BSG Episode 4.5.1 - Sometimes a Great Notion
The title of the episode comes from Ken Kesey's novel "Sometimes a Great Notion". I've never ead it, but here's what one review says:
.... The Stampers beseiged are the family at their best, fighting, working, loving, and struggling together to keep it together and to define their own future...
Sounds familiar, yes?
As far as the actual, episode, this one deals with the outcome of what happens when all hope is finally lost. What happens to us?
Dee simply decides she can no longer go on. A character who has always seemed to posses a quiet strength, who has always seemed optimistic in the face of overwhelming odds finally decided enough. I think seeing the jacks of that child who perished in the nuclear blast brought home to her that there is no future. That she (and everyone else) is destined to perish horribly. So instead, she decided to orchestrate one good day and then killed herself, so she could go out with a smile on her face.
D'Anna comes to a similar conclusion. If all this has happened before, then the end is already known. A war that ends in death. She decides that she wants no part of it and waits Earthside for her eventual death. This is a character that has sacrificed her entire line in order to seek out the religious truth of the final five. And to see her come to the conclusion that all they will bring is more death is a disquieting thought.
Lee, otoh, still has hope and it's partly because Dee gives it to him. She may no longer believe in the gods but she believes in Lee and his capacity to lead in the face of overwhelming odds. Lee has gone through so much, but has emerged a true leader.
Roslin has also given up. All her beliefs were centered on a prophecy and now that it has been shown to be a cruel joke, she has nothing left. Her faith is shattered. Seeing her look so small and helpless was truly frightening. By refusing all future cancer treatments she too is committing suicide.
Leoben has also had his faith shattered. Whatever he thought would come to pass, whatever he thought Kara was, it is not what he now sees before him. He winds up fleeing in terror.
Adama also loses all hope. But by the end, Tighe has basically shamed him into leading the fleet once more. I don't know that he even believes there is someplace to go, but at least he is trying to keep that to himself.
And what of Kara? She is even more lost than the other characters. She feels responsible for leading them all to this wasteland. And know she doesn't even know what she is. Not human it seems. And if Tighe is to be believed, not cylon either.
And what of the final four? What do they make of the fact that they were alive 2,000 years ago, leading very different lives? Unlike evryone else, they don't seem in despair. I'm not sure what to make of this revelation. And Ellen as the last cylon? So it turns out that Saul and Ellen have a bond that stretches on through eternity. Who would have guessed?
Some other thoughts. For the first time, Lee/Dee made sense tome and I could see them in a working relationship. If they had let us see this in prior seasons, I think the marriage would have made a lot more sense. (It really reminds me of Angel/Cordelia - the only time that rang true for me was in "You're Welcome".)
Kara approaching Lee with her fears on what was happening/had happened to her was huge. Has she ever voluntarily opened up to anyone about her own worries?
I would be amused if the only relationship that survives at the end is the Tighes. Well and Helo and Sharon, of course. Sorry people, I can't see Lee and Kara getting back together. And I think Roslin might be doomed.