Saying Goodbye to BSG

This is what I wrote on Friday morning, 12 hours before the series finale of "Battlestar Galactica" aired:

I originally wanted to do a post of predictions for the finale. But I'm not creative enough to come up with anything other than "Adama and Roslin die. Tigh dies. Chief kills Boomer, then himself. Helo and Athena die, leaving Caprica Six to raise Hera with a newly reformed Gauis Baltar, fulfilling the Opera House visions. Lee becomes President officially." Those are pretty pessimistic predictions, and not even remotely inventive. And even if a lot of cast members die (which I really am anticipating and preparing myself for) the show will do beautiful and satisfying things with their deaths - things I can't even remotely fathom.

I didn't post it because this was all I could come up with, and it didn't merit an entire post. So I watched the finale, sat and thought about it, and tried to ignore the word that kept coming to mind: disappointing.

You don't know how much it grieves me to say that.

It didn't completely suck, but for a show that's been as consistently dark, complex and willing to take risks, the entire finale just felt a little too cut and pasted. Too straightforward - let's get to that happy ending!


THINGS I LIKED:

• Sam Anders made me happier than just about anyone, which is surprising given that I didn't even really dig the character until the 4th season. But his flashback was the most perfectly concise and presently relevant: "It's about those moments when you...when you feel the perfection of creation. The beauty of physics. The wonder of mathematics...you know, the elation of action and reaction. And that is the kind of perfection that I want to be connected to." And he was. And it was beautiful and simple. And his final line was the heartbreaking goodbye, "See you on the other side," to Starbuck, which completely made me tear up. If there was ever a moment where I completely believed they were meant to be together, that was it.
• Roslin's death. We knew it was coming, so I'm glad we got to see it. I'm glad she died peacefully, with Bill at her side, knowing her people had found home. Of all the characters, her dying without seeing her people at rest would have been wrong.
• Saul and Ellen Tigh. I would have liked a little more interaction with them and other characters, but I enjoyed the last flashback to Ellen and Tigh in that night club, delirioiusly in love, Ellen so happy and excited just to have time with her husband. And now they have all the time they want.
  
• "What do you hear, Starbuck?" "Nothing but the rain." So beautiful. And in an episode that spelled out far too much, I like that Starbuck just disappears. We don't know how she came back, or if she was really just an angel, and in one second she's just not there anymore. And Lee says, "I won't forget you." I prefer that ending for her.
• Caprica and Baltar found their way back to each other. I was most pleased by the redemption of Gauis Baltar. We've already seen Caprica Six made some sacrifices, some amends, for her prior wrongs. She has suffered and handled it with grace. Hearing her say, "I always wanted to be proud of you," just about broke my heart. And Gauis breaking down as he tells her, "I know something about farming..." was the perfect place to bring his character. Back at peace with his roots. No longer needing the adoration of many, he is content with the love of one.
• Boomer's End. It was the logically conclusion of her story. I still wish she could have been happy, but since they made her kidnap Hera, there wasn't much chance of that. So I'm glad she bonded with the kid, saved her from Cavil and brought her back to Athena. She didn't beg or argue, just accepted her punishment (from Athena, which seemed right) and died. The flashback to her meeting with Adama and Tigh was really great - it'd been so long since she was Sharon "Boomer" Valeri, and I loved that she remembered her promise to pay him back when it mattered.
  
• The Opera House visions. I really liked the way they played out visually. I loved the way Roslin, Athena, Baltar and Caprica were just all, "Holy Shit! It's actually happening!" I loved that Galactica substituted for the Opera House, and the way the Final Five were standing on a higher ledge, bathed in white light. It was a very visually arresting sequence.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:

• Why did they have to find a second Earth? I knew they were gonna find some planet - the show obviously wasn't gonna end with the fleet still wandering aimlessly through space - but having them now find the "real" Earth just cheapened the fabulous midseason fail of "Nuclear Earth." That midseason finale was such a fabulous risk and resonated so deeply (I mean, Dualla killed herself because of "Nuclear Earth" - it was such a great idea), but now it's all, "hey, no problem, that wasn't really Earth. Kara Thrace has led us to the real Earth." It seemed like such a copout. Especially since I feel like Starbuck could have fulfilled her destiny without cheapening the original Earth reveal.
• It was too easy for them to take out the Colony. They were heavily outnumbered, but Starbuck and her one raptor full of people were able to navigate the maze sooooo easily. I mean, Baltar and Caprica didn't even have to get off the ship and help; they got to wait for the retreat. I know that the Raptor crews sustained heavy losses, but we never saw any of them except for Racetrack and Skulls (who lost my sympathy in the mutiny, so who cares), all we got was a "I guess we were the only ones who made it." LAME. This was the ultimate showdown and it felt too light, yet still too long, and had too much fruitless action for it to be wholly satisfying for me.
• Not enough people died. The only ones who died were either "bad" (Cavil, Boomer, Tory) or already dying/dead (Anders, Roslin, Starbuck). There were no surprises on that front. Nothing felt truly at risk. I didn't want everyone to die or anything (for example, if either Helo or Athena had died that would have broken my heart), but they took a small crew up against the ENTIRE COLONY of Cavil's, Simon's, Doral's and Centurions; there should have been heavy losses and that should have meant someone we cared about bit the dust. Not having a significant or shocking death in that attack made the whole thing feel too easy and unrealistic, like nothing was really at stake. (For example, in the finales of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," main characters Spike and Anya died, and in the "Firefly finale" movie Serenity, Shepard Book and Wash both died in really touching and tragic deaths. I know, nitpicking cause at least 5 major characters died, but we already KNEW they were gonna die. (Except for Tory, but no one liked her, so no one cared.)
  
• I have no problem with the ChipSix and ChipBaltar being actual angels; the show has really been heavy on the religion throughout, especially this season, so those two being actual agents of whatever God is out there didn't bother me. I don't require a scientific explanation. But if they've been there all along just to lead Caprica and Baltar to their destiny of "keeping Hera safe," then doing so should require more than just picking her up, bringing her directly to the fight, and having a corny conversation with Cavil. That entire reveal lacked some dramatic weight.
• What on Earth was Lee smoking? After all the thoughtful exploration of issues on this show it all comes down to "Technology Bad"? They spend four years hoofin' it through space, only to find a great planet and say, "Let's just live like savages. No good comes from technology." That's ridiculous and overly reactionary. And then they spread out all over the planet, hardly anyone together? I get they don't wanna build another replica Caprica City, but after all these people have been through together, they're just gonna spread out like nomads? What? Doc Cottle couldn't come on the "suicide mission" because the fleet needed him, but now we're gonna spread over seven continents where the doctor won't be able to get to us anyways. Great idea, Lee.
  
• Helo gets shot in the leg at about the 54 minute mark, exposits that he might bleed out and die, and then we don't see him again until the last 5 minutes of the damn show? You kept me on the edge of my seat for over an hour waiting to find out if he freaking died! WTF? That pissed me off. Way to treat one of your main characters. By all means, lets see Adama say goodbye four freaking times, but we're gonna hold off telling you whether Helo was left dying in a ship's corrider.

ON THE FENCE ABOUT...

• The way Adama leaves. I really thought he was gonna go down with his ship. So seeing him get to be with Roslin when she dies was a bonus. But why did he have to leave Lee behind? Laura dies about 10 minutes later, and he goes off the live next to her grave and die alone? I would rather he had flown their raptor into the sun and died with her than live like a hermit, leaving his only son alone. Especially since Starbuck disappeared mere seconds after Adama's departure, meaning Lee lost his father, mother figure, and sister/lover/best friend all in the space of minutes. That seemed wrong. Adama should come back and be with his damn son!
• Tory's death. I was really excited to see the Airlock of Cally come back to haunt her. I love it when long buried secrets resurface. So in theory, I have no problem with Chief throttling her. But it left her character firmly in the "bad" category, which I don't think is fair. Fans didn't like her (I wasn't particularly fond of her either) so having one of our favorites (Tyrol) kill her so brutally seemed kind of like an interactive audience gift; like, "you want a death? Here, take Tory Foster, and we'll really make her pay!" I don't think she deserved that. The way she killed Cally was cold, as is her character most of the time, but she did it to protect the Final Four from certain death from Cally's cylon-hating ways. And after all the talk Ellen did about how close she was to all of them ("imagine if there were only 5 of you left? how close you would be?) she doesn't really seem to care. I know she would forgive Chief, but no talking about it, all let's just get to the happy ending and not dwell on the fact that two of my family members (Anders and Tory) died recently?
• Starbuck punching in the code. I loved the music (whenever they bring in "All Along the Watchtower" the show seems freaky cool), and the moment seemed momentous, but after all that, her father's music held the code and Hera knew it too and she just punches it in and they get to Earth? Seemed to easy and obvious. No nuance. (Plus I would have loved to see her have one more conversation with Leoban. He was non-existent in this finale.)
  
• Cavil's death. I'm no big fan of his and he has done some terrible things, but he has some legitimate complaints about his creators. He's screwed up majorly, but that doesn't make the Final Five right about how they went about things. I thought it was kind of funny that chaos erupts and he just says,"Oh, frak!" and shoots himself in the mouth, but again, seemed to easy. Perhaps there could never be a peace between the two factions, but having Cavil off himself and the rest of the colony conveniently thrown into a black hole was too black and white. This was a show where black and white didn't really exist. Where there was no pure evil (although Cavil was close), and no pure good. All of the characters had points. So where was the debate, really? It was too easy to just write off the 1's, 4's, and 5's and be done with it. Yeah, that solves it all, doesn't it. Good guys win. Bad guys dead. Yay. (Please note sarcasm).
• The Kara/Lee flashbacks. I loved the chemistry. I loved the things they talked about. I love him stumbling back to his house drunk and seeing the bird that represents Starbuck. But were they really gonna screw on the dining room table with his brother/her boyfriend passed out mere feet away? I know they were drunk, and yes, that's kind of in character for Starbuck, but there was something about it that I really didn't like.
  

We're at the end. I had a lot of thoughts about this. But in spite of all my complaints and the rather large disappointment of the finale, I'm still so grateful to have found this show. I still haven't seen many episodes from the first two seasons ("33," "Resurrection Ship," and "Pegasus" among them - I know, some of the best!) so I'll be enjoying that in the future and forget all of the things about this finale that left a bad taste in my mouth.