Galactica 2.13: 'Epiphanies' about life

Another week, another hour of high-intrigue, pressurized space drama on Battlestar Galactica. This week’s episode was one of the most blatantly political yet, mixing and matching plotlines that seemed to allude to the war on terror and violent activism as well as abortion and stem cell research. Again, I don’t see the show as explicitly conservative or liberal, but simply as accurate and dramatically interesting—it’s unwilling to simply show one side as all bad and the other as all good.

The key to the episode is life, and the value of life in any form: human or cylon (ie: yours or your enemy's). Inherent in the issue is a slew of competing, even contradictory ideas, all of which suggest some sort of sacrifice is necessary to preserve the largest amount of life.

The show gives us its first contradiction in its nutty protestors. They’re violent pacifists—extremists who think that political violence will bring peace. It gives us the officers and leaders of the Galactica, all of whom care deeply about President Roslin's life, but it contrasts that desire with their willingness to kill Sharon’s half-Cylon baby. And then, to further muddle things, it reminds us that the children of our enemies, much as we might want to kill them (and might even be totally justified in doing so), may also be the key to our future and our survival—their blood will literally save us.

The cause of life, the show seems to be suggesting, is hardly as simplistic and one-sided as so many on each side want to make it: everyone, in the end, is willing to trade some sort of death for their desired ends. There's always a trade off, always a sacrifice, and nearly everyone, no matter how bonkers they are (and the show, thankfully, makes no bones about the peaceniks being totally bonkers), really has good intentions at heart—they're all convinced that their sacrifice is one that's most necessary to save the most lives in the long run.

I’ve also heard complaints that Roslin’s willingness to engage in dialog with the terror pacifists is somehow liberal and softy. But as far as the negotiations go, I think her stance was essentially reasonable. Again, the issue is the value of life, and in Roslin's fleet, life is extremely precious. Sure, the U.S. is not going to negotiate with Al-Qaeda, period, but I think that most of us would support some sort of dialog—or at least an airing of grievances, which is all Roslin promised—between the Israelis and Palestinians, provided the Palestinians totally halted all violent activity. And she made clear that any return to violence would be met with an extreme military reaction from Adama and company; it's hardly a Spielbergian equivocation.

And it’s worth pointing out that Roslin isn’t exactly in the same circumstances a contemporary leader is: the human race, in her world, is nearly extinct, meaning extra care must be made to preserve whatever is left. It’s a far more weighty decision for her to wipe out a terrorist cell or movement than it would be for any current leader—scarcity, as we all know, creates value, and on this show, humanity itself is the most precious natural resource.