Cylons vs. Humans, end of line? Or, "Hope for Toasters"
Here's a long essay about Cylon and human relations on BSG and the potential endgame of season 4. Spoilers through "Faith." For Nicole, my Toasterloving pal. :)
Cavil: The decision wasn’t easy but, the conclusion was inevitable. Your model is fundamentally flawed.
D’Anna: No. It’s not a flaw to question our purpose, is it? To wonder who programmed us the way we think, and why?
Cavil: Well that’s the problem, right there. The messianic conviction that you’re on a special mission to enlighten us. Look at the damage it’s caused.
D’Anna: I would do it all again.
Cavil: Yes, we know. That’s why we’ve decided to box your entire line. Your consciousness, memory, every thought your model ever had is going into cold storage. Indefinitely.
D’Anna: One must die to know the truth. There are five other Cylons, Brother. I saw them. One day you’re going to see them too. One day.
Cavil: Goodbye.
So, in regards to Kara and Earth and her Big Special Destiny, Santa Ron made all my wishes in this post come true. And I was very excited. Unfortunately, some of my closest friends are very worried by the very things that are making me feel hopeful. So I thought I'd outline some of my thoughts about why I’m excited about the potential of a Cylon-human alliance.
1. I feel the show has been building toward this for forever.
I’ve been thinking about the possibility of Cylons and humans coming together ever since HeadSix said Hera was “the shape of things to come.” I’m sure this will turn out to be quite complex and that there will be a LOT more bloodshed and infighting before this comes to pass, but I’ve always thought it was on the horizon. Beyond that, I think there have long been signs that the Cylons can advance beyond their origins and need not be humanity’s sworn enemy forever. The groundwork for Cylons’ potential for growth and change has been laid out by Sharon “Athena” Agathon’s arc in particular, as well as by Caprica’s journey to self-knowledge and guilt and repentence; and we’ve gotten more and more glimpses of the Cylon POV as the series has progressed, so getting to see more development from the Cylon side seems only natural.
Throughout last season, we saw increasing signs of individuality and Cylon-on-Cylon violence among the collective; civil war and the widespread open questioning of the plan are a natural culmination of that trend. Now separate from the ‘enforcer’ models and with greater contact with humanity thrust upon them by necessity, there is a new opportunity here for all of the more independent models to continue to grow and change. By fighting their programming and questioning the plan, they’ve taken the necessary first step. If this pattern didn’t continue, I wouldn’t just be disappointed-at this point, I’d be surprised.
This season marks the inclusion of a storyline entirely from the Cylons’ POV into the main narrative, not just glimpses of Three or peeks at the baseship seen during Baltar’s journey there. This is a big step that is clearly difficult for some viewers to stomach; but I urge anyone skeptical or disappointed by this to give it a chance. The human characters aren’t going to go away, though we are going to see more scenes with human and Cylon characters together. I know one of my favorite (presumably human) characters, Lee, hasn’t had any screen time for the last two episodes; I really, REALLY feel your pain, but I’m sure he will be back for others. I’m very calm about this, because of reassuring things said by RDM and Jamie; even if it doesn’t translate into a huge amount of screentime, Lee’s role will be significant. I’m ready to see how all of these elements come together in the larger story. (I also think there’s a good reason why Lee and Kara are separate now; I’m guessing they will be in leadership roles of the two sides that need to come together.)
2. The alliance wants to find the Five and Earth, so this storyline will probably contain answers to some burning questions I’ve always had about the origins and programming of the Cylons.
I’ve ALWAYS been consumed with curiosity about the Cylons’ origins and development, even the very structure of their society. Although at first they seem to possess the same amount of free will as humanity, it evenutally becomes clear there are limits on Cylon autonomy - and this is something that I think is absolutely crucial to understand their story.
Some questions I think will finally be addressed (and they’d better be, or I will go insane!):
*why the Cylons are forbidden to think and do certain things
*why those who feel emotion for humans and/or question the plan (“corrupted by their experiences”) are immediately threated with boxing
*where they got this programming from and why
We’ve waited long enough for answers. With this Cylon storyline, I feel like I’m finally going to get them.
3. The Cylons are a young race that still needs to grow and develop. I want to see more of them realize their potential and follow in the footsteps of Caprica and wake up and realize what they’ve done.
This show would have been far less interesting to me if I thought it was about the noble, heroic humans fighting the one-dimensional killer robots. The Cylons’ portayal always seemed more complex than that, even from the miniseries. By the end of the mini, I was already full of questions about why or how the Cylons had made the transition from machine to organic beings, as well as being wildly curious about their capacity for experiencing emotions such as compassion and remorse (Caprica Six already seemed different from the other Sixes). Then I found that one of heroes I had rooted for all along was one of them, too. I had never doubted Boomer’s capacity to think and feel, love and grieve; I had already accepted her personhood. And she didn’t even know what she truly was, or how little control she had over her own fate; it had all the elements of a Greek tragedy. She was the first of many Cylon characters who drew me in and made me want to see more.
I understand this feeling is not universal. But I would like to point out that from the get-go this show has never been about just humans. It’s also not too late to become interested in their stories; and they are a part of human history also.
The way forward
I see the Cylons as a young race in the process of evolving and maturing. To complicate this further, their programming has to some extent been determining and limiting their actions. They are not supposed to challenge or resist it. Although quite arrogant about the rightness of their Plan to wipe out the violent and sinful humans at the inception of the series, the Cylons themselves don’t seem to know the origins of it beyond the fact that “God” wants them to carry it out (with the possible exception of Cavil, who seems to be the enforcer model). When they carried out the genocide of the colonies, they were in their infancy. Over time, we have seen more and more rebel, question, and resist their programming, often as a result from their contact with humanity. The groupthink is fracturing; this is the period of their adolescence.
I don’t feel the show is asking us to give a pass to all of the Cylons’ actions based on the fact that we’ve come to know a few of them are “good guys.” There are still a hell of a lot of them out there that scare the living daylights out of me (and I’m sure they’re supposed to). I don’t think anyone on the show is more sinister than Cavil, Doral seems to be a sadist, and every time I see him, I still want to kick Leoben in the balls. Repeatedly. Hard. (Yeah, sorry Leo fangirls, he really needs to wake up and atone for imprisoning Kara and trying to force her to love him. That fucked her up hardcore, and you can’t tell me all that “kiss me and come to my bed” pressure was helping her come to terms with her past. He’s going to have to get a conscience.) But I think the narrative of BSG has shown us repeatedly that the Cylons are living, sentient beings in their own right, not just evil machines--just not yet at the same level of development as humans (though humanity itself still has a long way to go). They also need to gain knowledge of their origins and programming to fully attain assurance of their own free will.
It’s not going to be easy
The show has also laid out that there is a lot of understanding and maturation that still needs to come. The way forward is going to be a hard road to travel. Take the New Caprica occupation. The Cylons as a whole did advance a baby step, at first, because they came around to the idea that the destruction of the Colonies was a mistake (because Caprica and Boomer point out, if killing is a sin, killing humans is wrong too). But even then Cylons still showed themselves to be very limited in their comprehension of their actions as a collective-almost childlike in their impulses. They decided to come to NC to ensure the future harmony between the races, and simply could not grasp why the humans would not want to live with them and welcome their ‘friendly assistance’ with open arms (and clearly they did not even consider that humanity had a right to make that choice for themselves). As the PTSD-Six in “Faith” says right before her death, bewildered to the last: “We tried to help these people.” Because they tried to impose coexistence before reaching reconciliation, enforcing ‘harmony’ without equality, New Caprica only saw a new wave of atrocities.
It’s going to be incredibly difficult. But I don’t think it’s impossible. I think the potential for growth and change has already been proven, especially in the Sixes and Eights. Caprica and Athena should not be written off as mere anomalies; rather, there are more signs that they are on the leading edge. The other Eights look to Athena as a leader; they admire and want to emulate her. The breakaway Cylons also seem to hold the Five in veneration, which could also prompt them to accept that protecting instead of attacking the remnants of humanity is a good thing.
4. Other possible endings would be less satisfying to me.
Here are some alternative endgames I would find less attractive and why.
I. Humans wipe out Cylons at last.
First, I think the idea that peace could be gained by the annihilation of the Cylons is unworkable. There's no way they're going to beat them in a war. They can barely survive as it is.
Beyond that, though, peace achieved by wiping out the enemy would fail on so many levels of storytelling for me -- and I think it would fail to answer Adama's declaration in the miniseries, "You cannot play God then wash your hands of the things that you've created. Sooner or later, the day comes when you can't hide from the things that you've done anymore." The Cylons are the humans' legacy -- they wanted intelligent slaves to fight their wars for them, but they didn't consider the full ramifications of creating sentient machines. Humans have a responsibility in this story too. They need to deal with their legacy, instead of saying (like the old Lee) “they were made, not born.”
I can’t sum it up better than nicole_anell, though, so I’ll borrow her words here: “Some people can't imagine a happy ending without wiping out most of the Cylons, while I think destroying a flawed-and-searching race is just about the saddest, most ironic ending you could ask for.”
I agree.
II. Humans escape to Earth...and just hope the Cylons never find them again.
That wouldn’t feel like a real resolution because there’s no place they can go that the Cylons can’t eventually find too. Unless there’s a magic anti-Cylon forcefield around Earth (and, erm, I don’t think the show is going to get THAT mystical), it could always turn into another New Caprica. With this option, too, humanity would be continuing to try to "wash their hands of the things that they've created."
III. Humans and Cylons make peace, but go their separate ways
This is what daybreak777 wants, and to be honest I’d never even considered it before this point. From what we’ve seen so far, I just don’t think it likely that either race would simply let the other alone for good; maybe in this generation, but what of the ones to come? There would always be the legacy of atrocity and conflict between them. To me the story wouldn’t feel complete. (And the Thirteenth tribe has links to the Five anyway, so I don’t think full separation is even an option at this point.)
IV. Humans and Cylons wipe each other out.
Okay, look, I’m a tragedy addict, and I can actually picture that happening...but really, someone or something has got to survive, to reset the cycle. I think a lot of death is ahead, but it just wouldn’t feel satisfying to me if everything the characters I love have struggled for ends in nothing.
Also, because I believe BSG is an Epic with shades of Tragedy, I still think it's possible that they might try to coexist with some of them only to end up getting slaughtered by the Cylons who won’t. ☺ And then, as DB would say, Kara will have to totally ice all those bitches in return. (Even without all this Harbinger of Death business-that wasn’t what I asked for, Santa Ron-I think the message of the splattered shiny Viper in the first episode was pretty clear: this is the season of death! There will be blood!)
Anyhow, as a tragedy person speaking...I should point out that in classical tragedies, even if many characters die, some community always survives. There is always someone who lives on to tell the tale.
Instead of mutually assured destruction, I’d much rather see the humans and Cylons start the long, difficult process of dealing with each other -- to see them all get it together well enough to come to terms with coexistence, for a start, and then greater healing and reconciliation can happen in subsequent generations. (Personally, I’ve always had high hopes for Baby Moses-Hera.)
So, while I said that I thought the endgame will be peace, I didn’t mean that it would be easy, swiftly achieved, or simplistic. Unification will be difficult, but even that won’t even necessarily guarantee a happy ending.
I repeat, I don’t think that even a Humanocylon alliance would turn the whole thing into Happy Fun Time Galactica. This is BSG, people. Even if the ending involves peace, it’s not going to be all hearts and flowers and Kumbaya. Whatever the ending is, I’m damn sure it’s going to make me cry. And I’m going to be there for it.
___
Okay, so I clearly had a lot of things to talk about! I realize this is a touchy subject for a lot of people, too, and I welcome a lot more discussion about this. Unfortunately, due to my schedule, I'm going to have to ask for some comments-amnesty while I deal with that. It might take me a while to reply, but I will get there eventually. Thanks for listening!
Cavil: The decision wasn’t easy but, the conclusion was inevitable. Your model is fundamentally flawed.
D’Anna: No. It’s not a flaw to question our purpose, is it? To wonder who programmed us the way we think, and why?
Cavil: Well that’s the problem, right there. The messianic conviction that you’re on a special mission to enlighten us. Look at the damage it’s caused.
D’Anna: I would do it all again.
Cavil: Yes, we know. That’s why we’ve decided to box your entire line. Your consciousness, memory, every thought your model ever had is going into cold storage. Indefinitely.
D’Anna: One must die to know the truth. There are five other Cylons, Brother. I saw them. One day you’re going to see them too. One day.
Cavil: Goodbye.
So, in regards to Kara and Earth and her Big Special Destiny, Santa Ron made all my wishes in this post come true. And I was very excited. Unfortunately, some of my closest friends are very worried by the very things that are making me feel hopeful. So I thought I'd outline some of my thoughts about why I’m excited about the potential of a Cylon-human alliance.
1. I feel the show has been building toward this for forever.
I’ve been thinking about the possibility of Cylons and humans coming together ever since HeadSix said Hera was “the shape of things to come.” I’m sure this will turn out to be quite complex and that there will be a LOT more bloodshed and infighting before this comes to pass, but I’ve always thought it was on the horizon. Beyond that, I think there have long been signs that the Cylons can advance beyond their origins and need not be humanity’s sworn enemy forever. The groundwork for Cylons’ potential for growth and change has been laid out by Sharon “Athena” Agathon’s arc in particular, as well as by Caprica’s journey to self-knowledge and guilt and repentence; and we’ve gotten more and more glimpses of the Cylon POV as the series has progressed, so getting to see more development from the Cylon side seems only natural.
Throughout last season, we saw increasing signs of individuality and Cylon-on-Cylon violence among the collective; civil war and the widespread open questioning of the plan are a natural culmination of that trend. Now separate from the ‘enforcer’ models and with greater contact with humanity thrust upon them by necessity, there is a new opportunity here for all of the more independent models to continue to grow and change. By fighting their programming and questioning the plan, they’ve taken the necessary first step. If this pattern didn’t continue, I wouldn’t just be disappointed-at this point, I’d be surprised.
This season marks the inclusion of a storyline entirely from the Cylons’ POV into the main narrative, not just glimpses of Three or peeks at the baseship seen during Baltar’s journey there. This is a big step that is clearly difficult for some viewers to stomach; but I urge anyone skeptical or disappointed by this to give it a chance. The human characters aren’t going to go away, though we are going to see more scenes with human and Cylon characters together. I know one of my favorite (presumably human) characters, Lee, hasn’t had any screen time for the last two episodes; I really, REALLY feel your pain, but I’m sure he will be back for others. I’m very calm about this, because of reassuring things said by RDM and Jamie; even if it doesn’t translate into a huge amount of screentime, Lee’s role will be significant. I’m ready to see how all of these elements come together in the larger story. (I also think there’s a good reason why Lee and Kara are separate now; I’m guessing they will be in leadership roles of the two sides that need to come together.)
2. The alliance wants to find the Five and Earth, so this storyline will probably contain answers to some burning questions I’ve always had about the origins and programming of the Cylons.
I’ve ALWAYS been consumed with curiosity about the Cylons’ origins and development, even the very structure of their society. Although at first they seem to possess the same amount of free will as humanity, it evenutally becomes clear there are limits on Cylon autonomy - and this is something that I think is absolutely crucial to understand their story.
Some questions I think will finally be addressed (and they’d better be, or I will go insane!):
*why the Cylons are forbidden to think and do certain things
*why those who feel emotion for humans and/or question the plan (“corrupted by their experiences”) are immediately threated with boxing
*where they got this programming from and why
We’ve waited long enough for answers. With this Cylon storyline, I feel like I’m finally going to get them.
3. The Cylons are a young race that still needs to grow and develop. I want to see more of them realize their potential and follow in the footsteps of Caprica and wake up and realize what they’ve done.
This show would have been far less interesting to me if I thought it was about the noble, heroic humans fighting the one-dimensional killer robots. The Cylons’ portayal always seemed more complex than that, even from the miniseries. By the end of the mini, I was already full of questions about why or how the Cylons had made the transition from machine to organic beings, as well as being wildly curious about their capacity for experiencing emotions such as compassion and remorse (Caprica Six already seemed different from the other Sixes). Then I found that one of heroes I had rooted for all along was one of them, too. I had never doubted Boomer’s capacity to think and feel, love and grieve; I had already accepted her personhood. And she didn’t even know what she truly was, or how little control she had over her own fate; it had all the elements of a Greek tragedy. She was the first of many Cylon characters who drew me in and made me want to see more.
I understand this feeling is not universal. But I would like to point out that from the get-go this show has never been about just humans. It’s also not too late to become interested in their stories; and they are a part of human history also.
The way forward
I see the Cylons as a young race in the process of evolving and maturing. To complicate this further, their programming has to some extent been determining and limiting their actions. They are not supposed to challenge or resist it. Although quite arrogant about the rightness of their Plan to wipe out the violent and sinful humans at the inception of the series, the Cylons themselves don’t seem to know the origins of it beyond the fact that “God” wants them to carry it out (with the possible exception of Cavil, who seems to be the enforcer model). When they carried out the genocide of the colonies, they were in their infancy. Over time, we have seen more and more rebel, question, and resist their programming, often as a result from their contact with humanity. The groupthink is fracturing; this is the period of their adolescence.
I don’t feel the show is asking us to give a pass to all of the Cylons’ actions based on the fact that we’ve come to know a few of them are “good guys.” There are still a hell of a lot of them out there that scare the living daylights out of me (and I’m sure they’re supposed to). I don’t think anyone on the show is more sinister than Cavil, Doral seems to be a sadist, and every time I see him, I still want to kick Leoben in the balls. Repeatedly. Hard. (Yeah, sorry Leo fangirls, he really needs to wake up and atone for imprisoning Kara and trying to force her to love him. That fucked her up hardcore, and you can’t tell me all that “kiss me and come to my bed” pressure was helping her come to terms with her past. He’s going to have to get a conscience.) But I think the narrative of BSG has shown us repeatedly that the Cylons are living, sentient beings in their own right, not just evil machines--just not yet at the same level of development as humans (though humanity itself still has a long way to go). They also need to gain knowledge of their origins and programming to fully attain assurance of their own free will.
It’s not going to be easy
The show has also laid out that there is a lot of understanding and maturation that still needs to come. The way forward is going to be a hard road to travel. Take the New Caprica occupation. The Cylons as a whole did advance a baby step, at first, because they came around to the idea that the destruction of the Colonies was a mistake (because Caprica and Boomer point out, if killing is a sin, killing humans is wrong too). But even then Cylons still showed themselves to be very limited in their comprehension of their actions as a collective-almost childlike in their impulses. They decided to come to NC to ensure the future harmony between the races, and simply could not grasp why the humans would not want to live with them and welcome their ‘friendly assistance’ with open arms (and clearly they did not even consider that humanity had a right to make that choice for themselves). As the PTSD-Six in “Faith” says right before her death, bewildered to the last: “We tried to help these people.” Because they tried to impose coexistence before reaching reconciliation, enforcing ‘harmony’ without equality, New Caprica only saw a new wave of atrocities.
It’s going to be incredibly difficult. But I don’t think it’s impossible. I think the potential for growth and change has already been proven, especially in the Sixes and Eights. Caprica and Athena should not be written off as mere anomalies; rather, there are more signs that they are on the leading edge. The other Eights look to Athena as a leader; they admire and want to emulate her. The breakaway Cylons also seem to hold the Five in veneration, which could also prompt them to accept that protecting instead of attacking the remnants of humanity is a good thing.
4. Other possible endings would be less satisfying to me.
Here are some alternative endgames I would find less attractive and why.
I. Humans wipe out Cylons at last.
First, I think the idea that peace could be gained by the annihilation of the Cylons is unworkable. There's no way they're going to beat them in a war. They can barely survive as it is.
Beyond that, though, peace achieved by wiping out the enemy would fail on so many levels of storytelling for me -- and I think it would fail to answer Adama's declaration in the miniseries, "You cannot play God then wash your hands of the things that you've created. Sooner or later, the day comes when you can't hide from the things that you've done anymore." The Cylons are the humans' legacy -- they wanted intelligent slaves to fight their wars for them, but they didn't consider the full ramifications of creating sentient machines. Humans have a responsibility in this story too. They need to deal with their legacy, instead of saying (like the old Lee) “they were made, not born.”
I can’t sum it up better than nicole_anell, though, so I’ll borrow her words here: “Some people can't imagine a happy ending without wiping out most of the Cylons, while I think destroying a flawed-and-searching race is just about the saddest, most ironic ending you could ask for.”
I agree.
II. Humans escape to Earth...and just hope the Cylons never find them again.
That wouldn’t feel like a real resolution because there’s no place they can go that the Cylons can’t eventually find too. Unless there’s a magic anti-Cylon forcefield around Earth (and, erm, I don’t think the show is going to get THAT mystical), it could always turn into another New Caprica. With this option, too, humanity would be continuing to try to "wash their hands of the things that they've created."
III. Humans and Cylons make peace, but go their separate ways
This is what daybreak777 wants, and to be honest I’d never even considered it before this point. From what we’ve seen so far, I just don’t think it likely that either race would simply let the other alone for good; maybe in this generation, but what of the ones to come? There would always be the legacy of atrocity and conflict between them. To me the story wouldn’t feel complete. (And the Thirteenth tribe has links to the Five anyway, so I don’t think full separation is even an option at this point.)
IV. Humans and Cylons wipe each other out.
Okay, look, I’m a tragedy addict, and I can actually picture that happening...but really, someone or something has got to survive, to reset the cycle. I think a lot of death is ahead, but it just wouldn’t feel satisfying to me if everything the characters I love have struggled for ends in nothing.
Also, because I believe BSG is an Epic with shades of Tragedy, I still think it's possible that they might try to coexist with some of them only to end up getting slaughtered by the Cylons who won’t. ☺ And then, as DB would say, Kara will have to totally ice all those bitches in return. (Even without all this Harbinger of Death business-that wasn’t what I asked for, Santa Ron-I think the message of the splattered shiny Viper in the first episode was pretty clear: this is the season of death! There will be blood!)
Anyhow, as a tragedy person speaking...I should point out that in classical tragedies, even if many characters die, some community always survives. There is always someone who lives on to tell the tale.
Instead of mutually assured destruction, I’d much rather see the humans and Cylons start the long, difficult process of dealing with each other -- to see them all get it together well enough to come to terms with coexistence, for a start, and then greater healing and reconciliation can happen in subsequent generations. (Personally, I’ve always had high hopes for Baby Moses-Hera.)
So, while I said that I thought the endgame will be peace, I didn’t mean that it would be easy, swiftly achieved, or simplistic. Unification will be difficult, but even that won’t even necessarily guarantee a happy ending.
I repeat, I don’t think that even a Humanocylon alliance would turn the whole thing into Happy Fun Time Galactica. This is BSG, people. Even if the ending involves peace, it’s not going to be all hearts and flowers and Kumbaya. Whatever the ending is, I’m damn sure it’s going to make me cry. And I’m going to be there for it.
___
Okay, so I clearly had a lot of things to talk about! I realize this is a touchy subject for a lot of people, too, and I welcome a lot more discussion about this. Unfortunately, due to my schedule, I'm going to have to ask for some comments-amnesty while I deal with that. It might take me a while to reply, but I will get there eventually. Thanks for listening!