February 7, 2009
GWC Podcast #150: BSG 4.5 Blood On The Scales
Up this week is BSG’s season 4.5 episode Blood on the Scales. Joined by Kate Vernon, we discuss Tom Zarek’s final disposition in the good/evil continuum (and lament the loss of the good ideas in which he sadly didn’t believe), note that the Quorum were thankfully not sheep, enjoy how yet again the trust Tyrol inspires in those around him plays a prominent role in crushing the coup, wonder whether Laura believed Adama alive or dead as she maneuvered with the cylons, fear for the (treated like mushrooms) fleet now that Roslin represents almost the entirety of the civilian government, analyze Gaeta’s motives and mistakes, worry that political brinkmanship may continue to hasten the end of the fleet, hear Ms. Vernon’s awesome insight into Ellen tigh, and look forward to Ellen’s return to BSG next week.
Galactic Watercooler 
Modern Geek 
Save Eureka 
Eff This Week 
FitSmart
Great podcast as always. I’m a relative newcomer to the Galactica universe (after years of putting it off, I watched the entire series recently in less than two weeks) and this podcast is the only way that I can sort out the wonderful madness that is BSG.
I was a little disappointed, however, that there wasn’t enough time in this podcast to discuss your thoughts on the mysterious scenes involving Gaeta’s perpetually-painful stump. Those scenes have been plaguing me all day and I think I finally have a semi-plausible theory. This might have already been discussed on the forums, but I believe that Gaeta’s pain symbolized his unconscious guilt at conducting the coup. If you remember, it was because he participated in a mutiny on Demetrius that he lost his leg to begin with. And you can see, both in this episode and in the last, that at any point when he is about to make a tough call or decisive action, as he did when Anders shot him, he grabs his stump. At the end, sitting in the airlock, Gaeta comes to terms with his decisions and how everything played out. He is released of his guilt and then it at this moment that he is freed from the pain.
Further proof of all of this is the insistence by Gaeta that Adama understand and accept his reasons for the coup instead of just shooting him like Zarek wanted. Gaeta was looking for vindication from the old man. Causalities of the revolution were beginning to add up and Gaeta, ever the idealist, needed to believe that it wasn’t all for naught. All signs point to a disillusioned character, riddled with guilt.
So that’s my theory and I’m sticking with it. I guess that since Gaeta’s gone we’ll never know for sure. If you guys could mention your thoughts in the next podcast, that would be awesome.
No, Saba. You’re only partially correct about the stump. It was of course mostly a “psychological itch”, but it was there long before the coup. Face of the Enemy is all about the reasons for the itch and the coup. Maybe you should re-watch that.
Gaeta was just a doormat with naive illusions that caused him repeated suffering. That’s where the stump itch comes from. His final attempt to take charge and reshape the world in the manner he thought it ought to be failed. The coup attempt was a symptom/reaction/result of his problem. Just like the itch.
You’re right in the sense that in the end, the itch stopped because he accepted his fate, his mistakes, and his faults. *Bam*. Bye Gaeta.
Strangely enough, it reminds me of the end of 1984 by George Orwell.
Anyway, I totally called this last week. I didn’t think Zarek was going to die though, but I guess that was his fault. He did a poor job of keeping Gaeta in check.
My favorite line of the episode was Gaeta’s: “there’s been enough killing.” He was ready to run away, only Tyrol’s action stopped him.
I loved this episode. I see more and more the Cylons’ and humans starting to work together, a bit more understanding on the part of some of the humans, even a few people changing their minds because of the common experiences they’ve shared.