Starbuck: Dead, a Cylon or somewhere in between?
-
- March
- 5
Warning: Major spoilers, so if you didn’t watch last night’s ep, read no further.
So last night was the much-anticipated “Maelstrom” episode and it did not disappoint. For an hour, we watched Starbuck spiral down, down, down. Katee Sackhoff did an excellent job of portraying our perpetually fracked-up viper jock as she has a complete nervous breakdown.
Seeing herself all over the place as a young, abused girl, dreaming about Leoben, seeing the Eye of Jupiter absolutely everywhere (from the dripping wax of memorial candles to a major storm system), Kara is not doing well.
Every scene, practically, can be viewed as a “goodbye” scene. She even tells Lee where she wants her photo put in the memorial hallway; next to Kat, another hotshot viper jock who came from a tough background and burned too bright.
I had (wrongly) assumed that her childhood abuse had come at the hands of her father. But her father is nowhere to be seen. Did she ever know him? Her mother is an angry, bitter, vicious woman. She slams young Kara’s hands in a door  on purpose  after Kara gets back at her for some other abuse by scaring her with fake bugs.
But despite all the abuse, all Kara really wanted was her mother’s approval. She graduated 16th in her class from the academy (strangely enough, she had authority issues), was called the best natural pilot they’d ever seen. The first in her family to be made an officer.
None of that was good enough for her mom, or so she thinks. After her mother verbally abuses her, she finds out her mom is terminal with cancer and doesn’t have much time. Her mom refuses to let her grieve, so she runs out and never looks back. Her mother dies, alone. Kara never sees her again.
Until Leoben, who explains that all time is always happening. The past, present and future are all happening now. She’s watching herself and her mom six years ago, but she’s able to visit her mom as herself now, on her mom’s deathbed. She realizes that despite all her mother’s cruelty and bluster, her mother cared very much for her and saved everything she’d ever done.
Even the Eye of Jupiter she’d painted as a young girl, and apparently had won some sort of art award ribbon for.
So in the end, Kara goes willingly to her death. She’s no longer afraid, because she’s made peace with her biggest bugaboo.
But is she actually going to her death?
On the surface, yes, of course. She’s gone. Her ship is in a million little pieces. Even if she ejected, the atmospheric pressure would pop her like a soap bubble.
But one of the show’s creators, David Eick, warned that the viewer needs to ask the question, “What really defines a Cylon?”
If you recall, Kara was in a Cylon hospital/breeding farm on Caprica. They had access to her DNA. We know the Cylons can clone themselves. Can they clone a human as a Cylon?
Leoben seems to know Kara’s destiny, even if she doesn’t know what it is herself. My previous theory, that Kara was secretly being sent ahead to find Earth seems rather implausible now, and though I vehemently resisted the idea that Starbuck could be a Cylon, I now wonder if she is, or, at least, if she’s going to be.
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on Monday, March 5th, 2007 at 11:39 am by Amy Vernon.
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What no one remembers this is a rehash of the old series. the white light and everything in white. starbuck and apollo “died” before. and they got better. This is why i cannot watch this series. I cant get into this show at all. i try and I try but it doesnt click for me.
I’ve made a point of avoiding this show, not because I wouldn’t be into it but rather I don’t have the time to get sucked into another series. But I made the mistake of watching “The Story So Far,” which I’d downloaded at iTunes back in the fall. I was right. Now I have to go see if I get it from NetFlix and start from the beginning. Well, that’s what the summer rerun season’s for, right?
Simple answer: She’s one of the five. Regardless of whether this was planned or done in retrospect, it makes sense: D’Anna’s decommissioning after seeing the five (and apparently knowing at least one of them; think about the timeframe from the show’s perspective), Baltar sleeping with her (he’s banged every OTHER female Cylon, right?), the whole “destiny” thing (unless her destiny was to go nuts and die), her overcoming the fear of finding out what’s between life and death (which D’Anna was always talking about)...
I don’t know. I don’t think they’d off a major character for no apparent reason, especially not one they’ve built so much of the series around. Hints during the podcast also point to the possible later return.
I hate addictive television. A loving ‘damn-you-to-Hades’, double-birdie salute to the entire production team.
Steve C.  no one forgets it’s a remake (creators dub it a “reimagining”) of the original series. And I was a huge fan of the original. But I’m also the first to say this series is far, far superior to the original. It’s fantastically written and extremely compelling. And each firefight actually looks different  not just the same three shots shown over and over again each week.
Brian  You should be able to get it from Netflix. You have to start w/the miniseries before season 1. Very key. After Season 2, go online and watch the 10 “Resistance” webisodes on SciFi.
Gnorb â€â€Ã‚ I know, I know. I’m just in rather major denial about it. I can’t imagine Starbuck as a Cylon. OK, I can, but I don’t want to. Good point about Baltar, though. Hadn’t thought about that. But I don’t think Baltar’s slept w/a Sharon. Yet.
A agree w/you about addictive television. Between BSG and 24, I might actually go certifiably insane.