Battlestar Galactica - Season Four

The fourth and final season of Battlestar Galactica was split in half by the writer's strike (and subsequently released that way on DVD), but to me half a season is stupid, so this post pertains to all of season four.

In last season's amazing finale, we had discovered all but one of the Cylons (or, rather, they discovered themselves) and ended with another reveal that wasn't necessarily all that surprising, but still cool. Now, as the series draws to a close, the crew is closer than ever to finding earth, the Galactica is falling apart, President Roslin's cancer is getting the best of her, humans cooperate with Cylons (though that war is not over), Cylon history - and the identity of the last model - is revealed, and a mutiny is started. Also, people die. Things have to get worse before they get better, and it sure makes for some great entertainment.

After certain events in the season, I started to form a theory that maybe everyone was a Cylon and there was no such thing as human beings. In one way it might have been a cool plot twist, but it also would have been a cop out and anyway I was wrong. It turned out that many events, apparently, were related to God. I guess I should have seen that coming, as religion has been a part of the series since the beginning (especially from the preachy, monotheistic Cylons), but it almost seems contradictory for God to play such a role in science-fiction. I'm not labeling that as a flaw, though; I like that it's something to set Battlestar Galactica apart from other sci-fi stories.

The finale, while maybe not exactly what I was expecting, was more wholly satisfying than, say, the series finale of Lost. While Lost's ending mainly serviced its characters and left several mysteries unsolved (still partly satisfying, though), I felt that Battlestar managed to do both. Some of its answers may be a bit vague, yes, but at least there are answers, and its ending waxed closer to mindblowing (but not quite) than I'd always hoped Lost's would. However, I didn't find it as moving as the Lost finale, so there's that. Still, it's been a wonderful journey with wonderful characters, and it's not over yet because I still have The Plan to watch, which I'm hoping will explain one specific plot point from the first season that has been bugging me all this time... More about that when I write that post.

Best Episode: "The Oath" and "Blood on the Scales", an exciting two-parter in which Gaeta and Tom Zarek start an uprising and take over the Galactica. I was kind of hoping the finale would top that one, but it didn't.