Is Admiral Adama the Last Cylon?

What can I say about Admiral William Adama — well, other than the obvious fact that Edward James Olmos is a COLOSSAL improvement over Lorne Greene?

Actually, I can say quite alot because in addition to being a longtime fan of Mr. Olmos, I am a huge fan of the Adama character in this superiorly written and acted incarnation of Battlestar Galactica.

A thoughtful, intelligent and pragmatic man of principle, Bill Adama commands humanity’s first and only line of defense against the Cylon agressors — the Battlestar Galactica and the men and women who crew her.

Like a great lion, Adama is a readily identifiable and undeniably powerful presence. He diligently watches over his pride, which has grown from just the men and women under his command to encompass what remains of the human race, with both affection and protectiveness. He is their steadfast defender, fierce in his anger when they are threatened, and, when needed, their disciplinarian and teacher. His paternal affection for his warriors and deckhands is evidenced in the fact he takes the time to know each of them by name. He is driven by a strong sense of duty and honor, tempered by compassion, all of which inspires loyalty and awe in his crew, who lovingly and respectfully refer to him as “the old man.”

Adama is a man of deep feeling but keeps his affection carefully hidden behind a stoic (sometimes gruff) mask of leadership, only letting it out in the occasional unguarded moment. The emotional distance is not one he particularly desires, but rather a necessary evil of command. He cannot afford to let his tender feelings for those he cares to cause hesitation in cruical situations. He allowed that gap to close in the past, during the year of settlement on New Caprica, and subsequently suffered guilt over the devastation that followed and how his relaxed vigilance may have helped pave the way for it.

Now, all that said, Adama is by no means a perfect man. Like Laura Roslin, he can venture into “gray” areas of choice — take his and Roslin’s draconian interrogation of Dr. Gaius Baltar in the third season — but I sense he is never happy when he has to venture there. He’d much rather walk the straight and narrow but age and experience have taught him that the people in charge do not always have the luxury of acting based solely on idealistic concepts and precepts, no matter how badly they want to. Leading can sometimes be an ugly business, but he does it with forthrightness and a desire to do what is right, even when “right” isn’t so clear cut. He is not afraid to admit when he’s wrong and does his level best to learn from mistakes. And he (also like Roslin) never forgets that the human race is locked in a high-stakes battle for survival — something too many people in the fleet seem to forget.

If Adama has a consistent flaw/weakness (though I hate to characterize it as such because it is also a virtue), it’s his loyal streak, which is easily a light-year wide. He stands by those he loves — including the grizzled Colonel Saul Tigh, who has apparently caused him as much grief as happiness over the years of their friendship — even when they’ve proven themselves unworthy of his blind trust. This extends to the frequently disobedient Starbuck and his idealistic and occasionally “turncoat” son Lee.

Adama stands firmly united with Roslin in the goal of helping humanity survive. He is the fleet’s father figure and protector, as Roslin is mother and nurturer. Together, they are a formidable force of will, and make no mistake, it is the combined force of their wills that has kept the fleet intact so far. They have formed a remarkable partnership of equals out of initial distrust and skepticism, one that has survived a military coup and other personal betrayals of trust, some big, some small. Always they reforge the bond, two isolated leaders finding surer strength together. It sustains them, even now, as they face the decline of her health and the uncertainty of the future, and it appears to be ever closing the gap between their hearts.

The impact of Adama being a Cylon would be of similar scale to that of Roslin — a k a, frakking scary! It would be an ENORMOUS revelation and truly surprising because NO ONE wants Bill Adama, the man brave men and women are willing to follow unto death, to be the enemy! Talk about intrinsically altering the landscape of the series. It would call into question everything that has happened up to that moment of revelation. Adama, after all, is the man who controls the guns. He is the fleet’s fierce and unflinching defender, putting himself, his ship and his crew between the civilians and the Cylons since the beginning. If he were to be revealed as the final Cylon model, there could be some serious fall out. I don’t think there is a soul in the fleet who wouldn’t be devastated by that bit of news, and it would terrify Roslin more than cancer, death or staring down the gun barrels of all the Cylons in the universe. If you don’t believe me, see her reaction to Leoben’s whispering “Adama is a Cylon” to her in the first season episode “Flesh and Bone.”

There are things, of course, that complicate Adama’s candidacy for the part. For one thing, he has one of the most established familial connections in the series, and he was shown in the miniseries “Battlestar Galactica: Razor” in combat during the first Cylon war, presumably before the biological Cylons were created. Those two things, however, don’t necessarily eliminate the possibility that he is indeed a “toaster,” especially when you take in Tigh’s purported service in the first Cylon war. And, there’s simply too much information we don’t know about the Final Five and their differences from other Cylons to say for sure one way or another.

Things that make you go “Hmmm, Adama might be a Cylon”

1. The sheer “Holy frak!” value.
2. While this isn’t really a substantial clue, we never did hear the results of Adama’s blood test using Baltar’s Cylon detection method. It can’t be discounted, however, because it has never been definitively established that the “detector” failed to work and there is evidence that it possibly did because Boomer tested positive — but only Baltar knew that and he didn’t tell anyone else. Shortly thereafter Boomer attempted to assassinate Adama, which prompted the testing to be scrapped and declared a “fraud” since it “failed” to positively ID Boomer as a Cylon. Frakking Baltar!

Things that make you go “Hmmm, maybe not”

1. Adama’s father, Joseph, was a prominent civil liberties lawyer on Caprica.
2. Adama has two sons, Lee and Zak (deceased), and Hera Agethon is believed by the Cylons to be the first Cylon-human hybrid child, followed by Nicholas Tyrol (though Nick’s existence is known only to the Final Four).
3. The Cylon sleeper agent Boomer attempted to assassinate Adama early in the first season. This isn’t a big clue as to Adama’s non-Cylon status because it’s established the Final Five are unknown to the other Cylons, but it is worth mentioning.
4. If the Web-wide belief that the Final Cylon isn’t shown in the Entertainment Weekly “BSG Last Supper” photo is true, then that would rule out Admiral Adama.
5. The “Holy frak!” value aside, I’m not sure the writers really want to take a bulldozer to the foundation of the series. But you never know.

Unlike with Roslin, there is nothing that intrigues me about the prospect of Adama being the final Cylon. The notion truly horrifies me, a reaction that may stem from the fact I have a thing about strong pragmatic men of principle with a softer side … oh and there’s something incredibly sexy about Edward James Olmos. I like Adama. I admire him. I would follow him into battle knowing he would do his level best to make sure I got home safe. It’s a selfish desire, but I don’t EVER want that perception to change.

My gut feeling is…

Instinct tells me Admiral Adama is not the final Cylon. I don’t believe the fleet can survive without him being the man he’s been all along. I suspect he may be the glue that holds the fleet together when Roslin succumbs to cancer. With their “mother” gone, the “children” will need their “father.”

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