TV guide Review: We Could Be Helo

Source: TV Guide

Helo rocked in this episode. There is a lot of ambiguity surrounding killing off all of the Cylons, but the driven Captain stood up for what he believed in and wasn't above committing a little subterfuge in order to stop the mass genocide of their entire race. He seemed to even be OK with taking whatever punishment Adama and Roslin had cooked up for him, and he proved, again, what a loving husband he is to his oft-shunned Cylon wife. "I did what I thought was right. If it was a mistake, I can live with that. It's you I can't live without."

Every week this show tackles hefty emotional and moral issues and it does it in such a way that at the end of each episode, I'm never sure which side I am really on and what decision was the absolute right one. If nothing else, it makes people think and discuss, which is more than most television programs out there even attempt to do.

Roslin laid out her side pretty simply. "The Cylons are a mortal threat to the human race." Now that she knows that the Cylons are on a quest to find earth as well, she doesn't want them getting there first or ever. Especially if they have Baltar guiding them along with his recollections of the map.

Helo's argument was more heated and passionate - "Genocide, so that's what we're about now? We do this, we wipe out their race and we're no different than they are." But his emotions are understandable given the fact that he is married to Athena and the two had and lost a hybrid child (well, as far as they know.) I was so impressed by his speech to Roslin. "Yeah, I'm married to a Cylon who walked through hell for all of us how many times and she's not half anything. How do we know there aren't others like her? She made a choice to help us. She's a person. They're people. Wiping them out with a biological weapon is a crime against… a crime against humanity."

Helo did have to kill the captured ill Cylons in order to stop Adama from carrying out Roslin's orders to infect the resurrection ship, but they were marked for death. But if that one "Simon" model was willing to share info on the Cylon base ship, maybe he could have been converted as a human sympathizer like Athena, so was it right to eliminate him, for what Helo considered the greater good? Who knows? There are a lot of shades of gray on this show. Even Adama kind of wanted to stay out of the whole thing, even before he decided not to prosecute Helo for his actions, he told Roslin, "The law forbids me to use biological weapons without a direct presidential order." "Which means you're passing the buck?" Yup. Can't say that I blame him.

The other big plotline that had me all sorts of conflicted was the torture (to his eardrum!) of Gaius Baltar. (Though personally I think now that Roslin and Adama know he's alive and sharing info with the Cylons if he ever makes it back to Galactica that he's going to face torture that made what D'anna cooked up look like tickling.) There is part of me that thinks he deserves to be tortured because he's such a selfish person out only to save himself at any cost, but was that the best way to go in this case? Again, who knows? I'm sort of confused about the way that Six wanted him to separate his mind and body. Did Six know that he wouldn't be able to truly keep them separate and he'd confess his love, and apparently that is what would stop D'anna? And why did D'anna seem to stop when he said he loved her? Does she have feelings for him? Does she want Baltar to be in love with her? The look that she gave Caprica when she seemed to show too much emotion for Gaius, could that have been jealousy? If so, that's a really interesting twist.


Other random things: Starbuck is flying? Isn't she on some kind of probation?; I was somewhat surprised that it was Lee's idea on how to kill of the Cylons. I guess that life of military training has really been drummed into him.; Why didn't Doc Coddle let Athena out of sick bay once he realized the virus could only infect Cylons? Even if she was infected, its not like she could have passed the disease around, did she really have to remain in sick bay?; I really felt for Athena after she had to see the dead and dying Cylons and then she told Helo how she had to prove her loyalty every day. Will they ever just accept her? Should they?