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Major Kendra Shaw is Lee Adama's new XO is troubled by her past. Serving under Admiral Cain, Shaw has problems with her memories inhumane sacrifices. Admiral Helena was able to save her ship from the Cylons but this was at the expense of Shaw and her fellow officers committing atrocious war crimes against innocent people and employing suicidal tactics and strategy. Shaw acted with hesitance but it was, as she was advised, for the benefit of them all. In the midst of a real war, Shaw must deprive herself of all reluctance and doubts she must become "a razor," as metaphorically used by veterans of the Colonies.
The events of Battlestar Galactica Razor centers on the final day of the 1st Cylon war, with Lieutenant William Adama who was a Viper pilot and a young Helena Cain. Tragedies occurred in both their lives, shown through flashbacks. Adama discovered a Cylon lab where humans are experimented on. He wasnt able to free the prisoners. Cain abandons her little sister due to the war and cannot find her anymore. Although these both are scarring experiences, the advice they both gave were in deep contrast with each other. Cain teaches Shaw to become emotionless, to become as sharp as a cutting tool, never looking back, always separating whatever she comes into contact with. Adama on the other hand taught his son Lee that even as pilots and partakers of warm, they cannot be merely like butchers.
While Cains view has become somewhat jaded, Adama view was not. Shaw followed Cains advice and was literally a razor. Everything was and can be sacrificed in this time of war and chaos. But the thing about razors is that they can cut both sides. It does not discriminate; it just cuts and whatever is separated is serrated so fine that sometimes the cut is unnoticeable. But the damage cause can no longer be undone, both to the cut material and the one who cut.
This special television film is a vital to better understand the link not only between the seasons and the things to happen in season four but also to better comprehend the nature of Cains protg and Adamas way of thinking. The Cylon War has ravaged and damaged most of humanity, but the most troubling damage it has caused has something to do with the minds and hearts of the human beings who have survived. Some people may even go far to say that some of the human survivors, in order to truly survive, had to willingly lose some parts of their humanity. Most of the survivors are vague semblances of their former human selves, though others like Adama strive to maintain the difference between them and the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica Razor.
