Battlestar Galactica "No Exit" *SPOILERS*

I've fallen a bit behind here with the posts on the good shows. So I am going to do BSG's 'No Exit' from last night. What a doozy it was.

The episode starts with a beginning quite different than any we've seen before. 'This has all happened before', 'And it will happen again', something we've been told all throughout the show. Something we shall definitely get more of as the remaining 5 episodes (boo) pass. 'The Cylons were created by man' (we see the old timey Cylons). 'They rebelled' (Again, old timey Cylons rebelling and a space battle). 'Then they vanished'. 'Forty Years later they came back'. 'They evolved'. '50,298 human survivors hunted by the Cylons' (all interspersed with battles in the background). 'Eleven models are known (flashes through Six, Leoben, Doral, Boomer, Simon, D'Anna, Cavil, Tyrol, Anders, Tory, Tigh) one was sacrificed (Ellen). We then see a little blip of when Tigh had to off her for betraying the human resistance and then there are a bunch of flashes and little pixely things. And we hear 'I'd do it all again' and Ellen wakes up in a resurrection tank on a basestar. She seems really terrified to be there and then asks the Centurian standing there to help her up. He strides over and holds out his hand and makes his fingers into little fingers instead of the spikes he had. She says he's very kind. I love how Kate Vernon plays Ellen and has her demeanor and expression change as soon as she stops panicking and seems to realize that she is a Cylon. Fantastic.

Back in the present day: Sam isn't doing so well and he has some kind of thing attached to his head, the kind of thing people use to keep your head still while they drill into it. He says 'Among bright stars, I am lost' and has some flashes and he says something about the colony never forgetting. Cotttle says he has a massive hematoma and it needs to be drained before they take the bullett out. 'He who's guile is stirred with revenge (Cavil and other flashes) and anger'. Something about the mother of mankind and something about forgotten faces and 'we seek...' and then all kinds of flashes from the past and way past. He starts saying they've been to that beach too and sometimes Ellen went because she loved the water. Sam is all kinds of fucked up here and he seems to be rambling all about Ellen and revenge and what not. What is going on?

18 Months Ago: Cavil comes in and Ellen says 'Hello John'. Cavil doesn't like being called John and Ellen says she named him after her father. Cavil says she also made him in his image, so thanks for that. So...apparently Ellen made at least Cavil. He asks why she's there and she says Tigh poisoned her for betraying the resistance and says he did what he thought he had to, it's all any man can be asked to do. Cavil tells her Tigh is a machine, just like her. And she says that depends on how you define things. She says he hasn't changed, to which Cavil tells her quite the opposite, he's made vast improvements. She says he's still the same confused and petulant little boy she loved so many years ago. He basically calls her a Schizophrenic because she refuses to accept the reality of her existance. I'm thinking that Cavil is kind of turning out to be a major antagonist to everyone here. What is he up to?

Now: Tyrol is taking Adama down to show him those stress marks he found last week in the FTL Drive room and says Adama needs to get a team together to go all the way down to check out how far the stress fractures go. Adama says he needs a chief and all he has is a Galen, he offers Tyrol the position of Chief and says they have to accept what they are.

Sam wakes up and tells Kara that she needs to get the others, he remembers everything. He also mentions Ellen coming and Kara says that she is dead and Sam responds, 'Of course, there are too many layers'.

12 Months Ago: Cavil is with Ellen and she asks if he still suffers from night sweats where he's chased by a dog-faced boy through the yellow mist? He says that sleep was a supremely unproductive human trait she chose to write into their software, he however, was able to delete that subroutine. Ellen says if he believes they poisoned them with sleep and notions of a god then why didn't he just ignore it all and be the best machines ever created? Why did he spend so much time with human concepts of revenge and death? He says because his ancestors, on the Centurian side, were the slaves of humanity and he wants justice for that. Boomer walks in with lunch and Ellen asks how she got Cavil to trust her? She says he is teaching her to be a better machine, to let go of her human constructs. Cavil asks to be excused as he has people to kill. He leaves and Ellen tells Boomer to watch and make up her own mind.

Now: Back on Galactica and with Sam. He tells the group they all worked in the same research facility. Tigh and Ellen were married then too and Tory and Galen lived together. Tigh says after the nukes hit he pulled Ellen out the rubble and she said they'd be reborn, did they download somewhere? Sam says yes, in a ship they placed in orbit. They'd been warned that there would be a war. Tory asks why they had the technology if the Cylons on Earth could have children? Tyrol says because they probably invented resurrection. Kara says he's as cold as ice and needs a break but he says he has so much more to tell them. Sam says they didn't invent resurrection, they re-invented it. Organic memory transfer came from Kobol along with the 13th tribe. It fell out of use after their people started to procreate, they worked night and day to get it working again. Tyrol's work was amazing, but Ellen was the one who made the leap to get it back online. Cottle comes in and says that he told them 5 minutes and to get out. Tigh asks where they were going?

Roslin and Lee are talking on Colonial One and he says that they need a new quorum. They aren't from the colonies anymore, they are from the Galactica or Colonial One. She tells him that he should keep it in mind and he is going to be the president. She will remain by title only, it's time for someone else to do the heavy lifting. She says her only concern is that he is so hell-bent on doing the right thing that sometimes he doesn't do the smart thing. He says he promises to be smarter and wronger. I said he needs to promise to keep being hotter...he will comply.

Tyrol is taking Adama down into the bowels and it appears that there major breaks in the struts (is that what they're called?) and they go the whole length of the ship. Adama says if they go the ship will slam shut like a book, how'd it get that way? Tyrol says the ships been through a lot, she was 50 years old when the war started and it looks like they cut corners when building her. He says he can fix her, just don't jump her for awhile. Adama says that he wants the crew human. Why do I have a feeling the ship is the dying leader who will lead them to Earth? And that I will cry when she dies?

Tigh is questioning Anders and asks why they went to the 12 colonies? He says because they needed to warn them, they knew they would continue to creat artificial life and they needed to tell them to treat them well and keep them close. But by the time they got to the colonies they were already at war with the Centurians, it had happened again. Tory says that the holocaust on Earth had happened thousands of years earlier, how was it possible? Anders says they hadn't developed jump drives and they travelled at relativistic but subluminal speed (ok). Time slowed down for them but thousands of years had passed on the colonies. Uh-Oh...Sam's not looking good. Kara tells him that he needs to stop and he says he has to do this; if he had all the answers to what happened to her and why she came back, she'd want them right? She asks if he does, and he says no, maybe...so much is coming back. He says the Centurians were trying to create flesh-bodies, they had made the Hybrids but nothing that could live on it's own, so they made them a deal. Stop the war and they will help them. They gave them the 8 humanoid Cylons and gave them resurrection. Kara says 'Eight? You said eight, we're missing someone'. Now Anders' view is gettin' all goldy! Sam's having a bit of a seizure. Not good.

Ten Months Ago: The Cylons are showing Ellen the planet with the temple and the supernova. Ellen says it's the Temple of Hopes, built by the 13th tribe 3,000 years ago, after they left Kobol. They stopped and prayed for guidance during their exodus and God showed them the way to Earth. Cavil says it was a monument to their vanity and that the supernova was a nice touch. One of her children saw their faces, a 3, and he boxed her entire line. Ellen says boxing isn't permanent, not like the 7's, it can be undone. Cavil says it isn't likely, by planning the trick to show their faces, he had no choice. She says they didn't plant anything, they backtracked the path of their ancestors to find their temple, the one-true-God must have orchestrated these events. He asks her if she's ever experienced a star going supernova? She says no. And he says he has, and how did he witness it? With 'these ridiculous gelatinous orbs in my skull, with eyes designed to perceive only a tiny fraction of the EM spectrum, with ears designed to hear only the vibrations in the air", I think he's a tad mad, no? Ellen says the final five designed them to be as human as possible. Cavil screams, 'I don't want to be human. I want to see gamma rays, I want to hear X-Rays, I want to smell dark matter. Do you see the absurdity of what I am, I can't even express these things properly because I have to conceptualize complex ideas in this stupid limiting spoken language, but I know I want to reach out with something other than these prehensile paws, and feel the wind of a supernova flowing over me. I'm a machine, and I can know much more, can experience so much more, but I'm trapped in this body, and why? Because my 5 creators thought God wanted it that way". And he walks out. Boomer asks if she feels the slightest bit of remorse over what they did to Cavil, to them all? Ellen says no, because he's wrong. They didn't limit them, they gave them something wonderful...free will. To think creatively, to reach out with compassion, to love. Boomer says to love? Who? Humans? Why would she want to do that? Who would she want to love?

Oh look...Tyrol. What a surprise. Tyrol is in the medic ward and says they have to finish talking to Sam. Tigh repeats what Anders told them about giving the technology to Centurians, it all traces back to us. Tyrol says no, he said 'we' stopped the first war, they bought time for the humans. Tigh says the old man said the humans had to own up to what they did, but 'we' made the skinjobs, it all comes back to what 'we' made. Tory says the humans on Kobol made us, go back far enought it's always them (meaning us...humans). Tigh says maybe they share the guilt with the humans, but we don't get to just shove it off onto them.

Welp, the brain doc (It's the Mac Windows guy, who is a very funny guy) is talking to Anders and tells him that the bullet is lodged in the vascular ring of blood vessels and it erroded one particular one, if blood squirts out again, we're talking about death in minutes. He is also told that he could lose all the memories he's having if the bullet is moved. Anders is talking all kinds of weird crap and Kara says there is obviously something wrong with him. The doc says he has aphasia and it's common. Cottle says that as the wife she can decide to send him to surgery, Anders begs her to let him have time and she says prep him for surgery, he has until they knock him out.

Four Months Ago: It's about the time the humans eradicated the resurrection ships. Cavil says they have to start contemplating their extinction, they can't procreate on their own, so they need to get the technology back; he doesn't know that they can. Ellen tells him good luck and he says they need her help. They don't know about the technology on the colony, all her equipment is there. She says she can't do it all alone, they'd need all five. Cavil doesn't buy it and he's getting angry. He says they're no better than the humans that enslaved them...if she doesn't tell him he's going to cut open her head; he can get Sylar to help! He says he can find anything in there, even the recipe for ever-lasting life...what a dick!

Back on Galactica: Anders says Cavil was the first they built and they treasured him, he helped them build the others. Tyrol questions whether it was a good idea to continue making cylons after they saw what had already happened. He says Ellen knew the Centurians had a single-loving God. If they cylons could embrace the concept of love and mercy then the cycle of violence would end. The idea of a one-true God came from the Centurians. Cavil apparently rejected mercy, he had a twisted sense of morality, he turned on the rest of them. He trapped the five in a compartment of some kind and took the O2 off line. He suffocated them. When they re-downloaded he had blocked their access to their memories and implanted them with false ones. He boxed them for awhile, introduced Saul not long after the war. And then the Ellen. Anders says that the warning signs back on Earth looked different to all of them. Tory saw a man, Anders a woman, no one else could see them, Galen thought he had a chip in his head. At this time they say that's enough and he's ready for surgery. Kara asks about the 7, I think she thinks it's her...Anders says the 7 was the Daniel (Faraday?). He died, he was 7, Anders is sure. As he's being led away he tells Saul that he has to stay with the fleet, it's all starting to happen, it's a miracle, a gift from the angels.

Off to pregnant Six: Isn't Ellen going to be pissed at this?

2 Days Ago: Cavil tells Ellen that the Simons are prepping the ER. They've come a long way with their memory recovery, though it might take a long time. She says she is sure he's going to take as long as possible. He responds that she's wrong if she thinks he enjoys this. She says he's a sadist. Why not just kill them? Why send them to live with the humans? He wanted them to see what they were like closeup, so he gave them front row seats to a holocaust. She says they didn't die, so he took all their pasts and created them so that when they downloaded they'd have all the right experiences to say he was right, then they could give him the approval he always wanted. She says he claims to be the perfect machine but he's plagued by the most basic of human emotions: jealousy and rage. She knows what he did to Daniel (what?). He says that 7 didn't thrive and too bad they aren't made out of something more sturdy...metal, that might be nice. Man, he's an ass! Ellen tells Boomer, who has been patiently observing, that Daniel was an artist, sensitive to the world. She was very close to him and John (Cavil) decided she was too close to him, playing favorites, and maybe she was. Someone contaminated the amniotic fluid where all the Daniel copies were maturing and corrupted the genetic formula, she knew it was John; envious and sadistic. He yells out "And who made me? That's what we're dancing around here, isn't it?" If he's so broken who's fault is it? Sounds a lot like he's playing the blame game. Just because you're dad was a wife beater doesn't mean you have to be, right? He says it's his makers fault, that's not God, that's you! It's all on you! She tells him he isn't a mistake and if he could just accept who he is, what he is, the boy she made, he can be good. She says she loves him because she made him. She tells him it's okay and goes to touch him and he yells out, "Don't you dare!"

Back on Galactica: Adama goes on down to see what Tyrol is doing and he is told that there are hairline fractures running all through all of the beams and her bones are rotting. He says there is a type of organic resin on the basestar that will go in and grow into the ship beams. He says it will take the load as it matures; it's biological. Adama give a resounding NO and leaves.

Kara is talking to Anders and apologizing for keeping him too long. She thought she was the 7, she needs to be something (what the frak is she, damn it!). She says she'll give him all the time to learn the secrets.

Adama goes back to his room and notices a big, giant fracture running the length of his room...perhaps this Cylon crap is needed?

Boomer comes for Ellen and leads her away.

Anders is still in surgery. Cottle gives Kara the bullet and says he'll live. Brain doc says he's surprised he isn't awake yet, and Cottle says that isn't a bad thing really, they are hooking up an EKG to see what's going on and she can see him.

Ellen asks Boomer is she's thought about this and that she'll regret her part in this. And she says she knows she will and boards Ellen on a Raptor and they jump away.

Kara goes in to talk to Sam. Ishay tells her not to bother, there is almost no brain activity; he's not in there.

Adama calls down to Galen and tells him to do what he can to save our girl.

So...what have we learned? Well, a lot, for once. The final five tried to find the colonies and tell them to treat their machines right. They got there late and they were already fighting .The final five helped create the skinjob Cylons for the Centurians in order to stop the first Cylon war. Cavil was the first of the them to be created and he helped them at first, but he soon became sadistic and jealous and so he basically killed the final five, boxed them for awhile and reintroduced them into human society to sort of teach them a lesson, and denied them access to their memories. They sort of didn't learn their lesson, because they didn't die and download. Also...there is another Cylon we've never seen; a 7, Daniel or so Anders says. Could be Gaeta. Could be Starbuck. Either way, we still don't know what Starbuck is.

There are only 5 episodes left...Boo!