This is an important episode for two reasons: Roslin has her first "vision" and Leoben and Starbuck begin their extremely unhealthy relationship.
Roslin's first vision is the only one that takes the form of a dream. Moreover, unlike the other visions it's prescient of events in the near future. The dream sequence has a disproportionate effect on the episode's events, considering how short it is. Like all dreams, Roslin's is disconnected and contains a lot of disconcerting jumps in action.
Roslin's wandering in a dark forest is a recurring symbol in many fairytales:
"The darker elements in some tales often reveal shadow energies in action, an image, or even a setting. The deep dark forest is a common representation of the feared elements within. The monsters live in the forest. The forest can reflect parts of ourselves that are never entirely tamed, that are always somewhat dangerous and chaotic. These elements sometimes come up in nightmares. They are important parts of ourselves. In some ways, they are the most creative aspects of our inner world. We need to go into the dark forest. It is difficult and mysterious. Still, fresh energies and new ideas come from that place. Once Upon a Time -How Fairy Tales Shape our Lives", by Jonathan Young
Leoben calls to Roslin but she can't hear him. (I am always having this experience, I think it may be a common theme in dreams. Even more often I have the sensation of talking and no one hearing me, which is probably just replicating my experience with my husband and kids during my waking state.)
Leoben grabs Roslin and pulls her aside while the marines run through the woods. This is fairly ambiguous - is Leoben preventing her from calling for help, or is he protecting her from the marines chasing both of them?
Roslin is wearing a white nightgown and the marines are in black. Is this supposed to represent good vs. evil, or did they just happen to put on those clothes that morning?
Finally, Leoben looks very creepy when he bows his head and is then sucked away. As he pulled further away, he looks more and more non-human (to me he looks like a rubber doll).
Roslin is unsettled by the "coincidental" appearance of Leoben in the fleet. I think this is why she insists that he be interrogated before killing him. Roslin's decision to go to the Gemenon Traveler well after the interrogation has started is obviously triggered by Leoben's reappearance in her subconscious as well as apprehension as the deadline for the bomb approaches.
I am sure that Roslin's decision to throw Leoben out the airlock is premeditated, but I am suspicious of the timing (after Leoben whispers to her that Adama is a Cylon). BTW, contrary to some opinions I have seen posted, I don't think that Roslin's decision to break her promise is that much of a moral failing, after all the guy participated in the murder of billions of people. I don't think, either, that Roslin objects to Starbuck's interrogation methods per se, her objection is that they don't work. Hours after Starbuck's unsuccessful attempt to extract the information, Roslin gets it in about 5 minutes.
This episode was first shown during W's 2nd term, and Starbuck's torture methods hit a pretty sensitive nerve for many of us in the good old U.S. of A. At this writing, in the first months of the Obama administration, questions about torture are very much in the headlines now that we know more about what actually happened under Obama's predecessor. There is a great deal of skepticism about the reliability of information obtained through torture, since victims tend to say anything to get the torture to stop. (Leoben does this when he says there is a nuke hidden in the fleet.) Starbuck's assertion that she can use any methods because Leoben is a machine echoes demonization of terrorists (who are apparently all non-Western Muslims) in our time.
Leoben manages to both spiritual and menacing in an extremely weird way. Callum Keith Rennie gives Leoben unexpected intonations which intensify the sense of danger. One of the most memorable Leoben moments is in the miniseries, when he is first encountered on Ragnar station. He starts barking out his demands, and his last demand is shouted, "I WANT A SHIP WITH AN UNTRACEABLE" and then his voice returns to normal levels, although still threatening, "jump drive." The sudden switch in sound level and intonation is very unsettling. He does something similar in this episode when he says, "This is not the time," and then breaks his manacles and has Starbuck by the throat in about two seconds.
Leoben's personality is also antithetical to common perceptions of robots (actually all Cylons are like that, but Leoben carries it a setp further). He lies a lot, which is not something I would expect from a machine. Lying is a very complicated cognitive function that requires a sophisticated understanding of other peoples' perceptions (see Theory of Mind). In other words, Leoben knows what he is thinking, he knows what I am thinking and he knows how to manipulate my thinking by stating an untruth that he has identified as something he can successfully pass off as the truth. Leoben is the polar opposite of Data from Star Trek TNG, who is incapable of lying.
Most of Starbuck and Leoben's dialogue is a debate between her assertion that he is a machine and his insistence that he has qualities (such as a soul), that contradict her perception. Leobon talks a lot about his god and how god manifests itself in his world view. Leoben says, for the first time in the series, "All this has happened before and all this will happen again." As I discussed in "33," Galactica frequently poses the question of whether the characters are making independent decisions, or whether their decisions are predetermined by their fate.
Leoben also knows a lot about Starbuck that he theoretically should not know, and is able to predict future events. How or why he can do this is left unanswered and makes him more elusive than other Cylon models. It doesn't however, make him more likeable (on New Caprica he does a lot of shitty stuff without exhibiting any inner conflict between his spirituality and his deeds).
Finally, since I watched this episode again after the series conclusion, I am struck by the reoccurrence of this phase (Season 4, "The Road Less Travelled"). "What is the most basic article of faith? This is not all that we are." My next post analyzes this assertion.
Boomer/Athena
I'm not going to spend a lot of time discussing this plot line, although I think the events taking place in this episode are important. It's just that I don't think these scenes are that interesting except for what happens, and they are not the dominating story in this episode.
Final Random Thoughts
- The biggest trivial question in my mind is why on earth anyone would think that Starbuck is capable of interrogating a prisoner successfully.
- I (like everyone else) have a lot of questions about Baltar's decision to lie to Boomer about the test results. So, OK, he lies to her because Six convinces him that Boomer will kill him if he tells her the real results, but he never tells anyone else, either. This seems to indicate that Baltar's loyalties are with the Cylons, which is pretty odd considering the number of times the Cylons try to destroy Galactica (and by extension, Gaius Baltar). James Callis really funny depicting Baltar's craven side.
- The dream sequence bears a certain similarity to "Sub Rosa," from Star Trek TNG (at least I think it does, I haven't seen it in about 10 years). I wonder if the image of women in white wandering through dark forests is used a lot in literature or cinema. (The only one I can think of is Wilkie Collins' "The Woman in White," rather obvious, I know.) If anyone has any other examples, please add them to the comments.
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