7 Biggest Problems With Battlestar Galactica’s Final Five Cylon Twist

Battlestar Galactica banked hard on its Final Five twist, but revealing this clandestine quintet of concealed Cylons created a number of problems that became apparent throughout Battlestar Galactica season 4. From its very first episode, Ronald D. Moore leaned heavily on the concept of humanoid Cylons in 2004’s Battlestar Galactica reboot to build intrigue and suspicion over “those frakkin’ Toasters” potentially hiding within the Colonial Fleet. That ongoing theme of mystery and mistrust duly culminated in Battlestar Galactica season 3’s Final Five, which revealed four main characters and one semi-prominent supporting figure had been Cylons all along.

Ronald D. Moore has freely acknowledged that Battlestar Galactica‘s Final Five twist and the identities of those involved were not mapped out from the very beginning (via NJ). That isn’t a problem in and of itself, but given the magnitude of the twist and how late in the day Battlestar Galactica dropped it, the inevitable ramifications rippled through the show’s narrative fabric, rewriting the past and narrowing possibilities for the future. The big Final Five sequence from Battlestar Galactica‘s season 3 finale and its “All Along The Watchtower” accompaniment remains a landmark moment in TV history, but the long-term problems it caused arguably outweigh the good parts.

7 The Final Five Only Had A Small Role In Battlestar Galactica’s Ending

What did the Final Five actually do in Battlestar Galactica?

The gravity of Battlestar Galactica‘s Final Five twist went far beyond the simple realization that five well-known characters were not human. These particular Cylons were also the remnants of a past robotic civilization wiped out by AI creations, and had become the forebearers of Battlestar Galactica‘s current Cylon cycle in an attempt to break the “this has all happened before, and will happen again” pattern. Consequently, the Final Five were treated like mythical deities throughout Battlestar Galactica season 3, creating the expectation that their role in the fourth and final season would be deeply significant.

It was not. All five characters took a back seat during Battlestar Galactica‘s controversial ending – literally in the case of Samuel Anders. When the fighting erupted inside Galactica’s CIC, the Final Five came close to negotiating a permanent truce between humans and Cylons, but were scuppered when Tyrol discovered Tory killed his wife and returned the favor. The war resumed, and the Final Five’s role in proceedings quickly became academic. Anders served as the Galactica’s Hybrid, and the Final Five did help maintain the human-Cylon alliance leading up to the finale, but given how heavily they were hyped, the Final Five’s part in the closing act was glorified admin.

6 Battlestar Galactica Season 4 Had To Retcon Tyrol’s Child

Hotdog lived up to his call sign after Battlestar Galactica retconned Tyrol’s child

Upon exposing a raft of main characters as Cylons after three whole seasons, several past story beats no longer made sense, forcing Battlestar Galactica season 4 into a series of retcons. The parentage of Tyrol’s child was one of the more egregious rewrites. Battlestar Galactica introduced baby Nicholas as the son of Tyrol and Cally in online web series The Resistance, and the youngster was then shown throughout season 3 proper. After that season’s finale cemented Galen Tyrol as a member of the Final Five, however, problems arose. Battlestar Galactica had already harped on about the significance of naturally-conceived hybrids, and that made Nicholas a deeply vital character.

Alas, Battlestar Galactica had already marked out Sharon and Helo’s daughter, Hera, as the show’s designated child of prophecy, forcing season 4 to haphazardly retcon Nicholas’ parentage by revealing Hotdog as the secret daddy. Despite the strife within Tyrol and Cally’s marriage, there was never any prior suggestion of Tyrol not being Nicholas’ father, and the secret sat awkwardly alongside Cally’s otherwise wholesome characterization. Paternity drama was not a topic Battlestar Galactica‘s final season needed to be dealing with, but the Final Five twist had pushed the show into a narrative corner.

5 Saul Tigh’s Aging Doesn’t Make Sense

Tigh looked older when he was younger in Battlestar Galactica’s flashbacks

Facial wrinkles and creaking joints are problems that Cylons do not have to endure, as their artificial bodies never age. During flashbacks explaining the history of Battlestar Galactica‘s Final Five, the group all look exactly the same as they do in the present timeline, despite thousands of years separating the two eras. In a major timeline frak-up, however, Battlestar Galactica season 2 had already featured a flashback to Bill Adama’s earlier years, and clearly showed Saul Tigh as a younger man. Even if the onscreen difference is small, Adama undoubtedly would have noticed his best friend’s unchanging appearance during the several decades they spent together.

There are, of course, numerous ways to plug this plot hole, and Battlestar Galactica addressed it head on after Adama discovered his friend’s true nature. Echoing the audience’s misgivings, Adama confronted Saul with, “When I met you, you had hair. I never heard of a Cylon aging.” Responding to his senior officer’s memories of their younger selves, Saul Tigh reasoned,

“Doesn’t mean they don’t [age]. Before the attack on the Colonies, we didn’t know skin-jobs existed. Turns out there’s another kind of Cylon we didn’t know about, and I’m one of them.”

This is the closest Battlestar Galactica came to addressing the plot hole of Saul Tigh’s age, and the notion of an aging Cylon model certainly does sit within the boundaries of canon possibility. Nevertheless, this was another Final Five continuity wrinkle that forced Battlestar Galactica to set up its ironing board. Tigh’s status as a member of the Final Five meshed uneasily with his established backstory, and Battlestar Galactica acknowledging that fact onscreen does not mean it can be ignored. The Final Five prompted an awkward conversation about Cylon aging that has no clear answer.

4 Battlestar Galactica’s Final Five Exposed A Secretly Gross Storyline

Ellen & Cavil having sex was worse than you thought

When Battlestar Galactica season 3 began, Saul Tigh had been captured by the Cylons occupying New Caprica, and his wife, Ellen, had struck up a sexual arrangement with Cavil in order to bargain for her husband’s safety. Cavil blackmailing Ellen Tigh into sleeping with him was grim enough, but the Final Five’s backstory made their tryst more sickening than initially thought. After Battlestar Galactica season 4 explained the Final Five’s origins, it became clear that the revered Cylon quintet were responsible for creating the so-called Significant Seven, and Cavil was their first model. Cavil was also made to physically resemble Ellen’s father.

Ellen was unaware of this connection during her illicit Cylon sex sessions, and merely thought she could spare Saul by offering herself to his captor. Cavil, on the other hand, knew everything. Rather than just coercing Ellen into sleeping with him, therefore, Cavil was actually coercing Ellen into sleeping with a Cylon that wore the face of her own father, which put a deeply unsettling twist on Battlestar Galactica‘s past seasons.

Again, the Final Five twist was to blame. Battlestar Galactica needed to emphasize the parent-child dynamic between the Final Five and the Significant Seven to explain their innate connection, but couldn’t navigate around the fact Ellen and Cavil had already been intimate. One could argue that this detail served to make Cavil an even nastier villain in hindsight, but, truthfully, Ellen riding a robotic version of her dad was more disturbing than it needed to be, and added nothing to a final run that is not remembered as one of Battlestar Galactica‘s best seasons.

3 The Final Five Reveal Relied A Lot On Coincidence

Battlestar Galactica scrambled to explain its massive lore dump

The Final Five twist effectively served as a massive lore dump spanning several millennia right at the climax of Battlestar Galactica‘s story, and making all of those strands converge meant frequently calling upon coincidence, convenience, and contrivance. It is strange, for example, that all members of the Final Five were already familiar with each other before realizing their true natures. The law of probability suggests that at least one should have been a no-name background figure. Likewise, all Final Five Cylons were lucky enough to survive the attack on the Twelve Colonies – an outcome even Cavil thought impossible, according to special episode “The Plan.”

Battlestar Galactica explained how Cavil released the Final Five into the Twelve Colonies to make them realize humans were inferior – a flimsy way of reconciling his connection to the group with the fact that all of them ended up occupying significant positions in Colonial society. Saul and Ellen marrying is passed off as a consequence of their eternal love transcending their lost memories, but remains a huge coincidence nonetheless. Other elements – why “All Along The Watchtower” specifically triggers an awakening, for example – Battlestar Galactica doesn’t even attempt to explain. Held up to any kind of scrutiny, Battlestar Galactica‘s Final Five crumbles faster than the Tighs’ wedding vows.

2 BSG’s Final Five Reveal Clashed With Starbuck’s Revival

Too many twists within a few minutes hurt BSG’s big moment(s).

Whatever problems Battlestar Galactica‘s Final Five story caused in season 4, the initial reveal from season 3’s finale was unquestionably a high-impact, shocking, powerful moment where music and direction combined to great effect. Unfortunately, the twist’s landing was hampered by its proximity to another huge surprise from Battlestar Galactica‘s season 3 finale. Within mere seconds of revealing Saul Tigh, Tory, Samuel Anders, and Galen Tyrol as sleeper Cylons, Battlestar Galactica brought Starbuck back from the dead.

Either of these moments would have served as a strong cliffhanger to keep audiences guessing between seasons, but cramming them into the same small space ultimately hurt both plots. Setting up two game-changing, unexplained mysteries side-by-side gave neither twist room to breathe, and left Battlestar Galactica season 4 with far too much exposition to cover. The decision was perhaps made to reassure viewers that Katee Sackhoff was still part of Battlestar Galactica‘s cast for the final season. While understandable, Starbuck’s comeback may have been better coming earlier in the episode, or being saved for the season 4 premiere.

1 The Final Five Made Tigh’s Best Battlestar Galactica Moment Pointless

Ellen died for nothing

Arguably Saul Tigh’s best moment of character development came early in Battlestar Galactica‘s New Caprica arc, when the beleaguered soldier killed his own wife after discovering her collusion with the Cylons. The moral dilemma was a harrowing scene, played expertly by actors Michael Hogan and Kate Vernon. Following the Final Five revelation, however, Ellen’s death became meaningless. Not only had Ellen survived her assassination, but neither Tigh was ever at real risk of dying. All character progression Saul received post-Ellen was cast aside, as her murder became little more than a lover’s tiff. Indeed, the resurrected Ellen seemed more peeved about Saul getting another Cylon pregnant than her own death.

Picking Saul Tigh as a member of the Final Five was justifiable. Galactica’s second-in-command had always been the most vocal opponent of robots, and that created a fascinating juxtaposition between his beliefs and biology. Beyond affording Kate Vernon a return in Battlestar Galactica‘s final season, however, introducing Ellen as the final surprise Cylon was a little bit like putting Saul Tigh in command of Galactica – a good idea on paper, but really quite problematic in practice.

Sources: NJ