Battlestar Galactica 2.12: Cain is Toppled

The fleet comes together once more under the command of Adama, with the assassination of Cain. But who kills her?!

This episode was a continuation of last week’s and if you believe the title of the episodes, you’d think it was about the destruction of the Cylon Resurrection Ship. But you’d be wrong. This episode was about the conflict between duty and conscience. Last week we found that Starbuck and the XO from Pegasus were instructed to assassinate Cain and Adama, respectively. Well, let me cut to the chase; neither of them does it. And I think that’s a good thing.

There is a scene with Starbuck and Apollo where she shares her mission with him. She recites the company line of, ‘We’re given orders to kill people all the time, and now is no different.” And Apollo gives some strikingly sage commentary. He essentially tells Starbuck it’s not what they do; it’s whether their word will mean anything afterwards. Pretty deep considering he is supposed to be the young reckless ace. The XO doesn’t benefit from the same kind of advice, having to go it alone. You can easily see, however, he is coming to grips with the situation and that it won’t be an easy decision for him either. Luckily for both, they don’t have to make that decision. Both Adama and Cain come to grips with the task they’ve asked their most loyal soldiers and tell them both to back down and not follow through with the mission. Interesting.

This is where it gets fun. Gaius, having shunned the Model #6 in his mind, tells the tangible #6 to go and get her revenge. He then informs the Cylon that once it’s done, he has safe passage for her. The question is: why? Is it because he feels for her, the same way the Chief and Helo feel for Sharon? Or is it more likely that the Cylons are playing to the emotions of these weak men and are using them as a means to the ends? Being the cynic that I am, I think all of this posturing by the Cylons is the manipulation by them to ensure a birth of a Cylon/Human hybrid and thus, the acceptance of them as equals to the Humans. And Gaius, with his implanted version of #6 influencing him, has now just let one of them back out into the fleet. But don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against what she did, killing Cain like that. That, my friends, was an awesome sequence.

Cain: “Frack you.”
#6: “You’re not my type.” *shoots*

I mean, come on! The dialog was spot on and well played. It reminded me of the Matrix where Trinity kills the Agent on the rooftop.

Agent: “Only human.”
Trinity: “Dodge this.” *shoots*

Do you see what I mean? I really appreciate those dry, witty bits of dialog and this was done perfectly. I can only hope more of that begins to be used in Battlestar. Now, there’s nothing to do but wait for next week’s episode! Definitely one of the best shows on television right now, bar none. Check it out!