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: "Act of Contrition"

When I go on vacations, especially when I am in Europe, I have a habit of visiting churches. I picked up a card in one cathedral (I don’t know which one). On one side is a copy of a painting of Jesus holding a lamb on his lap with one hand and holding a staff with his other hand. On the other side, it is printed:

Act of Contrition—O My God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I
detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell,
but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all-good and deserving
of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess
my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.

The Act of Contrition is a prayer, recited by the penitent during the Latin Rite Roman Catholic sacrament of Confession. This prayer (and various forms of this prayer) is used throughout not only the Catholic Church, but in some Protestant churches and denominations, as well.

The title of the fourth episode of Battlestar Galactica is appropriately “Act of Contrition” and largely deals with Starbuck’s grappling with the accidental death of her fiancé, who also happened to be Commander Adama’s son and Lee Adama’s brother. She is left in charge of training some new “nuggets,” recruits to become sort of replacement pilots after a terrible accident killed a dozen or so on the flight deck. This training task surfaces painful memories of Zak Adama’s death, for which Starbuck feels responsible since she had passed him for Basic Flight despite knowing he didn’t have the chops to be a Viper pilot. She is overly harsh and critical of the nuggets’ first day performance and flunks them all. A mix-up in communication between Commander Adama and Apollo leads to the Commander to calling Starbuck to his cabin to discuss Zak’s death and ultimately finding out what she did for Zak, resulting in a seriously strained relationship.

Adama’s cabin becomes a confession booth and this conversation becomes one of confession:

Adama: He said something else. That you might have been feeling
guilty about something you did for Zak. What did you do for
him?
Starbuck: I don’t know. You’d have to ask
Lee.
Adama: I’m asking you.
Starbuck: Well I don’t kn-…I, ah…I
don’t really know what he was talking about, so…
Adama: Don’t fence
with me, Kara. I love you like a daughter. I don’t deserve
that.
Starbuck: Ummm…Zak…failed…Basic Flight. He wasn’t a bad
pilot; he just had no feel for flying…and, um, when it came to his final check
ride he…busted…three of the test maneuvers, and I should have flunked him, but I
didn’t. The bottom line is your…son…didn’t have the chops to fly a
Viper…and it killed him.
Adam: (following a flashback) You did it
because you were engaged.
Starbuck: (breaking down) Because I made a
mistake…because I was just…I was so in love with him…and I let that get in the
way of doing my job…and um, and he um, he just wanted it so much, and I…I didn’t
want to be the one who crushed him…
Adama: Reinstate the trainees to
flight status.
Starbuck: I will…but I just want you to understand…that
I…
Adama: Do your job.
Starbuck: Yes sir…
Adama: And
walk out of this cabin…while you still can…

Adama receives her confession with clear anger in his eyes, but pushes her forward, forcing her to reinstate the nuggets and train them for flight status, forcing her to move past her deep feelings of guilt into penance. When Starbuck is dismissed, her reaction is as that of one who has lost heaven, who has offended her father figure. It seems that she needs to forgive herself in order to move on in her life and what she does to forgive herself, what she does to move on in her life, is her job correctly—be a good teacher for the new recruits. It’s an opportunity to start new as their teacher.

During a training exercise with the nuggets, a Cylon Raider shows up and attacks Starbuck and the nuggets. She orders everyone back to Galactica, while she stays to face the entire patrol by herself. However, one of the nuggets, “Hot Dog,” stays to help her. Starbuck’s viper is damaged during the dog fight and sent hurtling towards a nearby planet out of power and out of control, along with the last surviving raider that was damaged.

Another interesting theological point during this episode happens when Roslin consults with Dr. Cottle about her cancer. He tells her that her cancer has advanced beyond surgery and suggests a traditional treatment that is similar to our chemotherapy and radiation. She asks him if he has heard of an alternative treatment. “You mean prayer?” he asks rather sarcastically. She suggests an herbal treatment. When he acquiesces, he still suggests to her as he leaves her partition that she consider prayer as part of her treatment. I find it interesting and very real that the doctor/scientist is the one who suggests a faith avenue.

Battlestar Galactica: The Mini-Series

BSG’s miniseries from the beginning demonstrates the mantra that everything is cyclical—what is happening now, has happened before, and will happen again. The Twelve Colonies created Cylons, a robotic race meant to make life easier for humanity; the Cylons rebelled and a civil war ensued. An armistice was reached and the war ended, with the Cylons leaving to find their own world. That was forty years ago. The mini-series opens with the Cylons’ return with a vengeance, to annihilate humanity and take over their world.

The human genocide is juxtaposed to the decommissioning ceremony of the Battlestar Galactica, a ship that fought in the war forty years ago. Commander William Adama’s (Edward James Olmos) speech is poignant considering what all was happening to his world unbeknownst to him:

The Cylon War is long over, yet we must not forget the reasons why so many sacrificed so much in the cause of freedom. The cost of wearing the uniform can be high, but…sometimes it’s too high.

You know, when we fought the Cylons, we did it to save ourselves from extinction. But we never answered the question, why? Why are we as a people worth saving? We still commit murder because of greed, spite, jealousy. And we still visit all of our sins upon our children. We refuse to accept the responsibility for anything that we’ve done. Like we did with the Cylons. We decided to play God, create life. When that life turned against us, we comforted ourselves in the knowledge that it really wasn’t our fault, not really. You cannot play God then wash your hands of the things that you’ve created. Sooner or later, the day comes when you can’t hide from the things that you’ve done anymore.

As the Cylons destroy his world, Adama publicly reasons why humanity is worth saving. Again, harkening to the cyclical theme, he reminds us that despite going through a war forty years ago that almost destroyed his world, they still murdered because of egocentricity, they still model these negative human traits for their children, and yet, they don’t acknowledge that what they do is wrong. While Adama is speaking to his own world in what is supposed to be galaxies away, he speaks to us in our own daily lives. Right? That’s one of the beauties of the Science Fiction genre that I have come to enjoy. While messages and meanings are cast in what is supposed to be a whole other world, time, state of being, these messages are fables for our own lives. Adama points to the mires of self-centeredness as individual people and as a community; in order to shirk responsibilities, we point our fingers to everyone else, that these problems are their fault. Ultimately, however, “the day comes when [we] can’t hide from the things that [we]’ve done anymore.” This point is so important that the Commander repeats it to the Cylon Leoben at the rearmament station in the second part of the miniseries.

Ultimately, the day comes when we realize our sins and misgivings, when we realize the wrongs we have done. What have we as a society created that we ultimately cannot hide from? Environmental/Ecological problems (i.e. clear-cutting, pollution, fossil fuels, etc.) and homophobia (othering any other group or person who is not like us) immediately come to my mind. I’m sure you have many other ideas that come to yours. There are more personal creations what we will have to reconcile ourselves with, too (patience, anger, time-management, involvement in philanthropic associations, drinking, etc.).

With the world’s destruction, with being chased in a deadly cat-mouse game, with the loss of everything and everyone they know, something has to be given to this ragtag fleet of people to give them hope, give them a reason to keep running, give them a reason to live.

While the new President, Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell), points to the mission of humanity as needing to run, escape the Cylons, and procreate in order for humanity to continue, it isn’t until Adama sees the young couple (Billy and Dualla) talking in the CIC when the real point is driven home to him. He cannot take the remnants of humanity back into battle where they are outnumbered and face certain annihilation for their sins. He realizes that the President is right, that they need to move on, look to the future, and look to saving the future children of humanity.

This leads us to the Commander’s revelation that he knows where legendary and scripturally founded Earth is, a deeply guarded secret handed from one Commander to the next, which no one else knows about. Their new mission is to find the 13th Tribe that inhabits a planet in a solar system far, far away.

Roslin confronts Adama about this story, that she believes it is a hoax. He confides in her that he really doesn’t know where Earth is, but he admits that it is “not enough to just live, you have to have something to live for.” There has to be a point to living, to surviving, to going through the hell that these people are destined to live through for the next several years. The French Cardinal Francois de la Rochefoucauld’s words couldn’t be ring true according to how the fleet survives: “we promise according to our hopes and perform according to our fears.” The fear of destruction and survival keep the fleet moving day by day; the hope of finding a better place and of starting over with a better life becomes the means for living.