4.20 Daybreak - Part 2

So this was it. The big one. The grand finale. The last ever episode of Battlestar Galactica. I can state right at the top I was extremely satisfied with it. I believe the show delivered the required answers, left just enough to interpretation, kicked up some surprises and didn’t skimp on the emotions.

The flashbacks were still in evidence in this episode, and by the end they made more sense. They gave us more of a grasp of what our key characters were as people, with real lives, that made the final ‘modern day Earth’ have more resonance. Without the flashbacks that kind of ending might have just felt a little jarring. It already felt a touch jarring, but the flashbacks helped lessen the blow and justify the ‘everything has happened before and will happen again’ mantra. Referencing our Earth as being similar to Kobol, or Caprica, or wherever, was cheeky and could have flopped over as gimmicky, yet somehow the show kept a nice balance of pessimism and optimism in it's final kiss off.

The assault on Cavill’s fleet was always going to be the grandstanding action sequence, and it was good they incorporated everyone into different capacities to keep them in the mix. Even Gaius had a change of heart and decided to go along! The action itself was never as exciting as, say, the Gaeta mutiny or the Exodus Part 2 episode, but it was more than climactic enough. That as many of them actually made it was perhaps the biggest surprise – that Galactica actually survived to bring them out of it even bigger! No way did I think the old girl was coming back, especially when it was locked into the jaws of Cavill's base! (Was it just me that viewed the Battlestar crunching into Cavill's ship as symbolically comparable with a penis entering a vagina!? I can't work out what meaning ought to be drawn from that, but it did seem too blatant to be accidental!)

Galactica and some of its crew surviving was a welcome surprise, but that didn't come before a succession of ace revelations. The handling of the ‘Opera House’ and the glowing Final Five turning out to be CIC on Galactica, with the Final Five all in place on the upper area, was just a joy to see unfold. The moment it hit the screen it felt absolutely right. CIC was the Opera House. Of course it was!

Evidently there was a ‘higher power’ at work, one that existed in between Cylon rebirth (as Deanna discovered), call it an afterlife, or a place between life and death, existing around the fabric of the known universe, one that could send Angel agents (Head Six and Head Gaius) to guide life along. That the show didn’t attempt to wrap everything up with a masterplan ending was the right move. It was ultimately a simple explanation for much of the mystery, and yet it’s probably the best: something more elaborate and convoluted would have robbed the show its magic and wonder.

Cavill certainly seemed transfixed by the notion of this world beyond the known world - enough to lay down his arms to know more. I liked that Cavil wasn't reduced to pure evil villain, and instead retained his own thirst for knowledge and power that drove his own interests. The moment the Final Five elected to share the secrets of resurrection, and Tory herself realised that her dark secret regarding the murder of Callie was going to become known, it was a terrific build-up. I didn’t expect Tyrol to react so violently though. That was a shocker. (Though I did like Tigh’s admission later on that he would have done the same thing if it had been Ellen!)

Of course that then kicked off Cavill to consider a trick was being played and the whole peaceful moment went to hell. I expected it was going to be Starbuck that was going to turn up and ruin everything, mind, with her being the harbinger of death. It’s Starbuck that has perhaps been the hardest to qualify and even now I feel that her presence is very interpretative, and so have had to reach my own conclusion.

I figured that Starbuck really did die when she went into the swirling maelstrom. Somehow that storm was perhaps a wormhole directly to Earth where she was sucked to, her already dead body dumped on that barren planet. The Starbuck that returned, with a new ship, was a similarly angelic form from this higher power, like Head Gaius or Six with physical form – but perhaps from a certain point of view to be considered an angel of death.

That certain point of view, I feel, has to be the Cylon one. By the end of the episode they were a doomed race – or at least the human skinjob versions were. It was a nice touch that the Centurions were left to their own freewill, leaving that open-ended feeling that they would repeat the process all over again by themselves, building skinjobs and seeking revenge for the end of their race and perform an attack on a modern day Earth. All of this has happened before, etc.

Starbuck vanished when Apollo informed her of what he was going to do with the rest of his life. Her purpose had been fulfilled. It was sad, and without fuss, especially when echoed against her and Apollo’s relationship – one of romance that never quite happened successfully; in the first instance because of Apollo’s drunken brother reminding them of his presence and informing them that they were wrong to be getting it on.

They were always wrong to be getting it on.

I did feel that a lack of punch regarding Starbuck being the ‘harbinger of death’ was perhaps the only disappointment in the whole episode. Yes, she did get them to new Earth (using the song – evidently some kind of product of a higher power that pervades into our real life with Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix!) but, no matter what, it still felt like she saved everyone rather than brought about their end. Maybe there’s understanding about that I am missing but she didn't feel like a harbinger of death to me.

The music in this episode was brilliant. It has been through the whole show, courtesy of Bear McReary, but this finale delivered the goods. From the use of the Watchtower Cylon theme, to Adama’s and Laura’s themes, and the gloriously poignant reprise of the Colonial Theme – the original Battlestar theme – over the images of Galactica and the fleets’ ships gliding towards the sun - bittersweet with the emphasis on the sweet.

It was Adama and Roslyn that really brought home the emotional goods. Whilst it was heartwarming to see Helo actually survived to be with Athena and Hera on Earth (the idea that the fleet bestowed primitive humanity with language and progression is, perhaps, a tad Scientological to be intruding on Battlestar Galactica, but I can’t deny that it fits like a glove (and was a heck of a surprise to boot)) it was the Admiral and the ex-President that wrought out the tears.

Seeing the old man carry the dying leader to the Raptor to give her a better look at the flourishing life on their new home was beautiful. And the look on Adama’s face, in his eyes, when he realise Laura had quietly slipped away simply defied words. Edward James Olmos performance has been commanding from the start but it was this last submission into dignified sadness that totally choked me up. Watching him, by Laura’s grave, talk of building that cabin as the sun set, at daybreak no less, was as befitting a lasting image as any fan of the show could have asked for.

The show has been an absolute triumph, and this finale (against what felt like impossible odds) carried off the show’s finish in style. Praise for all concerned. That’s what I say and, naturally, so say we all.

4.19 Daybreak - Part 1

I hope Ron D. Moore knows what he’s doing! He took over the reins for this episode and the last, the double-episode finale, and then that will be it for BSG! So I don’t think it was unreasonable of me to expect this would be an episode where things got moving. And yet, what happened? It went into FLASHBACK!

Frak me.

I didn’t think the flashbacks were bad. Indeed, seeing Gaius with his father (and how Six worked her way into his life, winning his favour and securing his time with her) and Starbuck meeting Apollo (with Zach there! I wonder if that’s the same actor we saw in the photo all those seasons ago!) and, perhaps most affectingly, Laura with her sisters before tragedy hit her family. . . It was all good stuff. And yet it felt utterly out of place.

For one thing I didn’t get the reason for it. I couldn’t understand WHY I was being shown these histories. I couldn’t understand what the relevance for it was. I presume there was one, I just didn’t see it. The closest I got to any kind of revelation of character was a drunk Apollo trying to chase a bird out of the room. That felt significant somehow, some way, but I can’t quite put my finger on why. Anders’ flashback was the most revealing, with him discussing time and motion and perfection clearly part of his Cylon psyche – of mathematics and music – working away.

(I guess we have to presume the musical notes did represent the co-ordinates to where the Colony was. I don’t recall that being made explicit. Potentially it got edited out of the finl cut; I got the feeling quite a lot got cut from this episode, like Adama’s flashback story for one thing.)

The real gripe, of course, is not that the flashbacks were bad it’s that they were unwelcome! There’s so much to be getting on with – about the Opera House and Starbuck’s true nature and Head Six and Head Gaius – that dawdling around in the past felt so intrusive. I just sincerely hope Ron D. Moore knows what he’s doing – that he has got it all laid out beautifully for the finale episode.

Fingers crossed.

In the meantime, then, the stage was otherwise set for a whopper of a confrontation. All our heroes (except, bizarrely, Gaius – whose choice wasn’t made explicit so far as I could tell) are set to join Adama on his rescue mission of Hera. That they have one small attack approach on the Colony creates a classic against-all-odds scenario for Galactica’s last hurrah. I thought it was interesting that the Final Five were all convinced they had to be together, and had to go. There’s meaning for that, I am sure.

With it being the last episode the odds of who will live and die are out of the window. I have to assume a few of them will make it back, probably in a Raptor, with Hera. But Galactica won’t make it, and the very frail-looking Laura I fear will die with a resigned Adama. . . That’ll be a heartbreaking end, for sure. But maybe it’s in death that the secrets of the Opera House and other mysteries may find their resolution?

It’s exciting and worrying and pushed for time. All the hallmarks of great Battlestar Galactica episodes, of course, but this last one is the one that really counts above all the rest. Oh I really hope Ron D. Moore knows what he is doing!

4.18 Islanded In A Stream Of Stars

I was aware before this episode started that the last remaining episodes, one single and one double-header, had all been written by Ron D. Moore. I got the impression that those 2 hours (of running time) were all his to wrap up the whole show. As such, I also expected this episode to have something of a filler feel to it and be used purely to get the pieces arranged on the board ready for the grand finale.

I would say that was a fairly good assessment of what this episode was about.

There wasn’t much of a central plot thrust, rather lots of little scenes with all the main characters to get us up to speed with where they were at. If there was a spine to the episode it was ultimately about the end of the Battlestar Galactica. Hera moved the toy Galactica towards the Cylon Base Ship at the start of the episode, perhaps indicative of the move that Adama would eventually be forced to use.

Adama’s explanation for it was the best there could have been. As he explained to Tigh, Galactica had never let them down and so he wanted to honour her with the dignity of letting her go now, rather than see her taken down and destroyed by dragging her on further. Cue a little bit of Adama’s theme as the two men were left to reflect to themselves and it was a perfect ending moment captured.

But that was the ending. And there are plenty of other issues going on with the other characters. Apollo and Baltar have been the two characters that have most notably been left on the fringe of things of late, Apollo especially. Whilst Apollo may not be the most interesting person at present, he is a good character and I hope the finale gives him something crucial. Baltar, meantime, tried to use Starbuck as a sign that angels were amongst them, eulogising of a life after death. Given Head Six, and the weird place between life and death that Deanna explored a while back, it’s hard not to imagine it’s a notion that holds a place in the Battlestar Galactica universe.

Helo’s reaction was very powerful, his performance in practically begging Adama for a Raptor to go and look for his daughter incredibly well-delivered. Adama was fairly tough, I thought – equating Hera with his own dead son was not quite a fair comparison; Hera was still alive! Although everyone seems fairly assured that she definitely is the most important child around so her remaining in Cavil’s clutches is surely a matter to be resolved for the finale.

Good to see the opera house dream sequences being revisited. Clearly an area that needs more focus, and paves the way for Laura’s role in the big send-off to be laid out. And Boomer, also, having handed Hera over appears to have formed a bond with her (ironically, Hera used the same ‘projection’ trick Boomer used on Tyrol to get into her affections) and might just once more turn traitorous, against Cavil this time. I’d put nothing past that crazy Cylon!

I presume the place we saw Hera delivered to was the Colony, and the tantalising glimpse of that place probably didn’t give us anything like the full story about what that place holds. I would expect there to be ‘tanks’ for the Final Five should they need to download – and it has occurred to me that it may be the logical and tactical plan to have that happen - kill them so they can wake up at the Colony - in order for them to locate and infiltrate Cavil's HQ. . .

Lastly was Starbuck. She delivered the episode’s biggest shock moment when she almost shot Anders. (Again, begs the question about where he would have woken up!) He was linked into Galactica like a Hybrid, clearly fusing the line between human and Cylon in ways we could not have imagined a Season or two ago. The moment of finding out the truth about Kara Thrace, harbinger of death or angel, Cylon or human, is close at hand.

Perhaps Hera’s movement of the Galactica to the Base Ship is pre-empting a last strike attempt by Galactica on Cavil. If Anders can be used to run the systems like a Hybrid then it can almost be like a kamikaze mission – with the “harbinger of death” leading the charge? Is that what this term indicates? It seems like a tantalising proposition.

4.17 Someone To Watch Over Me

The episode started with a somewhat whimsical feel for the first third, which made me wonder if this was going to be one of those introspective types of affairs rather than a more progressive occasion. Introspection is fine, sure, but at this stage in the season you’d hope things were moving!

Turns out they were definitely moving in this fundamentally two-pronged episode chiefly concerning Starbuck and Tyrol.

Starbuck’s was the least surprising and yet the more compelling plot. The piano player she met in the bar it seemed, to me reasonably early, was purely someone she could only see and hear. No one else acknowledged what was happening at all, but the encounter seemed to possess that vibe anyway so I don’t think the programme-makers were trying to pull it off as any major surprise.

By the end of the episode it seemed certain that the piano player was a manifestation of Starbuck’s father – whether he looked identical to him we can’t know, but in the way he talked, and the warm-up tune he used, and the cigarettes he was smoking, and particularly towards the end in how Starbuck was flashbacking to her own childhood with him then the parallel was striking. Is it significant? Is her longing for a father-figure somehow linked to that crazy idea I had a couple of episodes back, about how Starbuck is somehow an offspring, or a conversion, of the ‘lost’ Cylon model Daniel?

What’s intriguing is what it means about Starbuck. She’s been in a tailspin ever since she saw her own body. And in this episode we witnessed Boomer displaying the powers of projection we’ve heard Cylons mention before (nice to see old-plotting brought back to the fore), creating fantasy worlds to take her mind out of the present. Was this encounter with the piano player a form of projection from Starbuck, further cementing her as one of their kind?

Or was it a ‘passed on’ projection, from Hera to Starbuck, via the small communication they had where Hera passed her the notes to The Song? That one seems a little off – but there was a brief mention of a higher power that controls everyone. . . Maybe Starbuck’s part of that? As ever, it’s more glimpses without a full view of the whole thing. Although the moment the piano player/Starbuck struck out The Song fully on the piano was a thrilling moment, excellently edited against the climax of the plot playing out between Boomer and Tyrol.

Anders the musician needs to wake the hell up and spill what he knows!

Boomer managed to squirrel her way into Tyrol’s affections by projecting the life they dreamed of having together. When she left him at the end she made an unnecessary declaration that she genuinely did love him – and I believe she means it. But then her model is one that gets taken by shiny things, so the fact that she even meant it then doesn’t mean it’s a feeling that will last!

So it seems her secret agenda for returning Ellen to the fleet was so she could engineer the kidnap of Hera – and it was nicely done. The scene with Helo in particular, with the beaten and bound Athena forced to watch them together, emphasising what a poisoning element in their midst she was. And Boomer left leaving more than a distraught Athena behind, jumping next to the fragile hull of the Galactica and doing untold damage.

Roslyn’s reaction, with Helo and Tyrol and Athena also, suggest this kidnap is not something that is going to be allowed to stand. The Cylons, also, consider Hera a symbol of their futures. Doing nothing us surely unthinkable. Ellen may know where Cavill is (or perhaps the ‘stars’ Hera draw serve as a kind of map!) but the Galactica doesn’t seem to be in much fit state to plunge into battle. Desperate times, and the end is closing in, which further impresses the feeling that this net is tightening inexorably.