BSG Finale
I just watched the Battlestar Galactica series finale. Some thoughts:
When they first introduced the idea of going native in our prehistory, it immediately struck me as a cheap trick designed to make the show seem profound. I thought it was a horrible idea, both for the characters and for the show.
As the episode continued, and I accepted that that was what they were doing with the finale, I had a sinking feeling in my chest that everything was going wrong. Not just that they decided to go native, but that they were all abandoning each other. After all their struggles, right when they finally broke free and had a hopeful future, they gave up. They gave up on their own ability to find a way forward, and they gave up on each other.
Going native was based on the idea that, as a people, they were incapable of making social progress. It was a decision that accepted and embraced powerlessness. It was also a leap of faith. It can be hard to tell the difference sometimes.
The characters abandoning each other just felt... sad. Maybe they had too much pain to want to continue together, but would they still feel that way in five years, when it's too late to change their minds?
In the end, though, I think I liked the finale. It was profound, though not in the cheesy way I thought they were going for initially. It fit the show.
The show was a chase. Humanity running and fighting for its life, constantly under tremendous stress. When the chase is over, the pressure lifted, humanity is just too exhausted and lays down to die. Not as individuals (though there's some of that, too), but as a society. It reminds me a bit of that fox-swimming-out-to-sea parable from a few episodes ago, actually, though it's not quite the same -- not quite as depressing. The fox never understands that the chase is over. In the finale, it's more that humanity lays down its burdens to finally rest.
My natural desire is to see them keep going. For them to be happy and successful and vigorous. But the ending they chose, while not a happy one (IMO), works. It was powerful for me, and it got me to really think about the feelings it provoked.
I think a lot of what I felt during the second half of the finale was loss. The show really ended. All the characters, the camraderie, the hope for a happy ending. Even though some of the characters looked ready to live happy lives, they were doing it alone, fated to fade away.
The idea that there really was divine guidance, that their faith and struggles were eventually rewarded (through the hope for breaking the cycle), feels like small consolation.
Maybe I should feel happier about the ending -- there are certainly reasons to. Humanity survived, they went on to live the lives they wanted, and they (maybe) broke the cycle and saved humanity for good. But I'm not feeling it. Maybe I will after a while.
When they first introduced the idea of going native in our prehistory, it immediately struck me as a cheap trick designed to make the show seem profound. I thought it was a horrible idea, both for the characters and for the show.
As the episode continued, and I accepted that that was what they were doing with the finale, I had a sinking feeling in my chest that everything was going wrong. Not just that they decided to go native, but that they were all abandoning each other. After all their struggles, right when they finally broke free and had a hopeful future, they gave up. They gave up on their own ability to find a way forward, and they gave up on each other.
Going native was based on the idea that, as a people, they were incapable of making social progress. It was a decision that accepted and embraced powerlessness. It was also a leap of faith. It can be hard to tell the difference sometimes.
The characters abandoning each other just felt... sad. Maybe they had too much pain to want to continue together, but would they still feel that way in five years, when it's too late to change their minds?
In the end, though, I think I liked the finale. It was profound, though not in the cheesy way I thought they were going for initially. It fit the show.
The show was a chase. Humanity running and fighting for its life, constantly under tremendous stress. When the chase is over, the pressure lifted, humanity is just too exhausted and lays down to die. Not as individuals (though there's some of that, too), but as a society. It reminds me a bit of that fox-swimming-out-to-sea parable from a few episodes ago, actually, though it's not quite the same -- not quite as depressing. The fox never understands that the chase is over. In the finale, it's more that humanity lays down its burdens to finally rest.
My natural desire is to see them keep going. For them to be happy and successful and vigorous. But the ending they chose, while not a happy one (IMO), works. It was powerful for me, and it got me to really think about the feelings it provoked.
I think a lot of what I felt during the second half of the finale was loss. The show really ended. All the characters, the camraderie, the hope for a happy ending. Even though some of the characters looked ready to live happy lives, they were doing it alone, fated to fade away.
The idea that there really was divine guidance, that their faith and struggles were eventually rewarded (through the hope for breaking the cycle), feels like small consolation.
Maybe I should feel happier about the ending -- there are certainly reasons to. Humanity survived, they went on to live the lives they wanted, and they (maybe) broke the cycle and saved humanity for good. But I'm not feeling it. Maybe I will after a while.