Random Thoughts About BSG

[grav_ity]

In synecdochic's monumental Stargate Atlantis fic "Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose", she breaks a lot of the rules. She goes over and above the term "post-series", greatly surpasses the idea of "future fic" and even strays into that murky place called 'shipping...all while staying absolutely true to everything the show was about. It's a brilliant piece that has a lot of insightful lines that sort of stick with you.

As I randomly go through old episodes of Battlestar Galactica (The Hand of God, The Pegasus Arc, The Exodus Arc) and think about what's happened more recently, one line in particular is running through my head. In the fic, Rodney is teaching an ethics class where he routinely takes apart his students, and forces them to realize that one day, as physicists in the Gateverse, they might be in a position where their decision will affect the lives of those around. I forget the exact beginning of the line, but the end is "and that 'never' is just another word for 'until'."

I think of this line and BSG not in terms of who you are willing to kill, but in terms of who you are willing to forgive.

The Cylons? Yeah, I'm a hater. I have no pity for them. I hate it when they whine about bad things that humans do to them. Because really. But what started with Gina has come full circle with LEOBEN, of all people, and now it's murky.

Because when they were "Cylons", it was easy to hate them. But now they've got names and if we kill them they won't just come back and, weirdly, I am starting to forget that the whole thing started with Caprica Six snapping a baby's neck and then blowing up the planet. It used to feel like a game with her, that she was just messing the Baltar or humouring Boomer, but now she feels a lot more solid, somehow.

Leoben was the one I held on to hating the longest. What he did to Laura? To Kara? Back when he had crazy eyes? I can't stand people who are convinced of their own right (which is a lot of why I hate the Cylons, I think. If nothing else, Adama's always been a doubter), but all of a sudden he's all...nice. And it's CREEPY. Because I totally thought he was just in it for Kara, but now he's moved past that and it's sort of awesome.

Jacob said waaaaay long ago that the Cylons had won the war as soon as Athena got pregnant. That as soon as you interbreed, replace without (much) violence, it's over. I sort of didn't agree with him then, and I still don't entirely now, but it's a valid point.

(For the record, I still have Cavill and D'Anna. And I will never stop hating them. Until.)

+++

Until I met beccatoria in real life, I had no idea that there were people who felt that way about Bill Adama. I mean...sure, I knew that there had to be people who didn't love him, but I had no idea there were people out there who HATE him.

I don't, let me assure you, I am only occasionally annoyed by him (which is more than a lot of them can say), but it's made me think.

Adama is old. Old and broken and screwed up...and that was before the Cylons attacked. His people loved him, then, called him "The Old Man", because he was, and they all knew that someday he'd be replaced by someone like Helena Cain, and then all the fun would be over. He talked to everyone (he talks to Cally a lot in the early seasons, you know), and made connections that other commanders wouldn't...because he knew he was leaving and there was *just* enough room inside the chain of command to be friendly, without actually having a Real Family (which he had already screwed up).

And then the world ended.

And he wanted to fight, because that is what he knew. That is what he did last time. But Laura looked at Billy and Dee and decided that they should have babies instead, and he agreed with her. But I think he thought they were all going to die.

Adama's great failure is that he keeps living. If he would just DIE already, then he'd be a hero. One of the saviours of the human race. But he DOESN'T DO IT, and so he just gets older and older, and more and more alone.

When they found New Caprica, Adama made a mistake. He relaxed. He listened to Laura for a fraction of a second too long, and thought that they really would be safe. He let Tyrol and Cally muster out. He tried to be everyone's friend. And everyone paid for it. That is not him being self-centred...that is what happened.

I like that we got to see that in "Unfinished Business". Yes, the boxing metaphor is crude, but it gets the point across. Tyrol wasn't the whole problem, obviously, but he was the beachhead, and I appreciated the effort.

Adama realizes his mistake, and snaps back into The Commander with a somewhat excess of force (I speak here of his "cancer" discussion with Kara...which was EXACTLY WHAT SHE NEEDED though not at all from him). He wants to be The Old Man so badly, but now he knows he can't and it's killing him.

Except he just won't die.

+++

WHY THE HELL does no one ever remember that Anders has led TWO successful rebellions against the Cylons? I suppose most of the crew is still used to thinking of the Cylons as a single entity, but I don't understand why The Final Four didn't hold a seminar or something as soon as their secret got blown.

+++

I was going to say something about Baltar, but I forget what it was...

Comments

[inlovewithnight.livejournal.com]

This is great meta. You should unlock it so I can link it. :D

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

I thought I had unlocked it. I have trained myself very well, apparently, to lock all my posts!

Thanks for the heads up.

[scifijunkie.livejournal.com]

I think the issue with Anders is that being a Cylon has essentially negated anything good he's ever done. Because it doesn't matter - everyone will just say it was in his programming. As a Cylon, nothing he ever does is simply his - it's all chalked up to his programming. It's the same with Tigh - he fought in the first Cylon war, he's served loyally since, he helped lead the rebellion on New Caprica, he lost an eye to them, and none of it matters, because he's a Cylon. It was part of his programming, it was meant to gain their trust. I think it's down to the fact that no human thinks that any Cylon is capable of overcoming the programming and becoming more than that, of being an individual with a unique personality and motives all their own that don't spring from lines of code.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

I get that, I really do, because it's Boomer all over again. We actually saw Boomer go through it, I suppose, which might make it why I sit here going "But he's so pretty! Why can't you just love him?". But I think it also ties back into my first point about Never Forgiving the Cylons...Until.

[julii-wolfe.livejournal.com]

I found your thoughts very interesting, I especially liked your points about Anders and Adama, because you put together in words points I had never really thought about.

You also inspired some thoughts on my part, see below:



Well for Baltar, it's interesting to see how the ultimate man of science has become a man of faith, of God, only to lose that faith and find faith in something he never really believed in, other people.

After he ran away from his flock, he has to go back to them, because suddenly people mean something more to him than just the sexy cylons he sleeps with all the time, or the dumb masses who buy the products that he helps to create. Life for Baltar has become something other than a game, and it's amazing to see that happen to him, because of the humans he was the most cylon like.

In the beginning of the show, the cylons were like children pouting and going for revenge because their parents were mean to them. They had no real concept of life or death, but I think back to the moment that you mention where CapricaSix breaks a baby's neck and feel that as one of the foot soldiers of the cylon race she has a stronger grip on mercy then D'ana or Caval. She breaks the baby's neck so it will die peacefully and relatively painlessly; a kindness.

but that is the extent of her understanding about kindness, because she backed the monumental failure of joining together on New Caprica. As you said, the war really ended when Athena had Hera, but that doesn't mean that the wounds left from the war had healed. If Caprica and the other peace makers wanted to be nice to the humans then they should have just left them alone to live their lives for twenty to thirty years, and then brokered an armistice agreement for trade or something to their mutual benefit. The colonists are going to be running out of fabricated materials, and once they settled on a planet they would have had limited resources to fuel their ships; trade would have worked to broker some kind of amicable relationship, but only eventually.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

She breaks the baby's neck so it will die peacefully and relatively painlessly; a kindness.

I get that...but at the same time, getting vapourized in a nuclear holocaust isn't exactly slow and lingering. She did it because she COULD. Six is the poster girl of killing with kindness.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Awesome post. Very interesting stuff. I hated D'anna until (although I still kind of hate her and I'm firmly on Team Cylon.) I still hate Cavil, I'm not sure that until will ever come, but you're right that I shouldn't dismiss the possibility.

I'd forgotten Jacob said that. I think I agree with him. Not necessarily in a literal sense - not even in the sense that anyone will realise that was when the war was won - or perhaps really, when the war became pointless. But he kind of has a point, like you say.

Regarding Adama, I am first off painfully aware that I'm...too often one-note about him. I'm going to try and circumvent my usual spiel here but I wanted to comment on both of your observations.

I'll go in reverse order. The reason I hate his speech in Unfinished Business isn't for any of the reasons you give, it's because I actually find it nonsensical. If he was just saying "I let you get soft so now I'm going to go back to being Commandery," I'd...probably disagree with him on some points but I would literally understand what he was saying. But he follows that up immediately with, "I love you all like a family and I won't let this family break up again." So like...I'm just honest and actually confused about what his message there was. Like if he'd picked a direction and stuck with it (either, 'I won't let this family break up again,' or 'we can't be family we have to be an army,') I'd have at least felt confident I understood his perspective even if I didn't agree with it.

But, much more interesting is you comments on how his failure is surviving. I completely agree.

I remember way back during the New Caprica arc when he thought the Galactica was done for and he said, "So, this is it," or something along those lines. And bless EJO he so nailed that. Exhaustion but also a kind of...awe. Like religious awe mixed with relief. And it hit me at that point: this would be a relief for him in a lot of ways.

Much as I laugh at the scenery chewing and macro the hell out of it, it's similar to the situation when he tries to get Tigh to off him, although less immediate and more filled with anger than awe because he knows that if the plan works he's not going out with honour. And honour matters a lot to him.

I know you don't really care about Star Wars and such, but the comparison that jumps out at me immediately is Luke Skywalker who's protected by such a massive character shield he can't die even though he's old and all the young people around him are dying and none of the writers really know what to do with him (though arguably that is not an equivalent point for Adama). And I keep thinking, if they addressed this in the text that would be amazing. But they don't, so I'm left, reading these things and increasingly believing Luke's tragedy is that he lived beyond his time and doesn't understand the world anymore.

It's certainly Adama's.

ETA: Of course, I will only hate Adama until.

And actually...I'm fairly serious about that. Because I only hate him now because I don't trust the dissonance I perceive between the show's intentions and my readings.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

Because the writers would have to remember Sam's led two successful rebellions, but they seem to be stuck with him being an ex-pyramid player who's kinda stupid.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

In light of this week's episode, I am actually impressed at Cavil's ability to manipulate.

I did like how naturally he fell in behind Kara when they broke out of the brig...and how she didn't even look to know he was there...but still. I'd like a little more!

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

I would like lots more. *sulks*

[sache8.livejournal.com]

WHY THE HELL does no one ever remember that Anders has led TWO successful rebellions against the Cylons? I suppose most of the crew is still used to thinking of the Cylons as a single entity, but I don't understand why The Final Four didn't hold a seminar or something as soon as their secret got blown.

*dies laughing* Word.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

God, can you imagine the seminar now? I think it would break their brains!