Deadlock

Battlestar Galactica - Episode 4.16

This week's episode deals with the repercussions of what was learned about the origin of the Cylons and the return of Ellen Tigh to the fleet. More than anything, this hour was a perfect example of how Ellen is still the selfish wife of the colonel we know and love, despite having her past memories restored. The comforting thing about this is that if and when the other four have their memories unlocked, that they won't be completely different people.

My favorite character moment of "Deadlock" occured when the Cylons take a vote whether or not to leave the fleet and strike out on their own. Ellen storms out after Saul, who voted stay, before casting her own. Tory wants to leave, but the really interesting part happens when Tyrol makes his choice. He votes to leave, too, but he says that Sam, still in a coma, would vote to stay. This says a lot about Galen Tyrol, who, despite his various flaws, is an honest and sincere person.

The tragedy involving the loss of Caprica Six and Saul's baby almost works but overall it doesn't have the emotional impact it should. The problem with this is that we never got to see these two grow close as a couple. As a result, Saul's declarations of love to Caprica while the baby's future is up in the air doesn't really ring completely true. On the flipside, Saul's grief in Adama's quarters is played perfectly by Michael Hogan and Edward James Olmos allows Bill to share it with his best friend. It seems as if these two have grown even closer after Saul was revealed to be one of the Final Five.

I'm not too sure what to make of Baltar's flock at the moment. Adama giving them guns so that they can protect themselves against the Sons of Ares may indicate the development of self-government on a local level. With the Quorum dissolved and a new system coming into place where the captains govern their own ships and represent their people under the president, the you could almost see Galactica as its own providence. It's a big ship with a lot of people, so it would make sense that different communities would develop with in her. Baltar's "town" represents a devil Adama and Roslin know and have dealt with and whom have demonstrated a level of charity and a call for unity.

The last thing worth mentioning is growing evidence that the fleet, at least on the Galactica level, is becoming a mixture of human and Cylon. This episode is full of these indicators. Saul sums it up the best when he justifies sticking with the fleet by saying that humans alone and Cylons alone has only ended badly and maybe it's time to change that. While shots of Adama constantly overseeing the repairs to Galactica by the mixed workforce got tedious, they were there to reinforce the changing state of the ship. The final scene where Roslin and Adama witness a Six at the memorial wall and the various pictures of fallen Cylons drives the point home that the humans aren't the only ones adapting. The former enemy has also begun to assimilate to the new culture of the fleet.

7 out of 10