Battlestar Galactica (9): RIP Callie.

There are some episodes that shock you and galvanize your creativity, and then there are episodes that shock you into a coma. “The Ties That Bind” is an episode like the later. I have no idea how to process the information.

What would help, a Quick Recap: The Cylons attempt to forgive and forget after the massacre, which according to Six means unboxing D’Anna. The Cavels say that the vote confirms it, and so they all need to go to where the Threes are being kept, but the models stay on separate ships. When they make the jump, the Sixes and the Eights realize that no Resurrection ship has jumped. The Cavel Basestars destroy the Six Basestars, killing them for good. Boomer’s defection saves her life. Kara’s search for Earth is not going well. The crew (including Helo, Sharon, Gaeta, and Anders) are discontent with Kara’s abrupt navigation changes, but she makes it clear she doesn’t care what they think. Frustrated by her inability to find her path, she confides in Anders that she feels disconnected from her body and unable to feel anything that is happening to her. The President confirms Lee’s place as the Quorum Representative for Caprica, but it is obvious she distrusts/dislikes him. Zarack tells Lee that her feelings are unlikely to change and points out to Lee a suspicious proposal the President is making. During the Quorum meeting Lee tries to defend the need for military secrecy (the Fleet has noticed that one of the ships is missing), but the President publicly rebukes him, so he brings up her proposal, thereby backing her into a corner, a move she does not appreciate. Callie has been taking anti-depressants since the ship was in the nebula, and she is not in full control of her faculties. She explains her dilemma to Doc Cottle, who encourages her to rest and talk to her husband. Believing that Tyrol is having an affair with Tory, Callie follows them and while spying finds out that they, and Tigh, are Cylons. Back in her room, in a state of delirium, she attacks Tyrol with a wrench, takes Nicky and goes to an airlock. Tory finds her before she can kill herself and her son, and Troy convinces her that being Cylons does not mean they are evil. Callie gives Nicky to Tory, who hits her and then opens the airlock, murdering Callie. The last scene shows Tyrol and Adama sitting in silence.

For me, Callie’s death has overshadowed everything that happened in this hour. Callie has been there from the beginning. She might not have always had the most rational reactions to events (remember when she shot Boomer) but she always loved Tyrol, even when he didn’t love himself, even when she thought he didn’t love her. For Callie, a wife and mother, troubled as she may have been, to die like that seems nothing short of tragic. Very few shows have the guts to portray the kind of suffering and trauma that would induce a woman to kill her own child, and no other that I have seen have the integrity to portray it with such honesty and charity. Callie did not die a ripped-from-the-headlines caricature, but rather a full person, know and loved, utterly devastated by circumstances beyond her control.

Before the next episode I am sure I will have more to say about what took place in “The Ties That Bind,” but for right now I am going to leave it here. Goodbye Callie.

The TV Girl