The Phoenix Remix
Saturday, March 21, 2009
So I watched for a second time the final Battlestar Galactica, just trying to find out truth and although it answered many questions, haphazardly, it still didn't answer the Starbuck question... What was she??? a hologram made of space algae??? Lee Adama's version of Baltar's six??? Just so you know here is what happened on the final Battlestar Galactica... Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff) and Lee Adama (Jamie Bamber) never looked so tragically good together while Col. Saul Tigh (Michael Hogan) and his newly resurrected uber-Cylon wife, Ellen (Kate Vernon), are by turns horny and resolute (but I did like the fact that pole dancing was popular on Caprica). Adm. William Adama (Edward James Olmos) not only stages one of the better do-or-die rescue missions ever, he even smiles once or twice (though most often in flashbacks). Laura Roslin's (Mary McDonnell) opera-house dream is finally explained, old treachery is paid back in full, and pretty much everyone, including Boomer (Grace Park) and Cavil (Dean Stockwell), is allowed a moment of heroism and grace. Although Cavil killing himself when they were betrayed was not in Cavil character. As for Gaius Baltar (James Callis) and Caprica-Six (Tricia Helfer) both real and imagined, well, let's just say, the red dress finally makes sense. Sort of. Yes, that's right, all is finally revealed, though in a way that leaves the door open for hours of satiated, as opposed to angry and agitated, speculation, not to mention a whole new round of term papers. Moore and his team should win not only an Emmy but a special Medal of Honor for Not Copping Out on the Finale. Certainly theology, in both its curative and destructive forms, has been a major thread of the series as have other very modern concerns, including the fine line between rebellion and anarchy, the pitfalls of charismatic leadership, the high and ongoing price of freedom, and even the dangers of depression and alcoholism. (ps... Adama's has one of the best drunken-barf scenes to appear on television.) But more than anything, "Battlestar Galactica," like the most enduring myths, has been a lesson in great storytelling. Grand finales, as we all know, are a dangerous business; flouting convention may be crucial to a show's success, but it turns out to be a matter of discipline. Every writer wants his or her show to go out with a bang; the trick is to have it not destroy everything in the room. Unlike some recent finales we could name, "Battlestar Galactica's" final hours may have plenty of explosions, and, it must be said, a few "oh, come on" moments. But in the end, it not only owns up to its narrative obligations, with the exception of one... Starbuck and her just disappearing..., it glories in them. So say we all.
