BSG jumps away for two weeks with a cliffhanger ending. / SCI FI Channel Photo: Carole Segal
SPOILER ALERT: Discussion of Battlestar Galactica coming up after the, er, jump:
So that’s what happens when you unplug one of those things and plug it back in. Hybrids, apparently, really are like computers; if you don’t shut them down properly, you can’t be surprised when they behave erratically on restart.
There were a lot of nicely done scenes and elements in this episode—I particularly like Roslin and Baltar together, which it now looks like we may get more of than they bargained for. And there are all manner of implications to the Cylon rebels’ decision to become mortal. (Although really: making the entire resurrection process vulnerable in one central hub? Wouldn’t robots understand the need for redundant systems better? Ah, well, dramatic convenience.) Not to mention the anxiety among the Four that they’re about to get fingered by D’Anna. But I need to keep this short—looming deadlines—so I’ll focus on one central question and you can take the discussion from here:
Why did the Hybrid jump? And where to? I mean, there’s plenty to discuss as to what happens after the jump, with the humans now missing their president and half their Vipers. But why the Hybrid would take this sort of unilateral action (correct me if I’m wrong, but we haven’t seen that before) could have any number of explanations:
* The Hybrid is aware of the Cylon-human alliance and/or the plan to attack the resurrection hub and wants to stop it, which raises the question how she could have become aware while unplugged, or within a split-second of being re-plugged
* The Hybrid wants to stop the unboxing of D’Anna (ditto) or prevent the discovery of Earth (likewise)
* The Hybrid is actually acting to assist in any of the above goals
* The Hybrid is implementing some type of automatic defensive protocol and jumping to safety, or finishing a jump command she was about to execute before being unplugged
* The Hybrid is being controlled from without, perhaps by the non-Allied Cylons
* The Hybrid is simply malfunctioning/crazy
The most interesting answers are the ones that suggest the Hybrid has some kind of independent volition, and is making the jump because of something she does or doesn’t want to see happen. If that’s the case, isn’t it possible that, for all her implied prophetic ability, her agenda could be mistaken like anyone else’s? Just because your ship starts driving itself doesn’t mean it knows where it should be going. Does anyone?