I Still Love My Crazypants Amputee Gay Space TV Boyfriend

If I had any sense at all, I would wait until next week to do this post when the two parter of Battlestar Galactica is finished. Based on my last post about the absolutely, non-slanderous, completely true facts about Alan Moore, I think we can all agree that I have no sense whatsoever.



Just a heads up, this post will contain spoilers for the latest episodes and the webisodes, so if you haven't watched them yet then skip on over this and instead go stare at Alan Moore's terrifying visage.

This post is going to focus on the character Felix Gaeta from Battlestar Galactica, which everyone should be watching, and if you're not, well, I don't want to say you're a bad geek, but you totally are. The show is in the very last episodes of its 4 seasons long run, and I have to say, it's pretty damn intense and dark and brilliant, even though I wouldn't quite say I enjoy watching the show, even though I do, because there is very little happiness to be found in the hour, but it is still so very, very good. When your series kicks off with an entire population being nuclear genocided, it's a little hard to find the silver lining.

Now there's a couple things you need to know before we get started. I have a completely irrational love for Gaeta. It started back in the first season and it hasn't let up since . I can't even tell you why I love him so, only that I do. Secondly, I was convinced that Gaeta was a cylon and am a little bummed out he's not. Thirdly, I've been convinced that he was pretty damn gay, and am savoring my sweet, sweet vindication of being proven correct as seen in the webisodes. Lastly, Gaeta is pretty crazypants at this point in the series.

Gaeta, for staring off as a pretty tertiary character, has had a pretty interesting character arc over the 31/2 seasons. He went from being on the periphery to suddenly starring in a major sory arc. Dee, who I also irrationally love, had a similar path, but I can't handle talking about her right now without resorting to keyboard mashing and a lot of OH DEE. Seriously, it's still traumatic for me. I have to say, though, BSG handles its large cast remarkably well. Sort of like Heores did in the first season and then subsquently lost that power, much like Hiro.

Over the course of sixty odd episodes, Gaeta goes from this:

to this:

Wow, you can practically taste the crazy, can't you?

Like every single character on this show, Gaeta will never be allowed to be happy ever. I'm pretty sure that's a legal binding law at BSG, actually.


So Gaeta goes from being a tertiary character with a giant boycrush on Baltar, who he follows around like a puppy, to being this sort of crazypants guy, who goes around stabbing people in the neck with a pen and staging a huge semi-successful mutiny of the ship. If that ain't some sort of character growth I don't know what is.


One of the strengths of this show is the way they're able to portray these characters operating under these incredible conditions, getting more bitter, getting harder, and it's believable.


Gaeta's hardening (heh, I'm twelve) really began back in the third season on New Caprica under Cylon rule and then it just kept going until you have him now. The essential trait of Gaeta is that he wants to do the right thing as Hoshi, his adorable little boyfriend, pointed out. On New Caprica he tried to get people to safety by trusting an Eight, and that blew up in his face, as the webisodes revealed.



Even in mutinying, Gaeta is sitll trying to do the right thing. He really, truly believes that the Cylons can't be trusted and that the alliance is a bad idea. Gaeta's got a good point, supported by the aforementioned nuclear genocide. The alliance with the Cylons, as Adama points out, is probably the hope the fleet has left, and while Gaeta's actions are wrong, they are understandable.



What BSG is really good at is taking the characters and putting them under pressure and stripping them down to their basic and essential traits. That's what happened to Gaeta: after New Caprica, losing his leg, which he refused going under for and actually watched as his leg was cut off and probably a reason for his being crazycakes, and learning that everyone on the lists he gave to Eight ended up dead, all Gaeta has left is to be hard and try to set it right in a really poorly though out, ultimately doomed way.


I really don't expect Gaeta to limp away from this one. And just like with Dee, I'm going to be really sad to see his character go. I am consoled that he got a really satisfying character arc, a lot more screen time, and that the actor Alessandro Juliani gives some really good crazy eyes (and for you geeks out there, Juliani voiced Gambit from X-Men Evolutions. This may be a reason for my irrational love).


The only thing left to do is to see how Gaeta goes out and the handling of the Gaeta/Hoshi romantic fallout.


Speaking of let's end on a semi-happy note:

That's Gaeta and his boyfriend Hoshi, who gets Gaeta drugs. What a happy, stable relationship! Of course, in a weird parallel to any Joss Whedon universe, no couple is ever allowed to be happy in BSG.

For more thoughts and insights about BSG and Gaeta, go read Jacob's recaps at Television Without Pity. Go on. You'll be glad you did.

Want to tell me what you think about my crazypants amputee gay space TV boyfriend? Drop me a note or some snark in the comments.