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This series is filled with interesting characters. For a genre that is all too often given wooden archetypes that are proficient at dodging lasers but rather limited in their humanity, it is a breath of fresh air. People (or Cylons), it regularly insists, are complicated.
Gaius Baltar is no exception. He’s a brilliant scientist, a respected leader in the fleet of survivors, as well as a narcissistic traitor hell-bent on saving his own skin above all else. Oh, and he has an ongoing dialogue with a beautiful Cylon woman who he alone can see – the same Cylon woman that used him to gain access to the defense mainframe for the purpose of disabling it. So when a woman who looks identical to the one in his head accuses him of treason in front of Commander Adama, things quickly deteriorate for our beloved doctor. Interestingly, this all happens after a conversation with the woman in his head in which he mocks her belief in God (a singular “true” God, as opposed to the pantheon that most individuals in the Colonies accept – though Gaius doesn’t believe in any of it).
As Gaius finds himself facing treason charges (and the death penalty), we watch him start to unravel. For a person whose whole being is built around protecting their life, there can be nothing more frightening than facing such charges and being powerless to discredit them. I can’t help but think about Baltar in this episode as a version of Job – a man who once had everything and who finds himself in danger of losing it all. Of course, the difference between Baltar and Job is that Baltar is actually guilty of treason (even if it’s not the particular charge that has been brought to the Commander’s attention). In the end, Gaius throws himself onto God’s mercy accepting that he is not in control and begging God for help. In reality, it’s the only move he has left. And it works. Gaius is saved by a last minute double-check which reveals that the photo of him planting a bomb in the Defense Headquarters is a fake. When Six, the Cylon who shares Gaius’ headspace, reappears she explains that the whole thing was orchestrated to exonerate Gaius from all charges of treason (especially the ones based in fact) that may appear in the future. It was, in her words, all a part of God’s divine plan.
When Gaius reached his lowest point, I couldn’t help but think about Jesus’ words, “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it” (Mark 8:35). No matter how hard we try to avoid it, we all have a death penalty hanging over us and to spend our entire lives solely concerned with our survival will, in the end, be a futile venture. It will also prevent us from doing our part for the community we have around us, since we must often protect our interest at the expense of others. Of course, there’s a difference between offering our lives over to God in a moment of desperation and offering our lives up to him as a daily sacrifice. I don’t think Gaius Baltar has completely shed himself of all self-interest, but then again, neither have I. It is incumbent upon us, and by “us” I most especially mean “me,” to decide whether we are living our lives for something that ends in death or for something that ends in resurrection.