Battlestar Galactica, Season 4.5 (2008)

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Rated: TVMA

Reviewer: Charity Bishop

The final season of the hit sci-fi series promised to bring about a satisfying conclusion to the characters we have grown to know and love. Leading up to the emotional finale, we bid farewell to various individuals and also discover the answer to questions that have haunted us since the beginning...

Nothing about Earth is as they expected: devastated and uninhabitable from a nuclear war 2,000 years earlier, the exhausted and demoralized members of the fleet know their search for a new home must continue. Admiral Adama (Edward James Olmos) and President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell) must find the strength to deal with diminishing morale and increasing hopelessness among the people, some of whom find comfort in the words of wisdom spouted by the self-appointed religious leader, Gaius Baltar (James Callis). Incapable of dealing with her own despair and loss of faith, Roslin unofficially resigns her position and goes into hiding on board Galactica. Her absence and the uneasy alliance with the Rebel Cylons creates uncertainty among the members of the fleet and provides an opportunity for a bold, violent attempt by the vice president and a senior officer on board the battleship to seize power. In the meantime, four of the legendary Five Cylons are still dealing with the aftermath of their identities being made known...

Colonel Tigh (Michael Hogan) has buried the grief of losing his wife in having a child with Caprica Six (Tricia Helfer), whose pregnancy is complicated and the hope of both races -- a mythical happening, the union of two Cylons producing Life. Sharon (Grace Park) continues to experience eerie premonitions that she may lose her daughter, the firstborn Human-Cylon child. Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff) also begins to question her own humanity when she finds evidence on Earth that implies she died there long ago. But in the coming weeks, the revelation of the identify of the last unknown Cylon will change everything forever...

I had been told that the last season was not as good as the first and where that may be true in terms of plotting, there are some truly great episodes, perhaps the finest in sci-fi history. Two different multi-episode arcs take us on an emotional journey and make us realize just how much certain individuals mean to us. One is the battle for Galactica, and the second is the satisfying finale. Maybe its success is owed in part to the exploration at long last of the Roslin and Adama relationship, which has deepened from friendship into something more profound -- but at the same time, the friendship between Tigh and Adama is the centerpiece of the series, and more than once brought tears to my eyes. Not everyone lives to the end and the discovery of a new Earth, and some that do make it bid quiet farewells in the final moments. One of the hardest scenes for me to watch was the execution of a secondary character for attempted treason. That has always been the show's strong point, its handling of difficult choices and controversial themes, implying that sometimes the right thing is neither pleasant nor easy.

There are some absurd moments and certain actions are never fully explained (such as why one character would commit suicide) but also moments of genius, such as the moment we understand the concept of Cylon projection (it was implied before but never addressed) and come to grasp the meaning behind the dreams that Caprica, Roslin, and Sharon share. I will admit that aspects of this season are devastating to watch, particularly as we see one character consumed by the cancer that is killing her. Watching a woman go from strong, passionate, and determined to one too weak to stand without assistance is heartbreaking, both a devastating reminder of our own humanity and a quiet homage to many of the women who have faced the same life-altering challenge. The acting is magnificent. The writing is tight and full of surprises. It has a few content concerns but not as many as I anticipated. The language is what we have been accustomed to, with frequent use of the vulgarity "frak," sometimes combined with "mother" or used to describe a certain physical action ("who are you frakking?"). There is frequent abuse of the deities, as "oh my gods" has become standard by now, as has "gods d**n." Other profanities and insults intrude.

The violence includes some blood, but mostly shootings and explosions. One major character is shot in the head and survives; another shoots herself in the head (we hear the gun go off, and see blood spatter the wall behind her before she drops); Starbuck finds a rotting corpse on Earth. Executions are carried out (implied, not graphically depicted). Cylons and humans are both mowed down under gunfire. There are a few fistfights; a man strangles a woman out of revenge. There's one graphic sex scene between Boomer and Sharon's husband (he doesn't realize it's not Sharon); we (and Sharon) watch and listen to it from behind a bathroom stall door (we see some movement and hear moaning); other scenes imply sex (Tigh and a woman start to undress, and she later references having "made love"); one episode ends with Adama and Roslin in bed together. There are a couple of instances of partial nudity (limbs obscure private parts) as Cylons get out of resurrection pods. Some characters wear revealing clothing.

Ambiguous references are made to a higher power and the One True God -- a twist at the end leads us to believe it is the Cylon God that is accepted by Christianity (this is implied, very delicately, but not explored). Characters are believed and/or thought to be angels -- and while they maintain a decent lifestyle this time around, we cannot forget that some of them were involved in sexual shenanigans earlier in the story. Gaius has never been one of my favorite characters, but he does redeem himself in the final episode both through gaining wisdom and becoming a better, more selfless individual. It is a series full of moral flaws but one that resonates on multiple levels. It's deep for the genre and that makes it a delightful rarity.