[bsg]

[tellitslant]

This is mainly prompted by the recent s4 promo, but also has a spoiler or two from elsewhere. (And absolutely no discussion of the Razor promo pics. Really. *g*)



OK, so it's been in promos and interviews and I'm fairly sure I've actually read RDM saying at one point that the whole "if you're a Cylon, you've been one from the beginning" thing is a red herring and completely meant to fake us out. What I can't figure out is who that might apply to.

It can't be Kara. I mean, there are moments one could probably point to and say "sure, she became a Cylon there"? But it's not Kara, because Kara has to be the mythical dragonslayer - she's the hunter, the warrior, the truth-teller (o hai, does she have icons of Artemis and Athena? why yes, yes she does). So except in the highly unlikely chance that they're doing a 'death from within' setup where Kara becomes a Cylon but rebels (which they're not, because we wouldn't get the tease about her being a Cylon if she actually were one, because RDM likes to think he's clever and tricksy), Kara is not a Cylon.

I'm pretty sure Lee's not a Cylon, because while he's had stupid emo near-death experiences that might be a suitable place for his life changing, I don't think any of them have really included the opportunity for him to be Cylonized. Maybe they're going to pull some wacky shit like "When Lee's soul was threatened by his discovery that Laura was not a big softy, he rejected human life and chose the all-accepting love of the Cylon God," which actually could be hilarious, but I doubt it. And besides, after Kara slays her dragon, she needs someone to come home to. So Lee's not a Cylon.

Adama could be a Cylon, and I say that not only because he would be, within the show's universe, a really disturbing Big Bad for the characters to have to fight, but because, well. I'm convinced Lee's not a Cylon, but I'm not convinced he wouldn't make an excellent plot point as a hybrid. I say this fully aware that there's way more to this show than just Greek mythology, but it's stunning how much of the Greek myth that RDM uses centres around Apollo and how he topples an old regime but retains aspects of it in the new. So Lee as a hybrid would work with what's been done so far, but I'm not entirely sure what he would have to do with the rest of the arc. If Lee's a hybrid, though, that pretty much means Zak was a hybrid, and I have no idea where a dead hybrid would come into things. (His death reverberated throughout the entire Cylon race and provoked the attacks! ...actually, that's almost not bad.) The only exception to this is if Adama became a Cylon after being shot, but I didn't see a point at which that would be possible - and doing it in the flashbacks would just be cheap. So I strongly suspect Adama's not a Cylon, but I can't be sure.

After three seasons of "Am I a Cylon? Am I mad? Am I a mad Cylon?" I feel like actually making Baltar a Cylon would be a real cop-out. It would also invalidate all the discussion about Six and Baltar making a happy little hybrid of their own - although I notice that despite all the talk, that never did happen, and instead they were put in charge of a different hybrid. So there's wiggle room, plus the spoiler that the Six in Baltar's head is getting, um, eighty-sixed this season (I'm sorry, I had to), which suggests that some sort of change is coming for Baltar. And after all, he did survive a nuclear blast that killed the Cylon standing right next to him, so that's a convenient starting-point for Cylonity. The trouble is, Baltar's not a Big Bad. He had his fifteen minutes of ruling the universe and I'm fairly sure that's over with, as he wasn't so much foiled to return later swearing vengeance as he was a complete failure who flopped out of existence at about the right time. So Baltar could be a Cylon, but I personally don't see where that would be going.

Roslin is clearly the character with the most obvious "And that's how I became a Cylon... any questions?" moment, but... RDM may not be as clever as he thinks he is, but he's definitely more clever than that. It's too obvious. Plus, while I firmly believe that Roslin is the best choice for Big Bad because she would upset not only the in-show applecart, but also the expectations of nearly everyone watching the show... if Laura Roslin is a Cylon, she has been one from the beginning. There's too much that's explained by Laura having been a Cylon well before she recieved the Magic Cylon Baby Blood. So Laura's probably a Cylon, but not in such a way that she fits the "from the start" red herring.

And, honestly... four of the Final Five were minor players. The last one or two Cylons have to be big names. Who else is possible?

Soooo... unless they're being cheap and introducing a near-death experience for one of the main characters in Razor, I have no idea where RDM's red herring fits in what I think I know about the final season.

Surely Ron Moore hasn't actually managed to confound me? Inconcievable!

Yes, all my BSG squee is back, and I get to start making ladyvivien watch it, so double squee! :D

Comments

[viciouswishes.livejournal.com]

RDM could magically forget about Zak. Or maybe I've just been watching too much crappy tv lately.