Deadlock: Thousand-Year Relationships
Ben Scarlato
2009-02-23 00:00:00

It is fascinating to see Ellen return to the four other remaining members of her species, and her long, troubled marriage with Saul Tigh. She caresses Tyrol's and Tory's cheeks as if she hasn't seen them in years, and indeed, for Ellen they've shared a bond thousands of years old. Even though the thousand-year link they share is remarkable, it is similarly remarkable that they have not developed a deeper way of expressing their bonds than we have today. Of course, the most interesting and turbulent reunion she makes is with her husband Tigh. It has become apparent that not only has their marriage in this lifetime been fraught with alcohol abuse and acknowledged unfaithfulness, but that throughout the millennia their bond has always brought out the worst in each other.

Ellen seems willing to overlook any relationships Tigh engaged in while she was gone, until she learns that he has impregnated Caprica Six who is, in a sense, the child of her and Tigh. Ellen says that Tigh now loves Caprica Six more than he ever loved her, for unlike Ellen herself Caprica bore him a literal son. She even claims that she is willing to leave Tigh to Caprica, and let them raise their child. However, she then puts Tigh in the difficult position of going against the Cylon majority vote to abandon the fleet. Ellen tells Caprica she always knew Tigh placed her second to Bill Adama and the fleet, but now she knows even the baby is second. The stress of the situation leads to difficulties in the Cylon pregnancy, and even as Caprica lies in sick bay, Ellen continues to agitate the situation. Her attempts to hurt Tigh ultimately lead to the death of the unborn child.

In the previous episode Ellen justified her choices in making the other Cylon models so human by saying she gave them free will, compassion, and love. Is the reason she gave them "free will" so that they would be free to make the same mistakes again and again, as has been the case in her marriage with Tigh? So that they could experience the same modes of love and compassion no matter how much time passed?

It is unfortunate that the path Ellen has chosen for the Cylons means that love is still predicated on such frivolous matters as fertility. While the Cylons blame infertility on a lack of love, the fact remains that Ellen does not have access to the technology that would allow her to bear Tigh's child, let alone the technology to create a child independent of a body, and thereby make fertility an issue apart from love altogether. While, as she says, her enemy Cavil may fear "procreation, evolution, all that messy biological trial and error," what should be feared almost as much is remaining in stagnation for as long as Ellen has and not implementing designs to reach beyond our human limitations.

While some of the Cylons want to abandon the fleet to form a purely Cylon culture, it seems as though Baltar may be involved in one of the last attempts at human purity, as the joy he finds in sacrificing to feed the hungry suddenly turns into a deal with Adama to receive bigger and better guns. Tigh, at least, seems to intelligently assess the situation: "Pure human doesn't work, pure Cylon doesn't work; it's too weak." Nor does Tigh want to express his love for Caprica using spoken language, saying "I love you, alright? Can you hear me? This is nonsense, she knows it, I don't need to say it, I shouldn't need to say it to anyone, isn't is enough that I feel it? I feel it!"

If, as Tigh suggests, we embrace cultural diversity and do not rely purely on humans or purely on machines, the synergy between biology and mechanical technologies may ultimately allow us to discover what it means to have relationships that span thousands of years. If we do not take Ellen's approach of opting for indefinite but stagnant lives, we will have the opportunity to discover ways to express and experience love, intimacy, harmony, and the beauty of each individual mind in ways we cannot imagine.