While last night’s episode of Battlestar Galactica answered a number of questions, we were also left to wonder two things. Who is Daniel and if Kara’s not the extra Cylon model then what is she? I had my own theories off the bat but I decided to sleep on it and see how I felt in the morning. When I woke up I decided to revisit the scene where Ellen tells Boomer about Daniel, the Cylon model that Cavil destroyed because according to him, “That seven didn’t thrive.”
Here’s what Ellen says about Daniel, “Daniel was an artist and so sensitive to the world. I was very close to him but John decided I was playing favorites. Maybe I was. Someone contaminated the amniotic fluid in which we were maturing all the Daniel copies and then corrupted the genetic formula.”
So her conclusion about why Cavil destroyed Daniel was essentially because he was the jealous older brother who hated that mommy had picked a favorite. Whether or not that’s entirely the reason, who knows? Was the Daniel story arc thrown in here to emphasize just how whiny Cavil really is for a machine? I don’t think any of us believe that. There’s a whole extra Cylon model out there now, or there was. That has to be relevant to the plot of this show, right? And we know Kara resurrected somehow. She found her own body. So either she’s another lost Cylon, maybe created by the 13th Tribe or else, she’s Daniel. There's my wacky theory of the week.
Cavil “corrupted the genetic formula” of the Daniel line. That could easily explain why “Daniel” ended up a female. We're meant to believe that the damage he did destroyed all of Daniel's line but what if one was salvaged? What if someone managed to save one Daniel and get “him” away? Or what if one surviving Daniel was tossed in the trash and found by a human? Kara's mother was a Marine. She might have discovered Kara somewhere and decided to raise as her daughter. Am I reaching here?
The arguments about Kara being Daniel aren’t super strong right now but we really only have what Ellen said about Daniel to go on for now. He was an artist. Kara paints. She had paintings all over her apartment on Caprica and she painted on the walls of her cell in the garbage ship. And Kara may be kind of a tomboy but if there’s anyone who’s sensitive to the world, it’s her. Maybe not sensitive in the way she treats people but as a person, she’s extremely sensitive, which is probably why she’s always pushing people away. And when she lashes out at people, she goes right for the throat. She’s always been sensitive enough to know exactly what will hurt the most. Some would call that insensitive, sure but I figure if she’s aware of people’s vulnerabilities, that makes her sensitive. She’s just not nice about it.
And finally, wasn’t the Starbuck in the original series a man? I could kind of see the writers finding it amusing to throw this little twist in there. That our Starbuck… Kara Thrace was technically supposed to be a man too but after a little genetic tampering, she turned out to be a woman.
Just some ideas. Whether I'm right or wrong, I'm sure we'll find out sooner or later. What I think most of us can agree on is that this Daniel story isn't over. It should be interesting to see how it all factors in to the over all story as the series wraps up.
What do you think? Could Kara be Daniel or do you have some other ideas about what Kara is and who Daniel is?
