hokay
I wish I'd been surprised.
The reason I wasn't is that I read battlestar_blog, and as is probably obvious by now, my criteria for spoilers are a lot stricter than many people's. To me, posts or comments that mention "I've heard rumors that Starbuck is gonna die this season" are almost as bad as actual spoilers. Those rumors don't come from nowhere. So, knowing that this episode was going to be all about Starbuck, combined with having read that (argh, I'm torn between leaving that community and not; because I love reading and writing comments on the weekly thread they have discussing each ep...), combined with seeing a greater number of comments than usual on the weekly entry for the episode, combined with having heard from people that this was a shocking episode...yeah, I knew it was coming. So the suspense was gone.
That doesn't mean it wasn't a good or moving episode. Though I feel like I have more questions now than before.
I do get the sense that we're supposed to believe that Leoben (and possibly all cylons) really can see the future and all of time.
But why did he keep trying to tell Kara all of this? What did it matter? Unless he's as trapped into his role of informing her as she is into her role of...well, her role of what? That's another thing I still don't get. What's her special destiny? To commit suicide as proof that she's not a quitter?
Maybe it's all just an elaborate cylon scheme to get rid of one of their biggest threats, but that seems...extreme.
Maybe Kara's one of the Final Five.
Even if not, I really, really hope that they go into this more in future episodes. It would be really dumb to leave it where it stands.
Why has it been almost exlusively women who have died in season 3? Major (and semi-major) characters, so far as I can recall, that have died: Duck, Jammer, Ellen, Kat, Three, Kara. And the men were the more minor characters of that list. Ah well.
It's hard to imagine BSG without Starbuck, but in a way, maybe it'll make it more interesting. :/ Heh. Poor Sam... I hope we get to spend some time with him. And gah, I hope that Lee and Dee really are happy. I don't want Lee to stay with Dee just because there's no long any other temptation, you know?
I cried...not when she actually died...but when she was at her mother's bedside. Seeing Kara's drawings and paintings that her mother had held onto for all those years. The subtleties of their relationship are so heartbreaking in their complexity. Misguided, hurtful love... what to do about it?
On a lighter note: aww, Adama putting his arm around Roslin. Or starting to. Cute. They must have had their date by now, yes? I hope we get to see further cuteness between them.
eta: Oh, also, this is gonna suck for Lee...he's gonna have the same damn weight on his mind that Kara had on hers with Zach: letting someone fly who shouldn't have been allowed. Heh. I suppose it's possible that Lee really thought she was capable, though, whereas with Zach it was a pretty clear-cut case that he wasn't. Even still, this ain't gonna be easy for Lee.
eta2: YEAH, so about the Final Five thing -- it was interesting that Leoben talked about Kara getting to see "what lies between life and death" or whatever -- the same phrase that Three used. Does Leoben know, somehow, that Kara is one of the Final Five? (If she is?) And err, if he can see the future, why would none of the cylons know who the Final Five are? Couldn't they look forward and find out?