Jammer's Review
Battlestar Galactica
"A Measure of Salvation"
Air date: 11/10/2006
Written by Michael Angeli
Directed by Bill Eagles
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
If BSG has its own sub-genres, one of those genres is the Star Trek-style morality play. "Downloaded" comes to mind. It might be worth noting, however, that the Star Trek characters didn't contemplate genocide the way the human characters in BSG are willing to.
Or, come to think of it, maybe they did. TNG's "I, Borg" contemplated the possible destruction of the entire Borg race in a way similar to how "A Measure of Salvation" here contemplates the possible destruction of the entire Cylon race. I guess the difference is that the characters in "I, Borg" couldn't go through with it, whereas the characters in "A Measure of Salvation" can. Or at least many of the characters can. They don't all agree, which is a promising point for drama.
The Galactica crew investigates the crippled Cylon basestar encountered at the end of "Torn" and discover that the entire Cylon crew has been infected by a deadly virus. The Colonial Raptors return with a number of surviving prisoners shortly before the basestar self-destructs. It turns out that humans are immune to the virus because it is similar to an ancient human disease. Sharon (whose new call sign is Athena in order to differentiate her from Boomer while throwing a nod to the original series) is also immune because of antibodies she developed while carrying her half-human child.
Dr. Cottle cannot cure the Cylons but says he can treat them with medication that will keep them from dying. The Cylons are afraid of what this virus could do to them collectively, so perhaps this treatment can be used to leverage information from the prisoners. Lee comes up with a more sinister plan: Stage a battle, and when a Cylon fleet with a resurrection ship comes nearby, execute the prisoners, and the disease will be uploaded into the resurrection ship and spread into the Cylon population, possibly wiping all of them out.
Okay. First some words on the technical details of the plot before I deal with the moral implications. I guess I simply don't understand how the resurrection ship works.
(1) Just what is this ship's range? In previous episodes, there was plenty of reason to believe it was quite a ways — certainly far enough to transcend one or more FTL jumps. If, for example, Boomer could be killed on Galactica with no Cylon ships nearby and still be resurrected, why doesn't the resurrection ship's receiving range reach the Galactica's present position? Why does the Galactica have to jump within engagement range?
(2) Wouldn't the resurrection ship have some sort of virus protection program? Why wouldn't it detect the problem with the incoming Cylon downloads and terminate the process?
(3) If Sharon is immune to the virus, couldn't the Cylons, with all their superior biological technology (they have taken human form after all) manufacture the antibodies to cure themselves?
(4) Since when is the resurrection ship a transmitter in addition to a receiver? If the virus is replicated in the downloading process, why would it spread beyond the resurrection ship? Why can't the Cylons simply quarantine the ship? Why would it spread through the whole population? (I suppose the Cylons don't have an adequate firewall either.) If the Cylons are so heavily networked, why do they need a special resurrection ship in the first place?
Suffice it to say, the whole downloading process of the Cylons strains credulity. I've accepted it in the past because it hasn't gotten so detailed, but now we have a plot that's based upon the tech, and I don't think it holds water. The more the downloading process is explained, the less I want to hear it. (Although I'm still awaiting the answer to how a Cylon is downloaded if it's blown to bits and the brain that houses its memories is completely destroyed. Where do those memories go until they're retrieved?)
I suppose the simple answers to all these questions are that, yes, the resurrection ship is a wildly implausible device, and, no, we shouldn't try to come up with answers for why it would or wouldn't work and instead concentrate on the moral implications. Fine; I'm willing to do that, because such questions are what make this an interesting episode. Lee's plan is quickly commissioned and put into action. The biggest voice against this plan is Helo's, who argues that genocide, even against machines, is simply wrong, despite what the Cylons have already done to us. If we do to them what they did to us, a piece of our own humanity is forever compromised.
He has a point, despite the fact that at times he also comes across as a Cylon apologist with a biased viewpoint and a Cylon wife. One of the strengths of the episode is how it puts up convincing arguments for both sides.
Even Adama is not sold on the morality of the plan. As a pragmatic military decision it's certainly the right one, but as a moral decision, he clearly doesn't want to have to make that call. Who would? That's a responsibility that shouldn't have to be anyone's. Roslin makes the call, and we sense that her experience in the "snake pit" of New Caprica plays a role in her attitudes here to destroy as many Cylons as possible. She has her own convincing points: The Cylons have already tried to destroy us all, and they still show no signs of stopping. This is particularly clear in light of the fact that everyone now knows Baltar is still alive and helping the Cylons find the path to Earth.
I found Sharon's personal stake in her people's possible demise somewhat touching, and found it especially interesting that even with that knowledge she remains steadfast in her determination to maintain her allegiance to the Galactica and its crew. She chose to be a human being, and that's a promise she intends to keep. If she's ordered to help destroy the Cylons, she will help destroy the Cylons. She won't like it, but she will do it in order to prove which side she's on.
Aboard the basestar, Baltar is found out for covering up his discovery of the virus on the crippled ship in "Torn," so D'Anna tortures him to find out what he really knows and if he actually orchestrated a plot with Galactica. Of course he didn't, so he has nothing to confess, so the torture of Baltar is essentially trying to squeeze water from a dry sponge. To survive his ordeal, Baltar tries to focus on his visions of Six, which leads to a truly peculiar torture/sex scene that has the strangest juxtapositions of any such scene I can remember.
At first when I saw this scene I couldn't decide whether it was inventive, pretentious, or absurd. But the more I think about it the more I like it. This is the first scene I've seen that combines torture, imagined orgasms, religious debate, unanticipated questions of faith, and somehow comes together and seems to make sense even if we can't be sure exactly what's in the characters' heads. Watch D'Anna in this scene, and you see the torturer become the one who breaks because of what she believes she might be witnessing. It's a complicated and intriguing scene that doesn't show all its cards, but shows how D'Anna is willing to operate on faith.
Of course the Galactica's plot to wipe out the Cylons fails, as it must. It fails because a character makes a decision: Helo cuts off the oxygen to the prisoners' cell, killing them before Galactica jumps within range of the resurrection ship. A few questions about that: (1) Hasn't it been established that a resurrection ship has the range to download dead Cylons from one or more FTL jumps away? (2) Wasn't it established in "Downloaded" that dead Cylons could be downloaded hours after they were killed? (3) Shouldn't Helo be court-martialed for treason rather than having the incident swept quietly under the rug, despite what Adama might have personally felt about the plan?
The outcome of this episode at least shows a character making a big decision and taking a moral stand. I'm just not sure that this could happen without severe consequences. You can't run a military ship with officers openly defying the chain of command. Hell, "Torn" showed that just last week.
Still, for all its flaws — and they are notable — I'm recommending "A Measure of Salvation" for asking a tough question and sufficiently dramatizing it, even if it's a question that this series has become quite familiar with.
Season Index
40 comments on this review
Yes. It is also established later on in the season that they can ressurect on a Basestar... whether the ressurection ship is needed to facilitate is unclear, I guess so. Needless to say, the whole concept is muddy.
(2) Wasn't it established in "Downloaded" that dead Cylons could be downloaded hours after they were killed?
Yes. I guess that they have to intentionally queue it up if theres to be a delay or something.
(3) Shouldn't Helo be court-martialed for treason rather than having the incident swept quietly under the rug, despite what Adama might have personally felt about the plan?
Absolutely, and this is the biggest problem. It pretty much ruined the character of Helo for me.
My own addition: (4) How exactly is a biological virus supposed to transmit electronically? Simon mentions some bio-tech BS... no. Doesnt make sense.
2.No it wasn't.We were never given time frames from how long it took for them to be resurected.
3.If people were going to be arrested for treason than the ENTIRE Galatica crew would be in jail.
4.Cylons are a amalgimation of machine and man.Their interlinked.What affects one affects the other.The mind can make the body do crazy things if it thinks something is wrong.
I have my own question: it seems that nobody in the fleet questions Athena's loyalty about wiping out her species, when she's sent on the mission. Isn't it weird ?
Is that so? They put up a fight in "Exodus, part 2," but arguably Galactica fired the first shot. As far as anyone knows at this point, the rapprochment is still in effect, if only they'd talk to them. That was an argument I wanted to hear, but it wasn't raised. The show made a big mistake in "Exodus, part 2" by assuming the hostilities had automatically resumed.
As for the range of the resurrection ship, Galactica had no way to be sure there was one nearby without a Cylon fleet present. (Unless... Athena has a sense of when one is in range; the tortured Six on Pegasus seemed to know.)
The idea of a rodent virus being downloaded is absurd. So absurd that I think the Cylons were paranoid and that no such thing would have happened. They seem to be biologically incompetent.
All this is long-shot... it would also show flaws in the Cylon technology which is somewhat unrealistic. However, Cylon are already acting in a pretty unrealistic way. I fail to understand why diplomacy was never used in BSG. The two civilization potentially have a lot to share with each other. Anyway, I liked this episode for the questions it asked. I see Cylon more like people than "machine". For me, it would have been a genocide. I find it hard to believe they don't feel that way after seeing how Sharon changed. If Cylon wants nothing more than being human, why don't they give them the chance?
In addition, the Cylons don't die. Isn't destroying them the only way of winning a war with them since killing them is meaningless? This contradiction in the set-up of the series makes the "moral argument" in this episode phony -- and that was very disappointing.
Too add insult to injury, not punishing Helo because somehow he was "right" and he saved humans from commiting genocide makes Adama complicit in an act of treason that arguably may lead to the destruction of humanity. That's so inconsistent with his character it's laughable. Or cryable.
The writers wanted to raise a big moral issue; great. But the way they did it here was phony. They damaged the characters they've taken such care to create.
The ready room scene too was necessary exposition to explain Helo's absence from CIC.
Really, both are examples of how this episode could have been so much better. It needed these scenes, better techical logic and exposition, and more of a reason why Helo might be right (say, it would have killed Athena too... that would do it).
P.S. Bats, I know this response is 2 years late but, yes it was established in Downloaded that downloading can be delayed by hours. It's in there.
K+L Forever
I completely agree with you. This episode was horrible. Helo is turning into an almost unwatchable character. He has "fallen in love" with a single Cylon and now apparently doesn't want to kill any of them, which is ridiculous. They are in a war. People die. If someone slaughtered 12 billion of my fellow species, I think I'd be okay with wiping out their entire race. Plus, the idea of this "genocide" taking a piece of their souls is just absurd.
The series is rapidly going downhill for me, as characters continually make ridiculous decisions that put the entire human race in jeopardy, yet seem to get away with it on every occasion. Adama is a great character, and it pains me to see him being marginalized by this atrocious writing. A man (Helo) commits high treason aboard his ship and gets no reprimand? Puhhhhlease.
Finally some kindred spirits. I completely agree with you. I made essentially the same analysis of I'Borg from TNG, and you should see the crap I am getting from the TNG people.
You are right, it seems like when shows make this argument, (TNG, DS9, BSG), people always say the same thing (both sides are convincing and well thought out). NO THEY ARE NOT! One side is patently wrong. The side whos' entire argument is "we lose a part of our humanity" is wrong. How is that even an argument? You lose alot more of your humanity if all humans are DEAD. Plus, how is the fight for survival losing your humanity? Somehow not killing those trying kill you is humane? Please..
Anyways, this episode sucked, and although I admit I had fun watching it, after thinking about it for a more than 3 seconds, this is easily the most embarrassing hour for BSG.
I also couldn't believe that Adama and Roslin would contemplate Genocide, let alone go through with it. What happened to the lesson they learned in "Resurrection Ship" - that 'it's not enough to survive, one has to be worthy of surviving'?
Two wrongs don't make a right. PERIOD. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Helo may have been biased but he was 100% correct - by committing genocide they would become as evil as the Cylons. "They started it!" is not a valid defense outside of a kindergarten schoolyard.
And once the decision is made, it becomes kind of obvious that the plan will fail, somehow, because the series isn't over yet and needs its villains just as much as it needs its heroes.
I don't know about you, but I would not shed one tear if the race of beings who destroyed my entire planet were wiped out. They had it coming.
It's better to rip off the bandaid than slowly pull it off.
sometimes people don't choose the right moral decision, because it just isn't what feels good or is right for personal interests
bsg needed to release that virus b/c their survival is at stake, this isnt a college debate. do what you need to survive, and accept the punishment for that action later, better than never if you are dead.
now helo's action were convenient, seemed like he and athena would be in the brig temporarily when this virus should be unleashed.
Although we don't know much about Cylon politics, it was shown in "Torn" that decisions are made democratically (e.g. at least 4 out of 7 models have to agree). This means that up to 3 models could have opposed the attack on the colonies. Do those three models deserve to be exterminated? And just because one copy votes for war, does that automatically mean that all other copies of the same model are in agreement?
If my race was wiped out, maybe I'd feel the same way as you do, but it would be an emotionally biased point of view, not a rational one.
The flaw in your reasoning is that the BSG crew had no knowledge of what we do in "torn", thus humanity DOES have a moral prerogative to destroy that which is trying to destroy them first. They had no way to assume there were 3 cylons who objected to the attack, and even if they did, you could still make an argument in favour of total annihilation. I think if a jew had a weapon to kill every non-jewish German in 1944, he would be weell within his moral boundaries to use it.
Ask yourself this: if Japan had decided to erradicate the entire population of the United States in retaliation for the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, do you feel that action would be justified?
YES.
Killing one person to save your own life when they are trying to kill you is immoral? Your moral code (while admirable) is so strict and inflexible that it could not possibly be practical. Not to mention, it goes against the very nature of your being. The ultimate goal of all life is survival. We don't live in a fairy tale; sometimes you have to make a difficult choice in order to survive. All life must kill other life in order to survive, and while I do believe we should make efforts to minimize the amount of life that has to come to an end, sometimes the best way to do that is to take drastic measures.
Let's use your WWII example. I'm assuming you were against the atomic bombs that we dropped on Japan. But the problem was that Japan was simply not going to lay down arms (they were raised to die for their country rather than surrender). By all estimates, the amount of lives that would've been taken had we been forced to invade Japan (the only other way to win the war) would have been around 1 million (this includes both dead and wounded). Thankfully, President Truman made the extremely difficult choice to drop the bombs, because in the end, he probably saved many lives (both Japanese and American). Had we not dropped the bombs and then chose not to invade, Japan may have wiped us out eventually (though this may be unlikely).
Now, let's go back to Battlestar. Though we know it doesn't quite work out this way, it was extremely probable that the Cylons would eventually succeed in wiping out the human race. If the choice is between the destruction of your species or the destruction of another, you will always be justified in choosing your own, because nothing is more important than survival. Sure, it would have been sad that some innocent (though you could make a case that none are innocent since they participated in the slaughter, or at least stood by and watched it happen) Cylons had to die along with all the terrible ones, but the survival of your species is at stake. War is hell, and is sure isn't for the faint of heart. No offense, but I wouldn't want to be serving with you in the heat of battle.
You set out to kill me: Prepare to be killed. You set out to destroy a race: Prepare to have your own race destroyed.
Was bombing Nazi cities wrong? Was bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki wrong? Were those acts and many more like them wrong even though they actually saved lives (primarily the VICTIM's lives) and ended war?
Here we have an implacable enemy whose words and deeds attest to the determination to extirpate the human race. It was luck AND ONLY LUCK that prevented that from completely happening. We are greatly outnumbered and outgunned, and MUCH weaker physically (remember, they never need to sleep!). So long as there are cylons we can have no rest or freedom: If we stop fighting, they will--at best--subjugate us; if we continue fighting, we will have to fight for all eternity, expending lives and resources. And we didn't even fire the first shot!! What the hell kind of life is that?! Screw "two wrongs don't make a right" and obliterate every last one of them!!!
Incidentally, the free world faces that exact type of threat today from Islamofascist terrorists. The difference between them and, say, F.A.R.C. or E.T.A. or L.T.T.E. is that they cannot be negotiated with, reasoned with or even placated. The ONLY resolution whereby we can retain our way of life is their utter destruction. Wake up and smell the coffee!
What's the point of adhering to the not-below-the belt rule in a boxing ring if your opponent brings in a chainsaw? Or, as Nick puts it, what's the point of retaining the piece of your humanity you'd supposedly relinquish if it means the destruction of all humanity?
Helo is an idiot. He was SO affable for a long time, and I really rooted for him and Boomer (I still call her Boomer); but here he displayed arrant imbecility and, as other have said, treason. I'll say a kadish for him; he's dead to me. Adama also disappointed me spectacularly.
I'm (cautiously) surprised that Roslin of all people seemed to be the most sensible one among the bunch this time around.
Very, very disappointing.
BTW, Season 3 already? Impressive.
Having seen your comments, I think we're on the same wavelength regarding quite a few things.
First of all the comment from Weiss "this is not a college debate" is precisely why we have college debates, and colleges, and civilisation.
Jammer makes a point that Roslin's attitude stems in large part from her experience on Cap II. Now, what she went through (and hers was not nearly as hellish an experience as it was for some) was torturous, and as a result her feelings about her oppressors is totally un-objective. Rather than saying she's totally wrong for feeling this way, because she isn't, why not consider that the evil here is the experience(s) which turned a school teacher into a cold would-be perpetrator of genocide? The Cylon uprising itself stems from the experience of a different kind of torture, slavery.
Even if the annihilation of the Cylon were successful and every single last one of them eliminated, the deep, destructive scar of that action would live on in humanity--not only in palpable forms of descent from people like Helo (whose actions I wholly support), but how could Roslin or Adama make any claim to moral authority after having committed such an action, once news of it had reached the general population?
There has to be a reason for humanity to survive (and the Cylon). The human race is intrinsically noble if it is willing to sacrifice for its nobler ends. It's rarely an easy task, but it gives our species purpose, which we need. That's why we do the things we do, because we are fuelled by purpose. Those of us content with simply existing at any cost have it seems lost that nobility of purpose, and deserve pity, but never power.
@ Michael: Bill Maher once said "...which is a ridiculous statement because it contains the words 'Bush' and 'knowledge'"--I channel his sentiment here and say that any sentence containing the words "sensible" and "genocide" (implied) is equally ridiculous.
@ Nick @ Michael: What's the point of retaining humanity, etc. if humanity ceases to exist? Well, let's take the BSG universe as an example, shall we?
If the Cylons were to be successful in annihilating humanity (including Baltar), they would be left with the same scar I spoke of earlier. Already in this show (see "Downloaded"), we've seen dissent amongst them regarding this moral quagmire. That dissent would grow and eventually lead to political and philosophical revolutions which would lead to a society much like our own: fractured and multifarious. The legacy of humanity would survive in memory--just like the legacy of a parent survives his children; we're all going to die eventually. What matters is how we've lived (to channel Picard) so that those who come next have something for which to live.
At the end of the day, your attitude is why I do not consider myself a modern liberal. I am a classical liberal. I believe homosexuals should have the right to wed, I am pro-choice, I think American Foreign Policy has been a little too aggressive of late, I am for science in all of it's beauty, and I hate religous dogma. but that all being said, this idea that modern liberals have, that bad things should never happen, that killing is NEVER justified, that the more fit should not supplant the less fit, that we are all inherently equal, I just don't agree with those positions. They are too pie-in-the-sky for me.
A modern liberal would hate admitting the fact the us (homo sapiens) had to struggle to get where we are as a species today, that we had to kill, and yes, exterminate, many other species to achieve what we did today. Has anyone seen a Europen lion lately? The point is it kind of sucks they don't exist anymore, but we are safer as a species because they are not here. And our forefathers had no other choice, kill the lion, or my family starves.
I think where I stand apart from modern liberals is that I look at the human struggle for survival, even the warts, as a good and nescessary part of human evolution, and sometimes it may be nescessary to exterminate when something threatens your species. Something tells me you wouldn't hesitate to exterminate a population of roaches or rats that invade your home!, but they are life too, are they not?
In the end, I hope if we ever did have something like a real Cylon invasion, we have people like me or Michael, or even Adama and Tig, as opposed to minds like you or Nic, or Helo.
Nic and Elliott: Don't take offense. Nick and I vehemently disagree with you, but there's no personal malice intended.
I tried to rationalize in this episode that the virus wouldn't have downloaded at all and that the cylons were simply paranoid and for the first time afraid of truly dying.
As for the point of the cyclons coming up with a cure for the virus, maybe they could have eventually. Up until now they were biologically immune to nearly everything so this fast plague must've come as a shock. In the moment, it's possible they were incapable of rationalizing properly.
I know this post seems apologetic for the episode's flaws, but up until this point the show's been consistent with its viewpoints. That still doesn't excuse not wanting to wipe out an entire race of machines that killed 20 billion humans.
And that's exactly why we were both so pissed at Helo. I mean - OK, there are lots of series ahead - but they should've invented something better than just sabotage. But it's all been said before.
What no one mentions is - everyone is rooting for Athene but seems to forget that she destroyed the perfect weapon on board of that baseship. And it's quite obvious that she did it by the looks on everyone's faces in the raptor. But right after they arrive - no questions are asked. At this point I was already pissed enough to wish her out of the airlock.
Now, about the moral aspect. I was purposfully seeking comments on this episode to vent because it's just frakking ridiculous, especially considering how many people are defending Helo.
It was interesting to read comments on here, so just my 2 cents, in reply to some other posts:
First of all, generally life of each person is sacred and any violent death of a human being (or an animal imo but that's not the point) is horrid per se. So discussing how many people should die to grant the right to inflict genocide is immoral no matter how you look at it.
I'm saying this to show that i'm a sensible man and I understand morals.
No, I don't think the Japanese have or had the right to inflict genocide on the US citizens because A-bombs were dropped on them - because the proportions are skewed, it was not their entire race which was bombed
No, the Jews don't have the right to kill off ALL non-jewish Germans (yes, Holocaust was a huge tragedy, as was the Armenian genocide and the gypsy genocide by Indians, genocides in African countries, etc.) - even if we don't know how many Germans didn't actually support the Nazis (i think there were quite many though) and we don't know how many tried to help - we know that this happened, and besides there were lots of countries who fought the Nazis and generally tried to help the jews.
NOW, in BSG we have 40k people as a species (not even any particular race) which had faced almost complete extermination and barely survived. Billions were killed. There is no one in the entire galaxy who would help, offer an alliance or hide these people. Cylons keep pursuing and killing and there are NO cases where cylons would really help - even Athene fucked it up in this episode.
Oh and this 'co-existence' program - gimme a break, even for the most stubborn ones we were shown how there were proposed plans of getting population to manageable number of 1000 or less. These weak objections by 6 and 8 are not convincing at all: Ok, let's torture some more humies - We can't do that, it's not right... - oh c'mon, who cares, yadda yadda - *confused look* *shuts the fuck up*
This whole 'Sorry guys, destroying the entire human race was a wrong choice, er... well, we have a better idea now - we'll just keep you in a concentration camp and torture from time to time, this is humane, right' - it's logical from the series point of view but it doesn't really justify actions of Cylons.
It doesn't even cross my head as a "wrong moral choice" of using a biological weapon - it's not a fucking moral choice, it's a choice of survival or death, no alternatives, no co-existance - oh, and besides they're en route to Earth as well, right.
So in the end, you have to look at things through the characters' points of view. What the Cylons did, no matter how much they regret it (some of them, anyway), are not excused from their actions. In fact, they are still chasing after the humans and trying to find earth; if they weren't so actively trying to destroy humanity, there might be a tiny bit of credence for the argument of morality. It's not about committing genocide, it's about surviving, like other posters said, and due to the unique nature of Cylon existence, genocide is truly the *only* way to achieve victory.
Of course, I *am* just watching a show, and of course I don't want the Cylons to be killed, because they're a hell of an antagonist. So in that respect, go Helo! He should have been court-martialed, though, for the sake of continuity and drama. Wouldn't that have been an interesting twist, Sharon talking to Helo from the outside of the cell instead of inside.
Is it conceivable that there could be a scenario in which genocide were necessary? Maybe, but necessary =/= right. To quote Adama: "We did what we had to do, son. A man accepts responsibility for his actions, right or wrong, and lives with the consequences, every day."
I'm reminded of a scene in the book World War Z; a German officer is ordered to pull his men out of Hamburg, leaving several hundred innocent refugees behind to be slaughtered. When hearing that the General who had issued the order had committed suicide he says this:
"Bastard. I hate him even more now than I did on the road from Hamburg. Fucking coward. Remember what I said about being beholden to your conscience? You can't blame anyone else, not the plan's architect, not your commanding
officer, no one but yourself. You have to make your own choices and live every
agonizing day with the consequences of those choices. He knew this. That's why
he deserted us like we deserted those
civilians. He saw the road ahead, a steep, treacherous mountain road. We'd all
have to hike that road, each of us dragging the boulder of what we'd done behind
us. He couldn't do it. He couldn't shoulder the weight."
Sometimes it's necessary to make a morally wrong decision in order to survive, but necessity doesn't free us from our conscience, from our responsibility to what is right and wrong. We do what he have to do for ourselves, our children, our children's children, but we must bear the weight of our actions always.
Having said that, none of it really applies in this episode because there was plenty of reason to believe that that Cylons, at this point, posed no imminent threat of extinction to humanity. In fact, how they managed to coordinate the original assault on the colonies is beyond me, because, thus far, they seem to be nothing but less intelligent copies of humans; nothing they do makes any sense and their motivations are all over the place from one episode to the next. Not only was genocide via virus unnecessary, it didn't even make sense for all the reasons already listed by Jammer. I've enjoyed this series a lot but sometimes it seems the writer's had their heads right up their asses.
Under no circumstances should killing civilians be ok, no matter who is doing it - if it's wrong for them to do it, it's wrong for us to do it. But yea, the alternative isn't good either.
So maybe if we weren't there in the first place (see Iraq) we wouldn't have that problem... Just saying.
Compare the wonderful way which BSG utilises the religious to create a compelling moral argument and heartfelt character growth with "Sacrifice of Angels" from DS9, where the gods will the destruction of thousands.
Anyway, this episode lacks some of the style from "Torn", but is still a solid piece of work and a laudable creative act. It also contains the best transformation so far of the "Six motive", blending it seamlessly into the fabric of the Cylon dream music. 3.5 - 4 stars.
- Why wasn't the execution squad in position just outside the cell? Knowing that Galactica is about to jump into a boatload of Cylons, why risk the extra time exposing the ship to mortal danger by having them move into position?
- Why is Lee on the execution squad? Shouldn't he be doing CAG stuff on this important mission?
- What happened to Lee's uniform in this episode in the dialogue scenes on Galactica and Colonial One - was it in the wash or something?
What next? The battlestar eventually needed Cylon tech to just keep functioning. If Cylons and by extension, Cylon tech was exterminated via genocide, what exactly would happen to the battlestar? They found the second earth because of Kara, Leoben, the hybrid, and the Five. That certainly wouldn't have happened in a world where humans decide to partake in willful genocide too especially when the universe, a higher power, whatever seems to be pushing for a human-cylon reconciliation rather than only one race remaining at the end.
Also, this entire point is moot since it's likely that the Cylons panicked prematurely especially after hearing what Adama said at the end of the episode. Adama said that Cottle determined that the virus only spread because it was an accidental contamination.
Also, a contagion that affects the brain is going to spread via memory transfer (which is what we learn resurrection really is in S4)? Possible, I suppose, unlikely considering that the infected cylons - esp in the deleted scenes where Kara talks to Leoben - show that they had no issues with their memory and so their memory centers weren't affected by the virus. If their memory centers weren't affected by the virus and were still functioning properly enough to recollect memories, how could the strain of encephalitis be transferred to a new body? How, if the resurrection process is really just a memory transfer involving memory centers of the brain? So yeah, I think the plan was shot to hell anyway.
I understood Helo's points and Roslin's. But I was more where Adama was. Entirely conflicted. Also, since I am a POC from a country whom whites exploited and colonized for centuries, I have some affinity with the cylons who have definitely been viewed as "others", "less than human", and "not deserving of personhood" by the Colonials. Those are the same things whites have said about POC for centuries. It's different when you view things from the point of view of the people on the other side and as someone who is from the Middle East but who lives in America, I cannot abide with the idea of genocide from either side. I also can't help but read real-life issues into this fictional piece of work.
more sympathetic than Daleks right? :-))
Btw I am firmly on the only honest side of this debate in advocating genocide when the other group is trying to genocide YOU and they pretty much as a group all want to. Survival of the fittest. If ancient humans hadn't genocided lions in Europe or saber tooth tigers in the America's we wouldn't all be happily on the Internet right arguing this absurd argument.
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