I disagree that Athena "couldn't bear" to kill Three on New Caprica. The way I interpreted the scene, Athena had no way of killing the Three and making it permanent. Thus, incapacitating her rather than killing her was the choice least likely to blow the whole evacuation plan. However, I do agree that Athena thought D'Anna was being needlessly cruel by bringing up Hera, and I suspect Athena chose to shoot her in the kneecaps precisely because it was the best way she could get back at her. Kneecapping is supposedly THE most painful method of incapacitating someone, and Athena would've known that she was condemning D'Anna to several hours of agony. So I don't think Athena's changed that much between "Exodus" and "Guess What's Coming to Dinner". At the time she shot D'Anna she simply had fewer options than she did when she shot Natalie. Besides, we've seen her kill someone permanently as early as Season 2, when she double-crossed Zarek's henchman on Kobol and killed him with the gun he gave her. She never seemed to suffer any pangs of conscience over that.
Now, one could argue that permanently killing a fellow Cylon is much graver morally than killing a human (at any rate, the average Cylon would probably see it that way, although humans would beg to differ). Zarek's henchman (so forgettable I can't even remember his name) was just a human traitor she barely knew, and who was trying to manipulate her into doing his dirty work. Natalie, however, is family. Estranged, but family nonetheless, so it's a much more personal murder. But again, I don't think it's a new development. A few episodes after she kneecaps D'Anna, permanent Cylon death becomes an issue for the first time, and she goes along with the genocide plan with no resistance. Arguably, if she'd had the opportunity to kill D'Anna permanently back on New Caprica, she might well have taken it.
I guess I agree with almost everything you say, but I frame it in a less oppositional way. Maybe because I: a) adore both the Sixes and the Eights b) have always found Six (or at least certain versions of her) at least quasi-sympathetic, even going back to Season 1.
That said, I hope you're right that the show is going in that direction, not simplistically having made Caprica Six "bad" and Athena "good", then flipping and simplistically making Caprica "good" and Athena "bad", but continuing to blur those lines and make them both complex, imperfect personalities. I don't want Athena to become a villain, but I would like the show to explore that ruthless side of her, the one she's always had in canon, but which has always been downplayed by the show prior to "Guess What's COming to Dinner". What I definitely DON'T want is for the show to take the lazy way out and just turn her bad offscreen, like they did with Boomer in Season 3.
So, in conclusion, utterly brilliant analysis, and I have to get over my kneejerk "Well, she's not THAT bad" defensive reaction re: Athena. And yes, I realise you're recounting the narrative the show is telling, but I get defensive anyway. I also get defensive about Caprica Six being woefully underused, and many other things.
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I disagree that Athena "couldn't bear" to kill Three on New Caprica. The way I interpreted the scene, Athena had no way of killing the Three and making it permanent. Thus, incapacitating her rather than killing her was the choice least likely to blow the whole evacuation plan. However, I do agree that Athena thought D'Anna was being needlessly cruel by bringing up Hera, and I suspect Athena chose to shoot her in the kneecaps precisely because it was the best way she could get back at her. Kneecapping is supposedly THE most painful method of incapacitating someone, and Athena would've known that she was condemning D'Anna to several hours of agony. So I don't think Athena's changed that much between "Exodus" and "Guess What's Coming to Dinner". At the time she shot D'Anna she simply had fewer options than she did when she shot Natalie. Besides, we've seen her kill someone permanently as early as Season 2, when she double-crossed Zarek's henchman on Kobol and killed him with the gun he gave her. She never seemed to suffer any pangs of conscience over that.
Now, one could argue that permanently killing a fellow Cylon is much graver morally than killing a human (at any rate, the average Cylon would probably see it that way, although humans would beg to differ). Zarek's henchman (so forgettable I can't even remember his name) was just a human traitor she barely knew, and who was trying to manipulate her into doing his dirty work. Natalie, however, is family. Estranged, but family nonetheless, so it's a much more personal murder. But again, I don't think it's a new development. A few episodes after she kneecaps D'Anna, permanent Cylon death becomes an issue for the first time, and she goes along with the genocide plan with no resistance. Arguably, if she'd had the opportunity to kill D'Anna permanently back on New Caprica, she might well have taken it.
I guess I agree with almost everything you say, but I frame it in a less oppositional way. Maybe because I:
a) adore both the Sixes and the Eights
b) have always found Six (or at least certain versions of her) at least quasi-sympathetic, even going back to Season 1.
That said, I hope you're right that the show is going in that direction, not simplistically having made Caprica Six "bad" and Athena "good", then flipping and simplistically making Caprica "good" and Athena "bad", but continuing to blur those lines and make them both complex, imperfect personalities. I don't want Athena to become a villain, but I would like the show to explore that ruthless side of her, the one she's always had in canon, but which has always been downplayed by the show prior to "Guess What's COming to Dinner". What I definitely DON'T want is for the show to take the lazy way out and just turn her bad offscreen, like they did with Boomer in Season 3.
So, in conclusion, utterly brilliant analysis, and I have to get over my kneejerk "Well, she's not THAT bad" defensive reaction re: Athena. And yes, I realise you're recounting the narrative the show is telling, but I get defensive anyway. I also get defensive about Caprica Six being woefully underused, and many other things.