We are introduced to these key themes primarily in the scenes that take place on the Cylon Basestar between Ellen and Cavill/1/John.   We learn that the 7 (actually eight) human cylon models were created by those known as the final five.  Some of them, John in particular, are not very happy with their creators.  John feels he has been limited, given an inadequate body and construction for what he longs to do.  he resents the emotions and the limitations that have been placed upon him, the way in which he has been made to look like a human, the very beings that he hates for their enslavement of the centurions.  I always had the sense that Cavill/John was devious and cruel, but here we begin to see the full extent.  The scenes need to be watched to truly see their power.  Some of the lines that are worth noting:
John to Boomer about Ellen, “Stay and have a heart to heart with your creator.  Ask her why she made you the way you are. Self-destructive …  Tell her how extraordinarily happy this makes you”

Then this exchange:
Boomer: “Don’t you feel the slightest bit of remorse for what you did to him?  What you did to us?”
Ellen: “No.  Because he’s wrong, Boomer.   There’s no need for remorse and blame.  We didn’t limit you.  We gave you something wonderful.  Free will.  The ability to think creatively.  To reach out to others with compassion and love.”
Boomer:  “Love?  Who?  Humans?  Why would I want to do that?  Who would I want to love?”

and this one:
Ellen (to John): “You see, you claim to be a perfect machine, but you are driven by the most petty of human emotions: jealousy and rage.  I know what you did to Daniel.  (Discussion of Daniel).  I knew it was John.  Sadistic.
John:  “And who made me?  That’s what we’re dancing around here, isn’t it?  If I am so irredeembable, if I’m such a mistake, if I’m so broken, then whose fault is that?  It’s my maker’s fault!  And that’s not God.  That’s you.  This is on you.”
Ellen:  “No, no.  John, God, no.  You have done terrible things.  But you are not a mistake.  If you could just accept yourself as what you are – the boy I made.  You can be good.  You can be anything.  I love you John, because I made you.”

What is the relationship between a creator and its creation?  Do we blame God for the way we are?  Is it justifiable to say, “It’s not my fault, this is simply how God made me.”  How often have you heard the argument?  Does such an argument truly work?  I think that what is suggested by these scenes is right – that though we may be limited by our creator, we have been given free will and are ultimately responsible for our behaviors.  I am not suggesting that this gives a completely biblical view of the relationship between God and humans, between Creator and creations, but it is some powerful material.  I’m not sure BSG was trying to take one side or the other in the argument, but these scenes seem to point very much toward the idea that we cannot blame the creator for who we are.  If nothing else, what a line ‘I love you because I made you.”

Beyond this creator/creation theme, this episode returns to the whole issue of reconciliation and memory.  We hear John talk about how he chose not to simply explore and marvel at being such an incredible machine because “justice pulled him back”, he could not, or would not forget that his centurion forebears had been enslaved by humans.  We have these themes echoed, or amplified if you will, in the discussions between Tryol, Tigh, Tory and Anders as Sam begins to recover memories.  Tigh says, “It all traces back to us.”  The others say no, the humans are at fault and then there is this great line from Tigh, “You point a finger back far enough and some germ gets blamed for splitting in two. No!  Maybe we share the guilt with the humans but we don’t get to just shove it off on them.”   One of the key lines in this issue of reconciliation is this from Anders, “The centurions had a single, loving god.  Ellen said it changed everything.  If the cylons embraced love and mercy, then the cycle of violence could end.”   Once again, I think of Miroslav Volf and his books.  Maybe that can be by first book – Miroslav Volf and Battlestar Galactica – The End of Humanity: Remembering Rightly in a World of Cylons and Humans.   Here is a great quote from The End of Memory:

What does it take to remember for good, to remember in salutary rather than destructive ways?  How can we help memory become a bridge between adversaries instead of a deep and dark ravine that separates them?   How can former enemies remember together so as to reconcile, and how can they reconcile so as to remember together?

So say we all!

Gaeta has certainly become more of a leading figure and it seems that the events of the webisodes “Face of the Enemy” have pushed him over the edge.  Any thoughts of working with the Cylons have fallen to the wayside and he seems determined to make sure it does not happen, no matter the cost.  This returns us to a theme that has recurred several times over the course of the series, namely “can those who were once enemies become friends?” 

For Felix, there seems to be no question: any thought of working with the Cylons is anathema.  His betrayal by the Number 8 which we see in “Face of the Enemy“  has led him to the point where he cannot and will not trust the Cylons.  And anyone who would side with the Cylons better watch out.  This question of whether or not peace can come between groups that have fought and hated each other is one that has faced humanity for most of history.  The healing of old wounds and mending of damaged relationships can only happen in the context of trust and forgiveness.  It is these two elements which are lacking greatly in the BSG universe.  And it is ultimately the lack of trust and forgiveness which drives the characters into many of the troubles they find themselves in.   Gaeta here is a prime example as we see him perhaps unable to forgive himself as well as unable to trust the Cylons, having been betrayed by one.  Once again, I am reminded of Miroslav Volf’s Exclusion and Embrace and his penetrating look at our ability or inability to embrace the other.  Volf’s conclusion is that we because of God’s embrace of us we have no choice but to do so, and can do it only through the power of the cross.

We return to Baltar and his religious ramblings where it appears that he also has become disenchanted.  God is no longer love, but God is now guilty of the problems that the people are facing.  He tells his disciples that God is the one who needs forgiveness.  The basic argument is this:  1)  We are in this horrible situation and there must be a reason.  2)  We didn’t do anything to deserve it.  3)  Therefore, God is wrongly punishing us and needs our forgiveness.  Not the first time such thinking has taken place.  I wonder what has led Baltar to believe that they have done nothing wrong.  Although this is not surprising because Baltar has convinced himself that his role in the genocide of humanity was merely a mistake, and that he did nothing “wrong”.  This makes one ask the question of if he did nothing wrong in the first place, why did he work so hard to cover it up?  Perhaps because he thought others would not understand.  What we really see is that over time Baltar had to find a way to justify himself – he could not be excused, he could not find a way to be forgiven, and so his only choice was to convince himself and others that he had done no wrong and therefore did not need to be forgiven.  This is the trail we take when we see no opportunity or possibility for forgiveness: to convince ourselves that we don’t need forgiveness.

If one of the show’s driving thoughts truly is to explore what it means to be human (which Ronald D. Moore has suggested several times) then they have hit the mark here because forgiveness and the ability to forgive are a part of being human.  The question which remains unanswered by BSG is how can we forgive?  I am not sure that the show has really answered that.  Most of the episodes of forgiveness were driven merely by pragmatism (which makes you wonder if it truly is forgiveness) except for perhaps the episode in which Roslin saves Baltar from bleeding to death  (BSG 411 – The Hub).

For random stuff, one of my favorite scenes in this episode is when the Hitei Kan jumps away and Adama quips, “You know, there are days when I really hate this job.”  It was a great line and fit so much better than what I might have expected the writers to do – have Adama slam his fist down and yell “Frak!”  This proves my point that you can do a lot without using frak.

Then, there was what I think was perhaps one of the worst scenes of the series: Roslin running through the corridors of Galactica.  I think the writers were trying to show us something about Roslin and her frame of mind and decisions she was making but it all it did for me was make me want to yell, “Run, Forrest, Run!”

Looking forward to where the writers will take us in the next episode.  So say we all!

While the episode was full of revelations and also introduced many new questions, the thing that struck me most was the theme of hope or, more accurately, the loss of hope.  Since the Cylons destroyed the 12 colonies and the humans escaped and sought refuge in earth, the dream of earth has been a major driving force in keeping them going.  Perhaps we might better say that what has given them strength and courage to continue on their journey was the belief, the hope, that they would find a place to call home, to settle down, to stop running and try and regain some of what was lost – it was not Earth, per se, as the majority of people were willing to settle on New Caprica (“Lay Down Your Burdens”).  

What we see in this episode is that, as this final dream, the dream of settling down on Earth is crushed, so too is the spirit of the people to go on.  Humans and cylons wander aimlessly across the beach on which they have landed trying to take in this new reality.  Roslin stumbles with what words to offer the crew when she returns to Galactica.   As BSG continues to address the issue of what it means to be human, I want to look at three characters/storylines and what they might suggest about the question, “What do you do when hope dies?”

Adama provides an interesting figure because it was he who first gave the fleet something to live for, something to fight for with his speech of how he woudl lead the people to a place called Earth.  At the time he did not even believe that Earth existed, but it was a story for people to cling to, a beacon of light in the midst of a storm.   He justifies this initial lie with the thought that the people needed something to believe in.  The suicide of Dualla along with the end of the dream pushes Adama over the edge.  He gets drunk and storms off to Tigh’s office where he tries to commit suicide by cylon (there is a great little bit when he walking down the corridor and passes two guys brawling and he simply just walks on by).  Here is the one who has held the fleet together and he simply seems to fall apart as hope is gone.

During the course of the episode we see Dualla and Lee starting to rekindle some of the old flame.   At first it seems that there is hope in the midst of the loss, that even though times are tough there is power in a relationship.   Hope has been born in the face of despair, she wants to remember the day forever.  Then, in one of the most stunning BSG moments, she puts her pistol to her head and ends the day and her life.  With the dream of a new life gone, there is no more hope and Dee chooses not to go on.

In the midst of all the gray and black, Helo and Athena offer a bright spot.  Although no one knows what will come next, they take the time to play with Hera, to have fun with her and also spend some time together.  This is the only thing close to a healthy relationship in the whole show and here we see that one of the thing that gives us strength is our relationship with others, in particular our family.

The ongoing theme of the show is what it means to be human.  In this episode, the writers give us a chance to see how humans handle despair and the loss of hope.  The one thing that strikes me is that we learn what happens when we place all of our life’s hopes on one single thing, on a solitary dream.  When that dream is taken away, there is little to do but despair.  This is a powerful reminder to us all to think about where we place our hope.  What happens when we place our hope in some thing of this world, some dream that we think we can achieve – a particular job, a retirement that looks just so.  Even the recent stock market collapse has set people into rethinking a lot of things because those things that they put hope in.  For the follower of Jesus, we must remember that we have a hope in something that is certain, a God whose promises do not fail.  (Romans 8:23-25  , 2 Corinthians 3:11-13).

All in all – a great episode, one of the reasons that I like BSG so much with one minor quibble, the continued and seemingly increasing use of the word frak.   The dialogue at one point goes something like this.  “Frak you.  You don’t know when to keep your frakkin’ mouth shut and follow orders. “  In the course of this brief encounter we hear frak at least 5 times.  This will probably be the topic of a separate post but a few brief thoughts.  Do people swear?  Yes, especially under pressure.  My point is that it often seems forced.  It strikes me as lazy writing – “We need Adama to be mad.  I know, let’s have him say frak.”  It also does not challenge the actors at all.   But, more some other time.

Many questions remain:  How did Kara’s viper (and Kara?) end up on earth when they were so far away when it exploded?  How did they know that all the bones were cylon ones?  Didn’t earlier shows suggest that they had no way to know who was a cylon?  So, who or what is Starbuck?  Where are the other cylons?  How do these timelines and stories all go together?

But for now – we will be waiting for the next episode.  So say we all!

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!

]]> http://www.whateverthings.org/2008/04/12/bsg-401-he-that-believeth/feed/ 0 http://www.whateverthings.org/2007/03/05/bsg-317-maelstrom/ http://www.whateverthings.org/2007/03/05/bsg-317-maelstrom/#comments Tue, 06 Mar 2007 03:07:11 +0000 Carl http://whateverthings.org/2007/04/02/bsg-317-maelstrom/
This episode allowed us to see some of the backstory to Starbuck, and we learned some about who her mother was and how that perhaps shaped who she has come to be. We are to some extent a product of our environment although I would not say we are fated to a particular path. One of the topics in the show was the idea of Starbuck’s destiny. (There was great line – “Kara Thrace and Her Special Destiny – sounds like a bad cover band.”)

The idea of a destiny is sometimes tossed about in Christian circles. I think of things like the Purpose Driven Life and spin-offs. Not that the PDL necessarily teaches that there you have a particular destiny, but it easily becomes warped or misunderstood that way. God has a purpose for my life. I need to find it and then follow it. Sometimes that purpose is understood to mean a specific task, a special part of God’s plan. I don’t see that suggested a whole lot in the Bible. We may have unique opportunities but I am not sure that the Bible suggests that each person has a unique destiny to fulfill.

What raised more interesting questions for me was not the story itself, but the story behind the story. Why was Kara/Starbuck killed off (if she really was)?

In his podcast, Moore says “I was drawn to the audacity of it [killing off Starbuck].” I respect the willingness to kill off a main character. It’s hard because often it is a particular character that makes a show good. On the other hand, in a show like this it provides realism and also a sense of tension. If I am watching a show in which the main characters never die, my only worry is how are they going to get out of this trap rather than will they get out of this trap? I like that uncertainty in knowing that everyone is mortal. But, something about Moore’s comment strikes me as wrong. It almost seemed as if he were doing it simply for the shock value, which does not strike me as compelling reason. Not unlike what is sometimes done in churches, where we do something simply to try and shock or awe people. We have to ask ourselves, does it serve our mission?

I spent a little time perusing the SciFi forum after the show to see what the reaction was of other fans. There were a number who reacted with comments like “He ruined my show.” This all begs the question, whose show is it? On the one hand, it is really the product of Moore and his team. On the other hand, it is produced for an audience to see. I will have to wait and see how it plays out. Starbuck was a central character and it seems like her absence will alter the feel of the show (which has already been different during season 3 anyhow).

Another comment on the forums was that her death did not seem to be dramatic enough, or not fitting for a great hero. Not all deaths are dramatic or heroic. For example, Patton died in a car accident after the war. Hardly a great death for a brilliant military leader like Patton. Others have simply grown old and died in their beds. For some reason we have developed a mythos in which the hero, if s/he dies must make some great sacrifice or have a particularly dramatic death. Maybe it’s because we want death to mean something. Of course all it means is that we are sinners. The good news is that there was one death in history that had special meaning and significance, made even more significant by the fact that he did not stay dead but rose from the dead and sits at the right hand of God the Father. I am thankful for what that death means to me.

So say we all!

This was, as Ronald Moore (producer) said in the podcast commentary, nothing particularly new as far as the overall plotline. It’s a basic story about racism. Although in some sense, it’s not really racism but prejudice to do with religion more than skin color, etc. Here, we have the Sagittarons, who seem to follow something of a Christian Scientist mindse with the significant trait being their refusal of medicine. Though the storyline has been done, it was a good show. Some thoughts …

The show revolves a lot around Helo who has been a good character particularly in terms of moral questions. There was the earlier episode in which Helo objected to the use of a biological weapons of sort, suggesting that to do so would cause the people to lose their souls. Near the end of the show Adama refers to Helo as the “lone voice in the wilderness” which is an interesting choice of words, making Helo a prophet of sorts which is the role he does play. It’s been done before, but … it is always good to see a character who knows what needs to be done, that sees that things are not quite right and continues to pursue it.

A few scenes/lines that stood out:

In a conversation between Caprica 6 and “head” Baltar. Baltar is asking 6 about her captivity and suggesting ways for her to survive. Baltar says to her, “You are here because you want to be human.” And then, “There’s a trick to being human … you have to think only about yourself.” Of course there are questions about head Baltar – is it simply part of 6′s imagination or is there some connection with the real Baltar. So are these Baltar’s thoughts or simply what 6 thinks that humans believe? In some sense, this is a good analysis of the human condition, that one of our defining characteristics is that we often think only of ourselves. How will what I am doing benefit me? I am reading Miroslav Volf’s Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace. We’ll be doing a series using the book during Lent and in it he speaks of how even in the acts of giving and forgiving our motivations are sometimes centered on self. In his chapter on “How can we give?” Volf quotes Martin Luther who says that a human being, “in all that he does or leaves undone, seeks his own advantage and his own way.” Our selfishness prevents us from giving.
Near the end, Adama says to Apollo, “There’s hate and there’s allowing hate. Two sides of the same coin, really.” A good summary of our responsibility to others. Sometimes we are tempted to feel smug because we ourselves are not guilty of racism, but we allow systems to exist that continue injustice or we laugh along with racist jokes or nod our heads in agreement.

The story may have been done before, but until racism and other prejudices disappear, we must continue to tell the story of the one who died for all. So say we al!

[Spoilers] Two main storylines going on here, the tangled relationship web of Lee/Dualla and Kara/Anders. That part of the storyline is getting a little old for me and I hope that this episode is the last we see of that for a while. The show is very much character-driven and I don’t want that to go away, I just have not cared much for this old lover storyline. It was well-done but a little tired.

More interesting was the interrogation of Baltar. It’s interesting that they chose to use more psychological means of information extraction than the Cylons who used pure physical torture. On the other hand, Adama and Roslin seem willing to quickly use this experimental drug to get the information they want with no thought of the ethics. I wonder if that was an intentional move by the writers to make you think about it; rather than having the characters have a moral debate, there is none which makes you ask, “shouldn’t somebody be asking the question?”

What struck me most though was the whole question of Baltar’s guilt or innocence. Is it guilt if you are unknowingly involved in something? I had this discussion recently with some other pastors where we talked about Wesley’s definition of sin as a willful transgression of a known law. Baltar certainly seemed unaware of his involvement in allowing the Cylon attack to occur; he appears to have simply been used. But, the question then becomes how he acted after he realized what had happened. He worked hard to cover up what he had done, primarily probably for self-preservation. But, as Gaeta notes in an earlier episode Baltar will do whatever it takes for Baltar to survive.

Baltar does come to the point where he admits “mistakes were made” but he never says I made a mistake. A great picture of the way we sometimes dance around confession of our own sins (leaving aside the question of what sin, if any, he committed). Mistakes were made. I was tricked. I was used. Do I do the same thing when I go before God, seeing myself as a victim rather than a perpetrator? To add to that, do I have to feel like I am drowning before I will even admit that much?

The good news is that I can go to God with my faults and sins and confess them and that he won’t send me out an airlock. Instead I can stand before him, forgiven and free. So say we all!

This is the first of what I plan to be a regular post – a look at the weekly episode of my favorite television show: Battlestar Galactica. I don’t plan on analyzing every plot twist, pointing out every inconsistency in the storyline, screaming about some scientific impossibility or debating which character is the best looking (there are plenty of places for all that). These are just observations and ways in which parts of the show are bits of everyday apocalypse. At some point in the future, I will write about why I like Galactica so much, but for now, here are some thoughts on this episode, which opened the second half of season 3. Knowledge of the show is helpful but I will try to make the observations understandable for those not familiar. [Warning: Spoilers]

“God will never forgive you.” Said by Sharon to Caprica 6, trying to convince her to help get Hera back to Galactica. How often does this way of thinking creep into our everyday lives – that there are things for which God won’t forgive us? Or do we ever suggest the same thing to others, that God won’t forgive them for something when the problem with forgiveness is primarliy ours? Sharon is playing Caprica 6′s piety and manipulating her knowing that C6 wants to please God and do what is right. It seems obvious when someone else is doing it, but I wonder if I ever do the same thing. Oh, is it not easy as a preacher to guilt trip someone, implying that God will not forgive them, or maybe just love them less if they don’t get on board with my latest plans.
“We’ve decided to box your model.” I don’t have the quote exactly right, but the scene is where Cavill tells D’Anna that her cylon model is going to be put in cold storage – her memories, thoughts, etc. D’Anna had defied the group and sought out her own agenda to see the face of the Final Five Cylons. The majority takes over and crushes the minority voice. I wonder what the writers were going for here. I have not listened to Ronald Moore’s podcast commentary. It seems likely that it was just to show fragmentation among the Cylon and then how they dealt with it. But, what it made me think of was the whole DaVinci Code, Gnostic Gospel and Gospel of Judas stuff with the suggestion that there were differing voices within the early Christian community and that those minority voices were simply “boxed” and only now have come to light through study of the gnostic gospels. There are some serious problems with that view and folks like Ben Witherington and Mark Roberts have pointed out the flaws in the thinking. You can read Witherington here and Roberts here (a lot of information at this one.) I doubt Moore and company had this issue in mind, but it seems that they are drawing on the popular notion of the way in which the majority voice often silences the minority, which is in many cases partly true.

All truth is God’s truth. So say we all!