TVSquad

(S04E09) Well now, how was that for a surprise ending? Well, that is, for those who didn't get to see the screening in L.A. Wednesday night. I was invited to go but, seeing as I live on the other side of the country, it wasn't really all that practical to be there.

While this was an amazing episode, I've got mixed feelings of sorts. I'm elated that this isn't the finale episode of the series, that we've got another slew of episodes to go through before "the end." However, this episode felt like it possibly could have ended the series -- will the real final episode pay off as well as this one did?

Let's start off with D'Anna and the "final five" Cylons. She immediately asks for only four Cylons, then confirming that number with Roslin on the Base Star. This could mean that one of the Cylons is already on the Base Star or that the last Cylon is dead. I'm going with the latter, since it makes a lot more sense that she said "I'm sorry" to the one final-five Cylon she saw in her vision that is actually dead, probably at the hands of Cylons. But, really, this whole thing of the final Cylon is sorta a moot point now, isn't it?

"For children to reach their full potential, their parents have to die." I thought that quote from Kara was prophetic, in a way. It plays in nicely with the whole "it has happened before and will happen again" theme that we've heard so much about. Perhaps Earth is considered the dead parent that gave birth to the Colonials and/or Cylons, who are now expected to reach that full potential.

I never liked how easily Tory became "evil" once realizing she was a Cylon. Again she does something out of character for her, by embracing her "new home" and defying Roslin. What made her embrace her Cylon-ness like none of the others have?

E.J.O.'s performance as a broken Bill Adama was one of his best of the series. Hell it was one of the best of anyone's performances of the series. During the scene, he bemoans having sent people to their deaths in search of Earth. He nearly seems suicidal over it (and, I gotta say, he seemed to have gotten drunk mighty quickly). What will his state be now that they've seen the place they've been fighting so hard to reach?

The Cylons and Humans making their alliance was an eye-widening event. It was inevitable that they'd have to find a way to live together at some point, not that one would have to survive while the other perished. This is what I meant when I said that the final Cylon seems to be a non-event now. The reveal of the final four Cylons to the Colonials was jarring for only a moment. This entire series of events would have fit within several episodes, not just this one. Now we have to wait until well after the snow begins to fly again before we'll see another episode.


Then, at last, we finally see what we've all wondered for more than three seasons: The condition of Earth once the fleet reached it. This was one of the many possibilities mentioned in numerous places, and really it makes the most sense. Once I saw they were truly going to approach Earth, and knowing this season is not over, how could it be anything else?

The big question we have now was something D'Anna already said: "Where do we go from here?" Did the fleet land in only one portion of the planet that was laid to waste? Could it be that Earthlings moved over to colonize Mars or the Moon? Is Earth even habitable right now? How will the rest of the people still sitting in the fleet react to the news that they've come all this way for nothing?

It's going to be an interesting bunch of months of speculation, remembrance and, of course, a lot of waiting.

Other points:

• Tyrol looked happy to be caught, to be sitting there in the airlock and ready to die. He was clearly tired of hiding and was happy to see it all end, even if it meant his own death. If he couldn't pull the trigger on himself, he was fine with someone else doing it.
• Baltar seems to be taking last week's events to heart, working to do what he can to save someone other than himself. He's actually becoming a character I like again.
• Why didn't Starbuck just pick up a phone rather than run all the way to stop Lee? I guess then we wouldn't get the overly-dramatic run through the halls of Galactica as Lee queued up the airlock doors.
• Great seeing all aspects of the ship celebrate during the arrival to Earth. It made the final scene of the episode all the more sad.
• Speaking of the final scene, it looked an awful lot like they were standing on Liberty Island, looking over the bay to New York City.
• The approach of the fleet to our pale blue dot: Amazing.

Current fleet population: 39,664 (-1 for hostage)