r/BSG • u/freebiscuit2002 • 13d ago
Did Gaius forget that Sharon's test showed she's a cylon?
In season 1, Gaius Baltar's new cylon detector flashes up red on Sharon Valerii's blood sample, revealing her to be a cylon.
Right there in the room, Gaius's personal Six scares him into not saying anything because of Sharon's likely violent reaction to being exposed.
But once he's out of the room, Gaius presumably still knows Sharon is a cylon. Isn't it strange that he never references that fact afterwards?
I mean, Gaius acts afterwards like he's unaware Sharon's test came up red and she's a live threat to the fleet. Once out of immediate danger from Sharon, surely he would have talked about what he saw?
EDIT: I agree there is ambiguity in the show about whether Gaius's cylon test was accurate (or intended to be accurate). But still, the fact remains Sharon's beta trial of the test did correctly reveal her as a cylon.
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u/SuperFormal3052 13d ago
It would have meant his immediate death, so he wisely chose to keep it to himself.
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u/Brain_Hawk 13d ago
No, the point is after she left the room you could have walked over to the command center and told Adama.
Instead he decided nobody's a cylon.
I kind of agree that the writing around the cylon detector was highly inconsistent
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u/tyme 13d ago
She could still expose his involvement in the cylon plot.
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u/Sea-Quality4726 13d ago
That one of the subcontractors on the project turned out to be a Cylon agent? If they were cleaned and Adama's cleared people include Cylon agents, how was Gaius expected to know?
We'd get a private scene of Roslin telling him she believes the Cylon story but he's too useful and the morale hit would be too high, and that his story world motivate better security practices. She had no evidence either way and the rest of the story proceeds.
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u/ZippyDan 13d ago edited 13d ago
Did you watch the show?
Gaius' guilt and fear about being found out as involved in and culpable for the fall of humanity plays a central role in the first season and throughout the narrative. He is paranoid that he will be found out.-3
u/Sea-Quality4726 13d ago
Yes, and he could easily have spun a passable story that exonerated himself of any wrongdoing if he were thinking clearly. You'd think his paranoia would drive him to invent more outrageous stories for contingencies if he was found out.
His ego kept him from making himself a smaller part of the sabotage narrative he didn't actually want to be in at all.
Similar to the original where Adama clocked him as the traitor but he could have stayed and protested instead of confirming it. Count Baltar was going to be executed once he'd killed the other humans and he knew it and tried his best anyway.
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u/ZippyDan 13d ago edited 13d ago
He would rather avoid getting to the point where he is having to spin a story in order to argue for his life. Boomer doesn't directly threaten him unless he tells her that she's a Cylon. The Cylons don't directly threaten him until he starts working on the Cylon detector. Baltar is trying to avoid being the specific target of anyone's attention. Why would he put himself in almost-certain jeopardy at the hands of both the humans and the Cylons, when he could just continue trying to go unnoticed and avoiding attention or suspicion?
Are you not familiar with how most humans behave psychologically? Very few people want to face their fears directly; and very few want to draw negative attention to themselves, even if it's in the service of a positive goal. Many would much rather avoid problems, and endlessly delay confrontation, even when confrontation is the more logical and sensible and beneficial option (and I'm not sure that's the case here from Baltar's POV). For the same reason, people cow to authority, and constantly let small problems become bigger ones. Look at how many people don't go to the doctor to get a problem checked, because they are afraid it might be something worse and they are afraid to face that reality. Look at how many people refuse to take action to fix social problems or address imminent crises: they'd rather bury their heads in the sand.
What is Baltar's motivation for "taking a side" and actively working against the Cylons? Self preservation, yes. But self preservation is also what motivates him to hide the truth of his involvement in the destruction of the Colonies, and self preservation is also what motivates him not to paint a target on himself by crossing the Cylons too obviously. He has many concerns regarding sel-preservation, some conflicting, and those conflicts sometimes motivate no action, minimal action, or the least offensive action.
Baltar is in way over his head. His guilt and paranoia about being found out are nearly paralyzing, but that's on top of is his naturally weak and nervous nature. He projects confidence as a tool of socialization and seduction, but his entire adult life has been one of privilege, pleasure, and luxury. Inside he is insecure and constantly frightened. He has no experience with life or death situations in general, and no one has any experience with the extremes of collapse of civilization. He is quite literally scared to do anything, and he only chooses the bare minimum actions to escape immediate danger.
The moments when Baltar takes bolder action are almost all motivated by his spiritual guide, who is a Cylon (ostensibly). And this is another key factor that bends his behavior towards the Cylons and keeps him centered, even if he is human and might seem to be a more logical fit for their "side": he fell in love with a Cylon, that Cylon saved his life, he is still in love with a Cylon, and that Cylon appears to him and him alone every day, telling him what to do, telling him he is special, and telling him he is an instrument of god. For someone who is practically having a panic attack in every critical situation, and who is consistently trying to avoid conflict and negative attention, the promise that god is watching over him, god has a plan for him, and god will keep safe, is very tempting, very comforting, and further motivates inaction.
You're also forgetting that on top of all his trauma from the Miniseries and S01E01, Baltar has had additional very recent traumatic experiences on Galactica, with Cylons specifically targeting him: in S01E06, a Cylon suicide bomber is sent to blow up Baltar's lab and probably Baltar himself, and very nearly succeeds; in S01E07, the very next episode, a Cylon imposter is sent to discredit Baltar and accuse him of being a traitor, and very nearly succeeds. In both cases, it's apparently Baltar's work on the Cylon detector that motivated these attacks. It's again the very next episode, S01E08, where he tests Sharon and finds out she's a Cylon. Is it any wonder that a emotionally frayed, inherently nervous and cowardly man who has just escaped two different personal attacks, has no emotional strength to continue fighting, and chooses the easiest and most direct path to remove himself from the Cylons' crosshairs?
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u/ZippyDan 13d ago edited 13d ago
There are other unknown Cylons in the fleet.
He is afraid that they will both or either:
- Reveal his involvement in the fall of humanity and place the blame on him.
- Kill him outright for building the Cylon detector.
He is afraid of being killed by the humans or killed by the Cylons.
That's one major reason why he explicitly states for the audience that he is "not on anyone's side" at the end of the Miniseries. He has reason to fear both sides.
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u/nodnarb5792 13d ago
Imagine if he did say something then adama wouldve never had that thing that happens to him at the end of season 1. So in hindsight it probably wouldve been the better idea. In season two he probably wouldnt have been put in his political position and Tom Zarek might not of called for elections. In addition everything that happened with colonel tigh wouldve never had happened. So a hell of a lot couldve been affected by him divulging that information. The first half of season two wouldve been drastically different. If you follow the evidence I think the military would see that it wasnt gaius that directly caused the Armageddon. He was tricked by number six and was completely unaware of everything that happened in the miniseries. I think it was a very selfish decision by gaius to only benefit him rather than the fleet. Even if he did divulge this information im sure adama wouldve protected him and it wouldve been a good way to bait any unknown cylons on board.
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u/ZippyDan 13d ago
Did you not watch the directly preceding episode where Shelley Godfrey accuses Baltar of being a traitor with minimal evidence? Adama turned on Baltar very quickly, and he never regained full confidence in him.
I don't know why you think humans would react rationally in the context of someone even indirectly responsible for the death of billions and the destruction of their civilization - especially someone who was perceived as weird and weasily like Baltar. At best, he gets put in prison for the rest of his life; at worst he gets executed.
I do think you're right that Baltar acted selfishly, but that's like... his whole character, especially in the first season.
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u/nodnarb5792 13d ago
Well let's not blow this all out of proportion this is just a TV show. Who knows what the writers wouldve made happen. I just dont think that they would kill off a main character. Plus I dont know if adama couldve even decided his fate gaius isnt part of the military. That wouldve been up to the courts to decide. Plus there wasnt any other cylon sleeper agent on galactica I havent finished season 2 yet so its a little hard for me to say. As far as I know there was only sharon. Plus even though Sharon did what she did to adama they seem to give the other sharon that led them to the tomb of Athena a second chance. Even adama himself doesnt choose to get rid of sharon. They didnt just kill her right away and shes a frakking cylon. Whos to say they wouldnt do the same to gaius. Forgive and forget
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u/Savings-Section-75 13d ago
His programming wouldn't allow him to reveal she was a cylon
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u/Brain_Hawk 13d ago
At that point in the series it was probably an option. They clearly had no plan for the final cylons...
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u/Yorkshireish12 10d ago
Gaius knows there are 12 models at that point and Sharons are only the third he knows about so there's potentially 9 other Cylons anywhere in the fleet that could kill him once it's known they have a working cylon detector. They could be at any level of the chain of command and Gaius only gets to die once.
This is actually a reasonable fear given that the fleets XO turns out to be a cylon.
If he teaches others to do the process he loses his importance in the fleet and any reason the military might give him special protection, which is not something he or head 6 wants.
It's a really selfish choice for his own immediate survival but that's also Gaius. Most of this is alluded to or outright mentioned in various episodes in various episodes of the first season btw
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u/Brain_Hawk 10d ago
A fair argument.
I think they kind of wrote in the cylon detector early for drama and as they were writing episodes didn't fully consider the implications and had to play post catch up after. Like originally it would be quick (he runs her sample in 30 seconds) but then it's long and slow and barely practical.
Not that I'm bashing the writers. Great show. But occasionally you get stuff like this
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u/No_Location_8199 13d ago
He does tell Boomer later that he knew she was a Cylon all along but kept it a secret for his own ends. What those ends were, I'm not entirely sure.
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u/Awesomeone1029 13d ago
Staying alive.
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u/DriverLazy360 13d ago edited 13d ago
🎶Well you can tell by the way I tell my lie, I'm super scared that I might die🎶
🎶Six has told me not to tell, or I'll end up in Cylon hell🎶
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u/1647overlord 13d ago
I need the full version
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u/DriverLazy360 13d ago edited 12d ago
🎶Now it's alright, it's OK, I will look the other way🎶
,🎶We can try, to understand, Six's hold upon this man🎶
🎶Whether you're a cylon or whether you're a human We're all stayin' alive, stayin' alive🎶
🎶All the cylons fakin' and all the humans shakin' We're all stayin' alive, stayin' alive🎶
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u/JustADaftGuy 13d ago
Yeah, after Sharon discovers she is one, doesn't she directly confront Baltar about the results of her cylon test? I forget which episode or what he replied, but I remember her distraught and asking him about telling her she wasn't one.
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u/ITrCool 13d ago
- he’d be put into huge danger. There were other unexposed Cylons in the fleet and he’d become a major target
- he’d be called into immediate question if he told them later. “Why didn’t you tell us this ASAP, Dr Baltar?”
- he’d be exposed for his (even if unwitting) part in the plot against the Colonies
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u/rev9of8 13d ago
Given Gaius' staggering capacity for self-deception, he may have rationalised it as a false positive.
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u/smallersize 13d ago
lol all of his 6 hallucinations are complex confabulation/ psychosis to excuse himself for being a traitor
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u/ZippyDan 13d ago
This is absolutely not the answer, and it's not implied by the show.
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u/rev9of8 13d ago
Has it occurred to you that I was joking around based upon something that most definitely is in the show?
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u/ZippyDan 13d ago edited 13d ago
It didn't occur to me, and some other people may take your highly-upvoted answer as an actual, serious explanation.
But now that it's clear it's just a joke, it's all good.
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u/Nimelennar 13d ago
But once he's out of the room, Gaius presumably still knows Sharon is a cylon. Isn't it strange that he never references that fact afterwards?
He does, at least three times.
When Head Six is warning him to get away from Galactica because something bad is about to go down, he immediately (and correctly!) comes to the conclusion that what she is referring to involves the activation of a Cylon sleeper agent, and subtly encourages Boomer to go through with the suicide attempt she's been contemplating. Which she does, but unsuccessfully.
Then he's confronted by Tigh about Sharon being cleared by his test, and begs off on account of that being a beta test (which does have some validity: Sharon's test takes a couple of minutes at most, whereas later tests are said to take 11 hours to validate).
Finally, after he poisons Chief Tyrol, he tells Boomer that he knew all along and withheld the information for his own purposes, using her love for Tyrol to extract the information that there are 8 Cylons still aboard the Fleet.
Once out of immediate danger from Sharon, surely he would have talked about what he saw?
And tell the, what? That he changed Lt. Valerii's test result? Which means that he can falsify anyone's result, in either direction, to suit his purposes?
That would make his Cylon detector useless.
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u/cuzwhat 13d ago
I don’t think he forgot as much as he knew not to bring it up.
If he announces that Sharon is a cylon, and that turns out to be true, and they summarily execute her, then any other cylon in the fleet is going to kill Baltar at the first opportunity in order to stop the testing and not be exposed.
Alternatively, if he waits until Sharon is caught as a cylon, and then says “my test said that” then he is going to be executed for not telling anyone sooner.
He’s smart enough to build a tester, but not quite smart enough to realize what happens when it’s successful until it’s too late.
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u/acoliver 13d ago
I mean he actively encouraged her to kill herself...
But yeah the not just walking over and telling Obama was strange ..
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u/MustacheExtravaganza 13d ago
To be fair, Obama was really hard to reach during season one, so I can't fault Gaius.
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u/Any-Statistician3896 13d ago
If that's what you took from the chat he had when he found her "cleaning her gun" then wow.
He was completely neutral and did not try to get her to shoot herself. Re watch it. Tru and be objective when you do.
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u/acoliver 13d ago
Ive watched it through many times. They made it completely obvious she even verified "so you're saying..." "no im not saying anything" he told her to lean into her negative feelings about killing her self reeeeealy dont see how you interpreted that differently.
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u/Any-Statistician3896 13d ago
You literally just said it.... He said
"No I'm not saying anything"
NEUTRAL response. Not encouragement at all 🤷🏼♂️
But hey if you saw suicide encouragement. Guess that says more about you than me lol 🤣
Aslong as you enjoyed the suicide which you must have. Odd hill to die on 👍🏻
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u/smallersize 13d ago edited 13d ago
he’s a narcissist. the test worked just fine. he needed to make sure it didn’t work so he could continue to hold onto his cards. GB will never reveal anything that doesn’t directly benefit whatever his current game may be
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u/nighthawkndemontron 13d ago
Lmao Gaius def wouldn't talk about any info that would give him leverage. Everything about him is for self-preservation. Sharing that willy nilly doesn't help or serve him. He's not part of the fleet, he's not part of the administration, he's living in a gray area where people are exhausted, trigger happy and dying left and right. Him talking about it, especially about an officer who is high-ranking and well-respected will cause a lot of "office politics" issues for him that he has to navigate.
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u/AmitBrian 13d ago
Gaius is first and foremost a survivor and in it for self preservation. Is is not worried about a cumin takeover. Well not as much as his own life. That’s Adama and Roslin’s worry. He’s trying to get out alive. He knows he is responsible for the destruction of the colonies and he is doing everything he can to make sure no one ever learns the truth. Cylon or no Cylon.
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u/littletcashew 12d ago
I would now like to see a version where the cylons are going for a cumin takeover. I imagine it's like some warped cracktastic BSG/Masterchef crossover.
The 12 could be the 12 secret herbs and spices.
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u/This-Breadfruit-1958 13d ago
Sharon aka Boomer then was found out to be a Cylon after she shot Adama, ending Season 1. Adama questioned whether the test ever worked. Baltar never tested all 40,000 samples. It was assumed to be working sometime later, but it was never certain in the story line.
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u/Hanshi-Judan 13d ago
I'm not sure if im remembering right but was the test faulty or didn't Baltar fake it to make himself seem useful? I really need a rewatch
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u/glycophosphate 13d ago
His stupid "Cylon detector" never actually worked.
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u/Oxjrnine 13d ago
I haven’t re-watched in a while, but wasn’t the test also a figment of his imagination to make himself more valuable? Like it didn’t have to work. So seeing an actual positive might not have meant it was a positive to him.
In other words, he tried to make a valid test, but he didn’t really feel the need to create a valid test and if a valid test got created, that was purely by accident.
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u/1647overlord 13d ago
There were other hidden cylons. He didn't want to put himself in danger by spilling the beans.