The sixth episode of Battlestar Galactica, “Litmus,” is centered around a mystery the crew of the Galactica must solve, but it may not be a mystery they have the ability to solve, thanks to the secrecy surrounding the Cylons and their human appearance.
1. Hate
We know that Cylons hate humans and that humans hate Cylons. As this episode opens, we follow various characters walking through the halls of Galactica, until we rest upon the back of one man, whose face is obscured, but it’s pretty obvious who he is – it’s Doral, a Cylon. He’s boarded Galactica as a visitor, and obviously, no one recognizes him because the public is blissfully unaware of the whole Cylon looking like humans thing. Tigh recognizes Doral as he’s walking by; he calls for help. Adama recognizes him, and goes to grab Doral as he reveals he’s wearing a bomb. Suicide bomber. Doral presses the button, and boom. Another attack based on hate, hate of humans. In turn, this leads to a reinforcement of the human’s hatred of the Cylons. Constant hate, constant war.
2. Fear
The human’s fear of Cylons is only magnified after this surprise attack, which leads to President Roslin and Commander Adama discussing the positives and the pitfalls of informing the public of the Cylon situation. Roslin is experienced in dealing with the public. She’s spent 20 years in political office and knows the people will want someone’s head after this gruesome attack that left 13 dead. According to Roslin, “independent tribunal, openness, transparency all sounds great, but these things have a way of effecting the people you least expect.” She does not want to turn the investigation into a witch hunt…
3. Witch Hunt
This is a term that’s been tossed around frequently in the modern, if not the current, political climate. Commander Adama gives his master-at-arms, Sergeant Hadrian, carte blanche while investigating the attack on the Galactica, with no oversight from command. This is where we first encounter the complicated web of lies spun to protect Chief Tyrol and Sharon Valerii’s secret late-night tryst. Cally and various other deckhands are covering for their Chief; he inspires their loyalty. They love him. This is the crux of the episode, and it involves numerous interviews by Sergeant Hadrian, but the basic outcome is that she is suspicious of the Chief, since everyone is covering for him out of a sense of loyalty and love. Eventually, Hadrian tries to pin the blame on Adama, which takes us to the witch hunt portion of this episode. Adama is cool, calm, and thoughtful under interrogation, but he won’t stand for this, and has Hadrian taken into custody. In reality, the only thing lying between Adama being arrested and Hadrian being arrested is the loyalty of the guards at the tribunal. They follow Adama’s orders; loyalty is key in the dismantling of this witch hunt aboard the Galactica.
4. Hate the Second
What is it that drove Sergeant Hadrian to the point of accusing Galactica’s commander of collusion with the Cylons? Was it hate? Hate of the Cylons. Was it fear? Fear of what the Cylons could do to the human race. Was it fear of the public? The fact that people always want someone to pay for crimes committed against them. It’s difficult to tell, but Hadrian’s driving purpose here intrigues me. I’m not sure I thought about it much during my first watch of this episode, but the question is sitting with me in the here and now.
5. Consequences
There are consequences to our actions, always. An innocent man is convicted of, accidentally, aiding the Cylon bombing aboard Galactica. The chief knows he didn’t do it, and confesses his meeting with Sharon to Adama, but there’s nothing the Commander can do. The crewman lied, and someone needs to be punished. The public won’t have it any other way. Adama is furious with Tyrol and tells him he needs to live with what he’s done, and as a result, the Chief breaks it off with Sharon. And…now he appears to be suspicious of Sharon’s movements on the day in question. We know she’s a Cylon, he doesn’t.
The shortness of this review doesn’t indicate a poor episode, in fact, I enjoyed this episode. But, it is completely plot driven, in a good way. We get a smattering of additional stories, Baltar and Starbuck, Baltar and Six, Helo and Boomer *eyeroll,* and the President’s press conferences, but the tribunal is the driving force behind “Litmus,” and I’m not sure humans passed the test of humanity.
