Warning, the following post contains spoilers. If you have not seen the finale for BSG yet, don’t read any further. You have been warned!
Last night was the series finale of Battlestar Galactica. I have watched this show since the mini series premiered, and in these days of DVRs, I normally stack up several episodes and watch them back to back. BSG is the only show that I insist on watching every week. It has been a tradition for my wife and I to watch them on Friday nights, and now there will be this void.
In one short, sweet word, the finale was epic. The ending of Battlestar Galactica had the strongest columniation in any series I have watched to date. Ideas that began to manifest in the first season finally saw fruition in the finale. It is rare that a series can explain all its lose ends by end of its run, and while BSG wasn’t perfect, the writers, directors, and producers did an excellent job of trying to tell a complete story.
In reality, the finale was a three part episode, beginning with last weeks. The flash backs to Caprica helped explain many of the characters motivations prior to the Cylon attack, and gave us glimpses of history we did not know existed. I was specifically impressed with Baltar’s flashbacks. James Callis’s performance in the scene with his father was superb.
They must have saved the entire season’s special effect budget for this final episode, as there was more eye candy in this episode than the past season combined. It was cool to see them bring back some of the classic centurion models from the original series.
Every major character and even some of the minor characters have their story arcs wrapped up by the end of the episode. The only character they left the audience wondering about was Starbuck, which was too bad for me because the one answer I really wanted out of the finale was what was Starbuck? For weeks, the commercials have been touting the tag line, “You will know the truth”, and I felt like I was lied to. Why did they make such a big deal about Starbuck’s dad coming back to her in visions and showing her the song if they were not going to expand on it? Her final scene where she just simply disappears next to Lee left my jaw hanging. My wife suggested that after Starbuck died in season three, “god” sent Starbuck back as an angel to guide his people in their time of need. This is a fairly complete hypothesis that explains a lot, but it is not concrete. I will be left wondering forever what Starbuck really was, and I am sure that was the writer’s intent. That was very Sopranoish of them.
Battlestar Galactica has this effect on me that wakes me up in the middle of the night and makes me think about it for hours before I fall back asleep again. For me, that is a mark of a great show. I would like to congratulate the entire cast and crew of BSG on one of the greatest shows of all time, and one that I am proud to say I am a fan of.