**WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD**
I’m not ashamed in the least to admit that I’d looked forward to last night’s return of Battlestar Galactica for months. Indeed, I planned my Friday night around it, and I don’t do that for just any TV show. (I think the last time I was so devoted was back in high school when Twin Peaks had me glued to the set each week.)
After an excellent first and second season, BSG’s third season lost me a bit. Some of the stand-alone episodes, where the story drifted off to matters of union rights in the Colonial fleet and the like, my interest waned. I wanted the show to get back on track – the search for Earth and the unmasking of the final five human model Cylons.
Then the season three finale shocker – four of the final Cylons (apparently) revealed. Tory. Anders. Chief Tyrol. And the biggest Cylon-hater of them all, Col. Tigh. All very surprising, to the characters as well as the audience – and I’ll admit I was more than a little upset to see that my favourite character, the lovable Chief, was one of the bad guys. How could it be so?!
Fast-forward many months to the first episode in the fourth and final season, which aired Friday night on Sci-Fi Network in the U.S. and Space in Canada.
While the four struggle to come to grips with their new Cylon selves (although I’m still in denial about that), the focus of the episode was the sudden reappearance of Starbuck, aka Kara Thrace, apparently back from the dead. Or at least someone (or something) that looks, acts, and curses just like her. In last season's finale, during an intense battle against the Cylons, Lee Adama took off after a rogue ship only to find out that it was a Colonial Viper and the pilot none other than Starbuck. Lee could hardly believe his eyes given that he saw her ship blow up two months prior. She claimed she’d been to Earth, the planet the fleet has long been searching for and the place they hope to one day call home, and promised to lead the way.
Katee Sackhoff as Starbuck in a scene from Battlestar Galactica
The problem is, aside from Lee who’s ecstatic to see her, no one else believes it’s actually her, including President Laura Roslin and Lee’s father Admiral Bill Adama. They all think it’s a Cylon trick, and given Starbuck’s less-than-credible story and the myriad of discrepancies between her experience and what the fleet believes to be true, it’s hard not to see why. They continue on their current course, even though Starbuck tells them they’re going the wrong way, away from Earth.
Meanwhile, Dr. Gaius Baltar, found not guilty of treason, is still despised by 99 per cent of the fleet, with the exception of a small band of souls who seem to believe he’s some kind of spiritual leader. They provide him with safe haven and vow to protect him from any attackers, which there are bound to be given the kind of vitriol he inspires.
In the final minutes of Friday's episode Starbuck, gun in hand, faces down Roslin over the fate of the fleet – is she mad enough to shoot or does she just want to have a girl-to-girl chat? We’ll have to wait a week to find out.
As far as season openers go, it was compelling but not jaw-droppingly good. Definitely an improvement over the cerebral stuff of season three, but not quite as action-packed and dramatic as most season two episodes were. The most interesting storyline for my money is the new Cylons and how they’re going to cope with what they are. In the episode's most exciting moment a Cylon raider turns around to attack a Viper piloted by Anders, but it senses something in Anders, some kind of Cylon recognition code I guess, and turns around. A moment later the whole Cylon attack ceases and they take off.
Will Anders and the other three remain loyal to the Colonials or will they switch sides? Tigh, already a damaged soul over the death of his wife Ellen, whom he killed for apparently conspiring with the Cylons, for now appears to be steadfastly loyal to Adama; Tyrol, married to Cally with a half human-half Cylon child, seems in disbelief about the revelation and doesn't want the secret to get out; and Tory, who's in an interesting position as one of the President’s most trusted advisors.
Of course we’re all still guessing who will be revealed as the 12th and final human model Cylon. Place your bets now – I’m guessing it’s got to be someone big, like one of the Adamas, or Baltar.
All in all an interesting first episode with glimpses of what's to come - I just hope that with a definitive end in sight, the creators do the brilliant show justice and wrap it up in a compelling way that fits with everything that's come before. So much of what we've seen thus far in BSG has been amazing - I hope the final episodes at least match if not improve on the past.
Any thoughts on the season opener or who you think the final Cylon is? Post a comment below.
Battlestar Galactica airs Fridays at 10pm ET, Sci Fi (U.S.)/Space (Cda)
Posted by Cate Jones
Agree? Disagree? Email Cate at criticizecate@gmail.com
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