Sunday, February 28, 2010

BSG final episode- its worth repeating

The final two hours of Battlestar Galactica were amazing. There was an exciting final battle between the humans and the remaining cylons who wanted to exterminate the humans. The ramming of the giant ship into the cylon base was epic. The special effects were far superior to anything I can remember on television. It is important to remember that this done by the humans to rescue one little girl. It also spelled the death of the BSG. Its ageing and creaking body was teetering on the brink of destruction. Seeing its bulwarks fly into space with the resulting release of oxygen was, if you will pardon the pun, breathtaking. The final scenes took place on a new world, which looked, not so surprisingly, earthlike. Aside from the plot itself, BSG ended with several wonderful themes. The first was that the relationship between Adama and Roslin was deep and abiding. She died in his care, with a look of peace and joy on her face. I cannot remember the last time that we have unashamedly shared the love affair of two people over 50 years old. The second is that we learned that Starbuck, and the projections of Baltar, and Caprica were supernatural beings akin to angels. Their influence, both good and bad, on the final outcome of the journey of the humans and cylons was profound. Third, the planet itself was green and lush, a sharp contrast to the darkness of the BSG itself. Fourth, we learned that the terrible experience of the war so profoundly affected the main characters that they chose to be alone, even as they found their garden of eden. Adama wanted to be beside his fallen lover, alone, rather than be with his son. Adama had shouldered the burden of keeping the human race alive and he seemed existentially worn out and battered. He both chose and deserved his solace. He reached his goal of a new place to live, but it came at such a high price to his self-esteem, his pride, his spirit, and his view of what he was as a person. I regret that this show is over. It held up a mirror to the human experience. It held up a mirror for me to reflect on my battles with my personal cylons and how those battles extracted their pound of flesh from me. Maybe we are all Adama, but maybe we all are fortunate to have the angels showing us the way and propping us up. At least I hope so.

1 comment:

  1. I regret the show is over also. I miss it a lot. It was rich at every level, psychological, ethical, spiritual. I did love the end, despite crying quite a lot from it. The emotional built up was strong and while I have reservations about abandoning all technology to settle (I wonder how long they would last that way practically), I could really see how they wanted to live in the moment and enjoy the nature they missed so much.
    I saw myself in Laura, struggling to survive, facing illness (although not as deadly as hers), stubborn in her goals, yet opening enough to have her own epiphany, starting to understand the nature of "humanness" and opening her heart to love and understanding.

    So I completely agree with you Dr. Ford.
    So say we all!

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