BSG: The End
I know things have been TV/Film-heavy around here this week, but I can’t help it if so many of my favorite shows & flicks are either coming soon or coming to an end.
In the case of Battlestar Galactica, it’s sadly the latter. Quite literally, in the last few episodes, as we see the ship coming apart at the seams…er, bulkheads. ‘Daybreak’ is hour 1 in a promised 3 hour finale that will conclude next week and undoubtedly polarize the BSG fanbase, no matter what the final solution might be.
In many ways, I’m hoping some aspects of the story are left ambiguous. Give us too many answers, and we’ll undoubtedly find them unsatisfactory in comparison to what we’ve created in our own heads. On the other hand, give too few answers and you risk viewers feeling cheated or tricked. I don’t envy the writers, honestly, because they have quite a lot of story to cram into 3 hours. How do you find a tidy way to tie together 4 years of some of the strongest and most satisfying storytelling seen in science-fiction television (or any television, really)? I find myself daunted at the mere thought of it, but then again, I’m no writer.
I’m not getting hyperbolic here, either. This show really is as good as I’m letting on. If you’ve never watched it, or have stayed away because of the stigma of the original 70s show & its special brand of space campiness, or you just generally don’t go for Sci-Fi, you should do yourself a favor and pick up the DVD sets and catch up. There is much more to be found in any given episode of BSG than robots & spaceships. This series is about life in a post-9/11 world, where ethics and traditional morality are constantly tested or questioned. BSG puts a spotlight on the dangers of blind faith, regardless of whether it’s being placed in religious or secular authorities. It’s an honest reflection of the modern world, warts and all. Warning for the faint-of-heart: This is a very dark show about how we define our humanity.
That’s not to say there are *never* any happy endings or satisfying resolutions. There are. But like ‘the real world’, they tend to be few and far between. In terms of the upcoming conclusion, I think I’d like some semblance of a happy ending, at least in terms of some of the individual character arcs. Then again, the motto of this show right from the start has been ‘This has happened before and will happen again’, so maybe expecting humanity to learn from its own mistakes is an unrealistic expectation in this particular journey. We’ll see next week.
This whole subject had me thinking about TV finales and how many failed or how many succeeded, for me. I thought about it long and hard, and here’s what might comprise my personal list of ‘Favorite Curtain Calls’:
Quantum Leap – ‘Mirror Image’
Despite the fact that some saw it as bleak, I felt it was the only way it could have ended. Sam was all about self-sacrifice, and sometimes being the hero means you don’t get the happy ending. Wouldn’t a worse message have been that he’d only been helping everyone to achieve a reward?
Star Trek: The Next Generation – ‘All Good Things’
I think this is probably one of the best finales in TV history, honestly. It bookended the series nicely, and like the best of Star Trek (and scifi in general) gave us a mind-bending plotline while still grounding it all in strong character moments. I could have done without Worf kissing Troi, admittedly.
Angel – ‘Not Fade Away’
Controversial, I know, but another show that I felt couldn’t have ended any other way. Having forfeited his ultimate reward, Angel continues to fight the good fight in the face of certain defeat.
Most disappointing:
Cheers – ‘One For The Road’
A pointless, pointless visit through Sam Malone’s love life. In the end, none of it mattered, because everything was exactly the same as it was at the start.
X-Files – ‘The Truth’
The show had gone for roughly 3 years too many, and the whole ‘trial’ felt forced and contrived. Nothing satisfying about this mess, at all. Thank goodness we’d had 6 solid years before this.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer – ‘Chosen’
I know, I know. I loved Buffy, too! But Season 7 was a muddled mess, and so was the finale. While Spike’s heroic death and the realization that now every potential was a Slayer really worked, the return of The First (along with its questionable and seemingly ever-changing master plan) & the last-minute inclusion of Caleb coupled with Anya’s *incredibly* pointless death made this a pretty disappointing capper, for me. Oh, and Angel appears for about 5 minutes to talk about cookies.
What TV shows would make it to your Favorite Curtain Calls?
Can – TV Spot
Belle & Sebastian – 04 – Like Dylan In The Movies
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Tags: nerd related, TV
I agree with you on the Angel and Buffy finales. Angel was pretty epic but Buffy was so lackluster. I didn’t like the idea of the potentials becoming full slayers though.
Well, I think in terms of the ‘grrrl power’ message of the whole show, the potentials becoming full-fledged Slayers was very satisfying. If the show had continued, it would have been pretty disappointing, dramatically.
I agree with your take on Angel and Buffy. I think Angel was one of the best finales, but my two all-time favorite series finales were My So-Called Life and Freaks & Geeks.
Normally, I’m like ‘wow, Sean is a mind reader and that’s what I was thinking’. But how can you say Buffy didn’t end well? The ending gave me chills it was so good. I was sitting there, crying, clutching the couch cushions and wishing the Buffy universe was real because I would soooo be a slayer after Willow cast her spell. Despite some of the things you said, we can still be friends.
Haha. Well, I will still be your friend even though I think you’re totally wrong! ;) Nah, I mean, I think I admire what it TRIED to do, but no, they just tried to cram too much story into 42 minutes. It should have been 2 hours, with what they had going on. And the super Vampire things were lame-o, because the first one was basically the hardest thing to kill, then they were total wimps. The Potentials were fighting them before they even had powers! That whole season was just so uneven. And it’s sad, because it has 2 of my favorite episodes ever – ‘Lies My Parents Told Me’ and ‘Conversations With Dead People’. Although the 2nd one kind of annoys me, if only because they left it totally unanswered. It couldn’t have actually been The First, because it physically assaulted Dawn, and The First was all about not having physical form. Blah. Just another dangling thread!
It’s probably unfair to call it one of the worst, but over the years it has ended up pissing me off more and more. Plus, compared to Angel’s finale it’s just so wishy-washy.
Yeah I’ll give you all that. There were a lot of holes. And it definitely should have been 2 hours for the finale. You know what always bugged me, is that when Jasmine had her spell on LA and then there’s the first about to take over Sunnydale, what if the good guys lost on either side? How would those two evils have co-existed? Have you been reading the comics? Joss continued Angel and Buffy…I’m not really loving it though. The direction he’s taken both is a little confusing.