WhateverThings

Set condition 1 throughout the fleet! Galactica is back. And I’m back to blogging. We’ll see if I can keep it going this time. A good place to start is the beginning of Season 4 of BSG, the final season. Last season left off with all kinds of surprises and plot lines hanging. We really didn’t get any answers, but we did get a picture of what the last season is going to be like, and if the other episodes are anything like this, it will be a great ending to an awesome show. Starbuck’s back. 4 of the final 5 Cylons are just beginning to deal with the revelation. Baltar has become the head of a Gaius cult. Two themes seem to stand out in the show, themes that have been consistent throughout the series: trust and identity.

Starbuck’s return. Is it really her? What’s up with the brand new viper? She thinks she has been gone for 6 hours; everyone else says she has been gone for 2 months. The question is if this is a Cylon trick or has she really been to earth. Either one seems conceivable. I guess there is another option – she is a Cylon but this is not part of their plan. What is more interesting to watch is the reaction of the rest of the crew when she reappears. Some think she is a Cylon. Some believe her. Some don’t know what to think. Roslin immediately believes that it’s a Cylon trick, from the moment Apollo identifies her. Then in her questioning of Kara, she is fixated on proving that Kara is lying. Roslin, who has had visions, has sent Kara to fetch a golden arrow to find Earth, now seems unable to accept anything out of the ordinary. She seems to have become a very distrusting person over the course of events. And very quick and ruthless in her dealings with the Cylons. But, what makes this strange is her interactions with 6. She doesn’t trust Starbuck or know if she is really a Cylon, so she goes to talk with 6 (whom she knows to be a Cylon) and asks her questions. Talking to someone you know you can’t trust to see if you can trust someone else – that seems a bit strange, doesn’t it? She feels some connection, because they have “shared something”.

What it comes down to is how do you know who can be trusted? We go through life with trust as a foundation for nearly all we do. But, how do you live, how do you go about daily tasks, if you are unsure if you can trust the people around you? Watch the way people are torn apart, the way relationships are destroyed because of the uncertainty of who can be trusted. We are reminded in this of the necessity to be people who can be trusted. To be a community where our yes means yes and our no means no.

The other question that the show pushes is that of identity – who am I? This has come to the fore with the revelation of 4 of the final 5 (Tigh, Tory, Anders and Tyrol). They discover that they are someone or something that they did not know they were and have to learn how to live with that. They have learned that who they have thought themselves to be was merely a fabrication. How would you live your life differently if you one day discovered that you are someone other than what you have believed yourself to be the rest of your life, that you had some other purpose (which you are still unsure of.) Tigh suggests that they just need to continue being themselves, that this revelation that he is in fact a Cylon does not change who he is, that he will continue to do his job, and that’s what he tells them all to do.

What if you one day discovered that your life had been a lie, that you were someone other than what you thought you were . Kara and Anders have the following conversation

Sam, “If you’re a Cylon, they you’ve been one from the beginning.”

Kara: “Like Boomer, spend my entire life thinking I’m one thing.”

Sam: “Yeah, and then you wake up one day and you discover you’re another. Still doesn’t change who you really are.”

Who you really are. Isn’t that one of the most significant questions we can ask. For a follower of Jesus, that is our primary identity. But, that is not how we begin our lives. Until the time we decide to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord, we live one life. Then, our lives are changed, we are a new creation. The challenge seems to be that for many who follow Christ, their lives do not change. They wake up one day and discover that they are something else, but they continue to live the old life. (see Romans 6:2 for example) It’s not a perfect analogy, I know that. But, I was watching these people struggling and saw reflections in them of many who call themselves Christians. What life are they going to lead?

There are many more questions to be answered. But, like the teasers say, “all will be revealed.” Are these 4 of the final 5 with or against the other Cylons? How will Tigh and the others live with this new identity? What is the plan that the Cylons have? How will their infighting affect things? What will we learn about the one true god that 6 speaks of? Will we enjoy the rest of the season? At least to that last one, I think I might have an answer. So say we all!