Battlestar Wiki - User contributions [en]

Sometimes a Great Notion

2009-01-18T19:16:20Z

M77Vida:

#REDIRECT[[]]{{Episode Data
| image=Sometimes A Great Notion Promo 026.JPG
| title= Sometimes a Great Notion
| season= 4
| episode=11
| forumthread=2307
| extra='''Season 4.5 Premiere'''
| guests=
| writer=[[David Weddle]]<br/>[[Bradley Thompson]] <ref>Mentioned by Ron Moore in the [[Podcast:Revelation|podcast]] for "[[Revelations]]".</ref>
| story=
| director= [[Michael Nankin]] <ref name="brad">{{oldlink|title=Battlestar Wiki:Official Communiques|oldid=149966|text=Confirmed}} by [[Bradley Thompson]]</ref>
| production=413
| rating=
| US airdate=January 16, 2009 <ref>http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=2&id=61270</ref>
| CAN airdate=January 16, 2009 <ref>http://www.spacecast.com/bsg/</ref>
| UK airdate=January 20, 2009 <ref>TV guide in ScifiNow Magazine and Sky Magazine.</ref>
| dvd=
| population=
| prev=[[The Face of the Enemy]]
| next=[[A Disquiet Follows My Soul]]
}}

== Overview ==
[[Kara Thrace]] learns that the dire predictions of the Cylon [[Hybrid]] might be correct, and a devastating discovery plunges the [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]] into chaos and despair.''<ref>Episode description was unintentionally accessible on scifi.com until recently. Descriptions were noted on other websites before being removed, and editor confirmed them several days ago before removal from SciFi.com. </ref>

== Summary ==

===Act 1===
* The episode skips a teaser, beginning with the "Twelve Cylons" opener and the cast credits appearing as scenes of the devastated [[Earth (RDM)|Earth]] appear.
* The leaders and central staff of both [[The Fleet (RDM)|the Fleet]] and the rebel [[Basestar (RDM)|baseship]] wander about aimlessly on the surface of a planet whose surface has been utterly destroyed in a nuclear conflagration for some time. [[Saul Tigh]] stands on a desolate beach, staring out at the ruins of buildings, their mangled shortened skeletons jutting up from the lands ahead in jagged spires. [[Gaius Baltar]] and [[Samuel Anders]] stand about the ruins in confusion, as does [[Anastasia Dualla]], who stoops at the water's edge to mournfully examine it.
* [[Lee Adama]] grimaces as he looks about the dead landscape as [[Laura Roslin]] picks up a short rounded prickly plant, the only visible life found on the world.
* [[Helo]] reports to Admiral [[William Adama|Adama]]: Other scouts report in from around the planet. The destruction is the same all over. No signs of human life and no responses to any hails. [[D'Anna Biers]] confirms her rebel [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] confirm the same result.
* [[Kara Thrace]] stands on the surface holding her Viper's Colonial emergency locator beacon, with a [[Leoben]], trying to home in on the signal only it can read, the signal that lead them to this world. The signal of the transmitting beacon is fading from a low battery. Leoben believes it must have been transmitting for a long time.
* Baltar has a team confirming that the radiation from the holocaust has embedded itself in the plant life and water chain. Helo gives a more detailed version of Baltar's findings: the planet was nuked over 2,000 years prior.
* Roslin quips, "It's perfect. We traded one nuked civilization for another." Adama orders his [[Raptor]] to leave.
* Dualla is near a breakdown as their Raptor returns to ''[[Galactica]]''.
* The [[hangar deck]] is filled with people, anxious for any news on the new world. But Roslin, typically someone who can manage to say anything in the darkest times, can only mutter to Adama, "Get me out of here." Lee Adama tries to placate the crowd's confusion and questions, shouting that the news will be revealed in due time.

===Act 2===

* Kara Thrace and Leoben continue to narrow in on the Colonial signal when she finds the beacon: a standard issue ''Colonial'' device used for all aircraft, part of their [[Avionics|inertial navigation system]].
* Leoben finds some wreckage and reads off the number on its charred skin: "8757-NC." Kara immediately becomes agitated. "The number on my [[Viper Mark II|(Viper)]] is 8757-NC," she says--the Viper that she flew back to the Fleet after she was [[Maelstrom|apparently killed]].

* On ''Galactica'', the Agathon family plays together happily as Dualla comes over to babysit little [[Hera Agathon]]. While Dualla says to the Agathons that she "looks forward" to spending time with the child, she later tells young Agathon as her parents leave, " You have no idea what's happened, do you? Today's just another day."

* On the planet, amidst some human skeletons dug up, [[Caprica-Six]] and others find something very unexpected: the remains of a head of what is obviously a type of Cylon Centurion, similar to the old [[Cylon Centurion Model 0005|original model]] from the [[First Cylon War]], but clearly not the same.

* Aboard ''Galactica'' in Baltar's lab, Caprica-Six confirms that other Centurion helmets were found with about 250 skeletons from four sites around the planet as well. A [[Number Eight]] confirms that, while the Centurion design is similar, they have never seen this design before.
* Roslin notes that, apparently, the [[Thirteenth Tribe (RDM)|Thirteenth Tribe]] created their own Cylons (paralleling what occurred in the [[Twelve Colonies of Kobol]]). Lee Adama completes her sentence: Like on the Colonies, these Cylons also rebelled against their masters.
*Baltar notes that they dug deeper to test the skeletons themselves. The astonishing fact, confirmed by his Caprica-Six, is that the every one of the skeletons themselves are also [[Humanoid Cylons|a form of humanoid Cylons]]. ''The Thirteenth Tribe were Cylons''.
* After the meeting, Lee Adama asks Roslin what she will say to the [[Quorum of Twelve (RDM)|Quorum]]. But a visibly disheartened Roslin has nothing to say at all. Admiral Adama tells his son to "carry the ball" for Roslin.
*As the admiral and Roslin leave, Tigh asks to speak to his friend, but the scene is unclear if Adama stops to listen.

*Back on the planet, [[Galen Tyrol]] is attracted to a fragment of wall. As he gets closer, he hears echoes of ghosts saying things like "Fresh fruit, get your fresh fruit!" He sees a human silhouette on the wall, looking as if it were painted there. Surrounding the silhouette is weathered writing, barely readable. Tyrol touches the silhouette--and is thrown into a vision of the world as it once was, and Tyrol as he once was, wearing glasses and a sportcoat as he passes through a bustling marketplace of open carts of fruit and flowers and other goods. He stops to buy an avacado himself then continues walking. A massively bright flash of light appears as Tyrol shields his eyes--
* Tyrol falls back to the dead planet, stumbling back, falling to the ground.

* Elsewhere, Kara Thrace questions that, if her Viper is scattered about this planet, then who flew it here, and how did she herself get back to ''Galactica''. Leoben cautions her, telling her she may not like what she finds. Thrace is perturbed by his words as Leoben has been, typically, very optimistic in his words to her in the past. She questions if the news would be more disturbing to her, or to Leoben himself.

* In the [[ready room]], Lee Adama stands in thought as Dualla appears, asking him why he hasn't boarded a readied Raptor for his Quorum briefing on ''[[Colonial One]]''. Adama laments the many pilots that had once sat here, many of them lost forever over a dead dream. He doesn't want their sacrifice to be meaningless.
* Dualla tells him that his expression reminds her of what he looked like when his father said that he would [[Exodus, Part I|execute the New Caprica rescue with ''Galactica'' alone.]] When he wonders what to say to the Quorum, Dualla tells him to tell the truth. "If anyone can give them a reason to go on, it's you. Apollo." As he leaves, hesitant, he asks her to meet him for a drink later. She accepts.

* Kara Thrace finds a large piece of wreckage, overturned. She and Leoben turn it over. It's a Viper cockpit, the burnt remains of its pilot still helmeted, still inside. Cautiously, she lifts the head to find it had blonde hair...''her'' hair. Thrace retches.
* As tears well up, she reaches inside the [[flight suit]] of the body to pull out the [[dog tags]]. In clear letters, the tags read "K. THRACE." A ring, her wedding band, is also attached to the chain. Leoben steps back in fear as Thrace asks for an explanation. "I--I don't have one," he says. She recalls what the [[Hybrid]] said, that she would be the "harbinger of death." She yells to the Leoben as he walks away, unable to answer her question, "If that's me sitting there, then what am I?!"

===Act 3===
* [[Samuel Anders]] finds the remains of a stringed instrument, probably a guitar. He holds the neck piece, placing his fingers on it as if to play as he recalls a song: [[The Music|"So let us not talk falsely now, 'cause the hour is getting late."]]. He drops the neck and runs to find Tyrol, sitting placidly by the wall and the vision. They both share their visions, both realizing they lived there, in that area, once. Anders recalls that he played that song for a woman he loved. They are joined by [[Tory Foster]], who also recalls that he played that song for [[Final Five|all of us]].
* "That was me," Tyrol says, pointing to the flash-silhouette on the wall, the ashen remains of his body that were bonded to the wall with the force of thousands of degrees.
* Anders angrily questions the paradox. Why they were all still alive? How did they come to the Colonies, to believe they were human? "Two thousand years is a long time to forget!" he says.

* In Admiral Adama's quarters, Laura Roslin sits on the floor. She has set fire to one of the pages of the [[Sacred Scrolls]], specifically, the Pythian Prophecy, turning successive pages to burn each into ash, one by one.
* Adama arrives to ask Roslin to help figure out a way to shore up the Fleet's quickly sagging morale. She is passive. He tells her that she'd missed her [[doloxan]] treatment. Roslin "didn't feel like it," she says, refusing to reschedule. "You just gonna...lie down and quit?" Adama asks. She laments that he took her advice to leave their Colonial solar system, of all the men and women who had died for what appears to be a fruitless series of visions.

* In the twilight, Kara Thrace creates a funeral pyre, burning the corpse of herself found in the wreckage, sitting alone as the flames consume it.

* Lee Adama and Dualla come back from her date as he humorously (and drunkenly) recalls his report to the Quorum. "We are no longer enslaved to the ramblings of Pythia, no longer pecking at the bread crumbs of the Thirteenth Tribe...We are now free to go where we want to go, be who we want to be." Dualla smiles back warmly as they kiss. But Dualla holds him back from more than the kiss, enters her quarters and locks the door. Inside, [[Felix Gaeta]] watches her as she hums. "You're glowing," he says coldly. Dualla chides him. "I want to hold on to this feeling for as long as I can." She looks at a childhood picture of herself in her opened locker, taking off her dog tags. "She has no idea what she has ahead of her," she says of her younger self. Gaeta leaves as Dualla stops humming, calmly places her wedding ring on the locker hook.
* Without any hesitation at all, Dualla pulls out a sidearm from her locker, places it against her temple, and fires.
* [[Diana Seelix]] arrives inside first, with Gaeta not far behind. Both are aghast at the sight of Dualla's body, blood pooling around her hands. They call for medics repeatedly in fear and distress as the scene ends.

===Act 4===

* Lee Adama stands by the shrouded body of Anastasia Dualla in the ship's morgue as his father enters. "She kissed me goodnight 45 minutes ago, and there was joy in her eyes. So tell me why would she do this?" Lee asks. The admiral's stony face melts into a drunken expression. "I don't frakkin' know," he slurs out, taking out a bottle of alcohol to offer to Lee, who refuses it. Anger rising in his face, Lee leaves, passing by Gaeta outside without a word.
* Inside, Admiral Adama looks under the shroud momentarily, covers Dualla's body, as he cries, holding her head, asking to himself, "What did you do?" He kisses the body, saying, "I let you down. I let everybody down."

* Adama comes out into a corridor, demands a sidearm from one of the [[marines]] standing there. Adama storms down a corridor as other stand or sit expressionless. Two men are fist-fighting, crossing Adama's path. He ignores them as he heads to Saul Tigh's quarters.
* "Sit down, Cylon," Adama says angrily after pulling out Tigh's sidearm, arms it and drops it on a table. Adama pours both of them a drink, but Tigh slowly pushes it away.
* Tigh tries to apologize about his revelation of being a Cylon, but Adama is beyond angry. "Is that how it worked? They program you to be my friend? Emulate all the qualities I respect. Tell me jokes...and I laugh at them."
* Tigh counters that he wanted, chose to be his friend. Adama throws insult after insult about [[Ellen Tigh]], angering Tigh to pick up the sidearm to shoot his friend. "Do it! Or I'll do it myself!" Adama says, pointing his own sidearm to his temple.

===Act 5===

* Tigh's gun is pointed at Adama's forehead, but he hesitates pulling the trigger. Adama goads him, "Go on," but Tigh realizes, returning Adama's insult as he rips out the gun's magazine and safes the weapon. "I'm sorry, Bill, but this is the one time I can't help you." Adama drops his gun and reaches for a bottle, but Tigh tries to stop him.
* Adama drinks from a glass anyway as he speaks of his uncle as a kid in the summers spent there, of foxes that would attack his henhouses, of the dog hunts that chased down the foxes at night, forming into a team, forcing the fox toward the river. Half of the foxes would fight, the others would try to cross the river. But some of them would turn with the current, swimming away into the sea. "Because they wanted to drown," Tigh adds. "Maybe. Or maybe they were just...tired."
* Tigh, uncharacteristically, becomes the one that gives Adama a dressing-down, telling him that he can't be like the foxes lost to the sea, reminding him that he is the commander and Tigh is still the XO of the ship, that killing himself would not help himself, or the ship.

* On ''Colonial One'', Lee Adama slowly wipes away a numeral "1" from the [[Survivor count|survivor count]] board as Kara Thrace arrives. Kara tells him that she lost the signal. Lee tells her the news about Dualla. Both can only wonder why Dualla did what she did.

* Adama passes by more passive crewman and some graffiti: "Frak Earth", sprayed on the wall as he heads to [[CIC]]. Ordering [[Hoshi]] to Dualla's old communications station, he orders Gaeta to find any nearby stars compatible with habitable planets, and for Hoshi to invite the rebel Cylons to their next destination. Adama addresses the Fleet, telling them that, while Earth is no longer a choice, he will find them a new home. "This is a promise I intend to keep."

* Saul Tigh greets D'Anna Biers as others evacuate back to the Fleet. D'Anna doesn't want to leave, deciding to stay behind, believing that the cycle of life will keep going on as dreadfully as before. "...and it beats the hell out of being out there with [[Cavil]]. Gonna die in the cold and the dark when Cavil catches up with us." Tigh tries to give encouragement, but D'Anna asks if he ever wanted to just give up, reminding him of Adama's story of the penned-in foxes.
* Tigh later appears to be walking into the sea. Chest-deep in water and continuing down, he has a vision...of destruction in a building, a wall of apartment mailboxes behind him. He hears Ellen, finds her trapped under debris he cannot move. As his real body pulls debris out of the water, Tigh tries to clear the rubble around Ellen. She tells him, as more bombs go off, flashing bright, "Saul, it's okay. Everything's in place. We'll be reborn...again. Together."
* The vision fades as Tigh realizes the truth. "Ellen...Ellen! You're the [[Final Five|fifth!]]"

== Notes ==

* [[Katee Sackhoff]] noted that this episode could have served as the series finale had the [[WGA strike]] gone longer.<ref name="roadrunner">{{cite_web|url=http://roadrunnerdm.livejournal.com/84288.html|title=Roadrunner - Newsdump from Burbank convention|date=19 November 2007|accessdate=20 November 2007|last=|first=|format=|language=}}</ref> However, the strike ended with sufficient time for production to resume; the previous episode was aired as the mid-season finale, with this episode airing in the first quarter of 2009.
* The scenes were among the last shot and were shot during the crew's shut down party due to the [[WGA strike|2008 Writers Strike]], so Sackhoff was unable to attend.<ref name="roadrunner"/>
*The title of the episode comes from the blues song "[[w:Goodnight, Irene|Goodnight, Irene]]", in which the singer contemplates suicide: "Sometimes I get a great notion / to jump in the river and drown." ''Sometimes A Great Notion'' is also the title of a [[w:Sometimes a Great Notion (novel)|novel]] by Ken Kesey and a [[w:Sometimes a Great Notion (film)|film adaptation]] of the same name.
*The last Cylon is finally revealed in a vision Colonel Tigh has of the past: its Ellen Tigh, his wife.

== Analysis ==
*The Cylons have testing methods of their own which can distinguish between human and Cylon remains.
*The Thirteenth Tribe Cylons were apparently all unique models and included children, based on the child's playthings found by Dualla.
*Saul Tigh also had the first name "Saul" in his past life.

== Questions ==
*What was the source of the nuclear attacks on Earth?
*Was Ellen Tigh able to resurrect after her death in "[[Exodus, Part II]]"?
*Was Ellen Tigh aware of her Cylon identity?
*Was Ellen Tigh the one who Number Three apologized to in her vision?
*What is Kara Thrace?
*Is the corpse found in the field the "real" Kara Thrace? If so, how and when did her Viper get to Earth? And how did so much of her Viper and body remain relatively intact after seemingly being completely disintegrated in the gas giant?
*Why does Thrace keep the dog tags and wedding ring found on the body?
*Will Thrace or Conoy tell anyone about their discovery? How will others respond to this information?
*How will the other Cylons respond to the discovery of the identities of the Final Five?
*How did the Final Five come to be living in the Twelve Colonies 2000 years after their deaths on Earth, without their memories and unaware of being Cylons?
*Did Thirteenth Tribe Cylons have any influence on the development of the Significant Seven 2000 years later, or was it mere parallel evolution?
*How did the Significant Seven come to be aware of the existence, though not the identities, of the Final Five?
*Are there other survivors of the Thirteenth Tribe besides the Final Five?
*Does the presence of children among the Thirteenth Tribe indicate that they reproduced among themselves?
*If the Thirteenth Tribe reproduced biologically, did the Final Five have Cylon parents, grandparents, etc. on Earth?
*Did Baltar's Cylon detector successfully identify Ellen Tigh in "[[Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]"? If so, why did Baltar withhold that information from Number Three during their search for the Final Five?
*With Number Three staying on Earth, who will take over as the leader of the rebel Cylon faction?

== Official Statements ==
*Ronald D. Moore had confirmed that Dualla is dead and that Ellen Tigh is in fact the Final Cylon.

== Noteworthy Dialogue ==

Saul Tigh: Ellen- You're the Fifth!

Kara Thrace: What am I?!

== Guest Stars ==

* [[Lucy Lawless]] as [[Number Three (Downloaded copy)|D'Anna Biers]]
* [[Callum Keith Rennie]] as [[Number Two]] / [[Leoben Conoy]]
* [[Rekha Sharma]] as [[Tory Foster]]
* [[Kate Vernon]] as [[Ellen Tigh]]
* [[Brad Dryborough]] as Lieutenant [[Louis Hoshi]]
* [[Alexandra Thomas]] as [[Hera Agathon|Hera]]
* [[Don Thompson]] as Specialist [[Anthony Figurski]]
* [[Sonja Bennett]] as Specialist [[Marcie Brasko]]
* [[Jennifer Halley]] as Ensign [[Diana Seelix]]

== References ==
<div style="font-size:85%"><references/></div>

{{Episode list (RDM season 4)}}

[[Category:Episodes directed by Michael Nankin]]
[[Category:Episodes written by Bradley Thompson]]
[[Category:Episodes written by David Weddle]]

Humanoid Cylon speculation

2008-06-14T09:18:50Z

M77Vida:

{{plausible speculation}}
The [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons']] transformation into twelve distinct [[Humanoid Cylon|humanoid forms]] introduces serious problems for the remnant of humanity known as the [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]] to identify Cylon operative from human. At the beginning of their journey it seemed that anyone could be a humanoid Cylon, causing doubt and suspicion within the human populace (as evidenced in "[[Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]").

In the real world speculation about who could be a Cylon infiltrator in the Fleet has also been rife among fans of the show. Over the course of the miniseries and the first two seasons viewers were introduced to the "[[Significant Seven]]", however the natures of each of these characters were all revealed shortly after the characters' introductions.

In season three the nature of speculation for both the characters and the fans turned to the [[Final Five]], enigmatic, almost-mystical figures who seemed to have a [[The Temple of Five|link]] to ancient Colonial history. The nature of the five, according to [[Ron D. Moore|Moore]], is "fundamentally different" from the other seven models<ref>{{cite_rdm_podcast|episode=Frak Party Q and A|act=|id=ffdifferent|timestamp=19:05|totalrunning=78:27}}</ref>.

At the conclusion of "[[Crossroads, Part II]]" four recurring characters are revealed to be Cylons. The revelation that long standing characters such as Colonel [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] and Chief [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] were Cylons blew the field wide open, if they could be "[[toaster]]s," then ''anyone'' could be the last Cylon. In particular, Tigh has a long and well-documented character history dating back to the first [[Cylon War]].

This article details [[Battlestar Wiki:Citation Jihad#Derived content|plausible speculation]] on which of the central and supporting characters in ''[[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|Battlestar Galactica]]'' could be the final one.

==Clues from Official Sources==
During a Q&A session on the official Sci Fi channel Battlestar Galactica forum Ronald D. Moore notes that he already knows who the last Cylon is, and that he's already left clues as to who it is<ref>[http://forums.scifi.com/index.php?showtopic=2270103&st=0&p=3041263&#entry3041263 20 Answers - SCI FI FORUMS] Retrieved 03-27-2007</ref>.

[[Bradley Thompson]] was asked when the writers knew the identity of the final five:
:"Four of the five were recent. If memory serves, the fifth (which may change) we've been kicking around since about the end of Season One."<ref>[[Battlestar Wiki:Official Communiques/Archive8#Identity of the Final Five|BW:OC#Identity of the Final Five]]</ref>

==General factors for consideration==
In terms of narrative, to prevent an anti-climax it seems likely that the final Cylon would probably need to be a more prominent character than those of the Four. This centers the spotlight in the central "human" characters ([[Roslin]], [[William Adama|William]] and [[Lee Adama]], [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]] and [[Kara Thrace|Starbuck]]). However, there is still an entire season for characters to develop and gain significance with viewers.

With the Final Five being "fundamentally different" from the Seven, extrapolating any characteristics we learned of Cylons from the Seven (including physiology, loyalty or self-awareness) is of questionable validity.

Colonel Tigh has a well documented history stretching back at least to the first Cylon War. Also considering the [[Temple of Five]] it seems Final Five Cylons somehow significantly pre-date the Seven.

It has been seen that Cylons can start families, however it is unclear how the Five came to exist. Having known natural parents would ''seem'' to preclude one being any more than half-Cylon.

Of the 11 so far there have been only four female models (and [[Number Three|one]] has been [[boxed]]). The final Cylon being female would serve to equalize this gender bias.

The [[first Hybrid]] gives a monologue about his knowledge of the Final Five in the extended version of "[[Razor]]". It states that "...the fifth is still is in shadow, drawn toward the light, hungering for redemption, that will only come in the howl of terrible suffering."

With the exception of [[Karl Agathon]] and [[Cally Tyrol]], who are confirmed to have half-Cylon, half-human children<ref>{{cite_rdm_podcast|episode=Frak Party Q and A|act=|id=hybridnick|timestamp=22:41|totalrunning=78:27}}</ref>, any "human" character could be a Cylon.

==Main Characters==

===[[Laura Roslin]]===
[[Image:Laura_Roslin_promo.jpg|right|90px]]
The colonies' president has been unquestionably a boon to humanity's search for earth, indeed the two times she has been removed from office have been the two greatest setbacks in the journey.

Roslin has also experienced prophetic dreams and visions (those induced by [[chamalla]], and a dream she shared with the Cylons [[Caprica Six]] and [[Sharon Agathon]]). She fits very well the profile of the [[Sacred Scrolls|scroll's]] dying leader, the scrolls also having links to other more mystical elements of the series, including the [[Temple of Five]].

However her dying nature, from an aggressive form of breast cancer is also the biggest cause to doubt Roslin being a Cylon. It is unknown whether the Final Five can succumb to cancer, but Cylons seem to be generally tougher than humans. Baltar's cure in "[[Epiphanies]]" was probably designed based on the assumption that Roslin's physiology is human.

===[[William Adama]]===
[[Image:William_Adama_promo.jpg|right|90px]]
If William Adama were revealed to be a Cylon, it would be one of the biggest shocks the series could produce. Overall Adama appears to epitomize a very human set of strengths and weaknesses. Nevertheless, he does experience hallucinations in the fifth [[Razor Flashback]], although he sees and hears people in his environment instead of seeing himself in a different one. The experience could also be explained by stress or other factors, however.

The Adama family is well documented. His father, [[Joseph Adama]], was known to [[Romo Lampkin]]. The proposed spin-off ''[[Caprica (series)|Caprica]]'', will feature the history of the Adama family, including a young William. This may be difficult to square with any revelation about William Adama being a Cylon.

{{spoiltext|A robotic duplicate of William Adama's sibling [[Tamara Adama]] is one of the first Cylons ([[Caprica|Caprica (series)]]). It is not implausible that William Adama could be a similar construct, although the forms of the Cylon prototypes are unknown and unlikely to be humanoid}}
William Adama experiences guilt for actions he believe may have triggered the war ([[Hero]]). This could be the "hungering for redemption" that the [[First Hybrid]] talks about (see above).

===[[Lee Adama]]===
[[Image:Lee_Adama_promo.jpg|right|90px]]
Could Lee's chronic angst be partly due to guilt at his Cylon nature? Was the [[Leoben]] who said "Adama's a Cylon" ([[Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]) referring to Lee? (note: the writers hadn't decided on the identity of the final Cylon at that point). He might project in "[[Resurrection Ship, Part II]]", although this is more likely an oxygen deprivation induced hallucination.

In his defense, Lee is also a member of the well-documented Adama family. A "switched at birth" scenario could explain this.

Lee is characterised by near chronic angst for various reasons. Could he be the one "hungering for redemption"?

Lee is told that he is "a son trying to flee his father's shadow" by [[Romo Lampkin]]. This conceivably could link with the description of the final Cylon as "still in shadow, drawn toward the light."

===[[Gaius Baltar]]===
[[Image:Gaius_Baltar_promo.jpg|right|90px]]
{{mainarticle|Baltar as Cylon speculation}}
Baltar's vast intelligence, weak character and lack of loyalty to anyone but himself have made him ultimately humanity's (unwitting) betrayer. Baltar himself longs to be a Cylon as this would absolve himself, however comes to the conclusion that he is human after all. Baltar certainly has a lot to be guilty about, but whether he has enough of a conscience to be truly "hungering for redemption" is questionable.

There are good reasons to suspect Baltar. He exhibits vast intelligence that may be superhuman in nature. His [[Virtual Six]], her precognitive abilities, and the apparently projected environments they often co-experience are suspicious, as well as the fact that both Virtual Six and later the [[Hybrid]] tell him that he is "chosen".

In [[Caprica Six]]'s final vision in "[[Crossroads, Part II]]" she sees the hooded figures of the final five staring at her from the upper level. Baltar is standing next to her in the vision as well.

===[[Kara Thrace]]===
[[Image:Kara_Thrace.jpg|right|90px]]
{{seealso|The Destiny}}
Kara Thrace's path towards her destiny has involved many strange, perhaps supernatural events. Whether this destiny involves her being a Cylon is a matter of speculation (indeed members of the [[Significant Seven]], who do not know who the final five are, tell Starbuck she has this destiny), but it is certain Thrace is ''something'' special.

Certainly Thrace exhibits phenomenal natural skill as a pilot, and manages to learn to fly a [[Cylon Raider (RDM)|Raider]] exceptionally quickly ([[You Can't Go Home Again]]). From childhood, Thrace has been drawing the mandala from the [[Temple of Five]]. However she was also physically abused as a child and still carries the scars; Cylons seem to be more robust than humans and possibly may not carry such long-term injuries. The same may be said of the knee injury which put a stop to Thrace's [[Pyramid (RDM)|Pyramid]] playing ambitions.

Most strikingly, the ace pilot apparently dies in "[[Maelstrom]]" but returns ([[Resurrection (RDM)|resurrected]]?) in "[[Crossroads, Part II]]". Furthermore, not being on ''Galactica'' at the time, Thrace is the only major "human" character who has a reason for not reacting to the [[The Music|music]] which, to the "four", reverberates around the ship. However the final Cylon may, for some reason, not have heard it, or may have ignored it.

[[Katee Sackhoff]] was apparently told she is not a Cylon<ref>[http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/8547/redeye3copyci7.jpg See this magazine cutting.]</ref>.

{{spoilli|According to [http://roadrunnerdm.livejournal.com/84288.html this source] as of [[Sometimes a Great Notion|Season 4, episode 11]] Kara Thrace believes herself to be a Cylon, whilst Katee Sackhoff believes otherwise.}}

===None of the above?===

The January 2008 edition of [[w:Entertainment Weekly|Entertainment Weekly]] showcases a two-page photo of the cast for [[Season Four]] posed in a manner similar to Leonardo DaVinci's ''[[w:The Last Supper (Leonardo)|The Last Supper]]'' with an explanation of each character's pose/position provided by Ron Moore. Near the far left of the table a space is left vacant and a cup sits on the table marking the absent character's intended place. Moore tells EW that "We have not yet revealed the final [unknown] Cylon." and when asked if there was a possibility that the final Cylon was indeed ''not'' seated at the table Moore notes "You ferreted that out pretty slyly. I didn't really want to give that away."<ref>{{cite_news|first=|last=|url=http://community.livejournal.com/battlestar_blog/814818.html#cutid1|title=What does this picture mean? Try to crack the 'BSG' code.|publisher=Entertainment Weekly|page=40, 41|date=January 11, 2008|accessdate=English|language=}}</ref> William Adama, Laura Roslin, Lee Adama, Gaius Baltar, and Kara Thrace are all present in the picture, as are [[Final Five]] Cylons Saul Tigh, Galen Tyrol, and Samuel Anders.

However, the importance of this photo is seriously put to question given [[Aaron Douglas]]' comments on the photo. According to the actor, he was unsure that Moore had anything to do with the photo, given that Moore was not present for the shoot. Additionally, the photo shoot had at least six different setups and the actors had changed places during the photo shoot, thus contending that there is no hidden meaning for the photo.<ref>{{cite_web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/aarondouglas/55289.html|title=The Chief's Deck: BSG Last Supper Photo|date=8 January 2008|accessdate=9 January 2009|last=|first=|format=|language=}}</ref>

==Others==

===[[Tom Zarek]]===

[[Image:Zarek.jpg|right|90px]]
Based upon the mutterings of the Hybrid in "Razor", as well as Ron Moore's claim that he has already left clues to the final Cylon, one could assume Tom Zarek is the last Cylon to be found.

Tom Zarek likes to move from second-line positions, is not big on being in charge but always craving to be noticed and understood, is constantly trying to make people understand why he did the things he spent time in jail for, and has the "cleanest" past (no known relatives, etc.). His criminal background and political ambitions fit with someone "hungering for redemption."

===[[Virtual beings]]===

The virtual beings (possibly including the [[virtual Leoben]]) may actually be a single entity, the final Cylon being more spiritual than corporal. Virtual Six claims to be an angel from the Cylon God, which could be roughly correlated with the "the five priests devoted to the one whose name cannot be spoken" from [[Pythia]]. The overall actions of these beings seem to be neither pro-Cylon or pro-human, which fits with the Final five being a third party in the dynamic of the battle.

None of the other final five have shown similar characteristics to this, and there is no particular reason to suggest the final Cylon is greatly different from his or her four "siblings". When Number Three sees her vision of the final five in the [[Opera House]] (a vision repeated for other characters, thus not simply in her mind) they are five humanoid figures in white robes, at least one of which is known to her.

===More Esoteric ideas===

*The last Cylon is on [[Earth (RDM)|Earth]] or the entire population of Earth are copies of the final Cylon.
**In [[Faith]] the Hybrid does say that the Final Five have been from Earth.
*The final Cylon is dead.
**The final Cylon model existed in antiquity and interbred with humans. As such fragments of its DNA are extant in the human populace as a whole, and to a small extent ''everyone'' is the final Cylon.
*[[God (RDM)|God]], or some other divine entity.
*A single, somehow distinct, copy of a known Cylon.
*A character to be featured in ''[[Caprica (series)|Caprica]]'' such as [[Zoe Graystone]] or [[Tamara Adama]].
*The final Cylon is not yet born: it is the child of Tigh and Caprica Six. This would be in line with what the First hybrid said: "...the fifth is still is in shadow, drawn toward the light, hungering for redemption, that will only come in the howl of terrible suffering." It is still lingering in the womb, waiting to be born. The howl of terrible suffering refers to the Six giving birth. This is also in line with the statement that the fifth Cylon is not present within the fleet.

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:A to Z]]
[[Category:Cylons]]
[[Category:Cylons (RDM)]]
[[Category:RDM]]