IMHO "Battlestar Galactica": "The Oath" or Gaeta in Charge

I'm failing through. I really wanted Gaeta to be one of the "heroes" because despite the complexity of the character's positions, we know who we are supposed to root for and seeing Gaeta on the mutineer's side activated a long encoded reaction: He's gay and he's a villain. 

It's almost par for the course in sci-fi. I can't think of a single heroic out gay protagonist in sci fi television or movies.The only place we're allowed to be heroes are novels.

It isn't enough to make me quit watching the show, but I dropped any hopes of seeing a a gay hero in this series. 

I'd be upset if, on BSG, it was only Gaeta who got bitter and vengeful after being betrayed. But the fact is that everyone on that show loses it at some point and does some pretty nasty things as a result. 

I can't see that anything Gaeta's done is because he's gay, or bisexual, or cylosexual. He's human on the show like the rest of them.

As for Ron Moore and gay male characters, it strikes me it's a problem straight guys have writing gay guys. The people behind the Mass Effect video game expressed similar reservations -- not getting gay guys but being more than comfortable thinking about gay women.

Insert your own snarky reaction to that here. 

After watching the first part of this arc, it confirmed that Gaeta is not a villain. He is not bad, but is making bad choices.

One can say that Gaetas motives are legitimate, they are certainly understandable, but his actions are not. In his view, he is taking the moral high ground, fullfiling the oath he took to protect the fleet against the ones who nearly anihilated his kind. The sad thing about it is that by giving in to his fear and anger he choose the wrong way of doing it and by braking the oath he made to military he effectibly became a traitor.This doesnt make him a boyscout, but it does make him compelling. 

When it comes to the intention of the show, I think there is none. This has been brewing long before the outed him and has nothing to do with that fact. 

As for representation, I have no problem with him going "bad", mostly because we know where he is coming from and the fact that I rather have a complex gay character that does questionable things, provided of course they give intelligent reasons why,   than a barelly there or bland good one.

I do get the concern that this is just another bad gay guy, but I dont think its that simple. As far as I could tell in other forums the discussion gravitates to the reasons why he is doing this than the fact that he is gay/bi. Aside from "oh he is lying to his boyfriend" or the invitation to stick his artificial leg somewhere in his anatomy or step into a airlock (at last check) I didnt see mayor homophobic comments. Yes, the comments about the leg is quite particular, but its the kind of comment that would be used with any other character.

In last week's episode, Gaeta also reminded us that he was put on "trial" for collablerating with the Cylons and three of his jury (Tyrol, Anders, Tigh) were cylons, and one was married (Kara) to a Cylon. It was also because of Kara he lost his leg. He has been on the short end of the stick for a while and he is acting on his fustrations of "Cylon Lovers". I don't think this is a matter of him being gay or not, since a lot of people would react the same way.

He is doing what he believes is right, and as many viewers think his goal is right, but not his means of going about it. I love the show for it's grey issues and this is one of them. Gaeta is almost assuredly headed down a dark spiral which will end with him dead for sure, but I highly expect there will be a twist in how he dies.

As far as I know, they haven't even acknowledged that Gaeta is anything but straight on the show UNLESS you happen to have watched the webisodes before this season started.  If you saw only the shows broadcast on scifi you would assume he is straight (his relationship / kiss with the Sharon, his lewd comments to Starbuck).  Nothing in any previous season indicates strongly otherwise.  So at best I consider Gaeta a closeted bisexual.

He is being cast somewhat as a "villain" right now, but so has virtually every character on the show at one time or another.  Part of what makes the show intriguing is complex characters making moral choices that are not always "good" or "bad".  

BUT... until/unless his relationship with Hoshi comes to the foreground this seems barely worth debating since Gaeta is an invisible bisexual at best.  They have set things up to where that could become a factor - it certainly added a much bigger layer to his character by knowing he was lying to his boyfriend (Hoshi) rather than just a co-worker in the last episode.  Unfortunately, that also made him seem more like a bad guy.  And how many viewers actually knew that Hoshi was his boyfried in the first place? 

Sadly, I have a feeling we've gotten all we're going to get in terms of a "gay" storyline from this show.

I think Gaeta is just as complex and dark as the rest of characters. And I don't think his sexuality has anything to do with the situation. It's just another attribute like his dark hair. Normally, this is what I aspire for, but the fact that we don't learn about his sexuality until the end does bother me a tad. Even though it is late in coming, I am glad it did.

Also, calling Gaeta a villain implies that Adama, Roslin, etc are heroes. And I think that is far from reality. There is a difficult decision to be made and part of the fleet agrees and the other part doesn't. It's one of the things I like about BSG - there isn't always a clear "right" or "wrong". It can be argued that turning to violence makes him a villain, but again I would say no more so than anyone else. We have to remember the stakes. It's not one man, one ship or even one colony - the survival of the entire human race is at stake. Gaeta believes he is doing the right thing (Zarek I think has another agenda altogether) as do Adama/Roslin. Who's right? Who's wrong? I am not even sure there is an answer.

Again, my only "gripe" is that we didn't learn about Gaeta sooner. And even if we had, it's not like any of the other relationships on the show are really healthy. They're all a mess. I don't think there is a happ ending for many on this show. If you survive the finale, that's the best you will do. :-)

If one had not seen the prelude "Webisodes" we wouldn't even know that Gaeta and Hoshi are gay.

The Webisodes were the smallest of scraps that Ron Moore was willing to throw to the gay community.

Gaeta is not long for this world unless everyone on the show really is a Cylon and will resurrect on the REAL Earth.

Straight men are very UNCOMFORTABLE writing gay men characters - NOT EVEN the worshipped Joss Whedon could bring himself to do it (No, Andrew DOES NOT COUNT! He is almost another case of Dumbledore).

...I fully expect to see a Hoshi vs Gaeta reckoning coming soon. Its not going to be pretty either.

On the whole I thought this was an excellent episode. Up until now I was really questioning how easily people accepted the cylon/human alliance. I'm relieved to see that it didn't go down smoothly...how could it? I was shocked at how many people died in this ep and how brutal the situation has becoming.

I was disappointed there wasn't more interaction/tension between Gaeta and Hoshi, especially when Gaeta was lying to him about the Draedus contacts.  I'm not sure if they filmed the webisodes after "The Oath" was already done, but you would never know Gaeta and Hoshi were a couple from that episode.  If the BSG writers had true continuity with the webisodes, then you'd think Hoshi would suspect something was up, given Gaeta's somewhat odd behavior. 

I'm not sure if Gaeta is entirely the villain here given what was revealed about the Sharon in the webisodes.  There may be some Cylon mischief Gaeta may help uncover.

I do think that the webisodes were basically the bone BSG threw to the gay community.  These writers are mostly mom's basement geeks, so I doubt we're getting much more than that brief kiss.

This episode was really good and intense. I've always liked Gaeta and seeing him turn into a "vilain" was really interesting to watch. 

As for the whole Hoshi/Gaeta relationship, they showed us a lot of reaction shots of Hoshi. Clearly they hint as a special relationship between the two characters. He's a minor character, yet he was featured a lot more than usual in that episode. When the Admiral, Tigh and him were removed from the CIC, Hoshi had a face of disbelief as he understood now what Felix was telling him at the end of the webisodes, that he'd been lied to all along. I don't think Hoshi should have reacted any other way. Remember he's shocked. And he's a soldier too. 

I hope we will have a confrontation between Gaeta and Hoshi in the next episodes. Clearly Gaeta thinks he's fighting for the greater good and is thus willing to sacrifice his own happiness and relationship with Hoshi. Something that is totally in character for him and quite fascinating. I would like to see him explain how he chose that fight against love.

Although I am not content with the treatment of gay issues on the show, I think it's an oversimplification to say that Gaeta is the "gay villain."  Nothing on the show is black & white.  ALL the characters are shades of grey - how dark or light they are depends on the circumstances at the time & how they respond to them.  As a result, all of the major characters have played the role of villain, or at least have been villain-esque.

To those who are hoping for a reckoning b/t Gaeta & Hoshi, or don't understand why there was hardly any interaction b/t Gaeta & Hoshi, I read that the webisodes were shot after the series had finished filming. 

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Battlestar-Galacticas-Alessandro-1001549.aspx 

It's likely that the webisodes were an afterthought, whether to drum up anticipation for the return of the last season, or as an added "bonus," to appease the gay community, is up for debate. 

To me this last season brings back all the excitement when the series first aired. The end of each episode has me suspensed like I used to be in the first season or two. Not many shows can do this for me, but this one does; its so unfortunate that they went off track for one season and thust he entire show goes down the tubes.

I think the next episode will be a big twist though, because it seems Gaeta is realizing Zerek (sp) is doing this for power. If I remember right, in the Oath, Gaeta and Zerek have little quarrels on decisions, most notably the arrest (and not death) of Adama. Some however are saying Galactica is going to be destroyed or the fleet will finally split in two.  All I know is I cant wait but Ill be seeing it Saturday. Why couldnt they have the show air on a thursday or something.

And about Hoshi and Gaeta having their own little fight. Its doubtful because the webisodes were made after the final episodes. Even in the Oath you cant tell Hoshi even knows Gaeta, I mean they just broke up and Hoshi is hardly looking at his ex?!?! Its possible that the whole gay thing was decided a long time ago but again, its doubtful. Plus Hoshi doesnt seem at all important when Adama and Saul were shown being escorted out after Gaeta takes over. In the next scenes in the hallway Hoshi isnt present but Adama and Saul are?

I'm disappointed.  I held out hope that they might resolve or at least acknowledge the Gaeta / Hoshi relationship on the show itself but no luck.

For me, this show jumped the shark with the revalation of 4 of the final 5 cylons (and had been heading downhill since the occupation on New Caprica).  And the 5th?  Pffft.  Whatever.

I'll watch 'til the end, but I'm just not into like I was the first couple seasons which I thought were brilliant (sometimes coded but always thoughtful ruminations on "big" topics like terrorism, genocide, abortion, war, stolen elections, stem cell research, etc.).  But now I've actually found myself laughing(!) a few times this season because there is some MAJOR scenery chewing / overacting going on this season.  Adama, Roslin, Tighe, Lee and others ... yikes!