Processing the Battlestar Galactica Finale

Battlestar Galactica

The finale of the finest sci-fi (and even one of the finest dramas) that TV has ever seen has finally come and gone. It’s a bitter sweet experience that I’m still processing, but the show gives us a lot to think about. I feel compelled to gather my thoughts on the finale here (which is probably a good thing in of itself that a TV show would get me to write a post like this).

(Warning: there are spoilers in this post, obviously, so stop reading if you don’t want to see them.)

For the first half of the finale I was thinking to myself that this is the most brilliant show and finale ever. They ratcheted things into a fever pitch. The moment where they jump withing point blank of the colony and start taking a pounding was intense. It was awesome to have one final epic space battle in classic BSG style with the crazy camera work and all.

Then we hit the CIC (Opera House) scene and the the disappointment began. There are two things that disappointed me most.

  1. They used poor characterization to resolve the battle with the colony Cylons (specifically with the way that Cavil backed down and then killed himself…more below).
  2. They guided us too much into what they thought rather than giving us a framework and letting us think.

Here are my bullet-point thoughts.

Awesome

  • One last epic space firefight (it’s just too bad we didn’t get to see Lee and Kara in the cockpit again).
  • BSG slamming itself into the colony.
  • “Let’s not tell her the plan.” Athena blowing away Boomer (it was sad, but it made sense). It gave us a tragic character ending.
  • The finale was about the characters as much as it was about tying up plot twists.
  • The redemption of Baltar. They could have gone a lot of directions with him, but they choose a really good way to tie up his  character with this awesome juxtaposition of the flashback with the two people (him and Caprica Six) that allowed the destruction of humankind. And his going back to farming (his father’s occupation) was brilliant.

Would have been cooler

  • If Starbuck was Daniel’s daughter. I was “OK” with her dissappearing and essentially being some sort of “angel,” but they had a really cool opportunity there that they missed out on. If she had been the daughter of Daniel (due to procreation) it would have been more interesting, we could have seen her and Lee have their end together and it would be yet another jealous reason why Cavil would have hated his “brother” (he was able to create offspring). UPDATE: I *really* like the idea Leesa shares in the comments about this.
  • They should have given us more with Daniel. The revelation of Danial being the seventh Cylon was very cool. The “Cain and Abel” allegory was interesting, but I wish they had played with that more, though.

Fine

  • Use of divine intervention. I like that they leave the nature of the higher power as ambiguous. This theme has been there since the beggining. I don’t see it as Deus Ex Machina as many seem to be complaining. It was clearly there was some sort of “guiding force” throughout the whole series. There is just one example of Deus Ex Machina that I didn’t like that is listed below.
  • We are descended from them. This is a pretty cool idea actually. I like the cyclical nature of all of this. Of course, this has been touched on before in fiction. It definitely rings of The Matrix with a cycle that repeats itself waiting for an anomoly to happen. The different, though, is that The Matrix seems to point to growth and change as the inevitablity and BSG seemed to say that it was destruction.

Not Fine

  • Baltar’s speech in the CIC. Yes, this is totally in character for him. But the fact that it talked Cavil down was just a complete eye-roller and out of character for this previously very cool character.
  • Cavil killing himself. There is no way. He would have stuck to self-preservation until the end. In fact, I don’t think he would have ever boarded the Battlestar to begin with. He sudden act of suicide was just lame. I heard that at first they wanted it to be a duke out with Tigh. That would have been at least a little more interesting to watch.
  • Heavy-handed ‘the robots are coming” moment in NYC Time Square. We didn’t need to be hit over the head with this.
  • Pointless flashbacks that I kept searching for meaning in. Really just slowed things up and filled time. There were only two that had any meaning for me — Boomer’s and Baltar’s.
  • When all is said and done, a lot of the main characters just want to wander off in solitude (e.g. Adama, Lee, Tyrol). Doesn’t make sense to me? Not for all three of them. It leaves this sense of loneliness.
  • There is no way that everyone would just go along with Lee’s idea to just ditch all their technology. If there is one thing we have seen over and over again it is that the fleet is made up of varied factions with varied thinking. In fact, this give and take and need to compromise has been a theme throughout. So all of a sudden we are to beleive that out of 39,000+ colonists there wasn’t a faction that stood up and said, “No way! I like my FTL drive and coffe maker thank you very much!”The meaning of Lee’s proposition was an interesting one. Yes, it was part of trying to break the cycle. But the meaning was significantly diminished with this oversight of convenience.

Still confused

  • Why was Starbuck the harbinger of death?

Alternate Ending

On another note, here is a great quote from a Ron Moore interview about the ending.

Eddie kept pitching me that they come to Earth in contemporary times, and everyone’s cheering and happy, and cut to the White House and the President goes, “Nuke ‘em!” And they destroy Galactica — cut to credits. And people say I’m dark!

What Do You Think?

  • Where you satisfied with the finale?
  • What did you like?
  • What didn’t you like?

19 Comments

Marta  on March 23rd, 2009

The season finale had my attention captured for most of the time. There were some absolutely brilliant parts to it and I agree that the first half was much better then the second.

I never did quite figure out the ‘harbinger of death’ reference either.

What bothered me the most in the last 2-3 episodes is that I was left with a feeling that the viewer was being set up for the next show “Caprica” and not really on finishing the BSG.

That could just be me reading to much into it but I still couldn’t help wondering.

As sorry as I am to see it go, it was time. It is good to see a favorite show go out on a high note.

Sterling  on March 23rd, 2009

Cavil killing himself made NO sense. It was totally out of character for him. It actually made me think for moment they had resurrection back somehow… cause that would be the only way he would end it so quickly, was to escape. DUMB.

Starbucks end was also kinda dumb. If she was an angel them why was she so sad, drinking, hating life etc. I didn’t like that at all.

I agree about them all going off alone, icky. I guess they were all so tired of each other they just had to get away.

Thankfully Kings just started so there is something to take BSG’s place…

Leesa Barnes  on March 23rd, 2009

The finale of BSG left me empty. Like dating someone for 4-years waiting for the ring and then we break up on Valentine’s Day. Really crappy.

Cavil is too narcissistic to destroy himself. That just didn’t make any sense to me. He yells out “Frack!” and then commits suicide? Not believable.

I thought Starbuck for sure would be Daniel re-incarnated. She’s artistic both musically and visually, just like Daniel. I was hoping that Ellen re-created Daniel as a woman to hide that model from Cavil so he wouldn’t destroy the model again. But, no dice.

And what is the significance of Hera? If humanity was able to survive 150,000 years by procreating with the natives and with each other, then Hera is no longer the savior of the human or Cylon species.

One thing I love – the Centurions. Man, they’re beautiful. Shiny chrome. The only highlight in the finale was seeing both the old and new Centurions fighting side-by-side.

My guess as to why the finale was so empty (for me that is) is that there were just too many complex characters and storylines to tie it up in a nice gold box with a pink ribbon on top. Ron must’ve freaked wondering how he could bring an elegant ending to such a rich storyline.

Leesa Barnes  on March 23rd, 2009

Oh, there were 2.5-million viewers for the season finale. Just in case anyone was wondering.

Jason  on March 23rd, 2009

@Leesa,

I like your dating analogy.

The centurions were a very cool part of the finale. I should have included that in my list.

Daniel re-incarnated!? Awesome idea. That would have been a really cool twist. Much cooler.

You’re right, the thing with Hera was totally pointless in the end.

Ron was smart enough to pull this together better. That probably just makes the disappointment worse.

MattjDrake  on March 23rd, 2009

@Leesa Good call about Hera – after all that there was really no point to that major part of the story. What the?

Overall, I thought the ending was good. I agree with Jason that the epic space battle first half was satisfying. The second half was competent – I can’t blame them for wrapping things up with the flashbacks.

However, what I would have really liked is if they did something blatantly nihilistic. For instance, simply having both species just end right there or something even darker that Ron would have been able to make up.

I can’t wait to re-watch it from the beginning on Blue-Ray.

Jason  on March 23rd, 2009

@Matt,

They certainly could have gone the nihilistic route. The series had plenty of darkness to it. There would have been no disconnect had they chosen to do it that way.

Nicole  on March 23rd, 2009

In regards to Hera: At the end they showed Hera – then cut to a a news broadcast (present day) of finding Eve – tracing all human origins back to these fossil remains which are part human- part cylon —leading you to believe those remains are Hera’s thus making her the origin of all exsistence.

Kirk  on March 23rd, 2009

One unfortunate side-effect of listening to Ron Moore’s podcasts is that he tells how they essentially made things up as they went along. The final 5 weren’t known from the beginning. The Ander/cyborg was made up along the way.

I think knowing that also helped lower my expectations. If not planned out ahead of time, how could they ever end it with a bang?

That said, I don’t think BSG ever really got its footing since the mutiny arc.

I agree on Hera’s lack of payoff, that everyone would agree to give up on tech (give me a break), the main characters’ choice to go off by themselves. But my major, major beef:

What’s with the hammer-over-the-head, here’s-your-lesson ending? Having ‘angel’ Six and Baltar wandering Earth, chatting about the danger, showing robotic technology? Geez. So intelligently written for so long and then treating viewers like they were simpletons.

Ok, that’s all the critique I need to put out there. It was truly one of the best shows ever and I am sad it’s over.

But hey, I’m not sure Lost even has a shot of approximating that wrap up.

Jason  on March 23rd, 2009

@Kirk,

I’ve wondered how much they made up as they went along. I assumed that had to know early, early on who the five were going to be, so I’m surprised to hear it was more off the cuff…kind of impressive, actually.

You’re right. The entire coda was heavy-handed. They would have been better to end with the zoom out from Adama on the hill.

Leesa Barnes  on March 23rd, 2009

@nicole hera couldn’t have been the mother of the civilization on the 2nd earth because there were TONS of other humans having babies and any of those could’ve been the mother (or father) of “today’s” population.

@kirk, I do agree that once the episode of the mutiny was over, BSG lost its steam. I think I watched that episode at least 6 times. Man, it was good.

But what Jason said about Six & Baltar is the reason why I think having those 2 be the 2 faces we see at the end of the series is so important. Those 2 had a direct hand in the fall of the colonies and are the 2 that helped saved humanity this time around.

But then again, “It has happened before…”

Nicole  on March 23rd, 2009

Good point Leesa! I completely missed that – they did specifically say that the remains were part cyclon though…I guess…that existing population would have had to die off which in all the bizzareness of how they wrapped it up isn’t all that far fetched. :(

Amy Lavender Harris  on March 26th, 2009

I’ve been following up on Hera BSG references for the past week. I just wanted to point out that ‘Eve’ (or in this case, Hera) figures are of interest to paleontologists because the threads linking modern humans to our ancestors are so tenuous.

It may be true that tens or hundreds of thousands of people procreated 150,000 years ago, but most of those genetic lines have died out subsequently. As a result, all people living today derive their mitochondrial (maternal) DNA from the same woman believed to have lived in Africa nearly 150,000 years ago.

The BSG narrative that all contemporary humans are descended from the Hera hybrid is ‘plausible’ and certainly poetic. For me it helped redeem BSG, which I’d pretty much stopped watching in season 3 because of plot inconsistencies and seemingly random writing. I’d always thought the only way BSG could resolve the human-Cylon conflict was through hybridity, and while the ending was a bit cheap, it satisfied me nonetheless.

Of course, I gave birth a few months ago to a daughter whose origins are very clearly stellar.

Mitch  on March 27th, 2009

While watching the last episode, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Upon reflection, I still like it, but I’ll admit there were some loose ends that didn’t quite fit.

One was Hera’s presence as the only hybrid. When the three of them walk off on their own, it leaves us wondering just who was she going to mate with later on.

Two, was Lee Adama actually talking to himself the entire time, or was Starbuck there, then gone as the show portrayed it?

Some of the flashbacks didn’t work, and didn’t make sense. What was the deal with the strip club anyway?

And finally, the song; I’ve been assuming the song, for Starbuck, was really a numerical code, and I don’t have a problem with that, but then why did the Cylon few keep hearing the song also, and how come none of them figured it out, especially the one who supposedly created the others?

Despite that, I enjoyed it; great series overall.

Jason  on March 27th, 2009

@Amy,

That adds some interesting insight on the Hera bit.

@Mitch,

For me the song was something that came in and out of the show representing the “higher power” that was at play influencing things.

As for Starbuck, my interpretation was that she was some sort of “angel” much like the Head Baltar and Head Six, except for in this case everyone could see her and interact with her.

I’m assuming that she came back as an “angel” after her death, but that before that she was real flesh and blood.

But they never explained why she was the harbinger of death. I was largely unsatisfied with the handling of her story in the end.

You’re right, a number of the flashbacks made no sense and were confusing in the end…simply broke the flow of the show.

mikevo  on March 27th, 2009

i think the fact that the writers were clearing kind of making it up as they went showed through. But i think this was a constant problem with the show. That’s what made Lost’s season 3 so problematic. But since than, I feel the writers have gained a larger perspective of what they are doing with season 5. However, I don’t think they ever had that with Battlestar. A lot of things were left open ended to the fact that they just didn’t have a satisfying way for it to all make sense. That being said…

I still think there was some brilliance in the finale and the show was still brilliant in many ways. As a character study and a social/political/religious commentary, there is so much to digest. I stopped being hung up on the plot elements and was very satisfied by the overall message. Especially in the end and the resolution of Baltar’s character. A lot to love, and i just don’t let myself get disappointed by the plot holes and logic loops as the show was kinda full of them, as are a lot of serialized TV shows.

Amara  on April 28th, 2009

http://www.archaeologyatthemovies.com/galactica.htm

I found this archaeological critical view of Battlestar quite interesting.

Jason  on April 29th, 2009

@Amara,

Thanks for sharing that awesome article. Very fascinating.

My favorite quote:

The new Battlestar Galactica was a wondrous television series. But they owed their viewers a better ending. An ending that was plausible, logical, and consistent with our ACTUAL history since they were going to borrow it for their ending. The irony is that it would have been easy to do this, but they chose not to involve a Paleoanthropologist or an Archaeologist in the final story development. All the more sad because of it.

CJ  on July 6th, 2009

Very disapointing finale. The plot and continuity inconsistencies kicked it firmly over the line of where it was possible to suspend disbelief. I lost faith that the writers were in control of where they were going with it at the end of the previous season. They seemed to be more in the grip of their own hastily invented plot devices than any over-arching story.

Any five-year-old can dream up ‘really neato’ ideas that will grab people’s attention and build up a sense of suspense. The grown up skill in writing is to tie those ideas into the story arc in a way that makes them consistent, neccesary and credible.

The mutiny episodes were the best by far of the latter episodes. I wished they’d developed those more instead of wrapping them up hurriedly in time for the blow off.

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