Imagine that - I've been watching BSG all these years, writing episode recaps for the last few seasons, calling all the Cylons by number at times - 1, 6, 8, and so on - and never in all this time did my mind go, "You know what? There is a missing number they've never shown: Cylon #7. I wonder why that is?" Call me daft, but for some reason it never dawned on me.
I have to hand it to the writers (yeah, that's He of The Velvety Mane over to the right) - plot lines are beginning to tie together in very interesting - and in my opinion, pretty brilliant - ways. The more research and pondering I do over the reveals that this episode brings, the more I am wowed.
Amidst an episode that played out like a royal info-dump, we learn a brain-numbing amount of information. Rather than try to write it all out in prose, I think the best thing I can do for all of us is to bullet point the reveals given to us in Anders' section, and then cover Ellen's section separately. At the end, I'll post some references for further reading that analyze these revelations and paint a more coherent picture of the whole.
For now, I'll avoid the whole Tyrol / Adama plotline that discovers Galactica's crumbling "skeleton," since I think that is going to play out in interesting ways further down the line.
To kick things off, they delivered upon us a new intro sequence:
- This has all happened before, and it will happen again
- The Cylons were created by man
- They rebelled
- Then they vanished
- Forty years later they came back
- They evolved
- 50,298 human survivors, hunted by the Cylons
- Eleven models are known
- One was sacrificed
With that, here is a list of all the things we learn, broken down by the person delivering, also broken down by order of reveal:
The bullet to Anders' head triggers his suppressed memories
During his surgery, Anders babbles the following:
When he's more coherent, he tells the others:
Anders then goes under the knife, so we'll likely get no more from him if he recovers.
Ellen's Resurrection
"A tumbrel is a two-wheeled cart used to carry various loads, particularly on a farm. For the viewing audience, this is a cultural reference to the French Revolution in the 1780's, when many condemned prisoners were carried to the guillotine in tumbrels. In the show's universe, she may be referring to parallel events on Kobol and/or the Thirteen Colonies." - BSG Wiki
Now I may be reading too much into this, but could she be making a reference to our Earth timeline here? Or did things happen on Earth similarly to our own events, like some sort of parallel universe theory? There are a lot of references throughout the history of the show that are inspired by our version of Earthly culture, but I guess only time will tell if they are direct references or some sort of cultural bleed-over between parallel universes.
Anyway, now that you have all the pieces (and good lord there were a crap-ton), below are a few links to articles on the BSG Wiki that do an amazing job of summarizing events or analysis:
- The Thirteen Cylon Models - This article over at the BSG Wiki is part of a larger article about humanoid Cylons. This particular section is great in that it puts everything we've learned in context.
- Episode Analysis for "No Exit" - BSG Wiki also has an incredible analysis of this episode, which manages to relate some of the facts we hear to the giant canvas the BSG writers are painting for the entire series. Reading some of this made me reflect on previous seasons and come to the realization that Ron Moore and company are doing some pretty brilliant things beyond just a "cool" scifi show.
UPDATE: - BSG WIKI's Timeline: This is also an excellent read that tries to encapsulate all the events that have been revealed so far.
Needless to say, i can't wait for Friday night!
To whet your appetite, here is the preview for "Deadlock":
Info-dump your thoughts into the comments below!
Yes, and Ellen's previous personality makes sense given what we learn as well. Leave it to the bitter John to give her a false personality of being an idiotic bimbo, when she was obviously one of the most intelligent and compassionate of the Final 5.
And Anders as a hybrid for Galactica? Now that's interesting.....
-- Posted by: Perrin at February 20, 2009 12:09 AMAnyone find it interesting that Cavil's name is John? "John Calvin" ring a bell? The founder of Calvinism?
-- Posted by: Zach at February 20, 2009 1:28 AMHmmmm, my history is rusty. Does John Calvin's beliefs relate to Cavil's somehow?
-- Posted by: Perrin at February 20, 2009 10:30 AMWow! So much information in this episode, and after reading this review, clearly I missed various parts!
Gonna have to re-watch, and keep much of this in mind.
I wonder how #7 - Daniel is going to fit into things. Is he really a goner, or will we find out that there is one still around?
With this info of what John/Cavil has done, what does this mean in reference to the alterations he made to the Cyclon ships?
Ellen was great in this episode!
-- Posted by: shikotee at February 23, 2009 1:22 PM"Daniel, the #7 Cylon, was an artist
John felt that Ellen was playing favorites toward Daniel
Someone (i.e. John) contaminated the amniotic fluid in which they were maturing all the Daniel copies, and then corrupted the genetic formula. "
Daniel has to be Starbuck.
Starbuck's painting, the fact that she came back to life etc etc...
Everything points to this.
Plus Starbuck was a dude in the old series.
-- Posted by: AC at February 25, 2009 9:54 AMnice recap points.
I was especially intrigued by Ellen Tigh's comments/revelations about Daniel #7 -- she said he was an artist, sensitve and beautiful something like that.
the suggestion about Starbucks really blew my mind -- we find out she did play the piano and her father was a composer.
but it also made me think of Baltar and wonder if he was #7 originally. he is sensitive to the extreme point of narcissism and schizophrenia -- and maybe that chip in his head IS real and that's where the Sexy Six ports into.
glad we'll also have Caprica. and of course DVDs
really looking forward to (and yet not looking forward to) the BSG Finale tonight
Next week, a new BSG comic book will be released!!!
check and check coupon code available for more
-- Posted by: Poiserochelle at December 26, 2011 3:33 AM
There's a lot of information being thrown at us and I thought the writers handled it better than expected. What I didn't expect was to like Ellen so much - Kate Vernon is really showing us a different side of this character.
I find it interesting that Anders word spew is similar to that of the hybrids - could he become one? Especially now that Galactica will be getting the biomechanical resin from the basestar...
-- Posted by: Vix at February 19, 2009 11:46 PM