Battlestar Galactica: “Torn”

We get a broad look into the workings of the basestar in the episode “Torn.” In this look, we have the opportunity to see who closely the Cylons work within their theology, how every decision they make seems to be informed by their understanding of God. In fact, God is at the center of everything on the basestar, a very different approach to leadership compared to Galactica. Some (namely the Leoben models) even believe that the hybrid that drives each basestar is the spokesperson of God and that everything she says means something.

Much theological discussion takes place between Baltar and Six (both Head and Caprica) in this episode. In fact, the episode opens with Baltar and Six on a beach in Baltar’s consciousness. Six explains to him that Cylons choose to see what they want to see and that he chooses to see her. He asks her what she is, if she is somehow connected to the woman he was with on Caprica, or is she a part of his “subconscious struggling for self-expression.” She tells him that she is “an angel of God sent here to help” him. It seems that Baltar is getting more and more caught up in Cylon theology, especially now that he is in their sort of temple of a basestar, completely surrounded by them.

Later, out of Baltar’s head and into the basestar’s hallways, Caprica Six explains the idea and mechanics of projection to Baltar, that it is a means for the Cylons to see what they want to see as their environment, a means to escape the gray, boring walls of the ship and see and be reminded of God’s creation: “Instead of staring at blank walls, I choose to surround myself with a vision of God’s creation.” It seems that the discipline of consciously daydreaming about God’s creation, what God is capable of creating in their universe, serves to remind them of the beautiful things God is capable of doing. It would give them hope in the middle of chaos and potential despair. Such a beautiful scene of the Caprica forest is in stark contrast with the death on the lost basestar they later discover.

When the Cylon scout ship reports that the missing basestar has been infected with some kind of disease, the human cylons discuss their humanity and why and how this disease could affect them, since they are not exactly like the humans. Simon, the more scientifically minded of the group, offers probably the most loaded theological reasoning: “God has chosen this time, this place, to test us. Whether we fail or pass the test is up to us.” It’s a position that’s espoused in so many church circles, especially the more fundamentalist circles, that God tests us, tests our faith, but putting us in situations and watching to see how we will respond. It’s a difficult ideology to fathum, especially when it involves the deaths of others. In this particular situation, this disease may mean the death of the entire Cylon race, if it is uploaded into their resurrection ships. It’s hard to understand how a God that Six keeps reminding us is so loving could also be so (dare I say) cruel that God would kill an entire race by testing them.

Battlestar Galactica: "Precipice"

The theological thread is exposed mainly in one scene, the scene with Baltar’s being forced to sign the execution statement of the insurgents. A meeting takes place on Colonial One with several representatives of all of the Cylon models, except for Leoben (interestingly), along with Baltar, where they discuss what to do about the humans, how to discipline the growing problem of insurgents’ terrorism, and how to deter other humans who may think about joining the insurgency. A Number Three throws a document on Baltar’s desk for him to sign, an order to kill all of the detainees, over 200 people. This prompts a reaction within the Cylon group:

Caprica Six: Just because you’ve decided to do this doesn’t mean you need
to drag him into sin with you.
Three #1: Don’t you lecture me about
sin.
Three #2: I’m not the one who committed the first act of
Cylon-on-Cylon violence in our history.
Baltar: What’s she talking
about?
Three #2: She crushed my head in with a rock back on
Caprica. Interesting she didn’t tell you.
Caprica Six: It’s
something I had to do. I’m not proud of it.

We see Caprica Six’s theology come to light, once again. She has demonstrated her beliefs in the Cylon God as a Loving God, one of compassion and forgiveness. She’s willing to stand up for this belief, even if it means showing and telling the others that she’s willing to kill for this position.

Cavil pushing the meeting along, moving the conversation back on track of what to do with the humans. Baltar wonders why they don’t just take care of the situation themselves—why do they need his signature. A Three model explains that they do need his signature, if they are to work as the government they were set up to be, a collective government of Cylons and humans. As the President of this government, Baltar needs to sign every order. Cavil elucidates: “in other words, they’re worried about what ‘God’ might think if they commit murder. They’re covering their existential asses.” It seems that the Cylons are afraid of their god, even if it is violence against the humans. Ironically, even after this admittance, a Doral model tells them that they can find another president and then cocks a gun at Baltar’s head.

Another smaller scene that sheds some light on Cylon perception of God is Leoben, who has demonstrated that he fancies himself a sort of prophet, one who can see the destiny the Cylon god has laid out for him and for others. When he introduces the child to Kara, he describes his observations of the child’s traits: “Although her birth mother died during childbirth, Kacey’s heart never faltered. I guess she gets that will to live from you. I’ve seen her path. It’s difficult, but rewarding. She’ll know the mind of God in this lifetime. She’ll see patterns that others do not see. She probably got such spiritual clarity from me.” Leoben likes to think of himself as a spiritualist, and perhaps he is, especially from some of what we see in later episodes, in addition to what we have already seen in earlier episodes. But, Jim Jones also thought of himself as a spiritualist. Yet, later, when an unconscious Kacey is recovering from her fall, Kara is at her side, praying to the human gods for forgiveness and for Kacey’s recuperation. Leoben stands behind Kara. This would have been an opportunity for Leoben to evangelize to Kara about the Cylon god, but he did not take the opportunity. Perhaps evangelism is not his interest, even if it is to the one he supposedly loves.

Battlestar Galactica: "Occupation"

On Colonial One, the Cylons argue over their purpose with the humans, while Baltar sits at his desk, thumbing over some papers, trying to pretend he’s not in the room. Along with Baltar, we get to evesdrop and hear some of the behind the scenes of the Cylons—what they are thinking, planning, and, most importantly, the fact that they are not all on the same page about how to handle the humans. This conversation is short, but its theological depth gives insight to the Cylons’ leadership structure, that there appear to be factions within the ranks that disagree with each other and they can openly argue their points and they can openly threaten each other. The reasons each gives for their take on what to do with the human population all go back to each model’s interpretation of their scriptures and what God would want them to do.

The conversation is mainly between various models of Cavil, Eight, Six, and Five:

Number Eight: We’re here to find a new way to live in peace, as God wants
us to live!
Cavil: And it’s been a fun ride, so far. But I want
to clarify our objectives. If we’re bringing the world of “God,” then it
follows we should employ any means necessary to do so, any means.
Another
Cavil: Yes. Fear is a key article of faith, as I understand
it. So, perhaps it’s time to instill a little more fear into the people’s
hearts and minds….

We’ve heard Cavil models declare their atheism to humans (Chief Tyrol and Admiral Adama during the last two episodes of Season Two); so, the sarcastic tone in Cavil’s voice is even more pronounced during this bickering. Cavil’s character seems to be based on fear theology—let’s scare God into these sinners. Afterall, in his mind they’ve tried everything else to introduce humanity to God; so, they need to try anything to get the humans to worship God. This theology sounds familiar to the historic church, in its dealings with perceived heretics, wayward Christians, and savages of new worlds who didn’t want to give up their religions. The Number Eight and Number Six models want to demonstrate God’s love and compassion for all, the opposite of Cavil’s position. Their view of evangelism is one that is more inline with mainstream Christianity, where you don’t ram God down people’s throats, force feeding God to the nonbelievers.

Battlestar Galactica: "Downloaded"

We get a detailed glimpse into the Cylons, from the Cylons’ perspective, in the episode “Downloaded.” We see that the Cylons, in fact, are not completely united within their ranks, that there is some disagreement about their understanding of the Cylon God’s plan, and ultimately some disagreement with what has been done and what to do with the human race. Finally, we see Caprica Six and Sharon become leaders of a new movement that demonstrates God’s love, a new movement not based on fear and murder.

Nine months earlier Number Six died in Baltar’s apartment and downloads into a new body on Caprica. We see several Cylons surrounding her to comfort her. Also, it turns out that she has a Head Baltar, like Baltar has a Head Six on Galactica. Ten weeks later Boomer (aka Sharon) is killed by Cally and is downloaded into a new body on Caprica. When she realizes what happened, she’s freaked out. In the present she still has trouble adjusting to her new life and longs for Galactica. Number Six (aka Caprica Six) is asked to help her readjust.

She talks with Sharon in a café and convinces her to move out of her apartment and live with the rest of the Cylons. Number Three joins Caprica Six and Sharon and head up a stairwell to Sharon’s apartment when a bomb planted by the resistance explodes in the parking garage below the building. The stairwell protects them on the higher floor. While the three sort out their injuries, they discover someone else under some rubble and Number Three clears it off to discover Anders. She takes his gun away and prepares to kill him, but Sharon protests. Caprica Six agrees, but to avoid suspicion from Three, claims pragmatically that they shouldn’t kill him so he can be interrogated.

We see the cruelty and potential for violence these human Cylon models are capable of when we see the actions of Three. We also know that not all of these human models are on the same page regarding how to treat the humans. Three cruelly toys with Anders, putting his gun on the ground and daring him to take it. When Sharon asks her to stop, Three retorts that Sharon is a broken machine that thinks she’s human, but isn’t. Sharon states she has a conscience, but Three counters that Sharon is a murderer. Six realizes that murder and the genocide of the human race cannot be the path of their loving God.

The division within these human models is realized by Six, who knows that Three wanted her and Sharon boxed: they are celebrities in a culture based on uniformity. Three knows that these heroes had a different perspective on the war. Because of their celebrity status as Cylon heroes, they could actually cause a change the Cylons view about their conflict with the humans, upsetting the status quo which Number Three upholds so dearly. Number Three says that Six and Sharon are a waste, corrupted by their experiences. Caprica Six explains to Sharon that this is why Three wanted to get rid of them, because Six and Sharon understand that murder, vengeance, and genocide are sins in the eyes of God. Sharon realizes that their knowledge could convince other Cylons that the slaughter of humanity was a mistake:

Caprica Six: Genocide, murder, vengeance. They’re all sins in the
eyes of God. That’s what you and I know. That’s what they don’t want
to hear.
Sharon: Because then, they’d have to rethink what they’re
doing! They’d have to consider that maybe the slaughter of mankind was a
mistake!

As the building’s rubble shifts while the Cylons outside try to clear their way to the survivors, Anders grabs his gun and tries to escape, shooting at Number Three before Sharon knocks the gun out of his hands. The gun lands near Number Three. As Three is about to shoot Anders, she tells Anders “God loves me.” Caprica Six appears behind her and hits her over her head with a large rock, then bashes Three, again, killing her.

Caprica Six and Sharon believe that there is sufficient time to start a new beginning for the Cylons before Number Three is downloaded into a new body and tells the rest of the Cylons what happened to her. They want to lead the Cylons on a way to live in God’s love, without hate or lies. Together, the two heroes of the Cylons agree to a new plan as their rescuers arrive.

Battlestar Galactica: “Kobol’s Last Gleaming,” Part II

In the first part of this season finale, we see six people, six leaders, converge around a table in Commander Adama’s quarters to discuss how the fleet should approach Kobol, the birthplace of the gods and humanity, the fallen Paradise; in the second part, these six people are propelled and scattered into their own respective faith journeys. After they gathered around the table, they divided, each going their separate ways.

Baltar crashes into the surface after his raptor is struck by the Cylons, leaving him and the rest of the raptor’s crew to survive against the foreign terrain and Cylon occupants, facing that fear and having an epiphany with Head Six. She awakens Baltar and tells him, "You wondered why you were chosen? Why God chose you, above all other humans, to survive and serve his purpose.” She leads him into the Opera House and further explains “life has a melody, Gaius. A rhythm of notes that become your existence once played in harmony with God's plan. It's time to do your part and realize your destiny….You are the guardian and protector of the new generation of God's children. The first member of our family will be with us soon, Gaius. It's time to make your choice." When she shows him the baby in the crib, she tells him that this is the “face of the shape of things to come.” Being the carnal person he is, Gaius seems to accept this role with his kissing Head Six.

Roslin is incarcerated for her beliefs, which resulted in Starbuck’s disobeying Adama’s orders and going back to Caprica for the Arrow of Apollo. She believes that the Temple of Athena, a sign post to Earth, is on Kobol and the Arrow is its key. When Adama finds out that Roslin is behind coercing and turning one of his crew against him, he throws her in the brig.

Elosha does her ministerial duties of praying with Roslin, as the marines cut through Colonial One’s hull to arrest Roslin.

Gaeta, like Elosha, continues to do his regular job; however, it seems he whispers something into Sharon’s ear, just before she shoots Adama. This could be a sort of plot ferret, leading the audience along the wrong tracks believing Gaeta is a Cylon, as it seems that he may have whispered a trigger word that activates Sharon.

Adama is shot by Sharon and his situation looks grave, as the season leaves him splayed on the command table in CIC, the place where he ironically orchestrates attacks. His spiritual journey will be that of one who has tasted their own mortality.

With Adama incapacitated, Tigh will be in charge, the first time we’ve seen him command a ship, much less the fleet.

Season One ends with all these and more balls up in the air and it looks like they will all land in very different places. What they all have in common is that they are in some way connected to Kobol. Now, the story will be about their journeys and how they can/will end up together, again.

Battlestar Galactica: "The Hand of God"

The episode “The Hand of God” really helps to illustrate some of the various feelings a person can feel when they are thrust into a leadership position they were not seeking or had no intention of accepting. The three main characters we’ve seen thrust into leadership positions during this episode are Laura Roslin, Starbuck, and Baltar (whose storyline is really an extension of previous episodes).

We saw Roslin nervously accept the role of President of the Twelve Colonies at the beginning of the Battlestar Galactica series and now we see her having to be educated about another role she has been thrust into—that of a religious leader. This new calling came to a head during a press conference when she hallucinated some twelve snakes wrapped around the podium and her hands. Following the press conference, she met with the Priestess Elosha. “I’ve been taking chamalla for a medical condition,” she tells her and she explains that she had dreams of Leoben, before they captured him:

Roslin: The images were…
Elosha: Prescient?
Roslin: Uncanny. And now I’m seeing things while I’m awake….There were snakes crawling all over my podium during the press conference.
Elosha: How many?
Roslin: About a dozen.
Elosha: You’re kidding me, right? You read Pythia and now you’re having me on?
Roslin: No. Who is Pythia?
Elosha: One of the oracles in the sacred scrolls 3600 years ago, Pythia wrote about the exile and rebirth of the human race: ‘and the Lords anointed a leader to guide the caravan of the heavens to their new homeland, and unto the leader they have a vision of serpents numbering two and ten as a sign of things to come.’ She also wrote the new leader suffered a wasting disease and would not live to enter the new land. But you’re not dying, are you?

Of course, we all know the answer to that question and we now know that not only was Roslin thrown into the political role of President leading her people to safety, she has been thrown into the theological role of leading her people to the Promised Land. It seems just as she has become fairly comfortable with the political role, a role she at least has observed President Adar filling in Caprica, she has a completely new role thrown onto her shoulders, one that she does not seem to be at all familiar with, as she was unfamiliar with the Pythian prophecies, literature we find out later that was apparently common enough that Baltar read while in the sixth grade.

Similarly, Starbuck is thrown into a new role as a military strategist, coming up with a new, fresh, “out-of-the-box” perspective on battlefield tactics as they decide to do a surprise attack on the Cylon controlled tylium enriched asteroid, a resource that would give them fuel and ammunition for the next couple of years. The Galactica launches their strike force heading towards the base. Starbuck all along has struggled with wanting to be in the cockpit, rather than working behind the scenes with the Commander. However, her knee injury prevents her from flying a viper. During the strike, she still wishes she were with the other viper pilots in the field. Adama tells her, “I had to go through the same transition. When you’re in the cockpit, you’re in control. It’s hard to give it up.” She replied, “I never wanted this kind of responsibility.” “The Cylons never asked what we wanted. Welcome to the big leagues,” is Adama’s consolation. Starbuck’s struggle is with releasing control. While she admits that she “lives outside of the box,” she also wants to be the one fulfilling the orders. She stands with one foot in leadership and one foot in being a follower—it’s up to her to decide where to put her weight and right now it seems that she is trying to shift it to being a follower, being in the cockpit, instead of calling the shots for the fleet.

Baltar, on the other hand, seems to seek leadership; rather, he seems to seek the fame and prosperity that can come with leadership. In his seeking, he has been thrown into a religious position, a new recruit in the Church of the Cylon God, a position that holds certain responsibilities to the Cylon God. Once again, Baltar has interesting conversations throughout the episode with Six about God. He questions why the Cylon God would help him destroy the Cylon base. Six explains that “God doesn’t take sides. He only wants your love. Open your heart to him and he will show you the way….You must remember to surrender your ego. Remain humble.” As discussed in previous episodes, these divine attributes of the Cylon God sound very similar to those described about the Christian God in the Gospels. It seems that Six understands Baltar’s hubris and warns him that it can/will get in the way of a relationship with God, a trap that some hypocritical religious leaders in the Second Testament got in trouble for.

At the end of the episode, Baltar imagines he’s back on Caprica and the Pythian prophecy is further discussed:

Six: Have you read the Pythian prophecy, Gaius?
Baltar: Not since the sixth grad. I can’t say ancient history was my favorite subject.
Six: Six: You should have paid closer attention....”All of this has happened before. All of this will happen again.’
Baltar: Everyone knows that verse. What are you getting at?
Six: Remember this one? “Led by serpents numbering two and ten.”
Baltar: The Vipers! They’re the serpents.
Six: There’s a later verse, Gaius. You should read it. “Though the outcome favored the few, it led to a confrontation at the home of the gods.”
Baltar: Are you telling me that God guided my finger to that target for some arcane scriptural purpose?
Six: You did well. You gave yourself over to him.
Baltar: Yes, I suppose I did. Yes, there’s really no other logical explanation for I was…
Six: Am…
Baltar: …I am an instrument of God.

Baltar and Six discuss the same passage Roslin and Elosha discussed toward the beginning of the episode. However, each couple comes to a different interpretation of the same passage, each thinking s/he is the leader described in the passage. Sometimes Scripture can be interpreted in various ways to suit the situation or interpretation the reader wants. This is why Scripture should be read in context of itself—try to let Scripture interpret itself. How do certain images play out throughout Scripture and how can those other instances inform the passage in question. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the series. The part of the passage that Six does not mention that we did hear earlier in the episode is that this “instrument of God” is supposedly dying of a wasting disease. Roslin is dying of terminal breast cancer; we do not know of anything Baltar is afflicted with (other than hallucinations).