In part one of the series finale, flashbacks give us an idea how so many of these characters got to where they are, and Adama and Starbuck make a last-minute decision to send the Galactica off with a fight. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Battlestar Galactica.
(For the sake of being able to talk about the many things this gigantic finale gave me, I’ll be splitting the review of “Daybreak” into three parts, each one corresponding to about five “acts” of the story. Because I have now seen everything, the spoiler policy for this show is now lifted, and you are free to discuss the other two parts of “Daybreak.” HOWEVER, THE POLICY STILL STANDS FOR The Plan. Any outside information from official sources is also totally welcome, as well as at least 40,000 GIFs of Adama and Roslin.)
The opening images of “Daybreak” set the tone and format of what is to come, and the story’s themes of nature and the beauty of life are heavy. Not heavy-handed, but they’re fairly obvious from the get-go. It’s fascinating that they are then re-contextualized and contrasted by all of the things that make life so ugly, harsh, deplorable, and violent, but that’s always been the nature of Battlestar Galactica: to show us that while life is not pretty, ordered, or just, it’s ultimately worth living.
The show has used flashbacks before, but there was something different about what we see here. We’re starting at the beginning to explain the ending, and the images and stores in Caprica City before the Cylons wiped out humanity give us portraits and windows into the lives of key characters who have journeyed a long way in the past three-to-four years. In one sense, it’s a surprise to see any of this, especially in the last real episode of the show. It’s one of many tricks that the writers of this show still had left up their sleeves, and it’s perhaps the best of them all. By giving us these parallels from a character’s “first” moment and contrasting them with their last, so many stories receive a much fuller and complete end to them.
We see Adama reluctantly pursuing some sort of job post-military life; Baltar, the millionaire science genius, parades about in a limo with Caprica Six; Laura Roslin is celebrating a baby shower with her sisters; Starbuck is preparing dinner for her boyfriend as Lee Adama arrives, meeting her for the first time. All these small glimpses seemed, at first, to suggest that at one time, the lives of these people were so drastically different, so much simpler than they are now. It seemed like a fairly simple explanation, that is, until we see a phone call distract Baltar from the attention of Caprica Six. Agitated, he insists that the person on the other end of the phone wait for him, or he’ll sue for abandonment.
When we are instead shown a scene finally introducing a member of Baltar’s family (in this case, his father), it’s as if we’ve never truly known Gaius Baltar. Now we know him. Now we know why he changed his accent, why he was so hellbent on pleasing himself and doing what benefitted him best, and why he was so alone. It might be the most illuminating bit of character development that Battlestar Galactica has ever given us, and it’s all the way at the end that we get it. Baltar wants nothing to do with his father, with his father’s way of life as a farmer, and his father simply wants his son to stop running from who he once was. It’s horrifying to watch because it’s a unique kind of violence that we witness, a way for Baltar to degrade his own past and his father in the process, who takes every opportunity to be as grating and irritating as possible, lashing out at those around him for it.
We also discover what exactly happened to Laura Roslin’s family, and why we’d never really seen them: the night of the baby shower, her father and her two sisters were killed by a drunk driver. Those drops of water seen in the opening montage are then given their full context: In a moment of extreme grief, Roslin wades into a fountain outside her apartment, other people watching on, and allows the water to wash over her. Water has a strong symbolism as a cleansing agent, and I couldn’t ignore the apparent references to baptism. Was Roslin washing herself clean of what had just happened?
But then we cut to a new drip of water, this time from the IV drip in the sickback, where Laura Roslin is dying. There’s no denying it anymore. And while the great leader is dying, so is the Galactica, and Lee has taken charge of stripping her of her parts to the rest of the fleet.
We’ve come to the end, and there’s no denying it anymore.
The images and scenes on Galactica are further signs that we have reached the final chapter, and Head Six even confirms as much to Baltar himself. “Humanity’s final chapter is about to be written,” she tells him, and assures him that he will be the author. The seeds for Baltar’s ultimate end are sowed here: Head Six helps push Baltar towards leaving his followers, towards redeeming himself, and towards giving for once, without thinking of how the situation will benefit him. It’s a fascinating parallel to what Caprica Six had done years before, putting Julius Baltar into the Regency, and giving him happiness, and she’d done so without gaining anything from the situation. (Though, to be fair, I think it could be argued that she saw this as a way to manipulate Baltar in order to gain access to the defense mainframe; even so, it still doesn’t negate that Julius Baltar probably was happy.)
A lot of what we see on Galactica early into this episode is foreshadowing, most of it down incredibly well; I didn’t figure out a single twist that derived from these bits of information. I don’t think I ever would have guessed what the notes from “All Along The Watchtower” meant, and yet we see Starbuck sitting with Hybrid Anders, unable to figure out what they could represent. Cavil is equally as confused by Hera’s obsession with dots, but it doesn’t deter him from viewing her as a further science experiment for him. Tigh insults Toshi gently about his poor cleaning, chiding him and suggesting he’ll never make Admiral. (WHO FUCKING KNEW??? PS: GIVE ME THAT SITCOM RIGHT NOW.)
Out of everything, it’s Tyrol’s reaction that’s the most striking and telling. We learn that he has been thrown in the brig for freeing Boomer, and that his detachment from humanity has come full circle for him. Ironically so, he now believes that there really is no hope for the Cylons, that they are untrustworthy, especially the Eights, and he tells Helo that there is nothing he should trust even in Athena. After having his wife taken from him, then his son, and then the only person who might have loved him, what’s left for him? Why should he support any of this? In my view, Tyrol represents an extreme dose of nihilism, one I admit that I expected to consume this show. I suppose that given what Battlestar Galactica had done in the past, nihilism was the only thing left for a group of people that had nowhere to go. And that’s what Galen Tyrol embraces.
It was hard for me to have hope at this point. I’ll be honest. The Galactica was falling apart, and its crew was spreading out amongst the fleet. And even when Hotdog inadvertently inspires Adama to give Hera’s rescue another try, the odds were squarely against the humans this time. COME ON. The Galactica was nearly dead, the plan is basically impossible, and it all hinged on a newly-formed hybrid who might fail them all. But for Adama, it represented hope, and I was reminded of him clinging to hope in the miniseries, lying about Earth to give the survivors of the genocide of humans something to believe in. And so he goes to Starbuck and Anders with an idea. It’s one that’s devoid of virtually any reason or practicality, but at this point, why not try? SERIOUSLY WHY NOT?
I think the first sign that I should have a box of tissues ready was when Adama told Starbuck that he did know what she was: his daughter. Like Lee’s statement before, it’s unconditional love for her, and it’s something that she needed more than anything else. It’s a leap of faith, one entirely free of any religions connotations, something I found profoundly satisfying about this story. Faith doesn’t have to mean faith in a deity; it can mean faith for the people around you, and I think that even until the very end, that is what this whole journey means to Adama.
I think that once you consider Anders’s own backstory, you’ll see the same theme pop up. Anders never once brings up the gods or God or any sort of religious belief at all. In a way, he’s the polar opposite of Cavil in terms of his attitude: he wants to experience the physical beauty of the world with all of his senses, and his very “atheist” religion is one of physics, biology, energy, entropy, and perfection. Again, it’s foreshadowing, but it’s done in a way that’s impossible to predict because we don’t have all the pieces. Instead, it’s a statement about the beauty of life, but one that differs greatly from what others believe as well.
Yet it’s important to acknowledge that while there’s a whole lot of character development in the first part of “Daybreak,” this is mostly a set-up for parts two and three. That set-up involves what Adama and Starbuck asked of Anders, something we’re not shown at first, but slowly discover as the news spreads across the ship. Hera was abducted from the Galactica, and to ignore that is to degrade the very idea of what the Galactica stands for. So Adama offers up the possibility: anyone can volunteer if they like to send the Galactica on one last mission, one last act of impossible desperation, sending her out with style in the only way they know. And so he and Starbuck very plainly lay out a line of red tape across the deck floor, visually representing the “sides” that people will take. What I love so much about this is that it’s a very familiar situation: going off of poor to nonexistent intelligence, Admiral Adama and Starbuck have come up with a highly improbable and difficult plan that is sure to end up in failure, yet they are going to try anyway. Isn’t this what we’ve seen over the past four years anyway? There are detractors, and the dichotomous nature of Helo and Athena represents the patterns we’ve come to known: one party is ecstatic and hopeful that the outcome will go well, and the other refuses to accept anything but defeat.
When the news reaches Roslin by word of mouth, she decides that sitting back and letting the world pass her by is pointless. It’s a great callback to her own past; three months after the death of her family, she agrees to go on a blind date, not content to let things happen without her. Sure, she’s a bit bullied into it by whomever sets things up on the other end, but the parallel is clear: What has she got to lose? A blind date or a blind mission; they both have pretty terrible odds, and the experience itself might be worth it.
It’s important, then, that Adama’s final inspirational speech is one that is deeply personal and fianlly admits that fact. He’s made a lot of personal decisions hidden behind military protocol and law, and now he’s casting those all aside. This is his choice, and no one should feel obligated into or guilty for their choice. He’s going, even if it’s by himself, and he could use the help. And the line taped to the deck floor becomes one of literal support, as crew members and military personnel shuffle from one side to another, with surprisingly more people supporting Adama than I’m sure he expected.
But did you think this wasn’t going to be without one of Battlestar Galactica‘s beautiful twists? We’d seen the Colony before, but now we see why we’d never been given a full shot of the entire thing in the context of where it was hiding. Racetrack and Skulls, let out of the brig after the mutiny, find out that Anders’s coordinates for the Colony are indeed correct. OH, AND IT’S SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO A FUCKING BLACK HOLE. Holy shit YOU ARE KIDDING ME!!!!!! This highly improbably mission now just became downright foolish. They’d have to jump into “point-blank rage” and hope for the best. HOPE. Because they sure as hell can’t last that long against the offensive weapons of the Colony, can they?
THIS ISN’T GOING TO END WELL, I thought. It can’t, right? Right???
To be continued tomorrow!
I just remembered. Your list of confirmed shows on the Suggestions page doesn't have Babylon 5 in it. Remember, you had thought that you had said it already, and you hadn't, so we were all glad to hear it.
You hit the nail on the head. Seeing Baltar's father puts him in a whole new context. I mean, it's hard to imagine this person as we've known him for four years having a family.
It was so great to actually see Adama and Hot Dog together, and Edward and Bodie Olmos acting with each other. And the video of the wrap party features a very moving bit where Bodie thanks Ron Moore for allowing him to work with his father like this, while Edward is visibly teary-eyed as he calls the show "the best frakking job I ever had."
We already knew Tyrol was in the brig (if you saw the extended edition of Islanded in a Stream of Stars, where he has a scene with Athena).
It's almost over…
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!eleventyone!!!!!!!!!!!
I had forgotten about the black hole!
!!!
My impression towards the end was that Galactica had always been the dying leader, and it just took us four seasons to realize it.
Aw, man, I'm gonna cry thinking about it!
I figured it was that the "promised land" that Roslin would die before reaching was the cabin.
Sooo many thoughts, but at least I get to spread them out over 3 reviews. Whoo!
Most importantly, what did Jamie Bamber do to piss off the producers or whoever decides on hairstyles? Because, seriously, nobody thinks this
<img src="http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee174/LelianaMcKay/bsg%20season%20four/Finale/karaleelonghair.jpg">
<img src="http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee174/LelianaMcKay/bsg%20season%20four/Finale/jamie.jpg">
is a good look for him. Okay, yes, he and Katee look really cute, but focus on the hair! Even if he thought it looked okay, somebody must have gone up to him in the many months this season was spread out over and mentioned that he might want to get a little trim or something or that he could find some scissors in that drawer where he found the Sharpie. (ETA: Hmm, both pics aren't always showing up. They can be found at the second link though.)
(That photo came from the cast wrap video. It's here but there are some screenshots here. My favorites are the ones of Tahmoh, Grace, and the little girl who plays Hera.)
I’m blaming his weird white savior speech at the end of Part III on his hair. Clearly, during Lee’s space travels he managed to pick up an alien that disguised itself as his hair while it feasted on his brain. It’s the only explanation for the terrible hair and his lapse in judgment.
I think I'd like to adopt that as my head canon because otherwise WTF Lee?
I also support this head canon.
He's become Ace Rimmer. What a guy!
It's a wig – they filmed the flashbacks before the battle scenes, and cut his hair for that. And I am not ashamed to admit I would still attempt to hit that if he wasn't married, bad hair or no. I rather like the nefariousness of his look in the second pic 🙂
And OH MY, those pics of Tahmoh, Grace and the child who plays Hera are ADORABLE. It makes even me, who doesn't particularly like small children, want to glomp them.
IIRC, in a interview Jamie Bamber said the decision to let his hair grow long and wear a suit, was reflection of Lee's morphing from buttoned down soldier/flyboy to civilian life. And as things really fell apart, he allowed his hair to fall apart, so that Lee didn't. Something to that effect.
as well as at least 40,000 GIFs of Adama and Roslin
<img src="http://i41.tinypic.com/687o0y.gif" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
And I am dead from the adorable <3
If Mark wants 40,000 gifs of Roslin and Adama I may have to do some kind of epic spam for Daybreak Part 3.
Do it! The epic, heartbreaking adorablenesss insists!
I think we'd all be okay with that.
Oh please do!
Do it do it do it.
"Faith doesn’t have to mean faith in a deity; it can mean faith for the people around you, and I think that even until the very end, that is what this whole journey means to Adama."
YES. This is such a perfect way to put it that now you've made the lump in my throat come back.
One of the things that I appreciated most about the flashbacks was that it caused me to feel for Gaius Baltar for the first time. It's no secret how much I hated Baltar throughout the whole show; there was no part of his character that i found likeable or sympathetic in the slightest. But those scenes with his father…brought that. Perfectly.
Adama's speech, and Roslin walking to join them, and her holding on to Kara for support, breaks me every time I watch it.
And now that spoiler-policy is lifted….
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XiBfQ27Aeos" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
This is, in my humble opinion, the absolute best Adama/Roslin tribue I have found on the Interwebs. It is beautiful, even as everything hurts.
Damn, the embedding didn't work. Take two…
[youtube XiBfQ27Aeos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiBfQ27Aeos youtube]
that is absolutely lovely
AGH!! I can’t believe I’m done with BSG (I went ahead and watched The Plan because I’m traveling this weekend) 🙁 Can’t the show go on forever? I love how even at the very end, this show gives us character development when it could have just done 3 hours of info dumping and space-battle spectacle. Even though the ending wasn’t as neat as I suppose it could have been, I’d rather have these flashbacks.
AND PLEASE, BRING ON THE ROSLIN/ADAMA GIFS! Or just gifs in general!
Also, I don't remember if it's this part or the next, but I love that we get Doc Cottle's first name, and it's SHERMAN. SHERMAN COTTLE.
Best character name ever y/y
It's this part, Bill says it when he sends him back during the tape line scene. And Y! Very Y!
I think I'm in the minority here, but Baltar's father didn't surprise me. The only thing I can think of to explain it is that because I over-related the second he talked about changing his accent, I immediately imagined his childhood much like mine. And though my own parents are both still young and healthy (for which I am obviously grateful), I have watched two of my grandparents try to care for their parents. Both were a lot like Baltar's father. So I guess I'd already sort of…filled in that gap with my own headcanon and seeing his dad was just like, "Well, yeah, because that's how it is when you've had the childhood he described when he told us about changing his accent."
Which isn't to say that it wasn't interesting and didn't provide a lot of context for his character, just…I think it's one of those situations where I latch on and over-relate and then ascribe characteristics of my own life so deeply that when they're later confirmed, I spend a lot of time nodding and being confused as to why everyone else seems surprised. Doesn't happen often to me, but it's always a weird feeling when it does.
In a moment of extreme grief, Roslin wades into a fountain outside her apartment, other people watching on, and allows the water to wash over her
I mentioned it on the Liveblog but I love that those are the same fountains we see her sitting by in Epiphanies after she receives her cancer diagnosis. While that moment isn't specifically referred to here it does tie three very different periods of Laura's life together. Possibly one of the lowest points in her life after losing most of her family, the day her life changed with the diagnosis AND the attacks and finally her dying on the Galactica in the depths of space. It shows just how much the characters lives have changed, and changed in ways they couldn't have imagined.
Grace Park continues to be completely amazing. Athena's expression when Helo is telling her about Adama's plan, before she even speaks you can see in her eyes that she's completely given up hope of ever seeing Hera again.
It's a very brief scene, but I love thatwe finally get to see Bill and Hotdog interact. I was rewatching the Last Frakkin' Special before the liveblog started and at one point Bodie talks about how BSG was so important to him because he got to work with his father, so seeing them interact at least this once is a really lovely moment. I also love that Hotdog is the first of the supporting characters to cross the tape line after Lee, Tigh and Ellen.
In fact the whole tape line is one of my favourite scenes in the entire series. There's so many little character moments like Cottle being sent back or Gaius' conflct about whether to cross and, probably my favourite, Kara supporting Laura when she joins the side. It's sort of a nod back to them hugging in The Hand of God.
Cavil is equally as confused by Hera’s obsession with dots
That moment, for me at least, shows how Cavil rejecting human thoughts and behaviour has limited him. Where Kara looked at the drawings and called them "stars" he doesn't make the imaginative leap and just labels them "dots". The tone feels like he's either dismissing or just hasn't considered that they could represent something else. Given that we know that at least one, possibly all, of her dot drawings are the notes to Watchtower if he'd had the imagination to look at them the way Kara did then maybe HE could have found Earth.
My favourite A/R vid:
[youtube ZWRPO9SUdHw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWRPO9SUdHw youtube]
I knew I could count on Helo to be on my side: their plan to rescue Hera will work, and the Agathons will be reunited and happy and surrounded by puppies and kittens. (And it DOES, orpnhfr rirelbar xabjf zvyyvba-gb-bar punaprf nyjnlf jbex. :D) But I'll leave my happiness and tears for part 3, I guess.
I was putting off watching the last episodes of BSG and considering just going off of your reviews — because I often do that with final episodes, or even seasons, to avoid having the show end — and watching mindless, terrible movies instead. But then Aaron Douglass popped up as a deputy in Final Destination 2, and I took it as a sign that I should watch "Daybreak" to see what happens to Tyrol. When Lee started his battle with the pigeon, I had to pause the episode to stop snickering. Oh god, Lee Adama is going to be crushed by a sheet of glass.
The whole thing about Starbuck being represented by a bird is neat, but could they honestly not find a better candidate than a pigeon? The whole sequence is damn near wrecked just because I'm laughing at the bird they chose.
maybe they were trying to make it realistic–like a dove or something might be more heavenly/not ugly but why would it be in Lee's house?
Or maybe pigeons are the best training birds. I don't know.
I know I already posted this in the liveblog, but OMG- Kara holding Roslin up at the end creates some major waterworks every. single. time.
<img src="http://i44.tinypic.com/jzjf9k.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
Even in GIF form. Every. Single. Time.
I can safely share this!! http://www.battlestarlocations.com/
GO HERE! And then visit Vancouver on pilgrimage…
It's actually the 'thing' to do in my Canadian geek circle of friends: see how many BSG locations we can recognize…
I live in Vancouver, and it is fun to try to figure out all the locations. I will admit though, it totally ruins the Roslin fountain scene. Whenever I see that reflecting pond at SFU, all I can think of is how gross it is and poor poor Mary McDonnell in that water.
My first watch-through of the series, I wasn't a fan of Gaius Baltar. I think I just found him scummy and annoying. But on later watchings, especially this time, I quite enjoy him. I think it's probably because of knowing this backstory for him. He has such a moving arc throughout Daybreak, seeing him with his father, falling in love with Six after she takes care of his father, and finally looking almost happy to be going back to farming. I really love it.
I watched all of Daybreak last night.
Gaius Frakking Baltar is now my favorite character.
Never thought I'd be saying that.
Welcome to the club. Although he was my favorite always..:)
Well, here's my dissenting opinion on the finale. This guy sums up most of my thoughts, so I'll just leave this here, and possibly expound upon it later.
Why The Battlestar Galactica Finale Is A Huge Cop-Out And It Doesn't Matter
Some cogent quotes:
"Why the frak does Baltar have an imaginary friend? Answer: It’s God! Why isn’t Starbuck dead and what the frak is she? Answer: Oh it’s God! Why did the Cylons destroy the colonies? Oh it’s God! How are the humans going to find a home? Oh it’s God! Every remaining question was answered tonight and the answer to every question was: Oh it’s God."
"We’ve hung around all this time, don’t we deserve better answers than that?"
"Tonight’s Battlestar Galactica finale was a cop out, but it was also the perfect goodbye. Ron Moore dropped the ball on plot but as always, the show delivered where it really mattered: Characters."
One of my personal beefs with the finale, though, that this article does not address, is that we are shown that the planet they settle on is our Earth–everything in the final scene confirms it.
But how can it be, when the first Earth they found had our constellations?
This new planet cannot be our Earth. It's logistically impossible. I hate that with every fiber of my being.
But I love that, after all of this, it is Galactica itself that is the dying leader. The prophecy said that the dying leader would never reach Earth. Roslin did. The Galactica did not.
Actually. It can be possible.
Space is so large, we are only apart of one constellation. The two Earths could be millions of miles away from each other, but compared to the distance of Space, the constellations could look nearly the same.
Also, let's face it, space is full of wee little dots, and the human capacity for recognizing/finding patterns is boundless. Constellations are ultimately just a way of finding pictures in the sky and I don't find it completely implausible that transplanted colonists would search the sky and end up re-finding familiar pictures.
I agree to pretty much all of this, and am saving most of my rants for the entry on the final hour.
"Admiral's quarters, Cylon basestar". How very odd to see that.
It's heartbreaking to see snippets of Laura's past. She has been such a sober person the entire time we've known her on this series. Even her purest moments of joy and relaxation are subdued. Sure, she has a load of responsibility that can be characterized as "crushing" and she found out she was facing terminal cancer just before the Cylon attack but I think it was completely reasonable of me to assume that, more or less, she's just always been a sober kind of person. And now we find out that at one time she was completely different, joyful, outgoing, full of laughter.
Oh God, I just thought of something. Do you know what the only time is during the entire series that we see Laura come closest to her pre-tragic-accident self? During S1, when she finds out a baby has been born and she does that little body-language squee. Given that her sister was killed just after her own baby shower … oh god all the tears.
It's so depressing to see the memorial hall stripped down. I hope they hang it all up again on the Basestar. Something about it being communal makes it so much more powerful — a form of mourning as a species, not as individuals.
"And so he and Starbuck very plainly lay out a line of red tape across the deck floor, visually representing the “sides” that people will take." Heeee. This time, haters may utilize the port side evacuation procedure. (My spouse: "Yeah, it's cause there's an airlock on that side." Me: "No wonder the President got out of bed for this!")
"Admiral's quarters, Cylon basestar".
I know! That was what gave me pause too, because my brain just went "Does Not Compute" for a second there. *sigh* oh, Galactica. You were a grand old girl.
This first act of the finale is pretty much perfect to me. I love so much that the writers chose to make the final episodes heavily character driven. They might have sacrificed epic battle scenes and tying up more loose ends but I AM OK WITH THAT. Once you've gone this far with all the characters and fallen in fascinated love with them, this slow walk towards the end where you get to know them *even better* was just magical. Daybreak Part I makes me <3 <3 <3 <3
Your description here is the best summation of what BSG means to me: "That’s always been the nature of Battlestar Galactica: to show us that while life is not pretty, ordered, or just, it’s ultimately worth living."
People always say it's too depressing, and it can be, but I find it strangely uplifting at the same time.
A little part of me has always been sad that we didn't get a few episodes of the Galactica crew living on the basestar and Adama as the Cylon admiral, kicking Cavil's ass around a little. Sorry that would have just been SO MIND BLOWING.
[youtube UuTzeObsMs8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuTzeObsMs8 youtube]
[youtube M8DpGF1r3NE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8DpGF1r3NE youtube]
[youtube rrV7GnI6pC0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrV7GnI6pC0 youtube]
[youtube iAjfL2KFFBM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAjfL2KFFBM youtube]
Because I was having the weekend/beginning of the week from hell, I didn’t watch the last 2 ½ hours of “Daybreak” until this morning.
Basically, if Ron Moore was to walk up to someone who knew me right now and ask where I am, the response would be: “Right where you put her.”
Anyway. This hour.
Starting the episode with flashbacks was a brilliant idea. After everything, it's all comes down to the characters and their journey's.
I love the various conversations that reveal Adama’s plan. This has such an epic finale feel to it, but at the same time I don’t feel like I’ve seen it a hundred times before.
Was the line in the middle of the floor, and all the volunteers and non-volunteers choosing their sides, terribly blatant symbolism? Yes. Did I love that scene anyway? Absolutely.
Is there anything more heartbreaking then the moment when Roslin shows up, trembling and barely able to walk, but still eager to volunteer? Well, maybe when Starbuck puts her arm around her and takes her hand. Guns and death threats and competing ways to earth? All water under the bridge now.
OF COURSE they would send Racetrack and Skulls to FIND SOMETHING!