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By the time this series finale come to close, I was torn. On the one hand, I
could see what the writers were trying to achieve with their decisions for plot
and character resolution. I understood the notion of tying together the loose
ends with a spiritual connection rather than a deterministic laundry list. But
despite the understanding, I was disappointed. I couldn't quite give up on my
desire for discrete answers. For quite some time, I sat back, thought about
what I had seen, and tried to put my whirling thoughts and objections into
coherent words.

And then I sat down to write this review.

Perhaps this is the kind of resolution that needs time to seep its way into a
person's subconscious. Maybe a little bit of time provided perspective. It
could simply be my tendency to reconcile as much as possible, out of a personal
desire to put the best face on it for my own comfort. Whatever it is, it
doesn't matter. Because the more I thought about the series, its underlying
mysteries, and how it all come together in the end, it started to make sense.

I'll be the first to acknowledge that this will not work for everyone. A lot of
people are going to reject what appears to be, on the surface, the use of "God"
as a catch-all excuse for the dangling plot threads that always come with making
the story up as you go along. That was my initial reaction as well. But
looking back, I'm not so sure.

Spirituality has always been a critical element of "Battlestar Galactica". From
the beginning, the Cylons were acting out of their understanding of "God's
plan". They had come to believe that the survival of the Cylons required the
blending of Human and Cylon, something that for them required "God's true love".
It was this endless pursuit of what they felt God wanted for them that drove
them forward.

The first season saw Roslin and Starbuck acting out of a genuine spiritual
calling. Humans had visions and inspirations and invoked religious teachings
from generations past. The writers constantly reminded the audience that "all
this has happened before, and all this will happen again". That alone was
evidence of a higher order connection, something ephemeral yet pervasive in the
lives of Human and Cylon alike.

Over the course of the series, there were those who sought to reduce that
element into the familiar. When Kara died and returned to life, how much
speculation was there regarding the "Ship of Lights", as seen in the original
series? How many times did someone equate the Cylon God to the original series'
Count Iblis? Even I wondered if the guiding hand behind all these events
pertained to the oft-mentioned but mysterious Lords of Kobol or, just as
obliquely, the Cylon God.

But it's all just labels plastered on the same thing. The only difference is
that the architect of this grand design is never seen or revealed; its presence
is known only by effect. Someone had a plan for Human and Cylon alike, and it
meant bringing them together into one species. To do that, this higher power
decided that it was necessary to push and pull them in various directions,
sometimes contradictory, to push them so far and so long that only mergence was
a viable option.

Regardless of the label slapped on this higher power ("God", "Lucifer", the
Lords of Kobol, aliens beyond our understanding, etc.), the net effect would
have been the same. And that is, at its heart, a kind of agnostic metaphor for
the modern world. Some agnostics hold that there may be a higher power, but the
jury is still out on what that power is, if it truly exists at all. Those
agnostics would say, "something is happening, the effect is undeniable, but the
cause is so remote, so ephemeral, that we cannot yet define it".

It's hard to argue that the Cylons, due to their own issues, took what was given
to them in terms of "divine inspiration" and turned it into a cause for
violence. One might even say that this higher power knew this would happen.
The Humans did the same thing, though much earlier, with the Phythian
prophecies: partial information that was designed to lead them down a certain
path, when the time came.

This was a grand design that required, at the critical juncture, near-constant
adjustment on both sides. Thus the intervention of what Baltar ultimately
termed "angels", though this is no more definitive than calling the higher power
"God". These "angels", whether it be Head Six or Head Baltar or something
within the Cylon "projections", were there to see that the end result was
achieved. If they seemed at cross-purposes from one moment to the next, well,
that's part of the equation because that's what happened. That wouldn't have
changed had something more concrete been identified as the guiding hand.

Of course, the visions, dreams, and "angels" are all relatively easy to assign
to this higher power; the real mystery is Kara Thrace. She was material, far
more than even Head Six appeared to be on occasion. By my best estimation, Kara
Thrace was assigned to play a unique role, as evidenced by her introduction to
the music (representative of the guiding influence of this higher power). Was
her suicide part of the plan? Looking back on "Maelstrom", it certainly could
have been. Her restoration, and her quest to find answers, seemed to be part
and parcel of the process of preparing both the Humans and Cylons for their
eventual mergence.

Hera was equally important, because in a way, she was the desired end product of
the mergence and the grand design. It wasn't to bring Colonials and Cylons
together to propagate a new civilization together; it was to produce Hera and
then ensure that she arrived on the new Earth in such a way that "seeding" the
natives would spread her unique genetic code to a multitude of descendants.

One might say, in very loose terms, that certain Colonial and Cylon traits might
not have been strong enough, genetically, to dominate in the cross-breeding with
the natives of Earth. But Hera's genetic code, being the product of Human/Cylon
genetic mergence, would resolve that problem. So the end of the episode
suggests, even if the "mitochondrial Eve" concept was ultimately debunked: Hera,
as the one true Human/Cylon hybrid, was necessary in some way to the viability
of the native Earth population.

Of course, the treatment of this is far from perfect. It would have been more
fitting if the Colonials and Cylons had landed in a time much closer to the
modern era, perhaps around 15,000 years ago (as opposed to 150,000). This would
have matched up with the vague timetable given by alternative history theorists
like von Daniken and Graham Hancock. Hancock in particular likes to point out
possible connections between different emerging civilizations and a potential
"lost civilization". Linking that to the arrival of Colonials and Cylons, and
their Earthbound distribution, would have been more elegant and would have tied
into the original series in a somewhat more satisfying way.

Along similar lines, it might have been better if there hadn't been natives at
all. The presence of native Humans is a nagging loose end, unnecessary to the
story. It would have been equally possible for the surviving Colonials and
Cylons to form small communities around the world, eventually losing what
technology they had to time and wear. Hera still would have been the first of
the true hybrids.

In terms of the music, while some might have wanted a more specific explanation
for "All Along the Watchtower", I was fine with the explanation that was given.
It reminded me, in a way, of how the higher-order communication with the Vorlons
took place on "Babylon 5". Hearing the song had nothing to do with being a
Cylon, other than the fact that the Final Five had to come together at a certain
time to facilitate what Kara was meant to do. And the fact that the music was
also the key to finding the new Earth, where the Colonials and Cylons needed to
go once the conflict was over and done, was just icing on the universal language
cake. Given the nature of the hybrids, it certainly seems that they were
attuned to this celestial musical connection as well. (Many call mathematics
the "universal language", and music is ultimately mathematics.)

Perhaps more importantly, by giving the resolution of the various mysteries a
more incorporeal source, the emphasis was pushed (and rightfully so) to the
characters and their acceptance of the end of their journey. Those resolutions
were, for the most part, satisfying. Looking back on the past few episodes, not
only do the more spiritual aspects of the resolution make more sense, but the
emphasis on character is justified.

I can only imagine how much of the post-landing material was left on the cutting
room floor. I imagine a great deal will end up on the DVD version. If you add
up all the extra time that was given to the final 10 episodes, you've got
several episodes worth of story, just on screen! Evidence, in my opinion, that
Ron Moore could have produced a fifth season, had he been more confident that
the SciFi Channel was going to keep it on the air.

But certain scenes never materialized. The final farewell between Adama and
Tigh is probably the most obvious, but there were so many moments that still
could or should have happened. I certainly don't begrudge them the time they
took with the epilogue; the series finale for "Babylon 5" is nothing but
epilogue, and it's one of the finest hours of television I've ever seen. I'm
just not sure there was enough time to explore the ideas fully. (Also, if the
finale all aired on the same night, instead of the first hour and the rest being
split, it would have worked a lot better.)

The one point that needed clarification was Lee's pronouncement that they were
abandoning the vast majority of their technology. The reason is simple: if they
want to avoid the sins of the Colonial and Cylon way of life, they can't
perpetuate that way of life. It has to start fresh. Also, the technology would
wear down soon enough anyway, so why be reliant on it at all? It's not so much
where they arrived, so much as the abrupt nature of the decision.

Unlike many, I liked the final scene, because it was not as obvious as it seems.
Head Six and Head Baltar have some degree of optimism as they look upon the
modern human race, but the montage at the end was a little less hopeful. Not
the presence of the emerging robot population, but the connection to something
Lee said. Lee noted that it can be a problem when our technology outstrips our
ability to implement it wisely. The episode ends by lingering on a homeless man
in Times Square, surrounded by the images of shiny new robot toys. Technology
outpacing the heart of humanity? Perhaps, and if that was the intent, it brings
the series full circle.

One might notice I haven't said a word about the rescue operation, the
resolution of the Opera House, the final moments between Adama and Roslin,
Boomer's attempt at redemption, or any number of other scenes worth discussion.
Most of those scenes speak for themselves, particularly the final battle. It
was one of the most intense of the series, even if it was remarkably
straightforward. I also think it was obvious that the truce was never going to
work, because they had to eliminate Cavil's forces. Sending the colony into the
singularity certainly did the trick!

(One caveat: Watching the finale twice now, I think it's safe to say that the
Cylon slugfest was a bit more than the effects crew could comfortably chew. In
many scenes, the Cylons didn't blend into the background at all. In one case,
one of the "old style" Centurions looked like he was standing in mid-air over
the floor. Great idea, but it didn't quite pan out as they had intended.)

I'm not going to pretend that this finale was perfect. Far from it. As much as
I can reconcile large portions of the series is it ended, other portions don't
fit at all. (One glaring problem is "Home", and the constellation projection on
Kobol. It doesn't fit the timeline or the explanations given this season at
all.) This can be laid down at the feet of Ron Moore's preferred writing style.
He doesn't plan things out; he sets up situations and lets them evolve based on
character exploration. While he's often quite inventive, it doesn't allow for a
strong finish. Contrast this to the style of JMS on "Babylon 5", where there
was always a clear set of end conditions in mind before pen touched paper.

The ideal, perfect finale would have given a bit more resolution to certain
mysteries, and would have been planned out in more detail ahead of the game.
For that reason, while this gets a much better ratings than my first impression
would have indicated, it's not a knock out of the park. But it did accomplish
one thing very well: it has left me with a sincere desire to rewatch the series
from the beginning.

John K
Reprinted with permission
Original source: c. Critical Myth, 2009
All rights reserved
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