So Say We All! Warning: Spoilers Ahead. This video, courtesy of Sci Fi Channel and Hulu, is temporarily available for you to catch up.
After much waiting since “Revelations,” the Final Episodes of Battlestar Galactica begins with a bang. The finale of 4.0 had an anti climatic ending where the Colonial Fleet finds a nuked out New York City. Also, before Season 4, the events of “Maelstrom” also bring some further mystery. Starbuck dies, comes back, but as the survey teams go through the ruins, the Fleet must deal with the aftermath, and there is enough to go around in the drama-packed “Sometimes A Great Notion.”
The idea of Earth has long sustained the rag-tag Fleet throughout their perilous flight from the Cylons. They’ve lost their worlds, were decimated from billions to only 54, ooo (with the count going down to 39651) , and even gave up a perfectly good planet all for Earth. In the original series, the Fleet could have settled on a great number of worlds, but they also chose to find Earth. However, the Colonials traded their nuked out worlds for another, and the Prophecy of Pythia, which guided Roslin through the arduous journey, now means nothing. Also, crew morale goes down and some of the major players experience crises of faith and being.
The water’s undrinkable and Baltar and the Cylon scientists give some disturbing findings: the Earthlings were Cylons. While the impact of this information remains to be seen on the general population, it causes Roslin to burn her Bible.
Dualla experiences some happiness and even rekindles her romance with her estranged husband Lee Adama, but this is short lived. She is so happy that she just wants to remain so, giving us a major “Oh, Frak!” moment. It’s surprising and devastating, but also inevitable. Adama later reacts to the death of his daughter-in-law by challenging Saul to off him. Hopefully, they can keep up these moments of dramatic intensity as we reach the end.
The mystery of the death and resurrection of Starbuck is deepened. Starbuck finds a fragment of her Viper and later the cockpit with her remains. Leoben, who accompanied Kara Thrace on her surveys, is now shaken in his faith and he’s greatly disturbed to learn that the Hybrid told Kara she is the Harbinger of Death. How can there be a dead Starbuck and a living one on the same planet at the same time? Perhaps there is a temporal paradox, though that doesn’t seem to be a part of Ronald D. Moore’s BSG universe. Or, is Kara a manufactured copy with rebuilt viper? And, who created them for what purpose?
The Final Four have flashbacks to lives they had on Earth, with Tyrol and Tigh’s shown. We now know how “All Along The Watchtower” became their song. Also, we learn who the Final Cylon is, and she’s definitely been a major suspect of mine all these years – Ellen Tigh. I’ve wondered if she was an aged Six or another numbered model, but the idea of reborn was part of their plans.
Now there’s the question of why were the Seven models of the Cylons forbidden to think about or even try to find the Final Five. Cavil went through great lengths to enforce it, even lobotomizing the Raiders when they identified Sam Anders as a Cylon. Why does Cylon programming run against gaining this knowledge?
What happened to Earth fits the Colonial religion’s doctrine of Eternal Return as what has happened now has happened before. Leoben quoted it early on to Kara Thrace. Will the mystery of Earth help show what happened to Kobol – why were the Humans exiled from there?
So much for Leoben’s original allegation that Adama was a Cylon. Well, from the information available about the upcoming Caprica series, Adama did have a proto-Cylon sister.
With Earth gone bust, there isn’t going to be a reimagined Battlestar Galactic 1980. No flying motorcycles, no second generation pretty boy hot shot Viper Pilots/bank robbers/Boy Scout leaders. Now Adama’s out to find any type G or K star system suitable for colonization. That should keep them busy for a while.
If this episode’s any indication, the Final Episodes are a great notion indeed.
Here is a version of the episode with Ronald D. Moore’s commentary
Tags: Battlestar Galactica, Sci Fi Channel, science fiction, science fiction television, television
