First off, let me state clearly that I really loved the show. If it looks like I’m covering my ass, though, it’s because I am: this post mostly rambles about what I didn’t like about the finale, and I didn’t want to sound like a hater. I’ll just issue a WARNING about SPOILERS, and we’ll get right to it.

what I’ll remember

Without a doubt, the face-off as a mid-act climax was beautiful. I had actually forgotten everything about the death of Cally, which made Tory’s reminder that “No matter what we learn about each other, we’re all Cylons and we’re all capable of making mistakes” extremely intriguing. During a magical few seconds, I found myself clumsily browsing my memories in high speed and in reverse, trying to figure out what she meant, all the while wishing for the episode to slow down, as I didn’t dare pause it during this obviously climactic event. For the best! The punch line came to me as strongly as it did to Galen (well, almost). The consequences sent me collecting my jaw off the floor:  everlasting peace between Cylons and Humans was at hand, only to be swept away by the emotional, impulsive reaction of an individual that’s not even human! I reckon this will remain one of the highlight of the series, as well a classic of scifi.

Good call killing Starbucks, too. This will humble up all the people that thought the writers wouldn’t have the guts to kill Starbucks (OKAY! Including me, what’s your point?). I’m sure many writers would like to be able to kill a character while keeping her on-screen and get away with it.

Kudos as well for that scene where Cavil / Number 1 / John blasts the Final Five for the miserable body they’ve imprisoned him into. Seriously, if I was an artificial person, I’d be just as pissed as he is.

what I’ll gladly overlook

Roughly, the second half of the last episode.

I was a bit surprised that, after 4 seasons of hanging to survival by the skin of their teeth, the last humans decided in blissful unison to settle and let themselves wither and die. I wouldn’t have so much of a problem with that if the tone of the ending was pessimistic, but somehow, an upbeat Lee Adama manages to make giving away every last bit of comfort sound pretty attractive, so be it. I’m aware that it’s to start anew without leaving their ill-fated legacy to the new world, but how much do individuals care about that? I mean, look around.

More importantly, the series failed to deliver a surprising ending: the revelation that those humans we’ve been following around are not our descendants, but that we’re actually theirs doesn’t come as much of a surprise  (although the use of the name “Earth” to mislead the audience across the series was pretty good). An explanation as too what Starbucks really is remains nowhere to be found, as well as more information as to who exactly pulls the strings of this flock. In the same vein, the vision of Caprica 6 and Baltar taking Hera away from Athena and Roselyn holds no profound meaning whatsoever, given that there is no form of antagonism between those two groups, so what was the point?

The credits roll, and no breaking news came to startle the audience and explain everything. Just a neat ending with a bow on top.

As Ron D. Moore did mention that the finale was about the fate of the characters more than it was about wrapping up the plot, what’s wrong with that, you may ask? Just that I don’t think it fits this type of series so well. If you take a series such as, say, The Shield, you see the seasons  follow each others quite naturally: like a chunk of life, there are always open threads and no real closure. A series such as Battlestar Galactica, however, has this epic feel about it that has the audience sit in Fate’s Roller Coaster, expecting everything will eventually climax in an overwhelming revelation.

Indeed, we’ve seen glimpses of a mind-blowing endgame since the second season, with recurrent visions (Roselyn and Athena coursing through the opera house) and themes (Starbuck being advertised as the Harbinger of Death)… that ultimately don’t hold anything. The bulk of the series registered to me as one constant buildup, ramping up to one big fat ending; so naturally, by the time the writers ended their run, expectations were bound to be ridiculously high and disappointment to come accordingly easily.

A reasonable thing to do in such a situation (expectations growing beyond the writer’s control), is to gently terminate them, without letting the audience down. This can be achieved by deflecting the audience’s attention to something else: you make this new thing you just introduced DWARF this other seed you planted a long time ago. Which doesn’t mean you’ve wasted your time growing it up, au contraire! It helps measure how important and life-altering this new thing is!

This actually has been used earlier in the season: from the moment we’ve heard about the Final 5, there’s been a buildup to find out who they were, and 4 of them were delivered to the audience at the end of the 3d season. Halfway through the 4th season, the identity of the 5th Cylon looks a lot like the key to unraveling all mysteries, so you expect another escalation. The writers defused the situation by revealing the identity of the 5th Cylon, and not making a big deal out of it. Because what came afterward was even bigger.

what bore me on the long run

Closing the final lid on it all left me with a mild sentiment of repetition and immutability:

Gallen is the top example: I see him helping Sharon escape the Galactica (and stabbing everybody in their collective backs in doing so) and I seem to remember him in and out of the brig, each time betraying the Admiral, and each time getting out. I can’t help but wonder when the Adama will put a stop to this. He won’t.

Another example is the arc some (important) characters lack:

Baltar is basically a really constant character who first and foremost looks for himself. There was this one time in the middle where he looked really lost and ready for redemption, but snap! he was back to business as usual before anything came out of it.

Tom Zarek, however, is the Most Frustrating Character Award recipient, for the 4rth year in a row. So much potential thrown out the airlock! From beginning to end, Zarek is the guy that a) Always starts some shit b) Is always wrong. C’mon! Flip a coin for every decision he makes in the series, what are the odds of him being wrong about every single one of them?

On the contrary, Admiral Adama and Roselyn are systematically right: they are reluctant to change their minds at first, but when they do, they always manage to do so and look like the heroes. When a decision comes up, not much work is required from the audience: side with them, they’ll be right eventually!

Placing some of the “good guys” on the wrong side of Choice would be a nice way to force significant change. One event I’d have spinned differently is the uprising: it would have been nice – and very credible – if Adama and Roselyn had been on Gaeta’s side. After all, they’ve been pretty conservative since the beginning, on top of being the ones living with comfort (however relative it may be), so why would they change anything? The civilians, on the other hand, are living in dreadful conditions and are likely to have grown weary of the fight. As imperfect as Zarek may be (like, huh, bombing people to make a point?), he is a man of the people in his heart and should want nothing more than a quick resolution. An extended hand from Cylons is exactly that, so why would he slap it away? Having Adama and Roselyn hell-bent on the old ways, only to be proven wrong by a convicted terrorist. Quite a sight this would have been!

In the end, Battlestar Galactica’s plot suffers many loose ends, but managed to carry the audience (flying) to the finale.  If the story is all about characters, then okay, getting us to the finish line is enough. But if it is, I can’t help but wonder why someone would make such a convoluted story, given that characters can very well go through hell and back to the audience’s pleasure without it: it only get people like begging for more!