Toaster Finale

[silverscreenselect]

I enjoyed it. I thought it was a fitting end to a terrific show and probably the best way they could have wrapped the series up. They managed to tie up as many loose ends as possible, and I don't feel that there was any overt cheat. I hope that Lost manages similar cloture next year.

Spoiler

The two main things I enjoyed were the revelation that Starbuck was a ghost/angel whatever, although she obviously didn't know it herself until the very end (like Bruce Willis in Sixth Sense) and having the plot strand about Tory killing the Chief's wife come back at the exact right time. The Chief was my favorite character on the show and I really liked going through his ups and downs as the series progressed.

[tanstaafl2]

I enjoyed it. I thought it was a fitting end to a terrific show and probably the best way they could have wrapped the series up. They managed to tie up as many loose ends as possible, and I don't feel that there was any overt cheat. I hope that Lost manages similar cloture next year.

Spoiler

The two main things I enjoyed were the revelation that Starbuck was a ghost/angel whatever, although she obviously didn't know it herself until the very end (like Bruce Willis in Sixth Sense) and having the plot strand about Tory killing the Chief's wife come back at the exact right time. The Chief was my favorite character on the show and I really liked going through his ups and downs as the series progressed.

I kept my expectations low so that I would not be disappointed.

Spoiler

I was not disappointed. It met my low expectations but not much more. It wasn't really bad but it just didn't work for me. The battle scene was fine and like you I did like the plot revelation for the Chief and the TV-ishly convenient launch of the nukes. But once they got to "New Earth" they lost it for me. And that was most of the second half of the show. I am not entirely sure what would have made it better but after it being a mostly dark and bitter struggle the ending was just a little too light for me, right down to the cameo by Ron Moore at the end. Perhaps a dark and bitter end would have worked better for me but probably not for most people. Have them find new earth at some point in the near future just as we are about to start the same mistakes all over again or something.

I did like that the Prez died, anything else would not have worked. But I did not buy that the remaining humans would so easily buy into the notion that they would spread out across the planet and start anew with little or no technology.

I also did not care for the ghost/angel/whatever theme and the way it remained completely unexplained in even the most remote fashion, especially given the appearance of "ghost Gaius", presumably Caprica's companion, and counterpart to "ghost Caprica" lo these many season but never seen before. Which may be why the final scene didn't work for me.

I also found the wrap up of the Kara Thrace character unsatisfying but not unexpected. Clearly she was something else since she disappeared and returned as had been set up in the story but it came across as "Starbuck H. Christ with a bad case of amnesia" in the end and not in a good way. And she had some sort of link going all the way back to childhood that suggests this same savior theme. I dunno, maybe it would have been better if she finally had an awareness of her role at the end. Didn't buy the "divine whatever" theme set out by Gaius in his little speech at the end of the battle that presumably was guiding her from the start and they just never satisfactorily connected that dot. No doubt a reflection of my own lack of belief in a divine whatever I suppose.

[silverscreenselect]

Spoiler

I also did not care for the ghost/angel/whatever theme and the way it remained completely unexplained in even the most remote fashion, especially given the appearance of "ghost Gaius", presumably Caprica's companion, and counterpart to "ghost Caprica" lo these many season but never seen before. Which may be why the final scene didn't work for me.

I also found the wrap up of the Kara Thrace character unsatisfying but not unexpected. Clearly she was something else since she disappeared and returned as had been set up in the story but it came across as "Starbuck H. Christ with a bad case of amnesia" in the end and not in a good way. And she had some sort of link going all the way back to childhood that suggests this same savior theme. I dunno, maybe it would have been better if she finally had an awareness of her role at the end. Didn't buy the "divine whatever" theme set out by Gaius in his little speech at the end of the battle that presumably was guiding her from the start and they just never satisfactorily connected that dot. No doubt a reflection of my own lack of belief in a divine whatever I suppose.

Spoiler

The ghost/angel Baltar did appear on one earlier episode a couple of seasons ago talking to Caprica when she was held captive. And frankly, considering the amount of spirituality they injected into this show all throughout, I do't think there was any way they could have wrapped it up without some spiritual/supernatural elements.

If anyone deserved a happy ending (of sorts), these people did. It worked for me (and last week's flashbacks also were tied up well, which makes sense if you consider the entire finale a three hour whole instead of separate one and two hour parts.

[tanstaafl2]

Spoiler

I also did not care for the ghost/angel/whatever theme and the way it remained completely unexplained in even the most remote fashion, especially given the appearance of "ghost Gaius", presumably Caprica's companion, and counterpart to "ghost Caprica" lo these many season but never seen before. Which may be why the final scene didn't work for me.

I also found the wrap up of the Kara Thrace character unsatisfying but not unexpected. Clearly she was something else since she disappeared and returned as had been set up in the story but it came across as "Starbuck H. Christ with a bad case of amnesia" in the end and not in a good way. And she had some sort of link going all the way back to childhood that suggests this same savior theme. I dunno, maybe it would have been better if she finally had an awareness of her role at the end. Didn't buy the "divine whatever" theme set out by Gaius in his little speech at the end of the battle that presumably was guiding her from the start and they just never satisfactorily connected that dot. No doubt a reflection of my own lack of belief in a divine whatever I suppose.

Spoiler

The ghost/angel Baltar did appear on one earlier episode a couple of seasons ago talking to Caprica when she was held captive. And frankly, considering the amount of spirituality they injected into this show all throughout, I do't think there was any way they could have wrapped it up without some spiritual/supernatural elements.

If anyone deserved a happy ending (of sorts), these people did. It worked for me (and last week's flashbacks also were tied up well, which makes sense if you consider the entire finale a three hour whole instead of separate one and two hour parts.

Spoiler

Yes, it seems clearly intended as a 3 hour finale. It was also clear the spiritual elements have been a major factor for some time but it was a part that never really worked well for me to begin with and they kind of left it lying there like a flounder at the end as well to me. If they were going to make that pivotal to the story I kind of wanted them to have more meaning at the end. Or perhaps I just missed it. As I said the final scene in NYC in particular didn't work for me. I do kind of recall the earlier appearance of the Gaius ghost now that you mention it.

I agree the flashbacks were tied up well, just not sure I saw the point of them to begin with. They led the people in question to where they were by the end. I just thought that perhaps they could have used that time to have perhaps done more with the end. I suppose I felt the notion of the colonists spreading across the earth at the end and guiding the development of the planet to some degree also just didn't work for me. And that was obviously key to whether one liked or didn't like the end.

Seemed a bit like the end of Dvořák's ninth symphony. The Finale is one of my favorite pieces of music but I don't care for the very end. I think I understand why it is like it is but I still never cared for it.