I'm Shocked and Awed

Spoilers!



It takes a big pair of brass balls to deconstruct the highest rated show on the SCI FI CHANNEL cable network, haven of geek fanboys like myself (and fangirls), then reconstruct it (we hope!) next season. After watching episode 220 the other night (twice) I'm convinced Ron Moore clanks when he walks. In his last podcast before this one, Moore promised that he and David Eick would be taking big risks and "betting the show" almost, on this finale. Furthermore, we will all likely hate them for it, and throw things at the wall.

Au contraire, Mr. Moore. I applaud you for the bravery and vision it takes to play iconoclast with your fanbase's sacred cows. If this show were written in the 70s, Laura Rosslyn would make a big stirring speech at the last second, and save the election. Nope, that's not how it happens in this universe. She resorts to voter fraud and tries to steal the election. And gets caught. And Baltar becomes president! Wow! Actually, that was hardly a surprise... the show has been dropping hints this way for a while. I don't fault the way the writers depict Rosslyn's reasons for doing it, as Baltar's presidency is so clearly a disaster for humanity's future. Unfortunately, only we, the unseen audience, seem to pick up on that. So the show makes the interesting choice of making exactly the wrong choice for humanity's future, with clearly disasterous results.

The Dean Stockwell reveal was unexpected, but not shocking. He's such a talented and flexible character actor, it's not hard to imagine him as a Cylon. I hope we see him again in Season 3. It's nice to know that Terrell isn't a cylon, at least (proven by Kaylie getting pregnant later, I suspect!).

Now we come to the difficult part, the time warp ahead by a year. That's the risk that Moore was alluding to, and it was a huge one. Usually this is a very weak device, the kind of thing the viewers associate with "it was alllll a dream" retrofits later. I hope Moore isn't stupid enough to pull this one on the viewers. He has held our respect so far, but that would be an idiotic ploy. I don't really MIND that the story took the colonization twist, wrong as it is, because I have always said that BG is a show about REAL HUMAN BEINGS, and human beings make a lot of mistakes. The colonization of Caprica 2 was a huge mistake, and it might have painted Moore into a corner, from the creative end of things. Far too many important characters are on the planet's surface when the Cyclon fleet lands to cut them off from the human fleet. Ty, Kara, Baltar, Anderson, Terrell, Kylie, Rosslyn, and most importantly, that danged Cylon hybrid baby are all on the planet's surface, and now in the hands of the Cylons.

There won't be much of a show, no strike that, there won't be a show at ALL, if the humans aren't rescued. Somehow. I suspect most of season 3 will explore this thread. Who knows? I think it really blows that we won't find out until October!