The Battlestar Galactica Review Blog

Written by Jane Espenson

Directed by Edward James Olmos

“The Plan” is a direct-to-DVD film for “Battlestar Galactica” that promises to answer one of the more obvious questions from the series run: what exactly was this “plan” that the Cylons had, as referenced endlessly in the first couple seasons? Fans have been waiting a long time for this particular story, as told from the perspective of the Cylons. But as the old saying going: while all answers are replies, not all replies are answers.

So it is with “The Plan”.

After the second season episode “Downloaded”, which represented the beginning of the philosophical changes within the Cylon that would ultimately lead to their civil war, I noted in my review that it was fundamentally flawed. Caprica Six and Boomer had come to an epiphany that the original Cylon “plan” was wrong, and that they had to find a new path for their people. The problem was simply this: without a solid understanding of what the original Cylon direction was, any such epiphany carried little weight. Context is king.

The context was confusing because the actions of the Cylons were often contradictory. The overwhelming suggestion was that the Cylons wanted to wipe out the human race once and for all. However, they never seemed to take the necessary steps to achieve that goal after the initial annihilation was completed. The survivors were hunted down, both on Caprica and the Colonial fleet, but there was never the kind of relentlessness that could (and, story-wise, should) have led to a Cylon victory.

More to the point, the various hints from Head-Six and others, right down to Starbuck’s experience at the Farm, made it seem very possible that the Cylons wanted to cut the human population to a small but manageable size to eliminate a threat, while keeping enough alive to conduct the breeding experiments. After all, the Cylons conducted their experiment between Helo and Sharon/Athena over the course of the entire first season. The inability of the Cylons to reproduce was a vital concern.

That dichotomy was never explained, even though the creation of Hera was always treated as an important plot point for the series. And all those hints over the course of the series that the Humans and Cylons could only survive together eventually paid off. That being the case, the Cylon “plan” didn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense, even if it was only valid up until the point that the plan changed in “Downloaded”.

So this particular film needed to address that issue. If the goal was to explain the Cylon “plan” and fill those plot holes with reasonable explanations, then the story would have to delve into the motivations of the Cylon leadership structure prior to the attack on the Colonies and make sense of the actions that took place afterward. Not so much what happened on Galactica alone, but rather, the various activities seen on Caprica: the Helo/Sharon experiment, the Farm, and so forth.

In that regard, “The Plan” is a spectacular failure. It completely ignores the many inconsistencies within the Cylon agenda as it was depicted, and instead tries to simplify the Cylon “plan” and align it with the genocidal verve of the Cavil models. Some minor complications are added to the equation, but on the whole, most of the elements of the story were items that needed little or no explanation.

According to this story, the Cylon “plan” all evolved out of Cavil’s desire to punish his parents, the Final Five. He sent the Final Five to live among the Colonies to see how humanity’s sins justified the judgment of their creations. He believed that the Cylons were meant to finish the war that the Final Five had brought to an abrupt halt without mercy. As far as he was concerned, he expected the Final Five to be resurrected among their “children”, ready to acknowledge that they were wrong.

But that was already clear from the fourth season of the series itself. It didn’t need to be explained. What needed to be explained was the divergence from Cavil’s perspective. Surely there were many more copies of Cavil back with the Cylon fleet and Occupation forces after the attack. Why not focus on the debates between those versions of Cavil and the models that wanted to experiment with the survivors to foster reproduction? That would have allowed the writers to reconcile the various Cylon activities that didn’t fit the “destroy all humans” mold.

Instead, we got a story that served to connect the dots. All of the Cylon activities in the first season on Galactica were revealed to be the product of one Cavil’s orchestrations behind the scenes, culminating in his conversation with Chief Tyrol at the end of the second season. While it does make all of those seemingly disparate acts more substantial, it also doesn’t change very much.

After all, the end conclusion is that the other models, even with Cavil’s urging, couldn’t follow their orders because, like the Final Five, they came to love humanity. Cavil didn’t understand the powerful nature of love, because it was something he associated with humans, and therefore something he sought to reject. It makes sense, given what we know happened and what we know of Cavil.

But that only makes the error in focus more obvious. Cavil’s lack of understanding of love, and the difference between Cavil and the other models, would have fed beautifully into debates within the leadership of the Occupation. The models that oversaw the Helo/Sharon experiment could have justified their activities in spite of Cavil, thus placing that subplot within a clearer context.

The writers had the perfect means of making that happen. The Cavil that wound up with Anders and his resistance group could have been in regular contact with the Cylon Occupation forces. In fact, it’s hinted that the Cavil on Caprica is in contact with them. So why not shift more of the focus on Cavil’s debates, especially when Caprica-Cavil ultimately decides that the plan to exterminate humanity was flawed? For that matter, it’s never entirely clear why or how Caprica-Cavil changes his mind; he just seems to do so in order to align with what was seen in “Lay Down Your Burdens”.

I will give the writers and Olmos credit for taking what could have been a glorified clip show and weaving it into a suitable story. Like “Razor” before it, it manages to tell a side-story without too many contradictions to the original material. The approach is confident, the effects are spectacular, and most of the new footage matches the original footage very well. But “Razor” promised to tell the story of Pegasus and did so. “The Plan” tells a good story with a near-perfect lead in Dean Stockwell’s dual-Cavil performance, but it makes a point to dance around its stated purpose.

So the bottom line is that “The Plan” doesn’t actually address the elements that it should, and instead seems to justify the improvisational nature of the series (and therefore, the apparent discontinuities) by pointing out that the Cavil on Galactica was forced to improvise. In other words, the point of “The Plan” is there was no plan. That makes the title about as misleading as it gets.

Writing: 1/2

Acting: 2/2

Direction: 2/2

Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 6/10

Looking back on the fourth and final season of “Battlestar Galactica” is difficult, thanks to the bizarre decision to split the season over such a long period of time.  It almost feels as if the fourth season was actually two shorter seasons (which, supposedly, was one way the SciFi Channel wanted to market it).  Even so, the season works best when viewed as a whole.

After Starbuck’s return and the revelation that she had come from Earth, the fourth season was obviously going to be all about the final push.  Thankfully, the writers didn’t make it a simple situation.  Not everyone trusted Kara and her semi-crazy mission from “God” (quite literally, as it turned out), and that led to a lot of the tension in the second half of the season.  There was also the emergence of Baltar’s little cult as a power to be reckoned with, a story direction that seemed to be going nowhere until it gained momentum later in the season.

It’s hard to remember that the unveiling of the Final Five only took place in the third season finale, and much of the first half of the fourth season was devoted to Tigh, Tyrol, Tory, and Sam and their process of dealing with their true nature.  In the background, there was also the Cylon Civil War, which ultimately led to the situation that allowed the Colonials to survive.  All things considered, the first half of the season was more about the truth behind the Cylons than the Colonials themselves.

Even with all the dramatic twists and turns, the season seemed to be struggling to hit all cylinders until the mid-season cliffhanger and its resolution.  The revelations about “Earth”, the truth about the Final Five and Kara Thrace, and the effect on the fleet provide the impetus for some stunning storytelling.  The mutiny on the Galactica was a high point for the season and the series as a whole.

The season never quite hit those highs again, even as the writers drove towards the series’ finish line.  The final several episodes were devoted to either exposition regarding the Cylon backstory (more of which will come with “The Plan”) or pulling together the various character threads to bring them towards conclusion.

Ron Moore never hid the fact that “Battlestar Galactica” has always been a product of improvisation.  The third season is proof enough of that; the entire second half of the season was derailed when the writers realized that their original ideas weren’t panning out, and they had to adjust on the fly.  What makes Moore a great showrunner is his ability to pull together a writers’ room with the ability to make the pieces fit, even when they were never intended to do so.

Moore chose to make the end of the season and series more about the characters than the plot, which is perfectly fitting, when the tone of the series as a whole is taken into consideration.  This decision was largely controversial because of how the plot was then resolved.  Most of the mysteries were attributed to a higher power, ostensibly the Cylon “God”.  This led many to believe that Moore and his writers took the easy way out, rather than making an effort to resolve the dangling plot threads rationally.

However, I take a different view.  From the beginning of the series, there was a strong spiritual presence, from the constant talk of the Lords of Kobol and “God” to endless prophecies and visions.  All of that has to come from somewhere, and the only difference is that the identity of this particular higher power is kept anonymous.  Pointing to an entity or a “Ship of Lights” is just more tidy; conceptually, it’s the same.

For all the perceived excesses of the series finale (and the final hour was a bit of a muddled mess of denouements, from an editing perspective), the fourth season was strengthened by the inevitability of the end.  The writers took things much further than I thought they would, and that added to the breathless anticipation for each new episode, especially in the second half of the season.

The fourth and final season of “Battlestar Galactica” earned a Critical Myth rating of 8.1, which is a full half-point improvement over the third season, and comparable with the second season.  It also bring the series as a whole to a solid 8.0, which is well above average.  Considering the critical acclaim, excellent acting, and inspired creativity, calling it “above average” seems a bit of an understatement.  Acknowledging that it was one of the finest science fiction television series of all time would be more fitting.

Written by Ronald D. Moore and Remi Aubuchon
Directed by Jeffrey Reiner

With “Battlestar Galactica” now all but concluded (only “The Plan” remains), it’s time to turn attention to the new series set in the same universe.  Ostensibly a “prequel” to the more familiar series, this actually tells a particular portion of the backstory in the Galactica canon.

As per the final season of “Battlestar Galactica”, artificial life is nothing new to humanity.  Cylons were created on Kobol long before the 12 Colonies were founded.  But all of the Kobol Cylons ultimately left to become the 13th Tribe, leaving humanity to form the 12 Colonies.  Thousands of years passed, at which point the Humans of the 12 Colonies forgot many of the lessons of Kobol and began to progress towards artificial life once again.  About 50-60 years before “the Fall”, the first Colonial Cylons were born.  These would eventually become the Centurions that rebelled in the First Cylon War, which ended when the Final Five survivors of the 13th Tribe arrived and offered the secret of resurrection in exchange for ending the war with Humanity.

“Caprica” is the story of how those first Cylons emerged.  Considering that this pilot is set about 58 years before the beginning of “Battlestar Galactica”, there’s very little in the way of direct overlap.  The series centers on two families: the Greystones and the Adamas.  The pilot is essentially the story of how Daniel Greystone and Joseph Adama (William’s oft-mentioned father) end up creating the first Cylon out of a shared tragedy.

The Cylons are the most obvious connection to the mother series, but there are a number of other touchstones throughout the story that harken to future events.  Those undertones are there right from the beginning.  Greystone is apparently a computer genius, and has managed to create virtual-reality technology.  This has, in short order, spawned an underground set of “virtual clubs”, where teens and other young people engage in group sex, drug use, and ultraviolence.

This unrated version of the pilot can easily be cut for broadcast purposes, but it might lose something in the translation.  As it is, the club scenes are just barely enough to communicate the extent and popularity of the clubs among disaffected teens (and as with the real world, that is quite the substantial population).  They could have gone a lot further, because the point is to deliver a message: this is what lies beneath the civilized veneer.

This ties, however indirectly, into William Adama’s speech in the “Battlestar Galactica” mini-series.  He asks the crucial question: is Humanity worthy of survival?  It’s not just a question of who is being judged, but who has decided to do the judging.  In this case, that would be the Cylons, and they begin as a digital copy of Daniel Greystone’s daughter Zoe.

This is more important than the technological aspects of her transition to Cylon.  Zoe is member of a monotheistic terrorist organization, and she sees the behavior in the virtual clubs as the disgusting product of the stagnant polytheistic Colonial society.  Her virtual copy retains that moral judgment of Human society, and therefore retains her desire to change things.  In essence, this not only explains the genesis of Cylon monotheism, but also serves to explain why their particular brand of monotheism would lead them to revolt and, eventually, genocide.

The amoral aspects of Colonial society are not confined to the teenagers, of course.  The adults are just as bad, if not worse.  Greystone himself ignores any number of warnings that his plan to “resurrect” Zoe is a Very Bad Idea, but that’s just the beginning.  He convinces Joseph Adama to help him use an organized crime syndicate to steal a component for the experiment, for example.

Adama’s connection to organized crime seems like a bit of a cliche at first.  However, upon closer inspection, it feels more like history transplanted into the future.  The discrimination against the Taurons is similar to the prejudice shown against the Sagittarons, which always felt like any of several historical examples of anti-immigrant prejudice in American history.  The parallels aren’t hard to recognize, so it makes sense that the usual solution of organized crime would result.  And the practice of changing names to blend into a new society continues today.  All of these elements provide a hook for dealing with social prejudice issues.

What makes it all interesting is how it’s all presented.  It looks very much like the world that was always shown in those short flashbacks to the Colonies in “Battlestar Galactica”.  More importantly, there are tons of little visual reminders that this is the same universe.  That said, the only blatant connection is the proto-Cylon technology.  Everything else is just a slightly more modern world than our own.

The pilot itself could have been re-edited to be a stand-alone film if necessary.  It’s so self-contained in so many ways that I’m still not sure how this is going to evolve into a series.  I have some faith in the writing staff, of course, but it’s going to be a long wait until the series hits the air in 2010.

While the acting is top-notch, even in terms of the teenage characters, the pacing, especially at the beginning, is sometimes distressingly slow and ponderous.  The same was true for the “Battlestar Galactica” mini-series, however, so it’s not necessarily a sign of bad things to come.  And it is definitely the kind of material that gains on reflection.  Small things that initially escape notice creep back into awareness after the fact.  I can only imagine that repeated viewings will draw out more tidbits to ponder.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 1/2
Style: 3/4

Final Rating: 8/10

Written by Ronald D. Moore
Directed by Michael Rymer

By the time this series finale come to close, I was torn.  On the one hand, I could see what the writers were trying to achieve with their decisions for plot and character resolution.  I understood the notion of tying together the loose ends with a spiritual connection rather than a deterministic laundry list.  But despite the understanding, I was disappointed.  I couldn’t quite give up on my desire for discrete answers.  For quite some time, I sat back, thought about what I had seen, and tried to put my whirling thoughts and objections into coherent words.

And then I sat down to write this review.

Perhaps this is the kind of resolution that needs time to seep its way into a person’s subconscious.  Maybe a little bit of time provided perspective.  It could simply be my tendency to reconcile as much as possible, out of a personal desire to put the best face on it for my own comfort.  Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter.  Because the more I thought about the series, its underlying mysteries, and how it all come together in the end, it started to make sense.

I’ll be the first to acknowledge that this will not work for everyone.  A lot of people are going to reject what appears to be, on the surface, the use of “God” as a catch-all excuse for the dangling plot threads that always come with making the story up as you go along.  That was my initial reaction as well.  But looking back, I’m not so sure.

Spirituality has always been a critical element of “Battlestar Galactica”.  From the beginning, the Cylons were acting out of their understanding of “God’s plan”.  They had come to believe that the survival of the Cylons required the blending of Human and Cylon, something that for them required “God’s true love”.  It was this endless pursuit of what they felt God wanted for them that drove them forward.

The first season saw Roslin and Starbuck acting out of a genuine spiritual calling.  Humans had visions and inspirations and invoked religious teachings from generations past.  The writers constantly reminded the audience that “all this has happened before, and all this will happen again”.  That alone was evidence of a higher order connection, something ephemeral yet pervasive in the lives of Human and Cylon alike.

Over the course of the series, there were those who sought to reduce that element into the familiar.  When Kara died and returned to life, how much speculation was there regarding the “Ship of Lights”, as seen in the original series?  How many times did someone equate the Cylon God to the original series’ Count Iblis?  Even I wondered if the guiding hand behind all these events pertained to the oft-mentioned but mysterious Lords of Kobol or, just as obliquely, the Cylon God.

But it’s all just labels plastered on the same thing.  The only difference is that the architect of this grand design is never seen or revealed; its presence is known only by effect.  Someone had a plan for Human and Cylon alike, and it meant bringing them together into one species.  To do that, this higher power decided that it was necessary to push and pull them in various directions, sometimes contradictory, to push them so far and so long that only mergence was a viable option.

Regardless of the label slapped on this higher power (“God”, “Lucifer”, the Lords of Kobol, aliens beyond our understanding, etc.), the net effect would have been the same.  And that is, at its heart, a kind of agnostic metaphor for the modern world.  Some agnostics hold that there may be a higher power, but the jury is still out on what that power is, if it truly exists at all.  Those agnostics would say, “something is happening, the effect is undeniable, but the cause is so remote, so ephemeral, that we cannot yet define it”.

It’s hard to argue that the Cylons, due to their own issues, took what was given to them in terms of “divine inspiration” and turned it into a cause for violence.  One might even say that this higher power knew this would happen.  The Humans did the same thing, though much earlier, with the Phythian prophecies: partial information that was designed to lead them down a certain path, when the time came.

This was a grand design that required, at the critical juncture, near-constant adjustment on both sides.  Thus the intervention of what Baltar ultimately termed “angels”, though this is no more definitive than calling the higher power “God”.  These “angels”, whether it be Head Six or Head Baltar or something within the Cylon “projections”, were there to see that the end result was achieved.  If they seemed at cross-purposes from one moment to the next, well, that’s part of the equation because that’s what happened.  That wouldn’t have changed had something more concrete been identified as the guiding hand.

Of course, the visions, dreams, and “angels” are all relatively easy to assign to this higher power; the real mystery is Kara Thrace.  She was material, far more than even Head Six appeared to be on occasion.  By my best estimation, Kara Thrace was assigned to play a unique role, as evidenced by her introduction to the music (representative of the guiding influence of this higher power).  Was her suicide part of the plan?  Looking back on “Maelstrom”, it certainly could have been.  Her restoration, and her quest to find answers, seemed to be part and parcel of the process of preparing both the Humans and Cylons for their eventual mergence.

Hera was equally important, because in a way, she was the desired end product of the mergence and the grand design.  It wasn’t to bring Colonials and Cylons together to propagate a new civilization together; it was to produce Hera and then ensure that she arrived on the new Earth in such a way that “seeding” the natives would spread her unique genetic code to a multitude of descendants.

One might say, in very loose terms, that certain Colonial and Cylon traits might not have been strong enough, genetically, to dominate in the cross-breeding with the natives of Earth.  But Hera’s genetic code, being the product of Human/Cylon genetic mergence, would resolve that problem.  So the end of the episode suggests, even if the “mitochondrial Eve” concept was ultimately debunked: Hera, as the one true Human/Cylon hybrid, was necessary in some way to the viability of the native Earth population.

Of course, the treatment of this is far from perfect.  It would have been more fitting if the Colonials and Cylons had landed in a time much closer to the modern era, perhaps around 15,000 years ago (as opposed to 150,000).  This would have matched up with the vague timetable given by alternative history theorists like von Daniken and Graham Hancock.  Hancock in particular likes to point out possible connections between different emerging civilizations and a potential “lost civilization”.  Linking that to the arrival of Colonials and Cylons, and their Earthbound distribution, would have been more elegant and would have tied into the original series in a somewhat more satisfying way.

Along similar lines, it might have been better if there hadn’t been natives at all.  The presence of native Humans is a nagging loose end, unnecessary to the story.  It would have been equally possible for the surviving Colonials and Cylons to form small communities around the world, eventually losing what technology they had to time and wear.  Hera still would have been the first of the true hybrids.

In terms of the music, while some might have wanted a more specific explanation for “All Along the Watchtower”, I was fine with the explanation that was given.  It reminded me, in a way, of how the higher-order communication with the Vorlons took place on “Babylon 5″.  Hearing the song had nothing to do with being a Cylon, other than the fact that the Final Five had to come together at a certain time to facilitate what Kara was meant to do.  And the fact that the music was also the key to finding the new Earth, where the Colonials and Cylons needed to go once the conflict was over and done, was just icing on the universal language cake.  Given the nature of the hybrids, it certainly seems that they were attuned to this celestial musical connection as well.  (Many call mathematics the “universal language”, and music is ultimately mathematics.)

Perhaps more importantly, by giving the resolution of the various mysteries a more incorporeal source, the emphasis was pushed (and rightfully so) to the characters and their acceptance of the end of their journey.  Those resolutions were, for the most part, satisfying.  Looking back on the past few episodes, not only do the more spiritual aspects of the resolution make more sense, but the emphasis on character is justified.

I can only imagine how much of the post-landing material was left on the cutting room floor.  I imagine a great deal will end up on the DVD version.  If you add up all the extra time that was given to the final 10 episodes, you’ve got several episodes worth of story, just on screen!  Evidence, in my opinion, that Ron Moore could have produced a fifth season, had he been more confident that the SciFi Channel was going to keep it on the air.

But certain scenes never materialized.  The final farewell between Adama and Tigh is probably the most obvious, but there were so many moments that still could or should have happened.  I certainly don’t begrudge them the time they took with the epilogue; the series finale for “Babylon 5″ is nothing but epilogue, and it’s one of the finest hours of television I’ve ever seen.  I’m just not sure there was enough time to explore the ideas fully.  (Also, if the finale all aired on the same night, instead of the first hour and the rest being split, it would have worked a lot better.)

The one point that needed clarification was Lee’s pronouncement that they were abandoning the vast majority of their technology.  The reason is simple: if they want to avoid the sins of the Colonial and Cylon way of life, they can’t perpetuate that way of life.  It has to start fresh.  Also, the technology would wear down soon enough anyway, so why be reliant on it at all?  It’s not so much where they arrived, so much as the abrupt nature of the decision.

Unlike many, I liked the final scene, because it was not as obvious as it seems.  Head Six and Head Baltar have some degree of optimism as they look upon the modern human race, but the montage at the end was a little less hopeful.  Not the presence of the emerging robot population, but the connection to something Lee said.  Lee noted that it can be a problem when our technology outstrips our ability to implement it wisely.  The episode ends by lingering on a homeless man in Times Square, surrounded by the images of shiny new robot toys.  Technology outpacing the heart of humanity?  Perhaps, and if that was the intent, it brings the series full circle.

One might notice I haven’t said a word about the rescue operation, the resolution of the Opera House, the final moments between Adama and Roslin, Boomer’s attempt at redemption, or any number of other scenes worth discussion.  Most of those scenes speak for themselves, particularly the final battle.  It was one of the most intense of the series, even if it was remarkably straightforward.  I also think it was obvious that the truce was never going to work, because they had to eliminate Cavil’s forces.  Sending the colony into the singularity certainly did the trick!

(One caveat: Watching the finale twice now, I think it’s safe to say that the Cylon slugfest was a bit more than the effects crew could comfortably chew.  In many scenes, the Cylons didn’t blend into the background at all.  In one case, one of the “old style” Centurions looked like he was standing in mid-air over the floor.  Great idea, but it didn’t quite pan out as they had intended.)

I’m not going to pretend that this finale was perfect.  Far from it.  As much as I can reconcile large portions of the series is it ended, other portions don’t fit at all.  (One glaring problem is “Home”, and the constellation projection on Kobol.  It doesn’t fit the timeline or the explanations given this season at all.)  This can be laid down at the feet of Ron Moore’s preferred writing style.  He doesn’t plan things out; he sets up situations and lets them evolve based on character exploration.  While he’s often quite inventive, it doesn’t allow for a strong finish.  Contrast this to the style of JMS on “Babylon 5″, where there was always a clear set of end conditions in mind before pen touched paper.

The ideal, perfect finale would have given a bit more resolution to certain mysteries, and would have been planned out in more detail ahead of the game.  For that reason, while this gets a much better ratings than my first impression would have indicated, it’s not a knock out of the park.  But it did accomplish one thing very well: it has left me with a sincere desire to rewatch the series from the beginning.

Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 3/4

Final Rating: 8/10

(Season 4 Final Average: 8.1)

Written by Ronald D. Moore
Directed by Michael Rymer

The series finale will encompass a total of three hours.  One would think this is more than enough time to wrap up the vast majority of the plot and character threads and give the series proper closure.  The previous episode was a slow but steady prelude, which logically should have set the stage well enough for the finale to move things along.  That’s not quite the case.

The pace of the finale is surprisingly slow and methodical.  A good portion of the episode is devoted to the message that we are coming full circle, and the characters are as well.  Some have changed, some haven’t.  But the real question, at least to the viewer, is why it pertains at all to the series finale.  Is this important information?  Or is this an attempt to be lyrical at the end?  This is but the introductory hour of the final tale, so it’s hard to know what the purpose is.

What is surprising is how much is still left to be resolved.  Has there been any progress since “Someone to Watch Over Me”?  We’re still no closer to the truth about Kara, her connection to the Final Five and Hera, and the meaning of “All Along the Watchtower”.  There’s still an enormous suicide mission to conduct as well.  One would think that this sets the stage for the end of Galactica itself (rather symbolic), but also for the end of the threat of Cavil’s faction of the Cylons.

Yet it’s premature to say that this hour is somehow wasted.  It’s the beginning of a process, and there’s still two more hours to go before the picture is complete.  It could be that the preliminaries are slow-paced to maximize the effect of the final events.  Still, this is the endgame, so anything that hampers the ability to wrap things up is going to make fans nervous.

One major aspect of the episode was Baltar’s bid for political power.  In an interesting change of pace, he’s not necessarily asking out of self-interest, even if he does stand to gain if his people want him to represent their desires.  As it stands, Baltar could end up with power as a default, if he does in fact stay behind.  After all, if Galactica and her volunteer crew fall at the Cylon colony, Adama, Roslin, and Lee would all be there.  The resulting power vacuum, and the size of Baltar’s following, would place him in a powerful position.

But Baltar seemed to be wavering in his decision, and if the colony turns out to be the Opera House, he’ll be going with them to fulfill his role.  If the Opera House dream is prophetic, then Caprica and Baltar will end up escaping with Hera to bring back the future to those left behind.  This also aligns with Baltar’s vision at the end of the first season, and if anyone else dies trying to get to Hera, it would certainly fulfill the prophecy regarding Roslin.

That still leaves open the question of Kara’s resurrection, and how that might intersect with the Opera House theory.  If there is going to be a last-minute intervention by some greater power, a look back at the series puts the easy money on the Cylon God.  It would be very easy to use the Cylon God, or the personification thereof, to resolve a number of outstanding mysteries.  For example, as it stands, the revelation of the Final Five doesn’t quite match what was mentioned in “Rapture”, but there was an apparent reference to the Cylon God at the time.  If the writers realized that a “deus ex machina” solution was a necessary evil, then why not deliver an actual “God”?

All of which amounts to the fact that Ron Moore and company could still stick the landing for this series, if they pull together the bulk of the dangling plot threads.  (With the exception, of course, of what will be covered in “The Plan”.)  But after the past two episodes, which did little to move the story forward, there’s still potential for disappointment.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 8/10

Written by Michael Taylor
Directed by Edward James Olmos

With only a handful of episodes left, and so many loose ends to resolve, time is of the essence.  So it’s hard not to feel like this prelude to the series finale wasn’t a wasted opportunity.  There were some vague hints as to the resolution of the series as a whole, but most of the time was spent on lingering character vignettes.  As satisfying as they can be, and as in keeping with the style of the series it might be, it’s still hard to temper the disappointment.

This episode was essentially the combination of character reactions to the Galactica situation, the abduction of Hera, and Kara’s odd status quo.  The net effect is a laundry list of the implications of the past few episodes and what the writers will need to tackle at the breaking of the day.  As already mentioned, this almost works at cross-purposes.  It’s good to know that the writers have a grasp on the loose ends, but it’s a also a reminder of just how much they’ll need to cram into the finale.

A lot of time is spent on Adama’s growing realization that saving Galactica is not a viable option, and the recent efforts have merely been delaying the inevitable.  That process is painful, to say the least.  For all that the Cylons have agreed to hand over military authority to Adama in exchange for a voice on the new council, it’s still the loss of the most potent symbol of Human autonomy.  Defense of the remnants of Humanity will now be dependent on outside cooperation, and a former enemy at that.

The previous episode tied Roslin’s condition to the “health” of the Galactica, and that metaphor continues.  The flashes of the Opera House, and the suggestion that Caprica Six is once again sharing those dreams and visions, point to an explanation for those elements since the first season.  But the emphasis is on the notion that Roslin will probably die before the human race finds its new home (if, in fact, that prophecy still holds any meaning), and how that becomes a compelling impetus for Adama’s decision to move people off Galactica.

In essence, Galactica is only good for one more mission anyway, and that’s where the abduction of Hera comes into play.  Hera represents the future for both the Human and Cylon people, and in that respect, she is a symbol of hope.  The Cylons don’t see a future without her, and The Humans don’t see a future without the Cylons.  Cavil is forcing a confrontation that he assumes he will win.  For Adama and the Cylons, there is only one mission left: retrieve Hera by any means necessary or die trying.

Ander’s situation has the potential of giving Galactica an unexpected edge.  It could allow Adama to run the impending mission with a skeleton crew.  It also had the benefit of reminding the audience that Kara has been termed “the harbinger of death”, which I still believe is meant more in the classical sense of change.  In other words, survival through mergence of the Human and Cylon people into a self-propagating population.

At least, that’s how it’s appeared to be shaping up; with the mystery of Kara’s resurrection still on the table, it could really mean anything.  The “Kara is a proto-Hera” theory is still viable, but this episode lends credence to those who see an outside agency as being the connective link between the Final Five activation, the Roslin/Caprica connection, Kara, and Hera.  I’m still not particularly pleased with that notion, because it has a great deal of potential to fall into deus ex machina territory.

Some have speculated that this outside agency could be the Lords of Kobol.  If the Lords of Kobol were, as speculated, the surviving Cylons of a previous cycle, it would at least fit the overall foundation for the series.  Another offered possibility is the “beings of light” theory, referring to a story from the original “Battlestar Galactica”.  If that were true, it would be unfortunate, because while the effect has been explored in relative detail, there hasn’t been much evidence of someone else beyond the Humans and Cylons lurking in the background.

Unfortunately, all of these plot and character threads, right down to Boomer’s wavering faith in her actions and Baltar’s little speech about Kara, could have been compressed into a lot less time.  It feels like this episode was a bit too methodical for its own good.  It’s hard to tell, however, because it all comes down to the finale.  If three hours of finale is enough to cover all the bases sufficiently, then this episode will be vindicated.

Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 7/10

Written by Bradley Thompson and David Weddle
Directed by Michael Nankin

This episode is a mixture of beauty and brutality, and in this instance, both are captivating.  After the mess that was the previous episode, I was a bit worried that the writers were going to aim high and shoot low with the ending.  This episode, however, makes it look more likely that the series will have a strong finish after all.

First, the beauty.  I’ve always been aware of the role of music in this series, and that definitely helped to enhance my enjoyment of this particular episode.  It set a mood of melancholy and foreboding from the very beginning, and it kept me spellbound throughout Kara’s emotional and psychological journey.

It doesn’t hurt that the essential thrust of the story appears to confirm my suspicion that Kara’s father was the recently mentioned “Daniel”, perhaps the only surviving Seven.  That’s not necessarily the only interpretation that could be made, but it is becoming the clear frontrunner.  With so little time left, I have reservations at the writers could introduce anything else that wouldn’t feel like a deus ex machina solution.

“All Along the Watchtower” provides a musical connective thread between the Final Five, Kara, and Hera.  Where the Final Five seem to hear the music more directly, Kara and Hera experience it more subconsciously.  For Kara, it comes out through a kind of Cylon projection, summoning up a version of her father to guide her to self-awareness.  Hera’s not in a position quite yet to explain how she knew the music, but this could explain why Roslin seemed to react to something in “Crossroads”.

Presumably, this brings Kara closer to understanding her “special destiny”.  If her father was one of the skinjobs, then in a very real sense, she co-opts Hera as the first Human/Cylon hybrid within the Colonies.  It would explain why Kara has always been searching for her place in the world; there’s never been anyone quite like her.

There’s still the matter of her resurrection to consider.  That it took place on or near Earth appears significant; she didn’t resurrect among the Cylon fleet, after all.  This implies that Kara was resurrected by the same technology that brought back the Final Five after the annihilation of Earth.  The location of that technology could be significant, because as we see in this episode, the fleet has been searching for a suitable planet to inhabit for weeks, and the constant grind is getting to everyone.

The anticipated Human/Cylon alliance is in full swing, with the Cylons now having a seat on the newly reconstructed Quorum (that we haven’t actually seen).  They’re flying missions together, their working to keep Galactica space-worthy together, and they’re acting in accord on critical items such as justice and survival.  Between the mutiny and the Cylon civil war, neither side has what it needs to make it alone, and they’ve adjusted accordingly.

Internal to the story, Galactica is still falling apart at the seams, and even before the damage was done by Boomer’s escape, it was only going to make it through one more jump.  The implication is that this final jump would be to whatever planet they manage to find.  Between wrapping up the mysteries surrounding Kara and the particulars surrounding the alliance, that might have been enough on its own to sustain the rest of the series.  But there’s still the small matter of the external conflict with Cavil.

It makes sense, based on the ease of escape in “No Exit”, that Boomer was helping Ellen as part of a plot.  Ellen made it clear to Cavil that Hera was the future of her plan, so of course his own success would hinge on controlling (and, logically, eliminating) that asset.  Beyond what Boomer did in this episode to convince Tyrol to help her with her mission, using their past history as a pretext, I’m not sure how that was supposed to work.

Cavil couldn’t have known that Boomer would have the chance to twist Tyrol’s emotions, so the plan was essentially a last-ditch effort.  It never should have worked.  That makes it a bit of a plot convenience, but it’s the kind that works because the audience needed a resolution to the Boomer/Tyrol thread.  It also pushes the final confrontation with Tyrol into the short term, which allows it to coincide logically with the Galactica’s final days.

There is a certain level of irony here.  Athena seduced Helo by posing as Boomer on Caprica during the first season.  In a way, Athena co-opted a life that could have been Boomer’s.  Boomer gets her pound of flesh in this episode, and it is not at all pretty.  It’s actually one of the more disturbing moments in the entire series run.  Boomer beats Athena to a pulp, essentially forces Athena to watch her sleep with Helo, and then steals Athena’s daughter.

What makes this so crushing is the realization that Boomer has been a victim for so long that her actions must seem justified in her own mind.  Boomer’s attempted assassination of Adama was programmed into her (presumably by Cavil).  She tried to atone for that mistake in the past, but it always went horribly wrong (particularly the New Caprica experiment, which was clearly undermined by Cavil in retrospect).  Boomer ultimately has been used and abused by Cavil in more ways than one can count (including their “affair” on the baseship).

This doesn’t excuse Boomer in the slightest, but it does point to the notion that Boomer is still being used; she’s still not acting out of her own personal agency.  Either that will never change, and Boomer will end up being a tragic figure, or the moment that she takes control of her life will be a critical point of the finale.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 3/4

Final Rating: 9/10

Written by Jane Espenson
Directed by Bob Young

After the mind-blowing exposition marathon of the previous episode, which left the fandom in a whirl of discussion over the true history of the Cylons, it makes sense that the implications would need time to filter into the final arc of the series.  It also makes sense that the arrival of Ellen Tigh would force the revel Cylons to make a decision about their own future.  As it turns out, that decision was already made; the Cylons, like the Humans, are simply resisting the inevitable.

The repair/rebirth of the Galactica is about as blatant a metaphor as it gets, but it works as an ongoing theme.  Right after the mutiny, the Galactica is ready to tear itself apart at the seams.  The only solution: use organic Cylon technology to fill in the gaps and bring it new strength.  Which is a nice way of communicating what many had speculated as early as the second season: the Cylons and Humans will only survive if they forge a future together.

To prove that out, however, certain things had to be resolved.  First and foremost, there was the small matter of Caprica-Siz and her unborn child, which held the potential for pure Cylon reproduction.  The writers try to frame the loss of the Cylon child as something brought on by Ellen’s typical destructive behavior, but it’s far more likely that it was just the inability of the Cylons to mate.  (And thematically karmic, given what Caprica-Six did at the beginning of the series, just before the Cylon attack.)

This brings up an interesting point of continuity.  If Ellen held the belief that a Cylon/Human hybrid was the hope for the future of the Cylons, then is it possible that she and the Final Five intentionally designed the skinjobs as unable to reproduce biologically?  Is it possible that the Final Five understood the principle that Tigh voices in this episode from the beginning, and the skinjobs were specially meant to be more compatible with Human genetics?  (The cloning/replication process of the skinjobs aside, of course.)

After all, in her own way, Ellen admits that “pure” communities of either kind, Human or Cylon, will ultimately destroy themselves.  Humans always seem to come along and build Cylons, and if Earth is any indication, Cylons eventually follow suit.  If one accepts the theory that the Lords of Kobol were the surviving Cylons of an even earlier cycle, then Cylons themselves might have attempted to foster a pure Human society that could break the chain.  But, as seen, the Humans disregarded the warnings and created artificial life, and the rest is history.

The “majority rule” concept has been around for a while, and ultimately led to the Cylon civil war, once it was thwarted by the boxing of the Threes.  It helps to explain why the Cylons continued down the path of creating a biological hybrid, even after Cavil convinced them to eliminate the 12 Colonies.  If Cavil had been fully in charge, it’s unlikely that the breeding experiments would have taken place.  If anything, Cavil would have pushed the Cylons towards more lethal and efficient mechanical forms.  The fact that Cavil was unable to fully control the path of the Cylons coming into the decimation of the Colonies does much to explain his grab for control of the Cylons in the wake of the New Caprica debacle.

In terms of what’s coming, the “blended future”, Baltar’s predicted role has come to pass, though a bit later than expected.  It’s certainly not an easy alliance to forge, given the histories involved, but it does make sense.  Baltar has a massive following, and now that the old religion of the Colonies has fallen in the wake of the discovery of Earth’s true nature, his movement is the natural (if disturbing) replacement.  It’s still not clear what his religion is all about, but it does bridge a philosophical gap between Human and Cylon in its talk about the one loving God.  And as Baltar says, it is the only remaining Human solution to the breakdown of Human society.

If nothing else, it’s a stopgap solution, something to help the Human population come to terms with what it will take to survive.  The Cylons are becoming more and more Human as they adopt Human rituals.  The fact that Cylons are putting pictures of their dead on the wall, right next to the pictures of victims of the Colonial holocaust, is a poignant sign.  Perhaps most telling is the unspoken implication: there hasn’t been a confrontation about it, and no one is tearing down the pictures.  In other words, despite the friction between both sides, this new practice has been accepted.  As Adama says, the process has already started.  Lee and Laura don’t have to voice their acceptance of it to make it real.

On the one hand, the likelihood is that this alliance and eventual “blended future” will allow Humanity to survive.  On the other, that survival is, from a certain point of view, the final capitulation to the Cylons.  In essence, the series will probably end with the rather dark notion that the Cylons did exactly what they set out to do.  The fact that this allows Humanity to continue in some fashion doesn’t change that fact.  And that goes a long way towards explaining Adama’s self-destructive binge of late.

Considering how much of the episode was actually focused on Ellen and her whirlwind tendency to disrupt everything, I haven’t said very much about it.  That’s because Ellen has always annoyed the hell out of me, and I’m not convinced that her character logic adds up.  Part of the problem is that the episode felt like it was edited using a blender.  I can only assume that this is one of those episodes that had to be butchered to get it down to time.  The producers made it clear at one point that many of the final episodes would need to run long or be cut dramatically, and based on the haphazard storytelling at play here, this would seem like a prime example.

Ellen seemed to be trying to prove a point about Tigh’s true allegiance: Bill Adama, the Galactica, and the Colonial Fleet.  He’s never been particularly unclear on that point, so I’m not sure why it had to be reinforced under such circumstances.  Perhaps Ellen wanted the other models to see that any decision to leave the fleet would only fracture them more?  Whatever the case, Ellen’s motivations seem like their all over the map, and that makes it hard to follow.

The Liam connection was very moving, of course, and it makes perfect sense.  Bill and Saul have been carrying each other since the very beginning, which is why Adama fell apart so completely when Saul admitted that he was a Cylon.  It also explains why Adama has been able to accept the notion of a “blended future”.  His dearest friend has been a Cylon all along, and chose not to abandon him or their friendship.  How could Adama turn his back on that?

Ultimately, this episode suffered from two fatal flaws.  The focus on Ellen Tigh and her chaotic, destructive personality is off-putting and frustrating, especially when there is so little time left for resolution.  But more importantly, the episode just felt like it was crammed into an hour when it needed much more time to tell its story organically.

Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 6/10

Written by Ryan Mottesheard
Directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton

Sooner or later, the writers were going to have to buckle down and make sense out of the Cylons. It’s something that should have been done much earlier in the series, to be honest, but the explanation includes a certain rationale for why this was not done. Some will come to the conclusion that the writers had much of this in mind all along, but Ron Moore and the rest of the gang have never hidden the fact that they were making up a lot of it as they were going along.

The result is an explanation that somehow manages to work far better than it has any right to do so. By all rights, there should be numerous continuity violations throughout the tale. Somehow, only one major question threatens to tear the explanation apart, and even that could be reconciled with a little more willing suspension of disbelief. Unlike some shows that are practically ruined by the failure of the writers to bring it all together at the end (like, for instance, “Alias”), this cements “Battlestar Galactica” as a triumph.

Essentially, the story fits together as predicted, just with specifics where the vague hand-waving would have been. Back on Kobol, thousands of years ago, Humans created artificial life, against the warnings and prohibitions of their gods. Initially there were centurions, but eventually there were the “skinjobs”. These Cylons rebelled, and in the ensuing war, Kobol was destroyed. The Humans went on to create the 12 Colonies; the Cylons fled. (At this point, they also had the technology for resurrection.)

The Cylons ultimately wound up on the path that the ragtag fleet followed, from the algae planet to Earth. At some point, they gained the ability to procreate on their own. With the need to resurrect no longer present for survival, the technology was “lost” and the Cylons spent much time in peace.

However, as that peace was coming to an end (either through self-destruction or incursion), five of the Earth Cylons read the signs and portents and began research into “resurrection”. This enabled them to survive the holocaust on Earth. Their resurrection ship (either in orbit or at another colony) was the launching point of an effort by these “Final Five” to return to the Colonies and warn them not to create artificial life.

Unfortunately, the Final Five arrives too late, and the First Cylon War was already underway. The rebelling Centurions (the product of the events to be seen on “Caprica”) were attempting to create their own “skinjobs”, and were failing (as seen in “Razor”, for example). The Final Five convinced the Cylons to end the war by appealing to the Centurion notions of an all-loving God and their desire for evolution. With the knowledge of resurrection in hand, the Final Five were in the perfect position to lead these new Cylons towards eventual peace.

The first new “skinjob” was John Cavil, created by the Final Five (specifically Ellen). With Cavil’s help, seven more “models” were built. At some point in the process, however, Cavil came to disagree strongly with the notion of making the Cylons more like their oppressive creators, and sought to undermine the Final Five. At one point, this meant tampering with the replication process for the Sevens; no copies could be made, as the genetic template was destroyed. (This could have meant that the original Seven survived, however.)

Ultimately, Cavil betrayed the Final Five by killing them and tampering with the resurrection process, erasing their memories. The Final Five were reprogrammed with false memories of their lives as Colonials, and they were seeded into Colonial society. Since they were the evolved Cylons of Earth, they were just like Humans, right down to the ability to age over time. This was done shortly after the armistice (as marked by the first verifiable appearance of Saul Tigh).

In the roughly forty years that followed, Cavil concocted a plan for revenge against the Humans and the means to reproduce. He prohibited knowledge and discussion of the Final Five, and placed inhibitions on the free will of the centurions. Using the same means he used to “plant” the Final Five, Cavil sent copies of the new “skinjobs” into Colonial society to prepare for the destruction of the Human race. The plan, apparently, was to use the survivors in experiments designed to help the Cylons find a means to procreate (“The Farm”).

It’s not clear if the Cylons were determined to track down the ragtag fleet because they wanted to wipe out the last of the Human survivors, or because Cavil specifically wanted to eliminate the Final Five before they could find Earth and discover the truth. What does matter is that Cavil’s unbalanced psychology explains almost everything that the Cylons have done since the beginning. (And one would presume that the upcoming film “The Plan” will fill in some of the blanks.) Certainly the events on New Caprica are a lot more disturbing!

Whatever the case, this is precisely why the Colonials and the rebel Cylons must forge an alliance. Ellen has given Cavil a pressing reason to hunt down the fleet. Once this information gets out (and it will start to spread), the Adamas and Roslin will have a solid reason to exonerate the rebel Cylons. Cavil will become the mastermind behind the destruction of the Colonies.

This all makes a great deal of sense, especially since it fits the notion that this is a cycle that always seems to repeat itself, with only minor variations along the way. One could even speculate, based on the 13 known models of humaniform Cylons, that the Lords of Kobol were “skinjobs” from an even earlier cycle!

More importantly in terms of the current mysteries, this could explain Starbuck’s “special destiny”. Seven, the “artist”, might not have been destroyed. Instead, Cavil might have treated “Daniel” in the same way he treated the Final Five. Starbuck’s father was described as an artist as well, and if the only Seven turned out to be Kara’s father, it would explain why she was a little different and why she would have known, instinctively, about the mandala that was associated with the Final Five.

It would also explain her resurrection. If the current version of Cylon resurrection was encoded based on the knowledge of the Final Five, then it would have been based on the technology they used as the basis of their own resurrection thousands of years earlier. If Kara had the genetic markers of the current Cylons within her DNA, and if the original resurrection ship of the Final Five still existed, then it could have activated as a result.

That leaves a couple of mysteries still left to explain. First, how did Starbuck and her viper get from the maelstrom planet to Earth in the first place? That may never be answered. Second, exactly where was the resurrection ship of the Final Five? It couldn’t have been in orbit of Earth; the fleet would have detected it. One simple answer could be buried in the episode, where it is suggested that there was a colony where the resurrection ship/technology might have been kept. If this is the case, Ellen might hold the key to a new home for both Cylons and Humans.

And the fleet will need a new home. Galactica isn’t going to last forever, even with the Cylon technology helping to affect repairs. The entire season has been a slow and methodical process of bringing Cylon and Human together, and this is just another symbolic example. Roslin is unlikely to survive much longer, either. With the execution of the Quorum during the mutiny, Lee’s suggestion marks the passing of the old way of identifying with colonies of origin. (In a way, this is symbolized by the defeat of Zarek’s revolution, which was at least partially built around old Colonial rivalries.)

While most of the information fits, one major question stands out: the matter of Saul Tigh. The rest of the Final Five could have easily been introduced to Colonial society in the wake of the First Cylon War. But Tigh was supposed to have been a decorated officer during that war, which doesn’t fit at all. It works to the benefit of the writers that Adama didn’t know Tigh until after the war, and Tigh’s recollection of the war could have been implanted memories. The only problem is that Tigh’s military career, specifically his decorated past, would have been reviewed at some point.

If Cavil was able to pull off everything else, then it was possible for him to slip falsified information into Colonial records. Considering how much else Cavil was supposed to have done, I suppose it’s just one more thing to add to the list. But since we know that the Cylon backstory was conceived after the fact, Tigh’s war record is the kind of thing that stands out as a reminder. All things being equal, it’s less satisfying when the final revelations require some massaging.

The other drawback to this episode is the sheer amount of exposition. The writers pull out a few simple techniques to keep up some tension and prevent the episode from becoming the fictional equivalent of a college lecture. It does work, but the bottom line is that this is a textbook violation of the “show, don’t tell” principle. I’m not sure, given the time constraints, that it could have been avoided; further detail was even shunted into “The Plan”, after all.

It cannot be denied, however, that this episode was an instant brain-frack for devoted fans, especially those who have been wanting some explanation for the Cylons and their actions since the very beginning. It’s clearly meant to set the stage for the remainder of the series, and it even clarifies “Caprica” to a certain extent. There’s not much more that fans could ask for at this point.

Writing: 2/2

Acting: 2/2

Direction: 2/2

Style: 3/4

Final Rating: 9/10

Written by Michael Angeli
Directed by Wayne Rose

In some comments to my review for the previous episode, I noted that the Zarek/Gaeta revolution was doomed from the beginning based on its own nature.  As right as Gaeta might have been in his accusations against Adama and how the admiral has changed over time, and as right as some of the dissention against the Adama/Roslin Caprican power bloc might have been, neither of those considerations were at the heart of the coup.

A revolution is seldom successful without a unifying ideal and vision.  It has to be about fighting for something, rather than simply fighting against the status quo.  There must be a unifying goal and dream, married to a solid philosophy, or the revolution becomes little more than directed mob action.

Zarek and Gaeta had personal reasons for wanting to overthrow the current power structure within the fleet.  For Zarek, it was a matter of taking what he felt was rightfully his to take.  Adam and Roslin used Zarek on several occasions, and never gave him the authority and trust that the legal electoral system granted him.  The recent installation of Lee Adama as president in Roslin’s absence was just the latest insult.  Zarek tried to work within the system, and he was left with the unfortunate conclusion that Capricans were still lording over those from other colonies.

Gaeta was overflowing with hate and remorse, based on his personal experiences on New Caprica and the choices he made.  His reasons for hating the Cylons were rational enough, but he never laid out the argument to anyone.  He just took action out of a mixture and righteousness and revenge.  Such things are powerful motivators, but in this case, they were also deeply internal.  So those driving emotions never became a true rallying cry to the revolution.

Because Zarek was using Gaeta to achieve a personal power play, and Gaeta never truly offered anything more than rage and hate as the basis for his coup, the revolution was little more than a large-scale outlet of negative emotions.  There was no rallying philosophy or plan to replace what Adama and Roslin were offering; there was simply anger over the realization that Earth was not the answer to all the problems.

The revolution never offered an alternative, however, and while uncertainty demanded a degree of chaos, it was the kind of fire that burns fast and hot.  The entire revolution lasted a few hours at most, and within that time, it took mere minutes for Zarek to start lying to Gaeta to pursue his own power play.  If anything, the end result (including the slaughter of the Quorum) galvanized the power structure even more around Adama and Roslin.

Adama and his followers have been tested by revolt, and they were equal to the task.  They simply won’t be challenged again on any meaningful level from within the fleet.  Roslin managed to bend the Rebel Cylons entirely to her will through force of personality alone.  It seems like the Cylons were willing to put their survival on hold for the sake of Roslin’s agenda, which has some startling implications.  It certainly supports the notion that the Rebel Cylons aren’t the threat they used to be.

It also seems as if Baltar’s conscience is finally beginning to manifest itself.  Instead of reveling without guilt in the lovely arms of yet another version of Six, Baltar rails against his own tendency to run away from personal responsibility.  Baltar’s association with Adama and Roslin in this crisis will of course be noted, and it could be that this will transform the nature and purpose of his cult into something vital to the survival of Humanity.

One unexpected side effect of this coup is the realization of just how far gone the Galactica is.  The ship has been through absolute hell since the Cylon attack, and there’s only so much that can be repaired on the fly.  Based on what Tyrol saw in the FTL drive compartment, the Galactica is on its last legs.  Cylon upgrades may be more than just a perk; they might be vital to fleet survival.  In essence, this cements the notion that Adama and Roslin were right about the alliance being the only hope for the future.

This could lead to the general recognition that Adama and Roslin are making the right call out of necessity, not out of some semi-mystical sense of prophecy.  The realities surrounding Earth have led to a general distrust of prophecy, so pragmatic concerns could rule the day.  This all depends on how the truth about the Final Five and Kara plays out.  The writers have been knocking it out of the park for the last several episodes, so for now, they’ve earned a measure of trust.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 3/4

Final Rating: 9/10