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.