3.16 Dirty Hands

This episode was, I think, another standalone edition in many senses, concerning itself with the working class and the ruling class as it exists in the fleet, and the sense that this status quo looks never to be broken. It was certainly an interesting one, I thought, but then this subject of underclasses and ruling classes is one that I am fascinated by anyway.

Gaius, from his prison cell, had been busy writing a book – a subterfuge piece about how the likes of Adama and other Capricans were set to forever rule, even in this new fleet society, and the peoples from other colonies would be forever bound into the roles and functions they were doing. Or, as Tyrol put it, his son would only ever be able to be an engineer because that’s what Tyrol would teach him and there would be no chance of him becoming anything else.

Tyrol was very much the focus here, harkening back to his role of union leader on New Caprica. Visiting the tylium processing ship, and the harsh conditions there, he instigated a strike that lead to his imprisonment. Adama was particularly harsh in his treatment of Tyrol, I thought. He threatened to take his wife, Callie, and have her shot first if Tyrol did not relent.

I know Adama has turned over a new leaf for himself to be a meaner chief, but that just seemed a step too far. Mind, it wasn’t clear if he was bluffing or not – but it didn’t seem like he was! (Odd that a man like Gaius is being allowed to have a trial, yet someone like Callie could be stood against a wall and shot without hesitation! I don’t think I buy it.)

Gaius and his impending trial looks as though it’s going to be at least one of the features of the season finale. Again, there seems to be a lack of impetus for the season at the moment, with another episode rolling by with little indication of forward momentum. I wonder if Gaius will get his trial. I wonder if he will be executed. I wonder if, after he is executed, he will wake up in a Cylon downloading tank. . . Maybe that’s the season finale!

It would seem that Gaius certainly struck a chord with people in the fleet, though, as his book got circulated and read in secret. This perhaps leads towards Zarek’s words about Gaius having a trial opening the door to a riot; but again I struggle to believe that people would have real sympathy for the man that lead them to New Caprica and was in apparent collaboration with the Cylons during their occupation.

So it was a good episode for Tyrol, but in the sense of progression and credulity I thought it struggled along more than it had to. But the sub-plot story of Celix, being turned down for pilot training only to be then awarded the status at the episode’s end was a delightful payoff. Until I know where this season is going, though, it’s hard to know if this was an episode that was more filler than anything else.