Number Six’s Nostrils
Been watching a LOT of Battlestar Galactica episodes this weekend, and in this immersion I have gained a great respect for Number Six’s nostrils. This is not a part of Tricia Helfer’s body that usually gets attention, which is is a shame.
Number Six is a crucial cylon in the BSG mythology, capable of great cruelty and manipulation, and yet also needy and surprisingly sympathetic. When I first started watching the show I wanted to hate Number Six, and regularly referred to the pairing of Number Six and Baltar as “She Devil and the Lizard.”
But Tricia Helfer does a brilliant job, making what could have been a simple caricature of a femme fatale into a cylon force that is believable in all of her various and expanding incarnations. Tricia is a very physical actress, and by that I mean the way she uses her body. In her scenes with Gaius she drapes her body, using her superior height to hover over and around him like a sensual predator. She is precise, she is controlled, and she uses her body to maintain the aura of a character that is in control.
Which brings me back to the nostrils. Looking back at the first two seasons, each time Number Six loses control something big is happening. A shift in the storyline is taking place, or a dynamic is shifting that is crucial to the BSG mythology. And Number Six generally communicates her loss of control with her nostrils. She can pinch them, quiver them slightly, or they can flare out to show rage or disdain. Following that logic, if we are looking for clues to future storyline developments we pay attention to Number Six’s nostrils.
Battlestar Galactica, Tricia Helfer, Number Six, Gaius Baltar
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