Perhaps explaining the original attacks. Perhaps they are just as unpredictable as humans? Perhaps its guilt over the devastation that stops them. Most likely it is a belief that they must not use that strength as it is too machine like.

Adama visits the first 'dead' LeOben in the morgue. The one from Ragnor Anchorage. Time is running out so he orders that the fleet distance themselves from each other. Whichever ship has the nuke will be far enough away from the others to minimize damage. He stands over the body with the phone receiver in his hand clearly thinking about pummeling the cylon with the handset. He doesn't.

Meanwhile Starbuck tries water torture on LeOben who mentions her destiny. They discuss cylon resurrection. And cyborg technology. He swears he has a soul. And begins to mention Kara's mother. He has Kara's attention. He strikes a nerve giving vivid details about her childhood and the things her mother used to tell her...and do to her...so she tells the marines to start again. LeOben stops resisting. He seems to be enjoying his torture. Perhaps its the smugness of having envisioned these events, and having them come true?

Back in the lab, Baltar tells Boomer it will only take a few minutes to test if she is a cylon. She mentions being from Troy - not Aerelon - a mining colony. And her whole family was killed in a well known accident.

Now Head Six appears to point out the test results and wonders if Baltar will tell her and if Boomer will react well...that most likely Boomer doesn't even know she is a cylon and that her cylon nature will probably take over and break his neck before he can tell anyone. So Baltar panics as usual and changes the results. He send Boomer on her way happily thinking she is no cylon. In later episodes he states the test actually takes 11 hrs per person. Probably a plot rewrite to make it seem a more daunting task.

{Theories}
Why didn't Baltar go to Adama? Perhaps his head six doesn't want him too. But it is more likely that he was just being lazy and avoiding the effort of having to testify against Boomer - whom did save his life sort of. Helo did technically. Of course now that Baltar let Boomer go she is now free to shoot the Old Man at the end of season 1. We could postulate that Baltar could have prevented it but could he? How do we know that Boomer would not have activated the moment exposed and killed everyone in the room?
{End Theories}

On Colonial One Laura Roslin takes a nap and has another dream about LeOben - he says he has something to tell her. she wakes and makes arrangements to go see the cylon.

Kara is not getting anywhere with the torture. LeOben is getting better at holding his breath and at getting into Kara's head. He quotes scripture about how All this has happened before and all will happen again. He then tells her that her role this time around is to deliver his soul unto God. That they (the fleet I assume) will find Kobol and the way to Earth.

In walks Roslin. Who asks what is happening and seems to be playing the "Good Cop" role chastising Kara for not getting anywhere torturing 'that man'. She begins to make LeOben promises. Removes his shackles. Mentions peace between their peoples. "Tell me what I need to know - and you will live".

Roslin makes this promise and breaks it over an over again. And not just to Cylons. She is way too good at playing politics for a former teacher. If anyone on this show has a dark past they are hiding its Roslin...and not just the affair she had with Adar. (Deleted Scenes.)

LeOben then states the bomb was a ruse, that Kara was right, he was afraid they were too far away from a resurrection ship and he was stalling for time. {Sort of tells us the Cylon Fleet needed time to catch up but are near.} He then asks her to take pity on Kara for doing her job, pauses and then hugs her - freaking out the guards while whispering to Roslin "Adama is a cylon". He lets her go and steps back.

When the bomb doesn't go off the President orders him airlocked. Kara protests that she can't do that after promising...Roslin says "yes I can and I will". Roslin then makes a speech about dangerous machines and not keeping them around.

Kara walks up to the glass and places her hand over LeOben's. In the subtitles it seems Kara tells LeOben telepathically or perhaps she lipped it and I missed it...that she will pray for him..."You promise?"..."I promise"...because then LeOben does just as he did in Roslin's dream...lowering his head then raising it as he is sucked in the blackness of space. Afterward Kara prays to her deities for his soul - if he has a soul - to be cared for and presumably delivered to his God.

At the end in Cmdr Adama's quarters, he questions Roslin's motives for going there in the first place...she says that President Adar once said "The interesting thing about being president....is you don't have to explain yourself to anyone." The Cmdr just smiles. Remember he didn't like Adar. But he clearly likes Laura. Whether or not this is good for the fleet remains to be seen.

***

Thank you for reading
~99

^Additional^ notes copied from http://en.BattlestarWiki.org regarding this episode - full text is available here.

* Conoy to Starbuck, towards the end of his interrogation, just before Roslin's arrival:

Conoy: Each of us plays a role; each time a different role. Maybe the last time I was the interrogator and you were the prisoner. The players change, the story remains the same. And this time – this time – your role is to deliver my soul unto God. Do it for me. It’s your destiny. And mine. (He pauses) And I told you I had a surprise for you. Are you ready? You are going to find Kobol, birthplace of us all. Kobol will lead you to Earth. This is my gift to you, Kara.

***

In the next episode, 'Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down' the estranged and assumed dead wife of Colonel Tigh is alive and well. Her appearance coincides with a stray Cylon Raider and stirs things up like a Brothel Madame at Temple.

***

Thank you for reading,
~99

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