Napping at Red Lights

Since Galactica entered the nebula in the Season 3 finale, the Internet has been buzzing with speculation as to the identity of the final Cylon on Battlestar Galactica.  But to be honest, I’ve been so stunned by the four revealed in that episode that I haven’t given it much thought – until now.

Obviously, Starbuck is too obvious.  And I think she actually has another role, although I’ve not quite worked out the role myself – a messenger maybe.

And I think I read somewhere that the producers said it definitely wasn’t Roslin, Baltar, or Bill or Lee Adama.  So where does that leave us?

Knowing what we do about the four among the crew – Tigh, Anders, Tory and Tyrol – I think it’s clear that the Final 5 are very different from the other Cylons.  What exactly that difference is, I’m not sure.  I’ve even speculated that they were from Earth.

But knowing how similar the Final 5 are to the rest of the survivors and how long they’ve been integrated with the colonists (Tigh has been friends with Adama for more than 40 years), I’ve had trouble picking up any clues as to the identity of the last Cylon.  That is, until this last episode.

In “Ties that Bind,” Cally, Tyrol’s wife, suddenly became a suspect for me for two main reasons.  Let me explain why.

The four revealed in “Crossroads” all became aware of their Cylon status when they entered the nebula.  Clearly that nebula has had an effect on Cally too.  She said her insomnia started when they entered the nebula.  But unlike the others she turned to pills to help with the symptoms.  Could the pills have prevented her from hearing the music?  Or as the last model, could she simply be so different that the music didn’t affect her?  If the final Cylon is on Galactica, why else would they not have responded to the music when in the nebula like the others?

Then there’s baby Nicky.  A great deal was made about Hera – a child born to one Cylon parent and one human parent.  Hera is considered the chosen one.  But what about Nicky?  If Tyrol is really a Cylon and Cally a human, wouldn’t Nicky be some miracle baby too?

In everything I’ve read the producers have been especially evasive in acknowledging Nicky as a half human, half Cylon.  Could that be because he really is a full Cylon?

At first I thought the difference between Hera and Nicky was that one had a Cylon mother and the other a Cylon father?  Or the fact that Tyrol was a different type of Cylon that Athena could be the difference. But if Nicky has two Cylon parents that explains a lot.

The one think that troubled me about this theory is why would Tory kill a fellow Cylon.  But clearly the other four Cylons aboard Galactica don’t know who the final Cylon is, so it’s possible that Tory didn’t recognize Cally as a fellow Cylon.  The other four didn’t recognize each other’s status until the nebula.  And we also know that Cylons are above attacking each other.

But the big question is what has become of Cally.  Is she really dead?  Do the Final 5 regenerate like the other Cylons?  If so, how?  They clearly don’t have a resurrection ship nearby which is pretty risky in and of itself.

And that leaves me with one final question (or at least one that I’ll ask here).  How many copies of the Final 5 are there?  Is there only one?  Could that be what’s different about them?  Or are there more copies?  If so, where are those copies?  Earth?

So tell me, do you think Cally could be the final Cylon?  Or are the clues I’m reading misdirection?  If not Cally, who do you think is the final Cylon?

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