It’s strange how many good things are a matter of degrees. Tenacity is good, obsession is bad. Ambition is good, but ambition at the expense of others is also bad.
Then you get the murky ones. When does hope become a bad thing? How can you tell the difference between that and desperation?
Throughout Islanded we see people hold out for hope. Galactica seems to be in its death throes and all the Cylon goop has done is bring out the frustration in the joint Cylon-human repair crews. Then the tragedy happens.
Adama tries desperately to cling to the ladies he loves most. He’s not willing to let go, but it’s not up to him, Laura reminds him gently. For now she is content to be at his side, feeling at home.
Home isn’t the happiest place with the Agathons. Helo is hoping for forgiveness from Athena for mistaking her for Boomer, then settles for her hating him. But she won’t give him that either. Later Helo confronts Adama to let him go search for Hera. When he won’t let him do it, Helo accuses Adama of fixating on the past with the ship and ignoring the future with Hera.
Boomer gets in touch with her lost humanity when she bonds with Hera. I really love this whole bit because it could have been played for laughs but there’s a real poignant loneliness to it. The house is empty and barren as the one Tyrol saw.
Kara’s sick of feeling empty and finally implores Baltar to do some research into who or what she is. Perhaps hope that she really isn’t dead. Baltar gets a homecoming of sorts as he ventures back to the world of science and medicine he left behind. Just like home, indeed.
Even if what Baltar does with the findings is insensitive and intrusive–and, really, who’d be surprised by that?–it may turn out to lead where the entire episode seems to be going–acceptance.
Lee just accepts Kara for who she is, angel, demon, or whatever. Kara at first wants to simply put a bullet in his head, poignantly calling back to her hard-assed threat. But instead begins to see that while Anders is a hybrid, he may be the key to what happens next. Maybe this was their destiny all along.
It’s interesting how much that plays into the story here. Adama swears off all talk about fate and destiny yet after the funeral when he has a chance to say good-bye to the lives lost, he is willing to accept the doomed fate of his ship. But at least he can choose to send it out in a blaze of glory.
I’m glad Eddie Olmos got to direct one of the last episodes. His style and his bombast to me seem more suited for movies, so we’ll see how his BSG film turns out. It’s because of that that I was kind of pulled out of the story in the second half. The first half was a masterstroke of understatement and abstract emotion. The way Galactica was superimposed on the people who meant the most to Adama was effective until it was overdone. And then this wouldn’t be an Olmos episode without Adama suffering an emotional bottoming out. You could design a drinking game around it.
I much preferred the quieter moments, especially the end where we think that Tigh is going into Sir Alec territory with his “blow up the BRIDGE?!” panic. Part of me was thinking that Tigh would forcefully oppose Adama in this until Adama handed him a drink in effect shutting him up. Funny how booze makes accepting a lot easier.
We’re coming to the end, finally. Strange thing about penultimates. You don‘t want the show to end but if it is you want the show to get on with it regardless. That’s how this felt. Bittersweet, but somewhat strung out. If it’s gonna go out with a bang, bang-on, I say. I don’t want to string out the mourning any more than I have to either. ’Cause God knows after this show is over, we’re gonna frakking feel it for a long, long time. No amount of Capricas could hope to fill that void.
Watching the entire series finale at Alamo Drafthouse on Friday. Will post thoughts and finish it off with “Sometimes a Great Notion” in next couple of weeks.
TallGent
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