TV Verdict

That must have been why these last few episodes were so character-centric: they were saving their money for the most bad-ass space battles of the series. But the interstellar shoot-out was just the appetizer in what would prove to be an emotional, surprising and absolutely memorable finale to one of the coolest hour-longs to ever grace the small screen.

Massive, massive spoilers below.

There’s so much to talk about I could burn through a year’s worth of bandwidth usage with just one post, so I’ll toss out my reactions in quick bulleted form.

What I Loved About the Finale

1. The entire siege on the Cylon colony. What a stunningly intense action sequence, dwarfing anything that the series has done before, including the previous high-point, the frenzied escape from New Caprica. Man, what a thriller: the nukes, the dual assault teams, the Raptor asteroid navigating, the Cylon counter-offensive, the Raptor/Raider battles. There was a lot of TV budget thrown up there.

2. Centurion on Centurion crime. So cool to see Lee leading a detachment of Centurions and even cooler to see the 2.0 versions issuing smackdowns to the evil old schoolers.

3. Boomer’s fate. Had to happen that way and Athena may not be the most sympathetic character after that cold-blooded execution, but it beat the alternative: kidnapping amnesty. The flashback about what she owed Adama was an unexpected touch, though where was the crisis of conscience when Boomer was beating Athena senseless, porking her husband in front of her and crippling Galactica with her FTL jump?

4. The squashing of the “can’t we all just get along?” moment. Oh, it seemed too good to be true. In exchange for resurrection technology (hey Saul, if you had that brainstorm earlier it would have saved an awful lot of lives) for Hera seemed to set up a mutually beneficial alliance until Tyrol–surprise!–lost his mind. More shooting and then the colony was nuked. Yikes. A nasty little twist that I enjoyed greatly.

5. Adama and Roslin. The most emotionally fulfilling relationship was the real tear-jerker this episode. That final Raptor flight was the most gut-busting thing I’ve seen all series. And what a wonderful departing shot of Bill sitting on the hill next to her grave.

6. Starbuck’s disappearing act. This will provoke Internet meltdown I’m sure: What was Starbuck really? Why did she disappear? Is that a cop-out by Ronald Moore and the writers? I liked it. It was mysterious sure, but her story was done and her departure fit. Alas, it looks like Lee is going to have to find carnal solace in the arms of a female Neanderthal.

7. Baltar’s “farming” comment. It was simple, called back to a relatively new piece of character history, but it was emotionally resonant. Probably because he was one of the most complex characters in the series and this simple declaration and resulting outpouring of emotion was genuine.

8. Baltar’s “faith” speech. But this dialogue was the most important of the show. It gets to the core of the series, this transcendent Divine Will guiding humans and Cylons. It’s sort of New Agey, yeah, however it helps resolve the supernatural questions of Starbuck’s resurrection, Head Six and Head Baltar (angels? demons? both?), the Opera House and even Bob Dylan. And am I right to peg Moore as a theistic evolutionist?

Stuff I Wasn’t Bonkers For

1. Hera as the missing link. I get the point of it: we’re children of humans and Cylons and so on and so forth and I see how the series led to that point (Hera had to be super-important for a reason), but something about this twist just struck me as too contrived. I don’t know, if I think about it more I might warm up to it.

2. “Go forth and populate the Earth!” Here’s a hard sell. “Hey, instead of hanging around together with access to technology and Advil go take this knapsack and hunt gazelles.” Idealistic to the point of parody? It’s close.

3. The Chief is a buffoon. Really, is there any argument here? Has any character f-ed over anyone more than this guy? He’s single-handedly responsible for the suicide run on the colony, all the loss of human lives and the extinction of the Cylon race. He deserves to seclude himself in Scotland or wherever he’s off to.

4. Break the cycle. Here’s the reason for moving away from city planning on the new Earth: we need to break the cycle of violence. It’s is another driving theme in the series and I can dig it, but its overuse in the finale became cliche and a half a loaf of preachy.

5. The ending. Which brings me to the final scenes. Part of me liked modern-day Times Square and Six and Baltar walking down the street and the montage of robots (actually I really liked that). Still, I think this was all inferred and showing it and having Six/Baltar run through the “cycle of violence” talking points again diluted the power of the parting shots. Put me in the “It would have been better to end it all with Bill gazing out to the horizon” camp.

Overall, despite my misgivings, this was a great finale. Yeah I have some mixed feelings about the ending and I’m not ruling out someone eventually selling me on its merits. Maybe as I dwell on it more I’ll, ahem, evolve, my reaction.

What I do know: the action was spectacular, the emotional impact was legit, the acting was top-notch, most of my questions were adequately answered and, regardless of where you land on the virility of the ending, it was at least hopeful, not a nihilistic beatdown.

Thanks you Ron Moore and company. Thank you actors. Thank you Centurion CGI artists. Thanks for a satisfying end to an exemplary series.

Want more? Listen to a special BSG post-mortem podcast from Michael Stailey and myself!