Saturday, February 14, 2009
Galactica: No Exit (air date 02/13/2009)
As Sam Anders recovers from his head injury onboard the Galactica, he begins to remember events from ancient Earth. Meanwhile, the Final Cylon struggles with the fallout from the Final Five's former plans. One of the humanoid Cylons vows to get revenge for being created in the image of Man. Tyrol informs Admiral Adama about the extensive structural damage on the Galactica.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
18 comments:
Sorry it took so long to post this. I actually fell asleep in the middle of the episode.
Well, we learned a lot... kinda. I still need to wrap my head around what Anders was saying. And it still doesn't explain how Adama knew a younger Tigh, does it? I may have missed something.
Don't know if I like this explanation, or even understand it fully. It really felt like they shoehorned this explanation into the show.
And I thought the episode was horrible. It probably couldn't have been done any other way, but just having Anders verbally explaining everything was an awful way to present this material. Couldn't we have had a flashback at least? Too expensive? Probably.
One interesting thing... why was Kara so obsessed about Cylon model #7? Was she worried that she was the #7 model?
By the way, there are some spoilers floating around about Cylon #7. Please don't discuss them here. I'm already pissed about what I heard.
Chairman, what did you hear about #7? Send it to me in a email so as not to expose it here. I'm curious.
Yes, Kara was trying to find out if she was #7. That is why she was apologizing to Sam before he went under the knife, saying she was sorry for waiting so long but she had to know if she was #7.
Yeah, it does seem like they are shoehorning information in before the show wraps up in another 6 weeks. But I feel we are going to get more answers and a clarification on what Sam was saying soon. Obviously Ellen has more answers to fill in and it looks like Boomer will help her get back to the fleet. Sorry to disagree with you Chairman, but I really liked the episode.
I read an article a couple of months ago that said the PC Guy was going to have a cameo role as a doctor on board the Galactica in season 4.5. I didn't think he'd be the one to save Anders life. I like that little bit of comedy thrown into the midst of a serious situation.
What another great show. I had a feeling Boomer was going to help re-unite the Final 5. It just didn't seem right that she wanted to stay with Cavil and not be with the other Eights who are with Galactica, her former family. And as I have stated before in the past, that the Final 5 models might actually have been the first models, that has been proven. Sort of explains as to why there are "skin-jobs" in the upcoming series of Caprica, which is suppose to be at a time prior to the first Cylon war.
A lot was answered in this episode... Humans of the 13th tribe on Kobol created the Final 5 Cylons. Humans of the colonies create the centurion Cylons. The mechanical Cylons on Earth rebel and nuclear war destroys earth. The mechanical Cylons in the colonies do the same thing. Rebellion between creators and their creations. Well now we know what that saying means, "All of this has happened before and it will happen again." Now we also know why they skipped a model number (#7) Daniel the artist. Also that the Final 5 were the creators of the 8 model "skin-jobs". They are obviously closer to humans than the eight "skin-jobs" they created because they can procreate and grow old. That is why Adama knew Tigh as a younger man because the Final 5 age just like humans. I had to watch the show twice just to absorb everything that was revealed and I still can't quite grasp everything. WOW!!!
But even though many questions were answered, a couple of new ones popped up. Who or what does Daniel look like and will we ever see him? What knowledge do the Final 5 have about resurrection since they re-invented it? How will the Final 5 play into the outcome of the final battle between Cavil (John) forces and the rebel Cylons and the Fleet? Was Ellen's father (who John/Cavil was made in his likeness) another Cylon or maybe a human creator? ... Then there are still some questions that remain un-answered. Like the importance of Hera and now Tigh/Caprica Six' baby boy. Maybe their boy will be named Daniel and Hera and Daniel will be the new Adam & Eve... Yeah I know, sorry, that's a little out there.
Did you catch what Anders said to Tigh before being wheeled off to surgery? He said, "Stay with the fleet...The miracle of the angels is about to come true." WTF does that mean? How about Cavil? The first and maybe only "skin-job" that doesn't want to be more human-like, unlike the Sixes and Eights who want to be more human-like. And Col. Tigh, going from a gruff ships XO to a cuddling father to be with him in amazement at the movement of his baby boy in Caprica's belly. I love the acting in this show!
WOW!!! So much information and revelations. I love this show!...I think I've said that already.
"Huh-huh, Huh-huh-huh."
(Tyrol's reaction to Sam telling him that he was in love with Torrey back on Earth)
I enjoyed it. Sure, it was exposition heavy, but I never felt that it was forced or "shoe-horned." But I thought Jon Hodgeman was a poor choice for a cameo. Too distracting.
Having Sam remember the backstory amid seizures and surgery gave his exposition a sense of urgency. It wasn't like he was just reading an essay, you know? And his hybrid-esque "word salad" gave the exposition an artistic edge.
The Cavil/Ellen exchanges were excellent. First off, kudos to the actress who plays Ellen for bringing so much grace to the character. She still enjoys a drink upon waking, but she wasn't just the bimbo that Ellen had been in the past. She was more dignified, if that's the right word.
But as the Cavil/Ellen relationship took on some Shakespearean tones, I forgot how much exposition was pummeling my brain. John has the personality of Ellen's son but the face of her father, is that correct? Makes their frakking on New Caprica really, really disturbing considering Cavil knew what he was doing. Eww...
Did anyone else catch Sam explaining how "the signal" to the final five on Earth was unique to each person? "You saw a man, you saw a women. Nobody else could see them. Chief, you thought that you had a microchip in your head..." So whoever warned the final five on Earth used a communication technology that makes people see "in-head" people.
I bet Ellen's "intuitive leap" that lead to the final five rediscovering resurrection technology was sent by whomever tipped them off to the pending attack. The same person who essentially got Kara to kill herself in the maelstrom and brought her back with implanted memories of Earth. The same person who has been manipulating Baltar towards monotheism. This "one true god" will end up being the person who first invented skinjobs back on Kobol. But I don't think it's somebody we've seen in the fleet. Maybe this person needs worshipful (monotheistic) halfbreeds to fulfill his own resurrection needs?
It has long been joked online that the one, true Cylon god is Dirk Benedict. Imagine if Ron Moore had the balls to cast him for a walk-on scene or two? They'd never be abe to keep it quiet, though...
And I still contest that the "Earth" home to the 13th tribe (populated by skinjobs) was/is not our Earth. Anyone notice Ellen use "Centuri" as an adjective, as opposed to "Centurian"? Made me think of Alpha Centuri, but that could be a stretch.
Other random thoughts:
Adama agreeing to use Cylon tech to keep the ship running reminded me of his agreeing to use Cylon blood to keep Rosalyn alive in season 2. But I still see "blaze of glory" being Galactica's fate, and the captain has to go down with the ship, right?
Who dies first, Rosalyn or Tigh's son? I'm thinking both are killed within the next two episodes. Pretty dark...
As for #7... Is it somebody in the fleet? John only killed the Danial copies, right? It can't be Lee, since Bill remembers Lee being born. It can't be Bill, as that would make Lee a halfbreed (and Hera insignificant). It can't be Helo, since we know Hera is a halfbreed. Baltar is and has always been too obvious. So who is left? Gaeta? Doc Kottle? Billy? Gaeta did tell Gaius, in that weird final scene (that we're not even sure actually happened) that he wanted to be an artist prior to an architect...
I still need someone to explain to me how Adama knew a young Saul Tigh. When Ellen resurrected in this episode, she was exactly the same age as when she died. When Tigh was killed on Earth, he was old Tigh. How does he get resurrected as young Tigh?
Here's another confusing bit... although maybe I'm understanding it wrong. The final 5 die on Earth and get resurrected. It takes centuries for them to get back to the colonies (but it's only a few years for them). When they arrive, the Centurians are already rebelling. This is the first Cylon war that Adama and Tigh fought in. But Tigh has only just arrived. The final 5 create the 8 skin job models on the condition that the Centurians end the war. They do. The Final 5 create Cavil and the other 7. At this point, Cavil must abduct the Final 5 (including Tigh), wipe their memories, and plant them in the colonies. So how does Adama fight alongside Tigh in the first Cylon war?
There's an episode at the beginning of Season 2 that deals with the Tigh/Adama backstory. I'm going to rewatch it to see how/when they met and try to piece that together with the newly revealed Cylon backstory.
Do we know for sure that Tigh fought along side Adama in the war, or did they meet just after the war?
Maybe Cavil did something to the final five duplicate bodies so they age in stasis? Maybe the final five initially designed younger duplicate bodies, but those bodies began to age when they were introduced into colonial life?
I'm going to assume that there are still a bunch of details yet to be revealed.
I too am going to go back and re-watch the episode from Season Two where Adama and Tigh back-story was explained. I don't think that Tigh and Adama fought side-by-side in the first Cylon war. If I remember correctly Adama and Tigh met on a freighter as younger adults, which Cavil/John confirmed to Ellen when he told her how he planted memories in all of their minds. He then says that he planted Tigh on a colonial freighter.
As far as the scene of the Final 5 on Earth when the attacks came, I think you are looking at their age all wrong. I think we all saw them at their current age because, why would they go out and cast younger actors that don't look at all like them to play those flash-backs of only 15 to 20 seconds. It's too expensive to cast young actors to be the Final 5 for such short flash-back scenes. So being that you saw them at their current age, you are making an assumption that that was the age they were when the bombs hit.
Another thing to remember, the first Cylon war ended with the young Adama down on an ice planet that he just crash-landed on after fighting one of the old chrome toasters. He then goes inside that baseship where the old-man hybrid eventually resides. So I really don't think a young Adama and a young Tigh fought side-by-side. And as far as the Final 5 (or First 5) aging, unlike the skin-jobs they created, they can and do age. I'm sure we will get more answers once Ellen rejoins the other 4 Cylons in the fleet.
My first impression with Anders and the word salad was that the skinjobs used hybrids from Earth as their "hybrids" for their jump technology meaning that there were more survivors then the final 5, only they have been canabalized to become engines for basestars.
That doesn't seem to be the case though.
What's interesting about the basestar hybrids is that they experience space travel the way John/Cavil wishes he could, yet he's always been dismissive about their ramblings when Leoben (and eventually Deanna) thought there was something profound being related...
Here's an interesting tidbit about the Daniel model. I was just reading something about the new show Caprica, and there's a character in that show named Daniel Greystone who apparently creates the Cylons. Could this be the Daniel model, with repressed memories, whose creativity breaks free and allows him to create Cylons?
Maybe it's the same Daniel, then again maybe not. Daniel was created by the Final 5. Now maybe the Daniel that was created by the Final 5 was created in the likeness of Daniel Graystone. I feel that the skin-jobs in Caprica are the ones that eventually settled on Earth.
FYI, I went home for lunch today and quickly went through the first episode of BSG Season 2.0, episode "Scattered".
In this episode which starts with Adama being shot by Boomer, Tigh thinks back to the day he first met Bill Adama. This episode confirms that Adama and Tigh met after the first Cylon war while on a colonial merchant freighter. There's a scene where Adama walks up to Tigh, who has a full head of hair and is not gray and balding, Adama too has more hair and sporting a big thick mustache. Adama extends his hand to Tigh and introduces himself, "I'm William Adama, your new ship-mate." Tigh shakes his hand and says, "Saul Tigh."
So there is no way that Adama and Tigh fought together in the first Cylon war. They met for the first time on that colonial freighter as young adults. Of course any claims and memories that Tigh had and made about being in the military were planted in his mind by Cavil.
I didn't want to say anything about the Daniel Greystone character for fear of crossing The Chairmen's spoiler-free line in the sand. I thought there had to be a connection, but keep in mind Caprica takes place 50+ years ago, prior to the first Cylon/Colonial war. So if there is a connection, it's that #7 was modeled after Greystone (as Gaeta5th pointed out).
But if we assume Daniel Greystone made his Cylons in the proverbial image of a relative, it's possible his Cylon's descendents worked with the final five to pay it back and recreate Daniel Greystone.
Did you guys see the clip of Caprica that was on SciFi wire a few months back? Eric Stoltz plays Greystone...
This is beginning to sound really convoluted.
Beginning to?
On the bright side, at least the Galactica isn't arbitrarily hopping through time every ten minutes...
I'm really enjoying Lost. But I give Galactica a slight edge.
The Chairman wanted me to post the follow of an email I had sent to him.
One of the websites I go to to read up on Battlestar Galactica posted the following to clarify last Friday's episode (as they do for all episodes). But since the last episode had so much info to absorb and posed new questions, I thought you all would find this informative like I did. (No Spoilers)
Enjoy...
EPISODE ANALYSIS
Analysis:
-The humans on Kobol created the original Cylons as well as resurrection technology.
-The original Cylons, the 13th tribe, began to procreate and forgot how to resurrect.
-The 13th tribe, the Cylons, built the Temple of Hopes. They prayed there and then went on to find Earth. The Temple of Hopes became known as the Temple of Five.
-Anders, Tigh, Tory, Tyrol and Ellen all worked at the same medical facility. Tigh and Ellen were married even then. Tory and Tyrol lived together and were planning to get married.
-The Final Five worked on rediscovering resurrection. Ellen is the one that made the breakthrough.
-The Final Five had an idea that the holocaust was coming and had left a ship in orbit. When they were killed, they downloaded to the ship.
-The Final Five then set out for the twelve colonies to warn them, but since they did not have FTL, it took two thousand years to reach the colonies. Their speed was relative however, so time passed slowly for them.
-On their way to the colonies, the Final Five stopped at the Temple of Hopes.
-The Final Five arrived at the colonies after the Cylon War had already broken out.
-When the Final Five arrived, the Centurions were already experimenting with organic bodies. They had created hybrids, but fully humanoid specimens did not survive.
-The Centurions had the idea of a one true god.
-The Final Five offered to help the Cylons create humanoid models, but only if they stopped the war. This explains why the Cylons abruptly agreed to an armistice and disappeared.
-The Final Five made Eight models, each with its own personality. They also decided to take the Centurions' one true god and give the humanoid models a strong inclination toward that faith.
-John Cavil was the first model. Ellen designed him after her father, but she speaks of him as being a child or child-like..
-Number Seven was named Daniel. He was an artist. Cavil grew jealous because Ellen grew close to Daniel. Cavil killed off the model.
-Cavil ended up rebelling against the Final Five. He killed them and then blocked their true memories and implanted false ones when they resurrected. They were then boxed and Cavil gradually introduced them to the colonies. Tigh was first just after the war, then followed by Ellen.
-Presumably, Cavil also blocked the memories of the Final Five in the other six models.
-Twenty years ago Cavil removed the subroutine that made him sleepy so he hasn't slept since.
-Cavil kept himself near the Final Five during the attacks:
He got Ellen onto a ship so she escaped the attacks.
He hooked up with Anders' resistance movement.
He took Tyrol's confessions and convinced him that his thoughts of being a Cylon were just guilt.
He tortured Tigh on New Caprica, took his eye and yet let him go instead of executing him.
He also slept with Ellen and got her to betray the resistance.
-Cavil orchestrated their survival through the attacks so that they would die at the hands of humans, resurrect and presumably tell him that he was right.
-Ellen showed compassion and respect toward the Centurions. This echoes Natalie's decision to allow the Centurions to make decisions for themselves as well as Baltar's conversation with a Centurion in which he treats it as capable of reasoning.
-Cavil believed that the Final Five staged the events that allowed D'Anna to see them and learn their identities. However, Ellen says that they had nothing to do with it. She makes a comment about the one true god, but she might not be sincere with that part of the comment.
-The Final Five resurrected twice: once after dying on Earth and then after being killed by Cavil. Ellen also resurrected a third time after being poisoned by Tigh on New Caprica.
-Boomer remained with Cavil after the destruction of the Resurrection Ship.
-When Boomer asks Ellen who she could love, Tyrol was shown next in what might have been foreshadowing of their reunion and perhaps rekindling their relationship.
-In his pursuit of self-preservation, Cavil was willing to literally cut open Ellen, his creator, in order to find out how to rebuild resurrection.
-Boomer not only helped Ellen escape, but went herself presumably turning her back on Cavil.
-Cavil will presumably pursue Ellen and Boomer in order to learn how to rebuild resurrection. Presuming that Ellen returns to the fleet, this storyline will again bring the Cavil's faction of the Cylons into conflict with the fleet again.
-Boomer is presumably going to take Ellen back to the fleet.
-Lee wants to reform the Quorum with representation based on ships rather than colonies.
-Roslin does not wish to resume her duties as President and approves of Lee taking over.
-Caprica Six is staying in Tigh's quarters and apparently has been for some time.
-The bullet was removed from Anders' brain, but he is not registering any brain activity after the surgery.
-Tyrol has discovered micro fractures throughout Galactica . He wants to use a Cylon organic resin to repair the problems. Adama resists not only the resin, but the use of Cylon repair crews until he discovers a crack in his own quarters.
-Four months have passed since the destruction of the Resurrection Hub.
===========
Notes:
-39,556 survivors. Another forty-seven people died. That death toll includes the eleven Quorum representatives, Zarek and Gaeta.
-Starting with Laird's death two episodes ago, the number of survivors dropped from 39,644 down to the current number. Assuming all the deaths were due to the mutiny, eighty-eight people died during Zarek and Gaeta's uprising.
===========
Unanswered Questions:
-Why did it take Cavil four months to finally move to “cut open” Ellen after first making the threat immediately after the destruction of the Resurrection Hub?
-Why were the Simons willing to go along with Cavil's surgery on Ellen? Were they aware that she was one of the Final Five? What about the Dorals? How much has Cavil told the other two models about Ellen?
-Where is Boomer taking Ellen? If it's to the fleet, how will she keep Cavil from following?
-If Ellen returns to the fleet, what will that mean for Caprica Six's relationship with Tigh?
-If Boomer returns to the fleet, will she and Tyrol rekindle their relationship as was seemingly hinted in the episode?
-What will Cavil do now that Ellen has escaped?
-Why was each model given a unique personality?
-If Cavil was based on Ellen's father, who were the other models based on?
-How will the new Quorum representatives be chosen? By democratic vote on each ship? Or some other means?
-Where did the Centurions get their idea of a one true god?
-How will the fleet feel about Roslin basically handing the Presidency over to Lee without him being duly elected?
-Is Anders brain dead?
-Will Tyrol be able to adequately repair Galactica?
This is great. My biggest question among all of the questions is where did the Centurians get their belief in one God. It looks more and more like there will be an outside influence (Angels and/or Iblis?).
Awesome summation. Could have trimmed 10 comments off this post if it was up sooner.
I agree about the outside influence of the alleged one true god. Is it somebody we've already seen on the show, or someone new? Either way, I'm thinking that whomever projects the "in-head" persona into Six and Baltar is the same person (or computer?) who projected the idea of monotheism into the centurions AND warned the final five of the coming holocaust AND somehow got Starbuck to commit suicide but then somehow rebuit her and her viper.
Another thought: Five is an odd number. You have two couples, plus Sam. It seems like Ellen was kind of the ringleader, and Sam mentioned that "Ellen always like the view by the water" (or something). So was Earth Ellen hooking up with Earth Sam on the sly? It would jive with her promiscuous nature while with the colonials.
Post a Comment