Watching “No exit” has been a weird and confusing experience. At some points I thought my head was going to explode. Yeah, this was a dense episode  with so much information that it was impossible to process all of it without a rewatch. Trying to absorb in less than 45 minutes 3000 years of cylon mythology is a hard task, right? ;)  But I found it fascinating.
We needed answers. And we got some of them. So I think this was a necessary episode; yeah, maybe this vomiting of exposition wasn’t the best way to do it -I am certainly not thrilled with it-, but I love some of the concepts and ideas hinted in “No Exit”…

What we learned from Anders. This is my take on cylon/human history… Frankly, after rewatching “No exit” I had to write a comprehensive cylon/human timeline…

*About 3000 years ago. The humans created the cylons on Kobol. Humans were punished by the gods and they were forced to abandon Kobol. The humans fleed to the Twelve Colonies and the cylons -the 13^th tribe- headed to Earth. The 13^th tribe settled on Earth and started procreating (and thus, the ability to download fell out of use).

*About 2000 years ago. The 13^th tribe created their own centurions. The Final Five -who were supposed to be “especial cylons”- were warned by someone??? that the centurions would finally rebel if they were treated as slaves. That’s why the Final Five started working to rediscover the resurrection. Finally, the centurions rose against their masters and produced a nuclear holocaust. The 13^th tribe was annihilated but the Final Five managed to upload their consciousness to a spaceship in Earth's orbit.

*The Final Five headed at sublight speed -because they haven’t developed jump drives- to the Colonies in order to warn the humans not to enslave the artificial life they were supposed to create at some point of their story (and thus, prevent the cycle of destruction from happening again).

*Approx. Year -10 to -20. The humans created the centurions in the colonies.

*Year 0. First Cylon War. The centurions rose against its creators and tried to create organic bodies (the first hybrids).

The Final Five arrived at Earth and made a deal with the centurions; they agreed to help them to create flesh bodies if they stopped the war. The centurions agreed and the Armistice began.

During this period of peace the Final Five developed eight humanoid models and gave them resurrection habilities. Cavil/John was the first model created and helped the Final Five to build the other models. But Cavil betrayed his creators and boxed them. He blocked their access to their memories and implanted them with false memories.

*Year 15-20. Tigh was unboxed and met Bill.

*Year 41. The Armistice is broken and the Colonies are nuked.

*Year 44ish. Present BSG time.

Well, a lot of information but, at least, the whole thing makes sense (much more sense than I expected, really ;p).

Kara and Sam. Well, I must confess that I was a little bit nervous with the Kara and Sam interaction in this episode. Frankly, I didn’t want to see a love declaration from Kara or anything similar because, at this point of the story and as I read Kara, it would have been out of character… But, after watching the episode, I must say that I didn’t find their scenes together shippy at all. What I saw instead was a woman worried -and scared- because her (former?) husband was in a life or death situation. And I saw a lot of guilt, too -typical Kara-.

I like Anders as a character and I hope he won't die... but really, I didn't see anything romantic in all the Sam/Kara interaction...

And, of course, let’s face it, Kara truly loves Sam. As RDM said in the podcast for this episode: “She’s always been in love with him to an extent, even when that’s been supplanted by her feelings for Lee Adama". Well, that’s it. Kara loves Sam, as Lee loved Dualla –and that is why I wasn’t really bothered by all the Dee/Lee interaction in “Sometimes a great notion”. But, as I think that both Lee and Kara loved their respective spouses, I also believe that their feelings for each other are deeper. They are soulmates. And I’m pretty confident that this is what we are going to learn at the end of the series. Yes, maybe Kara and Lee are not going to end up together -I’m increasingly convinced now that their ending is not going to be a happy one-, but I also believe that they will finally have to deal with their feelings. And if the show gives me the recognition of their love, their rightness and togetherness -even if they don’t end up together-, I think I will be happy. Besides, tragic and epic love stories with bittersweet endings have always been the most romantic for me… ;)
**Yeah, Cosette in her K/L optimistic zone of true and eternal love ;D**

Lee. He is going to become the leader of the Fleet. As Laura points out, he has always been the right one. And I love how he acknowledges that they are a “fleet” now, because the old planets of the Colonies don’t exist anymore. They have to face this reality and find a new identity if they are going to survive as a civilization.

 Gratuitous Lee!Pics (because he can't help being frakking hot ;D)
Lee (in his awesone T-shirt of hotness -remember "Sine Qua Non"?-) + Power of Presidence = Irresistible Lee :D

Ellen/Cavil. I loved the back and forth between Ellen and Cavil. Both Dean Stockwell and Kate Vernon were terrific in their roles. Cavil is a petulant, bitter and angry Cylon who wants to get some payback on Ellen and the other Final Five at any cost (did anyone notice the parallel between the reasoning of this character and Smith from “The Matrix”?). I love this dialogue:

Cavil: “I am not human (…). I’m a machine, and I could know much more. I could experience so much more. But I’m trapped in this absurd body. And why? Because my five creators thought that God wanted it that way”.
Ellen to Boomer: “You have something to say?”.
Boomer: “Don’t you feel the slightest bit of remorse for what you did to him? What you did to us?”.
Ellen: “No. Because he is wrong, Boomer. There is no need for remorse or blame. We didn’t limit you. We gave you something wonderful. Free will. The ability to think creatively. To reach out to others with compassion. To love”.
 

Boomer, Ellen and Cavil conversation was really interesting... And Boomer finally chose a side.

As I said before, I love the philosophical debate that was going on between Cavil and Ellen. Cavil blames Ellen and the Final Five for making him “flawed”, for making him “human”. And Ellen believes that all that imperfections contain the true essence of life: creativity, compassion, love. Free will.

And I think this is the ultimate message of this show. Is it that different being cylon or being human? What does make someone “human”? BSG constantly questions our perceptions of the human race; we're continually challenged to give a reason why humanity deserves to survive. Are our qualities enough to outweigh our faults? This show portrays humanity as anything but simple or perfect; on the contrary, it proves us again and again that humans -and human relationships- are deeply flawed. As Ellen says, being human implies feeling petty emotions like anger, hate, jealousy and envy; but also means being capable of feeling pain, compassion and emotion… It implies to love and be loved; to choose the way you want to live, the way you want to die, who you want to love.

Free will.

The choices we all make define who we are. And I truly think this concept is going to play a key role in the endgame of this show. Are we doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over again? Are we destined to destroy ourselves? Can humanity stop the circle of violence?  I’m pretty sure that, at the end, all these characters will finally have to face their own fears, doubts and feelings, and choose. Because this is what BSG is about.

Life or death. War or peace. Guilt or redemption. Love or hate. Fate or free will.