BSG season 3 finale

*~*~*

Yup, pacing. Bad pacing is what BSG suffers from, which I think is the one thing I've found that Babylon 5 actually does better. Like the season 2 finale, the last four episodes of season 3 feel like they're rushing to get the all the story in. There are pros and cons. The pros are that the last 4 episodes are very fast-paced, intense, and gripping. The cons are that the rest of season 3 feels like it's dragging on forever and forever, and you might as well just watch the beginnings and the ends of seasons, and skip over the middle entirely. That said, I still like BSG, I still think it's a great show with great acting and great writing, even though I still have yet to figure out whether or not the Cylons, or the writers, actually have a plan. (It's beginning to feel sort of plannish again.)

So at the end of season 3 it seems that all the 12 cylon models have been revealed, or at least that's what they want you to think. In addition to the regular 7 models, it seems the Final Five (kind of like the Final Four, but only with one more) are Starbuck, Anders, Tori, Colonel Tigh, and Chief Tyrol. This really throws me for a loop, because I've always secretly believed that Admiral Adama is a cylon (as Leoben said in episode 8 of season 1), and that threw me off the scent of Colonel Tigh completely.

I'm a little disappointed that they've revealed the Final Five all in the last 4 episodes of the season. This means that the show is starting to get away from the human/cylon conflict as it was set up in the miniseries and the first season, and it looks like it might be drifting toward human + cylon/greater conflict for the next few seasons. It's true that BSG needs to reinvent itself a little bit, the human/cylon schtick is unlikely to work for them this far along into the story, I hope that Ron Moore and his writers know what they're doing when it comes to bringing in a 'greater conflict.'

What comes in as a point of contention about the Final Four (the Five minus Starbuck) is that Hera is no longer special as a cylon/human hybrid given that Tyrol and Callie already have a son. The only two explanations I can offer is that Tyrol isn't a cylon, or that kid isn't his. Depending on how they resolve this, it could be kitschy or it could be cool. I'm not sure how much faith I have in the writers.

What I like is that Tigh, self-declared hater of all cylons, killed his wife because she tried to help him by feeding them information, now thinks that he's a cylon. It's that kind of retribution that smacks of irony that I like so much. Kind of like the homophobe turning out to actually be gay. I've always liked Tigh as a character, and I think it'll be interesting to see how he comes to terms with whether or not he's really a cylon.

So all my friends and their "Sam Anders for Cylon 06-07" slogans have really come through. The writers have introduced him as a character, and with Starbuck's supposed death it's a good way to keep him on the screen. That said, unless Anders starts doing some cool shit, we're still going to call him Blanders. Same with Tori. She's a horrifically underdeveloped character, and much to my dismay, I still like Roslin's old aide, Billy, a lot more.

And now, EARTH. Interesting. It seems like the fleet might finally be getting to where they want to be going, especially since it seems like Starbuck's already been there and knows where it is. Is BSG season 4 going to be "Battlestar Galactica: saving whales in San Francisco?" The short shot they had of Earth in the last seconds of the finale does seem to imply that their Earth is parallel to our Earth, that was definitely North America I saw there. Hrm, and given that Starbuck is a cylon, does that mean that Earth will have been already taken over by the Borg Cylons, or is this going to be the beginning of a Cylon/Human alliance all trying to find a happy place to live together? >_>

Hrrmmm...so much has been revealed in the past four episodes I can't comment on it all during lab. Season 4 looks promising, but I'm still wary of sharks.