hi guys i apologize in advance but if you will allow me to be unhinged about characters for a moment. i have some. thoughts. about -you guessed it- tactical officer lieutenant felix gaeta of the battlestar galactica.
i just. the mutiny arc gets me on so many levels because. it’s not a villain arc. i’ve seen in called that, but i respectfully disagree. it is simply a decision made- quite tactically may i add - by someone who has had to beg lie and kill his way out of every level of hell and is trying to prevent further disaster and despair. no, it is not perfectly executed. yes, there probably could have been another way.
and here’s the thing: i don’t think it’s about the cylons. yes, they are a part of it; this is a man who witnessed the shitshow that was new caprica firsthand after all. but i think beyond that it is largely about faith and trust. think about it. gaeta has served in the colonial fleet for seven years. he has believed in it, he has lost everything to it because he has given everything to it. and that’s why he’s doing this! he believes in the idea still, but he can’t say the same about the peopleanymore. he trusted in baltar’s campaign, but he saw that crumble to dust within an instant. he was in charge of all that, probably did more in the political department than baltar ever did. and they blamed it all on him in the end. just look at Collaborators. they all agree that it was him handling things. he carries the weight of that. he put faith and hope in his Eight, only to find out much later that she had betrayed him. and she blamed it on him. she blamed it on his oh-so-human trust, his hope and his love.
and now we get to the final five. there was too much going on for the show to truly explore how members of the fleet felt about that reveal, but… it’s tigh, who felix has served under for years, who has been something of a constant, part of the leadership duo he has followed for so long. it’s sam, who… well, shot him. not much else to say there. but it’s also the chief, who cut him some slack and was kind to him when no one else was after new caprica. these are people he has known, cared about, and trusted. he wants to trust them. and they give the fleet earth! which turns out to be a nuclear wasteland where home should have been. EARTH. KILLED. DEE. and yes, he could just go back to trusting that the leadership will take care of it, that they will find a way, but… the president has basically gone missing in action, and is not acting herself. there doesn’t seem to be anything left to hope for. and felix… he can’t put that kind of trust in someone else anymore. not after everything it’s done to him. he has only one thing left to give to this cause: himself. he has to at least try. trust in himself for once. do something himself. he could never do enough before, but maybe, maybe this time…
his biggest crime, in the eyes of others, was that he didn’t simply break and die. that’s not who he is.
im just. im so. im absolutely devastated by his character arc.
OH AND I CAN’T GET OVER THINKING ABOUT WHAT IT MUST HAVE DONE TO EVERYONE WHO CARED ABOUT HIM. like. adama and tigh both cared about him a lot (adama calling him a good kid and worrying that he’ll never see him again with the demetrius mission, the way tigh says ‘so who shot gaeta??’ with such genuine accusation, and tries to get him to get some proper sleep in face of the enemy). helo, who had such a lovely friendship with him. HOSHI. don’t get me started on hoshi. i might cry.
Get yourself a man who sees beyond the cult he’s been indoctrinated into, leaves that cult to become a better person, wears merch of his own name, goes to therapy, and looks like this. That’s a good man right there.
