Season 4, Episode 20

Disclaimer: I am an atheist. However, I enjoy and can accept the invocation of God in fiction. Please keep this in mind when reading my thoughts on this episode. It may help to give the sarcasm and blasphemy some context. You have been warned.

Before I watched this, the final episode of the entire series, I wrote down several questions that I expected answers to. My aim with this was to put down exactly what I was hoping to have answers to by the end of the episode, such that I could judge if I was satisfied with the way the series ended. (Spoiler alert: I was!)

Questions

1. What is going on with these Opera House visions that Laura, Caprica Six, Athena, Hera and Gaius have been sharing?

2. If there is a connection, how is all of this connected to the Earth we know, and this time?

3. Why have Gaius and Caprica Six been seeing Head versions of themselves? Who/what are these Head Characters?

4. Who/what is Kara Thrace? This question has several parts, as I see it:
a. After she died in Maelstrom, how did she come back in a shiny new viper?
b. How did her dead body end up on Cylon Earth?
c. Was her father Daniel, the Number Seven?
d. In what way is she the "harbinger of death" as the original Hybrid, the normal Hybrid and Hybrid Sam have been telling us?

Now for points and quotes! I will come back to how well (or not) I think these questions were answered at the end.

Episode 20: Daybreak Part 2

• Why is Ellen in the strip bar with Bill and Saul in the flashback to Caprica? I thought it was explained by Cavil in "No Exit" that she was sent directly to the Galactica from wherever Cavil was holding her in the season 1 episode "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down". However, the more I think about this, the less sense it makes, because Adama remembered her once she arrived on the ship. I hope this is something that gets dealt with in "The Plan".
• I enjoyed Laura's hot teacher routine with her date! "Did I say you should go?" HOT!
• What a lovely scene between Laura and Dr. Cottle. He really deserved that.
• Admiral Hoshi? Really? I'm still surprised he was not more upset by Gaeta's death.
• Gaius finally does a selfless act!
• The Galactica's plan of attack at the Colony was absolutely fraking insane! Ramming the ship directly in to it! WTF?!
• Boomer finally achieves redemption by returning Hera, but Athena shooting her was inevitable and obvious. I'm glad she went after doing something good, though.
• When Caprica Six and Gaius both saw Head Six and Head Gaius at the same time I was so shocked that I it my head on the wall behind me. Then I squeed so loudly I didn't hear anything they said and had to rewind. OMG! I never saw that coming, but it was so perfect! It's also new that Caprica Six sees Head Six, as far as we know.
• So the Opera House = Galactica, and the CIC in particular.
• Finally Tori having killed Cally and being of any relevance to the story comes back. Tyrol killing Tori when he discovers this really makes it clear that he did love Cally, despite what he had said before, since he was willing to break the download of the secret to resurrection, and kill Tori for it, essentially destroying the secret of resurrection and jeopardising the truce between the Humans/Rebel Cylons and Cavil's lot.
• This resulting in Cavil shooting himself seemed unbelievable to me. It didn't seem to fit with his character that he would commit suicide.
• A shot of the moon before we see our Earth was a great idea to really establish where we were. I squeed so hard at this! I also really liked that they chose to centre the image of Earth on the continent of Africa, rather than North America, which they showed at the end of Season 3. Since East Africa is where they landed, however, this makes much more sense.
• So it looks like Kara Thrace was a Head Character, but for everyone...? It was so wonderfully heartbreaking when she vanished as Lee was talking to her.
• I had heard that there were a lot of people who were unhappy with the ending of the series, and I can sort of see why, though I was not one of them. From an artistic point of view, it was a little jarring to see Head Six and Head Gaius walking through the modern day streets of New York City, as it sort of brought me out of the show, but I think this was the point; to connect that story to us in the here and now. From a storytelling point of view, however, I think it was utterly flawless.
• And what a great touch that we end on hearing the Jimi Hendrix version of All Along the Watchtower as we are shown images of the direction in which modern robotic technology is headed.

Quotes

Laura (to Dr. Cottle): "Don't spoil your image. Just light a cigarette and go and grumble."

Tigh (to Adama): "Still not too late to flush them out the airlock!"

Cavil (to a Four): "Please continue stating the perfectly obvious. It fills me with confidence."

Adama: "What do you hear Starbuck?"
Starbuck: "Nothing but the rain."
-This made me cry so much. It was more moving than Lee saying goodbye to his father, and such a great callback to the Miniseries, as it was the first piece of dialogue we heard between these two characters.

Answers

So, I was mostly satisfied with the ways in which the questions I posed previously were answered. I was perhaps expecting fuller and less divine-influenced answers, but I didn't write the show, so I'm not going to complain about the story itself. If I allow for and accept the "God did it" answer (essentially a deus ex machina device) that was heavily implied as answers to several of my and other questions, I can say that I got my answers. Let's go through them one by one.

1. These Opera House visions were prophetic in nature, and essentially led Gaius to be the one to negotiate the deal between Cavil and his forces and the allied Humans and Cylon Rebels. Why exactly these people had been having these visions is left unexplained as far as I see it, though we could take it to be implied that "God" (or whatever name he/she/it prefers) gave them the visions for some unknown reason. Basically, I think it was a foreshadowing device, and made for a good way to create ongoing suspense by having these characters collectively see something that was going to happen. I'm not sure, however, what the symbolism of Galactica being depicted as an Opera House was.

2. This question was answered quite explicitly. Basically, Kara Thrace jumped the Galactica (through divine intervention and a computational analysis of the music her father taught her?) to our Earth 150,000 years before today (or presumably, the date that this episode aired), where the Humans and Cylons of the allied fleet settled. The revelation at the end that modern Humans discovered the remains of what appeared to be mitochondrial Eve (implied to be Hera) means that we are all descendants of Cylon/Human hybrids, which is nice!

3. The final scene of the episode in which Head Six explains the above answer indicates that both she and what we've been calling Head Gaius are in fact beings of an independent nature, not only manifesting themselves in the 'heads' of others, thus calling them Head Characters is a misnomer. This tells us then that they are not figments of Gaius Baltar and Caprica Six's imaginations, but it does not explain us why those are the only two people that ever saw them. If we allow for the "God did it" hypothesis, then we can explain it away, but we still don't know why. This feels like a handy way of the writers not explaining it, but then I'm not sure we need to know exactly why.

4. This is the hardest question to explain, I think, at least in a detailed way. It seems like the simple answer is that the Kara Thrace that returned to the fleet at the end of Season 3 claiming that she'd been to (Cylon?) Earth was in fact a being similar in nature to those that we've been calling Head Six and Head Gaius, but with two important differences: that everyone can see her, and that she doesn't know exactly what she is. So, in more detail:

a. God did it...? I'm willing to accept this here, because to look for any other explanation just makes my brain hurt!

b. Who the frak knows? This one is still bothering me, as I can't work out a reasonable explanation for it. I don't buy the "God did it" one here, because there seems now to be not much reason for it, except maybe that she needed to find her own dead body and burn it in order to be able to move on and do what she had been sent back to do, namely to lead the fleet to a new home, as the goddess Aurora.

c. I believe that yes, Daniel was Kara's father, and that she was the first Human/Cylon hybrid. Even though this is not explicitly mentioned, I think it is heavily implied, with the man at the piano being clearly "artistic", as Ellen describes him as having been, and just the fact that it would be pointless to mention an entirely new Cylon model that we'd never heard of so late in the series and then have him be completely irrelevant to the story.

d. This part is the one I find most difficult to answer. The fact that we had this prophecy repeated to us multiple times by three different (though similarly abled) characters, seems to imply that it must indeed be important and highly relevant, but I'm not actually convinced that it came true. Perhaps if we consider that Hera ended up being the ultimate ancestor of all of humanity on this Earth, and she was a Human/Cylon hybrid, then perhaps this prophecy speaks of the fact that Kara Thrace brought all of the remaining pure Humans and pure Cylons to our Earth, where they eventually became extinct in favour of Hera's descendants. Thus, Kara Thrace brought the lines of pure Humans and Cylons to their end? This seems to work to me, but it feels like the way this prophecy was repeated, it should've been something more dramatic than this.

That is all for now. Overall, I was very happy with this episode, and am extremely sad the show is over for me, though I will no doubt come back to it again soon!

I have decided to save "The Plan" for next month, and will be watching it as a special Christmas treat for myself. So look out for a post about my thoughts on that in roughly a month's time! The next year, I plan to start watching Caprica. I can't wait!

One final thing: If you've been reading along and enjoying this journey with me, thank you. Even if you've never commented, I'm really happy to have shared this with you. Thanks for reading!

Season 4, Episodes 18 & 19

Episode 18: Islanded in a Stream of Stars

• Gaius admits to seeing Head Six (or at least "an angel"). Also, he finally gets to talk to Caprica Six.
• The random dying Eight calling Saul her father and then her last words being "too much confusion" was great!
• Kara peeing in front of Gaius felt like having the old Starbuck back!
• Kara saying to Gaius that she's not an angel, and then in the next scene appearing at the door to see Hybrid Sam lit just like Caprica Six is in the Opera House vision. (Plus the contrast of that white light with the red of the Hybrid chamber was really wonderful.)
• Hybrid Sam is awesome! I loved that he repeated the line about Kara being the harbinger of death, and the flashing lights as a result of his blinking was a great visual.
• Laura and Bill smoking a joint! Ha!
• I didn't think Gaius would actually run tests of Kara's dogtags as she suggested. And his results weren't news to us.
• Seeing the three funerals was interesting, especially since the Cylons never would have had to do funerals before.
• Kara putting her own photo on the wall between Dee and Kat's was just perfect, and very moving. She has finally embraced her death and transcendence.
• Adama the abstract expressionist.

Quote

Kara: "Regularity? That must be important when you're full of crap."

Episode 19: Daybreak, Part 1

• Finally we get no spoilers of the episode to come after the opening credits! I've actually really been enjoying how the credits have been changing almost every episode for the last few.
• An opening shot of the/a galaxy really set the bar high in terms of my expectations for the epicness of the finale. I hope I'm not disappointed. But anyway, WOW!
• Caprica Six met Gaius as a prostitute! Didn't see that coming, but it works.
• Nice that Gaius' father has the same Yorkshire-sounding accent that Gaius used to speak with, and that it is brought up again.
• Laura under the fountain after finding out about the death of her father and sisters was very moving indeed, and just so Laura.
• Head Six appears in her season 1 red dress! Squee!
• Four and Five finally get a reappearance.
• My note way back in season 1 about there being pigeons on Caprica turns out to have been relevant!
• The whole scene with the red line down the hanger bay was really great, and wasn't done in the cliche way it so easily could have been, with everyone immediately signing up to go on the rescue mission. The whole thing was extremely moving.
• Kara holding on to Laura to support her was tear jerking.
• The singularity that the Colony is in orbit of will surely play a large part in the end game. Could it perhaps be a gateway to our Earth?
• Overall, I found this episode really enjoyable and moving. The flashbacks make it feel kind of like an episode of Lost, but it did a really good job at harkening back to the beginnings of the series and pull on my heart strings in exactly the right ways. However, there wasn't nearly as much action or major revelation (for example about who/what exactly the Head characters are) as I had expected. There seems to be a lot left to the final part. I am really, very excited!

Quote

Adama (to Kara): "I know what you are. You're my daughter. Don't forget it." -This was so fraking moving. I cried like a baby.

Season 4, Episodes 16 & 17

Episode 16: Deadlock

• Liam? What is the significance of this name?
• Hoshi didn't seem bothered by Gaeta's death. Either he's become numb to the death of all his friends and lover, or this is just bad writing.
• The scene with Ellen's arrival on the Galactica was exactly how I imagined. It lived up to all my expectations, and I just LOVED the callback to Season 1's "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down", when the door to the raptor opened and showed just her legs, even if it was predictable that they'd do that.
• Tyrol recognising Boomer was so awesome, but Adama sending her straight to the brig, while understandable, was sad.
• Ellen comparing the 50,000 survivors of the Colonies to the five from her world ("Earth", which probably isn't our Earth), made what had happened to the Final Five much clearer, and was also very moving.
• Saul seeing Ellen as Six was so great. What a great way to bring his visions of Six as Ellen back round full circle.
• Finally, we get to see Head Six appear to Gaius again! It was great how she was feeding him lines again like in season.
• Was the reason that Saul and Ellen couldn't conceive because he didn't love her?
• Tori's kind of being racist towards humans all of a sudden.
• Little Gaius!
• Was that Bear McCreary (the genius composer of the music for BSG) as an extra sitting in the bar behind Kara?
• Bill comforting Saul after Liam's death was so touching.
• Where are all the Twos (Leobens) in the Cylon workforce on board the Galactica?

Quote

Kara: "Did you see Ellen and Tigh on the way to that bird? It was like watching my parents make out." Is this a clue as to Kara's origin?

Episode 17: Someone to Watch Over Me

• Nice to see some of the Sixes under Starbuck's command (at least wigs from behind to indicate Sixes!)
• Toothpaste as a reward for finding a habitable planet!
• Sonya! A Six with a name is always nice.
• Laura seemed to have a little freak out about the Cylons getting representation in the Quorum.
• Where are all the Twos? This is really bothering me now, that since the rebel Cylons joined the fleet, we've only seen Sixes and Eights on board the Galactica.
• Lovely callback to earlier seasons with Tyrol and Boomer on the phone through the glass of the brig.
• Boomer's shared projection of their home with Tyrol was very moving. Even though she was using him to help her escape and kidnap Hera, I still think that this projection was something she had really spent a lot of time thinking about and visiting, and that she really does still love him in some way.
• Kara knows her music!
• I liked the use of Sharon's theme without her visual presence as Laura signed the paper to extradite her and dismissed Tyrol.
• Switching Eights! Why had no one ever thought of that before?
• It was so awkward and disturbing to see Boomer frak Helo through Athena's eyes. Also, why would a husband and wife call each other by their callsign?
• The build up to the end of the episode was so intense, I was kind of freaking out.
• Kara sees head father! OMG! This was so wonderfully revealed as Tory held up the manuscript and we saw that there was no one sitting beside her at the piano.
• I never guessed that the song Kara was trying to remember would be that song! But I loved it so much!
• Laura's connection to Hera through her vision finally played out. Is she dead now?
• The child in Boomer and Tyrol's shared projection was Hera? Woah!
• Hera seems to be at the centre of everything now. She's connected to Kara and the song, Laura through the vision and Ellen considers her the future of the Cylon/human race.
• So what does Cavil want with the three year old?

I cannot wait to see what the endgame is here. However, I'll definitely be sad when it's over, and may have to start watching again from the beginning!

Season 4, Episodes 14 & 15

Episode 14: Blood on the Scales

• The basestar was still marked on DRAEDUS as "enemy baseship".
• Tigh's suggestion that Gaeta will cut off one of Ander's legs!
• Laura shouting in to the transmitter to try to be heard by the fleet made her seem like an old lady talking louding to someone on the phone because they are far away.
• Zarek ordering the Quorum shot was really shocking. And hearing and not seeing the scene was especially effective.
• Who is that Natalie-looking Six in an angel outfit talking to Gaius? Another version of Head Six perhaps?
• Lamkin killing the seargeant with a pen, Gaeta style, in order to get his sunglasses back!
• What does Gaius dreaming Adama's execution mean?
• Gaeta and Gaius' chat before his execution was really well done. Poor, poor Felix.

Quotes

Adama: "I care too much for this ship to let it be over run by rats."

Gaeta (to Gaius): "Please, no religion."

Episode 15: No Exit

• As soon as we saw the flashback of Saul killing Ellen on New Caprica, I knew we'd see her download. It made me see the scene differently, like perhaps she knew the drink was poisoned, and that she needed to die and resurrect.
• How she went from screaming with horror to calm and controlled after resurrecting was slightly disturbing, but great acting. As she was, presumably, retrieving her old memories, you could see the horror leave her expression.
• She spoke to the Centurion as though it was programmed not to touch or interact with the Final Five at all.
• Sam's bullet is making him talk like a Hybrid.
• Ellen being John (Cavil/One's) mother/maker and him having been made in the image of her father is creepy in so many ways, but just pure genius.
• John hasn't slept for 20 years.
• Adama trusts Tyrol enough to make him Chief again, but doesn't want any Cylons on the crew to repair the Galactica. Weird.
• The Temple of the Five is actually the Temple of Hopes. It was interesting that Ellen didn't know about the apparition of the Five in that temple.
• Because of his word salad, Sam referred to Ellen as "gazelle". This seems meaningful, or is perhaps just a reflection of her slender grace and elegance.
• I love Boomer for breaking Ellen out! I hope she gets to achieve redemption for this!
• Is Saul and Six's baby going to be a resurrection of Daniel? I think so.

Quote

John: "I can't wait to see what perfection looks like on the inside."

I found this episode so satisfying. I was perhaps expecting a few more exciting or OMG moments, and there was a lot of exposition, but it felt really good to have so much revealed. I also found the interaction between Ellen and John really compelling, and the way it was filmed just so beautiful.  I love the Cylon aesthetic, and how everything feels so ominous.