The Chosen One

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

Hybrid Chamber

(Kara looks at the Hybrid.)

Hybrid: ... All these things at once and many more not because it wishes harm but because it likes violent vibrations to change constantly then shall the maidens rejoice at the dance structural integrity of node seven restored repressurizing the children of the one reborn shall find their own country the intruders swarmed like flame like the whirlwind hopes soaring to slaughter all their best against our hulls ...

Starbuck: I'm here. You wanted me here, so...

Hybrid: ... Replace internal control accumulators 4 through 19 they'll start going ripe on us pretty soon compartmentalize integrity conflicts with the obligation to provide access FTL sync fault uncorrected no ceremonies are necessary ...

Hybrid: ... then shall the maidens rejoice at the dance structural integrity of node seven restored repressurizing the children of the one reborn shall find their own country. End of line, reset. Track mode monitor malfunction traced recharge compressors increase the output to 50% assume the relaxation length of photons transfers contact is inevitable leading to information bleed FTL sync fault stands uncorrected no ceremonies are necessary...

Starbuck, crouching: I don't understand.

Hybrid: ... Centrifugal force reacts to the rotating frame of reference the obstinate toy soldier becomes pliant the city devours the land...

Leoben, kneeling: You can't hurry her. You have to absorb her words. Allow them to caress your associative mind. Don't expect the fate of two great races to be delivered easily.

Hybrid: ... Assume the relaxation length of photons in the sample atmosphere is constant the intruders swarmed like flame like the whirlwind hopes soaring to slaughter all their best against our hulls...

(Helo paces the Demetrius CIC; Gaeta is looking rough in his makeshift sickbay.)

Hybrid: ...All these things at once and many more not because it wishes harm but because it likes violent vibrations to change constantly then shall the ...

Athena: Hey, we're rigged and ready. It's time to pull her offline and get out of here before we miss our rendezvous.

Hybrid: ...Reset...

Athena: Any luck, Captain?

Starbuck: Not a frakkin' thing.

Hybrid: ... But you are a spark of God's fire core update complete...

Starbuck: Frak it! Unplug the damn thing. Let's get the frak out of here.

Hybrid: ... Threat detection matrix enabled dendritic response bypassed the received dose is altered by the delayed gamma burst going active execute the children of the one reborn shall find their own country, end of line.

(An Eight opens a panel and unplugs the Hybrid, who shouts in an unceasing scream. A Centurion steps forward, converting guns.)

Natalie, angrily: Stop!

(The Centurion fires, dropping the Eight. Kara and Athena destroy it.)

Anders, entering: ...What the hell happened?

(The Eight's blood pollutes the water in the Hybrid tank; she's still screaming.)

Starbuck: What do you want from me? Please, I need you.

(She finally stops, and pulls one hand from the water with a calm smile.)

Hybrid: ...Thus will it come to pass the Dying Leader will know the truth of the Opera House the missing Three will give you the Five who have come from the home of the Thirteenth you are the harbinger of death Kara Thrace you will lead them all to their end.

(Kara is stricken.)

Hybrid: End of line.

(The Hybrid goes limp, and Athena fully unplugs her; the room goes dark.)

Comments

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

I hear you, although I think they have all been letting the destiny of Earth control their decision-making since season one (it's their literal destination -- the place they are destined to go). Lee and Adama as well as Kara and Roslin have made this prophecied haven their strategic goal and they've fought and died in the race to get there and to interpret the mystical clues along the way from Pythia/Eye of Jupiter/the god or gods, etc. They've all been willing to set aside life and happiness for the sake of Earth, that's the central story of the series. I see Kara's destiny as a continuation of that long-standing story of humanity's destiny, rather than as a departure from it. Though I'm with you in thinking that her part of the story was incoherently told. Sigh.

[damao2010.livejournal.com]

Lee and Adama as well as Kara and Roslin have made this prophecied haven their strategic goal and they've fought and died in the race to get there and to interpret the mystical clues along the way from Pythia/Eye of Jupiter/the god or gods, etc.

You're right, of course. But at first, Earth was not really their destination. It was a ploy to keep the morale up while they figure out what to do exaclty. Later, Roslin started to bring the mysticism into play but even she used it as a political way to grant support. The big turning point came when they found Kobol and the Tomb of Athena. But even there there was enough physical evidence that there was some truth to the old myths to support believing in them as something real. And to take the more mystical aspects (as the vision or whatever they experienced in the tomb) with a grain of salt - something that is accepted though it can't be explained. Bill and Lee are more worried about the physical clues they found along the way than in the prophecies themselves. When Kara's destiny became something bigger than life there wasn't really anything concrete to base it on. It was purely mystical and it didn't make a lot of sense.

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Sure, I guess everyone has different "crossing the line" points when it comes to their suspension of disbelief. To me, Kara's choices in Season One/Two (she risks her life based on Roslin's mystical vision in order to get an arrow that shows them an inexplicably magical map to Earth which they all proceed to follow) don't seem all that different from her choices in Season Three/Four (she sacrifices her life based on her own mystical vision and gets an inexplicably magical Viper that picks up a radar signal from Earth which they all proceed to follow). I think the story depends on supernatural forces being real in both cases, or else following these signs and visions they're sending makes no sense. The Tomb of Athena map and Kara's resurrection both seemed like free-standing miracles that were hard to deny on a sensory, empirical level.

I guess you could say that Lee and Adama somehow accepted the Tomb of Athena map without accepting the prophecies behind it, but that seems a little irrational, given the circumstances. Those prophecies were about finding Earth, the mythical haven for humanity. If you don't think they're true, then why bother following the physical map? If Earth isn't really the safe haven that the Scriptures promise, then it's a really bad idea to go there and try to settle when the Cylons are still chasing you, it seems to me. You'll just get yourselves killed or occupied, like at New Caprica, and bring down whoever is already settled there along with you.

I definitely share your frustration that they never explained why Kara needed to die in order to guide humanity to Earth. That's bad storytelling, period. Although now that I think about it, I realize they never explained why Roslin needed to be a dying leader in order to lead her people to Earth, either. "Because that's what the prophecy says" seems to be the only answer we get in either case. So I think maybe they've been playing that little game from Season One onwards, too.

Now, I freely admit I enjoyed the Arrow of Apollo/Tomb of Athena stuff a lot more than I enjoyed the Magical Viper/Mystical Lullaby stuff. But for me it was mostly because the earlier storylines played better as drama and had happier outcomes for the characters I loved, not because the series was following certain rules then that they later abandoned. I always accepted that there were gods and/or a higher god wandering around this fictional universe, but I always viewed them as plot devices rather than as serious examinations of real life or beliefs. Sadly, though, even as plot devices they proved unsatisfying, since the plot was muddled and they were muddled along with it.