Starbuck interrogates a Cylon; Baltar tests the Cylon detector.
Title: “Flesh and Bone”
Cast and Crew:
Edward James Olmos as Commander Adama
Mary McDonnell as President Laura Roslin
Katee Sackhoff as Kara “Starbuck” Thrace
James Callis as Dr. Gaius Baltar
Grace Park as Sharon “Boomer” Valerii
Callum Keith Rennie as Leoben Conoy
Aaron Douglas as Chief Petty Officer Tyrol
Jamie Bamber as Lee “Apollo” Adama
Tahmoh Penikett Helo
Tricia Helfer as Number 6
Kandyse Mclure as Dualla
Writer: Tony Graphia
Director: Brad Turner
Plot:
A stowaway Cylon claims (echoing a widespread post-9/11 rumour) that a nuclear device has been planted on board a ship in the fleet. Starbuck is sent to interrogate the prisoner, and almost immediately resorts to torture. The Cylon, meanwhile, discusses theology and apparently predicts the future.
Elsewhere, Boomer presses Baltar to make her the first test subject for his Cylon detector; the results take him by surprise.
On Caprica, the Cylons give some indication that we may soon learn why they’re toying with Helo.
High Points:
Callum Keith Rennie’s performance.
The final twists: Starbuck grows to doubt her techniques and their results, while the President comes on like Amnesty International but then cooly throws the prisoner out of an airlock.
Low Points:
I know human resources are limited, but why would a hotshot pilot be sent to interrogate the prisoner? Her past experience with Cylons, in fact, makes her far more useful helping with the repair of the “Viper-Cylon” than presiding over “Battlestar Guantánamo.”
The Scores:
Originality: 3/6. Not everything can be original, and the notion of the interrogator/torturer who loses perspective, finds the tables turned, and risks losing humanity is old. This show does it well, however.
Effects: 5/6. Minimal, but effective. The dream sequence was a bit cliched, but that is forgiveable.
Story: 5/6 Strong but, of course, maddeningly incomplete.
Acting: 5/6 Rennie handled his part very well.
Emotional Response: 5/6.
Production: 6/6.
Overall: 5/6
In total, “Flesh and Bone” receives 34/42
Lingering Questions:
1. How much of what the Cylon claims is true, even from his perspective?
2. Has Baltar not informed anyone about Boomer? If not, why not?
3. Almost everything about the Cylons’ theology and their intentions towards humanity. These aspects of the show rank among the most thought-provoking, and I hope the eventual answers will be equal to the time they’ve spent leaving us in uncertainty.
Baltar
Galactica is starting to get a bit annoying with the whole Baltar situation. It’s sarting to wear a little thin.
Baltar knows Boomer is a cylon. It’s about time people figured it out, hell, she figured it out. Baltar’s obvious insanity was fun for a while, but now it’s just getting annoying. I had a feeling that this week’s episode would reinforce that feeling, and I was absolutely right about that… there is absolutely no way that guy would still be doing all his stuff unsupervised. His insanity is plainly obvious and should be absolutely clear to a huge number of anyone encountering him.
I’ll wait for next week for the real Baltar rant…
Re: Baltar
You know, when you see the season finale, you’d wish someone would have shot Baltar a long time ago. (I hate SkyOne, I have to hold my tongue for fear of being a spoiler.)
Re: Baltar
hey, btw, u have seen the rest of the season cuz it was on british satellite, right? i’m sick of waiting to see the rest of the season, do u know if it’s around any of the torrent sites online?
Re: Baltar
found the answer to my own question. if you have a copy of emule (not as easy as bt, but it works) do a search for battlestar and you are all set.
umm… and buy pepsi or whatever to err umm… support scifi channel. i’d say buy stuff from their store but i can’t see that they have one…
And another thing
Was I the only one who had no sympathy at all for the cylon prisoner? My girlfriend and I were sitting here going “Hit him again! Hit him again!”
Re: And another thing
Hell, it’s just a machine. The enemy is inhuman. Don’t just torture it and throw it out with the trash, disect it, study it, learn from it. If they cylons are really downloaded and re-set into a new body, then find a way to get a frigging piece of malware to go with the downloaded cylon (I know, star-trek like solution, what was I thinking, forgive me.) But, do SOMETHING. The enemy is not human. It’ll take great effort to grow to understand a non-human perspective.
Re: And another thing
I should’ve included a comment about examining the Cylon body. This should’ve happened, especially given they were going to kill him anyway.
These machines have some kind of consciousness. Replace “machine” in your comment with “infidel,” “gook,” or any number of other tags armies have put on their enemies, and you have exactly what has been said in pretty much every war in history. This show’s no allegory, true. But, whereas the original series made the Cylons pure machines (after some initial waffling) so they could gleefully blow them away without regret, this show is pushing their quasi-humanity in order to raise real-world issues. It’s trying to push a few buttons, without offering simplistic answers or forgetting that, yeah, the show’s world isn’t quite our world.
And it’s obvious from Starbuck’s approach, the other soldier’s responses, and the reaction when the President arrives, that (1) torture is frowned upon in their society and (2) its use is accepted and has long been accepted in some circles.
Sound familiar?
Re: And another thing
Maybe, maybe not. No infidel, gook, or other name for ‘the bad guy’ didn’t attempt to wipe out the entire race of billions across 12 planets…I’d be hard pressed not to pin him to a table and start cutting with the nearest saw-zall considering it’s a machine that we built and went renegade.
I guess my big thing was sticking it’s head in a bucket? not giving it food? It made it pretty clear that it could tear them apart in a heartbeat…and how they were worthless chaff, there was no point in what they did because the damn things don’t need air. And if they did they should have shown it because to me it looked like he could have sat their with his head in a bucket for hours and was just toying with them.
Needless to say for me this had a huge emotional reaction, great story telling. Though I’m really surprised how easily the president fell for the ‘adama is a cylon’ in the next episode so much as to override the cylon testing and pushing to have adama go first…
Re: And another thing
Holding its head underwater was intentional. As Starbuck said being a machine it could just ignore the pain entirely, however once it did so it would be doing something a human couldn’t. Most of what she was doing was an attempt to get it to give up the pretense of acting human, holding its head under water it would feel a very strong urge to breath, or being a machine get rid of the urge to breath, would accomplish that.
Re: And another thing
the cylon ‘copies’ are partially biological, and need food/air. baltar describes a bit of the components (blood, etc) in the opening of the Tigh me up, Tigh me down episode. the cylon raider, if you recall, even had an air supply built in (which starbuck sucked away on so nicely)
Re: And another thing
BUT they ARE MACHINES…..
This brings me back to one of my rants about the show. There is no way the cylon form humans can actually be that much like humans such that the cylon detector would not be a trivial matter. If the truly are silica, and not carbon based (assumption made based on the dialog in the pilot), detection would be easy, really easy. One thing that really bugs me is that the doctor is not involved at all in the cylon detector, as I think he would be able to build on too.
No on the the really big rant I hate the next episode, I mean really hate it. I said Battlestar Galactica had a chance rival Babylon 5, well no longer. Moore has proven his roots in Star Trek with a really lame plot device. I feel like the cylon detector has been a enourmous red herring for the audience. Given a working/realistic one (operated by more people than Baltar) they would be able to find any cylon. As a result we would no longer have to speculate “who is a cylon”. That would be realistic, it would make sense. But nooooo Moore has to write the cylon detector as wholly unworkable (oh wait in this episode it just happened to be very workable, its just next episode that its not).
The writers, in haughty faux-dramatic fasion, have greedily kept alive the possiblity that anyone could be a cylon. Now they’re not even showing the viewer test results anymore (next episode). And as an added bonus, they have Baltar going full tratior (not just idiot accidental trator) by not revealing Boomer’s identity as a cylon.
In doing this the writers, in my opinion, threw away Baltar as an interesting character. What is the nature of six in Baltar’s head? I don’t care anymore, space him. He’s now a villan, and I want to see him pay. I liked how they had played Baltar with more sympathy in this version, but oh well. As for him continuing to be comic releif, I don’t car e, space him. This also works into another complaint, one others have echoed. That is that Baltar is doing all kinds of things wrong, but isn’t ever getting chaught. Also like all good soap opera villans, he seems to always get away, when someone really really should catch him.
This big issue could really have me having problems with the whole show. If any of the main characters, Adama, Lee, Starbuck, the President, Tigh, hell even any of the bridge crew are revealed as cylons, I’ll quit watching.
The writers just yank our chain with the next episode.
.
Yeah, its a long rant.
Re: And another thing
Spoiler alert: As I recall, the Cylon detector works fine in the next episode, it’s just that Baltar has decided to keep its revelations to himself. The next episode has one of my favorite moments, where everyone is pointing their fingers at everyone else screaming CYLON! The confrontation in Baltar’s lab. I didn’t enjoy the scene for its drama, but for its dark comedy.
You explained yourself very well, and for the most part I would agree, but I try not to analyze things at that level. I just enjoy that we’re getting generally well-written, very high quality entertainment that easily leaves 95% + of everything else in the dust. :)
Heh, the Cylons are even sowing dissent among the fans. Those tricky toasters. :) Breathe in, hold it, exhale slowly, repeat. Now, isn’t that better? :) For me, even this low point, which for most shows would be a high point, I can forgive. I remember (and I’m sure you do too) the old Baltar, sitting on his high seat, in his shimmery robes, being served hand and foot by Cylons, playing a farcical Benedict Arnold. This one still isn’t *that* bad. :)
As for humanoid Cylons that reveal themselves, I see them as psychic guided missiles. No known Cylon so far has missed their target. Number Six scored Baltar, and in the last episode Adama. The press agent from the miniseries helped elevate Baltar, and the person they find on Ragnar station in the premier scored on Adama, and helped to validate Baltar’s accusation against the press agent. This Cylon was targetted at Starbuck and the President. It hit its mark on both accounts. What would be terrifying to me, were I on the Galactica, is the degree to which the Cylons know the humans.
These people are really outgunned, on many levels. I think I pity all of them.
-Joe
Re: And another thing
But I really don’t want to watch a show where I pity the main characters. I want to watch a show where I can cheer for them.
Next weeks epsiode looks like it may have some of that, I sure hope so.
Re: And another thing
I agree, it’s good to see them succeed. There are very few of these characters I don’t like, and several who I think are exceptional (The President, Starbuck, Commander Adama.) I like to see them succeed. I think next week is the fuel refinery. It’s cheer-worthy. :)
-Joe
Re: And another thing
So are you. A machine made out of meat; certainly if “consciousness” or a “soul” can inhabit/be generated by a the couple kilograms of fatty meat we carry inside our skulls, maybe it’s not impossible for other machines too.
Don’t remeber that…was is something said by the Cylons or humans? The humans didn’t know about the humanoid Cylons, so wouldn’t know what technology is used in them.
It seems clear from the captured fighter that they’re using organic technology, presumably the humanoid Cylons are grown not made. More like the “robots” of Capek’s R.U.R., living beings made of a synthetic protoplam, than the silicon and steel robots of most SF (and of present manufacture).
Re: the Cylon detector:
The tech works fine. It’s the people that are a problem. And that’s what makes for a good story.
Re: And another thing
Right then.
Baltar is as he is because of, I think, three factors. Number one: through his indiscretion in allowing Six access to the defence networks, Baltar made possible the destruction of the entire human race, save for 41,000 people or so. If you’d done that, wouldn’t you find the guilt just a little bit overwhelming?
Number two: he’s petrified of being caught. If the fleet ever finds out what he did, they will execute him. His reputation and good name will be ruined, and more to the point, he’ll be dead.
Number three: he’s egotistical, puffed-up, pompous and power-hungry. This is obvious from his first appearance in the miniseries. Even in the midst of all this peril he’s in and from the depths of his guilt, he’ll try and grab power wherever he can find it.
Six knows all this, and is using it to manipulate him into doing what she wants him to do.
As for the Cylon detector. The initial project was a secret because only a handful of people knew that Cylons could look like humans. Even after the truth comes out, they still can’t get anyone else involved in it. Why not? Because anybody could be a Cylon. The doctor, any scientist in the fleet, anybody at all. They have no choice but to operate as they are operating. Unfortunately the only man they feel they can trust to do it is insane and has a Cylon living in his head and having sex with him in a fantasy world. Woops.
But they couldn’t know that. Sure he’s nuts, but he’s still a genius and they are forced into this situation. Six may well have had something to do with that as well, as she did help him build the thing. Baltar didn’t have a clue how to do it, yet he’s now got one that works – Six supplied that information.
Now he’s falsifying the results in order to secure his position. I don’t think Six put him up to that, judging by her reaction when he tells her about Tigh’s wife’s result. She could still be a Cylon of course.
That’s all for now.
Re: And another thing
in your ‘long rant’ you missed a very telling bit, to elaborate on joe_gee’s comment where six, i think it was, said to baltar something like, “hmm… everyone’s coming up green these days.” that was a giveaway. he’s intentionally letting folks pass. aside from boomer, whether or not he is actually looking at the real results and knowingly letting them pass is still uncertain.
POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT:
If any of the main characters, Adama, Lee, Starbuck, the President, Tigh, hell even any of the bridge crew are revealed as cylons, I’ll quit watching.
at least for this season you don’t have anything to fear…
Other lingering questions
The questions that I had following the dream sequence were not that it was a cliche but rather if President Roslin was actually dreaming or whether the Cylons had implanted the scene into her head like Baltar. Perhaps they implanted a device while she was undergoing her medical tests. Maybe all the survivors have been tagged and that was why they could ‘see’ Six last episode yet she could disappear through their security.
Then there is the prediction for Starbuck. We know how the Cylons are manipulating the survivors, who’s to say that they aren’t pushing the fleet to Earth in order to fulfill their own prophecies proving that ‘their’ God is real.
Or are they really seeing the future and know that the fleet will reach Earth and if so have the Cylons already been to Earth themselves?
This series has as many enigma’s as the X-Files and to be honest I don’t really know if I want them answered.
Re: Other lingering questions
If all the survivors have been tagged, Six might actually be on the Galactica, and she’s been deleted from all their thoughts. In fact, if that were true, then Cylons could be clomping around all over the fleet and no one would know.
Re: Other lingering questions
If thats the case they could just rename the show “Cylons Toying with Humans” and forget about calling it Battlestar Galactica.
Battlestar Galactica is about the survivors of a devestating attack on their homeworlds searching for Earth, not about Cylons playing lab rat with every single survivor. If that the case, the survivors really have no free will and no real destiny, and the show wouldn’t be worth watching.
Man, the next episode really has me on my last nerve with this show. I didn’t think that was possible when it started. Also it didn’t help this week to put such a crappy episode (Tigh me up…) against one of the best episodes of Lost so far.
Re: Other lingering questions
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE="cite">
Maybe all the survivors have been tagged and that was why they could ‘see’ Six last episode yet she could disappear through their security. </BLOCKQUOTE>
For me I think the part that proved she was ‘real’ and just snuck out really well was when Adama picked up her glasses at the end of the episode. Those were physical, and those were there. I thought that was what the writers & actors were trying to tell us.
Re: Other lingering questions
assuming that is so, it is possible that she could have just stepped into an airlock and did herself in unbeknownst to everyone. i still think there is something strange about her appearance though and i think she is in their head, including the glasses that she left…
Misfeatures in Cylons
You’ll have to excuse my langauge. I was skimming the Jargon file just before posting this.
If we assume that the Cylon Starbuck interogated was there just spread FUD, then we can say that he was functioning exactly as intended.
On the other hand, if we look at examples of the #6 and Boomer types, we would see what would appear to be bugs. Consider the way both Boomer units have acted in contravention to Cylon aims. On Galactica, Boomer’s "cover" persona has actually over-ridden her Cylon half. Caprica-Boomer is hell-bent on keeping Helo alive, despite the consensus that he has outlived his usefullness.
It seems like the programing that allows her to emotion sub-routines are a little too effective, particularly where loyalty comes into play. Perhaps it would be more accurate to call this a misbug.
One interesting senario I picture is that by some means, both Boomers decided to help the humans. Then, I don’t see how it would happen, Helo and his Boomer get back to Galactic. Imagine the fight over which one gets to call themself "Boomer."
Re: Misfeatures in Cylons
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE="cite">
On the other hand, if we look at examples of the #6 and Boomer types, we would see what would appear to be <a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/B/bug.html">bugs</a>. Consider the way both Boomer units have acted in contravention to Cylon aims. On Galactica, Boomer’s "cover" persona has actually over-ridden her Cylon half. Caprica-Boomer is hell-bent on keeping Helo alive, despite the consensus that he has outlived his usefullness. <br><br>It seems like the programing that allows her to emotion sub-routines are a little too effective, particularly where loyalty comes into play. Perhaps it would be more accurate to call this a <a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/M/misbug.html">misbug</a>.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
The Cylons comment on this in the next episode, and Six cries. I can think of 2 possibly reasons why she cries. Does she love Gaius, or does she wish she felt that way, or that much?
Re: Misfeatures in Cylons
Uh… Which Six? Six on Caprica never even met Gaius.
Re: Misfeatures in Cylons
I really don’t see this happening. In fact, I see an airlock in their future. ;)
Re: Misfeatures in Cylons
At least for one of them. I suspect the other one may actually prove to be a valuable test subject/ally. Some day the Galacticans are going to bounce back, and when they do, “gods” help the Cylons. :)
I suspect that identity transfer, one of the Cylons current strengths, could be used against them if the humans were able to disrupt the process, or hijack it. Imagine a human-reprogrammed Boomer, or Six, in the Cylon ranks. Muahahaha. :)
-Joe
Re: Misfeatures in Cylons
Why get that complex. Windows!
Flesh and Bone
The title made me laugh, sci-fi chnl even had to post one of those “the following contains adult scenes not suitable for children” I was like…..um what? Then he banged the chick in the red dress and we saw a little “side” ass, and her in a compromising position. I loved the look on starbucks face. Priceless!
“Im stretching”