Battlestar Galactica: The Best and The Worst

WARNING: SPOILER HEAVY. DON'T READ UNLESS YOU'VE SEEN THE SHOW!

What I liked most about Battlestar Galactica is that I truly felt that I had been on a journey with these characters. And like any journey, there are some terrific landmarks and also some potholes. Here are my top ten such moments - good and bad - and in chronological order...

GOOD:

1. Destruction of the Olympus Carrier "33"

Despite constantly jumping and hiding, the fleet continues to be attacked by Cylons every 33 minutes. Adama suspects the civilian ship Olympus of being the reason the fleet keeps getting discovered, and orders it to be destroyed. Despite the pleas of the Olympus captain and their own reservations, Apollo and Starbuck destroy the ship - a clear signal that this would not the campy BSG of old. This moment is when I realized this re-imagining would be something different, a gritty show full of tough decisions. Bless 'em for it.

2. Leoben Tortured and Airlocked "Flesh and Bone"

Probably the best episode to depict a hot bottom political topic - in this case, whether the use of torture is justified or not. Starbuck tortures Cylon Leoben to force him to reveal where he's hidden a bomb in the fleet. "Flesh and Bone" shows both sides of the issue, allowing the viewer to decide what is right and wrong. The episode is also the first time we see President Roslin in scary tough-as-nails mode. Despite promising to let him live, Roslin ruthlessly kills Leoben by inventing what is to become the favorite Galactica mode of execution - airlocking.

3. Apollo's Suicide Run - "Hand of God"

When the fleet is running out of fuel, the crew concocts a crazy scheme to attack the Cylons at an important fuel depot. The estranged Admiral Adama and Apollo have one of their few personal and friendly conversations up to this point - an important step to their eventual understanding of each other. Apollo then proceeds to kick butt in the battle. Seems like a small moment to be in a top ten list, but this episode was key to me. Before it, I thought Apollo was a whiny punk and that the writers didn't know what to do with him. Starting here, I realized that Apollo also didn't know what to do with himself. And to me, that's fascinating television.

4. Time to Re-unite the Fleet - "Home"

With Adama in a coma and Tigh declaring martial law, half the fleet disappears with President Roslin to find the Tomb of Athena. When Adama finally wakes up, he finds the horrible situation and is stung by the betrayals. When he walks onto the CIC, you expect his orders to be either find and arrest the President or to just jump away and abandon the traitors to their fate. Instead, he says simply "it's time to re-unite the fleet." Adama has woken up from his coma a changed man, a wiser man who is less concerned about military vs. civilian jurisdiction and more focused on safeguarding all humanity. This is one of the big cheer moments for me.

5. Pegasus Appears - "Pegasus"

In a show that was low on hope, this was one of the biggest lifts the series ever had. When a large ship suddenly jumps nearby, the Galactica discovers that another Battlestar, The Pegasus, has survived the attack on the Colonies. This is one of the happiest moments on the show and you can't help but be excited for the characters. The fact that you already sense that the Pegasus' commander, Admiral Cain, will upset the delicate balance Adama and Roslin have struck is beside the point. Just let everyone enjoy the newfound sense of hope!

6. Galactica jumps to New Caprica - "Exodus - part 2"

Hands down - the most awe-inspiring and badass moment of the shows' four seasons. With the fate of mankind on the brink under Cylon occupation, the Galactica sets in motion an exciting rescue plan. When the ship freefalls through the atmosphere, letting loose its viper pilots to rain hell on the Cylons below before jumping back into space to take on the Basestars...wow, that was badassery at its finest!

7. Trial of Baltar - "Crossroads - part 2"

Throughout the season, we all got caught up on how evil Baltar was. The dude deserved to be punished! But everything changed when Apollo took the stand at Baltar's trial and delivered a stellar monologue that revealed the bias of both the Galactica crew and the viewers at home. It made us go back and think how we would judge Baltar ourselves, or what decisions would we have made in his place. Maybe we would have ended up committing the same crimes? A lot of people were down on the third season, but I found it to be the most morally complex in a lot of ways.

8. Adama and Roslin Re-unite - "The Hub"

When Roslin and the Basestar disappear, Adama sends the fleet on under the command of Colonel Tigh and sits alone in a raptor, patiently waiting (and hoping against hope) for the president's return. When she finally returns, the two embrace and Roslin finally reveals she loves Adama. Given everything these two have gone through over four years, we were all thinking what Adama ended up saying. "About time."

9. Dee's Suicide "Sometimes a Great Notion"

Upon discovering that Earth was a nuclear wasteland and uninhabitable, the fleet begins to tear apart. What would you do if the only thing keeping you going through this hellish experience was the hope of Earth? What if you were super religious and you realized that all the prophecies you've believed your whole life were lies? Dee was one of the bright lights on the crew - no matter how grim the situation, no matter how desperately close to extinction, she never gave up and continued to be a source of luminescent optimism. So when she casually pulled out the pistol and shot herself in the head, it hurt. It hurt a lot. Dee was one of the characters that deserved a happy ending. This was true tragedy of the highest order.

10. The Mutiny "The Oath," "Blood on the Scales"

Enough is enough! Gaeta and Zarek's revolt almost destroys the entire fleet and gives us the finest arc of season 4.5. There is so much to like in these episodes - from Zarek's ruthless murder of the Quorum to Gaeta's mock-trial of Adama. And perhaps most gratifying? After almost two seasons of acting either completely insane or like a total bitch, we finally get to see Starbuck be super cool again. And it was about time! The most interesting part about the mutiny was that in many ways Gaeta was completely justified in his mutiny - another killer example of the difficult moralities at play in the show.

So those are my favorite moments, but what about...

THE BAD:

1. Everything about Black Market - "Black Market"

Even the cast agrees - this was the worst episode of the show. And half of it makes no sense - Huh? Apollo has been seeing a hooker for the last two years and has a deep attachment to her? Where did that come from? Not only was it out of character, but it completely threw off and contradicted many of the personal relationships that had been building through the first two seasons. And that was only one problem in this horrid episode!

2. Apollo-Starbuck-Dee- Season 2This love triangle was handled incredibly poorly in its early stages. It was frustrating because it was so inconsistent. There was no real development that made sense. Instead, it just seemed like the writers forgot how they had left the relationships in the previous episode and were trying something new. Throw in Apollo's hooker, Anders, Billy, and then Starbuck's tryst with Baltar and I'm just yelling that none of this makes any sense! Kudos to the writers for straightening this mess up in Season 3, where the Apollo-Dee-Starbuck-Anders relationships are actually well-developed and take on true meaning.

3. Admiral Adama's Moustache - Season 3
Such a minor quibble, but it really bothered me! Season 3 started with some of the most intense episodes of the series and I couldn't take anything Adama said seriously because of that silly moustache!
 
4. The concept behind Unfinished Business - "Unfinished Business"

So Adama decides that a good way to settle some old grudges would be to have a boxing match. Because that way people can work out their problems in the ring. I don't know about you, but if some dude I didn't like beat the crap out of me in the ring, I would hold even more of a grudge against him. Though it builds to a nice Starbuck-Apollo moment, this episode was lame. Very lame. 5. What do with Helo? - Season 3

Now that the Helo-Athena-Hera situation was mostly resolved, the writers found themselves in a jam. What can we do with a popular character who wasn't even supposed to make it this far into the show? Even though he was supposedly a pilot, they had Helo running around the ship doing all sorts of stuff - everything except flying, it seemed. The show was turning into 'let's see what job Helo has this week!" At its worst, this indecision resulted in silly episodes like "The Woman King."

6. All Along the Watchtower - "Crossroads - Part 2"

While I thought it was a silly but clever idea to have a rift from the classic song "All Along the Watchtower" as the signal activating the Final Five Cylons, did they really have to end the season with such a crappy cover of the song? This should have been an emotional and dangerous cliffhanger.  The Final Five are revealed. The Cylons have caught up and are about to unleash hell on the battered Colonial fleet. Battle lines are drawn. Starbuck appears back from the dead saying she knows where Earth is. This is all highly dramatic, amazing stuff - and its impact is completely ruined by that shitty cover artist barfing in my ears. The musical lowpoint of the series.

7. Tigh Knocks up Six - Season 4

At first, I thought this was an interesting development. Cylons can't reproduce; that's their whole deal. So when Six gets pregnant, this is a BIG story element. This story arc, going on for several episodes, was going to lead to something big, right? How could it not? Well, it doesn't. Ellen Tigh comes back. She's mean to Caprica. Caprica has a miscarriage. The show proceeds to NEVER mention this subplot ever again. And Tigh is back with Ellen the next episode as if the previous half season never happened. So what the heck was the point?!?!

8. Galen's Kid "A Disquiet Follows My Soul"

So the writers wrote themselves into a big corner. Hera is supposed to be the special baby/chosen one because she is the human-Cylon hybrid. But when Galen was revealed as one of the Final Five, suddenly that means his kid is also a hybrid. Only nobody gave two hoots about this kid. Nobody even thought to mention, "oh, hey, wait a second, there's two half-Cylons walking around." I think the writers completely forgot, too. And in one of the quickest and silliest cover-ups ever, they let Galen discover that he's not the father. Though out of character, Callie had slept with Hot Dog before she married Galen and got pregnant. Upon discovering the news, Galen unceremoniously drops the kid into Hot Dog's lap and says adios. Subplot over. And never mentioned again.

9. Adama's Cry-Painting "Islanded in the Stream of Stars"

So using Cylon biotechnological paint will help seal the cracks in the Galactica's hull. An odd idea, but I went with it. Until Adama walks into a room, starts painting, and then goes ballistic, crying and painting and throwing paint and breaking furniture and crying and painting. I know it was supposed to be one of the more dramatic moments for Adama's character as he realizes his beloved ship isn't going to make it, but I thought the whole thing to be so stagy and over-acted it was almost embarrassing. And I wish I could take credit for the expression "cry-painting." I've read it on a few other blogs and thought it was funny. And when it comes down to it, that phrase really is the only way to truly describe this silly incident.

10. Certain problems with the ending "Daybreak"

A lot of people were underwhelmed with the final episode of Battlestar. I actually thought it was mostly a good and satisfying ending. But there were some MAJOR problems. Like...why did Adama mysteriously leave the fleet never to return? I understand he wanted to be with Roslin during her final moments of life, but is he just going to sit on that hill for the rest of his life? Completely abandoning everyone is really out of character and odd. I also thought Starbuck disappearing was a bit silly and the "angel" talk at the very end to be unnecessary. And what about those unnecessary flashbacks which told us nothing new and simply existed to drag down the momentum of the final battle? Sigh. But what was the worst part? Are we really supposed to believe that the entire human race decides to so cavalierly give up all technology because they want a fresh start? This is profoundly stupid. And the first time someone dies from a simple cold, you better believe there's gonna be a lynch mob coming for Apollo. He better run!

It's doubly silly because it just wasn't necessary. As each generation passes, there would be fewer and fewer people who would know how to use the technology. Equipment would go into disrepair. Over the centuries, it would eventually deteriorate and in over a million years it would definitely disappear. So why the hokey, hippy "let's give up technology!" angle? Definitely the biggest eye-rolling moment of the show.

And this is coming from someone who liked the finale!

So there we go. Sorry this was such a long post. It was fun to write. I'd love to hear what your favorite moments are! Please share!