BSG: Crossroads part 2 review
BSG s3 finale review
I don’t know how to start this because I did like the episode *but* it didn’t feel like a BSG season finale as much as it felt like it could have been a rather open ended *series* finale imo.
Not a bad thing really but it's not what I wanted, expected or needed this time around.
Let’s be crystal clear: I was entertained, I loved the actors’ performances, I was in awe of that FX shot in the nebula, I have plenty of questions turning in my head about plenty of things and I will be back next season absolutely no doubt about that.
But my jaw did not drop on the floor like it did the two previous season finales.
It’s not a big gripe mind you and it brings no bitterness in me at all as a BSG fan or TV viewer in general.
I just don’t hide the little disappointment I feel after two viewings.
Let's review:
The good
- That opening scene between Adama and Roslin, they make me melt, enough said,
- Roslin, Sharon, Hera and Caprica sharing a vision. I loved seeing these women interact and I really really really wish their scene had been longer,
- Baltar calling Felix Gaeta “butterfingers”, hysterical! I have *greatly* missed fun Gaius.
Well I have missed humor in general this season save for a few pearls (Hot Dog’s “that oughta be different” and Tigh’s “you don’t want me and Ellen to be Nicky’s parents”).
I wish season four can bring more fun, or finds/develops a character who’ll provide some comedy once in a while,
- Baltar realizing that being acquitted may be worse than being executed, just HEE!!
Gaius got frakkin’ owned. Woot!!
Callis does very good with his material I think,
- Adama admitting he voted for Baltar’s 'not guilty' verdict and the terrific look of betrayal Roslin shot him.
MMD rocked and owned that scene for me. I could sense that the reveal made her heart skip a beat right there and I strongly felt her hurt and anger (even though I think that, by the standards of the law, Adama probably made the fair call).
It is a crime that MMD has been underused this second half of the season imo,
- Tori and Anders? They’re smoking hot. I know, I know, I’m shamelessly shallow. Heh.
The jealous and hurt look of Seelix when she saw Tori in the room with Sam? Oh boy.
If/when she finds out the truth about them I don’t know which one she’ll shoot first. Okay, on any other show she’d shoot Tori first but this is BSG so Sam better watch his back, or his batteries or whatever. :P
- I am pretty impressed by Tricia Helfer’s acting. Her rendition of Caprica has, imo, always been subtle.
Especially the sensitive (human) emotions of her character. Her hiding her tears while walking down Caprica with Doral back in season one for instance was very nice.
Here her fear and worry over seeing the figures of the final five seemed very genuine and I really liked it.
But I do not forget how she beat the snot out of Sharon and Starbuck in season one (best girl fight ever for me), or how she snapped a baby’s neck in the mini series as well as Sharon’s beck this season.
I guess my point is that Helfer has proved to be the exception to the “models can’t act” rule even when she has very little screentime.
- Lee’s trial scene…I think it was well written, the point well made and I’ll give you that it is one of Bamber’s best performance on the show *but* I also thought “did he really think that now was the best time to channel his inner Tom Cruise? Really???”.
So that one is a 50/50 for me in regards to the actor. Hey, it’s a much better score/grade than ...pretty much ever, right?
- Kara is back out of nowhere, she seemed pretty real but who knows? It’s good she’s back. Her death served a purpose: she’s got answers about Earth, she’s going to help the fleet get there. It’s fine.
You know I’ll keep riding the “Kara is a goddess/angel of sort” idea even though her being in a viper pretty much smashes it to bits. It just makes my head hurt less which cool because I can’t live 8 months with a migraine.
The bad
- The damn music. I truly, madly, deeply HATED it. It was e-x-c-r-u-c-i-a-t-i-n-g.
I love Mc Creary’s score in general but
1/ that song never worked for me, partly because it’s not my generation (I don’t know it’s pertinence musically/historically),
2/ partly because it’s also not my culture. I gather it is, in *its own way, style and genre*, as emblematic as say “la vie en rose” for French musical culture but I just can’t feel it. Nothing anyone can do about that really.
3/ the version I know best is the U2 cover (Rattle and Hum album), which is okay but I wouldn’t play it over and over (now God Part II? Hell yeah!).
So yeah that song and its beyond grating arrangement made me cringe and wince in agony right before my ears started bleeding.
HATE!
But that’s a very superficial gripe so no biggie.
- The cylons reveal.
Now that one is tricky to explain because I’m actually *fine* with it but I do think it was a terrible mistake to have showed Tigh hearing it in the previous episode.
I feel that 'the chief is a cylon' is a faaaaaaaaar less shocking reveal than Tigh being one.
A while back on my blog I said that the only character I could never envision being a cylon was Saul Tigh. So of course, in between taking out the crows’ feathers stuck in my teeth (and lemme tell ya that's a shit load of crows to eat right there), I was surprised at his rather “accepting” reaction to his new ‘kind’. But I really do think that his cylon status should have been preserved to the last moment. I don’t know how though.
What I do know however is that the chief being a cylon doesn’t quite register on my ‘shock-o-meter’. Of course it doesn’t help that I’ve never liked the chief and I don’t think Douglas is worthy of the screen time to begin with.
The idea of a world/ship/room filled with Tyrol models gives me the hives. Now the same thing with Anders model…*ahem*
I went to a happy place right there. Ahhhh to be shallow…errr… topic? Okay if you insist. :P
I’d take a world filled with Tighs over one with Tyrols but there must be lots and lots of booze there.
- I admit to being bothered by the fact that Hera is no longer “special” and at this minute I’m not thrilled by the idea of Hera and Nicky being Adam and Eve of sorts. I’m not repelled by the idea though, I’m just…I’ll wait to know more before judging it. Right now it’s just…meh, errr…okay I guess.
Random notes
- I am intrigued by Laura’s headache.
- I wonder if the base stars that appear are filled with the six models we know, or the five we’ve just found out.
- Btw, I have no certainty as to who the final cylon is. Whoever it is I’m okay with it because I am confident Moore and his crew will make all the characters and stories compelling and entertaining.
- I simply cannot wait to see Cally literally loose her shit when she finds out Tyrol is a cylon and her child is an “cybrid” (sorry but there’s no better word for that moment).
As for speculations…I’m too busy figuring out the many questions this finale brought to begin trying to answer any.
All in all, I really did like the episode but, like I said before, it lacked the “oomph” factor of the previous two season finales.
Yet in some odd way, it also felt like not only could this have been the series finale, it would have been one I would have been rather fine with.
Talk about dichotomy.
The fact is that when the episode was written, the show’s renewal was far from being a done deal (hello bad ratings) so I can easily imagine Verheiden (and Moore) scrambling to make a finale that could fit either the end of the season or the end of the show.
Honestly if this had been the series finale, I’d have be okay with it but it’s not and this just feels more like an episode than a season finale.
I just…I can’t explain it well, at least not in English.
If I were to grade this as an episode, I’d give it a solid 7/10. If I am to grade it as a season finale, I give it a generous 5/10. But if I were to grade it like a series finale, I’d give it a 9/10.
Strange huh?
The bottom line is that you guys can count me among those who ,overall, liked it and who’ll definitely come back next season/year.
----end of line.
;)