Galactica Speculation

[clovehitched]

OK, so I think I was a bit hard on Sine Qua Non - it did work in terms of the storyline; I think it was just rushed. If we'd had more time to get used to the multiple arcs of development going on, I think it would have seemed a little more plausible and left the audience less breathless. In particular:

• Lampkin being nuts (the cat is a figment of his imagination, not, as I'd initially assumed, bad editing).
  
  
• Lee's ascent to the presidency (more time to see Zarek getting really, really upset and then coming to terms with it).
  
  
• Adama realising he's lost it and has to go looking for Roslin.
  
  
• Starbuck becoming CAG again (she's partially rehabilitated, but they could have made more of the "We're giving you this role out of necessity because everyone else has been kidnapped by the Cylons" idea.

So yeah, I think Sine Qua Non should have been a two-parter, perhaps scheduled around a cylon episode to give us a bit of a break. I gather the writers' strike forced them into a corner though, because the next episosde (The Hub) was the last they had written before the strike.

Anyway, on with my speculation about the final Cylon, indeed, my final speculation about the final Cylon.

I'm going to get off the fence and declare for William Adama. Much as I like the idea of Gaeta or Dee being the Imperious Leader manipulating everything from behind the scenes, I think they're going for Adama as a semi-self aware Imperious Leader. My thoughts for this are a bit vague:

• I rewatched part one of the miniseries last night, and it looks awfully as though Adama knew it was coming. It seems clear that they didn't have the finalish four identities scripted at that point, but presumably RDM knew where he ultimately wanted to take the whole thing, if he got the chance, that this involved a shocking reveal of one final Cylon who was masterminding everything, and that he had this role in mind when the miniseries was scripted, so it's plausible that it was written in such a way that it could support a future reveal of Adama as a Cylon. Also, RDM has said that he's left clues all the way through.
  
  
• Who left the note to Adama, "There are 12 Cylon models"? We assume it was Baltar, but it seems out of character for him. Perhaps that scene all those years ago was ambiguous - perhaps it was something Adama write himself.
  
  
• He knew about Leoben on Ragnar awfully quickly. He's either very clever, or he was aware of everything right from the start.
  
  
• Earth is the homeworld of the final five. Perhaps Adama really wasn't lying when he announced, "It's not a myth, I know where it is".
  
  
• The activated Final Four seem to have better than human strength (Tory hurling Cally in the airlock). Human Adama should have got his arse handed to him by Cylon Tigh in their little fisticuffs episode, but didn't.
  
  
• Lots more stuff that I can't remember right now.
  
  
• It makes my speculation about Starbuck being a FF/human hybrid rather more amusing. I've been assuming Tight is her father, but what if she is more than just like a daughter to Adama? Also, Sister/Brother (Zac)/Brother (Lee) incest - appropriately dark...

If he is the Imperious Leader though, it was a bit careless getting shot by Boomer, allowing Galactica to get nuked in the miniseries and almost destroyed in the battle of New Caprica. Perhaps he has a lot of influence over the actions of other Cylons, but isn't omnipotent? That would fit with RDM's direction for the series around the Cylons (the main faction, anyway) growing up and learning what it is to be human - perhaps the whole thing is a parenting exercise for Adama in teaching his offspring the value of humanity (paradoxically by having the existing human race all but wiped out in a thermonuclear apocalypse right at the start).

Or maybe I'm just confusing myself? I'm going for Adama and sticking with him anyway. We'll know soon enough, I should think.