(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)
Seven greatest hand cannons in TV history
TV Squad previews NBC's new shows (part 1)
TV 101: How ESPN controls the world and what the other networks can learn from it
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 7)
6-14-2008 @ 5:36AM
David Marcoe said...
That's an interesting theory. I hope you don't mind if I poke a few holes :-)
"So probes were sent out -- twelve of them. And each carried the DNA of humankind and that of other Earth animals."
1. If the probes seeded genetic information, then you're talking about millions of years of evolution (assuming, of course, the BSG universe takes evolution as a given) to get back to where it was, biologically, which is impossible anyway, since you'll end up with entirely new species and not necessarily ones with the ability to return to Earth.
2. If you wish to introduce Earth species to a new planet, then the probe will have to clone them, which entail facilities to grow them. If in possession of those facilities, then it is now a ship, large enough to carry a crew. It would make more sense to turn it into a "generation ship," where successive generations would learn to operate and maintain the onboard equipment.
3. You're looking at a minimum several thousand species to create a sustainable ecosystem, but if attempting to restore full biodiversity, one to ten million species. Even if you if you carry staggered process of introducing those species (confined to the finite capacity of the probe/ship), the machinery would most likely wear out before it could carry out it's purpose.
"These probes were named after the 12 Greek gods of the constellation. These probes were controlled by an artificial intelligence network -- the precursor to what would become the Cylon intelligence."
4. More than a few species which would have to be raised from adolescence, requiring the AI to be intelligent enough to adapt to all the unpredictability of raising these animals, including humans, providing socialization, language skills, and a host of subjects. But all that would require sentience, which the AI and its Cylon descendants did not possess until the rebellion on the Twelve Colonies.
5. It doesn't explain the Algae planet or Kobol, where the former was built a temple and the latter an entire urban civilization.
"These probes also carried the history and other relevant information (religion, forms of government, culture, technology, art, language, etc.) about humankind on Earth."
6. Yet they seem to possess no knowledge of it, other than features of their religion.
Sorry if I'm piling it on, but my mind works that way.
6-14-2008 @ 5:48AM
scotty said...
You're right; the full explanation for how humankind could be replicated on other planets would be complex. I didn't go into elaborate details as to how this might have been done (and admittedly, I hadn't fully thought all these details out). The mysterious planet Kobol might have had something to do with the migration of humanity's DNA from Earth to Kobol and then onto the 13 planets. And there's also the mysterious probe that unleashed a virus that killed the Cylons -- we don't know what's up with that, and how that fits in.
But look at it from our (Earth humanity's) perspective: If we knew for certain that humanity was dying, and we were trapped on this planet, wouldn't we at least try to do SOMETHING like this? To launch probes, like we launched the Pioneer probes, out into the stars in the hope (though however faint) that our DNA, history and culture would live on somehow? That we would not be forgotten?
Many of the actors said that shooting the final episode made them feel overwhelmed with emotion, when the final revelations were made about how everything came together. I think it's a very simple answer: That the Galacticans, and even the Cylons, are the children of humankind on Earth. Remember in this mid-season finale, Starbuck told Lee that in order for a child to live and be strong, the parent has to die.
6-14-2008 @ 7:32AM
bamberluvr said...
I think you're on to something. I, too, have believed that the Colonials are decendents of Earthlings, BUT they are not human. I believe the Colonials were scientific constructs created ages ago to take all the knowledge of humanity and save it. Humanity died out, but the constructs were programmed to keep humanity alive. These constructs created themselves in their "god's" image, and seeded Kobol. the 12 Colonies, etc. This would explain the "this is happened before" phrase that has been repeated throughout the show. Wouldn't it be just like RDM to say "Humanity wasn' worth saving - none of these people is human."
6-16-2008 @ 12:07AM
Ro said...
@ scoty:
I think everyone agrees with the concept that Earth or Atlantis on Earth was first, then the rest of the colonies...However, your probe theory is kinda full of holes and frankly is a little hokey, so no offense, but I hope you're wrong...
Regarding the virus from the probe that the cylons found was just some 4000 year old form of the flu that the humans had long since developed an immunity towards. However, this old flu had a much more lethal effect on the cylons...they never explained more than that...so it's not it was found with an anti-cylon bio-weapon. Also, the probe was explained as to being some kind of directional marker to the 13th colony, i believe...
6-14-2008 @ 5:43AM
David Marcoe said...
There, of course, remains the possibility that this isn't Earth. There are several reasons to think so.
1. We didn't really get a clear shot of Earth's surface as the fleet orbited above.
2. The nuclear winter (what appears to be a nuclear winter, anyway) should have abated and the ecosystem recovered in the intervening years.
3. There is a total lack of wildlife on the planet, which is a problem if they are in the distant past (since we have wildlife now) and doesn't make sense if they are in the future (as per the point above).
4. The landing on Earth, as has been commented on in the review and the comments, was very sudden, even rushed, perhaps giving us a clue that this is a red herring, as getting to Earth is the natural end of the series and they are too close to the finale to be starting another major mystery, unless they plan on rushing that as well.
Reply
6-14-2008 @ 8:48PM
Adam said...
One leg stated that all the surrounding constelations matched those of earth. Unless there really is a Planet X and it is habitable, they are on earth. As mentioned before, much of BSG is social commentary. The post nuclear war Earth probably Mr. Moore's way of saying we are screwed if we continue on our present path. That or he's not a fan of Iran
6-14-2008 @ 6:11AM
Val said...
I hope Dualla is the Final Cylon.. May not make an once of sense but then at least she would get more lines of dialog!
Reply
6-14-2008 @ 7:28AM
David Marcoe said...
"The mysterious planet Kobol might have had something to do with the migration of humanity's DNA from Earth to Kobol and then onto the 13 planets."
What if this happened... Earth, dying, without enough time left to save itself, sends out a probe or probes with all this archival data; it's not designed to seed genetic material or anything that complicated, but instead is simply our legacy that we are sending out, in the hope that some other race will one day find it and remember us. Well, in that regard, we were lucky beyond our wildest dreams. An advanced race (On Kobol - Athena: "We know more about this place than you do. They weren't gods." Starbuck: "What were they then?" Athena: "We don't know...something.") found the archival probe(s) and recreated human life on Kobol, but after living in harmony with the Lords of Kobol, humanity eventually did something that meant they had to leave Kobol as well (some type of catastrophe and environmental disaster, according to Battlestar Wiki). They were sent by the gods on the Great Exodus to the Twelve Colonies, where they knew they would live, until the time came to return to Earth.
Reply
6-14-2008 @ 8:27AM
Laurie said...
That was not Earth! That planet is only a steppingstone to Earth. I believe that some of the 13th tribe left that planet after a major war and went on to Earth. There will be clues on that planet but will any of them want to go on or abandon the search all together. That maybe a major catalyst for them. I can't wait to see how this plays out.
Reply
6-14-2008 @ 11:27AM
Gene Cowan said...
A quick look on Google Earth reveals an interesting bit of information. If we assume that the bridge in question is the Brooklyn Bridge, then the spot where the Galactica crew is standing is currently occupied by the headquarters of the Jehovah's Witnesses at 25 Columbia Heights, a building that is called "Watchtower." Take a look at the Google Street View below:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Jehovah's+Witnesses&near=40.70165000000000077307,-73.99410000000000309228&ie=UTF8&ll=40.702155,-73.994162&spn=0.001808,0.001658&t=h&z=19
Reply
6-14-2008 @ 1:02PM
Michael said...
All along the Watchtower, eh?
6-16-2008 @ 12:16PM
Andrew Conkling said...
Interesting, but kind of a stretch. How do you assume they were standing that far back? Based on the photo, I'd say they were more likely standing closer to here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Jehovah%27s+Witnesses&near=40.70165000000000077307,-73.99410000000000309228&ie=UTF8&t=h&layer=c&cbll=40.7029,-73.99474&panoid=LYAcklngzUKG4JDPD9fgkA&cbp=2,340.7402127118718,,0,-7.596772095492827&ll=40.708084,-73.993778&spn=0.010345,0.020814&z=16
6-14-2008 @ 11:34AM
Akbar Fazil said...
I honestly have nothing to say about this episode other than I fully enjoyed it and can't wait to see where the story goes.
Reply
6-14-2008 @ 11:47AM
moreartplease said...
I agree that parts felt a bit rushed. My guess is that they wanted to avoid the end of the show, and the legacy of it in a way, revolving around how they found earth and what they found there. The Sopranos finale did that by avoiding the big audience questions of "Does Tony die?" "Does he flip?" "Does he get caught?" etc. This way the bandaid has been ripped off and we can look to the final episodes knowing this show is about way more than whether, when, or how they find earth.
In terms of some of the more scientific or logical explorations on the comments...for me, and this may just be me, BG has never sought to make logical sense. Earth was abandoned 4000 years ago, and while the actual existence of Earth has become entangled in myth, men still wear three button suits? Not to mention the fact that in our current scientific world, there is no FTL (faster than light) drive, so all of these timelines would be hopelessly skewed by relativity.
All I am saying by that is that, for me, the enjoyment of BG goes beyond the sort of Heinlein sci-fi of science, and into the mythic sci-fi of George Lucas. It's about more than "how".
Looking forward to January 09...
Reply
6-14-2008 @ 12:06PM
L'Emmerdeur said...
Someone has already pointed out the ruins of the Brooklyn Bridge, so I'm pretty sure this is Earth in the future.
If the creation of AI that then rebels against the creator is the repeating theme, then what we are seeing is the first iteration of this theme. If this is the case, the Cylons created on Earth would eventually have developed skinjob models, which might have been seeded into the human survivors who fled Earth after the nuclear war. These skinjobs would have interbred with humans over thousands of years, which would make their progeny... hybrids like Hera.
If one of the five skinjob lines was "programmed" to retain knowledge of the truth (the unidentified fifth), I would say his or her task was to make sure the skinjobs were activated at the right time to help find Earth and avoid the total destruction of the latest crop of humans and Cylons. I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that, over the many generations, every single human is a hybrid with genetic material from the original seeded skinjobs. This could be the master plan to make human and AI accept each other: take away that which makes them purely human (their pure biological origins) or purely Cylon (their mortality), and give them a chance to choose a path other than mutual destruction. They are here to break that cycle of destruction.
The philosophical and sociological implications of this are tremendous. In a sense, what the producers are saying is that Bosnian and Serb, black and white (pick your irrational racial/nationalist conflict) cannot ever coexist in the long run due to insurmountable prejudice, so the only way to end the cycle is to get them to interbreed and remove or reduce that which makes them different.
Furthermore, the importance of Hera is that, unlike the 5, she is a child of a current human and a current Cylon, and they will accept her and protect her - unlike the 5, who they might see as spies or traitors. They are depending on this paternal/maternal instinct to help break the cycle of prejudice in both Cylons and humans. In doing so, they hope to break the cycle of mutual annihilation which has repeated at least twice and perhaps, with Kobol, three times.
Let's also remember the overarching theme of mortality in BSG. The ultimate development of human endeavors, now and in the past, has been the ability to create AI copies of themselves, and thus achieve some form of immortality. In doing so, they bring about their own doom and restart the cycle. We can assume this from the information we have on the spinoff show Caprica. So the 5 know that the creation of Cylons is inevitable, as is their enslavement and rebellion. They need to control the outcome of one of these cycles in order to break it.
Such control is easier after a major catastrophe, when the survivors are few and desperate. Thus, the destruction of the 12 Colonies and the Cylon civil war were actually part of the plan, as well as the elimination of Cylon immortality.
Now they are both few in number, mortal and in need of allies - each other. Do you think 12 Colonies of billions would ever have reconciled or co-existed with the Cylons? Would vast fleets of immortal Cylons have ever looked beyond their former enslavement at the hands of humans?
In a sense, this is a very Biblical story, with a great catastrophe (Noah's flood, Job's destruction) needed to show the actors the error of their ways and force them to change their ways.
There is an as-yet unrevealed player in this story. Kara's Viper didn't rejuvenate itself, and the previous comments here about another species on Kobol point to another entity, perhaps native to Kobol. I would speculate that they took the Ship of Lights concept and turned it on its head. The original residents of Kobol were a species of hybrids who went through the same pattern of destruction until they broke it and learned to live with their AI constructs in peace - and eventually merged with them into a single, hybrid species. They might be the ones who set all this into motion, to shepherd the humans and Cylons on a similar path.
Reply
6-14-2008 @ 12:19PM
The Reptile said...
Just a thought but in the beginning of the episode Apollo was looking at a picture of the Temple of Aurora in the Book of Pithia which was supposed to be on Earth. He and Starbuck talked about it for a moment before they got on the Parents/Children dialogue.
My senses is that they were on Earth at the ruins of that temple. While the end sequence represents current day New York very well the picture of the Temple of Aurora appeared to be near water with more land on the other side of the river. So maybe they were on their Earth but not our Earth. However, this doesn't reconcile with the fact that Roslin was there and in the book the prophecy says she never makes it there. Then again their future home may also be called Earth the same way that they settled another planet they called Caprica qualified as 'New'.
Reply
6-14-2008 @ 1:33PM
scottR said...
So season 3 blew its budget on the New Caprica storyline, and this season the last few episodes were chock full of cg goodness. I agree, the Earth reveal was beautiful. The effects on this show have been incredible. The CG explosion on the Lost finale was painful in comparison, and Lost is a big budget network show.
And how about that music! I don't think BSG has had choral chanting like that before. This and the Gaeta episode were two of my favourite uses of music in the entire show. I had no idea if they were going to airlock Tigh or not, and I think it was because of the great score.
BSG also has some of the greatest season finales of any show I know of. They really want us to come back for the next one I guess :)
Reply
6-14-2008 @ 2:30PM
Dorv said...
I'm with Akbar... I don't have a whole lot to say...
I will mention that the final shot, that pulled through the ruins, showing off all(? most?) of the existing cast, and touching on some of the relationships, was pretty damn cool.
Reply
6-14-2008 @ 3:59PM
collin said...
"The Reptile" brings up a very good point in that the "Leader" was never supposed to live to see the fleet reach Earth. Yet Roslin, Admiral Adama, Lee, Baltar and every other "leader" in the series (that I can think of) were there standing on "Earth" (or Brooklyn, if that is what it is).
I do have to mention that Saul Tigh's "sacrifice" by revealing himself to Adama as a Cylon to prevent D'Anna from killing the hostages was magnificent. Last season, I got chills from Michael Hogan's speech in the last finale about "this is the man I will choose to be." Tigh's proposal to be possibly shot out of the airlock in order to counter D'Anna was his redemption for being the very thing that Tigh always hated most in the universe, and it was a wonderful bit of writing.
I got the same chills again when Tigh stood at attention at the moment Lee was about to open the airlock. "This is the man I will choose to be." Awesome!
Very often when there is a large plot change in a storyline, I often wonder how they're going to proceed from that point on. This was an unbelievable episode, and it was as significant as last season's finale where the final four were revealed (and when Starbuck came back w/ news of Earth). I don't know how the writers managed to top this finale for the final run of episodes, but the actors who have read the series finale were amazed with it (from what I've read in interviews with them). I am really looking forward to 1Q 2009 (my bet is it will start in Feb).
Although I normally nitpick about everything that could've been done better, I can't do that now. I really loved this episode, and I love this show. I only wish that other networks would demand the same amazing level of quality that RDM and company bring to us.
Reply
6-14-2008 @ 4:20PM
F said...
Here's a little something: If that really is Earth, why didn't Starbuck say something about the conditions there before? Granted, she wasn't flying a Raptor when she supposedly visited Earth, but she more than likely would have used whatever scanners a Viper has to learn SOMETHING about the planet. Otherwise, it would have been highly unlikely she would have come back claiming that the planet she had seen had been Earth.
I would not be the least bit surprised to learn that Roslin, the two Adama's, Starbuck, and possibly others, came up with a scheme to visit the devastated planet, show the Cylons a destroyed "Earth", go their separate ways, and then head to the REAL Earth as soon as the Cylons stopped looking. This might also fit with the concept of Kara Thrace as a habinger or herald, leading everyone to the dead "Earth".
Of course, I DO have to wonder about the other power another commenter mentioned, as there still has been no explanation for the mint-condition Viper Starbuck used to return to the fleet.
Speaking of that Viper, I am now beginning to wonder if, during that time when the four revealed Cylons were hearing that "music", Starbuck and/or the Viper were actually nearby, and not, well, wherever. In last night's episode, that Viper was in some way involved with whatever summoned the revealed four. Maybe it was calling to them in those episodes last season as well.
Reply