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Battlestar Galactica Commentary: 4.4, "Escape Velocity"

by Len Neighbors
04.26.2008

Leading up to the airing of Battlestar Galactica's new episode, "Escape Velocity," there's been a lot of talk about Cally's demise, mostly centered around whether murder makes one more or less human.  I don't really have a vote here, given that I think the show is moving inexorably toward the conclusion that the Ones Who Look Like us are basically human.  The have finally started killing each other, they have competing religions which have caused them to start killing each other, and there is an irrational level of political intrigue and ideological division which has caused them to start killing each other.  All they need to be really human is coffee, chocolate, and nicotine.

What... that's what they need to be me.

My point is that Cally's murder isn't, and won't suddenly morph into, evidence for the Sleepers being more human or more Cyclon.  Both critters are capable of calculated murder to further their interests.  Both are capable of irrational murder in service of their passion.  I think we have a natural tendency to root for the Colonials because they're losing and on the run, and the small matter of the show's premise being the Cyclons' attempted genocide, but the writing is taking us in the direction of an understanding between humans and skinjobs, assuming Quantum Leap hasn't decisively won the Cyclons' internecine conflict.

Chief Tyrol speaks a jeremiad at Cally's funeral.  Roslin tells Adama that she likes the service because she wants him to know what she wants her funeral to be like.  In a previous post, I compared Adama to Moses, suggesting that he wouldn't ever get out of the desert.  A reader commented that Roslin was less likely to make it out of the desert, given her cancer, and I have to concede this point.  Perhaps neither of them will make it out, and that's why Apollo has entered politics as part of the storyline.  He'll need to be settled in enough over the next fifteen episodes to take over the Presidency.  That would explain why his leaving military service is expedient for the writers, but still not why his character would actually do it.

Tory tells the Sleepers that they were made to be perfect so the Chief shouldn't have to live with guilt over Cally's death.  Tory's cold composure doesn't make me think Cyclon, it makes me think sociopath, so all of this could be a function or her accession to the cult of Baltar.  He's crazy enough to be contagious, even if he wasn't in the last episode.  Tigh tells the Chief to "Be a man... feel what you gotta feel, but don't risk us."  Its easy to forget that Tigh had to kill his wife for treason.

The scene where Tory is groping Baltar at the same time she is pulling out his hair one by one only confirms that the both of them are certifiable.  She says, "Its hard to tell the pleasure from the pain."  Yeah, if you're a loon.  Here's a hint... the pleasure feels good, the pain feels bad.  That might seem tautological, but part of sanity is not getting bogged down in the little contradictions.

Some paramilitary hoodlums come through and rough up Baltar's cult. They're looking for Baltar, but he hides and manages to escape by hiding in the rafters.  Imaginary Six tells Baltar that the old gods are fighting back.  It can't be an accident that the Humans and the Cyclons are having the same internal religious struggles.

Once Baltar gathers his courage, he goes tot he temple and creates quite a stir, accusing the old gods of crimes and practically inciting a riot.  This must be his best "Jesus and the moneychangers" impersonation.  He gets arrested.  Roslin and Adama have an interesting conversation about the need to avoid religious conflict in the fleet.  Roslin decides to go see Baltar in the brig.  She tells Baltar she is dying and that this means she is caring less about rules.  This is a pure Roslin threat.  Nothing overstated, just the simple statement that she is no longer in the mood to indulge him.  Caprica's education ministry must have been a dog-eat-dog place, because she is a savage politician.

Tigh has been visiting the Six in Galactica's brig.  The conversations are turning to issues of guilt.  Tigh wants to know how the Cylons live with their atrocities, and the Six keeps insisting that she and Tigh are the same, although I think she means that Cylons and Humans are the same, not that she knows Tigh is a Cylon.  It doesn't bode well that Tigh keeps seeing Ellen in in Six's dress.  He's trying to expunge himself of the guilt from executing his wife.

Tyrol has it out with Adama, explaining that he hates his life and he didn't really like Cally all that much... she was just "the best of limited options."  Adama is forced to reassign him (and demote him).  We'll see how that turns out.  I've always had the impression that he was the only one who really knew how to fix things, so maybe all he has to do to help the Cylons is stop coming to work.

Baltar returns to his cult space and discovers Colonial Security outside blocking his entry.  Since no more than twelve people can congregate, he isn't allowed in.  He stands up to the security guard at the behest of Imaginary Six and is beaten down.  The odd thing is that Imaginary Six picks him up to be hit again, and for a second we see Baltar fro the perspective of an onlooker and he is quite clearly being held up by unseen hands.  Maybe I have to start calling her Invisible Six.  Apollo intervenes and declares that the rule against assembly has been revoked.

So what exactly is Baltar's central religious notion?  He finally explains it in a sermon at the end of the episode:

"I'm not a priest.  I've never even been a particularly good man.  I have, in fact, been a profoundly selfish man.  But that doesn't matter, you see.  Something in the universe loves me.  Something in the universe loves the entity that is me.  I will choose to call this something "God," a singular spark that dwells in the soul of every living being.  If you look inside yourself, you will find this spark, too.  You will.  But you have to look. Deep.  Love your faults.  Embrace them.  If God embraces them, then how can they be faults?  Love yourself.  You have to love yourself.  If we don't love ourselves, how can we love others?  And when we know what we are, then we can find the truth out about others.  See what they are, the truth about them.  And you know what the truth is.  The truth about them, about you, about me, do you?  The truth is, we are all perfect, just as we are. God only loves that which is perfect, and he loves you.  And he loves you because you are perfect. You are perfect just as you are."

Hey, why bother with a message of hope, or peace, or redemption, when you can just go with pathological narcissism?  Drivel.

Oh, if you happen to be blogging about Galactica, feel free to submit your blog entries to "So Say We All," a Galactica blog carnival.

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