I just can't side with Zerek anymore

[hansioux]

As long as he gives them that choice, shiny. Although I would point out. by switching over the fleets FTL’s they are trusting the Cylons with the fleets most powerful weapon, and the only reason mankind is still alive. Even if the offer by the Cylons are genuine; we don’t know whether there is sleeper agents in the mix. Its an awfully big leap of faith.

exactly. the only reason the fleet survived is because of their FTL drives. Sure the Vipers buys them time in tough situations to spool up the drives, but if they were counting on Viper and guns v.s. Cylon fleet to defend themselves, they’d all be dead by now.

even if the fleeet has no idea where they are headed, they can always look through the telescope and find the closest and most likely star system to jump to. And the cylon basestar can always jump ahead to let them know if they’ve found something.

Another question is, even if they do find another suitable planet, what if the Cavilry finds them?

Should them just turn back, either fight to the end or find a way to end the conflict, before they find another planet to settle? Otherwise they are really just looking for another planet to be nuked.

[Sanderlee]

Take into consideration that Colonies, Kobol, Algae Planet, and then Earth were essentially on a path, with signs as how to get from each one. But now they are off the path. They dont have any sign posts to where they are going. They are almost jumping blindly through space, hoping their telescopes will find them a habitable planet.

True. But one must assume they didn’t have a path laid out for them the first time. Unless their Gods really were playing around and interfering more back then.

[Aset]

Emily’s original idea was that they’re racist frakkers–and they are, as well as religiously biased ones–and if I had to pal up with al-Qaeda on Sept. 12, 2001 for survival’s sake I’d act just the fleet.

See, I don’t know that I can say the same. There are so many parallels to 9/11 for the initial attacks, sleeper cells, enemies among us, groups bent on complete destruction. That entire scenario back then…hell even today was/is so visceral for me. I live in the Detroit area, about 30 minutes from me is the largest arabic community outside of the middle east. As you can guess, there is a very large Muslim community within that area as well as the entire region. The FBI & the like were swarming over this area like you wouldn’t believe. Not only do we possibly have “sleeper cells” but we’re right on the Canadian border. Yet, there were very few actual incidents here. The communities in Dearborn were just as scared as the rest of us.

That is not to say there weren’t incidents, no one is perfect & we were all petrified. Many were wondering if we were sitting on top of a bomb. In the end though, I think most of us realized 9/11 was the work of extremists with the majority in those communities just wanting to go about their lives without being harassed. You can’t say the same about the cylons.

[64kCylon]

On that day I kept my then-girlfriend cool and went about unafraid. Why? bin-Laden was not under my bed and isn’t still. My next-door neighbor Muslim friends went about in groups in utter fear. I know they are not the problem, nor is any anonymous Muslim I might encounter. If I had to live next to bin-Laden, eat his food, talk with him and his, even years after 9/11, I’d not be too friendly, too put it mildly. Personal failing or not, that’s how it is.

So I see the ground crew/rebellion’s point of view. Should they rape Eights? No. Would I, living with bin-Laden, rape women in his camp? No. Would I kill him? Sure. He’s the enemy worth killing (not all enemies are worth killing) The Fleet at large is humanity at its coarsest right now. They are wrong to hate. They are right to defend against the enemy. In the show, the ‘enemy’ is more within than without, right now.

Sharon Agathon is named after the Greek playwright Agathon whose name means ‘good’ in ancient Greek. It is a clue to her character, surely, but how she behaves shows Cylons can be trusted–not all cylons are evil just as not all humans/Muslims/what-have-you are evil.

The enemy is a different matter. In the show the Cavilry (I’ve been waiting to use that word! :D) is the enemy.

The “Face of the Enemy” webisodes showed us the Cylons are just as the humans in the show are–some still fight the war.

I hold no grudge against any Muslim I may meet. Nor do I fear terrorism whatsoever. Things are never as simple as the media outlines it. The show has this kind of complexity which is what makes it great.

On a lighter note, I know Six is crafty and might being my undoing literally limb from limb, but my secondary brain would not care at all.

“Frak party” indeed!

[demolitionplayer57]

they should use the cylon techonogy and air lock tom Zerek, Gaeta and the rest of the mutneers . just because there using the cylon tech does not mean they have to like them:D

[NickB]

This epsiode exemplifies the writers’ use of what they’ve referred to as “realism” - meaning that they want to represent what would probably happen in the fleet given the circumstances. Having written themselves into a certain situation, they’ve decided not to write what they might “like” to happen, but rather what they think would happen in a society whose leaders have just made a deal with representatives of the beings who have tried so hard to exterminate them. So to a certain extent the writing is constrained by the writers’ understanding of human nature.

As someone in the audience who wants to relate to the characters in the show, this is kind of liberating. Starbuck, Adama, Roslin and the other main characters may have behaved appallingly, but now that pretty much everyone is acting like an arsehole (UK spelling!) we’re free to root for our favourite characters. In a moral vacuum you may as well support the characters you like as long as they’re no worse than anyone else. And I’m inclined to agree with Emily. The people in charge may have acted arrogantly and exceeded their authority, but this pales when compared with the naked desire for ugly retribution that we’re seeing on the “other side” (and Zarek’s willingness to just off people to take power, whatever his ultimate motivation). Like Chuck, I think we can differentiate between the justifiable dissatisfaction of those who don’t like the alliance with the Cylon(z) and the way in which this is being expressed (murder, rape, etc). But humans are human, and these expressions are probably realistic.

So, when everyone’s a screw-up, support your favourite screw-ups. This gives us a justification for relating to the core characters once more, after we’ve been alienated by their general bad behaviour - in this sense the show is back to the good old days when we liked Starbuck and Roslin and the core characters were essentially pulling together for the good of humanity despite their often radical differences in approach. Again, I agree with Emily that the passing of power to the mutineers probably wouldn’t improve the chances of the Fleet’s survival (not that I want to defend the creeping Roslin-Adama autocracy).

I also like the way in which characters that had become mutually antagonistic (e.g. Batlar and Roslin) are pushed together in this current situation. For all that Roslin and Baltar and the rest have disagreed over their dealings with the Cylon(z), now they are bound together by these same dealings, in opposition to those who see no possibility of reconciliation between human and Cylon.