Battlestar Galactica: Crossroads, Part 2 (3.20 – Season Finale)

So many things going on in the finale:

Baltar’s Trial Concludes

And it ends as it should have, with Baltar’s acquittal. First off, what would we do without Baltar around? It’s never been that he’s an evil guy; just that he’s scared and weak (albeit incredibly smart). Secondly, Lee Adama’s speech on the witness stand was right on the mark. As hard as it was for him to say what needed to be said, it was just as hard for people to listen to. And judging from the small riot that broke out after the verdict was read, many people would still prefer to pile all of their own mistakes upon this one man, and kill him. Baltar was close to becoming a Christ figure in the worst possible way. Considering the way Baltar’s hair and beard was beginning to look this season, I was sure that was the direction they were headed.

It was good to see Mark Sheppard, who played Badger in the series Firefly, as Baltar’s lawyer Romo Lampkin. His character was shifty, but in a likable way.

I was also glad that Admiral Adama voted to acquit Baltar. He was right in saying that “not guilty” is not the same as “innocent”. And, as Lee points out, they’ve all been pretty creative in finding ways to forgive people for all kinds of high crimes.

Four Out Of Five Cylons Like Bob Dylan Songs

Okay, so four of the crew — Chief Tyrol, Colonel Tigh, Tory Foster, and Samuel Anders — all begin hearing the same vaguely familiar song inside their heads. Compelled by it, they each eventually show up in the same room on the ship, and are all equally freaked out at the possibility that they are (or could be) Cylons.

I’m not entirely convinced that they’re Cylons, but they could be. Are they four of the final five Cylon models we haven’t seen (although, technically, if they are Cylons, then we’ve been seeing them the entire time) and that the other Cylons don’t know about or talk about? Will the Cylons uncrate D’Anna Biers to find out what she saw in the temple? Then again, maybe the four Galactica crew members are more closely related to the human’s Temple of Five, a place devoted to five priests who worshiped “The one whose name cannot be spoken”? Of course, the temple is also where D’Anna believed the faces of the final five Cylon models would be revealed to her (which they are, and she recognized at least one of them. But who was it?)

Definitely some sort of Human/Cylon connection: five priests, five unseen Cylon models. I’m not sure how this is possible, but then again, we have to keep in mind that “All of this has happened before. All of this will happen again.” So, are there other human and/or Cylons that can exist outside of history repeating itself? (Anders and Tyrol both have an feeling that the song they are hearing sounds like something from childhood. But when? Which childhood?)

A Night At The Opera House

Roslin, Sharon, and Caprica Six have simultaneous dreams in which they all find themselves rushing through an opera house trying to reach Sharon’s half-human/half-cylon daughter Hera. In the opera house dream, Caprica Six reaches the girl first, and takes her away with Baltar. Taking center stage, they look back into the theatre and see five figures shrouded in glowing white light watching them from the upper levels

Led By Serpents Numbering Two And Ten

The ending of Seasons One and Two made me say, “Holy Frak!”, but the ending of Season Three made me go “Whoa!”

Starbuck is back!? Or, at the very least, an entity that presents itself to Apollo as Starbuck. It could be that Lee is now going through something similar to what Kara went through when she was seeing the mysterious Cylon Heavy Raider and the entity that looked like Leoben Conoy.

Is Starbuck the fifth of the five Cylons/temple priests? She tells Apollo “I’ve been to Earth. I know where it is. And I’m going to take us there.” The camera pulls back on Apollo’s and Starbuck’s Vipers, which made me think that the “Two” serpents (Vipers) are Starbuck (“I’m going to take us there.”) and Apollo (the second best pilot) as Starbuck’s wingman.

The camera pulls back past the Colonial fleet, the incoming Cylon Raiders and Basestars, past stars and planets, and we see that the fleet is definitely in our galaxy. The camera angle flips and pushes in on a nearby section of the Milky Way, and we see Earth.

The Colonial fleet might be close to Earth (100,000 light-years?), but that also means that the Cylon fleet is, too.

All Along The Watchtower

I’m not really sure what to make of this song yet, but my initial reaction is that Starbuck and Apollo are “the joker” and “the thief”, the two approaching riders in the song. The joker is one who sees things differently. She can take an ordinary situation and present it to you in a way that’s funny. Kara, having — for lack of a better word — crossed over into some other higher plain of existence, can now see things differently than the others. “I’ve been to Earth. I know where it is. And I’m going to take us there”…to me, conjures up the line “There must be some kind of way out of here”.

When I saw Lee taking a Viper without having his commission re-instated, I thought that he is the thief, the one who knows the value of things. And looking back on how he has behaved and his convictions throughout the series, and most recently in giving his courtroom speech in this episode, I think he has a good sense of value and worth.

Any thoughts?

In the meantime, here’s the Season Three gag reel:

Enjoy.