And now comes the last part of my review of the BSG series finale “Daybreak, Part 2″ and I can’t think of a more fitting way to complete this review than to focus on the principal characters of Bill Adama and Laura Roslyn, as well as the much discussed final scene that ended this formative series.  It’s taken me some time to sit down and finish this review, so let’s get right into it.

Bill Adama – His life fulfilled and his honour intact

In the first two parts of my review of “Daybreak, Part 2″, I noted how valuable the flashback scenes have been for allowing us to appreciate the full scope of the journey these characters have been on since before the series began and that’s certainly been the case with Adama and Roslyn.  The interchanging scenes showing what their separate lives were like back on Caprica shows us that they’ve started this journey in the same boat, of leaving behind lives where they felt trapped into accepting the choices they were being given.  In the scenes of Adama and Tigh partying in the bar, it’s clear that while Tigh has a better life waiting for him outside of serving the Colonial Fleet, Adama is being corralled into a job he clearly doesn’t want.  Watching Adama outside the bar, slumped on the ground covered in his own vomit gazing wistfully at the stars above, it’s not hard to appreciate that the stars were where he felt he belonged the most and yet, it was never as far away from him as it was at that moment.  In some ways, Adama is reminiscent of Ishmael in “Moby Dick”, being capable of Click here to continue reading »”BSG “Daybreak, Part 2” – My Final BSG Review, The Conclusion”

In the first part of my review of the BSG finale, “Daybreak, Part 2”, I examined the conclusion of the story arcs for some of the characters that we’ve been following for a good part of the series run. To start this next part of the review, I want to take a look one character whose internal driving force was only revealed to us in these final episodes of BSG to see whether we got the necessary closure for this particular plot line.

John/Cavil – The Cylon with a plan

In the episode “No Exit”, in addition to the information dump provided by the reawakening of Anders’ original memories of Cylon Earth, we were also given some interesting insight into the John/Cavil character and his unmistakable hatred for both his Cylon creators and the inherent limitations imposed on him thanks to their encasing him in a human body. In the scenes between Ellen and John/Cavil, we learn that John/Cavil is driven in large part by his rage against his creators and the subsequent desire to make each of them endure as much pain and hardship as he can create. The ideas presented in that episode carried on into “Daybreak, Part 1” where we see that John/Cavil clearly relishes how his plan to kidnap Hera would inflict much pain on Ellen to the point where he wishes he could have been there to witness it first-hand. While we’ve always understood that the Cylons saw Hera as being the key to their future – even more so in light of the loss of the Resurrection Hub – these scenes help us to understand that John/Cavil’s drive is also fuelled by his seeking revenge against those he believes have wronged him.

It’s for this reason I found something noticeably lacking in the showdown scene between John/Cavil and the Colonial/rebel Cylon alliance in the CIC. Although the exchange of Cylon resurrection technology for Hera made sense for addressing Click here to continue reading »”BSG “Daybreak, Part 2” – My Final BSG Review, Part 2″

It is often said that to reach the end of any journey, one needs to look back and see where it all began. It’s from this vantage point that the first part of the BSG series finale “Daybreak, Part 1” starts out and in doing such, provides us with some greater insight into these characters and through it, the significance of the choices they’ve made and probably will make in the final two hours of this remarkable drama series.

Watching the flashback scenes of what life was like on Caprica, we now learn that many of the series characters had in fact lost much of what mattered to them well before the fall of the thirteen colonies. The Kara we see traipsing around the apartment getting the place ready for her first dinner with her fiancé’s brother is almost unrecognizable from the Starbuck character we’ve known from the start, making the psychological impact of Zack’s death and her sense of responsibility for her part in it that much more palpable than it was before. When Adama wraps his arm around Kara later in the episode, reminding her that no matter what has happened she is still his daughter, serves to reinforce this reality, that those who knew Kara when she was engaged to Zack have seen the tectonic shift in her emotional grounding. Adama’s gentle words to Kara at this point also serves to remind her and all of us that the bond they have over that shared grief transcends any concerns over the nature of Kara’s existence, that such issues ultimately don’t change who she is or what she means to those around her.

Compare this now to the Lee Adama we’re shown during those days on Caprica. Instead of the self-assured, do-gooder we’re accustomed to seeing, we see a Lee who’s clearly lost without a purpose, Click here to continue reading »”BSG “Daybreak, Part 1” – The End Is Found In Where We Began”

A follow-up to my previous BSG post is in order, especially since I put the ball in Moore and Eick’s court to leave us with something to ponder about until early next year. And I think they did, though at least for myself, maybe not necessarily what they were aiming for.

The first 45 minutes of “Revelations” really delivered what BSG is renowned for – intense character moments brought on by people facing an impossible situation and having to contend with some of the unpleasant realities that come with taking someone close to your heart as a friend, lover, etc. When they revealed at the end of last season that Tigh, Tyrol, Anders, and Tory were Cylons, one of my hopes for this season was that they didn’t stretch out this discovery being made by the rest of the human fleet one character at a time. That is, after all, the way most conventional TV series would handle it as a means to help drag out – literally – the suspense of when the other shoe would drop. But that’s not the way BSG ever did things and fortunately that held true last Friday where they had the Final Four rolled out in quick succession. Click here to continue reading »”BSG “Revelations” – We’re Off To See The Wizard”