How I’d like to see it end (BSG)

Kenneth Hynek • 19th Mar 2009 • Entertainment, Science Fiction • Aaron Doral, All Along the Watchtower, Athena, Battlestar Galactica, Boomer, Caprica Six, Cavil, Cylon, Earth, Edward James Olmos, Ellen Tigh, Final Five, Gaius Baltar, Galen Tyrol, Head Baltar, Head Six, Helo, Hera Agathon, Jamie Bamber, Kara Thrace, Katee Sackhoff, Kobol, Lee Adama, Lords of Kobol, New York City, Ron Moore, Samuel Anders, Saul Tigh, Times Square, Tory Foster, Tricia Helfer

There’s any number of ways that the writers could take Battlestar Galactica in its final episode, which airs tomorrow. Speaking just for myself, here’s approximately what I’m hoping to see in “Daybreak, Part 2,” the series finalé.

The only known constraints on the ending are helpfully enumerated here. In brief (mind the spoilers):

“There’s some really heartwarming stuff, there’s some very damaging, sad stuff. It’s such a commentary on human behavior and social behavior and where our world is and can go. I find the last episode is quite fascinating, the study of life.” — Tricia Helfer

“…it’s brutal what happens to us. Not many of us make it.” — Edward James Olmos

“Ron Moore’s ending is just beautiful, and it ends appropriately. The whole journey of the Galactica has really been a voyage of self-discovery, an identity crisis, a search for meaning, and the characters are forced to really come to conclusions about who they are at the end…So it’s pretty spiritual and Zen, and it’s where they need to be at the end of this chaos.” — Jamie Bamber

With that in mind…

• The Galactica offloads the remaining civilians and all non-essential equipment, as well as those crew members who didn’t volunteer for the mission. This group includes Gaius Baltar until the last minute; perhaps with one final flashback regarding his father, we see him move to join the volunteers. Several of his harem join him.
• Kara Thrace and Lee Adama have a farewell scene hearkening back to some of their “moments” in the first season just prior to the Galactica jumping into combat.
• The initial battle is intense, but thanks to Samuel Anders relentless drive to “touch the face of perfection,” things do not immediately turn against the Colonial attack efforts; Sam plays a perfect game in every respect, with heavy Cylon losses.
• This battle sequence, incidentally, makes full use of the environment in which it takes place, in a way that Anders is able to use to Galactica’s advantage.
• Realizing that the Galactica is being piloted by one of the Final Five somehow, non-lobotomized Raiders and perhaps even the other basestar Hybrids refuse to continue battle. Cavil opts to have the ship boarded, since Heavy Raiders require a Cylon pilot and do not, by all evidences, “think for themselves.” Cylon losses incurred in the boarding action are high, but they manage to get aboard the battlestar and secure control of the CIC in a massive, explosive firefight.
• Simultaneous to this, a boarding action from the Galactica launches against — or perhaps jumps into — “the Colony.” Among those on this mission are the Final Five, Athena, and Helo. Lee Adama may also be among this group. They battle their way through the facility, but — being hopelessly outnumbered — are quickly pinned down. Most/all of the Final Five (save Anders) are killed.
• Boomer and the Guardians, however, flip sides and begin fighting alongside the Colonial forces, or at least working to take the pressure of of them by engaging the Cylon forces from a different direction.
• This one stolen directly from Brad Templeton: “Baltar and Caprica Six will work together…and create a computer virus which infects the…inhibitors [in] Cavil’s centurions. This will help redeem Baltar for his role in allowing such a virus to be inserted into colonial systems.” It will also serve to flip the “new model” Centurions away from Cavil’s team, and cause them to seek revenge for being enslaved as were their “ancestors.”
• Most of Cavil’s model line will die; only the model(s) that board Galactica will remain.
• Boomer is the one to ultimately rescue Hera from the operating theater, killing one or more Simons in the first place. However, she is herself killed in the rescue action. Hera is successfully extracted and the boarding team returns to the Galactica.
• Hera Agathon is re-united with her parents, but the joy of the moment is short-lived when it is discovered that the Galactica has fallen over to Cylon control. The Cylons jump the ship out and back to where the rest of the Fleet is waiting, at which point they turn the battlestar’s guns on the undefended Colonial ships and the rebel basestar. Said basestar is destroyed by a pair of nuclear strikes, and much of the Fleet is decimated.
• During the action, Hera is briefly captured by Cylons, but rescued in turn by Caprica Six and Baltar. Athena and Helo rush their daughter out of the combat zones, and hole up in the forward observation deck.
• Cavil’s duplicity is explained to the Simons and Dorals, and they in turn reveal the nature of the Colony, and the presence of the original ship used by the Final Five at its core, in which resurrection facilities exist that have already resuscitated the deceased Tory Foster, Saul Tigh, Ellen Tigh, and Galen Tyrol.
• Sam jumps the Galactica back to “the Colony” to finish the battle there — as the last surviving member of the Final Five, he realizes that it is not enough to ensure a way forward for humanity and Cylonity that the Significant Seven cannot resurrect; the Final Five must likewise be denied the ability, and all remnants of the technology must be destroyed.
• The surviving Centurions, as well as the reborn Final Fivers, are evacuated from “the Colony.”
• Anders reasons that the only means of destroying “the Colony” is by using the Galactica herself, though not as a battering ram. Instead, he flies the ship into the structure proper, fulfilling Hera’s projection in a different way, and then jumps the ship back out — the shock of the jump wake tears “the Colony” asunder, and it plunges into the singularity.
• This last jump strains the Galactica almost to the breaking point — she may have just enough structural integrity to endure one last jump. One of the Cylons — let’s say it’s Aaron Doral, just for completeness — tells of a planet that was known to the Cylons which is nearby, reachable by a single jump.
• At the same time, the Final Five (all of them, even Anders) begin to hear “All Along the Watchtower” again. Kara’s Viper detects the signal, coming right out of the singularity. Starbuck reasons that Earth — our Earth, the promised land of Pythian prophecy — can only be reached by plunging the Galactica into the singularity, and being taken to wherever it leads. A final choice is set before the handful of survivors — go to this planet in the uncertain hope that it might support them, or voyage into the singularity in the uncertain hope of reaching what is on “the other side.”
• At this point, all the head characters begin making appearances. We learn, in an expository montage, that the goal of all these events had been exactly that which Hera represents — the shape of things to come, the way forward, the true path to peace between Cylon and humanity. We learn that the Colonial humans are in fact an even earlier Cylon iteration created by the Lords of Kobol, who were themselves created beings sent out as explorers; they passed into a great storm and were taken to a place in which they eventually discovered Kobol. Reasoning that they had perhaps crossed between universes, they styled themselves as gods and set about to create companions for themselves, resulting in the Twelve Tribes, who in turn created the Thirteenth Tribe, thus beginning the cycle of war.
• The head beings themselves, however, are not the Lords of Kobol, but rather messengers “from the other side” who have been sent to guide the children of humanity back home. The Music is revealed to be their beacon, which they have been sending out for thousands of years and in various ways, always trying to bring the “lost sheep” back “to the fold.”
• Starbuck, we learn, has actually been resurrected; her purification by fire and death was necessary for the completion of her purpose as the one who would, ultimately, lead humanity to this point…and beyond, if she makes the correct decision in the moments ahead.
• The survivors now face their choice: head to the planet or head to the singularity. A vote is proposed, but Adama rejects it; his frustration with mysticism and prophecy is burning white-hot now, inflamed by his anger over the slaughter of most of what was left of the people of the Colonies. He orders the jump be made to the planet, even though Doral warns him that no investigation had been made into whether it was actually capable of supporting life.
• Sam attempts to jump the ship, but fails with a great cry of agony. The attempt destabilizes the Galactica‘s position around the singularity, and she begins to plummet toward it. Adama orders everyone who wants to try their hand at finding this planet to board Raptors — quickly. He himself does so, as do several Cylons and humans.
• Athena and Helo, when they get word of the plan, are about to head for the launch bay, when Helo notices out the window that the singularity is beginning to take on a shape he recognizes. He races back to the family quarters and rifles through the box of Kara’s stuff, finding the mandala picture. He then races to find Starbuck.
• Starbuck is attempting to convince Lee Adama to stay and to have faith. Lee is all but ready to board a Raptor when Helo arrives and tells Kara of what he has seen. Kara pleads with Lee, who acquiesces, much to his father’s chagrin.
• Adama remains defiant, however, and leads the Raptors out. They jump away.
• The penultimate sequence is a montage:
  • Galactica is scene above the singularity, which continues to shift its shape and colour, becoming more and more like the mandala.
  • Kara joins Sam in his room.
  • The Raptors are seen jumping into orbit around a backlit world.
  • Lee stands in CIC, looking around at the devastation.
  • The Raptors begin to orbit the planet, approaching the day side.
  • Helo and Athena play with Hera in the corridors of the Galactica.
  • The Raptors come to the day side of the planet.
  • Baltar and Caprica Six are seen, holding hands and talking.
  • The surface of the planet is revealed to be barren rock.
  • Hera skips along the hallway and leads her parents into Sam’s room, much to Kara’s surprise.
  • Adama breaks down and weeps.
  • Hera reaches out and take’s Sam’s hand. After a moment, he sits up, regards her, and then turns to look at Kara and smiles.
  • The camera pans out, through the wall of the room and the hull of the ship, to a wide shot of the singularity with the Galactica poised over it. The ship seems to pause in its fall for just a minute, and then plunges into the singularity. The camera races in after it, and surges to blackness.
• The last scene is also, basically, a montage:
  • A picture of Earth — perhaps a re-use of the image from “Crossroads, Part 2,” is seen, briefly.
  • Starbuck, as a little girl, plays a few notes on a piano.
  • A crayon draws colourful dots on a piece of paper.
  • Fade in to a scene of Times Square in New York City, more or less present-day. Head Six and Head Baltar walk through the crowds, while Jamie Bamber and Katee Sackhoff provide a voiceover: “Life out there began here.”

I’ve probably messed up some details; that’s almost a given. Still, this is an ending I’d be satisfied with. I guess we’ll know tomorrow whether the actual series will deliver a satisfying conclusion or not.

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