BSG is always an exhibit of how and when a government or leadership should bend, and sometimes it gives us a clear illustration of what happens when a leadership falls apart completely.
In a way, what happens in this episode began in this country on January 21, 2017. A good leader will not divide his constituents, but unite them. And Adama manages to piss off a lot of people here, as well as begin a process which ultimately destroys the frail government of the Fleet. Two previous episodes, "Bastille Day" and "Colonial Day", deal with questions about how a government which is on the run should actually be governed while staying safe from an enemy which constantly attacks. And just after the framework and ideals of that government were set into place, Adama begins to tear that framework apart, piece by piece. Just like what is happening in the US, with constant deregulation and removal of protections that have prevented another recession, as well as other laws that had prevented the mentally ill from obtaining firearms, or even protected our Forests from being chopped down, or from Oil Pipelines dripping oil into Native American Burial Lands.
The leader of the fleet is actually President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell) who was already on one film (Independence Day) where a President took active and total command of all military decisions. But she is depicted as a wise and spiritual leader, who does have faults but ultimately makes correct decisions about how to survive. In direct contrast to our current leader who has no such qualities, in fact who is a lot like the way Balthar is depicted as leader. Motivated by Selfishness, a Kleptocracy. Roslin ran a true democracy. The Fleet is actually a "Republic", each ship represents a particular tribe of people. But to govern such a ragtag fleet, democracy has to be used, the same way a group of quasi-independent states have to be governed.
Adama is supposed to defer to the Authority of The Office of The President. Here, the President has a valid (but crazy) idea about direction, yet Adama wants to dismiss her idea, and her Authority, and when he does so he keeps on moving in the wrong direction.
This does not all occur within this one episode, this is just the start of an arc that deals with these issues, it is as if the producers of this show wanted us to see, just how bad it could get. And bad it does get.
This is not the only time idiocy rears it's ugly, orange head in BSG. This is just the first time. And each time it happens, it takes at least three episodes to resolve it. Kind of like real life, where a national mistake is taking so far, two years to resolve.
BSG is about politics as must as it is about anything else, mirrored here are our own mistakes, our own idiocies. And it is not only the Fleet, or Roslin's government that makes the mistakes, or even Adama and Tigh. The Cylons make their mistakes too. And the more we learn about the Cylons, we see they have the same divisions as The Fleet does. They have their own Tom Zarek, in the form of Brother Cavill.
Religion is none too popular a subject these days, yet this episode shows that sometimes, there is value in Scriptures. Faith is supposed to be a comfort, and here, Roslin finds a clear direction while she is comforting herself with her religion. This is the way it should be, Faith comes in to play when a people are oppressed, when a person is struggling. Faith should not normally ever be used to lead a whole nation, or to dictate morality to a nation. Because Faith is a personal matter. Sometimes, one person who has Faith, will find a solution for something through that Faith. As Laura does here. But this is the exception, just to show that sometimes, a good decision can sometimes come through Faith.
Adama's reaction is the Skeptic's reaction. When he should have had more of a believer's reaction. Because there is a time for Faith, and a time for science. And a time for both, together, which is a common theme in this show, Faith and Science are integrated.
These episodes of BSG speak about these things, about faith vs skepticism, about atheism vs religion, about the different ways Leaders have led this country. BSG has had them, even "prophesied" them before they happened in our country. Ultimately, life is a balance of these things. And this particular episode starts a deep reflection of our own situation. If we had only listened.
