Downloaded

Well, this was an interesting episode. It was a curious exercise to see things almost exclusively from a Cylon point of view. Unfortunately, it also introduced a number of problems.

It's now nine months? Why do we keep skipping so much time? That's what, another two or three months skipped over?

Well, one of the lingering questions from the miniseries was finally answered. Was Six downloaded after the nuclear blast? Yes. And we get to see it. But I'm sorry, this begs the question: how is it that the machine died, but Baltar survived????? Is it because she pushed his head down? You're telling me that the old '50s movie Duck and Cover was correct and hiding on the floor really WILL save you from a nuclear blast?

Now this Six is seeing visions of Baltar. While some might find this a very interesting bit of parallelism, I find it absolute trash. This very development greatly undermines what we've seen of the Baltar/Six relationship so far. It implies the vision is purely hallucination based in love. We know that this CANNOT be true, at least in Baltar's case, because he was given information through his imaginary Six that he could not otherwise have. They already went to the trouble of proving Baltar wasn't crazy. So again I must ask, what has he been seeing? And she sees the same thing? There has got to be more to this than just magical Jiminy Crickets.

We are told in this episode that Boomer was shot 10 weeks after the attack. That means that Starbuck was on Caprica for about 10-15 days. I guess this is possible, but does it really seem like she was with the Resistance for that long? And remember, this is BEFORE all that stuff with "The Farm". So she spends over a week on Caprica before Boomer is shot, then is there even longer. Unless they are generously rounding up, this seems wrong. 

So the Six on Caprica is the real Six. We now get to call her Caprica Six. Is Caprica Six the only version of that model on the planet? No wait, she can't be because at least one of them was shot. ...unless she was downloaded twice. 

We also learn that Boomer is number 8. Which doesn't really matter, but she always kind of felt like an 8 to me. I wonder if there's any numerological significance to that. I don't put much stock in such things, but it would be fascinating to look at.

I like that the baby is named Hera. There's also a great moment which was deleted from the show (as it involved a separate plot thread) where prisoner-Six refused to call her by the name of a false god, and named the baby Thirteen. Speaking of deleted scenes, I really like, and wish they hadn't cut, the moment when Roslin thanks the baby for saving her life.

Didn't Six say that the baby would be born in the cell? Maybe I wasn't paying careful attention (okay, I wasn't paying careful attention), but wasn't the baby delivered in sick bay?

This part may seem really insensitive, but we are shown Helo and Tyrol dumping fake-Hera's ashes out an airlock. Wouldn't they realize the baby was a fake at this point? Wouldn't cremating a Cylon inevitably leave metalic, mechanical traces? Even if the child was part human, it's still part Cylon, right? Or does the robotic stuff not get passed down? Yes, I'm detail oriented and I think of these kinds of things.

The Six in Baltar's head seems to know an awful lot, but she doesn't know the baby isn't dead? And I'm still a bit confused as to what Baltar's role was supposed to be. He was going to be father to it? How exactly?

The doctor has a curious line. Sharon accuses him of killing the baby. He says, "I don't kill patients." ...Says the abortionist. I suppose the mother is the patient in that scenario, but it still seems to me less hippocratic and more hypocritical. 

I mused at the end of last season that I saw no connection between the Cylon destruction of humanity and the Cylon love-fest do have a hybrid baby. And in this episode we learn I was exactly right! Caprica Six and Boomer are in favor of goodness, arguing that murdering humans was sinful. So we see there are factions among the Cylons. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole baby enterprise was entirely Caprica Six's idea. ...So I guess it's not so much that "they have a plan" as "they have several plans they are debating". 

I really hated that the miniseries ended with Boomer being a Cylon. The character was changed so much already, and I didn't want anymore. "Downloaded" begins what I hope is the redemption of Boomer. At least a Cylon who advocates hope is better than one bent on destruction. (Though an evil Cyborg striving to be human seems very familiar. "I, Borg"? T2?)

"Downloaded" is something of a game-changer that succeeds on some levels. As I mentioned, I dislike the imaginary Baltar, as I detest any development that throws prior elements into upheaval. Yet the show is well-acted and some of the elements are strong. As annoying episodes go, this one is very good. As much as I'm generally uninterested in things on Caprica, at least we saw more of the resistence team.