The Final Five
Spoilers might follow, if you’re not caught up on BSG. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya’!
This is one of the burning questions that Battlestar Galactica has hanging over us. Who are the last five models of humanoid Cylons? Way back in the miniseries we were told that twelve models exist. Excluding apparently non- or semi-sentient models like the mechanized Cylons, Raiders, and Basestar ship-minds, we have met seven of those models: Caprica, Boomer, Doral, Leoben, D’anna, Simon, and Brother Cavil.
Each of those seems to have a task, or a specialty. Caprica/Number 6 is a project manager and seductress. Boomer is an infiltrator, possibly built to sympathize with human beings in order to aid her ability to pass as human. Doral is slick, concerned with image and big pictures. Leoben is a visionary, prone to religious insights, and talented at psychological manipulation. D’anna is (was?) a zealot. Simon is a scientist. And Brother Cavil is a cynic, a realist.
And those seven don’t want to talk about the remaining five. So who are they? What do they represent? Something dangerous, something mysterious, even to the Cylons. Next obvious question, then: what do they have to do with Earth?
It’s almost certain that one of the five will be someone we know: a human being among the Colonial Fleet, someone we wouldn’t expect, who may not even know what they are. But who? This seems to be the million dollar question.
The Battlestar Wiki has an entire page dedicated to this, tracking what clues we know and what might exclude someone from being a Cylon for all the likely characters (Admiral Adama, for example, has a long, verifiable history and family that almost certainly excludes him). I agree with most of these assessments. I also keep thinking BSG has a few more rabbits in its hat, and any of them might make all these predictions obsolete. It’s just that kind of show. (”One Year Later” is a phrase that will haunt me forever.)
But you know what? I don’t even care who might be a Cylon anymore. I just hope the payoff on all this build-up is worth it. When we learn the identities of the Final Five, I want the outcome to make sense and not require a huge amount of ret-conning. I want to keep trusting that Ronald Moore and his writers, like the Cylons, have a plan.
Brad B said,
Wrote on February 9, 2007 @ 2:16 am
Battlestar Galactica is best when it shocks us all. (For example,when Boomer destroyed a Basestar full of Cylon Boomers, then immediately shot Adama.) Thus my prediction for the final five is as follows: Commander Adama, Apollo, Starbuck, Laura Roslin, and Gaeta. Because these five all occupy important positions among the humans, it makes sense that the Cylons would hide the fact that these are Cylon models. As for Dr. Gaius Baltar, he cannot be a Cylon, because he exhibits the worst in human duplicity, which would be meaningless if he were a Cylon. If these are the final five, then the Cylons certainly have a plan, though exactly what plan isn’t clear. As for this being the final five, anyone disagree? (And do I really believe this?)
Carrie said,
Wrote on February 13, 2007 @ 3:12 pm
Except the Cylons would have to be very, very prescient, or very adept at manipulating the situation. The interesting thing is NONE of those people were meant to be in the positions of power that they currently occupy. Adama was on the verge of retirement, Roslin is a teacher, Starbuck’s a loose cannon. Apollo and Gaeta *maybe*.
My vote goes to Dee.
Brad B said,
Wrote on February 14, 2007 @ 11:23 pm
Ok, I feel totally spanked. I admit it seems unlikely that all five of those main characters I mentioned above are Cylons, and perhaps none of them is. So I have another nomination for the Final Five, Zak Adama: Comander Adama’s youngest son who was killed in his first solo viper flight. I’m thinking that Zak was really adopted, but that Adama’s family kept this secret, and perhaps Lee doesn’t even remember (This would solve the “if we know he was a baby, he’s not a Cylon, problem”.) When Zak died in the viper crash, there was a Cylon Resurrection Ship hidden nearby, and he was resurrected. This could lead to several interesting story lines. Adama would learn that the favorite son he lost is really alive, but that he is a CYLON! I think this would be much harder for him to take than Sharon being one. Also, Starbuck would be torn by the return of her former financee, (a new lover for Kara?) and by the fact he’s a hated cylon. This scenario has the advantage of “explaining” the good fortune that the Cylon attack on Caprica occurred while Commander Adama was still aboard Galactica for his retirement ceremony. (If the attack had occurred a week later, Adama would have been retired and on the surface.) As the Cylons say, there are no coincidences. It could be that Zak Adama, working with the Cylons, planned the attack to occur prior to his dad’s retirement, hoping that his father would survive (but not realizing his dad would become the Cylon’s nemisis.) So what do you folks think, is Zak one of the Final Five?
Luca said,
Wrote on April 2, 2007 @ 6:44 am
nel 20esimo episodio della 3 stagione di battlestar galactica ci sono 4 dei 5 cylon finali, in particolare di 1 vi stupirete molto!
quello che rimane fuori secondo me รจ Kara Trace starbuck