BSG “Deadlock” – Between Hate and Love

After watching last night’s BSG episode “Deadlock”, I found myself caught between enjoying some wonderful, philosophical character arcs and despising the overly simplistic, if not downright perplexing, portrayal of others. Sure, we could argue that some events were meant to set up those that are to come in the remaining episodes; but effective storytelling shouldn’t sacrifice telling a proper story in one episode for the sake of another. As you’ll see, my subtitle for this episode relates as much to the episode’s theme as it does to my own impressions of it.

In that vein, I’m going to start off picking away at those elements of this story that just didn’t work or which demonstrated a clear glossing over of some significant points in terms of the series and certain character arcs. First off, the arrival of Boomer and Ellen. I’m certain their arrival came as no surprise to any of us watching, but for me that’s still a really big issue. Why? Simple – how come Boomer was able to find the fleet so easily? Now, I’m certain we’re all anticipating the return of the Cylon fleet under the control of John/Cavil, considering his thirst for punishing his creators, all of whom are now once again in the fleet, if not also his needing the Final Five to help him rebuild the resurrection ship. Given the ease with which Boomer found the fleet, it’s not hard to imagine John/Cavil also having no issues in tracking them down. Add to this plotline they’ve created that Galactica at present can’t jump without putting the ship’s integrity at risk and yeah, this isn’t exactly a hard equation to calculate. And I’ll be honest here – if this indeed turns out to be the plot for what’s to come, I’ll be extremely disappointed. One of the hallmarks of what makes BSG such a compelling show is its unconventional approach to series television. We’ve all become used to getting a healthy dose of mind fraks simply because Moore and Eick would lead us down one path only to suddenly bank a hard right into another direction. So if John/Cavil is to return, I hope it’ll be under less obvious circumstances than what I wrote above.

Regardless, the simple fact is that when Adama et al find out that it’s one of the Sharon Cylon models aboard the Raptor, none of them reacted to this with alarm. Instead, they were more curious about what she was doing there. Now this was a chance for the writers to create a subtle rise in tension in the fleet over the risk of being rediscovered at a time when they’re still trying to pick up the pieces from the mutiny, of giving the fleet something to distract them from their sense of listlessness, if not shake them out of their reverie. Ignoring this opportunity, I fear we might instead be given a moment where the Cylon fleet’s return gives the Colonial fleet more the impression of a deer caught in the headlights than a validation that they have a new threat to use as a tent pole.

Another moment that made little sense outside of allowing certain episode plot elements to take hold was Tyrol’s easy acceptance of ditching the fleet in favour of the Cylons striking it out on their own to create a “pure Cylon race”. As I wrote in my previous reviews, and in particular the events of last week’s “No Exit”, Tyrol has been a character without purpose because ultimately he’s been defined by his role on the ship, of being the heart of Galactica as much as Adama is its brain. When Adama offered Tyrol back this role, you could see that sense of self-identity returning to the character. Indeed, the fact that Adama pointed out to Tyrol that he already had a Cylon XO, so why not a Cylon Chief was meant to indicate that Adama was able to see past Tyrol’s origins and focus more on who he is. So having Tyrol in this episode throw all that out the nearest airlock, without any elaboration, was just sloppy and unwarranted, especially in light of last week’s information dump. The fact that his supporting Tori’s vote was meant to setup the deciding vote resting on Ellen’s overtly petty whim made this even more painful (speaking of which, are they ever going to make Tori’s character relevant again? Come on, writers. You made her one of the Final Five. Make her significant already).

This leads to one character that I’ve bemoaning the lack of screen time on – something I’m regretting now after seeing last night’s episode – and this would be the character of Gaius Baltar. Although they did a nice job setting up his need to return to his ‘flock’ in the previous episode, the return of Head Six was beyond awful. Why? Well, remember his shock at seeing Six in bed with him on board the Cylon ship in “No Exit”? Clearly, this was meant to reinforce the fact that he had dispensed with this inner manifestation and seeing it return without explanation gave him the momentary shock that he might once again be losing his grasp on reality. But the fact that he was able to have that conversation with a Six model was meant to be a catharsis; that by his acknowledging his responsibility to this Cylon model, he was freeing himself from whatever her apparition represented and was moving forward as a character. Her return in this episode was not only without explanation, but his lack of reaction to her sudden return betrayed the very reason of why he said he wanted to go back to his followers. Of course, having him later on simply parrot the words she was saying just added to my sense of disgust because it’s becoming clear that the arming of Baltar’s harem is going to come back to haunt everyone and clearly Baltar needs to have a future way out to rationalize that once again, this wasn’t his fault.

And now let’s look at the storyline that this episode did get right, the love triangle between Tigh, Ellen and Caprica Six and its message regarding the human constructs of love and hate. From that first scene in the hangar where we see Tigh and Ellen passionately kissing each other upon their reunion, we’re reminded by the reactions of the Galactica crew that the human fleet still see these Cylon skinjobs as simply being machines that mimic human behaviour without the corresponding human emotions that go with it. We saw this sense of contempt and suspicion of the Cylons even more during Ellen’s debriefing scene with Adama, Roslyn and Lee when Adama’s offering of his flask is met with the obvious disgust of Roslyn, that once again Adama was reaching out to the Cylons, a reality Adama later admits to Tigh in his quarters he’s well aware of. We also get that sense of Roslyn not being able to see these Cylons as being more than mere machines when she queries Caprica Six over the significance of her child – only realizing after the question is posed that Caprica Six views herself as the mother of this child and not the carrier of a significant piece to some cosmic puzzle. Of course, the fact that Caprica Six mentions not seeing the Opera House in her dreams since becoming pregnant made it fairly obvious as to what the ultimate fate of Liam would be, another moment of plot contrivance used to set up future storylines at the expense of this one.

Granted, the whole idea that Ellen would accuse Tigh of not loving her as much as he loved Caprica Six because he was able to impregnate Caprica Six but not her felt a tad too much like a plotline that belongs more in a daytime soap opera than a drama series like BSG. And yet, Ellen’s return to being the petty, vindictive woman we knew from previous episodes provided us with the understanding that John/Cavil’s re-programming of the Final Five was limited only to their understanding of their real identity and not an alteration of their true personality. In many ways, this helps to reinforce the pervading theme lately that the Final Five are no different now from who they were at the start and subsequently, the idea that Cylons are not all that far removed from humanity as the Colonial fleet and John/Cavil would like to think. The scene in sickbay where Tigh insists that he didn’t need to say he loved Caprica Six and Liam, that being able to feel it was enough helped to underscore this notion that being a machine didn’t obligate him to have to utter words for something that’s more deep and intense than language could ever truly infer.

Indeed, watching those scenes where Tigh, Ellen and Caprica Six try to assure Liam that he would be brought into a world of love and not hate and bickering was a wonderful contrast to what was going on in the bowels of Galactica, with humanity fragmenting into make-shift groups, unwilling to make sacrifices to help others. For me, this is all going back to that scene between Boomer and Adama where she asks him why humanity should be allowed to continue to exist and Adama’s later admission that it’s not enough for humanity to just survive, but that there must be a reason for why they are worth saving. Ellen’s sudden turn from trying to hurt Caprica Six by intentionally blurting out remarks about her having sex with Tigh and later about his bond with Adama to someone trying to plead with Caprica Six that Tigh really does love her more than he loved Ellen because of who she is – and not because she carries his child – was a wonderful examination of the coin on which love exists on one side and hate on the other. At this moment, we got to see humanity playing one side of that coin in not being able to reach out to others, to only insulate themselves as a means of self-preservation, while the Cylons were on the other side, coming to the understanding that for life to thrive, you need to care about others before you care about yourself. Liam’s death was meant to underline this understanding, that his existence wasn’t meant to be about giving the Cylons a reason to ditch the human fleet and focus only on themselves; rather, his only purpose was to demonstrate the ability of his parents to feel love for each other. On an aside, I have to say I am thoroughly enjoying the performances Michael Hogan has been bringing to his character. Indeed, this episode is probably successful to the degree it is in large part due to the performances of Hogan, Kate Vernon, and Tricia Helfer who really pulled the viewers in to appreciate the depth of their pain, hate, love, and sorrow.

As expected, I loved the scenes between Adama and Tigh because of how it continues to build on what’s been established so far in regards to the relationship between these two characters. The first scene in Adama’s cabin where he talks about the “Cylon goo” being used to fix Galactica was clearly meant to be an allegory to how he feels about himself, that while he may look on the outside like the same man he was at the start of this journey, the choices and decisions he’s had to make recently have eaten away internally at who he is. Obviously, the repeated scenes showing him in Galactica’s innards, touching the parts that still remain as the original, crumbling parts of his ship is supposed to mirror his own internal processes of watching that which defined him ebb away. It’s effective, but at times I have to admit it’s a tad too obvious, lacking the subtly that we’ve seen in previous episodes that required some emotional investment on the part of the viewers to truly appreciate the drama unfolding on the screen. Fortunately, the scene between Adama and Tigh commiserating together over the loss of Liam compensated for this and stays true to the nature of the relationship that exists between these two men. We have to remember that Tigh for most of his life has been a drunk and a screw-up and Adama was the only one who insisted on standing by Tigh because Adama was the only one who saw past Tigh’s faults and instead, saw who Tigh really was. Even Ellen never gave Tigh that depth of love and acceptance that Adama did so it was only natural that he would go to Adama – a human – to seek comfort and consolation for his loss. This again plays to that very theme of love and hatred walking that thin line in how Adama could appreciate Tigh’s loss and yet, feel resignation over the implications brought forth with the realization that the other Cylons have been mourning their lost comrades on the very same walls that humans do.

Of course, the fact that they chose to have Adama focus on one of the pictures of the Sharon model was clearly a set-up for the re-introduction of Boomer into the fleet, again another fault of this episode focusing more on what’s to come instead of addressing the issues presented in this episode – that of understanding that the Cylon constructs of love and compassion, and the sense of loss over the death of an unborn child, is no different from the human construct. It would have been a much more powerful and effective scene to have caught Caprica Six placing an ultrasound image of Liam up on that wall to encapsulate the idea of convergence between Cylons and humans. That way, the focus on that wall wouldn’t have been on Sharon, but on Liam and how the human fleet should feel about his loss and more importantly, what those sentiments mean in regards to how they view their future.

As I remarked on Twitter, I found the episode’s title didn’t really reflect the storyline since the deadlock over what to do next was never really the strong suite of this episode, but rather it was how one defines the concepts of love and hate, if not how thin the line between the two can be. In writing the review for this episode, the only significant deadlock I perceived was whether I could say I really enjoyed this episode or not.

Some other posts you may enjoy:

1. BSG “Sometimes A Great Notion” – Honey, I’m Home
2. BSG “Islanded in a Stream of Stars” – Finding One’s Place To Call Home
3. BSG “Revelations” – We’re Off To See The Wizard
4. BSG “Blood on the Scales” – Off Bloody Spot, Off
5. BSG “Daybreak, Part 1” – The End Is Found In Where We Began
6. BSG “No Exit” – Time To Accept What We Are

19992 Comments »http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tanveernaseer.com%2Fbsg-deadlock-review%2FBSG+%E2%80%9CDeadlock%E2%80%9D+-+Between+Hate+and+Love2009-02-21+19%3A33%3A22Tanveer+Naseerhttp%3A%2F%2Ftanveernaseer.wordpress.com%2F%3Fp%3D1999 | Tags: Adama, Boomer, BSG, Caprica Six, drama, Ellen, Entertainment, Gaius Baltar, Laura Roslyn, Liam, Saul Tigh, sci-fi, science fiction, Sharon, Tyrol | February 21, 2009