Well, the two-hour series of finale of Battlestar Galactica was in most respects wonderful, profound, satisfying, and spectacular, and just what I want in the best of science fiction. I'm especially pleased to review it here in what is my 1001st post in Infinite Regress.
As many viewers suspected for years now, the people and Cylons we have been following are 150,000 years in our past, and one of them - Hera - is our mitochondrial Eve, or the ancestor of all of human viewers of Battlestar Galactica, include me, and, presumably, you.
But what of the Earth that was in post-atomic ruins, that we and our heroes were gazing upon earlier in the story? Apparently that was an earlier version of our Earth, after which our Earth was named, by the humans and Cylons in tonight's finale. That works ok - but I thought the previous Earth was in the same place in the galaxy as ours? Maybe not - maybe it was just a third planet from a sun in some sector completely different from ours. This could have been made a tiny bit more clear, but ok.
Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" is heard again - on our Earth at the end of the finale. So this means ... our Bob Dylan somehow tuned into this cosmic song which was heard 150,000 years ago, and Kara and the Cylons who did not know they were Cylons for most of the story were also keyed to. Ok, that makes some sense, too.
But Kara's resolution is the least complete and the most complex. She vanishes on our Earth, 150,000 years ago, right in the middle of a conversation with Lee. Which means ... she's an angel, like the angelic Six and Baltar, who also vanish in and out? But the angelic Six and Baltar have no impact on real, tangible objects - only indirectly by influencing each other's minds - so how can Kara be an angel? She also is seen by everyone, not just Lee ... but that's less of a hurdle to her angelic essence than flying vipers and all the other crashing, slashing things that Kara did.
So leave Kara a somewhat unanswered question. But the series wrapped up beautifully in many and most other ways, including Laura and Bill (beautifully if sadly), Helo and Sharon, Six and Baltar, and much more. We were treated to some spectacular battles in this finale - I thought the Cylon on Cylon action was especially cool - and then we and our heroes were treated to some soft, green Earth. It felt good.
This series brought science fiction on television to new levels of philosophy, ethics, and metaphysics. And it's not really over, either. April showers will bring a DVD with a Caprica movie, and next Fall we'll have a special on how the Cylons emerged - from the Cylon perspective.
I have a feeling we're seeing the beginning of something much bigger, and eternal, in this Battlestar Galactica finale - something a lot like Star Trek. After all, it's happened all before...
More Battlestar Galactica - see: Battlestar Galactica, Final 1: Dee, Ellen, and Starbuck ... Final 2: Baby and Mutiny Make Three ... Final 3: Galactica Alamo! ... Final 4: Shout-Outs to Lampkin, Lee, Tyrol ... Final 5: (Almost) All Explained ... Final 6. The Necessity of Hyrbrid ... Final 7. 'Since I Died in Your Arms' ... Final 8. Father of a Million ... Final 9. 'Every Man and Woman Over the Age of 15'
5-min podcast review of BSG finale
The Plot to Save Socrates
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20 comments:
Personally Paul, I liked this explanation of where Earth was, OR what Earth is, better that what the Original Galactica series did with it. Let's just say, just like Admiral Adama told Laura Roslyn near the end: "Earth is a dream"..., Earth is just a concept, a philosophy, something to aspire to... There are many Earths in this interpretation. But originally there was only one, the one established by the 13th tribe who left Cobol. The one established by the Cylons was a different one. They had to find that one to get some answers. Finally, they got to where they needed to needed to be.
The Angels dilemma is harder in my mind to explain. Starbuck was send by "Someone" to affect reality. Yet, it could be said that the "Caprica" and "Baltar" Angels were also affecting reality through the actions of others (namely the real Caprica and Gaius Baltar). But what was it that the hybrid told Starbuck? You will be the death of all of us Kara Thrace? How do you reconcile that statement?
As for the song, I liked that philosophical/theological statement.
One would think, when Humans -- aka us -- get out there, we'll find out some stuff that will let us know about civilizations(Cobol and Cylon). Maybe a remnant of the Cylons?
Neatly wrapped-up and very enjoyable.
My second most favorite TV series now, behind Babylon-5.
I was particularly upset about how Lee seemed to have been supremely shortchanged. After all of the hardships the fleet endured, they finally find a new Earth. Then, inexplicably, his father leaves him for good ("he's not coming back; not this time"). As if that's not enough, Sam is gone, Kara got to say her goodbyes, and her and Lee finally have a chance. Not only does he not get a happy ending with Kara, a goodbye kiss or even a hug, but *poof* Kara disappears in mid sentence. I was mostly happy with the resolutions reached in the finally, but find they way they handled Starbuck really sloppy, and more than a bit disappointing.
Kara was the death of them all. She sent the cylons and the humans to the new planet. At this planet the only species that continues appears to be the cylon human mixed one, so she ended both the cylon race and the human race by leading them to a place where they would mate together.
It blows my mind just how badly BSG jumped the shark in the last thirty minutes.
Angels?
ANGELS???
It's a sci-fi show. Don't give me "god did it".
Angels reading National Geographic over Ron Moore's shoulder in Times Square?
You've got to be frakking kidding me.
I haven't been so upset with a series finale since Quantum Leap.
At least the space fights were cool.
lol. Love the way you ended this post.
I was ok with the end up until the Times Square scene - I would have been happy with it ending with Adama at Roslyn's grave, no matter how many unanswered questions. And I might have even been happy with the Times Square ending, albeit less so than the grave. But: Ron Moore showing up in the last scene? That made the entire series not about the characters and the series but ALL ABOUT RON MOORE. Well, to be quite frank, fuck him and his overinflated ego. I'm serious. Even Alfred Hitchcock knew better than to show up in the final scene of his movies. FUCK. RON. MOORE. The next time I wade through this series, I'm hitting the stop button at Roslyn's grave.
I was just amazed at its elegance. When I saw the Baltar angel I laughed. When I realized that the opera house was the ship in battle, I choked. When I saw those Sony robots dancing, I choked. I enjoyed going back to the little decisions that set the path: Roslyn joining the campaign, Six gaining trust through Baltar's father which looped to the farming tears at the end. *Sigh*
Angels? Kevin, you don't see angels? ;)
"Angel Six" says to "Angel Baltar" that she is willing to bet that this 'final' Earth will not repeat the problems of the past of Decadence & Greed.
Angel Baltar thinks she is being optimistic this time around for the first time ever.
Then we see a pair of homeless street people with one of them panhandling with a outstretched hand holding a cup for passers-by to drop their change into just outside a store with a Flat-Screen television tuned to MSNBC and the wave of the future in Robotics.
The Cylons may have had a plan but the game was rigged from the start by these two "Angels" and their manipulations of both antagonists.
And it apparently wasn't the first time, either, since Sam Anders mentioned a couple episodes back that on Cylon Earth they, too, had been visited by Head People.
It would seem that The One That Doesn't Want To Be Called 'God' does roll the dice with the universe and the dice are loaded.
I can't wait to see Caprica
It's interesting, how quickly people have slipped into calling them angels, with all of the baggage that name carries - in the series the word serves a purpose as a way of compressing the concept, but a lot of criticism - positive or otherwise - seems to be dwelling on what that word means to the viewer, not the broader concept...
I saw them both as avatars of the divine, a universal idea seperate from traditional Christian or organised-religion. And in this case, you can read "divine" as the innate thing that makes humans different - call it sentience, evolution, whatever you like. It doesn't have to be about a driving intelligence, really - though in that final scene, ascribing a personality to it (that line about it "not liking that name" implies a personal relationship rather than the instinctual awareness that we've seen throughout the show).
But oddly, this is about the third or fourth place providing a critical assessment of the finale, identifying Starbuck as an angel also, and then questioning the differences between her and the head angels.
I totally read her as a Christ figure in that final episode - it's delivered vaguely enough that I don't think Moore was trying to create a Christian construct, so much as one about the conflict between faith and empiricism. I did feel a little short-changed by the resolution to Starbuck's story, but actually, it's fitting.
I've considered the idea of certain songs that have an innate resonance with our species for years - sometimes you hear a song for what you know is the first time, but it's like you already know it instinctively - and that's what I think they were getting at with the recurring song. We call it a Dylan song, but really it's coded into our DNA.
I think the show mishandled some of it's more expansive ideas - specifically at the point where it revealed that at least one strain of Cylons were just a different sort of human - but the finale has given me tons to think about, and that's plenty of value for money for me!
... Should clarify because I somehow failed to complete the sentence:
Ascribing a personality to the god-concept in that final scene was a bit too concreting considering the caution showed throughout the series to not do that, and especially considering that that whole scene was just a kind of twee and fun coda to the whole show.
Just for clarification, the hybrid said to Starbuck "You are the harbinger of death, kara thrace. You will lead them all to their end." So take it like this. The first part about the Harbinger of Death refers to WHAT Kara Thrace is... Someone who returned from death.
Not too hard to make that connection.
And what did she do?
She lead them all to their end... she solved the fraking puzzle.
I was relished this finale in every aspect and I hope the Angel connotation doesnt spoil it for some of you.
"I see angels in this very room. Now I may be mad but that doesn't mean that I don't see them."
Well said Justin, and an important clarification of what the Hybrid actually said to Kara Thrace (aka Starbuck).
I want to also say one more thing about the Angels. Why do people have to "assume" that the Angels are divine in the context of Earth's religions. I understand that the evidence as given by Ron Moore during the series suggests that the Cylons believed in "One" God, where the Humans of the 12 Colonies believed in many Gods.
Still, the case can be made that the Angels are a manifestation of the Universe examining itself. Afterall, this is a theme that many Science Fiction writers have tackled in the past. Is the Divine a concept that requires intelligence or is intelligence a pre-requisite before the Divine can exist? In this Scenario then the "Caprica Six" and "Gaius Baltar" angels at the end of the Show looking over Ron Moore's shoulder are an extension of the Universe examining itself; a warning to future generations of what has happened before and what can happen again; a thought planted into the head of a writer of a story.
It also validates one of my theories from when I was 12 or 13. That every Science Fiction story is a window into a possible world where things are possible, and the probable has occurred, but most people are not receptive to the message, not because of anything more than losing our child-like curiosity.
In other words, once again, well done, and a worth-while journey.
MP, think that's what I was getting at, to be honest... Angels ARE avatars of the divine, regardless of the religious connotations.
A "universe examining itself" is an indication of the divine as I defined it, too. It requires not a traditional sentience, but an idea of a vast mechanism self-correcting or self-aware.
Some great comments in here. I found it interesting that most of the comments showed more insight into the episode than the original blog itself. ;)
M.P: I agree completely with your interpretation of 'Earth'.
Perhaps someone can answer something for me. In the last episode when the ships are approaching 'Earth' we can clearly see Africa and the Middle East. In the earlier episodes when they approached the first planet they believed was 'Earth' could we see outlines of any familiar continents? I only ask because my understanding was that the two planets were completely different yet some people seem to think they are the same planet.
Finally, Justin, great explanation of the Starbuck quote.
Well, Dubj, what I find interesting is how that insightful blog stimulated all of this intelligent conversation ... but I'm a little biased... :)
In response to your question: the impression I have, purely from memory, is that the earlier Earth did look something like ours - in terms of the continents, etc - but not as clearly defined as the Earth in the finale... but maybe someone has that first Earth-approach at hand...
Well, I have read some "insightful" reviews that go on for pages, and yet don't have 10+ comments attached to them.
At the same time, BSG is the kind of show that can generate that kind of passion, so Dubj, I don't disparage your comment, yet I will say that I was impressed by Paul's totality of BSG reviews over the 5 years it aired.
Finally, "the Earth" question:
When they got to the Cylon Earth, we only saw a the remnants of a technical civilization, including what looked like bridges giving the appearance of a city "like NYC".
When they got to "our Earth" they made it abundantly clear through music (evoking the series from the 70s), the imagery (the approach over the moon), and the view of the visible continents that we were looking at our Earth.
A closer inspection will have to wait until I get the DVDs.
Personally, while I understand why people have made the leap - we are pattern recognition machines, after all - I really don't think the one "earth" had anything to do with the other.
Maybe because I'd wondered about this since the beginning, but I never thought it was a definitive certainty that the Earth they were talking about was ours. It's just the english word for Home Planet, was my thinking - or the idea of a home planet.
This seemed to be thrown into some doubt - perhaps deliberately - by the fact that the first Cylons were connected by a song that we, as viewers, recognised.
But the illusion of a connection vanished for me when they arrived at the desolate earth. For a start, I'm fairly sure the landmasses didn't look recognisable as ours, at least to me.
Then, when the song was revealed, in flashback, to have been written or at least made famous by... was it one of the Cylons we knew, or someone else? Not sure - but anyway... when it was revealed as a popular song of their time, instead of a folk number of some kind, that, to me, said that it wasn't meant to be indicative of a single timeline on one planet, but that the singers, light years and centuries apart, were both tapping into the same universal stream.
Because there must be a reason why certain combinations of chords and notes and lyrics just make sense to us, on quite a basic level.
This'd explain why Starbuck heard the music... The Cylons somehow tapped into it because they were relatively close to their old home planet, but Starbuck didn't hear it till later, as she became more attuned with her mission.
I think the key point here is that since the beginning, and here at the end, Adama has said that Earth doesn't exist... it's an idea. I think that it's a perfect coda to his part in the journey, and the only thing he's been allowed to stay right about until the very end.
The religions were all wrong - the religious texts, with their peculiar version of history, led them to the desolated Cylon homeworld - which is the thirteenth colony - and at that point, the circle of this universe's established religions is closed - they have achieved all they could, and now they're done.
In the aftermath, when everyone is killing themselves or giving way to despair, religion isn't any help, and neither is tradition. Even prophecy can't be forced, and as such isn't much use.
Faith, in this case in Starbucks instincts - and I don't think it's a coincidence that throughout, Starbuck has been the most human and flawed of them - ultimately is the only thing that can break them out of the closed loop of their history and beliefs, and take them somewhere completely new.
Narratively, I think the quest for the thirteenth colony, and all that that entailed, ended at their discovery of the desolate civilisation. Our planet means something totally new to them.
(Bear in mind, despite my apparent fervour, I think a lot of this is kind of lazy, spur of the moment writing on Moore's behalf, but I think despite that, it's given us a lot to think about. About BSG, that is...!)
In response to Nick's last point: But also bear in mind, as per I. A. Richards, that the creator's intentions, or the circumstances under which a work is created, have no relevance as to how the work might be interpreted.
Oh yes, that is certainly right. There is a point where if there's enough data there, well thought out or not, you can find a lot of meaning there.
And ultimately that's what's important to the more thoughtful among us. I have never understood when people feel cheated by TV, one way or another - if something was engaging enough that you wanted to sit in front of it for 40 minutes or whatever, it obviously wasn't a complete waste of your time...!
I thought it was superb. One thing, no one said the original Earth was the third planet from its sun.
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