Longest Four Seasons Ever

Battlestar Galactica comes to an end on Friday. I think all four seasons took something like 6 years to play out if you include the mini-series. Year long breaks in the middle of seasons are an exercise in patience.

Warning: If you're behind on the series, beyond here be spoilers, and I'm not changing the text colour.




But now they have two hours to explain and resolve a load of stuff. Who is Starbuck? What will become of Anders? Does anybody live? Why is Hera so important? Will there be piece? Will it turn out Cavil is a hologram from the future who's really helping his friend Sam figure out what to do so that his next leap may be the leap home? Why was Ellen so pissed that Tigh slept with a six? She was frakking Cavil on New Caprica.

Anyway, there's loads of speculation out there I'm sure. I haven't really read much. In any other series, one might expect everyone just barely survives and soldiers on, but with BSG, the possibility of 90% of everyone important dying is very likely. There are so few television tragedies these days, that it might be welcome.

I have little original to add to the discussion, but something struck me while I was sitting on the thinking chair. I'll assume the final episode starts with a quick brush off of the fleet, with the quorum in charge and maybe the Basestar as the only means of defence (unless it goes with Galactica. I'm assuming the old girl's going into one last battle). Then comes some strategizing, reminiscing, moral questioning, self-doubt, redemption, and some ass-kicking space battles.

The real question is - who lives and who dies? On a macro scale, do the Cylons die? Do the humans? If the Cylons die, do all of them go? Or just the Cavil-lead ones? Do the original 5 sacrifice themselves?

I only see one reason for staging the final episode on the edge of a black hole's event horizon -- someone's going in. I imagine that somehow, Galactica & crew will get the Cylon fleet over the edge, but may have to sacrifice themselves to do it. Final scene? The Cylons and Galactica getting pulled towards the oblivion. Of course, with Galactica barely holding together as it is, I imagine it may get torn apart.

Another thought - Cylon goop in the bones of the ship... does this mean they maybe don't get recognized by the sensors right away? Or confuse the centurions?

Or maybe it all ends with everyone getting along an discovering that love and faith are truly the answers that will bring peace and prosperity to both races. After all, those have been the primary themes throughout the series... oh, and family.