'Battlestar Galactica' Retro Recap: 'The Farm'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

It's funny how sometimes, the things you catch when watching a show, the writers managed to catch at some point as well and that's precisely what I noticed when I settled in for the next episode of Battlestar Galactica. Because in my prior Retro Recap of the show, I made mention of the fact that it seemed the series was weaning itself off of philosophical concepts in order to beef up the action and adventure and wouldn't you know it, 'The Farm' suddenly snapped the saga back to its brainy roots, taking an in depth look at the notions of immortality and how religion and the hope it provides can motivate us in incredible ways, and that certainly mattered to this particular episode.

Because let's be honest, things are dire in the fleet right now. People are living in fear, the President is on the run and sadly Commander Adama's return to the CIC did not bring about much change to the current situation, because the Old Man is hopping mad about what has transpired and wants Roslin back in the Brig, forcing him to order a ship to ship 'quarantine' search to find her, and his son and that's when the President pulled out the big guns, broadcasting fleet wide a message of inspiration and hope revolving around her part in the prophecy and pleading for people to follow her to Kobol so that she can lead them to Earth and after jumping away...24 more ships joined her, all in the hope of the prophecy coming to fruition to provide them with a better life.

It was simply stunning to see, and eye opening to realize just how little people in the fleet people have to hang on to if they're willing to risk their lives on the blind faith because without the protection of Galactica, the Cylons could lay those ships to waste. But the possibility that the scriptures are right and that they could indeed find a safe place to call home...gave them all the motivation and hope that they needed, and a fine example of how dark things are getting came by way of the moment with Adama where he goes to inspect Sharon's remains to try and understand the betrayal she brought forth before breaking down in tears. It speaks volumes to the darkness growing within him right now and his own need for hope and direction since people he trusts and loves have all but betrayed him at this point. But the show wasn't quite done exploring religion just yet. The Caprica storyline played into the old idea that in order to please God, we must go forth and procreate and oddly enough, that concept was explored by way of the Cylons.

Because while out and about, Kara and her new friends are ambushed and in the middle of the firefight, Starbuck is wounded and when she comes to...she finds herself in a suspiciously quiet hospital, tended to by a doctor named Simon who seems oddly concerned about her ability to bear children and well, his curiosity is due to the fact that he's a new Cylon model we haven't seen yet on the show and it seems the Skin Jobs are trying to find ways to reproduce in the hopes of pleasing God and keeping their species going and this was quite the disturbing little storyline to say the least, since the Cylons had droves of women all hooked up to strange machines in the hopes of making them baby production factories. 

However, what struck me about this little twist in the story, was the fact that it went far beyond religion. It's clear that while the Cylons can easily be replicated and downloaded upon death, they seem concerned with their future legacy and in reality, there is a sense of immortality that comes with having children and perhaps by creating their own new genetic line of Cylon/Human hybrids, they can enjoy that very sense and in turn...start things over again. Either way, despite the fact that there's a somewhat happy ending in place by having Kara and Helo and Sharon fly off in a Raider bound for Galactica (I'm sure the crew will be thrilled to see another Sharon), this was in fact quite the dark episode. The Cylons rammed home the point that they will do whatever they want to humans without a shred of regret and hey...the fleet is now divided and it may take an honest to God miracle to unite it once again. Until next time.

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