Battlestar Galactica: Litmus

February 15th, 2008

Season 1, Episode 6

Synopsis

Boomer and Chief have a clandestine encounter in a hidden passage aboard Galactica. Elsewhere on the ship, an “Aaron Doral” Cylon model appears as a suicide bomber and explodes. Adama and Roslin contemplate telling the public about the Cylon’s ability to look like humans. A military tribunal is created to identify the Cylon agents responsible for the bombing.

At a press conference, reaction is not good when it Roslin revealed that the Cylons are masquerading among the humans. Photographs of Doral and Leoben are shown.

Lead by a particularly gung-ho sergeant, the tribunal focuses on Chief, and his location at the time of the incident. Various crew members unintentionally implicate Chief as a Cylon agent. He is reluctant to admit his whereabouts for fear of implicating Sharon. Running on pure conjecture, the tribunal begins to blame Commander Adama himself. Angry, he orders the proceedings to be shut down.

Shaken by the experience, Chief sadly tells Sharon that they can’t see each other anymore.

Back on Caprica, Athena, a 6, and 5 model observe Helo wandering the city streets, searching for Athena. The two Cylons beat Athena up. Later, Helo finds her in a bag, dragged around by a “toaster” style Cylon, and rescues her.

Thoughts

The theme of people covering for each other to the detriment of the humans as a whole continues. It’s frustrating to watch Chief and Boomer’s refusal to divulge their relationship digging a deep hole, making them look like Cylons. But the ultimate joke is that they both are in fact, Cylons. Perhaps this is the real reason why Chief seems so confused and torn between his military duty and protecting Boomer.

Meanwhile, on Caprica, we learn that Athena knows she is a Cylon, and that she’s pretending to be human so Helo will fall in love with her.

All in all, I enjoyed this episode, and it demonstrates how paranoia combined with power can lead to a “witch hunt” from which the innocent may be found guilty.

Next Episode: Six Degrees of Separation
Previous Episode: You Can’t Go Home Again (2)

TV Shows: Battlestar Galactica

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