Written by Ronald D. Moore
Directed by Michael Rymer
“Just so there’ll be no misunderstandings later…Galactica has seen a lot of history, gone through a lot of battles. This WILL be her last. She will not fail us if we do not fail her. If we succeed in our mission, Galactica will bring us home. If we don’t…it doesn’t matter anyway.”
There’s simply no way I can review this one properly. No, let me re-phrase that…I simply can’t review this episode with any coherent, logical structure. Instead, I give you my after-the-fact, random reaction list to what may very well be one of the finest episodes of television drama ever created & broadcast…
(1) The final battle…seriously…did you WATCH IT? This was everything that the final conflict in Star Trek-Nemesis WISHED it had been! Emotionally wrenching, full of visceral brutality, surprising twists, moments of heat-stopping shock-and-awe…and loose ends (such as Helo’s fate) that would be tied up almost an hour later, when we least expected it to happen.
Oh…and CYLON VS CYLON VIOLENCE! Because in the midst of all this soul-shattering drama, there’s still some geeky happiness to be found, as old-school Centurions slug it out with the new-age models!
(2) The flashback startled me…I wasn’t ready for them. But as final pieces to key character puzzles, they fit like a leather glove…and they opened the door to a collection of amazing showcase performances from the actors. Mind you, they have nothing LEFT to prove…but there’s nothing wrong with an overdose of dramatic magnificence.
(3) Even though finding a new home was sign posted with a big white arrow…even though, at the back of my mind, I KNEW they would find another “Earth”, its revelation still comes as quite an astonishing moment. Realizing what Kara was ultimately leading the human race towards, with her string of music-as-numbers…bloody hell! Sheer brilliance…and it leaves you gasping for air, in spite of every attempt NOT to gasp. It doesn’t help that the Earth shots are some of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen, whether it be on film or television.
(4) The return of the opera house. It’s been teasing us since the end of season one…but did anyone have any clue as to how it would be resolved within the series? Well, the surprise is that it WASN’T some kind of metaphor…it was a twisted, poetic vision of Galactica’s defininng moment. The moment when the final, hard choices would be made…and it didn’t disappoint. How could anything THAT unexpected and THAT surprising disappoint? I had a serious bout of glee as each opera house moment coalesced into reality.
(5) Cavil’s death…suggested by Dean Stockwell himself. Never has a “FRAK” been so well earned.
(6) The effects work in this episode was nothing short of staggering. How do you turn British Columbia exteriors into the African savannah? I may not know how to do it myself, but the VFX magicians of Galactica prove it can be done. Every single effects shot in this final episode has the visceral impact of a fist to the gut…and nowhere is this more true than in the shots of Galactica herself. Whether it be during the vicious battle at the colony, or her near-death agonies following her final escape jump…every glimpse of the ship offers the audience a new level of pain and heartache. Yup, that’s right…pain and heartache…from a sci-fi ship. And we all thought the destruction of the first starship Enterprise, back in 1984, couldn’t be topped for empathy with an inanimate object. It took 25 years…but it finally happened.
(7) While we’re on the subject of staggering…have you LISTENED to the musical score? Bear McCarthy ascends to Wagnerian levels of ecstasy with the sweeping arias provided by the orchestra, peppered with discordant, Asian-influenced exoticism. Sublime isn’t an adequate adjective.
(8) I cried twice during the final fifteen minutes…and sniffled pathetically at many other times. Adama’s good bye to Lee and Kara was bad enough…but to follow it with Laura Roslin’s death, and Adama’s agonized removal of his wedding ring…which he places on her finger. Oh, dear Galactica, have you not tried enough times to kill me — STONE DEAD — in front of the TV screen? Well, you pretty much SUCCEEDED on this occasion! And just for kicks, you also took my sister’s emotional control along with my own (as she watched the finale with me).
And let’s not even go near some of the other scenes: Roslin’s thank you to Doc Cottle…Kara’s good bye to Sam…Baltar’s admission that he knows “something” about farming, as he tries not to break down…Starbuck’s angelic disappearance…
Yes…you killed me at long last, Galactica. Congratulations.
(9) The snippet of the original Galactica theme music, as the fleet sails into the sun…that’s the ICING lathered on the cake celebrating my death-by-Galactica.
(10) 100 000 YEARS LATER…— proceeds EXACTLY as I thought it would. Of course we’re building possible Cylons…having just been to Japan, I’ve seen it with my own eyes! But foreshadowing aside, the conclusion is a lovely, jagged little bit of “it’s up to us now” moralizing that doesn’t hit you over the head with a sledgehammer, thanks to the cheeky attitudes of Angel-Six and Angel-Baltar.
This final mini-season opened with an episode that took darkness, depression, and defeat to operatic levels that would have made Mozart weep with wonder. It was easily Galactica’s finest moment: the definitive final word on nihilism and hopelessness. The final episode has topped this, with a complete inversion of everything Sometimes a Great Notion stood for: there IS hope! There always was, there always will be…it’s simply up to us to grab it and make something of it. Daybreak is suffused with breathtaking, unapologetic joy and relief…and Galactica couldn’t have ended with a more fitting, more beautiful episode.
Thank you, Battlestar Galactica. Thank you Ron Moore, David Eick, and thanks to the rest of your talented team — cast, writers, directors, and behind-the-scenes sorcerers. It was an incredible, extraordinary voyage…and it was worth the ride.
10+
