Litmus (Battlestar Galactica)
Encyclopedia
"Litmus" is the sixth episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica
television series. In the episode, after a Cylon
suicide bomber gains access to Galactica, an independent tribunal is appointed to investigate. The inquiry comes to focus on the relationship between Chief Galen Tyrol
and the Galactica copy of Boomer, who is still a Cylon sleeper agent. When Commander William Adama
is called before the tribunal, he disbands it, calling it a witch hunt. Tyrol ends his relationship with Boomer when one of his subordinates is jailed following the inquiry. On Caprica, Helo
rescues the Caprica copy of Boomer as other Cylons look on and conclude he loves her.
", Galactica-Boomer unknowingly sabotaged Galacticas water supplies and placed explosives on a Colonial Raptor
; Tyrol covered for her in both instances. In "You Can't Go Home Again
", Colonel Saul Tigh
ordered Tyrol to end his relationship with Galactica-Boomer, and Caprica-Boomer was seemingly captured by Cylon Centurions.
announces the appointment of the tribunal and discloses to the public for the first time the existence of the humanoid Cylons.
At the time of the explosion, Tyrol was meeting secretly with Galactica-Boomer despite Tigh's order. Three deckhands, Cally, Jammer, and Socinus, provide Hadrian with conflicting, false accounts of Tyrol's whereabouts during the bombing. Tyrol also lies to Hadrian during her investigation.
Starbuck
speculates that the Cylons were targeting Gaius Baltar
's secret Cylon detector project. Head Six later confirms this to Baltar but insists he continue the project, threatening him physically.
At the tribunal, Boomer lies about her relationship with Tyrol and her whereabouts during the bombing. Hadrian tells Tyrol that a hatch leading to a small arms locker, where a Marine guard was found dead, was found open. Boomer told Tyrol earlier that she used this hatch to reach their meeting place, but Tyrol lies, saying he had no idea how the hatch could have been left open. Confronted with the deckhands' contradictory statements, Tyrol invokes his right against self-incrimination
. Socinus confesses to leaving the hatch open deliberately to aid the Cylons and insists that, "whatever happened, it was me," and Tyrol had nothing to do with it.
Adama and Roslin discuss the tribunal's report. Adama expresses doubt regarding Socinus's testimony. Roslin intuits Tyrol is hiding something, but Adama remains confident in him. Hadrian calls Adama before the tribunal and accuses him of compromising the ship's security by allowing Boomer and Tyrol, whom she describes as "Cylon agents", to continue their affair. Adama refuses to participate further in the inquiry, calling it a witch hunt. Hadrian orders the Marines to return Adama to the witness chair, but they instead obey Adama's order to confine Hadrian to her quarters. The inquiry is closed despite a tribunal member's protest that Adama lacks the authority.
In a press conference, Roslin attributes the open hatch to negligence by Socinus and announces that he has been imprisoned. This moves Tyrol to confess the truth to Adama. Despite Tyrol's insistence that Socinus lied to protect him, Adama refuses to release Socinus, saying he committed perjury
one way or the other, and demands better conduct from Tyrol. Tyrol meets with Boomer and ends their relationship. He asks whether she left the hatch open; she refuses to answer.
, Helo heads for Cylon forces to attempt a rescue, confirming to the Cylons that he loves her. The Five and Six beat Boomer so Helo will think she struggled. Under cover of night, Helo destroys a Centurion and "rescues" Boomer as the Five and Six look on.
asks, "Was it wrong for Adama to dissolve a legally constituted judicial tribunal... simply because he sensed it becoming a witch-hunt or was he actually protecting the larger concepts of justice?" as one of a series of difficult political questions he felt Battlestar Galactica asked during its first season. He poses the question as one for valid debate and does not suggest an answer.
Amanda Keith of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group
compares Tyrol to Adama. Though Tyrol runs a tight deck, he also has a soft spot for his subordinates, as evidenced by his toleration of his deckhands' illicit distilling. Like Adama, he also inspires profound loyalty; hence what Keith calls Socinus's "boneheaded move".
Susan A. George writes that the narrative of Tyrol being involved with a deceptive, dangerous woman (Boomer) and being nearly destroyed by her fits into the tradition of film noir
. In George's view, Boomer threatens "male authority and the hierarchical command order". Commenting on the scene in which Six chokes Baltar, threatens that he must finish the Cylon detector, and then kisses him, George observes a "mix of sadism and eroticism... characteristic of the femme fatale
."
", "Final Cut
", and "Scar
"; he gave the last of these an A-.
Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore as a re-imagining of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series created by Glen A. Larson...
television series. In the episode, after a Cylon
Cylon (Battlestar Galactica)
The Cylons are a cybernetic civilization at war with the Twelve Colonies of humanity in the Battlestar Galactica science fiction franchise, in the original 1978 and 1980 series, the 2004 reimagining, as well as the spin-off prequel series, Caprica...
suicide bomber gains access to Galactica, an independent tribunal is appointed to investigate. The inquiry comes to focus on the relationship between Chief Galen Tyrol
Galen Tyrol
Galen Tyrol is a character on the television series Battlestar Galactica. Tyrol is responsible for the maintenance of the Vipers and Raptors aboard Battlestar Galactica...
and the Galactica copy of Boomer, who is still a Cylon sleeper agent. When Commander William Adama
William Adama
William "Bill" Adama is a fictional character portrayed by Edward James Olmos in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series...
is called before the tribunal, he disbands it, calling it a witch hunt. Tyrol ends his relationship with Boomer when one of his subordinates is jailed following the inquiry. On Caprica, Helo
Karl Agathon
Karl C. Agathon is a fictional character on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica TV series, portrayed by Tahmoh Penikett.-Background:...
rescues the Caprica copy of Boomer as other Cylons look on and conclude he loves her.
Plot
In "WaterWater (Battlestar Galactica)
"Water" is the second episode of season 1 of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series.-Plot:As President Laura Roslin makes a ceremonial visit to the Galactica, several explosions occur in the battlestar's potable water tanks, venting the bulk of its vital water stores into space...
", Galactica-Boomer unknowingly sabotaged Galacticas water supplies and placed explosives on a Colonial Raptor
Colonial Raptor
The Raptor is a multipurpose military spacecraft featured in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. According to producer Ronald D. Moore, the Raptor is analogous to the U.S. Navy's EA-6B Prowler.-Description:...
; Tyrol covered for her in both instances. In "You Can't Go Home Again
You Can't Go Home Again (Battlestar Galactica)
"You Can't Go Home Again" is the fifth episode of the first season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series.-Plot:Starbuck is forced to bail out over an inhospitable planet after her Viper was badly damaged during a dog fight with a Cylon Raider. On Galactica, one of the pilots...
", Colonel Saul Tigh
Saul Tigh
Saul Tigh is a fictional character on Battlestar Galactica played by Michael Hogan. The character was named Paul Tigh in early scripts, and was renamed due to legal issues, according to producer Ronald D. Moore. He is one of the main characters of the show.-Overview and personality:Saul Tigh is a...
ordered Tyrol to end his relationship with Galactica-Boomer, and Caprica-Boomer was seemingly captured by Cylon Centurions.
The human fleet
A Number Five copy boards Galactica with a group of civilians and detonates a suicide vest, killing three people and wounding 13. Adama grants the Galactica master at arms, Sergeant Hadrian, broad authority to investigate the infiltration and the other recent security breaches. Despite her concerns that Hadrian's inquiry may become a witch hunt, President Laura RoslinLaura Roslin
Her first actions include organizing all FTL-capable ships together and convincing Commander William Adama to abandon a retaliatory attack on the Cylons. President Roslin and Billy Keikeya, her aide/press secretary/chief of staff, establish a working office space aboard her transport, renamed...
announces the appointment of the tribunal and discloses to the public for the first time the existence of the humanoid Cylons.
At the time of the explosion, Tyrol was meeting secretly with Galactica-Boomer despite Tigh's order. Three deckhands, Cally, Jammer, and Socinus, provide Hadrian with conflicting, false accounts of Tyrol's whereabouts during the bombing. Tyrol also lies to Hadrian during her investigation.
Starbuck
Kara Thrace
Kara Thrace is a fictional character in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica franchise. Played by Katee Sackhoff, she is a revised version of Lieutenant Starbuck from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series...
speculates that the Cylons were targeting Gaius Baltar
Gaius Baltar
Gaius Baltar is a fictional character in the TV series Battlestar Galactica played by James Callis, a reimagining of Count Baltar from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series...
's secret Cylon detector project. Head Six later confirms this to Baltar but insists he continue the project, threatening him physically.
At the tribunal, Boomer lies about her relationship with Tyrol and her whereabouts during the bombing. Hadrian tells Tyrol that a hatch leading to a small arms locker, where a Marine guard was found dead, was found open. Boomer told Tyrol earlier that she used this hatch to reach their meeting place, but Tyrol lies, saying he had no idea how the hatch could have been left open. Confronted with the deckhands' contradictory statements, Tyrol invokes his right against self-incrimination
Self-incrimination
Self-incrimination is the act of accusing oneself of a crime for which a person can then be prosecuted. Self-incrimination can occur either directly or indirectly: directly, by means of interrogation where information of a self-incriminatory nature is disclosed; indirectly, when information of a...
. Socinus confesses to leaving the hatch open deliberately to aid the Cylons and insists that, "whatever happened, it was me," and Tyrol had nothing to do with it.
Adama and Roslin discuss the tribunal's report. Adama expresses doubt regarding Socinus's testimony. Roslin intuits Tyrol is hiding something, but Adama remains confident in him. Hadrian calls Adama before the tribunal and accuses him of compromising the ship's security by allowing Boomer and Tyrol, whom she describes as "Cylon agents", to continue their affair. Adama refuses to participate further in the inquiry, calling it a witch hunt. Hadrian orders the Marines to return Adama to the witness chair, but they instead obey Adama's order to confine Hadrian to her quarters. The inquiry is closed despite a tribunal member's protest that Adama lacks the authority.
In a press conference, Roslin attributes the open hatch to negligence by Socinus and announces that he has been imprisoned. This moves Tyrol to confess the truth to Adama. Despite Tyrol's insistence that Socinus lied to protect him, Adama refuses to release Socinus, saying he committed perjury
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
one way or the other, and demands better conduct from Tyrol. Tyrol meets with Boomer and ends their relationship. He asks whether she left the hatch open; she refuses to answer.
Caprica
Caprica-Boomer's apparent capture is revealed to be a ruse to test Helo's feelings for her. As Boomer watches with a Number Five and a Number SixNumber Six (Battlestar Galactica)
Number Six is a family of fictional characters from the reimagined science fiction television series, Battlestar Galactica. She is portrayed by Canadian actress and model Tricia Helfer. Of the twelve known Cylon models, she is the sixth of the "Significant Seven"...
, Helo heads for Cylon forces to attempt a rescue, confirming to the Cylons that he loves her. The Five and Six beat Boomer so Helo will think she struggled. Under cover of night, Helo destroys a Centurion and "rescues" Boomer as the Five and Six look on.
Analysis
On his blog, executive producer Ronald D. MooreRonald D. Moore
Ronald Dowl Moore is an American screenwriter and television producer best known for his work on Star Trek and the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, for which he won a Peabody Award for creative excellence in 2005 and an Emmy Award in 2008.-Early life and...
asks, "Was it wrong for Adama to dissolve a legally constituted judicial tribunal... simply because he sensed it becoming a witch-hunt or was he actually protecting the larger concepts of justice?" as one of a series of difficult political questions he felt Battlestar Galactica asked during its first season. He poses the question as one for valid debate and does not suggest an answer.
Amanda Keith of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group
Los Angeles Newspaper Group
The Los Angeles Newspaper Group is an umbrella group of local daily newspapers published in the greater Los Angeles area by MediaNews Group. The news coverage of the newspapers are mainly local stories. The newspapers contain some national and international news, often from the Associated Press...
compares Tyrol to Adama. Though Tyrol runs a tight deck, he also has a soft spot for his subordinates, as evidenced by his toleration of his deckhands' illicit distilling. Like Adama, he also inspires profound loyalty; hence what Keith calls Socinus's "boneheaded move".
Susan A. George writes that the narrative of Tyrol being involved with a deceptive, dangerous woman (Boomer) and being nearly destroyed by her fits into the tradition of film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
. In George's view, Boomer threatens "male authority and the hierarchical command order". Commenting on the scene in which Six chokes Baltar, threatens that he must finish the Cylon detector, and then kisses him, George observes a "mix of sadism and eroticism... characteristic of the femme fatale
Femme fatale
A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art...
."
Reception
Simon Brew of Den of Geek praised the episode, calling Adama's refusal to release Socinus and insistence that Tyrol bear the consequences of his bad actions "quality writing and thinking". Susan Tankersley of Television Without Pity gave the episode an F, calling the tribunal "hamfisted" and commenting, "The fact that [Hadrian] was very nearly right [about Tyrol and Boomer] is completely overshadowed", a point Keith echoed. Keith said the episode has "some surprising gems" but is overall "largely flawed". Writing retrospectively in the middle of the series's second season, Jacob Clifton of Television Without Pity said he liked the episode, comparing it favorably to the second-season episodes "The FarmThe Farm (Battlestar Galactica)
"The Farm" is the fifth episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on August 12, 2005...
", "Final Cut
Final Cut (Battlestar Galactica)
"Final Cut" is the eighth episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on September 9, 2005....
", and "Scar
Scar (Battlestar Galactica)
"Scar" is the fifteenth episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on February 3, 2006....
"; he gave the last of these an A-.
Connections to other series elements
- The episode shows some aspects of the Colonial legal system, including a right against self-incrimination. Hadrian says Tyrol's invocation of this right is evidence against him, but Adama indicates this is contrary to Colonial legal precedentPrecedentIn common law legal systems, a precedent or authority is a principle or rule established in a legal case that a court or other judicial body may apply when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts...
. - During her conversation with Baltar, Head Six reveals that the Cylons do not know about her.
- During his discussion of the tribunal with Roslin, Adama reveals that his father was a civil libertiesCivil libertiesCivil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
lawyer. - Roslin's release of a mugshot of Leoben ConoyLeoben ConoyLeoben Conoy is a fictional character portrayed by Callum Keith Rennie appearing in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series....
in this episode allows the fleet to identify and detain a Leoben copy in the episode "Flesh and BoneFlesh and Bone (Battlestar Galactica)"Flesh and Bone" is the eighth episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series.-Plot:President Roslin sees a copy of Leoben Conoy, a duplicate of the Cylon that Commander Adama encountered on Ragnar Anchorage, in a dream. Soon afterwards, a copy of this Cylon is caught aboard the...
". - A scene deleted from the first-season finale "Kobol's Last Gleaming" shows Tyrol securing Socinus's release from the brig and berating Socinus for his actions in "Litmus". Socinus is shown serving on Tyrol's RaptorColonial RaptorThe Raptor is a multipurpose military spacecraft featured in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. According to producer Ronald D. Moore, the Raptor is analogous to the U.S. Navy's EA-6B Prowler.-Description:...
in "Kobol's Last Gleaming". - In the second-season episode "The FarmThe Farm (Battlestar Galactica)"The Farm" is the fifth episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on August 12, 2005...
", Caprica-Boomer reveals the reason behind the Cylons' interest in Helo's feelings for her: unable to reproduce themselves and unsuccessful in attempts at forced breeding human-Cylon hybrids, they thought love might be the missing ingredient. - In the second-season episode "PegasusPegasus (Battlestar Galactica)"Pegasus" is the tenth episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on September 23, 2005. Following "Pegasus", the series went on hiatus until January 2006....
", Admiral Helena CainHelena CainAdmiral Helena Cain is a fictional character in the reimagined science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica, portrayed by Michelle Forbes.-Youth:...
cites Adama's closure of the tribunal in denying his request for a jury court-martial for Helo and Tyrol. - In Battlestar Galactica: The PlanBattlestar Galactica: The PlanBattlestar Galactica: The Plan is a made for television movie set in the reimagined version of the fictional Battlestar Galactica universe. It consists of newly filmed material as well as a compilation of footage from the TV series and miniseries....
, it is revealed that Adama was the true target of the bombing.
External links
- "Litmus" at the Battlestar Wiki
- "Litmus" at SyfySyfySyfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...