I'd been a little behind on watching Battlestar and finally caught up over the weekend. I haven't stopped thinking about it. Because the season finale was so terrible.

Looking around on the web, it seems that people are very divided over the episode, people either loving it or hating it. Those of you who watch it, what did you think?

I'm interested in what you actually thought, too, not just a rating, so if you have some thoughts, let's hear them.

Spoiler:
Nyy Nybat gur Jngpugbjre? Lbh'ir tbg gb or shpxvat xvqqvat zr. Vg pbzcyrgryl ehvaf nal fhfcrafvba bs qvforyvrs gb unir bhe punenpgref dhbgvat fbzrguvat fb bhg bs cynpr sbe gurve havirefr. V'yy nqzvg gung jura Gvtu (V guvax) svefg fnvq gur frpbaq yvar, V gubhtug vg jnf shaal. Whfg na va-wbxr. Ohg gura gurl pragre vzcbegnag cybg eriryngvbaf nebhaq vg? Pbzr ba. Whfg shpxvat fghcvq.

Naq erirnyvat gur sbhe punenpgref nf Plybaf? Nyy ng bapr? Jvgu ab (ng yrnfg irel yvggyr) sberfunqbjvat? Whfg ynzr, unpx jevgvat.

Naq yrg'f abg sbetrg Ncbyyb'f "grfgvzbal" ng gur gevny. Zber ybhfl jevgvat. Ubj nobhg lbh fcraq gur gvzr gb fubj hf gubfr guvatf naq abg whfg unir n ovt shpxvat qvngevor sebz bar bs lbhe punenpgref?

Nyfb, vg'f fnq gung gurl'q znqr Fgneohpx fb veevgngvat bire gur ynfg frnfba be fb gung V jnf unccl jura fur qvrq naq naablrq jura fur pnzr onpx. (Vapvqragnyyl, gung jnf gur frpbaq unccl-gurl-qvrq punenpgre V jngpurq guvf jrrxraq. Ng yrnfg gur erirny ba gur bgure bar jnf n yvr.)

Naljnl, gb fhz hc: nnnnnneeeettttuuuu!!!!

(Too bad the spoiler thing loses formatting. Oh well.)

I'm so glad to hear you say that.

I fizzled on interest in BSG about a dozen episodes short of the season finale. When I looked at the Tivo and noticed I was about 10 episodes behind, I canceled the season pass. So the Tivo didn't even catch the last few episodes.

I hoped I wasn't missing much. I'm glad to hear I wasn't.

On the other hand, out of the dozen or so episodes near the end of the season, were there any individual standouts I should watch before I delete the entire group?

Thanks, looks like it is working, spoiler should preserve formatting now.

I put in a 4. While the show did seem to drag out quite a bit this season, I feel the last 3 episodes finally got it moving again, and for that I was happy.

Spoiler:
V unq n srryvat Fgneohpx jbhyq or onpx va fbzr jnl yvxr jung unccrarq. Ure fgbel whfg qvqa'g frrz svavfurq, fb ab ovt fhecevfr gurer.

Nf sne nf gur ynfg 4, vg ybbxf gb or gur znva jnl bs ubbxvat crbcyr ng gur frnfba svanyr gb nfx "Jungf arkg?". Fgneohpx jnf rnfl gb svther bhg, gur dhvpx erirny bs gurfr 4 ba gur bgure unaq jvyy unir crbcyr jbaqrevat nobhg vg nyy gur jnl gb arkg Wnahnel. V guvax vg urycrq gur svanyr n ybg, zber gura whfg oevatvat hc Rnegu lrg ntnva.

I felt the same way as you midway through the season, Tony, but I ended up watching seven episodes over the weekend. I enjoyed all of them quite a bit, excepting the last hour of the finale and one other (a Starbuck-heavy episode, Maelstrom). What I've discovered is that I just don't care about the mythology part of the show. I'm interested in seeing these characters deal with the situations they've been put in. The finale was myth-heavy (in cheap ways, IMO) and handled the situation-dealing very poorly.

Spoiler:

Gur qrngu bs Fgneohpx vavgvnyyl frrzrq pbagevirq. Bhg bs frrzvat abjurer, jr trg guvf jubyr qrngujvfu naq cbbs fur'f qrnq. Abj jr'ir tbg Ncbyyb frrvat gur fnzr rknpg "vf vg erny be abg" obtrl ba uvf fperra. Gurl'er ernyyl chfuvat hf ba bhe novyvgl gb oryvrir fbzr bs gur "zlfgvpny" nfcrpgf bs gur fubj.

Zrnajuvyr, V'z zber jvyyvat gb ohl vagb gur sbhe fhqqra plybaf. Gung zrnaf gung gur arkg ongpu bs rcvfbqrf jvyy ubcrshyyl rkcynva gur eryngvbafuvc orgjrra gur "bgure svir" plybaf naq gur "znvafgernz" plybaf jr'ir frra orsber. Gur jevgref unir n ybg bs yrrjnl, fb vg jvyy or vagrerfgvat gb frr jurer gurl gnxr guvf.


Still, at the end of the day, this season finale wasn't nearly as much of a holy crap moment as previous finales. It's pretty hard to one up the whole New Caprica thing from last season.

I could care less about a "holy crap" moment. I want good storytelling, and that's not what I got. I understand that they may feel that they need that for a hiatus (tangentially, 8 months!?!? WTF?), but, to me, if it affects the quality of the show, I don't want it at all. I'd rather that they have a generic episode as the finale.

Spoiler:
Lbhe hfr bs gur jbeq "zlfgvpny" ernyyl oevatf vg ubzr sbe zr. Hc hagvy abj, nyy bs gur zlfgvpny fghss ba gur fubj pbhyq or ivrjrq sebz zhygvcyr cbvagf bs ivrj; lbh pbhyq rvgure gnxr vg nf orvat fhcreangheny be lbh pbhyq ybbx ng vg nf fpvrapr-onfrq, naq gung jnf n cbvag bs pbagragvba sbe punenpgref ba gur fubj. Ohg abj lbh'ir tbg sbhe punenpgref univat pbzzba unyyhpvangvbaf, naq nabgure guerr univat pbzzba qernzf. Vg'f tbar sebz "riragf gung pna or rkcynvarq rvgure nf zlfgvpvfz be culfvpny" gb guvatf gung ner pyrneyl zlfgvpny. Naq, ertneqyrff bs zl erny-jbeyq srryvatf nobhg zlfgvpvfz, gung znxrf gur fubj yrff pbzcyrk.

Spoiler:

Senaxyl, gur cneg gung'f ohttvat zr vf gung gur Tnynpgvpn perj pyrneyl fhfcrpgrq gurl jrer orvat sbyybjrq naq gung gur Plybaf znl unir orra noyr gb svther bhg jurer gurl jrer tbvat. Gurl rira "pnhtug" gur Plybaf sbyybjvat gurz. Bxnl, gurl frag gur shry fuvc bss va n qvssrerag qverpgvba, ohg gurl fgvyy whzcrq gur znva syrrg gb gur znva qrfgvangvba. Gura, fhecevfr, gur Plybaf whzc va ba gbc bs gurz.

Gung'f abg whfg sberfunqbjvat, orpnhfr gur perj xarj jung gurl jrer trggvat vagb. Vafgrnq, vg'f fvzcyl fghcvq cynaavat.


Regardless, Galactica and Heroes are the only TV shows on right now that are really capturing my attention. (Okay, HBO's Entourage is pretty sweet, but that's an entirely different animal.) I'll keep watching.

Interview with the BSG writer who did the finale:
http://www.wizarduniverse.com/television/bsg/004103906.cfm

The interview discusses all of the elements of BSG Season 3, so don't read it if you don't want to be spoiled. The interview is, at least, clean with respect to discussion of future episodes. One thing that it mentions, that I wasn't aware of, is that there's some kind of two-part "special" (i.e., made-for-TV movie) that will appear "this fall", so we don't have to wait all the way until January at least.

Yeah, it's supposed to be a Pegasus story before they met up, but, if so, I don't understand how it's going to include the regular cast, which they say it will.

I started losing interest in it a while ago, but there were some good episodes mixed in. I just completely stopped watching after 'Maelstrom'. The others are recorded so I can go back and finish them, just haven't had the desire to, yet.

Thinking back, I think it was the mythology that turned me off of the show.

I agree. I think it's perfectly reasonable and interesting for religion to be a motivating force for the characters, and I think it's reasonable to explore their religion, but (at least in the context of the show as written so far) to expect the audience to start believing in it (within the context of the show, of course) is where I draw the line. I thought that they had done a really good job up to this point in letting the question remain open as to whether or not the religion was true, and, if it was, if in whole or in part. But they seem to have ruined that with this last episode.

I was referring more to the magical Earth Prime tune than anything else.

Spoiler:
Vg jbhyq or sne zber vagrerfgvat vs vg ghearq bhg gung gur Plybaf jrer gelvat gb pbaivapr gubfr crbcyr gung gurl jrer Plybaf engure guna npghnyyl univat gurz or Plybaf, ng yrnfg nf cerfragrq gb hf, ohg znal jevgref ba gur fubj unir fnvq: "ab, gurl'er ernyyl Plybaf". Vg jbhyq or rira pbbyre vs gurl jrer ylvat gb hf, ohg V qba'g guvax gung'f ernyyl gur pnfr.

I miss the first season, when it was 'deal with what was thrown at the survivors'. Since then, there were a few episodes like that, but they were the exceptions it seemed.

I really started to feel my interest wane as the series started focusing more on the events in the Bay Star (is that the correct name?) as opposed to the Galactica. That was when the focus shifted to more of the mythology as a central theme as opposed to a tertiary theme.

Spoiler:
V xvaq bs yvxr gur snpg gung nyy gur punenpgref jub unir unq _nal_ xvaq bs ivfvba ng nyy ner nyy Plybaf. Gur gubhtug gung gur znpuvarf arrq eryvtvba zber guna gur uhznaf vf na vagrerfgvat bar.

-Zeke

<I don't know how to do the ROT13/spoiler tag - so if a mod could help me?...>
Edit: done. It's [spoiler] and [/spoiler] -wfaulk

I'll bet that a big piece of the next season is getting into the origin of the humanoid Cylons. We don't really know where they came from. Were they derived from humans in the first place? Has there been much if any interaction between the Cylons (the major 7 or the mysterious 5) and the humans? What's with the two Cylon factions? And, what's up with the "plan" that's been mentioned in the title sequence for each and every episode? What, exactly, is the Cylon plan?

So far as I can tell, all of the mysteries set up at the end of Season 3 are designed to set up these sorts of questions being answered in Season 4.

Sorry to drag an old thread up, but I waited to read this one until I'd finished the first three seasons.

I thought the season 3 finale had an odd feeling to it, but it wasn't terrible. It didn't have a chance of matching season 2's. I didn't feel that the reveal of the four cylons was rushed, since we hadn't seen a new one all season long. I thought the choices were pretty interesting, too. I guess my question now would be: which cylon was D'Anna talking to in the temple? I suppose it would have to be the last remaining cylon or Tigh (she apologized to whoever it was). I'm also quite pleased with what I felt was the most important line of dialog in the finale, which was when Tigh said "what about Ellen?" This is intriguing. The other three could be planted fairly easily, even Anders (who was famous on Caprica, but he's pretty young, so it wouldn't have been tough to plant him). Tigh, on the other hand? How is that at all possible? I can't come up with any logical explanations.

So after watching all three seasons of the show, I'd definitely say that there are high points and low points, but I didn't see the drastic dip in quality that you were talking about, Bitt. There are probably more bad episodes in the last season, but the show is still good.

Overall, I see one area of the show that is a complete failure: every single romantic relationship. Seriously, these are the most poorly-written relationships I've ever seen on TV. The majority of them start instantly, and end (well, resolve) melodramatically. Case in point: the best established relationship on the show was between Billy and Dee. That one was ended tragically so that the most poorly written relationship on the show (Dee and Lee) could start. And it didn't even have a start to it. One minute she's completely devoted to Billy, the next she's eyeing Lee. It bugs me that the writers make these characters so fickle in their interpersonal relationships just to manufacture dramatic tension. It takes away from their credibility. I won't even go into the mess that is Starbuck. All I'll say is that apparently all it takes to get her to fall in love is a game of pyramid ball. Then she's hooked.

Aside from that, I've had few problems with the show. I might be blind to symbolism and metaphor, but I can't quite see the whole tie-in to the war in Iraq, and that's okay with me. I'm fine with being entertained.