Battlestar Re-Up; Finale
Daybreak Parts II and III
Browsing the forums, it’s clear that the final episode of Battlestar Galactica has polarized the fans – the last 30 minutes especially. I was completely blown away by the first hour and a half and believe it was truly Galactica at its finest. The ending fit into the show’s mantra of “this will happen again,” that can’t be argued, and I’m satisfied with them settling on Earth 2. It’s Moore and co.’s ambiguity concerning some points that have me feeling…not gyped, just sort of scratching my head. First I’ll touch on some aspects I loved, then be a Negative Nancy. The rest I’ll leave to the comments (which will hopefully feature more than just me and Crook…I know there’s more BSG fans haunting this site).
I was pretty shocked when Baltar chose to stay and fight, then he ended up saving the day by dropping some spiritual knowledge on Cavil and convincing him to release Hera. Most impressive. We last see him expressing his desire to flex his farm boy roots on Earth 2 with Six, but only after a Bill & Ted moment with phantom Baltar and Six. Baltar is a character I see-sawed with during the entire series; hate, love, empathy, indifference, loathing, love. Because of the effectiveness of the character, I’m really interested to see what actor James Callis does post-BSG. (PS: Cavil blowing his brains out happened so nonchalantly that it was laugh-inducing).
Much fist-pumping was done by yours truly when Tyrol strangled Torey to death, causing everyone in the CIC to start spraying. Chief’s been one of my favorites since season 1 and after having shovel upon shovel of shit thrown upon him this season, I was psyched to see him dish some out. In the end, he just wants to be dropped off where there’s no humans so he can brood and grow his dope beard back. He’s the first Scotsman!
All the major players enjoy a similar happy ending: Roslin peacefully dies of cancer, Tigh and Ellen are a cute old couple, Lee wants to play Boy Scout, Adama plans on building the cabin, and Helo and Athena make hunting and gathering plans. Given the bleak tone of the entire series, I honestly wasn’t expecting this many happy endings for the main characters. But this unexpectedness of the finale just made me enjoy it more…copouts and all.
I could watch Adama and Saul getting drunk in a strip club forever. “YEEEEEAAAAH!!!”
Ron Moore, you’re the man, just don’t put yourself in your own show. Even for a second. It’s pretty wack.
Starbuck simply disappearing when Lee looked away felt like such a copout. The Harbinger of Death shouldn’t have gone out like that. I would have enjoyed more of an explanation of what the frak she was.
Are we to assume that phantom Baltar and Six are angels? The ending with them in Times Square, 150,000 years in the future, talking about how “He” doesn’t like to be called “God” was rather comical. Chick angels are hot.
Were all the visions of the Opera House by Roslin, Athena, and Six just so Hera could run into the CIC and get snatched by Cavil? I have a feeling Moore made up the Opera House without knowing what to do with it. And why was Hera the mitochondrial Eve? Just so she could be special?
This being the last BSG Re-Up (at least until the The Plan and Caprica), I want to quickly thank my dad for loaning a cable-less son seasons 1 and 2 on DVD, starting this whole thing for me. Papa Mars liked the footage of the real-life robots at the very end, I didn’t.
- Oh Mars
March 23rd, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Cara was dead that whole time, a ghost with unfinished business that God wouldn’t let rest until she did it. The second she vanished I got why Anders muttered “See you on the other side” as she set controls for the Sun. She vanished when she ad nothing left to do in this life.
My favorite part were the rebel Centurions who were given the Base Ship… I want to know what adventures they were about to embark on!
I also was happy that Baltar was the good guy at the end. He has always been my favorite characters and I was glad to see he finally got redemption even if he didn’t deserve it. He is one of the best written Sci-Fi characters I’ve ever encountered.
All in all i was pretty unsatisfied with the ending. I actually was hoping that once Starbuck entered the code the whole ship crash landed into Earth 2, killing everyone but then somehow sparking the the chain of events for evolution on life on Earth. But that’s just me.
March 23rd, 2009 at 11:04 pm
That would have been a pretty sweet ending and more along the lines of what I was predicting; mass death for the crew. That would have fit in with the tone and narrative of the show for the past four years. It sort of left us to believe that the surviving crew of Galactica are supposed to be responsible for our civilization on Earth. And that we’re supposed to ditch technology and run to the woods.
You really think Kara was a ghost since she got back? Has anyone gone back and seen if there any Sixth Sense moments? I mean, I buy it, it makes sense. I’m just not feeling these paranormal explanations…angels, ghosts, and such. The series was knee deep in spirituality all the time, no doubt, but that led to some unsatisfying answers.
March 23rd, 2009 at 11:05 pm
I ended up loving the shit out of the finale. But I won’t bullshit you, for the first five minutes after they landed on Earth, I was all:
“What the fuck is this shit / what the fuck is going on?”
My brother was beside me, and he was fist-pumping. He’d been hoping for cavemen since we both got into this shit back in 2006.
I came to love it though – especially with magical ghost angels Six and Gaius pontificating about an endlessly repeating loop. Fair enough Moore, you’ve got me.
I almost have to smile at having ever been convinced that we *weren’t* going to end up on Earth. The ole double-switch.
I’ve heard that the Great Kara Disappearing Act has some people up in arms – and while I feel the gripe, I don’t mind it at all. In fact, when she vanished in the middle of Lee’s speech I was all “Shazam, perfect.”
Moore’s been pumping a whole mystical angle for a while now. Couple that with the fact that Ms. Thrace herself has said in interviews prior to the airing that Kara doesn’t have much closure, and I wasn’t expecting much regarding her.
A friend of mine likened her to Moses. The one who leads her people to the promised land, but cannot stay there herself.
As I said, Moore’s been wanking the mystical angle for a while now. I can imagine if you were a viewer who didn’t like it, you were probably making like Adama after the strip club and puking all over your fucking self.
I personally dig it. I think to have given us a definitive answer regarding Kara may have in fact been the cop-out. There’s mysticism and shit afoot that really can’t be explained. You have to tread the line between heavy-exposition and keeping things up for interpretation.
Same thing goes with angel Gaius and angel Six. We have to assume that Moore was more than aware that we were wondering what the fuck was up with them.
On one hand, you can say “Well, he coped out and didn’t answer shit.”
I can feel you on that. But at the same time, he could have easily thrown something together slapdash and cliched, and we would have called him a hack.
That said, I can appreciate people not liking that.
One of my major gripes is with Hera. It’s a gripe in the sort of way that I’ll think about it while furiously masturbating to pictures of Ronald Moore. Thanks to the screen caps I took of him from the finale episode.
(Agreed, dude should have stayed the fuck out. It’s worse for us nerds who actually know what he looks like.)
What the fuck was Hera’s point? She provides the coordinates through dots and uh, shit.
I must say, she symbolizes the breaking of a cycle, if nothing else. If the show is pushing the idea that we’re a species who incesstantly commit harms against one another – the union of a cylon and human seems to capture the ‘potential’ if nothing else of a hopeful future.
My friend Dave summed up the opera house/cic as “Moore pulling off that mess.” Yes and no. Listen, I’m a fucking apologist, okay. Even critiquing a little bit is going to cause me to self-cut later.
When Hera runs into the room, literally every thread that has been going on through the series comes together. The final five, the rebels, Adama, and the fate of the existence. She’s the centerpiece of the scene that determines the fate of humanity. It’s not some grand moment, and that’s probably because Moore was eating a burrito one day and was like “Fuck, I think I solved that opera house corner I painted myself into the corner with five years ago.”
The opera house/cic is the end of humanity as we know it/blah blah blah whatever the fuck Six has been spitting for years. I want to say it’s more important, but like you said, I’ve been trying to find the meaning in Hera beyond a symbolic role.
I loved the fucking ending, overall. I feel you on a lot of the gripes, adding shit regarding Tight/Adama (where was their closure?), the usual Hera crap, et cetera. I dug the robot montage, if only because it was so Kojima-esque.
The scene where Gaius cracks in his voice telling Six he knows about farming was all but the cheapest move ever used to reducing me to a blubbering mess. Second place comes to the Kara/Lee scene where she poofs. Especially when considering Lee’s lost his wife, his father, and the love of his life.
Honorable mentions go to the fact that the space-battle had be splooging on my Viper toys, and everything involving William Adama. The man is a hero, and I’d be glad to hold his hair back while he puked.
I’ve rambled too long, fuck me! Big ups on your blog dude, I only wish I had gotten to it earlier.
March 23rd, 2009 at 11:09 pm
She was most definitely a Ghost. Think of all the religious overtones in the show AND the fact that the visions of Baltar & Caprica 6 were “Angels”.
March 23rd, 2009 at 11:24 pm
@Ian I hear you on the blubbering moments. One that really got me was Saul and Helen in the strip club, after Adama leaves, and she says how she doesn’t give a shit about anything in the world except being with him. Then they cut to them embracing on Earth 2. Dope.
I’m frucking exhausted but look forward to discussing this more tomorrow.
March 24th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Personally, I frackin loved the finale. The whole battle scene was mind-blowing, on par with most movie special effects you see these days. When they went full speed into the side of the Cylon baseship, omg awesome!!!
I’m trying my hardest not to overanalyze the final episode and ruin it for myself, which is why I am steering clear of all BSG forums for awhile.
I was pretty satisfied with the closure all of the characters got, except for the Admiral and Saul… They were closer to eachother than Adama senior was to his son, and Kara for that matter. But, when Lee said goodbye to his father… I turned into a sobbing mess(which happened atleast a few times throughout the show)
When Kara first just dissapeared, I was quite dissapointed, until about 30 seconds later when the ghost theory dawned upon me, which I think is quite cool.
I would have almost been more satisfied if the show had just ended on that beautiful scene with Adama sitting peacefully next to Roslin’s grave. I am going to rewatch the episode later again, but the whole six and Gaius ending felt a bit too cheesy for me.
No matter what, this show is easily the best thing to ever be put on television! I can’t wait to rewatch the whole series and look for easter eggs and what not :)
March 26th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
loved that shit.
i would have been so pissed if it all ended in death. it would have left so many un-resolved feelings laying around. no sense of justice would have been felt.
it definitely didn’t end the way i expected, but really all i wanted was to not have to complain about it for the rest of my life.
happy ending was the only catharsis possible. think about it in terms of dynamics.
“a whole bunch of bad shit happens then u finish it with more bad shit.”
thats no arc. thats no journey.
also, starbuck’s big bounce was really touching and it made sense. harbinger means sign of things to come. harbinger of death means a sign of imminent death. she was a ghost. that seems fully resolved in my mind.