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4.20 Daybreak (2) Adama: "What do you hear, Starbuck?" Starbuck: "Nothing but the rain." This finale was a masterpiece. From darkness, to light, to oblivion. I wish I felt better about it. For some reason, it really bothered me. What did I expect, though? Certainly not a happy ending. A series finale is a difficult thing, especially for a show as complex as Battlestar Galactica. Maybe I would have felt better with high tragedy, Adama going down with the ship, perhaps, after the space battle to end all space battles. Although we did get a space battle to end all space battles. The raid on the Colony ship was massive, gripping, and well done; it reminded me a bit of that final, intense battle in Serenity. I was always conscious of the fact that the humans, Cylons, and Centurians were carrying out a rescue of one small child together. And the realization of the "opera house" moment, in the CIC covered with Cylon accoutrements and the Final Five at the "altar", was quite moving. Exchanging Hera for the technology of Resurrection was like the genetic superbowl, an echo of the original evolutionary exchange of immortality for sexual reproduction. Except that the "bad" Cylons didn't get Resurrection, after all, because the Final Five screwed it up by being all too human. I wanted answers to the religious questions, and I suppose I got them. Affirming the existence of "God" was a brave writing choice, and Hera the holy child as Mitochondrial Eve was a beautiful combination of science and faith. It certainly explained her importance and why "God" would send angels to Gaius and Caprica Six to ensure her survival. If I understand the concept of Mitochondrial Eve correctly, some of the Colonials and Cylons and possibly even the primitives were our ancestors as well; it wasn't just Hera, of course. And I rather liked that it made Helo and Athena into a literal Adam and Eve. My favorite part of this finale was Gaius and Caprica Six; especially the moment she told him she was proud of him, they kissed, and then they saw each other's angels. It's astonishing that until this episode, we still didn't know what was in Gaius' heart. His role in the destruction of the colonies was inadvertent, after all; he did it all for love. Seeing Gaius at peace with becoming a farmer again was quite touching. Beginnings and endings. Even though we knew it was coming, I got chills when Kara put it all together and punched in those numbers. But I was disturbed and actually rather angry that she was apparently an angel, too. We saw Lee and Kara's beginning as well as their end. I wanted them to have *something.* They never had anything. If you've read any of my reviews, you know I'm a wuss. I got choked up over and over again. Roslin saying goodbye to Cottle. Adama giving his stars to Hoshi. Starbuck kissing Anders goodbye, and him guiding the fleet into the Sun. Adama in a viper, leaving Galactica for the last time. Adama and Lee saying goodbye forever. Roslin dying during that lovely Out of Africa moment, and Adama putting his ring on her dead finger. At least she made it to the end of the journey. Adama built that cabin for her, after all. And there were fun moments, too. Romo Lampkin as the new president. The five men lying in the grass together, talking about reproduction. The extreme beauty of ancient Africa and all of the abundant wildlife as a vibrant contrast to the sterile life of danger and deprivation in the Fleet. No dropped plot threads. Tory finally paid the price for killing Callie. Tyrol lost both Tory (whom he had loved in his past life) and Boomer (whom he had loved in his present life) in the space of a few minutes. Did Athena really have to execute Boomer? What harm could she have done on Earth? Maybe Tyrol wouldn't have ended up alone. And it was particularly upsetting to spend most of the finale thinking Helo had died during the raid. I'm glad he didn't. I completely understand why the Colonials and Cylons chose to do what they did, to break the cycle once and for all. But the more I thought about it, the more it disturbed me. By destroying all of their ships and scattering into small groups around the globe, they chose to completely obliterate their culture. It was like they never existed; only some of their genes remained. Kara Thrace really did lead them to their end. And the ambiguous coda in Times Square suggested that the cycle may very well assert itself here on Earth, today. So it disturbed me. Hey, Battlestar Galactica has always been about "disturbing." It was still an excellent finale. Bits and pieces: -- 150,000 years ago, Tanzania. The info on Mitochondrial Eve wasn't exactly right. The theory was recently disproved and now they're saying there are 18 Mitochondrial Eves. I have a close friend who's into this stuff. -- Ron Moore (who did a cameo in the final Times Square scene) worked on Star Trek. I kept thinking of the "prime directive" during the planet scenes. -- Racetrack and her partner died. And destroyed the Colony inadvertently after their death. Maybe that was the hand of "God," too. -- I loved that they gave the red stripe Centurian slaves the base star and their freedom. And it worked. It's been 150,000 years and they never came back. -- We never learned for certain if Starbuck was Daniel's daughter. I would have liked to have known for certain. And really. Where did the song come from, then? "God" gave it to Starbuck's father? [Note: I've gotten a lot of comments and letters about this one. Apparently, Ron Moore never intended us to think that Starbuck's father was Daniel. But I still find it fascinating that so many fans (including me) jumped to that conclusion. Like it was meant to be.] -- Where did Tyrol go? Scotland? Further north? -- The medic was played by Jamie Bamber's wife, Kerry Norton. She appeared in several earlier episodes, as well. -- There were ads for the Caprica pilot, available on DVD in April, and Battlestar Galactica: The Plan for this fall. You know, at this moment, I honestly don't want any more. It's over. I'm not sure I can promise I will review anything else Battlestar-related. Maybe I'll feel better when I've had time to digest this finale. Quotes: Roslin: "The night is young. Apparently, so are you. Let's see what happens." I'm not sure what the point of this was. Screw teaching, I'm going into politics? Yeah, I know, beginnings and endings. Cottle: "I don't know what to say." Roslin: "Don't spoil your image. Just light a cigarette and go and grumble." Boomer: "Today I made a choice. I think it was my last one." Gaius: "I see angels. Angels in this very room. Now I may be mad, but that doesn't mean that I'm not right." Gaius: "God is a force of nature, beyond good and evil." Cavil: "I don't mean to rush you, but you are keeping two civilizations waiting." Lee: "What does scare you?" Kara: "Being forgotten." Lee said later that she wouldn't be forgotten. But the thing is, she was. They all were. Cottle: "Their DNA is compatible with ours." Gaius: "Meaning we can breed with them." Adama: "You got a one track mind, doc." Gaius: "Listen. I'm talking about the survival of the human race, actually. Not some get-together with the natives." Adama: "You also have no sense of humor." Lee: "If there's one thing we should have learned, it's that, you know, our brains have always outraced our hearts. our science charges ahead, our souls lag behind. Let's start anew." Harvey Six: "Let a complex system repeat itself long enough, eventually something surprising might occur. That, too, is in God's plan." Harvey Gaius: "You know he doesn't like that name. Silly me. Silly, silly me." This exchange confused me. What did the silly me bit mean? Four out of four stars, Billie View all comments or post a comment. |
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