Battlestar Galactica: Onward to the end

Some musings on the possible end of Battlestar Galactica, which is concluding over the next two weeks.

* * SPOILER ALERT * * if you haven’t been up to date with the latest episodes (i.e. up to “Islanded in a Stream of Stars”) …

Fans have been subjected to a slew of lukewarm episodes leading up to the series finale. There have been odd high points but even with some plot lines getting tied up there has been widespread concern with a decline in the quality of pacing.

Cuts in the editing room have been particularly brutal in purging grace notes or scenes clarifying plot points. One example being the debate between Adama, Roslin and others about seriously considering drafting Cylon Centurions for crowd control on Galactica after most of the marines turned stag in the mutiny.

Was this why the Centurions rebelled in the first place?

We were left with a fleeting reference by Baltar to the possibility of using centurions and that his ‘church with benefits’ being the preferable human option in “Deadlock”. Coming from Baltar, and compounded by the generally weak plotting given his story lately, the dilemma flew past most viewers. It was a split second comment and made Adama’s subsequent assent befuddling. Why arm one of the most repeatedly untrustworthy humans in the fleet?

EDIT: A what of the fate of the numerous mutineers such as Racetrack, Skulls, Seelix, Connor, Kelley? We shouldn’t have to listen to the official podcast to find out that they’re all incarcerated on the Astral Queen. After all, following Adama’s “no forgiveness, no mercy” rant we could be thinking that it was the bullet or airlock for them.

Tyrol’s decision to abscond with the Cylons in their inbreeding endeavour jarred with his earlier acceptance of being Chief of Galactica once again. Ron Moore’s podcast commentary claimed it was matter of fact reasoning on Tyrol’s part that he knew human prejudice would persist and that Colonial society was no home for him. But I believe that at least one fleeting scene would have helped cement that disenchantment. Why not have him witness and bail out Caprica 6’s assault in Dogsville? This was clearly a sign of anti-Cylon bigotry. At the very least the Cylon’s gathered around Anders’ sick bed could have referenced the incident.

They be among ye...

The latest episode, “Islanded in a Stream of Stars”, cut out scenes of Chief Tyrol in the brig. The B story of the episode before (“Someone to Watch Over Me”) focused on the Chief’s love for Boomer and her betrayal of him (yet again) by roping him into her escape from execution, while also facilitating the kidnapping of young Hera.

Given that STWOM closed with Tyrol’s guilt and betrayal viewers were understandably caught up in the Chief’s tragedy. Surely, one less viewing of Adama’s flailings of despair, or some weak Baltar, could have been traded for some reinforcement of this important development, especially since Boomer and Hera are back in play for the finale.

There’s alot of talk in Mo Ryan’s excellent post-episode Battlestar interviews of many deleted scenes to be reintegrated in extended DVD episodes. Its somewhat sad that the SciFi network didn’t give more minutes, another episode, or even reduced the opening credits to squeeze this in, as they did with the Season 4.5 opener. All told, BSG is supposed to be their flagship original content.

I don’t begrudge character development, we’ve been with these characters a long time, but pacing and cutting fat rather than muscle have been issues lately. The writers have realised they bungled up Lee’s character in Season 3, even citing this in dialogue with Zarek’s quips about his everchanging roles, but lately they’ve let him fade into the background. Aside from a brief return to a warrior role while putting down the mutiny they look like they still don’t know what to do with him. Not that I miss Lee much, but its sloppy.

EDIT: Maybe, consistent with BSG’s jiggling of real world gender roles, Lee ultimately serves as Starbuck’s (temporary) love interest who gets to be damsel in distress (recall the hairy two-viper crash landing in season one) and relegated to the sidelines after a good frak on New Caprica.

Still, there’ve been some great moments. The thumping musical reveal in STWOM connecting Starbuck, her father, Hera and the Final Five. Bear McCreary’s scoring in general. Boomer’s dark tryst with Helo while a bound, gagged, semi-conscious Athena watched helplessly. Athena’s primal scream of rage and pain. Helo’s tearful pleading with Adama for a Raptor to rescue Hera. Boomer and the Chief meeting again and picking up a thread laid in the mini-series. Cavil’s rage at his fleshy limitations (though the reveal of the Cylon ‘Plan’ being essentially Cavil’s revenge was a little deflating). An intriguing look at the Colony (how H.R. Giger). Caprica 6 putting Baltar in his place: “I’ve changed, but you haven’t”. Of course, Tigh is always good.

In a nice tribute to BSG’s commitment to naturalistic sci-fi STWOM featured Starbuck advising her pilots on habitable planet recon missions not to “wank too much, conserve your O2”, and just lately, Starbuck shitting on the can in front of Baltar. (Apparently, this was one of Eddie Olmos’ burning desires when directing, he always wanted a shot of Adama on the throne, but settled for Starbuck. Hail the Queen!).

Now we’re down to the last three hours. Galactica is crumbling after a final spontaneous act of sabotage by Boomer (she’s always blasting holes in the hull, ain’t she?). I never really liked the “Galactica as the dying leader of the Pythian Prophecy” line of speculation, but it looks like the old gal is gonna bite it. “In style”, as Adama said.

A nice line of speculation I heard on the Galactica Quorum podcast was that the ship could be fixed by ramming it through Starbuck’s mandala, the one that magically restores life and Viper bodywork. Sure, everyone would have to go through the trauma of death but they’d be spanking new. Plus, it’d give D’Anna some familiar corpses for company on Earth.

Starbuck, post explosive makeover

Such a path would be consistent with Starbuck’s epithet as “harbinger of death” as well as with the series’ themes of death and resurrection. Laura might have one last mystical gasp (now that she’s back in the throws of chemo) that points the way to the “promised land”.

This is a pretty mystical resolution, but there have been some hints at this in the last few episodes and the overall mythology of the series. Before his brain surgery Anders yelled that the Cylons and the humans have to stay together for some special happening. He has deliriously muttered that “…a closed system has no ability to reproduce itself…”. In the latest episode Baltar’s public declaration of Starbuck’s rebirth, that there is life after death, suggests another thread. Unless its just a bad bit of pointless plotting. I hope not, but with the last few episodes there is some reason to worry.

Will the Opera House sequence, recently revived, finally play itself out in a chase through the Colony as our (anti)heroes pursue Hera before Cavil lays her on Simon’s surgery table? Is Cavil going to clone Hera or – icky – raise her for a breeding programme? He hasn’t been shy about Oedipal acts (but do Oedipal issues really matter for bio-machines?). He mentioned giving her “little playmates”. Hmmm.

What will motivate a rescue attempt for Hera now that Adama has denied flight clearance to a tearful Helo? And Helo is signicantly absent from the Opera House visions. Is he just a sperm donor? Maybe his rebellious side will resurface as he and Athena comandeer a Raptor. But what about Roslin, Baltar, and 6?

It seems likely some kind of hybridisation – physical, social, emotional – between humans and Cylons will help break the cycle of “All this has happened before, and will happen again…”. But this would imply an optimistic ending, and this is not within the style of BSG. Kinda like D’Hoffryn, Anya’s vengeance demon boss from Buffy, the producers’ philosophy seems to be “Why go for the kill when you can go for the pain?” Except, they’ve one upped him ‘cos they do both on BSG. Oh bleak dystopia!

I never warmed to the “Daniel as Starbuck’s father” theory. Daniel seemed just a quick retcon for the inadvertent numbering jump between model 6 and 8. So the miraculous return of Starbuck still needs to explained. My bet’s on the mystical side of the BSG mythos. I don’t think there’s going to be any satisfactory technical explanation, and that would be too Trekkie, and Ron Moore has sworn off that stuff.

All Along the Watchtower will probably play some role as a divine theme of sorts: the semi-concealed whisper of the Powers That Be for humans and Cylons to love each other, get along, and make babies like rabbits in heat. Hey, maybe it’ll all end with one big ‘Frak party’.

Also interesting to see is how Roslin will die, its effect on Adama, and making it meaningful. Will Tigh finally accept his Cylon-ness? What’s going to happen to the Chief? Will Boomer redeem herself and die in the process? Just how big will the bodycount be? When’s Cavil going to make a move for his coup de grace? Will the centurions unleash a proletarian revolution against the skinjob central committee?

What’s going to happen to Anders now that he’s become a baseship hybrid of sorts? Will he plug into the Cosmic Big in his I/O delirium and guide the way as a literal deus ex machina? He’s already been tagged as having the power to trigger Galactica’s FTL drives, and Kara put him back online.

A frakked Earth. Gods frakkin' dammit!

Will the Galactica universe be shown to be definitively separate from our own? Was the Cylon Earth just named for a planet of dirt, or will the fleet somehow end up on our own Earth with some tantalising shots of the Cylons among us today closing the show? A flash of red cloth, platinum blonde hair, disappearing into a crowd. Cue credits.

Then there’s the meta-thematic elements of the show. The issues of free will in histories of violence and the choices one makes about who you want to be, who you can be. Why any race or people is worth preserving (a theme raised in the mini-series by Adama). In short, a profoundly ethical question.

My fingers are crossed that all this will be answered in those final three hours, because another series of this strength sure isn’t happening again anytime soon.