Battlestar Galactica: A Measure of Salvation

November 12th, 2006

Season 3, Episode 7

Battlestar Galactica: A Measure Of Salvation
Battlestar Galactica: A Measure Of Salvation

Battlestar GalacticaSo it had to happen at some point, but I wasn’t totally digging this episode of Battlestar Galactica. All the episodes up to this point have been a huge “thumbs up” from me, so I suppose it was inevitable that a mid-season entry would sag a bit in comparison.

I’m still fascinated by the Baltar-captured-by-Cylons situation. In this installment, he’s tortured at the hands of Number 3 (Lucy Lawless) in order to dredge up what he knows about the virus that infected a Cylon base star. Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t know anything. Number 6 takes over his mind and has him doing the do in order to stave off the pain. I enjoyed the contrast between Baltar’s imagined, sunny ecstasy and a sadistic Cylon jabbing a torture device (resembling a USB cable) in his ear. Also, Baltar’s belief in science in opposition to the Cylon monotheism is a subject I hope the show explores further.

So it was the parallel plot of the Galactica finding the hollowed-out, infected base star that I found disappointing. For starters, as far as I’m aware, no human other than Baltar has seen the inside a massive Cylon ship before, but the humans didn’t seem particularly interested in exploring or exploiting the technology contained within.

The humans bring the sick, dying Cylons aboard Galactica for interrogation purposes, and Doctor Cottle devises a cure. But soon, a nefarious plan takes hold, one that could wipe out the entire Cylon race. If the infected Cylons are killed within range of a Cylon resurrection ship, the disease could spread to all the associated Cylons and kill them. Great idea. Unfortunately, Helo is morally opposed to this genocide, and kills all the Cylons held captive on board Galactica before the plan can be executed. Everyone shrugs their shoulders and continues on towards Earth.

So here are my gripes: The Cylon-killing virus initially landed on the Cylon base star via a satellite-beacon. Why couldn’t the Galactica just do the same thing themselves? Just put some viruses on a probe and launch it into another Cylon base star. Forget the infected Cylons.

Second, the moral qualms seemed to come out of left field to me. The Cylons obliterated millions of humans. If it’s okay to ram a Battlestar into two Cylon base stars and take out presumably thousands of Cylons, why have any pity on larger numbers? And if you really have issues about exterminating the whole race, keep the handful of infected Cylons alive as a kind of Galactica petting-zoo.

I’m unsure if this is a sign that the show is headed towards a tentative peace between Cylons and humans in the quest for Earth. I’m not sure I’d like that. After the paranoia, the occupation on New Caprica, and ejecting Cylon agents out into space, I find it hard to believe that the majority of humans would stomach sympathizing with the Cylons any further than they already have.

But then again, what a controversial and polarizing move that would be, for a series capable of pushing the boundaries of sci-fi.

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Viewing 4 Comments

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    I don't understand how a deadly biological virus can be transmissed to the base ship when a Cylon dies????

    I'm not understanding how Cylons are reborn (can't spell resurrection)...I thought the thoughts of dying Cylons are transmitted back to base ship, then a new Cylon was grown, and the memories implanted. I'm confused about this whole thing....help!
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    They feared that the virus would mess up their brains-- and then the virally-damaged brains/thoughts/"souls" would get transmitted back, and eventually spread and crash the ships' drivers (which I guess would be the human/ship hybrids in pools of milky liquid we saw) as well as getting into the bodies of the others.

    Note that it never actually happened, it was just a fear. It may have been paranoia, as opposed to a real problem. However, it does appear that the Colonial fleet now has a doomsday option to at least temporarily disable Cylon ships, and a President ready to let them use it. Roslin is a lot more of a hardass than her soft-spoken mein and education background let on...

    I think they said the disease was some sort of meningitis (?). If so, the idea that they all access data by putting their hands in (or otherwise touching) liquid makes the fear of transmission a somewhat legit one.

    Helo was ambivalent about the genocide because he loves his wife. Adama was ambivalent about it because he has some sympathy for Boomer/Athena/Sharon. They both probably wonder if there are others like her (that don't actively want to "destroy all humans"). I don't think this is unthinkable or irrational. It's a lot harder for a sane and decent person to kill someone they know (and beings that are at least superficially like her would account for 1/12 of their targets, right?) than to kill a faceless enemy, or turn off malfunctioning machines. I think Adama might have been relieved by the "out" that Helo provided.
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    Pat... yes technically it's a bit fuzzy how exactly a physical virus could be transmitted back to a ressurection ship. I'm thinking that since the cylons are part machine, part organic, maybe the physical virus somehow gets converted into a digital, computer type virus which could then infect all the hardware. Yeah, it's kind of bizarre but we don't know exactly how the Cylons work. It's kind of like how Sharon the Cylon jammed a Galactical computer cable into her arm... just kind of have to believe that the Cylon technology is so advanced it just dosen't completely make sense to us.

    Amy... those are very good explanations for the Helo being sympathetic to the Cylons. It reminds me that Adama is obviously feeling more in touch with the Cylons, since he trusted Sharon to go down to New Caprica as part of his rescue plan.

    Good drama means conflict, and maybe a huge conflict would be for the Galactica fleet to start working with the Cylons.

    That would piss off a lot of the humans, especially Tigh and Starbuck, and probably a lot of viewers too, but it sure would be interesting.

    Uh, and after all, Star Trek the Next Generation had a Klingon on the bridge, so anything is possible...
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    Thanks Amy and Webomatica...your answers make sense.

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