Teleplay by Ronald D. Moore
Story by David Eick
Directed by Michael Rymer
“Life has a melody, Gaius. A rhythm of notes that become your existence once played in harmony with God’s plan. It’s time to do your part and realize your destiny.”
Well, THAT was certainly something to watch. Battlestar Galactica ends its first season with the breathless enthusiasm we’ve come to expect from the series…and then slams into a wall of emotion with such sheer force that describing it as stunning doesn’t do it justice.
THE BAD
Let’s get this part out of the way. The main weakness of Part 2 was a characteristic it shared with this year’s season finale of The West Wing: a warp-speed pace that doesn’t leave enough room for adequate plot and character development. It’s pretty much an episode of manoeuvring pieces into place, and watching the fallout that results from it.
It makes for a very strong feeling that this is part 2 of a THREE part story…and it’s going to be a longer-than-usual wait for part 3. That said, there’s a lot to enjoy:
THE GOOD
1—Baltar and Number Six on Kobol. Nothing much happens, apart from her leading him through a half-real, half-imagined realization of her ultimate plan. But it’s just so damn stylish to watch.! Is it a dream? Is it real? It works because we’re just as confused…just as fascinated…as Baltar is!
2—The taking of Colonial One, and the standoff. Very claustrophobic & tense — and it avoids being cliched by pulling out the surprise of Apollo turning his gun on Tigh, and the sheer terror the Colonel tries to hold back, as everything threatens to come apart.
THE GORGEOUS
1—The cinematography is outstanding! Michael Rymer paints each location with its own palate of colours: deep green & sheer white for Kobol; horrific black & burgandy for the Cylon base ship; golden death on Caprica; flourescent & halogen sharpness inside the fleet ships. They were living paintings, committed to a digital canvas.
2—Boomer flying into the base ship…someone’s obviously been watching Aliens…and taking notes! That would have been good enough…but throw in numerous naked models of Cylon-Boomer, and we get something VERY special. It also ends with quite an evocative explosion.
THAT FRACKING ENDING!!!
WOW! Boomer congratulated on a job well done…Boomer shooting Adama in cold blood…Adama bleeding to death on the console, cradled by his sobbing son, his staggered best friend trying to stop the bleeding while comm chief holds Adama’s hand and prays. It left me with a bone-chilling cold in my spine, and a dry mouth.
Like I said…wow!
Final rating? Well, it should be an 8…but that ending (THAT ENDING!) lifts it to a 9.
And so ends the first season of Battlestar Galactica — one of the best television runs EVER! Staggering in scope, haunting, outrageous & evocative in the presentation of its main characters, sultry and erotic in ways words simply don’t do justice…this was a 13 week run that proves television hasn’t completely fallen into the mindless pit of reality-show crap. I look forward to the extra-length season 2…
