Thoughts on Home - Part 2

Truth be told, I actually watched this episode on Friday night for a change. My buddy Kevin had come over to grill out and watch the Chicago Bears game (which they won!) and since he is a big BSG fan, we decided to fire up the DVR and partake in a Friday night viewing.

I have been thinking about this for a few days and it has really taken me until now to come to grips with Home - Part 2. There was so much going on that I am still a little unsure as to what I witnessed in certain parts. I can't even continue without bringing up what I feel to be the most shocking line of season two so far:

"And you asked why" - Sharon

I think that was the line. Don't kill me if I misquoted, but I think we all know the moment I am talking about. Adama is trying to kill Sharon and he almost succeeds, except pain from his recent surgery pulls him back and Sharon, with eyes as cold as ice delivers a line to Adama that should be impossible. If you remember, Adama went down to the morgue to look at the body of Sharon after she was killed by Cally. He broke down sobbing over her corpse and simply asked her "Why?"

Sharon was dead... no doubt about it. Yet she was able to hear him? There are multiple ways to take this:

Maybe the Cylons cannot die
Instead of dying like we assume, maybe they are in some sort of repair mode? This would also confirm Simon's line when Kara stabs him in the hospital where he says "I cannot die". I am personally not a huge fan of this idea. It would severely disrupt the blur between Human and Cylon that the writers are concocting, but who knows at this point.

Maybe the Cylons use technology
Maybe there are listening/surveillance devices all over the ship or all around the fleet? Maybe some sort of nano-tech airborne particle monitoring system that is always so popular in the sci-fi novels I read. (for a good example see Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge). Of course this is most likely not the case. A big deal has been made about hiding from the Cylons... surprising them... and it is obvious that the Cylons want to find the humans. A level of surveillance required to capture Adama's private moment in the morgue would make that pretty simple.

Maybe there is a Cylon God
Maybe the Cylon god is all knowing and timeless and passes this information down to the clones. What we could have developing here is some sort of biblical origin story. Number Six does tell Baltar that she can be thought of as an Angel. Maybe the clone Cylons are the equivalent of Arch Angels... soldiers of their God? Cast out of paradise (Kobol) in favor of human beings? And now they want to destroy humanity so they can get back in to heaven? I am not really up on the plots that made films like The Prophecy so popular... but it could be going this route.

As for what Sharon actually says, it is pretty similar to what Number Six is always harping on... that all human's are best at is destroying... killing... It reminds me of Agent Smith's speech in the first Matrix movie about huamnity being a cancer... something to eliminate... maybe the Clyons see themselves as the vaccine. What ever Sharon's line means, it really does signify an entirely different way of looking at the Cylons for me.

The rest of the episode can really be thought of as a character reset button. Since Kobol's Last Gleaming in season one, the main characters were splintering off in their own directions. With the conclusion of Home - Part 2, we essentially get to start over:

Adama has been reset
He learned from his near death experience that they all need each other to survive. With this new perspective he is back in command of the fleet and seen not only as a source of strength, but a force of compromise and integrity. He seems to have a new respect for the politics of the fleet and the fleet probably has a new respect for him as a politician.

Laura has been reset
She was headed down the path of religious fanaticism but when that fanaticism turned from faith to quantifiable proof of legend, she was exonerated. This is an interesting call in that, religion is suppose to be about the unknown. As soon as you have proof, is ceases becoming faith. It says a lot about the Colonial religion that in the end, it is based on fact. Is it really a religion then? This is very convenient for Laura's character because she can have it both ways... she can be a religious symbol and a non-pious person seeking out the factual information to lead them to Earth.

Apollo has been reset
It will be interesting to see how they play this in the coming episodes. Out of all the characters in season two, I felt that Apollo showed the most growth. He really seemed to embrace his independence. Hopefully Adama will respect Apollo's instincts a little more in the future. It turns out Lee was correct in what he did and the entire fleet benefited from it.

Starbuck has been reset...almost
There is still something different about her that I can't quite put my finger on. Her character has been reset in that there are very few ramifications that I can see at this point for disobeying Adama. Like Lee, her hunch proved to be correct and everyone benefited. However she still seems a bit less sure of herself and her mission. The encounter with Anders on Caprica is pulling at her. She wants to go back and help them as she made it clear while hiking with Laura on Kobol. Whether she continues to push for that after her experience in the tomb is left to be seen.

Of course there are plenty of people in the cast of have not been reset. Sharon, Tyrol, Tigh, Zarek, Baltar, Cally, Helo... they will all continue to pay the emotional price for their experience over the last few shows. I am assuming it is the interaction between these characters and the "reset" main characters that will provide the most fun!

Speaking of fun, this episode was full of some great "goosebumps" moments for me:

Adama and Laura talking
It wasn't the discussion, it was the music. The queue from season one written by Bear McCreary was reprised and it was just perfect. The track is called "Forgiven" and it is on the season one soundtrack. It is an outstanding piece of music and I get chills every time I hear it.

Sharon's speech to Adama
Not to say "I told you so" but this situation unfolded almost exactly as I had thought. The specifics were a little different, but Sharon did prove her worth to the group by preventing the assassination plot against Adama and Apollo. Her great little speech to Adama after saving their lives was perfect.

Adama's speech
It just reminded me how much I missed him being in charge. Even after he came back a few episodes ago, he was at the mercy of his emotional instability and isolation. In this speech he proved that they are one family... one fleet... he personifies leadership... he even started a "slow clap" and I wasn't too cheesed out by it.

I was a little disappointed that there were no goosebumps during the tomb experience. I thought that was the weakest moment of the episode. This is a show that never feels rushed to me and that moment, what is probably one of the more important ones (I would have thought) in this episode seemed very rushed. Did they all have a vision? Was it a Star Trek holodeck? Was it teleportation? How did they get out? I just wasn't that impressed. Luckily there were so many better things going on in this episode that I let the moment slide.

Like I said in the beginning of this write-up, Sharon's single line to Adama made this whole episode for me. It blew my mind. We all thought the story was going to be about the tomb and Kobol and Earth when instead it was about the Cylons. Who are they? What are the limits of their power? We had Baltar trying to answer that with Number Six prodding him on. We had Sharon trying to explain it to Helo while flaunting it to Commander Adama. This episode did more to complicate the Cylon origin than any in the entire show so far and I have a feeling the complexity is only getting deeper.

Principal MVP of the episode has to go to Tricia Helfer for her out-of-character Kara Thrace impersonation. The moment was set up so perfectly by Baltar and for Number Six to completely reinforce his fantasy by becoming exactly what he wanted was superb. Tricia Helfer did an excellent job... the mannerisms... the vocal inflections... great stuff.

Secondary MVP of the episode goes to James Remar as Zarek's henchman Meier. He served his purpose as the catalyst for Sharon's acceptance and managed to insulate Zarek from the entire event. I think we can officially say that if you are Zarek's right-hand man, it is the equivalent of a being a red shirt on Star Trek.

Additional Resources

• Official episode synopsis
• Official podcast episode commentary

Comments

[Drew]

I heard Shron's lines as: "You never even asked why."

[Trapper Markelz]

I just rewatched it and it definitely is:

"And you ask why?"

Watching it again it even seems that she pulls some Jedi action on him or something. She is so calm... its as if she knows she can get out of the situation at any moment. Strange stuff.

[adamv]

I'm worried about the Earth scene. Signifigantly limiting the technological abilities of the colonials was a great way to ensure consistency. I'm afraid that this is going to become a kind of "technology that can do anything" for the writers.

Also, if they all left Kobol to go to their various colonies, how did they build that place on Kobol?

[Jarisha]

Hi again -
I'm the crazy "Adama is a Cylon" guy. Almost everyone - including my wife - immediately assumed that Adama stopped strangling Sharon because he is still recovering from his wounds.
I, however, take this to be yet another indication that Adama is a deep Cylon operative who has gone "rogue" (joined the other side, as Sharon has). Attempting to strangle Sharon makes his own throat constrict? Why his throat? He was shot in his chest! Indeed, rather than show the expected weakness, he has recovered from his wounds very, very quickly. Yet another indicator of his Cylon-ness?
My theory is that he was possibly the first human model. As with any unknown technology, precautions would have been programmed into him. One of those could well have been for him to experience the effects of any direct, unprovoked attacks that he personally carries out on another Cylon. Now, before anyone else says it, I will: Sharon's not the first Cylon he's attacked directly. However, if you go back and look at the mini-series (as I just have), you'll see that he's defending himself; the other Cylon attacked him first.
Watching the mini-series, I also noticed how quickly Adama caught on that Cylons could look human. The only clue was that the guy looked a little sick. The "Cylons can look human" concept is something that everyone else seems to have a problem grasping, but Adama makes the connection immediately. A little too quickly.
While it's still not proof positive, I have started to see more and more indications that Adama is, indeed, a Cylon.
Convenient that Baltar never got around to finishing Adama's test, isn't it?
I know, I know. But we'll see...

[Jarisha]

Oh, one more thought on this episode. Unrelated to Adama being a Cylon. When will Baltar realize that Sharon must remember that he told her about his test not failing: that he lied about the results for his own reasons? Of course, not many would listen to her right now, but still...
Also, why did Sharon have to be told that the other Sharon had been murdered? She would have remembered that, surely? I have no good explanation. Selective memory loss? I guess being murdered would be tramatic. I guess I would supress that memory. Best I can come up with.

[Trapper Markelz]

Adamv - I too am worried about the technology on Kobol. I was hoping for a more Raiders of the Lost Arch style unveiling with the crystals in the head of the arrow... I guess not.

Jarisha - I am completely waiting for some black mail from Sharon. Not only is Baltar going to have to run around as Six's little whipping boy... but he is going to have to walk an amazingly fine line with Sharon. Although it is still clear what Sharon remembers and doesn't remember. For instance she was unaware of how she was killed (or seemed to be).

[Zot]

Adama represents humanity's struggle with the concept of identity in a very important way to the story. I sincerely doubt that the writers plan to shock us with the revelation that Adama is a Cylon. It would take way too much away from the meaning of his character.

As a side note, this also reminds me an awful lot of the other role that Edward James Olmos played in a sci fi about human identity: Gaff in Bladerunner. If you're familiar with the Director's cut of this seminal movie, you'll know that Gaff has the ability to identifiy "Replicants", the genetically engineered non-humans who rebel against their human creators.

The shock that Gaff (subtly) revealed was that Deckard was a Replicant. Even though I regard Bladerunner as the best of its genre just as I regard BSG as the best on TV, I don't think it's plausible to consider Adama being a Cylon in this story.

Why? It just wouldn't make a lot of sense. We know that the Cylon silence after the Cylon War lasted 40 years -- the time they used to develop humanoid Cylons. Adama is clearly in his mid 50s, so was born prior to this time. And if he's the first humanoid Cylon, how did he successfully reproduce? Apollo and his dead brother were both Adama's sons.

[Trapper Markelz]

I think "Adama" being a Cylon comes from the phrase that Leobon used... and it is said that he mixes truth and lies... realistically if there is a bit of truth and "Adama" is a Cylon I lean towards Lee or maybe bringing Zack back to life as a clone... that would be the kind of misdirection I would expect from this show.

[The Box]

I'm just worried about the whole reset button factor.
I mean, last season had WAY more consequences. If you did something bad, you paid for it. This episode was a bit too neat for me.