Thoughts on the Battlestar Galactica Finale

WARNING: Spoilers in this post! Stop reading now if you haven't seen it already!

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Last night's finale of Battlestar Galactica (Daybreak) was so awesome in so many ways. By the end, I was thinking "wow, that was good" and crying at the same time.  After witnessing the destruction of civilization and then surviving many dark years of sacrifice and suffering, the tattered remnants of humanity finally, at long last, enter the Promised Land. In the Old Testament, the Pentateuch ends with the Chosen People on the very brink of fulfillment, as if placing a clean slate before every reader and posing a simple challenge: Don't screw it up this time. In much the same way, our beloved characters from BSG land on a beautiful, verdant Earth, where they pledge to pass down only humanity's best qualities, and to break the perpetual cycle of human-Cylon violence. The very last scenes, which bring us to present-day New York City and show us images of modern robots and feats of AI, are a direct message to the viewers -- that whether the cycle gets broken is actually up to us.

The finale was strangely uplifting and hopeful, for a show that has never been shy about exploring the brutal, greedy, selfish, and extremely imperfect aspects of human nature. But BSG has never been as meaninglessly misanthropic and chaotic as say, the Watchmen (which I just watched last week). Throughout the series, there has been a theme of "a plan" and a greater power watching over the characters and guiding their steps. Still, going into last night, I couldn't quite convince myself that everyone wasn't going to die in a big fiery explosion. So by all rights, I should be thrilled with this ending, with some fantastic combat scenes and so many poignant and fitting moments for the characters we know and love.

Instead, I was sad all day today. I couldn't fall asleep until 4 a.m. Even playing tennis for two hours couldn't keep my mind off it. Usually crushing the tar out of a tennis ball can get my mind off anything, but today, I really had to tell myself multiple times: "Get a grip. Stop being sad about Lee and Kara, and keep your eye on the frakkin' ball."

Chris thought the finale was excellent and was mildly annoyed by how much the writers resorted to deus ex machina to explain Starbuck's ressurection (as well as Head Six and Head Gaius). He also thought that Cavil deserved a more meaninful end than comitting suicide in the CIC, especially after he had just turned the corner and made the "leap of faith" for peace. I didn't mind all those. But when I watched the ending for Lee and Kara, I just got this deep sense of, wait, this wasn't supposed to end this way.

Over the past few weeks, I've been re-watching the first three seasons of BSG and trying to gleam some clue of whether they would end up together. Starbuck and Apollo share so much history that I found it difficult to believe that they wouldn't eventually work out their issues. (Though it's true, they do have a lot of issues. See the Wikipedia article for Kara Thrace for all the history that I'm too tired to type out properly.) Nonetheless, I saw the Lee and Kara as equal partners in a way that I never saw Kara and Sam or Lee and Dee as equals.

In Daybreak, we see that Lee and Kara have had a fairly destructive relationship from the day they first met. Since then, despite obviously caring for each other, there has always been some obstacle keeping them apart (little issues like their marriage to other people, for instance). But I always figured that those "little issues" were just plot devices to prolong the inevitable, and that they were destined for each other. So in the fourth season, when it seemed like they were growing into a relationship that was less destructive, and especially in Daybreak when all the obstacles are finally gone and they have a chance to make a new start, I figured that they should finally have some measure of happiness together. Instead, Kara declares her love for the hybrid Sam, before he takes Galactica on her final journey into the sun. Then, in the middle of the open savannah, Kara vanishes into the wind as Lee is happily proclaiming what he wants to do with his new life.

I was shocked. That's it?

I read the following interview with Ron Moore that was interesting:

TVGuide.com: Were the Lee, Zak and Kara flashbacks your way of telling us that Lee and Kara were wonderful, but were never meant to be together?

Moore: Yeah, I kind of felt that Kara and Lee had never really left a moment in time on the table. They were kind of trapped in that moment perpetually of wanting, longing, feeling but never being able to full enjoy it or fully embrace it. They just really never left that place as characters.

This made me wonder, well why did they never leave that place as characters? Why bother creating so much tension and longing over the first three seasons, only to let it literally dissipate into thin air with so little resolution? Why not develop their relationship more in the fourth season, instead of having them hardly talk to each other?

I think I found part of the explanation in this interview with Katee Sackhoff, where she explains how the plot was influenced by Michael Trucco's real-life accident, and how her feelings for him as a close friend came out on screen and led the writers to the decision to alter the plot and have her end up with Sam instead of Lee. If this is true, it's kind of even more disappointing.

On some intellectual level, I like the imagery of Lee chasing the pigeon and never catching it, until finally, one day, it flies out the door, never to return. As if Kara was never his to have. It also seemed fitting for Kara not to just have a pastoral domestic life, after having defined herself as a fighter, dying, being resurrected, leading the fleet to Earth, and fulfilling her part in God's grand plan. It made sense for Kara, now an angel, to eventually leave Earth, having finished her mission.

But I'm still sad that there wasn't a little something more before she left.

I started writing this post in the hopes that I could make my peace with this part of the ending and then bask in the glow of the many parts I liked. It didn't quite work, but I guess at least I still have my poster to cheer me up.

It reminds me that probably the real reason I'm sad is that Battlestar Galactica is over now.