In the seventh episode of the third season of Battlestar Galactica, Roslin must decided whether to commit genocide of the Cylons, Helo becomes my own personal Hero, and the most gorgeous and gripping scene involving Baltar and Head Six is given to us. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Battlestar Galactica.
I am just so impressed, y’all.
We’re at around forty episodes into this show, and that far along, I am still blown away by the stories that this show gives me. “A Measure of Salvation” is one of those episodes that had my full attention for the entirety of the story, and one that kept my brain whirring in the process. What it also does is provide the viewer with rewards. It’s the nature of serialized fiction, and for those who have been on this ride the whole time, Helo’s heroic turn as the fleet’s moral center, combined with the dizzying and shocking scenes on the Cylon basestar, is what makes this very much like a gift from the writers. If you watched this without having seen much of the past episodes, I don’t think it would seem as spectacular as it did. It relies on the entire history of Helo’s love of Sharon, and it relies on the many, many times that Baltar has projected Six into that alternate world/vision, for us to understand just how significant this story truly is.
I didn’t expect the first shot of the episode to be of the fleet’s Raptors and Vipers about to board the Cylon basestar. As soon as I saw that Boomer was going to be one of the pilots, my attention was instantly on the television. This would be a disaster. She has no idea that there is a Cylon-specific virus on that ship, and there is almost no way she can avoid catching it. AND IF THIS SHOW KILLS OFF SHARON AGATHON AFTER ALL OF THIS….
No, I won’t even entertain this thought right now. Suffice to say that I was FLIPPING THE FUCK OUT about two minutes into this episode until the very end. I don’t think there are many writers quite like those who work on Battlestar Galactica who can compose scenes that are painfully tense, that fill me with dread, that glue me to my television screen. And these scenes don’t operate solely in that realm, either. As the boarding party investigates the dying basestar, it turns into a bizarrely emotional scene for Athena. Even if she has made a conscious choice to be part of the human fleet, these are still her people, and to see so many of their bodies littering the floor is disturbing to her. Even if Seelix looks at her strangely, I think that she also understands how difficult this might be to her as well. And can I just say that it’s refreshing to have the bulk of the crew finally accepting Athena as one of them? IT IS ABOUT TIME.
Wait, I should stop talking about joyous things because OH MY GOD THIS EPISODE. The Cylons wake up. Well, five of them, at least, and then…jesus christ. Six tells Athena that there is an infection on board, and all hell breaks loose. It is a disaster, just as I’d thought, but what this episode decides to do with that is totally not what I anticipated. The disease is not the real issue here, even if it influences the plot. What this ends up being about is the chance to commit genocide out of self defense.
But before we get into that, I really need to talk about Baltar. Oh, Gaius Baltar. You continue to be the most complicated, multi-faceted character on this entire show. He faces possibly the worst situation his character has yet: he is being tortured for information he genuinely does not have. It really was a coincidence that the probe floating in that part of space had a virus on it. (And we learn later it was certainly an accident, not designed to infect anyone.) Yet Three is convinced that Baltar knows something, and we’re treated to one of the most horrifying torture sequences on the entire show.
I was, simply put, transfixed but what the writers did with Baltar and his projection. It’s one of the most stunning things the show has ever given us: a contrast between the emotional comfort that Head Six provides Baltar, and the stark physical reality of his life at that moment in a Cylon basestar. I don’t think I have any clue yet as to what the source of these visions are. Either option fits, but what’s fascinating about this scene is that it does not matter. It does not matter whether Head Six was created by Baltar’s subconscious, nor does it matter that he is a Cylon. Head Six simply tells Baltar what he’s always known: she exists in that place to take his body away from the real world. That’s always what has happened! I mean, if you look back at all appearances of her, Baltar always finds himself physically distracted in the real world when he “projects” her. She exists in a physical realm, not just a mental one.
It’s amazing to me how beautiful and violent this scenes comes off as. It’s brilliant camera work and editing, and it’s a jarring experience to have the perspective switch from the basestar to the projection. I don’t know why Head Six is there, but I know that she taps into Baltar’s tendency for self-preservation. And she does so by distracting his body, telling him to send that brilliant mind of his back to that room where he is being tortured, and using that to end his suffering.
And we get the most SPECTACULAR monologue yet:
BALTAR: I’m a scientist. And as a scientist, I believe that if God exists our knowledge of him is imperfect. Why? Because the stories and myths we have are products of men. The passage of time. That religion in practice is based on a theory. Impossible to prove. Yet you bestow it with absolutes like, “There is no such thing as coincidence.”
THREE: It’s called faith.
BALTAR: Absolute belief in God’s will means there’s a reason for everything. Everything! And yet you can’t help ask yourself how God can allow death and destruction and then despise yourself for asking. But the truth is, if we knew God’s will, we’d all be Gods, wouldn’t we? I can see it in your eyes, D’Anna. You’re frustrated. You’re conflicted. Let me help you out. Let me help you change. Find a way to reconcile your faith with fact. Find a way towards a rational universe.
He calls her D’Anna. And I think that is incredibly important. He is trying to personalize this, even though this could be any Three at this point. He senses her doubt. Or perhaps this is a collective thing; could the entire Cylon community be feeling doubt about the will of their God?
Doubt is a powerful, pervasive human emotion, and I think that’s a huge sign that the Cylons have far more in common with the humans than the humans would like to think. And that is what makes up a large part of what happens on the fleet when the boarding party returns, is cleared of any possible infection, and Athena must face the chance that she is infected herself. Again, DON’T YOU DARE KILL HER, SHOW. The doubt manifests in herself, too, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn that she was going to survive this, as the show cleverly brings back the fact that Hera’s antibodies provide healing beyond what anyone is used to.
The episode instead uses Lee and Roslin to bring forth one of the most complicated and disturbing issues the fleet has faced yet: genocide. After interrogating one of the Simon models of the Cylons, they learn that the basestar was abandoned on purpose. The virus could travel through a download on the Resurrection Ship. Lee the proposes that they fly in range of a Resurrection Ship, execute their prisoners, and send a virus through the Cylon fleet that would devastate and kill them in just a few days.
It’s genocide. And bless Helo, who quickly became the most heroic character on the show, for naming it for what it is and for fighting against it.
But that’s what this show does do well. Even though I can gravitate towards Helo’s side rather easily, I don’t think that we are given a situation that is 100% black and white, a clear dichotomy of choices with an obvious answers. I can’t ignore Roslin’s point: the Cylons ruthlessly pursue the humans. They torture them. They oppress them. They have given the humans no indication that they will ever stop. And Commander Adama has just given them a solution that would give them the first chance to leave this all behind. Not only is it tempting, it’s a tactic of war that makes sense to Roslin.
But at the heart of this all (and the main reason I side with Helo) is the issue of whether Cylons are people. Obviously, Helo has a personal bias, but you can also see the doubt on Admiral Adama’s face as well. Is this really the route that they want to take? How is it ethical to lash out at the Cylons by doing exactly the same thing as they did? Even more important, they all have seen that Athena made a choice. If she is a programmed machine, how was that possible? It’s possible because she has her own identity. And exterminating the Cylons like some sub-species eliminates the chance to change minds, to find more Cylons like Athena.
I worried when Roslin went ahead and gave the executive order to follow through with Lee’s plan and Helo decided it would be best to sabotage the execution. Suddenly, I started to believe that they might execute him for treason, or we’d end up with him in detention just after his wife was finally let out. This was not going to end well, but I grew a respect for Helo for doing all of this anyway. He knew it was the right thing to do. He could not sit by and allow the genocide of an entire race to be perpetrated.
So you can imagine my surprise when Helo succeeds in killing the prisoners before the baseship was in range, and Admiral Adama decides the issue is closed. He’s relieved that Helo did what he did, and it’s clear he supports his XO’s decision as well. And I think that while it’s unspoken, maybe there’s a part of Roslin that is also glad not to have the stain of genocide on her soul. But for a moment, humanity creeped ever closer to that prophetic statement of Athena’s in last season: Is humanity worth saving?
To Delete or Not to Delete, That Is the Question
Strangely, I liked the episode in general even though most of it was nonsense and cop-outs.
Let's get my man Baltar's weirdass bullshit out of the way first. I loved that he tried to make a sincere apology, as if that would work. It won't. Not when the Centurions make such freakyass robotic noises. I love the sound design on this show.
And then, the torture! It's just not BSG without a good torture scene. And I found it very amusing that Six counsels Baltar to become the anti-Westley: take his body away. Which, frankly, makes no bloody sense, especially given that Six just said that pain is only neural impulses and thus only in the mind. Unless she is referring to the unconscious mind and not the physical brain, although the unconscious brain wouldn't allow Baltar control of the logic and rationality he's supposed to use against D'Anna. I think the basic point here is that SHE GETS HIM CLOSER TO GOD. That scene was entirely freaky, and I was really afraid Baltar was dead.
Now, to the A plot. Nice, freaky teaser. So strange to see all those dead Raiders floating about. And then Sharon went and got herself infected. I've grown to really like the character; she's gotten a lot more interesting. So I really didn't want her to die.
Sharon totally blew up the Baseship, right?
It was odd to watch all the humans freak out about being infected when we knew it was fine, although it did make sense for them to be worried. I approve of Racetrack's continuing existence.
I've also grown to like Helo, despite the fact that he mostly functions as Sharon's husband. "[B]ecause of who she isn't" was a nice turn of phrase.
So Cottle identifies the virus (and, what, they immediately call it a virus? it can't be any other sort of pathogen? bacteria and fungi are VERY DISAPPOINTED!), and WHAT? Lymphocyte encephalitis my ass. I mean, for starters, the term makes no fucking sense because encephalitis, by definition, is inflammation of the brain. It's like saying leg spleen. I mean, props for knowing what the fuck lymphocytes are, but you're mixing your metaphors here. You want to weaken the immune system, sure, since you're basically giving the Cylons AIDS. But you also want to throw in some bullshit that makes it possible for the virus to be transmitted during resurrection, so you want it to hit the brain too. OR SOMETHING.
Except Cymon, who finally gets to say more than he's ever said in the entire show, combined, explains that there's also some bioelectric component to the virus WHAT? This was supposedly a human virus. That humanity developed an immunity to many many years ago. Which, um, if the humans were immune at the time they built the Cylons, why would the Cylons not be immune? Given that their only source of human DNA would have contained the immunity? Did anyone think this through? Anyway, bioelectric component that magically allows the virus to be transported during resurrection. So it would hit the resurrection ship and take out everyone on that ship, but I still fail to understand why that would kill the entire race. There is more than one resurrection ship. How does infecting one infect the whole race? It's not like they're even going to make it off the ship to spread the virus. Someone please explain this to me or this episode falls completely apart.
Oh, and I hope you all do realize that it is THE MOST RIDICULOUS THING IN ALL OF RIDICULOUSNESS for Cottle to have developed a vaccine in, like, three hours. But that is the way of TV science, and I accept that.
Sharon also hilariously accepts TV science as she explicitly says, "Whatever!" to explain why she's immune. Of course hers is probably the only pseudoscience I can buy in the entire episode. It does make a certain kind of sense for there to be fetus-mother transmission of antibodies. Mothers can transmit HIV to their fetuses, so I'll buy that it can go the other way for a beneficial arrangement. Besides, Hera's blood has magical cancer-curing powers, for God's sake. I was expecting Sharon to have to take the vaccine every day forever, but this was the easy way out. Which this show takes on occasion.
TO BE CONTINUED
And the rest of the episode is the genocide discussion. And, well, I'm sort of a Cylon sympathizer, so I was on Helo's side, even though I knew the poor guy could not have his word stand as his own word because of his incredible bias. It was odd, though, that they never really brought up the prospect of killing Sharon. I wasn't sure whether the unspoken assumption was that she would die as part of the genocide because, well, that's genocide, yo, or whether she'd be The Last Cylon. I was also on Adama's side, in that I think eliminating an entire race is kinda…icky.
Roslin's side, of course, was that when said race is trying to eliminate your entire race, all bets are off. And she was so, so very right to put Helo in his place regarding New Caprica. I cannot believe he even tried to say that. But I am enjoying the tensions between those who were In the Shit and those who weren't.
I really love the sounds Raiders make, even though there's no sound in space.
Oh, oh! I loved when everyone found out Baltar was A) alive and B) helping the Cylons find Earth. Man, that guy is never going to be welcome on that ship again. I wonder where they'll end up going with his character. I hope they don't kill him. Also, was it just me, or was there just a tinge of hope/joy in Gaeta's voice?
And Helo fraks up the genocide for everyone, saving humanity's soul for another day. And Adama's all, "Whatevs, I didn't want to do it anyway."
There was some suspense there, for me, because this show usually goes for the throat. So while I didn't think they'd wipe out all the Cylons because the show would be over, I thought something would happen. I thought they would get their hands dirty a little bit. Otherwise, why all the talkity talk talk?
And then they pulled a War of the Worlds on the virus plotline, which almost redeemed the whole thing except, OMG SHUT UP WHO DESCRIBED A VIRUS THREE THOUSAND YEARS AGO?? NO SERIOUSLY DOES COTTLE HAVE LIKE THREE-THOUSAND-YEAR-OLD BIOCHEMISTRY BOOKS?? Seriously, I liked the original idea as it seemed to be presented better: the humans deliberately left a Cylon virus so that any Cylons trying to find Earth would be killed. This way, I suppose you can deal in God and fate and God's plan and whatnot, but Baltar's bleeding out of his ear on the table, man, DO YOU BELIEVE IN HIM??
Yeah, I liked the episode okay.
And she was so, so very right to put Helo in his place regarding New Caprica. I cannot believe he even tried to say that.
I remember reading an interview with Tahmoh Penikett awhile ago (and I cannot, for the life of me, find it again) where he talked about that particular line, and that he pretty much begged the Powers That Be to change it because he felt that it was completely out of character for Helo. Which it was.
Clearly, the Powers That Be disagreed, and the line remained.
Also, was it just me, or was there just a tinge of hope/joy in Gaeta's voice?
Oh, poor Gaeta. I love him and he's so in love with Baltar and I don't even know if he knows it.
Lymphocyte encephalitis my ass. I mean, for starters, the term makes no fucking sense because encephalitis, by definition, is inflammation of the brain. It's like saying leg spleen. I mean, props for knowing what the fuck lymphocytes are, but you're mixing your metaphors here. You want to weaken the immune system, sure, since you're basically giving the Cylons AIDS. But you also want to throw in some bullshit that makes it possible for the virus to be transmitted during resurrection, so you want it to hit the brain too. OR SOMETHING.
Dear Past Me,
Lymphocytic choriomeningitis is a thing. Stop yelling.
Love,
Future Me
LOL
Ok, not really related but I love your 'future me' comment because I'm constantly doing that – chastising 'past me' for not starting my work sooner, or occasionally leaving little notes for 'future me' in my diary.
It's nice to know I'm not the only one. 😛
Past Me is a lazy little git, incidentally, and never does the washing up. But it's ok, because I can just leave it and then it's Future Me's problem.
I had to google that as I was reading your review
"That humanity developed an immunity to many many years ago. Which, um, if the humans were immune at the time they built the Cylons, why would the Cylons not be immune? Given that their only source of human DNA would have contained the immunity?"
Ok its been a while since I've taken immunology, but I think this is plausible. *Disclaimer, I may be misremembering or making things up* I don't think antibodies to disease are encoded in your DNA. You get immunity to diseases when you encounter them and you make antibodies for that disease or through the placenta from your mother. I don't think that cylons are born that way, so they wouldn't have immunity to a disease unless they had encountered it.
But then this makes me confused about how Athena could be immune, because Hera wouldn't have those antibodies since Athena did not. Must just be her *magic cybrid blood*.
Yeah, I'm not really sure what the hell I was thinking with that one. I think my main point was that if the humans were immune at the time they built the Cylons, the Cylons, being built by humans and sebz uhzna cnegf and being around humans, were very likely to have acquired the immunity as well.
As for Athena, yeah, magic blood.
Yeah, it's weird that no one realized the flaw of killing all the infected prisoners within range of that one resurrection ship. They've frequently used the term "out of range" w/r/t the resurrection ships' need for better wi-fi connections. If I remember correctly, they've already known Cylons to be worried about dead zones (no pun intended) where they're not in range of any resurrection ships at all, so why wouldn't they extrapolate that there's little chance that the resurrection ships are close enough to share data from downloads with each other? Why would the resurrection ships even need to share data, for that matter?
I could still see the fleet killing prisoners to take out that one resurrection ship, but then why kill all the prisoners at once if you have a chance at taking out up to five of them, just by scattering the executions?
This was the only thing I found completely believable, really, what with fetal cell microchimerism and all.
But would Hera have antibodies to it? I thought babies only got antibodies from their mothers, so she wouldn't be immune to the disease any more than Athena would be.
My internet connection crapped out a few times while I was trying to type this, so we'll see if it actually posts this time.
I think it was worded in the episode as something like "the fetus's blood cells get into the mother's circulatory system, causing the mother to create antibodies," which made me think that it went like this:
1. Helo has (but has developed antibodies against) the virus in his system.
2. Hera inherits the virus from Helo.
3. The virus crosses into Athena's system during her pregnancy.
4. Somehow this is a more effective method of creating Cylon antibodies than simply being exposed to the virus through the environment??? Or maybe the version of the virus on the beacon is stronger in some way???
5. Profit.
As SpectralBovine said, it doesn't really make sense to have all humanity be immune to this disease while the Cylons (seemingly including ones who've been living around humans for a long-ass time) seem to fall ill the moment they touch something someone coughed on thousands of years ago (which seems like it would be more likely with bacteria than with viruses, anyway?). Wouldn't it make more sense to say that the virus crossed over into the Cylon sub-species or whatever in those early days, and then mutated to become a new Cylon-specific virus? I guess this would take away any somewhat logical reason for Hera's existence to save Athena's life, but they've already used her to cure cancer in a matter of minutes, so I don't really see it being that much of a problem.
One thing that still bothers me: Doc Cottle said that the vaccine doesn't work as a complete cure because the Cylons have antibodies that attack the vaccine. Aren't vaccines in general made of some form of the agent that caused the original sickness, though? Wouldn't that mean that Cylons are already developing immunity to the virus, or alternately that the vaccine isn't structurally close enough to the version the Cylons have to do any good? Maybe I'm misunderstanding how vaccines work, but I thought that having antibodies attack the vaccine was the entire point.
I just don't think babies get viruses or antibodies (anything but DNA) from their fathers.
As for the second part it depends on how they make the vaccine. If they use animals to make the vaccine, your body makes antibodies against the animal protein and not necessarily the virus. That's the reason you can't use some anti-venoms more than once.
Viruses* can be inherited if they're incorporated into the parental DNA. I think there's one type of herpesvirus that's not uncommonly passed along that way. There's also spermatozoal RNA which might play a role in embryonic development. But I think the most relevant thing would be that Hera inherited an MHC haplotype from Helo, and HLA are expressed on part of the placenta and the mother can produce antibodies in response to them, but I don't think that'd explain Sharon's acquired immunity. I also really don't understand how the Cylons have NO innate immunity to this virus and there's universal mortality, so I'm just shrugging this off as teevee science.
*Immunology was the worst class I ever took and I've endeavored to block it out, so feel free to correct me if I'm screwing things up/not making sense.
Oh! That actually does make a lot of sense. Still would have been much easier if daddy were the cylon at least for this particular episode.
Heh, I kind of enjoy breaking down teevee science, so thanks for making me feel like its less implausible than I originally thought. 🙂
Except Cymon, who finally gets to say more than he's ever said in the entire show, combined, explains that there's also some bioelectric component to the virus WHAT? This was supposedly a human virus. That humanity developed an immunity to many many years ago. Which, um, if the humans were immune at the time they built the Cylons, why would the Cylons not be immune? Given that their only source of human DNA would have contained the immunity? Did anyone think this through?
Vg'f orra njuvyr fvapr V jngpurq OFT, ohg qvqa'g gur ornpba ghea bhg gb unir orra yrsg gurer ol gur guvegrragu gevor (bs Plybaf)? Fb vg znxrf frafr gung vg jbhyq'ir orra n ivehf gung nssrpgf Plybaf naq abg uhznaf, evtug? Nhtu, zl oenva uhegf n yvggyr.
Vg jnf gur guvegrragu pbybal bs uhznaf, jub yrsg sbe Rnegu.
Sharon totally blew up the Baseship, right?
I got that impression from her shifty-eyes at the beginning.
It's like saying leg spleen.
AHAAHAhhahahaha
I tend to forget about this episode when I think back on Season 3. I don't think it's a bad episode, and it certainly brings up several interesting points, but for some reason it just doesn't stick in my mind. The Baltar scenes are both trippy and awesome though. I love the increasingly complex relationship he has with Head!Six and how it affects his life in the outside world.
I am glad Adama decided to let the death of the prisoners go. I think the most interesting reaction was from Athena. I'm fascinated by her commitment to the fleet, knowing she'll have to do anything Adama tells her to, including killing her own people, to prove that she is her own woman. How many people would do that, let alone supposed machines?
I love that too – how Athena has such a huge amount of inner strength throughout all of this, and especially this season so far. She KNOWS that she'll never be entirely accepted and that she's gonna have to fight every day and prove herself over and over again.
She has to work twice as hard as the rest of them just to be considered their equal, and that's a price she's willing to pay. I think, in a way, Helo was being a little naive, whereas I feel like Athena was totally prepared for this, knowing that sooner or later she would have to sit back and watch awful things being done to her own people. I imagine she'd mentally prepared herself for this sort of sacrifice before, which is why she seems so calm and resigned here.
In other news, I love how relieved everyone was at the end of the episode. It's nice to know that no-one was entirely comfortable with what they were going to do, and Helo basically took the weight off by removing the impossible choice.
Helo is beautiful and perfect and heroic and the best person in the fleet, except maybe Athena, and I love them forever, and if anything happens to them so help me I will grow a TARDIS and go back in time to kick the writers' asses.
I don't really get how their genocidal plot would have worked for ALL of the Cylons. Wouldn't it only have affected the ones within range of that resurrection ship? There are more resurrection ships, right? And surely there are more Cylons out of range who would get suspicious and vengeful. Come on space parents, think for a minute. And while they're outside the fleet's knowledge, there are those other five models that we know nothing about and apparently aren't close to the seven we are aware of. How would they take it?
I love your Helo and Athena love. I will totally be your companion and/or robot dog for that trip.
I promise you won't have to sleep on a bunk bed.
But bunk beds are cool. It's two beds, and a ladder.
So everyone in the boarding party at the beginning of the episode gets a helmet…except Athena? Okay. This sort of thing shouldn't really bother me but I can't help noticing it.
Main message from this episode: The Agathons are awesome. The scene where Sharon finds out about the impending genocide of her people is so painful yet beautiful to watch. Grace Park handles it so well.
Even though the final scene is a bunch of exposition EJO and Mary McDonnell manage to play it so that it doesn't feel like an exposition scene. Also, yay Bill and Laura had a scene together! Look these have been thin on the ground recently I'm going to celebrate what little we're given.
Bill and Laura in Adama's quarters together and sharing a drink! Seriously show, give us a bone here. We shippers have needs!
I'm with Lee on this one. The virus would only kill those Cylons who are pursuing the humans across the galaxy, attempting to find and occupy their last refuge.
We know from other episodes that resurrection ships can be "out of range," so it's not like they'll be attacking any Cylons who are not within a one-jump radius, i.e. chasing them. The Cylons could go in another direction. They could go back to the colonies. They could go back to wherever it is they hung out between the wars. They are only in range because they have decided to pursue the few survivors of the human genocide and ruin any hope they have of getting away. If Cylons are capable of making choices, they are capable of choosing to just leave humanity alone.
The evidence of New Caprica is all I need to say that it is worth it to use this terrible weapon to get away.
I'm pretty much with you. This is probably the only episode where I ever agree with Lee.
I don’t think there are many writers quite like those who work on Battlestar Galactica who can compose scenes that are painfully tense, that fill me with dread, that glue me to my television screen.
There aren't many, true, but it looks like they're all working on Breaking Bad.
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GODDMAN IT, LEE!! Why’d you have to suggest genocide??? I see even without your fat suit you make terrible decisions. I thought this episode was pretty fantastic, but I can’t help but be disappointed with the virus plotline. I understand that it was mostly just a way to introduce all these discussions about Cylons but I wish that wasn’t so obvious. The fact that the basestar mysteriously blows up RIGHT as they get off is a pretty big cop out in my opinion. I know I would have been bored by the virus plotline if they kept it up for much longer, but I wish it was resolved a little more creatively.
Awww, Helo <3 SO PERFECT IN EVERY WAY! Minus his hair for some reason…it made him look like a fisher price toy.
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/oOIfX.jpg"/>
I don’t remember it always looking so strange. What happened? Clearly I focus on the important things.
lol YES. I'm willing to forgive the terrible hair because he's wonderful in every other way. I think it's just grown out a little this season? I dunno, everyone has different hair or moustaches or fat suits. It's a very difficult time.
terrible hair isn't going to make me stop loving him but I spent a whole lot of time just staring at it trying to figure out why it looked weird. Not that I MIND having to stare at Helo…
This is hands-down one of my favourite episodes of the series, sure it's not as big and flashy as a lot nor does it have as many 'omg shit got real' moments but instead it has my favourite things that I enjoy in drama, character development and complex moral decisions. And seeing as those things also revolve around my two favourite characters from the series this episode is a winner with me. Yes, I have a lot of ~feelings~ so lets get to it. Also, gif-spam.
Isn't 'infected' one of the scariest words there is? And then everyone is ok except maybe Sharon and everything is awful.
<img src="http://i56.tinypic.com/b6ymqc.gif" alt="Helo goes to see Sharon in sickbay and is worried">
Then there is Lee's plan. I still got the feeling from this episode that Lee doesn't trust Athena (the way he reacted when she started moving towards the other Cylons) and it's clear that he doesn't see Cylons as people “these are things, dangerous things” he says, a word that Adama used to use to describe Sharon.. and yet Adama's thinking seems to have changed now (omg I love Adama so hard in this episode). I've gotta say the whole discussion on Colonial One is pretty much intellectual porn for me. You can't say Lee (or Roslin) is necessarily 100% wrong in their thinking – get rid of the Cylons and suddenly all their lives become so much easier. But is that a reason for doing such a horrible thing. For Lee it isn't a hard choice, “they're not human, they're programmed”, Roslin I feel is slightly more sympathetic, she is willing to listen to argument, but still ultimately comes down on making the hard decision.
But Helo labels this idea correctly in my view, as genocide. No matter what has been done to you is that ever a good response? Eye for an eye and the whole world is blind. He acknowledges that they might not be willing to listen to him because of his personal ties, so he uses that.
“I'm talking about right and wrong, I'm talking about losing a piece of our souls, but no-one wants to hear that right? Lets keep it on me. Yeah, I'm married to a Cylon. Who walked through hell for all of us how many times? And she's not half anything. Ok? How do we know there aren't others like her? She made a choice. She's a person. They're a race of people. Wiping them out with a biological weapon is a crime against humanity.”
And he's right. Sharon used her free will to make a choice. What if there are more like her? And Adama agrees, though his airs his views in private. “We start destroying whole races, even mechanical races, we're liable to tear of a piece of a man's soul” and like Mark I think this still goes back to that first real discussion he had with Athena, about if mankind are worth saving. But he doesn't go so far as to say that Roslin shouldn't do it, he just leaves her with the decision and she makes it.
“Posterity really doesn't look too kindly on genocide”
“You're making an assumption that posterity will define this as genocide. If they do at least there will be someone alive to hate us for it”
cont…
“Our baby saved my life. She's gone forever and she saved my life. Hera kept us together.”
<img src="http://i53.tinypic.com/2hyxgu1.gif" alt="Sharon and Helo hug and kiss in celebration">
Lets take a moment for this happiness–
“Traitor”
<img src="http://i55.tinypic.com/219nuzc.gif" alt="an eight calls Sharon a traitor on the cylon base ship">
(Sidenote: Simon passing out in that gif is so hilarious to me)
And so Sharon's storyline in this episode. She is greeted on the baseship as a 'traitor' by another eight, so of course that idea will be in the forefront of her mind when Helo tells her of the plan to wipe out the Cylons. She seems like his natural ally to him but instead, no matter how upset she is, she decides to keep her word to the fleet, to Adama…
“I made a choice. To wear a uniform. To be a person”
“You were a person before you put on that uniform. You were a person before I fell in love with you. You don't have to prove that”
“I have to prove it every day. Let me tell you something Helo, my people may die, my entire race may be wiped out, but this Cylon will keep her word, even if it means she's the last Cylon left in the universe. Can a human being do that?”
I like that they have Sharon choosing this, not just because it's surprising but because it seems so true to her character and how much being an officer really means to her. And because it means that Helo's choice is truly his own and is about his character. Also all this discussion of free will makes me very happy, I love that Helo also says that Sharon was also a person even before they met (which was when she started to break her programming) which is a view we really haven't seen expressed in the show yet.
V bsgra guvax bs guvf fprar jura yngre riragf unccra va gur frevrf. Gur xvyyvat bs ure ragver enpr jnfa'g rabhtu gb ghea Funeba ntnvafg gur uhznaf/syrrg/Nqnzn, ohg gur xvqanccvat bs ure puvyq jnf (nyorvg grzcbenevyl).
“They're be coming for me. You or me. Seems like they're always coming for one of us. I'm not a traitor. I love my people. I love this ship. Besides you the first thing I want to see any morning are the lights in that CIC. I did what I thought was right. If it was a mistake, fine, I can live with that. It's you I can't live without.”
This confession from Helo is wonderful. The word 'traitor' is used again in this episode and of course that is going to hit home with Sharon who has gone to such lengths to prove that she isn't one that she was ready to wipe out the rest of her people. Helo knows that he could have blown things with Sharon by going against her beliefs, her pride in the uniform and by possibly making people think that she was somehow involved just by association… can she forgive him for not keeping his 'promise' (oath)?
<img src="http://i55.tinypic.com/2nrlv2d.gif" alt="Sharon forgives Helo with a hug">
“I will always love you Helo”
Oh my heart.
And then Adama decides not to investigate. Because he is awesome and because ultimately he agrees with what Helo did – or at least disagreed with genocide (which really, shouldn't we all?).
“We are on the right trail Bill. So are the Cylons”
Damn Laura, way to bring me down!
On the other main storyline… oh my goodness Gaius… he's not the most likeable character but the torture scenes are unbearable (it doesn't help that the high-pitched screeching is actually painful to my ears as well, though not to the the same extent!). I love him imagining himself in a different place with his Head!Six.
Also LOL to the crew's reactions to the news that Baltar is alive! And helping the Cylons!
Helo, duck! The set is too small for you!
<img src="http://i54.tinypic.com/2a82108.gif" alt="Helo ducks to get through the doorway on Colonial One">
Phew, close call.
Sharon and Helo! <3 All the upvotes.
Epic comment is epic and full of truths.
ROFL at that last gif
Hahaha, Helo is too tall for the set! I think it makes sense, since a spaceship needs to conserve space and resources just like a sea-ship so everything is probably built on as small a scale as possible. But it's still funny.
I love the part where Lee's going on and on about how they're machines and not people, and he says that they don't have fathers and mothers and sons and daughters, and Helo cuts in with 'I had a daughter. I held her in my arms!'
Seriously, Lee? What were you thinking?
And then he doesn't just shhhh but instead says 'she was half-human'… oh ok, so just half 'thing' then? Just what every parent wants to hear people say about their (dead) child.
Oh, well, if it's only half then that's not so bad, right? ::rolls eyes::
Yeeeeah, not Lee's finest hour. Apparently losing all that weight made him a dick.
I still got the feeling from this episode that Lee doesn't trust Athena (the way he reacted when she started moving towards the other Cylons) and it's clear that he doesn't see Cylons as people “these are things, dangerous things” he says, a word that Adama used to use to describe Sharon.
Yeah, this also struck me when he referred to her as "Karl's wife" – I don't know, maybe it was an offhand thing, but it seemed kind of weird to not refer to her by her name, yet he couldn't exactly be even more impersonal about it with Helo there in the room. Though it does now occur to me that a) using her last name might have been confusing, and b) I'm not sure they've ever actually said Helo's real first name before this.
He didn't seem to trust at the start of this series either given how unimpressed he was when he found out Athena was going to be the ground liaison on New Caprica. It seems like the fleet accepts her, even Adama's made friends with her, so I wonder what it is that's holding Lee back.
I suppose it's consistant… ever since he saw his dad getting shot by Boomer he's hated Athena and has consistently been the one arguing against her right to even exist (on Kobol, on New Caprica etc.). Adama has forgiven her (or actually, seems to have accepted that Athena and Boomer are different people), but then again he seems to have spent a lot of time trying to understand what happened to him, what happened to all of them, and getting to know Athena – that doesn't seem to be something that Lee is particularly interested in.
Agreed. It looks like the year and however many months the fleet was on New Caprica was a big time of growth and understanding in the Athena and Adama relationship which Lee would've presumably completely missed being on the Pegasus. He just seems to have no interest moving on from his feelings around the original Boomer betrayal like most other people have.
I also think that during 'one year later', Bill and Lee's relationship turned really fucking sour, and that was the same window of time that he seemed to have grown close to Athena. It wouldn't surprise me if Lee resented that.
Oooh, good point.
Hmm, the only time I can remember his first name being mentioned is in the little title cards when we were going to 'Cylon-Occupied Caprica' in S1, I'm not sure it has been said out loud by anyone… maybe by Sharon or Starbuck at some point? (Semi-unrelated – It does amuse me how some people seem to be known just by their call-signs like Hotdog, Kat – how'd she luck out on such a normal sign? – Racetrack, Helo, most of the time Starbuck… and yet I'm sure Lee is mostly referred to by his first name, I suppose his dad isn't going to call him Apollo unless he's in trouble…)
The 'Karl's wife' thing stuck out to me as well. Partly because 'hey, Helo is right there' and also because she's a fellow officer, she's not just defined by who she is married to – don't want to say Agathon? Say Athena. Also all this talk of Cylons as 'things' and then not referring to Sharon by name but instead just as someone(something?) of Helo's just sounded wrong to me.
Yeah, I think you're right about Helo's name – I just didn't want to jump on Lee if it seemed like it may have been more a way to work in that Karl is his name. The thing about callsigns and nicknames is that they often sort of seem to be used as a middle ground between referring to someone impersonally/formally through their rank and/or last name, and being so personal so as to use their real first name. Which I can get, as though you're going to often be close to your fellow officers, you're also not necessarily supposed behave intimately or act like you're just friends hanging out. So I can get why we see people like Starbuck referred to by her first name, because there are more instances of characters having personal relationships with her and so would be more inclined to call her Kara, where as that isn't the case with Kat or Hot Dog. Still, everyone just seems to call Helo by his callsign, even Athena – I mean, despite that I knew it and have watched this episode before, it took me a second to work out what Lee meant by "Karl's wife."
And yeah, I agree – I mean, I think Lee calling her that was probably meant to show Lee's continued discomfort with her position in the Fleet. And I mean, even if Agathon might be a bit confusing, I don't think it would be that hard to figure out that he meant Athena given the context. Given how rarely anyone uses Helo's real first name, I don't think they would have written it that way without thinking about it.
I'm almost certain that I remember Roslin saying "Lieutenant Karl Agathon" at some point not long after he got back to the Galactica, but I can't remember what episode/what context, and I seem to remember a time or two where he's called "Karl" as well, though I'm less sure on that part.
I'm pretty sure he introduced himself to her as Karl Agathon aka Helo, and she was like "I know who you are, nice to meet you."
I noticed that "Karl's wife" thing too. Really, Lee, what does she have to do to earn your trust?
I guess there must be some confusion now that she's a pilot and there are two Lt. Agathon's.
Apparently Helo is actually a Captain Agathon at this point, according to the wiki.
BILL ADAMA AND HELO ARE NOT INTO MAKING HORCRUXES AND FRANKLY I AGREE WITH THEM.
‘Posterity doesn’t look to kindly on genocide.’ You’re making an assumption that posterity will define this as genocide. If they do at least there’ll be someone alive to hate us for it.’
I feel like I should want to talk about the serious issues this episode brought up in regards to genocide and how far would the fleet go to stop the Cylons but all I can focus on is Helo and how much I love him. *draws hearts around his name* As interesting as it can be to explore the grey areas of morality I do love Helo’s distinct sense of right and wrong and being willing to call it like it is by saying genocide. Equally Athena’s commitment to the fleet and humanity is so interesting. She’s always known she was a Cylon and she fully accepts it, she’s proven herself time and again and yet she’s still willing to give it all up to maintain her place in the fleet.
‘Seems like they’re always coming for one of us.’
Helo and Athena and Athena/Helo appreciation comment!
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I wish I had a thoughtful comment and not just "all of these Athena/Helo gifs make me happy," but whatever, I'm happy about BSG for once.
Who needs deep thinky thoughts when we've got Athena/Helo being adorable and happy and in love.
they're so perfect together!! <3
Man, maybe I'm a really terrible person, but if I was a random person in the fleet, who had been on the run for years and had never been informed of/involved in any fleet decisions, I would totally infect the cylons. Sometimes I wish the series would bring in people from outside the Galactica and Colonial One. They probably have a very different perspective.
I think from the outset they should have had a person or group of people whose storyline they could follow who were in the fleet. Maybe one of the crew could have family in the fleet? Otherwise it just sounds like "the fleet" are a monolith of sheeple who always have whatever opinion it is plot-convenient for them to have.
Lee's writing really bugs me here. I don't know if this is actually what happened, but it really feels like his lines during the whole genocide argument were meant for Tigh, before the writers realized it couldn't work given that Tigh was now a broken, drunk wreck, so they were just given to another character at random.
I heard the writers said that they never really got Lee figured out for a long time, just pulled him out occasionally and had him do stuff.
Taking a break from my self-imposed modly lurking/deleting a ton spam (I have a paper due Friday, so most of my brain has to be devoted to that rather than television analysis. Because the world is sad.) to comment on this episode, which I always thoroughly enjoy. I can never say no to Helo/Sharon, and as far as I'm concerned, Helo is basically a Perfect Individual here. Which is not to say I don't understand the other side and I get why Roslin was angry over the New Caprica issue, but as skewed as Helo's perspective is, it's also very difficult who to be the person who stands in that position, let alone acts on it. I don't think the others were out of character for how they felt about this potential of inflicting genocide, but there would be no way I couldn't side with Helo on this. The idea that the Cylons are simply programmed machines without identities or sentience just doesn't seem very reflective of what we know of them at this point. It also, I think, raises some nice questions about the whole "A.I. uprising" concept in fiction.
And I also liked the Baltar-Six sequence, though I won't pretend it wasn't mostly because it was very bizarrely pretty.
Also, there's a nice video done with a deleted scene from this episode that intercuts the scene with the one from "Resurrection Ship" when Athena talked about whether humanity was worth saving. (The deleted scene also explains a couple things, like how Helo managed to slip away to kill the prisoner Cylons and why Starbuck was flying if Adama grounded her during the last episode.) Aand… I'll go ahead and embed it, as it's not spoilery, but as I'd imagine as usual beware the "related video" links once it's finished:
[youtube zsUR-czyXho http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsUR-czyXho youtube]
With Mark reading American Gods right now, during that scene of Six making Baltar compliment her during sex, was anyone else thinking "Her vagina's going to eat him"?
I smile imagining the faces of anyone who hasn't read the book right now.
http://www.queenofwands.net/d/20040121.html
That is all i could think of while i was reading that part of American Gods
That was so wrong, and yet so very, very hilarious.
Hahaha! Yeah, when she started saying “Tell me you believe in me!” I was thinking, hmmmm, this sounds familiar, where have I seen this lately?
Previously on Battlestar Galactica: Helo is awesome.
This week on Battlestar Galactica: Helo is awesomer.
<img src="http://i53.tinypic.com/3022pvp.gif" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
YES. Excellent comment is excellent.
See, they could save a lot of time if they just replaced all the “Previously On’s” with this.
“A Measure of Salvation”, AKA “Two Genocides Don’t Make a Right.”
During the teaser, all I could was “NO NO NO DON’T GO ON THE BASE SHIP ATHENA! YOU’LL CATCH THE VIRUS! YOU CAN’T DIE RIGHT AFTER GETTING YOUR CALL SIGN!” This show would totally do that too. I was so pleasantly surprised that she was all right that I didn’t mind the writers taking the easy way out for once.
Helo, I agree completely with your position, but your argument could use a little work. What the hell were you thinking with that comment about New Caprica? You pretty much blew any chance of being heard out by Roslin right there! Aside from that though, this was Helo’s episode. He’s tuned into one of my favorite characters. I was certain that he was going to have to interrogated or even executed for what he did, but it made sense that Adama would have let him off easy, since he had his own doubts about it as well. I got the feeling he was even a little relieved at the end.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but- poor Baltar. He really can’t catch a break. He’d be screwed if he ever returned to the fleet, and now he’s screwed with the cylons. Do they really think if he actually had any information, he wouldn’t tell them before the torture began? Don’t they know him at all? I still don’t know where/how/in what dimension Head Six exists, but at this point I’m just rolling with it. Guess they’re not going to answer the question of whether he’s a cylon and whether it’s a projection anytime soon, huh?
Re: the New Caprica comment, I'm going to fanwank to say that what Helo meant was that the Cylons had gone from wanting to kill them all to wanting to enslave them all in the space of a couple of years which is clearly a example that they can change (even though only marginally for the better) and who knows what they could be like in the future. Or something. It came out wrong. Luckily the rest of what he said was phrased much better!
OMG that New Caprica quote by Helo is one I hate simply because you can tell it came from a writer who had read a show bible but actually hadn't watched the episodes in question because it's factually correct — yes, the Cylons did come to New Caprica to try to help humanity, that was their original intention (they carried it out badly, but yeah, I believe that's true), but the problem is, Helo had no way to know that. He was never on the surface during the occupation, and the closest he could possibly get is maybe Sharon found out in her brief foray to grab the launch keys. It's certainly not a logical conclusion to be drawn from knowing the Colonel was tortured and his BFF Kara was wrecked in a cell. Come ON.
Oh, yes, Angeli, I REMEMBER how you single-handedly made certain portions of fandom hate Helo just off this clumsy line, and I still don't forgive you for that. Or the hideous science. But I'm very glad we have Agathons!
Gah! I always fall behind on this show's reviews. I was on vacation for the last week and there was no wifi and I don't have an internet-enabled phone. Also, I can't count so, even though I tried to watch all the episodes you'd be reviewing before I left so I could just race through the reviews when I returned, I was an episode behind and I just re-caught up last night.
Random thoughts about the past 5 episodes:
-I'm really glad fat!Lee is gone. I giggled every time he appeared. Also this means Jamie Bamber can show off his arms some more and I can happily continue my obsession with the arms of the BSG cast.
-I LOVE YOU HELO! If I didn't also love Athena, I'd be very angry with her for taking such an amazing man.
-I really wanted a Gaeta episode, but I didn't want to watch him almost be executed. Especially since I watched this episode late at night and was going to only 10 minutes but in the first 5, Jammer gets shot out of the airlock. CANNOT SLEEP AFTER THAT.
-Helo's hair is kinda funky. Doesn't matter, still love him.
-Mary McDonnell looked really pretty in this episode. But I'm very glad Roslin couldn't carry out her orders of genocide.
-I have no more thoughts, but I want to reiterate how AWESOME Helo is. True story.
I too thought Athena's "Oh, my magic pregnancy saved me" was very handwavy and rolled my eyes at it. How funny to find out it was probably the most realistic part of the episode. Also OMG THEY ARE STILL MOURNING THEIR BABY AND THEY HAVE NO IDEA SHE IS ALIVE. *sob*
Poor Athena left behind in quarantine looks so much like the last sad puppy in the pound. I just want to hug her.
Helo. Helo gets it. It could have been that he managed to stay in love with Sharon by thinking of her as a Magical Good Cylon As Opposed To Every Other Cylon Ever, or, hell, just being in denial about her species. But clearly that's not the case. Clearly he really understands and really believes that being a Cylon doesn't preclude being an individual, and he believes it so strongly that he can extend the concept to Cylons he's not in love with, Cylons who might even be trying to kill him. I love this character so much.
Way to be a dick, Apollo.
The only thing I disliked about this episode was the ridiculous idiocy that is entering a strange, floating, unresponsive ship without any hazmat gear. Wouldn't you imagine protective suiting of some kind would be SOP in that kind of situation? When the Colonials inevitably found out they might be infected with something awful I yelled "DUH" at my screen and I'm not usually a yeller. I mean, when the crew of Red Dwarf are more safety-aware than you, that's pretty bad.
Is it just me, or does the cylon's reaction to the disease not say much good about them? They don't try to help the infected people, or understand the disease. There's endless storys about humans who risk their lives to care for others in these kind of situations. But the Cylons? They don't seem to even try. They're like "Argh! Virus! Run away! Run away!"
It took Cottle, what, a few hours to find a treatment?
Some spoilers for Babylon 5: V'z guvaxvat bs gurve cynthr-pnhfrf-trabpvqr rcvfbqr naq ubj Qryraa jrag va gb pner sbe gur vasrpgrq, abar bs jubz jrer ure fcrpvrf, ohg gur Plybaf pna'g frrz gb znantr gung xvaq bs pbzcnffvba sbe gurve bja crbcyr.
I guess it goes to the Cylons as a race being very immature.
Apart from Boomer, Athena and Cap Six, I don't think the Cylons understand emotional connections to others. (Exhibit A, how they seemed to have no idea why interning the humans didn't work out to be happy fun times.) Without experiencing emotional connections like love, the idea of putting oneself in danger to care for others — or of dying for others — doesn't make any sense. They're kind of sociopathic, TBH, and make these terribly rational decisions that aren't about emotions at all.
I think the Cylons as a race are prone to groupthink and needs-of-the-many type stuff. They're also, evidently, really deeply terrified of death in a way that humans don't seem to be,or else really fanatically into preserving life. Think of all the resources it must take for resurrection! and they bring up over and over again that humans murder each other where Cylon's apparently don't seem to (??) So panicking and leaving the sick Cylons behind seems pretty in-character for them. I guess it is immature, or just sort of a cultural difference, I don't know.
I wonder, have Cylons been sick before? If this is a completely new experience for them I'm not surprised that they panic. It's one thing to know intellectually what illness is, it's another to face it for the first time.
You're right though, I suppose they could have sent the resurrection ship away and just potentially sacrificed themselves for the good of the Cylon race…
I feel like I'm going against the grain, but this was one of the few eps of BSG I didn't wholly enjoy. I loved the Baltar scenes(but I'm biased because he's my favorite). I haven't really figured out why yet. Probably because I agreed with Lee. But man, if I'd gone through what they had, I'd have to say yes, please kill them all. Because they all wanted to destroy us.
I love the Helo Loves Sharon Show, and this is no exception. Watching Helo realize that they haven't tested Sharon yet because she's not human and humans are first priority… ugh. I hate that they still treat her as a second-class citizen.
LOL BALTAR IS ALIVE ~SURPRISE~ GUISE
"Losing a piece of our souls." So… we're going to make Horcruxes?
And I love Helo so much for standing up for the Cylons. He, more than anyone else, knows that they're capable of love and loyalty and everything humans are. And as he says, how do they know there aren't others like Sharon?
Meanwhile, I am growing to hate Three. Fuck you, Three.
Ooh, is Helo taking off his dog tags before he betrays Adama? Is that like crossing your fingers when you lie? Oh, no, he's just using it to unscrew stuff. Dogtags: also useful as an emergency screwdriver!
They have records of viruses from three thousand years ago? I kind of have to call shenanigans on this. They have exact records of viruses but only vague prophecies and poetic scripture about the exodus of humanity? Whatever, this episode was still pretty great.