On Kobol, Baltar has another waking dream/vision in which he encounters Adama, who asks Baltar about the bundle in his arms. “Well, it’s a child obviously.” Adama asks to hold the baby. As he holds it, he looks at it closely and asks Baltar, “Is this the shape of things to come?” Baltar says yes. “Only one thing for it then,” Adama tells him as he walks toward the stream they are near. Baltar becomes frantic, chasing after Adama and the baby. Adama takes the baby and drowns it in the stream, leaving the body at the bottom and Baltar hysterically looking for it in the murky water. Later in the forest Baltar discusses this dream with Head Six: “He killed our baby….Adama. I saw him drown the baby. Why would anyone want to drown a baby?” Head Six explains to him that the answer he is seeking is all around him. As he sees countless human skulls surrounding him, Head Six tells him that human sacrifice took place in this forest—“not the fairy tales your scriptures would have you believe.” He is stunned by his surroundings:
While the over-arching image of water in Scripture is convoluted, so is Baltar’s vision of water. Unfortunately, there are references to leaders in the Scriptures who kill babies and children out of fear that among them there will be one who will rise up and become more powerful than that leader. So, it would seem Baltar’s vision of Adama would show that Adama would be intimidated by this baby, especially since Adama asks Baltar if “this is the shape of things to come.” In Baltar’s head, Adama doesn’t like this threat to his power, so he becomes a sort of Pharaoh of Exodus or King Herod, who attempt to kill babies of the Israelites, the Chosen People. We have to remember that this is all in Baltar’s head and he seems to be beginning to believe that not only are the Cylons are the chosen children, but he has a significant role in leading this race. This water image is in a way perverted, as the protagonist Adama, the one we have been rooting for throughout the series, becomes the bad guy, the antagonist, when he aligns himself with the Scriptural Judeo-Christian antagonists. But, again, this is in Baltar’s head, and in Baltar’s head Adama appears to be the bad guy.
The directors of previous episodes have been having fun with the cameras and playing around with these sorts of symbols before now, as they’ve shown Baltar splayed with his arms out as a crucifix-like image—an image of him laying on the ground on Kobol and an image of him in the first season when he first learned he was to be an instrument of God he leans back on the railing of the balcony of his home with his arms stretched out. If these images are meant to show him as a Christ-like figure, then in order for him to be fulfill this role, he would have to sacrifice himself for the chosen children, for the Cylons. I’m not sure if the true character of Baltar would be capable of doing this, as he seems to be, at the most base level, too ego-centric.
Baltar: I thought Kobol was supposed to be a paradise or something.Water in the Judeo-Christian Scripture is often a sign of salvific cleansing. A great flood is described as having cleansed the earth of sin. Divided sea waters allowed the escaped Israelites a faster route to their homes, while they crushed the pursuant Pharaoh’s army. Demons in the form of pigs were cast off a cliff and into waters. And, as one of the most important sacraments of the Christian faith, baptism with water is a means to cleanse a person of their sins, leaving their sins in the water, and demonstrate their commitment to following Christ. Water was a means of keeping some biblical characters safe. On the other hand, future leader of the Israelites, Moses, was kept safe in a basket in the water.
Some place where the gods live with the human in harmony, or…
Head Six:
For a time, perhaps. Then your true nature asserted itself. Your
brutality, your depravity, your barbarism.
Baltar: So, the scriptures
are all a lie. It’s all just a lie, just a cover-up for all
this…savagery.
Head Six: Exactly. All of this has happened
before, Gaius. And all of it will happen again. Mankind’s true
nature will always assert itself.
Baltar: Adama. So he will try
and kill our baby.
Head Six: Only if you let him, Gaius.
While the over-arching image of water in Scripture is convoluted, so is Baltar’s vision of water. Unfortunately, there are references to leaders in the Scriptures who kill babies and children out of fear that among them there will be one who will rise up and become more powerful than that leader. So, it would seem Baltar’s vision of Adama would show that Adama would be intimidated by this baby, especially since Adama asks Baltar if “this is the shape of things to come.” In Baltar’s head, Adama doesn’t like this threat to his power, so he becomes a sort of Pharaoh of Exodus or King Herod, who attempt to kill babies of the Israelites, the Chosen People. We have to remember that this is all in Baltar’s head and he seems to be beginning to believe that not only are the Cylons are the chosen children, but he has a significant role in leading this race. This water image is in a way perverted, as the protagonist Adama, the one we have been rooting for throughout the series, becomes the bad guy, the antagonist, when he aligns himself with the Scriptural Judeo-Christian antagonists. But, again, this is in Baltar’s head, and in Baltar’s head Adama appears to be the bad guy.
The directors of previous episodes have been having fun with the cameras and playing around with these sorts of symbols before now, as they’ve shown Baltar splayed with his arms out as a crucifix-like image—an image of him laying on the ground on Kobol and an image of him in the first season when he first learned he was to be an instrument of God he leans back on the railing of the balcony of his home with his arms stretched out. If these images are meant to show him as a Christ-like figure, then in order for him to be fulfill this role, he would have to sacrifice himself for the chosen children, for the Cylons. I’m not sure if the true character of Baltar would be capable of doing this, as he seems to be, at the most base level, too ego-centric.
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