Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Sometimes a Great Notion

Finally Battlestar Galactica has returned. There's only ten episodes left, and if this episode is anything to go by, we in for a dark, twisted and stunning conclusion to the series.

(needless to say, spoliers follow)

BSG has always been refreshing to me in the way it avoids the happy ending, avoids cliches and avoid the PC-ness of Trek and Stargate. It's about time (television) science fiction grew up and presented us with real characters in real situations, and that's what BSG does so well.

Who saw Dee's suicide coming? The writer's said that the thing they were told over and over when interviewing suicide victims was that it came to a suprise to the people closest to them. Having now watched the episode a second time, the signs are all there, especially in the first mostly wordless minutes of the episode. Clearly this must be rock bottom for many of this characters, given that they have pinned their hopes over the past three and a half years on finding that little blue planet, only now to find that dream shattered.

The other revelations of the episode are equally as stunning, and what I like best about them all is that we are learning these with a further nine episodes to go. Instead of the final cylon reveal being a cheap trick to end the series, this way it feels more integral and makes more sense within the show's universe. It also means there is now the space and time to bring these characters to a satisfying conclusion. Let's hope they can pull it off.

In other news, there's also Caprica, Dollhouse, Box Sliding Cats and Obama's Inauguration.

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