Overly Positive

Next week, Battlestar Galactica comes to a close with a huge two-hour series finale. Last night’s episode was the setup, the appetizer to the “Last Supper” of the series to come.

If there’s one thing that’s been a constant about Battlestar Galactica, and masochistically, part of its charm, it’s that it has this way of giving you a fuzzy pat on the head while punching you squarely in the gut at the same time, just to remind you of the dire situation its characters are in. “Daybreak, Part 1″ was no different in this respect. For a mostly optimistic person like myself, it’s pretty difficult to remain generally cheerful about a situation in which you’re talking about the end, the last of the last, and a finale that won’t be happy flowers and hot chocolate.

The episode itself decided to take a peek into the past of several of the major characters, displaying their lives prior to the fall of Caprica. Sometimes when you’re given apocalypse every episode you sort of forget how the characters got there in the first place. There’s a lot of idyllic moments, but also, in the Galactica way, a lot of crappy “hey, by the way, life sucks” type things as well.

As the series draws to a close, we’re seeing that Galactica is essentially abandoned, that the fleet is still looking for a home, that the people themselves have gone through hell and back, and then some. Not to mention Admiral Adama’s last call for a last mission that is “likely to be a one-way trip”. Doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that would make you happy on the inside.

But as always, I see the silver lining. There’s a particular scene in this episode involving a line made of red duct tape and old man Adama telling people to choose what they want to do – live and wander space with no guarantee of finding a home, or die trying to go on a suicide mission. Doesn’t seem too uplifting, but to see the choices made by the characters, to see people cross one line or the other, knowing their various motivations – hey, that’s poignant, somewhat moving, and certainly inspiring. There’s also the faint glimmer of hope that the rescue of the half-human, half-Cylon Hera will be successful, although if I know Battlestar Galactica, I know that they’ll be looking to tell us how the story ends beautifully on one hand while rearing back to bash you over the head with the reality of things with the other.

The series has been criticized for not wrapping up continuity very well, and not really advancing or figuring out what it was supposed to do with its various characters. We’ll see if next week’s series finale actually manages to do this.