Battlestar Galactica: No Exit

February 15th, 2009

Season 4, Episode 15

Disclaimer: Spoilers! The posts covering the last ten episodes will undoubtedly be full of spoilers and are intended for discussion after watching the associated episode. If you’re not up to speed, look away now.

Synopsis

Flashback to Saul poisoning Ellen back on New Caprica. She awakens in a resurrection tank on a base star, and asks a centurion to help her out.

In the present day, Doc Cottle drills into Anders’ head in preparation to remove a bullet from his brain. Starbuck is by his side. A hematoma cases Anders to recount strange memories of his Cylon past.

Flashback to Cavil meeting Ellen aboard the base star. She calls him “John” and reveals she created him. He brags about vast improvements he’s made to his own programming – rewriting the “sleep” subroutine which he found useless. He thinks the human traits like emotion and belief in God are pointless ideas, and blames Ellen for faulty programming. He wants to destroy the human race out of justice for enslaving the Cylons. Cavil introduces Ellen to Boomer, revealing her as one of the Final Five.

Anders awakes to see Starbuck. He tells the other four (and Starbuck) they all worked at the same research facility on Earth. Tigh and Ellen were married, and Chief and Tory were a couple. They re-discovered resurrection technology that was known on Kobol but forgotten when Earth was colonized. When Earth (the 13th, Cylon colony) was destroyed, they were downloaded to a ship they placed in orbit.

Lee and Roslin discuss re-establishing the Quorum of Twelve. He suggests the fleet should form some new representative government based on the ships they’re on. Roslin hands the responsibility over to Lee.

Chief shows Adama extensive stress fractures to the Galactica hull. The battleship is showing its age, and corners were cut during the ship’s construction. He advises no FTL jumps.

Anders continues, saying the Final Five then set off for the other colonies, intending to warn them about the dangers of creating artificial life. A revolt would be certain if any new AI were treated like slaves. But without FTL drives, the journey took thousands of years. The Final Five arrived at the colonies to find the first Cylon already underway. These Cylons had developed the hybrids. The Final Five convinced the Cylons to stop the war in exchange for resurrection technology, resulting in the armistice. The Cylons then developed the 8 humanoid “skin job” Cylons.

Starbuck says 8 “skin jobs” conflicts with the seven “skin job” Cylons they know of. Anders reveals there is one more Cylon model.

Flashback to ten months ago with the supernova around the Algae Planet. Cavil says the Temple of the Final Five was built for Ellen’s vanity (during the Final Five’s journey from Earth to the colonies), and how Number 3 has seen the faces of the Final Five, resulting in her boxing. He expresses anger at the limitations of his organic body, and reiterates frustration at the Final Five for creating him this way. Ellen tells Boomer that human qualities like “free will” and the capacity to love are to be cherished, not hated.

Tigh contemplates who should shoulder the blame for the end of humanity while a “brain guy” surgeon briefs Anders and Starbuck on the impending brain operation.

Flashback to four months ago. Cavil tells Ellen that the resurrection hub has been destroyed. Cavil demands that Ellen rebuild a resurrection system, mentioning a place called the “Colony” where all her equipment resides. Ellen says she needs the rest of the Final Five to do so. Cavil angrily threatens to cut her brain open and extract the knowledge himself.

Anders tells the others (and Starbuck) that the “skin jobs” were programmed with belief in God and human emotions in hopes they would be more “human” and decide to end to the cycle of destruction. But instead, Cavil rebelled and killed the Final Five. Upon their resurrection, Cavil blocked their memories and placed them on Caprica. Anders is abruptly wheeled off to surgery, yelling out more visions.

Tigh returns to his quarters to feel his unborn Cylon baby kick in the body of the Six model.

Flashback to two days ago. Cavil prepares to operate on Ellen. He admits he sent the Final Five to Caprica just to torture them. Ellen mentions “Daniel,” the 7th Cylon, as a sensitive artist that failed to thrive. Cavil was jealous and altered his DNA, resulting in a flawed model. Ellen tells Cavil that despite his anger and hatred, she loves him, as any mother would love their son. Cavil isn’t hearing any of it and leaves to prepare for surgery.

Chief delivers more bad news to Adama. He has discovered extensive hairline fractures throughout the Galactica walls. He suggests using a Cylon organic resin – that is actually alive – to heal the cracks. Adama resists, distrusting Cylon technology.

Instead of escorting her to surgery, Boomer and Ellen board a raptor, fly away from the base star, and jump. Anders’ operation is complete but he has yet to awake. Lastly, Adama calls Chief and asks him to use the Cylon technology to save Galactica.

Thoughts

Absolutely huge, must-see episode. Many answers: the nature and purpose of the Final Five, why they were on Caprica with no memories, the Temple of the Final Five on the Algae Planet, the development of the “skin jobs,” the hybrids, and the Cylon belief in God.

First off, really loved Anders with a bullet in his brain, adding a semi-believable angle to why such nutty visions would come to Anders. Actor Michael Trucco, whom I previously thought was rather bland, really rose to the occasion.

We also learned that the Final Five gave the “skin job” Cylons human qualities in an effort to end the Cylon / Human conflict. I think we might learn that the capacity to bear children might be explained in a similar fashion – meaning, a species that has a vested interest in future offspring (be they hybrid or just children born of love) would hopefully be more inclined toward peace. I am now recalling all that Cylon consternation over “love,” their inability to bear children back on Caprica, and the close observation of Helo and Boomer. Here’s hoping all of that gets linked up real soon.

Cavil’s betrayal, the first “skin job,” is the classic story of a creation becoming unhappy with its creator. On further thought, he probably hid knowledge of the Final Five from the other Cylons, and initiated the attack on the Colonies once his creators were out of the way.

We also learned of a mysterious seventh “skin job” Cylon named Daniel, with DNA corrupted by a jealous Cavil, whose whereabouts are unknown. While at first the mention of the 7th missing cylon seems odd, it makes sense to bring the twelve Cylons up to 13 to bring it in line with the 13 colonies. It also seems likely Daniel will eventually be linked to either Starbuck or Baltar, hopefully explaining Starbuck’s resurrection and other past strangeness, including her prophetic artistic leanings. Daniel might explain Baltar’s Head Six. Or perhaps, “Daniel” has been silently manipulating things behind the scenes this entire time on the human side, in opposition to Cavil. More strangeness could be explained that way, perhaps Baltar’s constant, unbelievable escapes from death.

One semi-logical explanation that once seemed out of left field now actually has some plausibility – that the Galactica itself is a Cylon. Maybe Daniel worked his way into ship’s computers (remember that virus?). All sorts of strange happenings on the Galactica itself could be a result of this – the mysterious appearance of a Six model, or Tigh’s hearing of the song from the Galactica itself. Now that Adama has given Chief the green light to pour organic, Cylon material into the Galactica, we might see an “awakening.” Yeah, wacky.

But the side plot of Galactica being repaired by Cylon technology surely foreshadows a fast-coming situation where the humans themselves may need to merge with the Cylons in order to survive as a species – yep, more hybrid babies.

Lastly, a rather disturbing layer of familial sex has been with all this new knowledge of the Cylon family tree: Ellen slept with Cavil, whom we now know is her “son.” Tigh has gotten his “daughter” pregnant. Well, I suppose Greek mythology is full of this kind of stuff.

Next Episode: Deadlock
Previous Episode: Blood On The Scales

TV Shows: Battlestar Galactica

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