Shows I love: awaiting Battlestar Galactica
posted 1-16-2009 - 7:27 pm

In less than an hour, Battlestar Galactica returns after months of absence. Its fans have been alternately hopeful, pissed, confused, exasperated, and excited. Same here, but I've been mostly pissed -- at the lousy ending of the last episode that aired, at the fact that the timeline was so drastically condensed in the last 15 minutes of that episode, and that it was done in such a not-at-all credible, nonsensical fashion.

I'll get to more about that later, perhaps after I've seen the new episode of this final half-season. For now, let me indulge in what has preoccupied most fans for months: the identity of the final secret Cylon. That will be revealed in tonight's episode anyway, so the wait is nearly ended by now.

And I've really missed Starbuck. Who wouldn't?

To make an educated guess about the final Cylon, I went to the SciFi Channel website and reviewed all the clues offered. Or should I say, 'clues' -- because some of them are clearly misdirection, which is par for the course (the writers have been playing with us from the start, and we've all marveled at their skill). I didn't bother with the webisodes, because they're supposed to be able to stand alone and, therefore, can't have much predictive value.

So here's my guess: it's Mr. Geda, who's been in CIC and near the conn all this time, who was the ambivalent aide to Gaius Baltar on New Caprica when the latter was president and the secret source for the rebel humans. Geda, who lost his leg while on Starbuck's team as she searched for the route back to earth but found a Cylon base ship and learned about the Resurrection ship instead. The dead giveaway? Two of the hints: one in which he said he hoped someone would finally know who he was, and another in which Laura Roslin remarks to Baltar that neither of them made good choices when it came to their aides de camp. We already know Torie is one of the final five. That leaves Mr. Geda of the beautiful voice.

I guess we'll see shortly, won't we?