"BSG" Scorecard: Wait, What Now?

Well... huh. There were certainly plenty of surprises in "Battlestar Galactica's" penultimate finale/mid-season break. Many unexpected twists and moments that had me holding my breath in suspense. I give the first three quarters of the episode an A+, but the final fifteen minutes or so were very... hurried, unsatisfying, and puzzling.

There were some great character moments, particularly for Adm. Adama, Starbuck and Tigh. The acting and dialogue is so consistently strong that I rarely mention it, but there were a few truly stand-out moments in this episode. Edward James Olmos is a remarkable actor, and it's fun to see what he can do when he's given some real room to move around. I've got more to say about almost everything, but it's very spoilery so I'll stick it behind the jump.

I'm honestly surprised that no one kicked it. It's possible some hostages died off-screen, but the major characters all survived intact. I really thought Tigh was a goner there for a minute, which would have been extra tragic, given his self-sacrificing... uh, self-sacrifice. I loved Tory's cold-as-ice brush off of Roslin. It was no surprise that she turned to the dark side the second she had the chance, and yet it was still fun to see. Watching all of the relationships that have been teetering on the edge either fall into place or fall apart was one of the most satisfying parts of the episode.

And then came the end. I really can't understand covering "we make a truce with the Cylons, we follow the viper to earth, earth looks really shabby, what now" in the space of 10 or 15 minutes. It's certainly a big cliff-hanger to leave us on, but it just felt rushed and awkward. It's hard not to judge the entire episode based on the ending, but let's see how we did, point-wise.

• Cylon Freakouts: 1 (Go Tigh Go! A truly great moment in Tigh history. His conversation with Adama was absolutely heartbreaking.)
• Human Freakouts: 1 (Speaking of Adama. I love the way he has a complete nervous breakdown, then puts on his uniform and cowboys up. That's a manly man for you.)
• Weird Final Cylon Predictions: 1 (This one came from my husband, who suddenly guessed that Starbuck's viper was the final Cylon. Hey... it could happen.)
• Gaius Christ, Superstar: 1 (I love that little moment with his followers all raising their arms to the sky.)
• Really Great Lines: 2 (The secret Cylons cleaned up here: "I'm through taking orders from you" and "Let me take a wild guess... you told.")
• Damn Dirty Apes: 0 (Surprisingly none, though I tell you, in that finale I really expected to see the Statue of Liberty sticking out of the beach. Looked like they were standing in the ruins of the Brooklyn Bridge there at the end.)

So it's a six, which isn't as high as you'd expect for a finale. I love "BSG," so I'm sad to say that the ending just didn't do it for me, but it really didn't. I remain curious to see what the fragile human/Cylon alliance does now that they've found a pile of rubble on Earth, but I'm not as all-fired-up as I expected to be. What about you, Mousketeers? Was the episode everything you had hoped, or did you end up staring blankly at the closing credits?

Comments

[Chris Knight]

In regards to:

"Weird Final Cylon Predictions: 1 (This one came from my husband, who suddenly guessed that Starbuck's viper was the final Cylon. Hey... it could happen.)"

I don't think this will pan out. D'Anna made a point of saying that only four of the final five were in the fleet. That leads me to believe that Baltar is the final fith cylon, because at the time that she said that Baltar was on the Cylon ship, away from the fleet at the time she said it. But, if it _is_ Baltar, why is she keeping that a secret?

-Chris

[Me]

I think the big question is "what now?". The driving point of the show just vanished. Does the revelation of the 5th cylon really in the grand scheme of things matter? If Earth is dead through us destroying ourselves or the cylons doing it does it really matter who number 5 is? Assuming there are survivors from Earth would meeting up with them solve much? I remember when the show started I thought that the big difference between this and the originial is that their problems were much MUCH bigger. Now they seem insurmountable. The obvious thing to do is leave Earth and try to find another Earth like planet, settle there with the cylons, and start procreating but honestly that would be a letdown. Something more miraculous has to happen and that is what is really drawing me back.

[herefast123]

http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/acer/aspire-1350.htm acer aspire 1350 battery,

[herefast123]

http://www.batteryfast.com/toshiba/pa3383.php Battery For PA3383 TOSHIBA Satellite PA3383U-1BRS 12cells laptop battery,
eyfast.com/uniwill/un258.php uniwill Amilo A-1630 A1630 UN258 laptop battery,

[herefast123]

http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/toshiba/satellite-p35.htm toshiba satellite p35 battery,
http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/toshiba/pa3431u.htm toshiba pa3431u battery,

[herefast123]

http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/laptop-ac-adapter/compaq/nx9000-DF981A-compaq-19V-4.9A-90w-5.5mm-2.5mm.php compaq 19V 4.9A 90w 5.5mm*2.5mm adapter laptop
http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/laptop-ac-adapter/compaq/PPP012L-PA-1900-05C1-compaq-19V-4.8A-90w-5.5mm-2.5mm.php compaq 19V 4.8A 90w 5.5mm*2.5mm adapter laptop

[herefast123]

http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/compaq/ze4000.htm compaq ze4000 battery,
http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/compaq/f4809a.htm compaq f4809a battery,

[herefast123]

http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/acer/batcl50l4.htm acer batcl50l4 battery,
http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/acer/travelmate-290.htm acer travelmate 290 battery,
http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/acer/travelmate-2150.htm acer travelmate 2150 battery,

[herefast123]

http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/asus/l3400.htm asus l3400 battery,
http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/asus/l3500.htm asus l3500 battery,

[herefast123]

http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/gateway/m680.php Gateway M360 M460 M680 8-Cell Notebook Battery 6500949 laptop battery,

[herefast123]

http://www.batteryfast.com/compaq/nc6000.htm compaq nc6000 battery,
http://www.batteryfast.com/asus/a3000.php asus a42-a3 a3000 z9100 a3l a3n laptop battery,