°Idle cylon speculations
So, there are twelve models. And they have a plan. It would be funny if it was a five-year plan, but that’s a whole other Five thing. Read more at your own peril, a big, multiheaded spoiler alert for those remaining, but succumbing, neophytes - and anyone else who would rather not speculate.
For now, we know who all the models are, bar one: Saul Tigh, Galen Tyrol, Samuel Anders, and Tory Foster have been added to those we already know.
And I reckon I know who the Fifth is. Helena Cain. A beautifully grim irony, no? The setting for a touching - or headfcking - Cain and Gina reunion, esp given the Sixes’ recent insurgency in the name of connecting up with the Final Five.
So, let me explain.
The metaphysics: In “Razor” (what other episode would it be?), the hybrid says:
The Fifth is still is in shadow, drawn toward the light, hungering for redemption, that will only come in the howl of terrible suffering.
Now, who else is seeking redemption (for abandoning her sister) - admittedly, through revenge - but Cain? Who else’s redemption would arrive in the form of a more terrible suffering?
By reduction: We know it’s definitely not Thrace/Starbuck, right? This would be boring. We know it’s neither Adama (he’s been tested, and I think this rules out Adama Jnr) nor Baltar (this too would be boring). Someone might argue a case for Roslin, but … Gaeta? I don’t think so. His secret is his big crush on Baltar, but it would give a whole new Hayes-code meaning to ‘coming out’. Dualla? Um, maybe, but hardly shocking. Zarek? Again, this would be boring. Lampkin would be funny, but he’s not been a constant enough presence for it to be shocking. Shaw might be interesting - she certainly sought redemption, and it would be painful. Still, not as painful as Cain’s.
The scripting:
Some silly people have dismissed Cain on the grounds that she’s dead. I think they were watching another show.
But, ok, for it to be Cain, this means that this model of cylon grows up, has a childhood, right? Though I hasten to add that childhood memories, as we know post-Bladerunner, can be created. Then again, why not? There’s been a child, and not clear whether this was cylon or human. But, why would Cain, as a child, be discovered by a Centurion hiding in a room with that knife, then left alone? Really, it made little sense at the time; though makes a very particular kind of sense given these last few episodes, given the encounter between Anders and the Raider. I mean, the other ‘look-like-us’ models of cylon haven’t recognised any of the Final Five before this, ‘commanded not to speak of them’ which, I assume, means not being able to discern who they are. If I’m wrong, I can blame bad continuity, scripting, someone else - because the young Helena Cain hardly seems all that persuasively threatening to a Centurion, knife notwithstanding.
And what did happen to her copy, um, sister? Now, her (re)appearance would be interesting …
I’d love it to be Cain, and it makes sense sure, but there are unraveling threads everywhere. Tell me what you think is going on with the child of the Chief and the recently snuffed Callie.
Meanwhile in another science fiction land, random space-mugwumps are celebrating the elevation of London tonight to comedy capital of the world. Boris as Mayor, we can only hope, is just a moment in a dialectical unfolding that will eventually break down and reverse this nasty warped development. I mean, hope that the clown prince of london will not last long (he wants ‘to debate the meaning of multiculturalism’!). Time to find earth Starbuck. Quick, before ‘the greatest city of the 21st century’ [a teary Ken] is totally ruined.
Bring us Gaius Balthar as next candidate… and not on a Socialist Action ticket either…
John [May 3, 2008 @ 1:12 am]
Ha. And, oh, I’d completely forgotten about this second human-cylon spawn. Will Tigh suggest poison? Will it be sacrificed on the alter of Roslin’s immortality? Honestly, I’ve no idea. And, now I’ve a wierd feeling the boxed D’Anna Biers has to make a re-appearance, surely.
As for the local mayoral contest - I thought a lot of the rhetoric about the need to have a “debate” (qua racism is ok) was a bit deja vu.
Mr Morden, umLynton Crosby. (A less effusive bio here.) To borrow the words of Vir Cotto from Babylon5, I would like to live just long enough to see his head … Well, one can only hope it plays out something like this, and then this. The Centauri Empire will not be restored, no matter how many “debates”.s0metim3s [May 3, 2008 @ 2:02 am]
haha…admittedly, you make a really good case for Cain, but i’m still not convinced.
—But, why would Cain, as a child, be discovered by a Centurion hiding in a room with that knife, then left alone?—
You might be on to something here, and narrative emphasis is certainly given to the centurion’s scanning the young cain (so the connection to anders encounter with the raider is justified). although the scene is made ambiguous by the centurion turning his head as if its attention had been drawn, and then turning to leave. When i first saw razor, although it seemed odd that the centurion didn’t kill cain, i assumed that the pause, and the first person scanning shot from inside the the head of the centurion, was added for dramatic effect, and Cain was essentially saved by luck - in that the centurion finds out that the war is over (presumably over cylon wireless..hence the gesture of distraction).
—Then again, why not? There’s been a child, and not clear whether this was cylon or human. —
mmm…i thought it was clear she was human when her mother claims her her, no?
Two things suggest to me that cain couldn’t have been a child cylon. the first is that she had parents (remember the first person she leaves is her dead mother, than her injured father on the step, who tells her to get her sister to a shelter, and only then her sister). the second reason i think its unlikely, is that it doesn’t make sense that at the end of war, while the cylons were still experimenting with hybrids, that they would already have the technology to fabricate a child (since the hybrids seem to be the first step in the (ambiguous) evolution of the look-like-us-cylons. So if cain turns out be be a cyclon who grew up human, i will be left feeling unsatisfied. She could of course be a cylon chasing the redemption of fabricated memories, this is true. considering the place of the past in relation to the question of redemption (ala benjamin), it might make for an interesting thread. However, unlike blade runner, the way they have dealt was cylon memory has been uneven, if not a little contradictory (for the boomer/athena models), and they would need to do some work to make a case of cain returning to redeem a fake past.
Shaw on the other hand seems to me the much better choice. I don’t mind admitting that i wouldn’t mind seeing her again. That aside, she also carries the prophesy about starbuck, so bringing her back as the fifth would allow it to be reintroduced into the narrative. Also the tension between her and starbuck can now find fulfillment, especially if she returns to prevent the ‘end’ as her act of redemption - no doubt lots of potential for pain there
dionysusstoned [May 3, 2008 @ 3:31 am]
You could well be right about Shaw d - but it would still have this spectre of Cain thing going. And I’d forgotten about Starbuck’s (not) child being claimed - you have the advantage of both having watched the entire series of BSG in, like, 3 days recently and a crush on Starbuck. Me, I could see Cain again, but Shaw will do. And to prep you for a Starbuck/Shaw reunion:
Anyway, let me add some better proof of Shaw being the Fifth. She would have to take regular shots of that anti-viral that Doc Cottle developed against Lymphocytic encephalitis, yes? Would neatly explain her predilection for the needle.
Btw, aside from having elected Boris for Mayor, I should say that in this part of the world, from next week, those opening scenes of “Razor” (plus most of the series) will be illegal under certain anti-”extreme pornography measures”. Not to mention most action films, horror, noir … That lovely computer game-styled bombing footage so loved by the Pentagon will, of course, be exempt, no matter the damage (or enjoyment some find in it).
But, for cross-cultural edification and education in things Australiana, I give you this bit of knifeplay. Some lovely lady named Schappyle gives it to John Winston, courtesy of Slit. Get it while it’s legal, funny, if not quite hot.
s0metim3s [May 3, 2008 @ 10:40 am]
While I haven’t gotten to the third season (or Razor) yet (and I’ve unintentionally come across the identities of the other Cylons), I think what you say make intuitive sense. (I’m unaware of the Cain background having not seen Razor), but it hardly makes sense to devote as much screen-time to what is - or can only be - a secondary character at best (relative to the main thrust of the series). You are right that Thrace, Adama (this excludes Jr.) and Baltar cannot be Cylons without the series being stupid. A regular secondary character would also be boring - Duella, Gaeta, the Doc, etc.
Plus, Cain is by far the coldest, most robotic human in the series. It would be appropriate: exactly what you’d expect a Cylon in human form to be like.
Craig [May 3, 2008 @ 7:48 pm]
I’m still waiting for this series to crap itself. Though the first few episodes have been very good, I’m not sure about the cylons growing a conscience… I’m dreading the prospect of a Neon Genesis Evangelion ‘the fifth cylon is humanity!’ type ending. Or ‘the fifth cylon’ is the server and we are all stuck in a MMORPG!
I guess I am just traumatized by the Matrix and Lost; I worry that they have built a series on the premise of mystery, and kind of painted themselves into a corner.
I would love it for the fifth cylon never to be revealed. That would cement this series as the best thing ever to shoot out of a cathode ray tube.
TCO [May 4, 2008 @ 12:57 am]
Sorry Craig if I was the one that spoilt it about the Four - and you really should see the “Razor” episode.
It would hardly be any fun not to reveal the Fifth, I reckon. And, I have to say, applause for them not making the question of whether they find Earth the mystery. That would have been really silly.
s0metim3s [May 4, 2008 @ 1:57 am]
If it were Helena it would fit with the speculation about the Caprica prequel, which has it that the first Cylon is a downloaded woman’s consciousness.
Yeah, it would not be fun, but I can’t see any way of revealing it without ruining the mystery. It’s sort of the emptiness at the core of thing - it’s a mystery because it is a mystery, there is no driving plot rationale for the fifth cylon being a big secret. Personally, I find this the weakest part of the series - the whole cylon ‘plan’ is really not very well worked out. I reckon that it was about as much of a plan as the plot of Lost was a plot. And I say this as a total fanboy of this thing.
TCO [May 5, 2008 @ 9:57 am]
Do you think it is certain that the fifth cylon is somebody we know? My theory is that the fifth is somebody or something completely new - perhaps God.
sorenson [May 5, 2008 @ 5:29 pm]
Hey S - If it’s God, I am writing a more than stern letter to Moore et al. Though I really doubt I’ll have to.
s0metim3s [May 6, 2008 @ 11:28 am]
A - it wasn’t you! You are more than judicious with your spoiler alerts.
Craig [May 6, 2008 @ 5:20 pm]