BSG: Battlestar Galactica, Daybreak Part 2 (1 of 2)
Caution: spoilers for “Daybreak, Part 2″ (4.20)
I am finally writing up my post-second-viewing report of the Battlestar Galactica series finale. My initial reaction to the episode was not wholeheartedly positive. The second viewing was not as painful because I knew what was coming. I was mentally and emotionally prepared for this type of ending.
One of the great things about this show was that it didn’t stick to the conventions of any one genre or subject matter.
So really, going in, the ending of such a series could have been almost anything.
I, personally, was not prepared for the second half of Daybreak, Part 2. But, just because it isn’t my ending, it doesn’t make it an illegitimate one.
And that’s what I accepted on my second time through. The creators had their vision. It probably meshes with the series as a whole. My preference would have been to go another way with the conclusion, but that’s not my main point of contention.
I didn’t like, in the last forty or so minutes, what felt like a break in tone and structure with the rest of the run. I’ll get to that later.
In the meantime, let’s try to go somewhat in order.
Hour One
The first hour, in my opinion, was extremely well done. Sure I have some nitpicks, but as an action hour—I’m rating it thumbs up.
Roslin and Cottle
I have to single out this beautiful scene. Mary McDonnell, yet once again (c’mon Emmys!), nailed it to the wall. I thought that this was the exit scene for Cottle, and it was just the right note for him too. My first tears of the finale go here.
At this point, I thought we were going to have two entire hours of awesome.
Nitpick: I don’t understand how they can just randomly name a president. Although, Lee’s been randomly president a couple of times so the fleet did set this precedence.
Around the Horn
I loved this sequence. It showed the plan without ten minutes of standing around a model board spewing exposition. It allowed the action to play out and for me to experience the plan in (semi-)real time. Great mood setter as well. Death and destruction are eminent. Got it.
Battle Sequence
Holy cow, that point blank range bombardment was truly horrible and terrifying. It made me want to scream.
Nitpick: The two shown jumps—the Raptors from aboard Galactica and Galactic itself—should have resulted in more damage. After all the trouble they went to to emphasize Boomer’s jump away with Hera, I would have liked to have seem a more consistent presentation on this point.
Racetrack
Man, Racetrack should have stayed in the brig. You don’t get to go in weapons hot without authorization from above. You don’t go in nukes hot in an asteroid field.
Nitpick: What the hell were the eight nukes supposed to do? Did all the other Raptors have nukes too? What if an asteroid hit a Raptor and exploded the weapons. The entire squad would have been wiped out. Pointless part of the plan.
Nitpick: Why were the assault teams not using explosive rounds? They were so effective in that one episode where Centurions boarded Galactica.
Boomer
I don’t remember what happened to Boomer’s family. Why was the service all she had?
I thought Boomer’s end was appropriate. Sometimes life is a series of corridors. You just keep choosing your paths until you run out of choices. Boomer knew where she ended up and that this was her end.
Opera House
The opera house sequence was amazing. I was on the edge of my seat. It was beautiful and felt revelatory.
I really wish Tory had been used more this half season. It seems like the show just gave up on her.
Nitpick: The opera house sequence led us to the CIC showdown. Baltar suggests that God or something fantastic planted signposts and dreams and messengers along the way to lead them all to that moment.
I can buy that. Except—right on the verge of peace, right at the moment of … if not reconciliation than at least détente, a random, entropic quirk of the universe blows it all to hell.
Even if the Cylons didn’t start shooting, Racetrack’s nukes still would have deployed. Galactica still would have had to jump away and the Colony still would have gone into the black hole.
I don’t understand this. Is god not able to foresee this event? Is god cruel enough to lead them all on a mythic quest only to laugh at its pointless end?
Or is it really all about Starbuck? Perhaps it doesn’t matter what the others choose to do. Maybe the real point is to get Hera to (new) earth and to do so, Starbuck needed to get to a place where she had to stop thinking and doubting and just trust her instincts.
I don’t like that I had to stretch so much to get to a sensible resolution that may exist only in my head. For all the prophetic elements acting on all these people, the end result came down to a hunk of rock and a dead person who shouldn’t have had active nukes anyway? Boo!
So yes, I am disappointed in the resolution of this particular over-arching storyline. But, given the overall execution and the emotional trueness of this first hour, I can accept this.
And since this is getting very long, I’ll save Part 2 of my write-up for a different day.
See you on the other side.
[...] Continued from Sunday’s Part 1. [...]
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Overall, not a bad review. However, I did see flaws in your nitpicks. If I may?
Nitpick: The two shown jumps—the Raptors from aboard Galactica and Galactic itself—should have resulted in more damage. After all the trouble they went to to emphasize Boomer’s jump away with Hera, I would have liked to have seem a more consistent presentation on this point.
While you do bring up an interesting point with how little damage to the pod was shown as a result of the jump, I think that it would have slowed down the action just a bit if there was an elaboration on this. Remember, most of the Galactica’s structural failure came after her final jump. Therefore, while it did show some damage from the in-pod FLT jump, the overall effect was better shown after the final jump.
Nitpick: What the hell were the eight nukes supposed to do? Did all the other Raptors have nukes too? What if an asteroid hit a Raptor and exploded the weapons. The entire squad would have been wiped out. Pointless part of the plan.
Actually, the Raptors were ordered to go hot when they were within range of The Colony. However, it was Racetrack who decided to go ahead of schedule so that she’d be ready when the time came. But, I do agree with you, having the nukes hot would make for a dangerous situation if her Raptor were destroyed as a result of the collision. But, in any case, and yes, the other Raptors were armed with nukes as well, if the others followed orders to wait until they were in range of The Colony before activating their warheads, a collision would not set off a nuclear detonation (similar incidents have occured on Earth in reality which resulted in no nuke detonation).
Nitpick: Why were the assault teams not using explosive rounds? They were so effective in that one episode where Centurions boarded Galactica.
This is a good question. It is unlikely that the assault teams would use explosive rounds in their assault on The Colony. The reason for this is, the Cylon satellite had already sustained a direct impact from Galactica’s crashing into it, which resulted in structural rupturing. Therefore, the overall integrety of The Colony would be in jeapordy since the Galactica had weakened it. Therefore, if an accidental explosive charge or round were discharged within The Colony, the rest of the satellite would likely suffer complete failure, thus everyone would die and likely destroy the Galactica with it.
“I don’t remember what happened to Boomer’s family. Why was the service all she had?”
Remember, Boomer had no real family because she was a Cylon. Prior to discovering her real self, she had thought she was from Troy, which was on Caprica. These were implanted memories for her role as an infiltrator. So, in retrospect, the service (to the Cylons) was all she had.
Now, finally, let me cover God for you. God, in the BSG universe, is more of something that is believed in. But, without proof of His or Her existence. This is like the Judeo-Christian God (or any other deity worshiped here on Earth). Our gods on Earth no more interfere with things than those of the BSG universe. The reason for this is, everyone has the right to make his or her decisions. That is the basis of Judeo-Christian belief and similarly those of the BSG gods.
There are many unanswered questions, that is for sure. Was it all about Starbuck, as you have questioned? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But, one thing is for certain, we may get the answers in either Caprica or BSG: The Plan.
Thanks for writing, D. Slaughter! Nitpicks are meant to be picked at themselves.
Good point about the warheads not being dangerous unless they are primed, but I still don’t think they were necessary. If Galactica was going to blow the Colony after it left, they would have done better to keep a Raptor out of the fray with the specific purpose of shooting after the escape. Putting nukes on all those Raptors seems foolhardy.
Plus, I didn’t know they even had all those nukes. They made such a big deal about giving Baltar the one.
The thing with the Raptors jumping from aboard Galactica is that the show didn’t have to have it this way. The writers could have scripted it that Galactica crashes in. Vipers and Raptors launch. Raptors jump away.
It would have been less immediate, but it would have been stronger continuity-wise.
I take your points about the Colony being unstable. I guess the size difference between it and Galactica made me think it was more safe than it probably really was.
I fully agree that each character still had to make his/her own choices, but when there are guiding “angels” harping at your every move, I think that holds a lot of influence. I would even consider it stacking the deck. That’s, of course, my personal opinion.
Thanks for visiting!
Forgot to add: I don’t even remember who said that about Boomer. I think it was when everyone thought she was human though.
About the Raptors jumping:
The jump literally blew open the flight pod. As in, it was totally destroyed. Most likely that damage was the reason it was unable to retract, which led to the massive damage that resulted from their emergency jump. And in Someone To Watch Over Me, Tigh was saying the jump would “rip out her guts” if the flight pod was to be retracted and put inside the ship. The raptors didn’t jump until it had already been put out.
MP, I’m not able to go back and review the footage yet, but since there seems to be a certain level of comfort with how this aspect of the show was portrayed, I’m willing to rethink my objections.
I distinctly remember seeing the jump flashes through the glass-like enclosure of the flight pods, and I still think that the damage inflicted by Boomer’s one jump should have been appropriately multiplied by however many Raptors there were.
In my original approximation, that effect should have blown the arm away and practically the entire hull on that side. That amount of structural damage would have “sunk” Galactica independent of any actual broadside battle damage.
However, I’ll wait for the dvd and take another look.