That’s Not Starbuck
Last week’s episode made it very clear to me: that creature is not Starbuck. That is my theory anyway … it’s still a mystery on Battlestar Galactica, but in my humble opinion Starbuck would not do the things this thing has done. If you have seen “Six of One” or don’t mind being spoiled, click below.
When I say Starbuck would not do the things this creature has done, I don’t mean pulling a gun on the President. Starbuck would definitely do that, if she thought it was the right thing to do. What she would not do is get all weepy in the process.
Starbuck does not cry, even when someone is saying horrific things to her, about her, or calling her a coward, a liar, a cheat, or a Cylon. The Starbuck we know would not spend most of “Six of One” weeping, no matter what Admiral Adama spat in her face.
Weeping is not Starbuck’s way … when someone calls her names she is much more likely to spit back some below-the-belt comments of her own, on the theory that whoever hits her must be hit harder.
That scene with Lee at the end, in Starbuck’s cell erased all doubts for me. That whole goodbye kiss never would have happened with the old Starbuck. How many times have we watched her push away someone she loves, with violence or poison words, just as they were trying to get close? How many times have we seen her back away from a painful moment by insulting the person who was trying to reach out to her? This is the same woman who married Anders rather than face a smitten Lee Adama … Starbuck is self-destructive, and only hugs when forced. Starbuck would not get all mushy and kissy as he is saying goodbye, she would make a crack about how she did not need him and send him on his way.
Starbuck has always been vulnerable, but secretly so … the new version is too vulnerable, too girly, and too emotional to be the same woman who flew into the nebula. I don’t know what this creature is, but it is not Kara “Starbuck” Thrace.
April 15th, 2008 at 6:27 am
Yeah, and you totally agree with Dr. House that “people don’t change”. Starbuck has been put into an extreme situation, don’t forget that.
April 15th, 2008 at 7:41 am
Good analysis, but I wonder if going to Earth somehow changed her; made her more emotional? Just a thought.
April 15th, 2008 at 8:17 am
I’ve been thinking…
We’ve got a lot of people shaping up to be ‘Major Players’ and in typical Battlestar fashion, they’re all seeming extremely neutral when it comes to who to trust and who not to…
Firstly, there’s Baltar, who’s definitely got the whole Jesus thing going for him, despite being a rather unscrupulous man. And he’s got this mysterious link, through Head-Six, to what may or may not be a higher power. If he is connected, is it to the One True God, or is it possibly to the Devil (ala Count Whoever in the original BSG)?
Then there’s Caprica-Six, with her very own Head-Baltar. She’s in fact in the Jesus Christ pose in this season’s promo, which certainly does make you wonder. She too is portrayed as some kind of messiah on the Show… Except where as Balter’s Head-Six is a prideful proponent of the One True God, Caprica-Six’s Head-Baltar seems to be the opposite–an embodiment of selfishness…
Does this imply the relationship between Good and Evil? Baltar and Six were undeniably drawn to one another and have remained so. Both are compassionate, yet both have one of those seven-deadly’s about them.
This is very much like in Ron’s last show Carnivale, where Brother Justin and Ben Hawkins were both arguably more neutral than either would admit.
And then there’s the dying leader, Roslyn, who’s shown herself to be as conceited as she is dedicated to her cause. Is she perhaps NOT the dying leader? Will her conceit actually bring harm to the survivors fleet? Arguably, Caprica-Six, Baltar, Roslyn, or Starbuck could be the dying leader… In fact, so might one of the Adama’s stand to be such. Lee’s entrance into office means that he might have sway over the decisions being made enough to guide the fleet to earth.
And finally, Starbuck. I could accept her not being the ‘real’ Starbuck. But whether she is or she isn’t, the real question remains, for her and for all of the others: Who can we trust?
Perhaps there is only one path that will lead the fleet safely into the future and perhaps it isn’t the one that they will take as the series comes to a close.
But perhaps it’s the opposite. Perhaps all of these strange leaders’ paths will unite, like some karmic wheel that tightens to become a single unified point, and in the end we’ll see that all choices were of absolute necessity, that there was no chance of any alternate outcome and the the beginning and the end are more furiously linked than any of the Major Players would like to believe.
April 15th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
It would be fitting for BSG for Roslin to die before she gets to Earth, but die knowing she was not the leader from the prophesies … ugh, the idea makes my heart ache just thinking about it, and that kind of emotional reaction and surprise is probably one of the reasons Ron Moore would do it.
Interesting ideas about Baltar and Six and good and evil. Six is certainly a much different character than she was in the beginning, or perhaps all of those cold calculating Sixes have evolved to emotionally open and religiously obsessed models who protect babies instead of snapping their necks.
April 15th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Margie, thank you for articulating this. I thought I just didn’t like the episodes that much–and I want to LOVE the episodes, like always. If you’re right, it turns out I just don’t like Starbuck. And I don’t like her for exactly the reasons you say. You’re so right!
April 16th, 2008 at 1:47 am
what would you rather have the character do? No one is listening to her and isolating her, not just literally. She feels frustrated. do you want a machine? even the cylons feel frustration in that episode
April 16th, 2008 at 1:49 am
I love this new Starbuck.the rage in her is still there, not from her past wrongs, but for being purely right. She may even be the dieing leader.
April 17th, 2008 at 6:47 am
Maybe it’s called character development.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Maybe, Mike … maybe Starbuck magically came to terms with her mother’s death and that allowed her to finally open up and be emotional with the people around her. Maybe coming back from the dead means she is crying all of the tears she never let herself cry before. Stranger things have happened, but the end result is the same - she is not the person she was last season, and certainly not the same person she was in the seasons before that.
April 21st, 2008 at 12:10 pm
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April 28th, 2008 at 12:35 am
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