This should go without saying, but do NOT read further if you haven’t yet seen the premiere of the second half of the fourth season. There are MAJOR spoilers ahead.
To prepare for last night’s premiere, I re-watched “The Hub” and “Revelations” just to get back in the “Battlestar Galactica” groove. When the fleet finally jumped to Earth, and started to celebrate, an old hip-hop song from the ’80s — “Joy & Pain” by Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock — popped into my head. (By the way, I guarantee you that this is the only “BG” blog that is going to reference a Rob Base song.) I was sad for the fleet knowing what was in store for them on Earth. I still feel like the final trip to Earth was rushed, but the creators wanted to get that plot point in before the first half finale, and I don’t blame them.
So where do we go from here?
First off, I was conflicted when I saw that Dualla played such a prominent role in the “previously on” scenes before the start of the premiere. Once it started, and she was getting major screen time after being largely ignored for most of the fourth season, I figured either she was going to be revealed as the 5th Cylon or that she was going to die…soon. Dualla has always been one of my favorite characters on the show. She’s so damn sweet and cute, and she was always loyal to the man she loved. In many ways, she represented human innocence and optimism, and the fact that she blew her brains out after looking at her childhood picture (and babysitting for Hera — don’t forget that) speaks volumes about the state of the human fleet right now. They put all of their eggs in one basket — Earth — but those eggs have the avian bird flu. R.I.P. Dualla…you will be missed. (By the way, that was a great piece of acting by Kandyse McClure.)
Some time passes and researchers on Earth determine that the planet went through a nuclear holocaust 2,000 years ago. They also dig up Cylon components (unlike any they have seen before) and bones that turn out to be 100% Cylon. Tyrol has a flashback of his life on Earth when the nuclear strike hits. Apparently, he, Anders, Tory and Tigh all have memories of living on Earth two milennia ago. Anders remembers playing “All Along the Watchtower” for a girl, so since that’s a contemporary song, it would seem to imply that this version of “Battlestar Galactica” takes place 2,000 years in our future. If that’s the case, if 100% of the bones are Cylon, then I’m inferring that we are Cylon.
There are load of religious implications to this — are the creators saying that we are reborn somewhere else when we die in the same way that Cylon skinjobs do? Is that our heaven/afterlife? Were all the Cylons on Earth capable of being reborn or just the final five?
This brings me to the giant elephant sitting in the room — and to be honest, I don’t really want to think about it…Ellen is (apparently) the final Cylon. Ellen Tigh. Saul’s drunk whore of a wife. Ellen is the fifth. Ellen.
Surprising? Yes. Out of left field? Sure. A bit disappointing? Hell yeah.
Keep in mind, this is based solely on Saul’s memory of the holocaust. She said that they would be reborn together, but that sounds like something any human could say to their spouse if they were facing imminent death. Then again, the fact that he’s having memories of her at all — that she in fact lived on Earth 2,000 years ago — would imply that she is indeed the final Cylon.
But I’m not sold that she is the fifth, especially in light of what Starbuck found on Earth (and how quickly they revealed it). However, it seems like with the timing of Saul’s flashback, that’s exactly what we’re supposed to believe. And it may in fact be the truth. But it also might be Saul wanting Ellen to be the fifth. Until we see her alive and well, I’m going to be skeptical.
And that’s mainly due to Starbuck, who finds a corpse on Earth that has flowing locks of blond hair and her ring/dog tags around its neck. Couldn’t she be the fifth?
Grrr.
I’m interested to hear what other viewers out there think about this episode. Are you sold on Ellen as the fifth? Or is it Starbuck or someone else? Is there some other explanation?
And where does the fleet go from here?
(FYI, I’m normally going to post this blog sometime on Saturday morning.)
When I was a kid, one of my favorite miniseries was “V,” the story about an alien invasion of Earth. I remember thinking that it was the coolest thing I had seen since “Star Wars.” I watched it again a few years ago and thought it was brutal. Ah, the innocence of childhood!
