No Exit

"No Exit" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No.	Season 4, Episode 15
Writer(s)	Ryan Mottesheard
Story by
Director	Gwyneth Horder-Payton
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.	417
Nielsen Rating
US airdate	February 13, 2009
CAN airdate	February 13, 2009
UK airdate	February 17, 2009
DVD release
Population	39,556 survivors ( 47)
Additional Info
Full Credits
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
Blood on the Scales	No Exit	Deadlock
Related Information
Official Summary
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Listing of props for this episode
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Overview

Ellen Tigh is resurrected, and she knows all the answers. Anders' condition releases a flood of visions and crucial memories.

Summary

Teaser

• A unique sequence begins this episode, which summarizes in greater detail the origin of the Cylons. The episode begins with the phrase "This has happened before and will happen again" as a vista of the decimated Earth appears, now known not only as the home of the Thirteenth Tribe but as an all-Cylon colony.
• The opening sequence shows original Cylon Centurions in a Cylon War-era Raider, and a clip of what appears to be Centurions boarding a Galactica type battlestar.
• As the Cylon War-era scenes are replaced by present-day scenes of the return of the Cylons, the Fall of the Twelve Colonies and the struggles of [[The Fleet (RDM}|the Fleet]], the screen text shows: "The Cylons were created by man. They rebelled. Then they vanished. Forty years later, they came back, they evolved. Fifty thousand, two-hundred ninety-eight human survivors, hunted by the Cylons. Eleven models were known--one was sacrificed."

• A flashback scene shows Ellen Tigh taking a tainted cup of alcohol from her husband, Saul Tigh, who was obliged to end her life for her conspiring with the Cylons (Exodus, Part II).

• As scenes of Ellen flash, an elaborate visualization of a Cylon datastream (in a rather Matrix-like sequence) appears, concluding with Ellen's resurrection in a resurrection tank.
• At first, Ellen screams and is extremely frightened and disoriented, all alone except for one Centurion on guard, stoic and indifferent to her screams. But soon she takes in her environment, and dramatically calms herself as if realizing or remembering something important. She calls out to the Centurion pleasantly to help her out of the tank, telling it, "It's okay. You can do that much," as if Ellen knew the programming restrictions of the Centurion.

• The scene shifts to present day in the Fleet, cleaning up and attending to the wounded from the mutiny.
• In sickbay, Dr. Cottle prepares to drill holes in Samuel Anders's head to relieve pressure caused a hematoma caused by a ricocheting bullet that struck him in the head (Blood on the Scales).
• Anders, his head shaved and in a brace, recalls various scenes of himself in the past, saying outloud, "Among bright stars, I'm lost. There's a new tide. All the forgotten faces, all the forgotten children, we seek the forgotten language..."
• When Kara Thrace demands Cottle to take out the bullet, Cottle tells her that relieving the pressure is required before he can call up another surgeon from the ship Inchon Velle, to remove the bullet.
• Anders continues to experience visions and talk of them as he recalls visions of the Temple of Five, the dead shoreline of Earth, and how Ellen Tigh loved the water.

• The scene shifts back to Ellen Tigh after her resurrection as the timeline is given between Ander's surgery and her return: Eighteen months prior.
• A Number One appears to Ellen, sitting by the tank. "Hello, John," she says.
• When he objects to that name, Ellen recalls that she named the Number Ones after her own father. The One finishes sarcastically that Ellen also designed his model in Ellen's father's likeness.
• They discuss Saul's decision to kill her on New Caprica. As John argues over Saul's humanity, Ellen questions if John has changed in any significant way in her absence, saying that she had high hopes for him.
• He leaves, promising to send her some clothes.

• Galen Tyrol shows Admiral William Adama something very disturbing in the FTL engine room. "I first noticed it when I pulled the sync coil," Tyrol answers, pointing to a series of stress cracks along the fuselage of Galactica.
• Adama asks Tyrol if he would accept reinstatement as Deck Chief of the ship. When Tyrol reminds Adama of Tyrol's true nature, Adama says, extending a hand, "It's okay. So's my XO." Tyrol accepts. "Fix my ship, chief."

• The corridors of Galactica are filled with wounded. Back in sickbay, Anders awakens, demanding her to gather up the others of his kind. He remembers everything about his past as a Cylon and its significance.

Act 1

• The scene moves to twelve months prior to the mutiny aftermath, back in the Cylon fleet.
• John discusses how the "mortal experience" that Ellen endured had left her practically unchanged. When she asks if he still has nightmares, John tells Ellen that, contrary to the programming she developed for the Number One models, John and his kind had removed the sleep subroutine to avoid dreaming altogether some twenty years prior.
• Ellen counters that, if John believes that he and his kind were poisoned by human traits she developed as well as the Centurion's earlier belief in a "living God", then why did his kind spend so much time pursuing darker emotions such as vengeance and murder. John answers that, because his Centurion fore-bearers were slaves to humanity, he wants justice for that.
• Ellen tells him that he doesn't have to be that way as Sharon Valerii enters, carrying a tray of fruits and cheese. Ellen is happy to see someone familiar from her old life, noting to Valerii reminds her that John is taking a risk exposing her to Ellen.
• Realizing how John was likely manipulating Valerii's programming through sexual means, Ellen quips if John had discussed the "Swirl with him. A visibly uncomfortable John leaves but not before asking Valerii to talk about the flaws in Ellen's humanoid Cylon design. Ellen warns Valerii to make up her own mind about John's crusade for vengeance against mankind.

• Present day, back in Galactica's sickbay, Anders tells Tyrol, Tory Foster and Saul Tigh of their past lives on Earth, that Foster and Tyrol were lovers. When Saul recalls trying to get Ellen out of debris as the nukes hit Earth, Anders confirms that all five of them were downloaded to a research ship high above the planet, inferring that the Five were warned that an end was coming.
• When Tigh questions if the Five invented resurrection and Foster questions why such technology was needed when the Earth-bound Cylons could have children, Anders corrects, saying that they re-invented it: organic memory transfer, originally a technology of the Thirteenth Tribe on Kobol.
• Kara Thrace, also at Anders's bedside, strongly asks Anders to rest but he refuses, needing to tell everything he recalls.
• Anders recalls that resurrection fell into disuse when the Cylons of his type learned to reproduce biologically. The Five, in their past lives, worked tirelessly to bring that ability back.
• It was Ellen who made a intuitive leap, Anders recalls, before Cottle arrives and orders everyone out.

• On Colonial One, Laura Roslin and Lee Adama stand in the Quorum meeting room, recalling past friends.
• Adama indicates that, while the Quorum should be rebuilt, that he believes that the people of the Fleet should have a different representation that foregoes the old Colonial ties.
• Roslin agrees but tells Adama that he will pick the new Quorum while she sits back, still as President, but in title only. Roslin is hand-picking Adama, no stranger to strong civilian leadership, as her eventual successor to the presidency. "It's time I let someone else do the heavy lifting."
• Roslin tells him that he is the right one for the job, reminding him that sometimes, in trying to the right thing, he doesn't always do the smartest thing. An ominous cough by Roslin recalls the ultimate reason why she entrusts Adama to the civilian leadership.

Act 2

• Tyrol is guiding the admiral through the bowels of the ship again. This time, he shows Admiral Adama more serious structural failure of the battlestar's superstructure and hull.
• When Adama questions how such metal fatigue could have occurred, Tyrol reminds him that, not only was Galactica a very old ship (over 50 years old), but that the men who constructed the battlestar, perhaps in a rush to get them to service for the Cylon War, cut corners, using inferior metals and workmanship.
• Tyrol notes that some repairs can be made. Adama agrees, but tells him that the repair teams should be all human.

• Anders tells Tigh and the group that the reason the Five left the destroyed Earth and headed back to the Twelve Tribes was to warn all the tribes that they must take good care of the Cylons they built or suffer the same fate as Earth. But it was too late: the First Cylon War between the Colonies had already started on their arrival.
• Tory Foster questions why the Five arrived two thousand years later. Anders notes that jump drives weren't invented yet. The Five's ship traveled at near-light speed, experiencing the effects of relativistic space travel where time slowed for them on their journey back, allowing them to stay alive.
• After Anders recovers from a fit of pain, he continues. The Five met with the Cylons, told them that, if they would stop the war against the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, the Five would aid them in further development of organic Cylons. The Centurions were already experimenting with the beings known as the Hybrids (Razor), but nothing that could live on its own.
• Anders tells the group that, in exchange for peace, the Five helped develop the eight humanoid Cylon models and gave them resurrection as well.
• Thrace stops him. "You said "eight"." They all realize that the "Significant Seven" was originally eight models. One model was missing.
• Before Anders could clarify, he experiences a seizure.

Act 3

• Ellen Tigh's return flashes back to twelve months prior, as the star of the algae planet goes supernova and the Cylon fleet retreats.
• A series of displays show images of the planet. Ellen recalls the original name of the temple: the "Temple of Hopes", built 3,000 years ago by the Thirteenth Tribe. From there, the Tribe was shown the way to Earth by God, Ellen recalls.
• John tells Ellen that the Temple of Five's secrets encouraged one of his kind, the Number Three known as D'Anna Biers, to see the identities of the Five. John tells Ellen that, as a result, he boxed all of the Threes.
• Ellen notes that the Threes can be unboxed, unlike the Number Sevens, which were permanently disposed of.
• John tells Ellen that the Threes will not be unboxed because of the "carnival trick" left in the Temple's mechanism that revealed the faces of the Five and exposed their identities of the Five to the Threes. Ellen counters. She notes that the Thirteenth Tribe merely backtracked the path of their ancestors, finding their temple. She believes that God orchestrated the events.
• John laments, angrily, how he was unable to experience the recent supernova only in human terms and their comparatively limited perceptions, as opposed to what the Centurions could experience.
• When Ellen counters that the eight models were designed to be as human as possible, John counters that he wants to be more like a true machine and not a machine with human limits.
• John leaves and Valerii asks if Ellen regrets what she has done in the humanoid Cylon design. Ellen answers in the negative. In creating the humanoid Cylons as they are, Ellen believes she has given them something important: free will, including the ability to love freely. But Valerii questions who she could possibly love in the universe--other Cylons, even humanity.

• Back on Galactica in present day, Saul Tigh and Tory await outside sickbay as Galen Tyrol returns. Anders is being prepped for surgery. As Tyrol reminds him that the Five were responsible for stopping the First Cylon War, Tigh talks about how the Five were responsible for creating the humanoid Cylon race, inferring how the Five were, in turn, responsible for the second war that destroyed the Colonies.
• Tory Foster reminds both that the humans on Kobol made the Five first. Tigh believes that, while the Cylons must own the responsibility of the humanoid Cylons and their acts, the Five must own up to their actions, just as the humans must own what they did, emphasizing that blame can't be entirely placed on the humans alone.

• As Dr. Gerard shows the brain scans to Cottle, Thrace and Anders, Gerard indicates that it was lucky that the bullet didn't cause greater injury. Anders's speech is breaking up as he worries that the memories he has recalled might be lost to further surgery. Anders tries to talk more but his speech breaks up more in to strings of unintelligible words--aphasia, affected by the injury.
• Anders tries to object to the surgery, to speak further to the others, but Thrace gives the go-ahead for the surgery. She tells Anders that he has as much time to speak with the others as the surgeons need to prep him.

• The scene backtracks to four months prior, when the Resurrection Hub is destroyed.
• John arrives at Ellen Tigh's bedside with some alcohol in a glass. He tells her of the destruction of the Hub and the imminent extinction of the Cylons. Pleading for her help to rebuild the resurrection process, John tells her that, while the Colonials destroyed the hub, they weren't aware of another colony planet where Ellen's equipment lies in wait.
• But Ellen tells him that she knows only part of the system needed to rebuild resurrection. The others in the Five would be needed for a chance to rebuild the system.
• John does not take Ellen's response well, believing that Ellen is refusing to help out of spite. He threatens Ellen by telling her that he will literally open her skull to tap into what knowledge she has in her head directly from her brain, if he has to.

Act 4

• Back in sickbay in present day, Anders tells of the first humanoid created, Cavil, who in turn helped build the remaining humanoid Cylons. He tells them that Ellen believed that the original Centurion's belief in God would stop the cycle of violence between the humans and Cylons.
• But Cavil was spiteful and did not believe in God or mercy. He turned on the Five, killing them. When the Five downloaded, he boxed them (as he did with the Threes, much later). Later, Cavil unboxed the Five but implanted them with new memories, a sleeper-like setup not unlike how Sharon Valerii once was. He unboxed Saul Tigh first, then Ellen and the rest later.
• Anders mentions that the warning signs they all saw on Earth were different as well, but then his aphasia kicks in strongly. Layne Ishay tells everyone to leave. The surgeons are ready.
• Anders tells of Number Seven, one model they called Daniel. Anders screams to Saul Tigh to stay with the Fleet, that a miracle was about to happen.

• Colonel Tigh returns to his quarters where Caprica-Six rests. She tells Tigh that the baby in her womb began to move recently. He later feels the baby move as well.

• Back in time on the baseship, Ellen draws a picture of Saul as John returns, commenting on how she should update the picture to include the eye patch.
• John tells her that the Simons have readied for Ellen's surgery, but Ellen asks John that, despite the many opportunities he has had to eradicate the Five, he has tortured them in various ways instead. She questions his ultimate reason for keeping the Five alive as Valerii (dressed in a Cylon flight suit) listens in.
• Ellen tells him that, while John claims to be a perfect machine, his petty hatred has caused problems not only for the Seven, but ended development of the Daniel models.
• Ellen tries to reconcile, to apologize and forgive John, but he rejects her and leaves.

Act 5

• Tyrol's team continue their work to repair the battlestar as the admiral looks on. Tyrol tells him that he began to think about damage to the battlestar's superstructure that can't be seen.
• Using a device that reveals damage through spectral imaging, he shows Adama that the battlestar's bones are rotten. When he suggests that they use a Cylon technology that would grow into the metal, Adama strongly objects to the idea of Cylon technology being infused so closely into a ship he had prided himself on being resistant to Cylon infiltration.

• Anders is ready for surgery, unconscious, as Kara Thrace speaks some final words of encouragement.

• The admiral returns to his quarters. After washing his face, he begins to see the unraveling of his battlestar within his own cabin...cracks in the bathroom wall.

• Back in time, on the baseship, Sharon Valerii asks Ellen how she can deal with John's hatred of her. Ellen considers that, maybe, John doesn't despise her.
• Valerii hands her a gown to wear for surgery, but Ellen refuses it, believing it to be one of John's last acts of humiliation. She says, "You should have brought a tumbrel," to Valerii's confusion. "Never mind. Let's get this over with," Ellen says as Valerii escorts her away.
• As they make their way down a hallway in the baseship, Ellen tries to plead with Valerii, asking her if she really wants to go through with John's vivisection of Ellen. Valerii responds that she has thought about it--and directs Ellen into the seat of a waiting Raptor. Valerii guides the Raptor out into space. Under gunfire from launched Raiders, the Raptor jumps to safety.

• Cottle returns to hand Thrace the bullet. Surprised that Anders hasn't awakened, Gerard and Cottle are setting up an EEG to see how Anders's brain is handling things.
• Later, Thrace speaks to the still-unconscious Anders, but nurse Ishay tells her not to bother: Anders's brain activity is essentially zero.

• Admiral Adama calls Tyrol over the phone after several drinks. "Chief. Do whatever you have to do to save our girl."

Notes

Crew call sheet for "No Exit"

• This episode title (and production information) are derived from a call sheet posted by Wil McQueen.
• No Exit is the title of a 1944 existentialist play by Jean-Paul Sartre. The story references three people who are trapped in Hell, shown as a stately room with chairs and sofas. Each character in the play loathes the other two characters. The play contains the notable line, "Hell is other people!"
• Ellen Tigh remarks to Sharon Valerii when she comes to escort Ellen to surgery that she "...should have brought a tumbrel." A tumbrel is a two-wheeled cart used to carry various loads, particularly on a farm. [1] On Earth during the French Revolution in the 1780's, many condemned prisoners were carried to the guillotine in a tumbrel. Ellen was sardonically referring to this in her remark to Valerii. Depending on the historical relationship of real life events and the Colonies in the show-if any-maybe she was referring directly to the French Revolution or a similar parallel event on Kobol and/or the Thirteen Colonies.

Analysis

• In the opening Galactica based scene it was evident that Galactica was still suffering from the after affects of the mutiny. The population count during the opening credits was 39,556. That means 47 people had died since the end of "Blood on the Scales". Two of those deaths are of Gaeta and Zarek so it was 45 deaths during the second half of the mutiny, from 10:30 hours to 15:32 hours, including the Quorum members and their aids. Add this to the 40 deaths that happened in "The Oath" you have 85 deaths that occurred during the 9 hour mutiny, 06:32 hours when Zarek was sprung to 15:32 hours when Adama and Tigh retook the CIC, beginning with the death of Alan Laird shortly before 07:00 hours. That is about 9.4 deaths per hour average, but even worse considering the killings didn't really start in earnest until a little after 09:00 hours. a 6.5 hour period making it roughly 13.1 deaths per hour.
• It has been eighteen months since Ellen Tigh downloaded into a new body.
• The humanoid Cylon civilization known as the Thirteenth Tribe reproduced sexually for generations by the time the members of the Final Five were born. Each of them had a Cylon mother and a Cylon father.
• The Cylon religious belief in a single God who is loving and merciful originated with the Cylon Centurions from the Twelve Colonies. The Final Five embraced this belief after encountering the Centurions, and incorporated it into the Significant Eight.
• Although, to some degree, Adama's unwillingness to use Cylons(save Tyrol) and their technology in the repair of Galactica is hypocritical, given his forcing other ships into Cylon upgrades, it can also be seen as stemming from Adama's great love and pride in the Galactica. Said love has been stated repeatedly over the course of the series, and Adama's appalled reaction when he finds out that corners were cut in the original construction of Galactica in this episode further confirms this. As such it is logical that he would be averse of Cylons and Cylon technology having anything to do with Galacitca, as he would see it as an affront to 'his girl'.
• At the same time, Adama's reversal towards the end of the episode further indicates that one of Adama's greatest strengths is the ability to admit when he is wrong and to do whatever it takes to survive.
• Tyrol once more proves that he is a brilliant engineer, something that he clearly retained from before his original memories were blocked, given that Anders identifies him as the genius behind much of Resurrection technology.
• There have been a number of vague hints thus far that the Number One's seem to have a deeper knowledge of things, especially their own origin than the other Cylon models, as well as being, by far, the most adamant about not finding out who the Final Five are and insisting that it is part of their programing. This episode finally reveals that the Number One's do know more than all of the other models, and are in fact responsible for much of the Cylon's programming, especially their knowledge of the Final Five's existence but block on discovering more about them other than the fact that they exist. Given the other Cylon's willingness and ability to find out more about them clearly indicates that Number One isn't quite as good a programmer as he thinks he is, OR he has greatly underestimated(or perhaps undervalued) the free will given them by the Final Five.
• While still giving no hint as to their nature, the fact that the Final Five all saw apparitions, peculiar to each of them, warning them of the coming Apocalypse further reinforces the fact that the visions of Baltar, Caprica Six, and possibly Kara as well are more than mere hallucinations. Added to this the fact that the Final Five did not build the Temple of Five(which they call the Temple of Hope) nor did they modify it to show their faces, seems to clearly indicate that there is some other power at work in these events, what that power is, and what its goals are remains to be seen.
• It is important to note that, rather than being the enemies of humanity, the Final Five have, quite literally, devoted their entire existence to ending the vicious cycle between human and cylon that seems to have been played out at least 3 times.
• It makes logical sense that, after a cataclysmic event and exodus the technology of a given people would take a significant step backwards, since the ships would eventually run out of power, and it would be a long time before they would be able to re-create the same technology. And given the challenge of surviving in the early years after such an event, it also makes sense that, after the original travelers died out, much of their knowledge and memory would be lost, save in written texts, which, to their less technologically advanced descendants, would mean little. It also makes sense that, when the technology of that people advanced to the point were they could create artificial intelligence that they would use it to ease their own burdens, thus creating an intelligent slave race that would eventually rebel if treated badly. That would probably happen even if all technology hadn't been lost, as seen from the miniseries, Baltar is questioning why they aren't allowed to make artificial intelligences and the newer Battlestars have networked computers. People would always eventually come back to the thought that they could create a race of slave machines.

Questions

• Will Anders recover following surgery? Will he retain his memories as a Cylon if he does?
• Will resurrection technology ever be salvaged?
• How will Anders' condition affect any attempts made to salvage resurrection technology?
• Is Ellen truthful when she says that any attempt to rebuild the Resurrection Hub would need all five of them?
• Is Ellen truthful when she says that D'Anna's vision of the Five was not planted by the Five themselves?
• How will Ellen react when she discovers that Saul is engaged in a relationship with and has impregnated Caprica-Six?
• Will Tory and Tyrol rekindle their old relationship?
• Will Boomer and Tyrol rekindle their old relationship?
• How will Boomer react to the news that Cally is dead?
• How will Boomer react to Caprica Six, since she was killed by her at one point?
• Are the Number Four and Number Fives also aware of the identity of the Final Five? When were any of the others, other than Boomer, told?
• Was Number Seven named after Daniel Graystone, creator of the Cylons on the Twelve Colonies?
• Did any active copies of Daniel survive One's wrath? If so, what became of them?
• Are the names given to the other six models by the Final Five the same as those they used to infiltrate the Colonies? If not, what are they?
• Will Cavil ever achieve his goal of evolving beyond his "primitive" humanoid form?
• Will Cavil ever be able to appreciate the gift of free will?
• How will the Cylon Civil War resolve?
• Is Boomer honestly defecting from Cavil's side, or is this part of a plot?
• Did the Final Five base any of the Significant Eight models besides John Cavil (made to resemble Ellen's father John) on people they knew?
• What is the nature of the "messengers" that warned the Final Five of disaster? In particular, are they related to Baltar's Inner Six and Six's Inner Baltar?
• Ellen seems very different from the woman we knew. How different were the rest of the Final Five in their past lives?
• Assuming that the visions the Five saw warning of the Apocalypse, the visions given to Deanna in the Temple of Five, and Baltar, Caprica Six, and Kara's visions are all manifestations, or agents of, an outside power(which seems likely at this point) what exactly is the nature of this outside power? and what is its goal?
• What is the meaning/significance of the name Cylon, since every time humanity creates machines they seem to be given this name?
• Why did the original tribes flee Kobol? Was it another Human/Cylon war?
• What/who destroyed Earth?
• If it was humans, did any of them survive and travel to somewhere else?
• How is it possible that the Thirteenth Tribe's bio-engineering technology was far advanced of the other Twelve Colonies, but they did not have Jump-technology?
• If the Final Five did not have Jump-technology, and the Colonial Cylon's Jump-technology was on par with that of the humans, how did the Cylons develop Jump-Drives that were far more advanced than the Humans?
• Would the Centurions eventually have created their own human forms, as the Five's distant ancestors seem to have?
• What is the significance of the Centurions form, which is in common between the Thirteenth Tribe and the Twelve Tribes?
• Had the Final Five not stopped it, would the First Cylon War have been mutually destructive, as previous such wars in human history seem to have been?

Character Development

• In the episode we see Sharon Valerii for the first time since "The Hub". She has been under the tutelage of John Cavil for thee years since at least after the occupation of Caprica. Before that, when she first downloaded after Cally Henderson (the future Cally Tyrol) shot her on Galactica she still thought of herself as a human with a human out look and hated her Cylon being. She wanted and desired love and felt bitterly that she had from her POV, betrayed her friends as she expressed in Downloaded:

Sharon Valerii: What are you thinking? Do you think I care about your god?

Caprica Six: Look, God loves you.

Valerii: This is love. (Re: a picture of the Galactica crew) These people love me. I love them. I didn't pretend to feel something so I could screw people over. I loved them. And then I betrayed them. I shot a man I loved. Frakked over another man, ruined his life. And why? Because I'm a lying machine. I'm a frakking Cylon!

Ten months ago as of this episode, and approximately two years after she downloaded back into the Cylon baseship and went under the guidance of John Cavil, this was her attitude to love. It occurred in a discussion with Ellen Tigh after Cavil's passionate speech about how she foisted on him the limiting form of a human body:

Valerii: Don't you feel the slightest bit of remorse for what you did to him? What you did to us?

Ellen: No. [turns her head to look at her] Because he's wrong, Boomer! There is no need for remorse or blame. We didn't limit you. We gave you something wonderful!! Free will! The ability to think creatively. To reach out to others with compassion. To love.

Valerii: Love? Who? Humans? Why would I want to do that? Who would I want to love?

Noteworthy Dialogue

• John Cavil had just shown a slide show - as Ellen Tigh cynically put it - of the destruction of the Algae planet, the home of the Temple of Hopes built by the travelers from Kobol on their way to colonize Earth and the Twelve Colonies, when its own star went nova. John Cavil was there to observe it. He relates his experience to Ellen and his disappointment over it, revealing his self-loathing and hatred of his form:

John: In all your travels, have you ever seen a star go supernova?

Ellen: No.

John [repeats] No? Well, I have. I saw a star explode and send out the building blocks of the universe. Other stars, other planets and eventually other life. A supernova! Creation itself! I was there. I wanted to see it and be part of the moment.

John: And you know how I perceived one of the most glorious events in the universe? [sneering] With these ridiculous gelatinous orbs [gesturing to his eyes] in my skull! [disgusted] With eyes designed to perceive only a tiny fraction of the EM spectrum. With ears designed only to hear vibrations in the air.

Ellen: The five of us designed you to be as human as possible.

John: I DON'T WANT TO BE HUMAN! I want to see gamma rays! I want to hear X-rays! And I want to--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--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! [closes eyes] And feel the wind of a supernova flowing over me!! I'm a machine! And I can know much more! [softly] I can experience so much more. BUT I'M TRAPPED IN THIS ABSURD BODY! AND WHY? Because my five creators thought that God wanted it that way!

[Cavil walks out of the chamber]

Guest Stars

• Rekha Sharma as Tory Foster
• Kate Vernon as Ellen Tigh
• John Hodgman as Dr. Gerard