“No Exit”

Well. Following the last arc which I said seemed to be putting off the answers we’ve all been seeking, this episode comes at you with answers like a basestar going FTL.

We follow three basic storylines all of which have significant meaning as answers begin to unfold.

One storyline involves Galen and Adama. Showing great acceptance and the glimmer of hope that good can come out of the horrible storylines, Adama offers Galen the Chief’s position back despite his being a Cylon because, hey…the XO is a Cylon too. It’s a great moment of recognition and respect as the Chief searches how to fix the Galactica which is literally coming apart at the seems.

There is a moment of tension when Tyrol suggests the only true way to fix it is to use an organic resin from the Basestar, Adama resists fairly strongly, before having a quick moment in his quarters where he sees the metaphoric and literal cracks in his life. He then relents and tells Galen to fix the ship they both love however possible.

The second storyline involves Anders. With a bullet lodged in his brain triggering repressed memories that were programmed out by Cavil (Huh? I’ll get to it), Anders begins to spill all to the remaining Cylons and Starbuck. It is here we learn that the Final Five (including and confirming Ellen as the last one) came from Earth where a holocaust destroyed them all. These five had rebuilt resurrection technology that had gone out of service because Cylons had learned to procreate. They downloaded and sent themselves to the colonies without FTL drives explaining the thousands of years difference. Arriving, they were the ones who stopped the Centurion war by offering the Centurions the knowledge of creating skin jobs as well as other technology in return for them stopping the war. The Final Five then created EIGHT Cylon models.

Yes. EIGHT. Meaning there is one more unrevealed.

Anders later declares that the Eighth was one named Daniel who did not survive. Fanatics will note the name Daniel as also being the name belonging to Greystone from the upcoming Caprica series. Intriguing at the very least.

Anders is fighting in and out of consciousness and coherence at the time and Doc Cottle says that a surgery is needed or else he’ll die. Afraid he’ll lose the memories he tries to get as much information to the Cylons as he can but in a selfish act, once Starbuck learns that the eigth was named Daniel and supposedly male, she orders the surgery and Anders ends the episode unrecovered so we don’t know either way whether the memories are gone or not.

In one of the delusions though he has an interesting moment where he sees a golden hue surround all the Cylons AND Starbuck, implying that Starbuck’s tale is still well interrelated.

The most important and series defining saga takes place between Cavill and Ellen in the form of a flashback fast forward. We learn that once Tigh killed Ellen on Caprica she awoke and spoke to her “son” John Cavill. We learn that she was the one behind it all, the creation of the Eight Cylon models. In a striking sequence we see how different Ellen really is. Good, true, benevolent, everything we are always led to believe how “God” is. And in truth she is God in a sense although she claims merely to be acting for God. In stark opposite is Cavill who rejects her, hates the limitations placed on him by her by putting him in a flesh body with limited vision, hearing, mortality. And yet despite this, she still loves him as her son.

They war verbally back and forth in front of Boomer who has her own small sequences. Instead of preaching to her, Ellen stays back and urges her to decide for herself. In a particularly well crafted nostalgic moment, Ellen mentions love as a gift to which Boomer decries, who are we supposed to love? The next shot is of Galen, harkening back to their relationship from the beginning.

When Cavil decides to break into Ellen’s mind surgically searching for the now destroyed resurrection technology, Boomer frees Ellen.

All in all a ton of questions are answered, some important ones remain and the largest one. How does it end? It’s picking back up and racing towards a climactic conclusion.

A

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