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. :)
( It's not a flaw to question our purpose, is it? )
( It's not a flaw to question our purpose, is it? )
Like I said in my journal, I just really want to see *another* Leoben. It would fill me with so much more confidence in his model if just *one* of them wouldn't try to cop a feel off Kara every two minutes. (I'm not even staunchly opposed to Kara/Leoben -- I know, don't hit me -- but it worries me that he hasn't changed a bit in three years.)
From what we’ve seen so far, I just don’t think it likely that either race would just 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.)
Yes. And I think they've addressed this before on the show -- oddly enough, it's the Cylons who resist this idea the most, they seem to have some crazy theory that the humans' great-grandchildren will come callin' one day. The humans would likely be happier with this conclusion -- but that's *now* and it's because they're at a disadvantage and can't expect to win a fight. We've seen from the whole forty-years thing that neither side could ever really leave the other one alone.
To me, the biggest issue is that the show has been working so hard to *blur the line* between human and Cylon, a separate-paths ending wouldn't quite fit. Not just because of the obvious Hybrid babies and mixing of the races that has *already happened*, but what can we make of Tigh (SAUL MF TIGH, for God's sake!), Tyrol, Anders, and even Tory (scary as she is, I don't think it's because she's a robot) being revealed as Cylons? Four characters we saw as completely human for years, plus they've done nothing but act like humans since finding out. It's given us *even more Cylons* who are torn between both worlds and would most likely side with the humans, if sides were being picked.
Meanwhile, there is Baltar (and arguably the people he's converting?) who has actively considered how fantastic it would be if he could just build a pillow-fort inside the baseship and belong there. So, when the two races split up and never talk again, where do you draw the line? Where do Tigh and Athena and Gaius and Helo and the babies go? Some degree of coexistence, even a small one, WILL be necessary. When I talk about being on Team Cylon, what I secretly mean is that I don't want to pick a team.
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