If one looks upon the face of god, does one get burned? - BSG Review

[shadowkat]

I'm odd when it comes to television. I like most things and have a fairly high tolerance for melodrama and a low tolerance for televised humilation - which may explain why I adore serials and don't watch many situation comedies. Or why I like Grey's Anatomy and find The Office difficult to watch. Discussing television shows can be frustrating. But no where near as frustrating as looking for a job. Sigh. This job search may be the end of me yet. But I've promised myself NOT to discuss that online any more for a whole host of reasons. So back to TV which as a friend stated last night can be comforting and a nice distraction when you do not want to deal with the world as you know it.

One of the reasons I adore this new version of BattleStar Galatica is that it is an ensemble piece and does not focus on just two or three characters. Also each one of the subplots interlocks. The characters interlock. They are all part of one big tapestry and if you pull away one strand you might as well be unraveling the whole tapestry. Or perhaps a better analogy - When you knit - if you drop or add or subtract a stitch it changes the scarf, sweater etc. This is true with stories too. Every thread is intregal to the whole. Every single one.

This week's episode had to accomplish three things plotwise in order to work for me - it had to wrap up the six cliffhangers from November, which were all interlocked and dependent on one another much like a complex game of dominoes or Go, further the characters on their individual and mutual journeys, and further the arc of the story as a whole. It accomplished all of these things and every subplot going on right now is intregal to that arc, particularly if they are going in the direction I believe they are and if so, it does comment on the previous series that came before it in a fascinating way while at the same time commenting on the moral ambiguity of what is going on in our world right now. Great science fiction not only comments on the morality of what we are currently going through, it comments on what lay behind it and where our actions may or may not lead us. Yet at the same time does not necessarily offer a moral answer or opinion on the choices we have made, just shows us where those choices could lead us. One never knows where a particular choice will lead until we make it - stories if told well provide us with a means of trying out those choices in a safe environment and seeing the potential consequences. Good science fiction, on the other hand, only comments on the morality of it and will tell you which course to take. BattleStar Galatica in my opinion is great science fiction. For it accomplishes all of those things, without ever really telling us what we should or should not do. And I don't know about anyone else, but I'm getting really tired of people telling me what to do, like I'm a puppy on leash to be pulled to and throw. So, I really appreciate a television show that does more showing then telling.


Sunday night's episode or the premier of the second half of Season 3, was entitled Rapture. This term is usually associated with Judgement Day or when the skies open up and we see the face of God and his/her/its angels, heaven comes down on earth, with the unworthy falling into the ether. It is said that to see the face of God is to die a billion times, to fall away from oneself, and for some, to lose oneself entirely - to lose one's mind. In some traditions - you can only see the face of God by becoming one with God or one with the universe, beyond forms, structure, cohesion, to realize you a part of everything, connected as opposed to our current state which is disconnection or separate from. Mythology often saw it as flying into the sun - the face of god was the sun. You go too high, your wings literally melt. You are burned.

This state of being or bliss has at times been associated with "romantic" and/or "sexual love"/"orgasmic release" praticed as tantric sex, the love one feels when one looks upon the face of their child, the love one feels for a spouse or significant other beyond one's own needs and or wants, the love and responsibility one might feel for other people as whole, and the love one feels for God. Burning love.

To achieve The Rapture, however, in most traditions, one must apparently give up things. Material wealth. Romantic love. Let go. As D'Anna Biers or Three as played by Lucy Lawless appears to do in BSG, she gives up who she is, goes against the cylons, downloads numerous times, breaks with the collective, in effect going against the hive - or what is supposed to make her feel "connected". She questions their judgement in order to obtain her own goal - which turns out to be The Rapture. Her pursuit of it involves several stages - first her rescue of Hera on New Caprica, her sexual interaction with Baltar, and finally her repeated deaths - which are similar to the little deaths one might get from sex. The final stage is to go up against the group, their need to defeat the Galatica, and to risk death and ultimate destruction not to mention their rejection and possible exile to a cold solitary place (a type of death) - in doing so, she enters the temple just before a supernova hits it and within the "eye of Jupiter" or the "eye of the supernova" - ultimate light - she sees the face of what she considers to be god. And taking the hand of one of the five remaining cylons, the five unknowns, angels she must think of them - she looks up into their face with recognition and surprise - oh it is you, she says. I should have guessed. I am so sorry. I would have done things differently, I would treated you differently if I had only known. (This is probably not exact since my memory for dialogue is atrocious and I can't rewatch.)

These words resonate for how many times have we said them ourselves? If only I had known.
I am so sorry. I would have handled this differently. Hindesight is always 20/20. And we often are forced to act without all the information at our disposal, to make decisions on things without knowing where or what will happen because of them.

Before D'Anna enters the temple, Chief Tyrell is inside, hunting for something. He reads the hieroglyphics, trying desperately to understand what he is seeing, before he must destroy it.
It is not until he is forced outside by Apollo and the others, who have finally made it past the cylon centurions to secure the temple and rescue the people within it, that he sees what the hierglyphics were trying to tell him. "It was in front of my eyes all the time, the eye of Jupiter - it is a supernova, see" and he points to the sun that is about to explode in the sky above - looking like a fiery eye. It is then that they realize they do not need to destroy the temple before the cylons get there, for the universe will do it for them. This is happening concurrently with D'Anna Biers vision.

Before Biers can tell Baltar what she has seen, she is killed by one of the cylons, who Baltar in turn kills, before Baltar himself is knocked unconscious by the Chief in order to be taken back to the Galatica. Baltar demands to know if he is a cylon, if he is one of them.
And we know then that he isn't. He so desperately wants to be. He needs it not because it would make him great so much as it may explain his actions to himself - redeem his betrayal of the human race in his own eyes. How he must envy Sharon Agathon (Boomer) who can claim the devil made me do it, I did not know. Baltar's choices were always his own. And I wonder sometimes who will find it harder to forgive him for them, Baltar or the people he betrayed?

While this is happening, Athena (the other Sharon) convinces Helo to kill her in order to allow her to save their child. Helo's trust in Athena is not unlike Baltar's in D'Anna. And D'anna's decision to go to the planet against all odds is not unlike Athena's decision to die in order to be reborn on the cylon ship in order to save her child. It is about taking a leap of faith. Faith requires making a choice without knowing the consequences without having all of the information. This is what Adama tells Sharon before he sends her on a mission to rescue the settlers on New Caprica. "How do you know that I won't betray you?" Adama: "I don't know. That's what trust is about. Having the faith that someone will do what is right. Trusting them to do it without knowing and without force." Helo has reason to trust Athena, he knows she loves him and she will return with their child or find a way. And Athena, as selenak pointed out in a post, trusts the other cylons - she knows that their first concern is Hera, not their war with Galatica. They will want to save Hera first, for Hera is their hope for the future.

But trust and faith are not easy things. Far easier if you have something strong to base them on. It's not something we can nor should give easily, for there are those who will abuse it.
Laura Roslyn struggles with faith and trust, she is a recent cancer survivor and has been forced to make some hard decisions. Some of which she deeply regrets - even though they were the morally correct ones. One was not fixing the election and allowing Gaius Baltar to win.
In her mind, she blames herself for all of the people who died as a direct result of that.
The other decision is Hera, which she stole mostly to protect from the other cylons, not just Sharon and Helo. She believed she could keep the child safer than they could. This child who had given her a second chance at life. Laura reaches towards the baby Hera in much the same way as D'Anna Biers (Three) does. Both covet the child as the savior of their race and both fall in love. Neither completely trust the Sharon's with it.

It is interesting that the child only bonds and responds to one of the Sharon's. Sharon herself is split - she is Boomer who left her partner, a man who cared for her, behind on Caprica, had an illicit affair with someone who reported to her, and shot the man who was the closest thing she knew as a father - she hates herself but cannot kill herself - that task falls to Callie (who loves the man she had the affair with) and Caprica Six (who loves the child she cannot connect with). Sharon is also at the same time, Athena, who fell from the heavens for the love of a mortal man. Immortal, she gives birth to a mortal. Reborn each time she dies - and it is always for love.

Laura like D'Anna Biers, admits her mistake with regret. "I'm sorry," she says, "I'm aware of the part I've played in this and where it has lead. It was not what I intended." (Again not exact, since don't have the words, this is by memory.) I'm sorry. I was wrong. If I had known I would have acted differently. If we are judged solely by our actions, can we be forgiven for our regrets? Hindesight. 20/20.

Adama sits in the background quiet. He can't pass judgement. He has aimed rockets at his son, at the planet, at all in sight. An Angry Zeuss, staring down from the heavens, toe to toe with an enemy he doesn't see. He is playing a game of pigeon. Bluff. Staring down his enemy. D'Anna Biers almost catches him at it, knowing he won't fire if one ship is sent, half certain he won't if they send all of them. He is also Abraham threatening to sacrifice his only son to protect his tribe. A mythos that may tell us more about the current stalemate in the Middle East than anything else. I'll kill my son - sacrifice him - to get what I want. I will go that far. And isn't that what we do in wars - sacrifice our sons and now daughters to obtain some elusive thing in return - liberty, property, land, power, oil?

While in contrast, Athena, Zeuss's wife/daughter - sacrifices herself as all mother's do, to protect and save her child. Going into the heart of the enemy to do so. It's a story that has been told so many times now that I think on it - in Angel the Series - Darla stakes herself to save her son, while Angel threatens to slay his son in order to appease god to save the tribe. Here, we have the same - Helo kills Athena to get her to save their child. Adama threatens to kill all on the planet, including Lee to get the Cylons to back off, while Laura Roslyn questions him in the background. And then Roslyn and Adama switch roles, and it is Roslyn who considers condemning Helo for killing Sharon for risking the fleet's security, while Adama holds Roslyn at bay.

At the same time this is happening, on the planet we have another drama unfolding, Kara Thrace (Starbuck)'s ship has gone down. Sam Anders, her husband, breaks rank and insists on saving her. Abandoning their current mission to secure the temple - which was the reason they came down there. Lee (Apollo), who is more pragmatic - much like his father above - resists, even though he loves Kara too, and insists they continue their mission, and worry about Starbuck later. Mission over human life. Like his father he puts it first. Anders refuses to obey, forcing Apollo to order a solider to hold him at gunpoint. "You plan on holding me at gun point the entire time? Because you will have to if you expect me not to leave and save her - the moment someone relaxes their guard." Apollo fed up at this point, picks up the phone and calls his own wife Dualla and requests she go after Starbuck. Not being privy to the interaction between Anders and Apollo, Dualla naturally assumes her husband has decided to ask her to risk her own life to save his lover's. Another case of acting without knowing all of the information. She unlike Athena has no faith in her husband's love for her. No reason to have faith in it. And we wonder why she married him. Without having that faith. Off she goes to rescue Kara, who's hands are badly burned in the crash. It's interesting what her injury is - hands - burned. As if she touched the sun. And remember this is happening around the same time D'Anna Biers journeys to the temple, and burns her hand, in fact is killed by someone behind her, clasping one of the chosen five cylons, the unknown starchildren. It is an injury that makes perfect sense and is emphasized - Starbuck can't fly - Dualla must, making her dependent on another woman not to mention one married to Lee, and she can barely talk for the pain - but both hands are held aloft.

When told by Dualla that she's being rescued for Lee, "My husband asked me to risk my own life to save yours.." Starbuck, in pain, says:" He's too nobel to cheat you know."
"Unlike you," states Dualla (who really shouldn't talk considering what she did to Billy - but that's another conversation and is what makes Dualla interesting and evidence that people tend to forget their own blemishes when looking at others). Starbuck responds: "I love Sam, I hate Sam, I love Lee, I hate Lee - I have to cheat to keep all the pieces nice and neat."
She is at least honest. Hating herself more I think than anyone else ever could. The female companion to Gaius Baltar. Except unlike Gaius, Starbuck bucks her destiney and does not want one. While that is all that Gaius wants.

After everyone returns safely to Galatica, including Caprica Six, Athena, Hera, and Baltar - who may all regret it at some point down the road. Helo visits his friend Starbuck, haunted by the picture of the eye of jupiter, which he remembers seeing before. And we are taken back in time to the period that Helo and Starbuck fled to her apartment on Caprica to get supplies prior to joining the resistance in hopes of getting off the planet with the arrow of Apollo.
He asks her for one of the pictures she took of her old place while he was there. It depicts one of many paintings Starbuck did of a circling eye - he holds it up to the picture they took of the runes in the temple and discovers they are the same. Turns to Starbuck and hands her both pictures. "Why did you think to paint that of all things?" "I don't know, it was just stuck in my head, I felt compelled to." She's disturbed and holds her burned hands close to her. "Leoben, Leoben told me that I was a child of destiny, that I had a destiny...oh gods what if he's right?"

In the failed sequel to the original series, a brief six epsiode gig that wasn't very good. Starbuck crash lands on a planet and is lost to the fleet, his child, a star-child named Zach or some bizarre name, comes back and is how the fleet finds Earth. Starbuck. Bucks the stars? Child of Stars? It's an interesting name.

I can't help but wonder if two children of humans and cylons were rescued in this episode.
We only know of one of them? If so, how will this affect the romantic entanglement, or Lee Adama who hates the cylons almost as much as Laura Roslyn does, if not more?

Starbuck and Boomer have a lot in common. Both have two lovers. Boomer - Cheif Tyrell and Helo. Starbuck - Lee Adama and Sam Anders. In both triangles - there was one other woman, someone who ranked below three of the parties - with Boomer it was Cally, and with Starbuck it is Dualla. In both cases Boomer was in an affair with an underling, Starbuck with a superior officer. Both risked everything to save the person they are currently with from Caprica. Both in return have been saved by that person. The only difference is Boomer has been split into two - one who had the doomed affair with the Chief, left Helo, and betrayed Adama. The other who saved Helo, had his child, and became Adama's daughter. Starbuck hasn't been so lucky. It's an interesting comparison if one thinks about it and I think it explains why the Starbuck/Anders/Lee Adama/Dualla quadrangle is intrigal to the story - without it, the story would be lack an essential thread. In a way Starbuck's story is another way of exploring Sharon's - another point of view. What would have happened if Boomer and Athena were the same person - integrated?

I wonder if the new cylons or the last cylons are integrated - there are not "many copies" - they are like humans, able to be reborn, but in of themselves, unique and original? Like Hera?

Interesting episode, many things to ponder. And like all good forms of art, provides more questions than answers.


As an aside: if you read this and are "spoiled" please keep all spoilers to yourself and do not respond with "spoiler" riddles. I am unspoiled for future episodes, outside of the previews, teasers, and what the writers have chosen to tell me to promote their own show.
Thanks.

Comments

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

I love it when you write a long essay like this about an episode, you make me see aspects that I hadn't thought about, or I had thought about differently.

I was blown away by this episode, they certainly did a lot of 'blowing away'. I get so used to shows that hesitate to move forward in their arc that I am thrilled when they do so much to make some serious changes. I have a lot of questions but I know they'll be answered, maybe some of them in the next episode.

This is certainly one of the most exciting and dramatic shows I watch each week!

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Agree. For me it's the best show on tv right now, the only one that requires lots of thought and attention. Or I feel a need to write an essay about it. ;-) I get obsessed with stories more than characters, I guess. And BSG has a wonderful story.

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

Mmm....interesting, yet I can't help but disagree with a few things.

Baltar killed the Cylon before D'Anna "entered the light". He allowed her to see by killing Cavil and doing it of course he condemned her to be burned.

He needs it not because it would make him great so much as it may explain his actions to himself - redeem his betrayal of the human race in his own eyes. How he must envy Sharon Agathon (Boomer) who can claim the devil made me do it, I did not know.

It's funny how you mistook Sharon's name. Sharon Agathon is not Boomer but Athena. Boomer is Sharon Valerii. It's a just small mistake but it may be significant: for us Mrs Agathon has become the "true" Sharon in a way.

Laura Roslyn struggles with faith and trust, she is a recent cancer survivor and has been forced to make some hard decisions. Some of which she deeply regrets - even though they were the morally correct ones. One was not fixing the election and allowing Gaius Baltar to win.

I must disagree. It's Adama who made the moral decision for her, who "forced" it on her. She did "fix" the election but was caught!

Laura like D'Anna Biers, admits her mistake with regret. "I'm sorry," she says, "I'm aware of the part I've played in this and where it has lead. It was not what I intended." (Again not exact, since don't have the words, this is by memory.) I'm sorry. I was wrong.

I may haven't gotten everything but I don't think that Laura apologized and acknowledged that she was wrong concerning Hera, not really. Yet I agree with you there's been an obvious parallel between Laura and D'Anna for a while now.

The writer(s)often play on symetries on BSG, there are many, between the humans or between the Glactica people and the Cylons. Sometimes I think they are clues but sometimes I wonder if it isn't just a mere style inherent to the series.

I like how you drew a parallel between Adama and Abraham. It's relevant since the 12 tribes of course is a hint at the Hebrews. The old man is a Patriarch, often calling people son or taking the women as his surrogate daughters (Kara, Boomer, and of course Athena).

While in contrast, Athena, Zeuss's wife/daughter

Actually Athena wasn't Zeus' wife. It's Hera who's Zeus' wife and also his sister. I know that Zeus couldn't keep his toga zipped (paraphrasing Adama himself here...)but Athena was supposed to be a virgin Goddess like Artemis.

Sorry for quibbling like that, I blame the teacher in me!

But let's back to Greek Mythology. Roslin and hera are connected and it isn't only because she stole the baby who's named after the goddess! On the show Roslin fits perfectly in Hera's role. Being the civil leader she's metaphorically Adama's sister, and there were 'shippy vibes between them lately. And Hera often went behind Zeus'( for he cheated on her all the time)which is something that Laura did at least twice two (and in the Eye of Jupiter Adama looked upset about her trick and lies concerning Sharon's baby).

Skipping Lee's case because we already know that we disagree. I think you're a bit too hard on Dualla. She never promised anything to Billy whereas Lee married her (for bad reasons but he did commit by marrying her)! Not exactly the same thing. I think that Dee was blind when she married Lee, just like Billy was blind too when he proposed. She should have guessed that Lee's heart wasn't hers. Of course since then, one year happened and I think that Dee realized it, hence her lack of faith when it comes to her husband now.

Suddenly I'm wondering if Kara's burnt hands weren't a reflection of D'Anna's burnt eyes. Both crossed a line and got burned! Kara put her hands on another woman's husband and D'Anna saw what she shouldn't have seen.

One last thought that your post provoked. Speaking of parallels, Leoben was the Prophecy guy when it came to Starbuck. He and Kara had a twisted "relationship" back in season 1 and mostly on New Caprica in their domestic Hell.

And who's the god of Prophecy? Apollo of course! Leoben is Lee's counterpart among the Cylons. The Anders/Kara/Leoben thing on new Cap actually foreshadowed the Anders/Kara/Lee triangle. Marriage has become Hell for Kara indeed, she loves and hates her men at once.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Sorry misprint on Sharon Agathon - forget names all the time. Not something I'm good at remembering. I just knew one is Boomer and one is Athena.
One raised by humans and discovered she was cylon and joined the cylons.
One raised by cylons, is cylon, but fell in love with a human and joined the human family. Combine the two Sharon story threads, take out the cylon bits -and you have well, Starbuck's situation - or Sharon's flipped. Writers do this a lot, they take a situation and show it in another way or from another perspective. The Chief/Boomer/Cally triangle which became a quad, when Sharon returned with Helo. The Apollo/Starbuck/Dualla triangle which became a quad when Starbuck returned with Anders. Starbuck marries Anders. Sharon marries Helo. The difference - there were two Sharons, and only one Starbuck.
Yes I know people say the Sharon's are separate entities - but I watched a podcast where it was asked why the Sharon's were not played as separate, why the actors choose to play each as if they were one and same just making different choices? The writers said because they are copies, not dopplegangers. They share information. Sharon Agathon has Boomer's memories. Boomer has Sharon Agathon's. Otherwise how would Sharon Agathon know about her affair with Chief and greet Chief the way she did? She said no, I don't have her feelings, but yes I have the memories. We share them.

I think there's a better comparison between Chief/Leoben/Lee than Helo/Lee.
Helo is actually closer to Sam Anders.

Dualla reminds me a great deal of Cally as a parallel. I think Dualla is like Cally in another way - they are supporting players. Not part of the main cast. I'm waiting to see if they develop her more, but right now, next to Cally and Anders, she's the most undeveloped character on the series. Gaeta has interacted with more people.

I don't think Kara's hands are burned because she is cheating with Apollo, that would be a tad moralistic and go against the moral ambiguity of the series. Sort of like stating Spike got his hands burned because he dared to sleep Anya. No, I think the burned hands have more to do with daring to touch the sun - God. Flying too high. Starchild. But what do I know? The romantic relationships are important but not THAT important. It's not a romance novel.

I'm more understanding of Roslyn. Actually she didn't fix the election. She discussed it with Adama and decided with Adama not to go through with it. He did not force the decision upon her. He discussed it with her. But she made the decision. I was a tad confused with the baby bit - which wasn't written well - or it was, but they cut a lot of scenes due to time constraints - originally, Roslyn steals the child because D'Anna comes to her with a news crew and implies that the cylons are going to steal it and take it away and Roslyn thinks it will be safer with her. Those scenes were cut - but with them in place both D'Anna and Roslyn's arcs make more sense. I honestly see those two characters being parrallel.

Can't do too much with the Greek mythology and names - since haven't looked at Greek mythology since 1986. It's as rusty as my French at the moment.
It is interesting that Hera is the baby's name. Athena is Sharon's (daughter to Zeus), Apollo is Lee's codesign (son to Zeuss), and those are the only ones we have. Unless there's one I'm forgetting?

Would agree marriage as hell is true for Kara - showing again how her story thread is the mirror opposite of Sharon's. It is heaven for Sharon. Hell for Kara. Sharon gets her child, after it is stolen by another woman. Kara saves the child only to find out it belongs to another woman. Sharon's family accepts her, Kara's did not.

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

Here via frenchani's LJ

One raised by humans and discovered she was cylon and joined the cylons.

I wonder how she could have been raised by humans if cylons are reproduced as adults. I always thought that she was programmed with false childhood memories and triggered with a mission to kill Adama.

A question: did you get the impression that Hera is a telepath? She immediately accepted her mother who is physically absolutely identical to the other Sharon but have different feelings and thoughts.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I've questioned that as well. It could be implanted memories. But Sharon was with the military for a looong time. And others knew of her parents or seemed to. She could have been smuggled across, planted with a family, with inserted memories. Would have to re-watch those early episodes.

No, I don't think so. I think it's just mother-child bonding. Sharon states during the episode with the virus - that she is immune because Hera changed her body chemistry, she is no longer exactly like the other cylons. Which is why Hera doesn't bond with the other Sharons, and they don't bond with her - they may share the memories, but not the actual physical experience and that's a major factor. The show seems to be playing with the idea of "physicality" vs. merely "memory".