"I saw a star explode and send out the building blocks of the Universe.Other stars, other planets and eventually other life. A supernova!
Creation itself! I was there. I wanted to see it and be part of the
moment. And you know how I perceived one of the most glorious
events in the universe? With these ridiculous gelatinous orbs in my
skull! With eyes designed to perceive only a tiny fraction of the EM
spectrum. With ears designed only to hear vibrations in the air."
-- Cavil (Dean Stockwell)
Major spoilers. Exposition; often a very inelegant way of imparting information to an audience, that may as well just hand everyone a page of text to read. BSG has mostly avoided it over it four seasons, but with so many huge questions still unanswered as we enter the home-stretch, "No Exit" is essentially an hour of info-dumping...
That would ordinarily be a problem, were it not for one simple fact: the info being dumped are answers to long-standing questions fans have been chewing on for years -- but particularly since Tigh (Michael Hogan), Tyrol (Aaron Douglas), Tory (Rekha Sharma) and Anders (Michael Trucco) were unmasked as four of the Final Five secret-Cylon models in season 3. "No Exit" is a thick stew of talking and back-story, that may require a repeat viewing to truly wrap your head around, but it accomplishes its aims very well.
Basically; on Galactica, Anders has a bullet lodged in his brain that's dangerously close to severing an artery that will kill him -- but the foreign object has also triggered latent memories and knowledge, meaning Anders now knows all the answers regarding the Final Five's nature and history. The B-plot is a flashback storyline to a Cylon Baseship 18 months ago, where Ellen Tigh (Kate Vernon) resurrects in her own private, vertical gooey chamber -- having just been poisoned by her husband Saul on New Caprica for colluding with the enemy (the ultimate irony, as both are Cylons themselves.)Interestingly, it becomes clear that Ellen is a literal mother figure for Cavil (Dean Stockwell), whom she refers to as "John", the first of the Cylon humanoid models the Final Five helped the metal centurions create. A broad overview of the chronology has the thirteen tribes leave Kobol (twelve human tribes founding the colonies, one Cylon tribe arriving on Earth.) The Earth Cylons could procreate, so had no use for the resurrection technology their kind traditionally used to prolong their existence. Or, at least, that's how I perceived the explanation. I know some people think the Thirteenth Tribe of Cylons mixed with regular humans (that's us) and cross-breeded with mankind for generations, going unnoticed in our society.
However, after Earthlings created artificial life (metal Cylons), a war broke out with these sentient robots that resulted in the destruction of Earth in a nuclear holocaust. Fortunately the "final five" had restarted resurrection technology to prepare for his worst-case scenario -- so, when the bombs hit, they transferred their consciousnesses to an orbiting spaceship. Then, they travelled at sub-light speed to the Twelve Colonies to warn the other tribes about not creating artificial life...
However, after arriving at the colonies two millennia later (I hope they got some inflight meals), they found the colonies were in the midst of a similar war with their own variety of Cylons. So, the Final Five made contact with the metal Cylons (who had started trying to make "hybrid" Cylon-Humans with little success) and agreed to create humanoid models equipped with resurrection technology for them -- but only in order to broker peace with the humans. Hence, the Final Five are the benevolent creators of the so-called "skinjobs" -- although, interestingly, the skinjob's belief in a "one, true God" is a remnant of centurion programming that the Final Five also chose to subscribe to.
The first skinjob created was John/Cavil (Number 1), but he came to detest his humanoid limitations and mutinied against his creators -- erasing the Five's memories and imprinting them with false human personalities so they could experience the dreadful human experience first-hand, then help his centurion predecessors settle old scores by ending the human-Cylon truce and annihilating the Twelve Colonies.
Cavil also wiped all memory of the Final Five from his fellow "skinjobs", although traces remained that enabled the "Significant Seven" to ruminate on the Final Five models in a numinous way, and for the Final Five to have occasional visions of their true identities.
A few questions still remain, though. The visions Gaius has always had of "Head-Six", and likewise the "Head-Gaius" vision that Caprica Six experiences, are yet to be explained. Same goes for the significance of President Roslin's dreams about an Opera House with Hera being smuggled away by Six and Gaius. Both mysteries seem to indicate there's a greater power working behind-the-scenes; a theory given a bit more weight with the reveal that the Final Five didn't create the Temple Of Five as a means to worship themselves and point the way to Earth. It was actually built by the Kobol travellers on their way to Earth and the Twelve Colonies, and named the Temple Of Hopes. Ellen believes any "carnival tricks" where the Temple revealed the Five's identity and pointed the way to Earth must have been orchestrated by God.
Still, the broad-stroke answers for the Final Five and how the skinjobs came into existence have been answered -- although there's a tease about the seventh model, Daniel, whose entire line was destroyed by Cavil because he felt jealous about Ellen's preference for his brother. So, is there a chance a rogue Daniel model is active somewhere? Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff) momentarily believes she could be the seventh, because Cylon-style resurrection would explain her discovery of her own dead body in the wreckage of her crashed Viper on Earth -- but Daniel's gender would appear to end that theory. Mind you, Starbuck has always been quite the tomboy...
In a very loquacious episode, a few performances really stood out: Kate Vernon was excellent as Ellen, given a totally different character to play here; someone motherly, loving, moral and extremely intelligent. Dean Stockwell was also superb as the anti-Pinocchio with an Oedipus complex; a human in every way that counts (beyond the ability to procreate), but bitter about the biological limitations of his physical existence. He hates the very emotions that he's been programmed with, that enable him to question himself, and fails to realize what a gift free will and the ability to love actually is. Vernon and Stockwell have some excellent scenes together and make their weighty dialogue fly in the key speeches.
Also great to see Boomer (Grace Park) back on the show, having become Cavil's incestuous concubine -- and seeing her orchestrate Ellen's escape from the Baseship was good to see (after biting an apple symbolizing knowledge, Bible scholars.) I still have a mild hope that Boomer will rekindle her relationship with Tyrol, too. That would bring a season 1 relationship full circle rather nicely.
It was also a nice touch to have both plot-strands revolve around brain surgery: it's the only means to save Anders' life on Galactica, but comes at the risk of losing answers about the Final Five; and it would signify Ellen's death on the Baseship, as Cavil is intent on opening Ellen's cranium and getting answers about how to rebuild resurrection.
There's a small subplot involving Adama being told by Tyrol that Galactica's suffering stress damage that will lead to its inevitable destruction, unless Adam agrees to allow the Chief to inject the ship's framework with a biological Cylon resin. Interesting to note how Adama chooses to overlook Tyrol's Cylon nature in giving him back his job, but is quick to make the Chief agree that only human crewmen can be involved in the repair job.Overall, "No Exit" (the English translation of Jean-Paul Sartre's "Huis Clos", which told us "hell is other people") is obviously a vital, key episode in BSG's mythology. The answers come thick and fast, so while the overall story is reduced to watching Anders, Cavil and Ellen explain the complex back-story to us, it manages to be a fascinating and revealing hour. Writer Ryan Mottesheard (a long-time script coordinator whose hard work on BSG is being rewarded here) manages to make a potentially garrulous chore into something very special: a lot of questions are answered, but some remain, and new ones asked, just as the finishing line appears on the horizon.
17 February 2009
Sky1, 9pm
Writer: Ryan Mottesheard
Director: Gwyneth Horder-Payton
Cast: Edward James Olmos (Adama), Mary McDonnell (Roslin), Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck), James Callis (Baltar), Tricia Helfer (Caprica Six), Grace Park (Boomer), Jamie Bamber (Lee), Michael Hogan (Tigh), Rekha Sharma (Tory), Dean Stockwell (John Cavil), Kerry Norton (Medic Layne Ishay), Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh), Donnelly Rhodes (Doc Cottle), Aaron Douglas (Tyrol), Michael Trucco (Anders) & John Hodgman (Dr. Gerard)
