existential-battlestar“Kierkegaard would be a good boyfriend, but I’d cheat on him with Nietzsche”

This week’s episode of “Battlestar Galactica” was called “No Exit,” which happens to be the name of Jean-Paul Sartre’s most famous play.  Televisionary also noticed some similarities in the plot and investigated further:

The title seems to be a deliberate allusion to ["No Exit"], given the episode’s use of Ellen Tigh, John Cavil, and Boomer in a similar fashion as the three characters (Garcin, Ines, and Estelle) in Sartre’s work, which provided the basis for his most quoted aphorism, “Hell is other people.” (And the Cylon centurion who helps Ellen out of her goo bath? Clearly a nod to the Valet in Sartre’s play.)  [Yes, "clearly" -Ed.] …

“Yes, the title is a nod to Sartre’s ‘No Exit,’” wrote [script supervisor Ryan] Mottesheard in an email to me. “(And, yes, I am just that pretentious.) Aside from the obvious thematic overlap, there are myriad superficial similarities… I’m just glad to have garnered an entry under the ‘No Exit’ Wikipedia page.”

Wow, that’s pretty heady stuff for a show that’s devolved into the theme of “Everyone’s a cylon!”  I’m more impressed by the episode of “Rock of Love” that was based on Waiting for Godot (Hint: Godot was a negative STD test).