It’s been quite a journey.
I will admit that I came to the party late, catching up on the first three and a half seasons only six months ago, before watching the final episodes along with my fellow BSG fans. It didn’t take long for me to fall in love with the smart, character-driven drama that worked as a great metaphor to present day current events and big philosophical questions. It was truly science fiction at its best.
Last night was the big finale of the show and expectations were high for everyone. It seems like my feelings are similar to most of the folks out there: the finale was good and satisfying, but it was far from perfect.
For me, the biggest disappointment were the overtly religious themes that really came to the forefront in the finale. Religion has run through the series since the beginning, both in the Cylon god and the ancient gods of the thirteen tribes. I never had a problem with it through the series. I found the subtlety of the themes to work well with the science on the show.
However, in the finale, I felt like the answers to a lot of the overarching and long running mysteries of the series ending up being: “because God said so.” Maybe I am just a little more cynical than the average fan, but it didn’t work for me. I honestly would have preferred things to remain a little more ambiguous, as they were with Starbuck. It would have been nice if answers about the existence/nature of the Cylon god were left up to the viewers.
One thing that did work for me, throughout the series and in particular in the finale, was the strong set of characters on this show. The last half of the episode was nearly entirely dedicated to the characters, and I thought it was great. I may not have liked all the details with the colonization of Earth, but it did serve as a nice backdrop to say goodbye to our characters, and what a goodbye it was.
I maintain that the Adama and Roslin relationship was one of the most organic, realistic, and beautiful love stories I’ve seen. It was a joy watching their relationship evolve from antagonistic intellectual rivals, to friends and confidantes, and finally to lovers. I thought the final scenes between the two of them on Earth was the most powerful — and heartbreaking — part of the finale.
What were your favorite and least favorite parts of the episode?
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Mar 22, 2009 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
I’m sorry the themes did not play so well with you, Bob.
My favorite ending them:”THERE IS NO SANCTIFICATION WITHOUT SACIFICE”.
When I consider their collective journey, I am convinced of the theme even more. Let’s think of what these folks have gone through, fear for their lives, starvation (eating algae!), living like rats in close quarters, for years! Then, when the crew (well lots of them) totally surrender themselves to a cause greater than themselves, they were rewarded with Earth. I gotta say, that all really floats my boat.
What was a bummer scene to watch was Kara disappearing on Lee, but when I really thought about it, it did not sting so much.
That should read SACRIFICE.
The things that really bother me were the HUGE letdown of the opera house visions, and that Kara wasn’t really the messager of death or whatever we were told 1,000 times.
I like how they didn’t explain god, and that he doens’t like to be called god was an awesome line.
You know, maybe we were taking messenger of death to mean something that we have always expected. While she wasn’t a messenger about death…she was definitely dead and did bring a message. Different spin semantically, but still correct, in hindsight.
And I call that a lame way for the writers to try to spin it. They just introduced that after Starbuck was already dead with no clue how they wanted to end it, so they just made her dead and didn’t bother to explain it.
well … technically she did end Humanity … and Cylonity … as they explained that separate neither species could exist … but merged together they would continue (into us today)
Actually, Starbuck was called a harbinger, never a messenger. She was an omen for the fleet in her resurrection from Death, but God didn’t send her back with any coherent message or prophecy to impart.
Athena. Athena’s happy ending, her final reunion with Helo and Hera was priceless. I can sleep easy now.
I’m no fan of organized religion in this country today, but the way the themes of faith in higher powers played out throughout the series were more palatable, and for me how religion should be so nothing in the finale bothered me in that way. I enjoyed how the opera scene played out, but I didn’t expect it to end the way it did as everything went sideways as the Five were downloading the resurrection information. I didn’t like Cavil’s decision to blow his brains out. Seemed totally out of character. I got teary-eyed as the fleet flew into the sun to the refrain of the classic BSG theme. I loved that Caprica and Baltar discovered they were both seeing the Head-Six and Head-Baltar, and I liked the final, cautionary moments. Overall, I thought the finale was supremely profound and satisfying.
Cavil killed himself because he realized that they had lost … resurrection as well as the battle. I guess he made his choice to end things by his own hand.
He had already ordered everyone to stand down … and he had no way of communicating with the Centruions to start fighting again.
It was an actor’s decision to eat his own gun. Personally, if I were that filled with hate, I’d instead empty the clip at Hera, the final five or Adama as a final “frak you.”