FINALLY–the final episode…ok, Talkingcat DID thumbs down season 4 and most of the Final Episodes, but the FINAL episode was exciting and well..surprisingly moving too. Although Daybreak (Part 1) set up the series finale as just a heroic final mission against impossible odds to rescue a child, Daybreak (Part 2) actually presented three “endings” — running the risk of not one but two, anti-climatic story lines. But the inter-cutting between the reconstructed pasts of the characters, and the present action, and the bringing together of the myth-invoking images and dreams from the whole series oddly works — for the most part. For loyal fans, it was worth the journey.
SPOILER ALERT! Not a full recap but still..
First “ending”– the rescue mission complete with much saber rattling, heroics, and battle plans –well sort of battle plans–I mean ramming the Galactica “full steam ahead” INTO the Cylon colony is a PLAN??!!! There is allot of weapons fire, ships getting blown up, the Galactica under heavy attack and everyone is thrown violently around by the explosions (like Star Trek, still NO seat belts or any restraining safety devices on these starships of the future!), the Centurions clanking along in that cool metallic catwalk–the good guys marked with a slash of red on their chests– shooting it out with bad Centurions (no red slashes); Helo is seriously injured and bleeding profusely, but urges Athena to go after Hera who has maddeningly gone wandering off amidst a fierce firefight between Cylons, Centurions, and humans–mostly so that the recurring dream/nightmare bathed-in-golden-light sequence with Roslyn, Athena, Caprica, Baltar, all chasing that running child –Hera–into the opera house can be overlaid and cut into the present amidst the ferocious fighting (hmmm…still WHY an opera house?? why not a TEMPLE given all the religious mumbo-jumbo??) Predictably, Hera is rescued by Sharon — we saw that coming way back in the detailed domestic fantasy she created so lovingly and projected to Galen– or so we thought. She was also paying a debt to Adama as she said way back — when it really matters. Athena shoots her anyway-- no gratitude, no forgiveness. But Baltar manages to redeems himself and Caprica falls back in love with him.
After a misunderstanding that the peace deal just brokered has gone bad (but actually was just Galen losing it when too much truth about Cally’s death is revealed in the hybrid memory pool), Cavil curses what the frak, and puts a gun to his mouth. Having earned their freedom, the Centurions are freed to seek their own destiny, hopefully not to return seeking the destruction of the humans and Cylons in some distant future. Kara tearfully says good-bye and I love you to Anders, lying in his hybrid liquid tank and presses a dog tag into his submerged hand. Wired into the Galactica’s bridge and to the ships systems of the fleet, Anders pilots the battered Galactica and the rest of the rag-tag fleet of empty ships into the burning sun, to the thematic strains of the Original Battlestar Galactica series. Nice touch. Silent except for his incoherent flood of words, we see Anders’ lips close-up and hear his last words whispered after Kara has gone–see you on the other side.
You expect the credits to come up, but wait, there still almost an hour to go! OK so where the frak did Kara jump the Galactica to after punching into the FTL drive–the numbers for the notes of the insistent tune she has been hearing and Hera was drawing ??? a blue planet with oceans, and lush green forests and grasslands…in another words..to what they will call EARTH. After the unrelenting nihilism, and visual, narrative, spirit darkness and claustrophic interior worlds of the whole series, there is this odd huge breath of fresh air, a vertigious opening of the aperture suddenly to bright sunlight, blue skies, fields of waving green and golden grasses.
Then there is a Luddite moment when Lee persuades Adama and the survivors –human and Cylon–to give up everything–all the things, technology, weapons, ships, plans for rebuilding cities, and just take a few possessions, split up the food and supplies and head off in different groups to begin again–from the beginning without the baggage of the past. So each of the characters fans have loyally followed for 4 seasons and more, separately set off to find their futures—A bit disappointing that after all they endured together, that they all choose this separation of the ways to their mostly lonely final journeys. Galen to someplace that sounds a bit like pre-druid Ireland; Admiral Adama takes his beloved Roslyn for a last sweeping view of the vast beauty and rich life of Earth; Lee Adama a solitary figure in the lush landscape turns mid-sentence to find that his beloved Kara has vanished –literally–but her mission completed and at peace finally with what she was/is (an “angel”? perhaps those new tattoos appearing on her buff exposed biceps after coming back from death were clues all along).
Across the vast grassy slopes that stretch to the horizons, straggly lines of humans and Cylons trailed by Tigh and Helen hand in hand; Baltar tearfully reassuring Caprica he knows “something about farming” perhaps finally coming to peace with his farmboy past, and in the distance, the reunited family of a limping Helo (whew–he made it!) and Athena arguing about who was going to teach what (hunting, building a house) to Hera. Adama talking to Roslyn about the beautiful view of their future little cabin on the bluff–with her grave, a mound of stones, silent behind him.
Now, you expect the credits to come up, but wait, it’s STILL not over. 150,000 years later…in a crowded city that looks suspiciously like New York City (er..remember New Caprica?) except that one of the BSG writers, Ron Moore, could not resist a walk-on cameo in front of the newstand. Six and Angel/demon Baltar all cleaned up in smart suit, are debating–this has all happened before. Will the inhabitants of this planet learn or will they repeat out of fear, the diastrous destruction of the past? Destiny, fate, or God’s plan? Angel/demon Baltar reminds Six he doesn’t like that name. Hmmm…God as female prankster turning a cartwheel in Dogma oddly comes to mind.
Now, the credits SHOULD come up–but wait, there is a coda in the style of a Japanese toy commercial–of tiny robots hip-hop-like dancing and robotic androids projected on neon billboards. Oh nooooo. This is like drawing a snake and adding feet!
Despite that final don’t-know-when-to-stop misstep, was it the greatest sci-fi show ever? Post a comment!
For another review, see Richard Vine’s Guardian blog.
