Battlestar Galactica Recap/Review

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When the concepts for the final five or so episodes of season two were made known a few weeks ago, I have to admit I was most worried about this week's episode. A story that sought to give us the other side of the conflict, to show us things from the Cylon perspective. I began to get a bit worried, fearing we might try and soften the robotic killing machines too much.

I honestly began to fear that they'd pull a Borg on the Cylons. See, back in the early days of TNG, the Borg were the unstoppable, relentless machine foe. The Borg were determined to assimilate the Federation at all costs and they took no prisoners. They were terrifying and wonderful, but the writers made a mistake in their creation--they made them so powerful that there was virtually no way to defeat them without the fans crying "Sheeningans!" So, over the course of TNG, the Borg were slowly de-fanged a bit. In season five, we met Hugh who the Enterprise was able to separate from the collective and then send back in. Hugh "humanized" the Borg a bit, made them less malevolent, less feared and, quite frankly, less interesting. The Borg had lost their bite a bit and even though the big-screen First Contact brought some of that back, I'm not sure the Borg ever regained that "holy sh*t" factor they had back in "Q Who" or "Best of Both Worlds, Part 1."

I will give Ron Moore and company credit. Those who worked on Trek seemed to have learned from that mistake, at least so far. I will credit part of that to working on DS9. DS9 was a show built on the changing face of the villains and alliances growing and breaking down in a natural way. To see this, simply watch the progression of Gul Dukat or the Founders over the course of the show. At first, the Founders were seen as this unrelenting foe who had no interest in peaceful co-existence with the Fedearation. But as the story of DS9 went along, we slowly learne more about them, their society and saw them change, progess and adapt as adversaries. Same thing with Gul Dukat, who changes from antagonist to sympathetic outcast to out and out villian over the show's seven season. I think part of the success of having villians that change is that we, the audience, get to enjoy that journey. It's not like Hugh where he goes off and next time we see the Borg they're...well, not the Borg we once knew.

And that may be what is happening here with Galactica. I'll give Ron Moore and company a lot of credit. It looks like they're taking the Cylons from what appeared to be a unified and relentless foe with a single-minded task and throwing in some wrinkles. We have Six and Sharon who are heroes of the Cylon, both of whom have interacted with humans and understand the survivors. In fact, they've both loved human men and that has changed them as well. So much that the Cylons don't quite know how to deal with them, threatening to box them off from the rest of the collective group for fear of contamination. Six doesn't know that she is a target of being boxed out at first, but slowly comes to realize it over the course of the story. In the end, she and Sharon end up joining forces to try and make some changes to the Cylon masterplan and society in the 36 hours they have before their crimes are discovered when the Lucy Lawless Cylon downloads into a new body.

Since Galactica is clearly built on the concept of a religious struggle between Colonist and Cylons over the number of gods and how they should be worshipped, this development is especially interesting. It's easy for us as the audience to be against the faceless Cylons who are out for out destruction in the same way that it'd be easy to hate all followers of a religious group who have radical leaders who are out to destroy us. But now we've seen that not everyone falls into line and not everyone agrees that this is the best course of action. It's about examining predjuices and not drawing conclusions about an individual just because he or she is of one religious group or another. It's a lesson in understanding who the enemy really is and having tolerance.

Don't get me wrong--I do not want the Cylons entirely humanized. But I do think getting a bit of an understanding of their society worked well here. And I have a feeling that the changes that Six and Sharon are trying to implement may have far-reaching ramifications not only for the season finale but also the rest of the series. I suppose, in a way, it was inevitable that we had to have more depth to the Cylons--something that started in "Scar" and continues here.

I'm interested ot see where Ron Moore and company will continue to take it.

And let me just say this--for a bit, I thought that Baltar was a Cylon. When Six woke up and saw Baltar there, my jaw dropped. But the implication that Six can see a Baltar in her head, one who is every bit as manipulative as the Six in Batlar's head is was a nice twist. James Callis as Baltar does a super job here of creating a character that is similiar to the one we know but also very different enough to be cruel and manipulative. And the echo of the Baltar in Six's head applauding as she made a major step in bringing out a change in Cylon society just as Six applauded Baltar when he declared his intention to run for president last week was a nice, nice touch.

As for the baby plotline, I have a strange feeling this will come back to haunt everyone. I wonder when Helo finds out what was done to him and having his child taken from him if he will start to lose his faith in Adama, much as we saw happen to Starbuck last year when she found out there was no Earth.

All I know is--I think it's going to be one hell of a season finale....