I think season 1 is probably the best season, just because there were no clunkers. Short made it better. However, Seasons 2 and 3 are almost as good (if I were to use numerical ratings, they would receive the same ratings as season 1).

Seasons 1 and 2 were seasons that were great throughout.

Season 3 was quite polarized.

The opening arc was phenomenal, outdoing anything the show (or any show) has ever done. The season remained great until a stretch of subpar shows. Then came a return to form for the midseason (although it was no Pegasus arc), and then the show misstepped once more (A Day In The Life, perhaps also Woman King to a lesser extent) before again turning in a spectacular final chapter, which I think is as good as the Pegasus arc and Kobol arc. If one were just looking at the 2 outstanding arcs versus the “good, but not good enough for BSG” rest of the season, one might seem season 3 was a bit of a slip. I don’t this this is case because the season as a whole demonstrates the most cohesion of any season. New Caprica may have been gone after episode 4, but it powered events right up til the finale (and what a finale that was). Characters underwent powerful arcs, even if they were in subpar episodes. Things like that bring the season back up to par for BSG.

Season 3 also gave the best (or two best, depending on how you count it) episode: Occupation/Precipice. It also ended with an episode tied for second place (Crossroads, which is tied with Kobol’s Last Gleaming). And all throughout the season there was this wonderful threat that connected everything and advanced the people.

Unfortunately, the studio demanded more standalones, and that is exactly where the show failed.

Hero? Not bad, but not good either.
Unfinished Business? The flashbacks worked great, but the “present” story was… not BSG-like.
The Passage? Some fine moments, but overall a poor episode.
A Day In The Life? Gag me. The series’ worst.

So many episodes that outdo anything BSG has done, and yet when the show couldn’t run the way it wanted to, it also had some of the show’s worst (Passage and Life). Those two almost balance each other out, only to receive more points for its ongoing character stories.

Best season episode by episode?: Season 1
Best season when looking at the Season, not the individual episodes?: Season 3

Season 4 I’ve quite enjoyed so far. A great many standouts, and only 2 shortcomings: The Road Less Traveled and Sine Qua Non. 2 out of the first 10. Season 1 had 3 out of 13, season 2 had 5/20.

Great season, season 4. Some claim it is uneven. I don’t agree. Exactly on par with the show.

There is no Best Season, really, nor a Weakest Season.

Speaking of which, I’ve narrowed down my list of suspected toasters to three (in no particular order):

1. Gaius Baltar
2. Ellen Tigh
3. Someone on Earth

I completely disagree regarding the flashforwards, as it simply changed the nature of the suspense and tension. Similarly, I disagree regarding Locke’s flashback, or the notion that character is no longer the focus is ludicrous. I also reject the notion that characters are killed off without purpose (I’ve gone into great detail as to why this is not so for the past couple of seasons), and while the scene with Ben did not work as intended, the notion of “moving the island” is no more desperate than the rest of the time travel aspects already in play for quite some time.

As I have said before, “Lost” is about the journey, not the destination…though I am quite confident that there will be a destination.

I have also said, many times, that I see much in common between “Lost” and “Galactica”, and that it is only the setting that is truly different between the two. At the core, both are a struggle of survival and redemption, and there is little need to belittle one in praise of the other.

That said, let us return discussion to “Galactica”, shall we?

The good things I can say about it: the acting is still top-notch, the music is great (although not as good as “Galactica”), and well…that’s about it. Questions are hardly ever answered and as I said in the earlier post, there is only so much one can take. The show has completely spiraled out of control.

I can only say that I respectfully and stridently disagree.

The cruel dashing of their hopes was the show’s best moment in its four years so far. Earth was everything - and now they find it an uninhabitable ruin. They are left with only themselves, which is how it should be - it’s a show about characters and relationships, not about physical destinations.

I’ve disagreed pretty strongly with entil2001 about this season - I think it’s the strongest half of a season since 2.0. The only episode that didn’t work was Sine Qua Non, but the others did a great job of advancing plot while developing characters. So I would definitely disagree with the ratings given this season so far. It ought to average in the low 8s.

Someone above mentioned Lost and I think the comparison is instructive. I really did not like Season 4 of Lost. It felt like a diversion from the core stories and characters, in which hardly anything new was learned, where characters were misused (Juliet, Michael, and Sawyer in particular) and where the season finale threw some interesting punches that all missed their mark.

This midseason finale, however, was genius. But then I’m a sucker for existential crises. My guess is those who disliked the episode aren’t.

I watched again with my husband ( he missed the last 20 minutes the first time), and the one thing I’d really criticize was the celebration montage when they arrived at Earth: with that much of the episode left to go, and everyone deliriously happy, it was painfully obvious that Something Bad Is About To Happen. Hubby even pegged it: “They’re going for the ‘You Dirty Apes’ ending, aren’t they?”

So…on my own personal scale, a point or two got knocked off for Blatant, Crass Manipulation.

On the other hand, I completely disagree with Adam’s contention that the season has been filler. Much of the “filler” was necessary setup for the plot and character aspects of this episode. I definitely grant that the path was not as smooth as the one “Lost” provided this season (which is why “Lost” once again ranked at the top of the list), but the path was there. My main issue is that the writers often tried to force the progression of the story a bit too often.

BTW, if we were to take these 10 episodes and consider them a full season, and take an average CM rating across the board, it comes out to 7.7…which is well above average, but well below “Lost” and just behind such shows as “Supernatural” and “Terminator”. Looking at it in relative terms, I don’t disagree with the results. IMHO, it just didn’t have the consistency.

Then again, since it’s NOT a full season, it’s a bit premature to make the comparison, and it’s quite possible that the second half of the season will more than make up for the minor quibbles I’ve had with the storytelling along the way.