This post recaps, with pictures, the series finale.  Dude, if you have not seen it yet, a) what are you waiting for?  and b) do not read this, and c) DO NOT EVEN SCROLL DOWN because you will see some REVEALING SHIT HERE, okay? Okay.

First of all let me just say that this entire season of Battlestar Galactica has been incredible, and the series finale is no exception.  I’m glad they aired Part I of “Daybreak” before the finale last night, because I really appreciated getting to watch all three hours of it together.  That first hour seemed so much more purposeful and cohesive in close connection with hours two and three.  The things we learned about the past actually turned out to carry some weight here, as I was worried they might not.  WHEW.

Moving on then: I got pretty snap-happy, as you can imagine, when I was gathering the screen shots for this recap.  Hence there are forty-some photos here.  I’ve divided them into sections and I will provide some thoughts for each section, but otherwise the captions will have to suffice.  Let’s go then, shall we?

Things That Happened in the Past:

In the final two hours of “Daybreak,” the scenes from the past began to take on deeper significance.  While last week they seemed largely irrelevant, this week they seemed more tightly woven into the show.  I appreciated, but did not really love this aspect.

Shit Gets Difficult for Our Guys for a While:

During the battle, the temporary detente, and the ensuing mayhem, I was once again on the edge of my seat every single second.  I even made an effort to pay attention to the usually inscrutable-to-me SPACEBATTLES so I could observe what was happening to which ship at what time.  Among the highlights for me was seeing Six, Baltar, Imagination Six, and Imagination Baltar all together in the same scene.  While I’m kind of grumpy about the direction the show has decided to take with the Imagination Team (angels, higher powers, “divine hands” at work – gag me please), I still loved this moment.  I also found myself excitedly jumping around and screaming at the TV during the scene when Starbuck has to jump the ship but she doesn’t have the rendez-vous coordinates.  Holy frak that was an incredible moment.

Holy Frak, It’s Motherfrakking EARTH:

I really, really did not think this was going to happen.  Really.

But What Does this Mean?

For one thing, we find out that Earth is a frakking breathtakingly gorgeous place.  In almost every scene on the planet, the camera pulls back to give us rich, majestic views of the landscape.  The beauty of these scenes is almost a bit hard to take.  We learn what will become of the fleet, the Centurions, and the other Cylons, and shit starts to feel all poignant and ending-like here, but the goodbyes will continue for a nice long while even after the fleet flies into the sun.

Goodbyes, Try Not to Cries:

More wide shots of velvety grassland, rugged hills and mountains, and a perfectly blue sky. In so many of these scenes, though, it seems as  if everyone is destined to be utterly alone.  Tyrol, Lee Adama, Bill Adama – they all wind up facing the future completely alone.  Just as I was feeling a little despair over that, we saw groups of settlers heading off into the future together.  Anonymous civilians, the Tighs, the Agathons – they all walk off toward their futures together.  That’s nice. If you watched these scenes and didn’t find need of a tissue, I don’t know who you are.

The Part I Would Happily Pretend Never Happened:

All right.  Now we have come to the last five minutes of the show, a.k.a. the part I wish my DVR had failed to record.  Let me say that I do think the implications and the ideas behind this ending are solid.  After all, the notion that this has all happened before and will all happen again has been emphasized so strongly all season (and throughout the show).  We know this.  There was also always the thought that our Galacticans would possibly find their way to Earth — our Earth — and somehow connect with our society here.  Nothing really came out of the blue with this ending.  What I didn’t like about it was the quality I always call “too explainy.” I just don’t like it when movies and television take ideas that should best remain in the realm of implications and shared understandings and instead of implying them they spell them out directly in BOLD ALL CAPS BLINKING NEON. Give the viewer a little credit, please!

So while it was mainly the element of blatant explainyness that turned me off about the last five minutes here, I was also (only mildly) disgruntled with the whole worlds-colliding quality that occurs when characters from a fictional television show appear in the non-fictional world we viewers inhabit.  It renders everything that was acceptable in the Reality-of-the-Show Fictional Realm into something that is, for me, unacceptable in the Reality-of-Life Nonfictional Realm.  I can accept all the angels and higher power bullshit in the realm of fiction, but I find the assertion (and it really was an assertion) that there is a higher power designing our universe to be pretty distasteful. Well, mildly.  I loved the show too much to get all het up about it.

On the whole, though, I really, really loved this series finale.  It certainly cemented Battlestar Galactica‘s place in my all-time top-five list of television shows.  I have now begun collecting the DVDs (as some of you know I am obsessed with waiting until I can buy them at a low, low price from Amazon Used) and I plan to start re-watching the entire series sometime soon.  And oh yeah! We have both Caprica and BSG: The Plan to look forward to as well.  So I suppose it isn’t really truly over, yet.

What did you think? Favorite moments? What about the last five minutes? Am I crazy here?

Positively rife with spoilers.  You have been warned.

This week was part one of “Daybreak,” the two part series finale of Battlestar Galactica.  I know, y’all; I can’t handle it either.  The episode begins by taking us back to Caprica City before the main events of the series, where we learn, via flashback, gripping background details like that some of our main characters had families and relationships, and they they were either happy or sad.  I know. Deep stuff, man. SHOCKING.

There were some amusing moments worked into the flashbacks, like when we learn that Gaius is fixin’ to sleep with Caprica Six right here in this limo and that he doesn’t even know her “name.” Oh, Gaius, you douchebag.  Also, Lee is a drunk and Sam is a self-aggrandizing jock.  I CONTINUE TO BE SHOCKED.

Then it’s back into deep space, where we see some inscrutable space images (not the first nor the last, to be sure) and some crazy cylon music math.  MYSTERIOUS.

As I have told you all before, I get inordinately excited whenever Hot Dog comes on screen, mainly because I like to shout out “HOT DOG” at my TV.  Its also always nice to see Edward James Olmos and Bodie Olmos on screen together, as they were in this touching moment where they discussed taking down the memorial wall.

A series of one-on-one conversations brought the episode to its climax, starting with Hot Dog and Hot Dad and continuing as we saw Bill and Kara discussing, Lee and Gaius disputing, and Ellen and Tory dissembling.  (You like what I did there. Admit it.)

As we all knew it would, it comes down to our Man with a Plan, Admiral Bill Adama, to make some kind of stand.  If any man can make a stand, this man is that man. He can.  He’ll even draw a line in the sand.

[Sorry, clearly my cold meds are making me  a leeettle bit crazy.]

The episode comes to its end with more inscrutable space pictures (told you so) and the implication that our Galactica crew would be walking into nothing less than a death trap as they tried to rescue Hera from Cavil at the Colony.  What will become of the Cylon Baby? The noble Admiral and his faithful crew?

Will the Inscrutable Space Map get them in and out safely?  OH WOE, WE MUST WAIT ONE MORE WEEK.

What did you think of this episode?

Basically since I’ve moved to hot, steamy New Wye, I’ve been taking a perverse pleasure in watching films and TV shows set in cold, northern climates.  See as cases in point: 30 Days of Night, Twilight, Into the Wild, the “Mountains” episode of Planet Earth, and so on.

It only recently occurred to me, however, that there is a whole entire television series set in snowy Alaska, and it incorporates my love of shows set in quirky small towns (à la Stars Hollow) and my love of mountains, trees, and snow.  Northern Exposure! And I never even watched it while it aired, so the whole thing is new to me.

I am currently on episode four, and while it’s certainly enjoyable, I am still waiting for Rob Morrow’s character, the fish-out-of-water New York doctor, to get slightly less annoying.  Please say he will!

Are there any fans of this show out there?  Keeping in mind I don’t want to hear any spoilers, what was your favorite season?

Since my TVBF Tamoh Penikett is (albeit briefly) on two of my favorite shows on every Friday night, I thought he deserved a post celebrating that fact.

Oh yes indeedy, folks.  You can tune in for some Agent Paul Ballard on Dollhouse at 9:00 / 8:00 Central

Followed by Helo, a.k.a. Karl Agathon on Battlestar Galactica at 10:00 / 9:00 Central.

Oh indeed, whether you prefer your Penikett in a straight-laced FBI-style dark suit or in his Colonial Fleet uniform, your important needs can be fulfilled on Fridays.  Oh, and did you prefer your hot dudes sweaty and in confusingly layered tank-top things?

They have that, too.

If, however, you prefer to see Tahmoh Penikett screaming comedically like a girl, I suppose you will have to see this hilariously bad looking horror movie he is apparently in, called Trick’r Treat.

Um, yeah.  Why the apostrophe, guys?   Well, no matter.  It has Penikett; I’m sure it’s great.  Let’s admire some more, shall we?

Ah, yes.  And — JUST BECAUSE I CAN! — one more.

Alrighty then.  You may continue with your day.