Geoff Ryman holds Cottle as an example of Battlestar Galactica's rich but efficient characterization, presented to the audience of mid-2000s America as a "crusty leftover from an earlier age by having him smoke cigarettes".

[5] However, to Lesley Henderson and Simon Carter, while Cottle symbolizes "concerns about the future of humanity, he also presents us with a discourse of hope, an idealised (possibly unrealistic) view of the tensions that the caring health sciences must navigate in a world engaged in a 'war on terror'."

Jowett also describes how the character portrays an alternative to the immoral, represented by the genocidal Dr. Robert, as Cottle's medical ethics and humanity towards patients provide contrast with such behavior.

Cottle advises Roslin that the treatment "would radically and irreversibly change her psychological makeup and capabilities", and Kind goes on to contrast this with the abilities of Cylons to retain memories upon resurrection, further analyzing the nature of identity and death.

[11] In The Theology of Battlestar Galactica: American Christianity in the 2004-2009 Television Series, Kevin Wetmore notes that as chief medical officer in the fleet, Cottle suggests prayer to President Roslin, whose cancer diagnosis has just been confirmed.