Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: C | 14 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT When Will The Work Be Done?
By Jacob Clifton | Season 4 | Episode 20 | Aired on 03.20.2009
(I'm sorry, but what? I'm the first one to posit -- roll around in, frankly -- the strong religious presence(s) on the show, but we're back to the lecturing, answering-questions-nobody-asked, unsubtle lack of poetry. There's nowhere to go with this speech, as a viewer, because it is what it says, no more, no less: telling, not showing. The "makes sense don't it" to end them all; even more tone-deaf and insecure than the "Watchtower" lyrics, or Galen's embarrassing "and we have been from the start" coda. Cutting up your steak for you and constricting the moment -- which should be soaring, bright and fearless and powerful, inspiring of wonder and awe and above all questions -- to a simple wordy explanation. What does this story mean, what's it about? Let me tell you. No, just shut up and let me tell you. It's lazy, and it's gross, and it's story fatigue, and it's a bummer.)
And it's an easy answer in the narrative too, as Cavil's character completely goes out the window and he suddenly forgets to watch his own ass, because of the healing and redemptive power of Gaius's words. "If that were true -- and that's a big if..." (Although apparently not big enough to matter, not when the plot train's coming through) "...How do I know this force has our best interests in mind?" Bill stares at him, no doubt as bored with this bullshit as I am. "How do you know that God is on your side, doctor?" Because it's about to get worse. So much worse. Gaius shakes his head, and the angels smile down on him, full of love, as Gaius Baltar explains to us basic shit about God. "I don't. God's not on any one side. God's a force of nature, beyond good and evil. Good and evil, we created those."
(Which, fine: valid, and a good way to look at things. Lose the "any one side" thing, which just comes off like lame Give Peace A Chance crap, and you're good. I think the whole thing's covered by "force of nature," but then I've completely lost track of who this little speech is directed towards, so who knows what the point is? At least in Babylon 5 they got God and the Devil in the room and told them both to fuck off. That's what Gaius is trying to do, but it just comes off like God's sort of pointless and aimlessly moving people around for no reason this whole time. Which, to be fair, is what's been going on.
I want to be very specific here about what works and what doesn't, because to just say I hated the episode is a drastic and frankly stupid conclusion to draw. I like the implication of a double-blind in which the Gods have a personal stake in your personal well-being, while also being infinitely infinite to the point where you're just part of one big dance, so stop trying to make God the mascot for your temporary, self-contained bullshit. That God's not projection, God is wild magic you can't possibly comprehend: God's the forest, you're just a tree, or the river that feeds the ocean that feeds the river, all that. Instead, you get this mangled "we are all special which is how we know that God exists, except God doesn't really care so we aren't special, except we are.")
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