Overly Positive

 Battlestar Galactica wrapped up with its two hour finale mere hours ago, and the impressions have started coming in.

What do I think? Well, the ending is certainly extremely positive, and something that I of course liked very much. Still, after unwrapping the last of the gifts that Battlestar Galactica gave to us, it sure seemed that the gift was missing a few things. It’s like opening a Christmas present, seeing that you got exactly what you wanted, but scratching your head over an odd wrapping job.

I won’t spoil the ending too much for people who just happen to be googling about BSG and happen to find this entry. I will say, however, that for those of you who are looking for a nice little loose end tie-up of all the odd mysteries and weird happenings of the series, perhaps you ought to look elsewhere, because the feel-good emotion of what is perhaps the last hour or so is one that doesn’t go away, even when faced with solving the series’ burning questions.

Don’t worry though – if you’re looking for what might be an ending that will give you a little hope for mankind as they face off against overwhelming odds, you’ll get it. The first hour will ensure that that is exactly what happens, with Galactica’s swan song space battle being among some of the best portrayals of a desperate fight I’ve seen in a long time. You’ll like the search for Hera, and the ultimate fate of some of the series’ more prolific and present characters…well, most of them, anyway.

There is, of course, an epilogue which you might not want to miss as you are perhaps alternatively sighing with content as you are beating your fists against the wall saying “that’s it?!”. Galactica has always been about a partial social commentary on us as a people, and the last few minutes are no different, although it’s a bit too implicit-preachy for my tastes.

Overall, this was a nice ending to a series that had taken us on a long journey with a lot of characterization and human emotion. This makes some of the moments a bit jarring, and you’re left wondering about many things, but perhaps that’s what the BSG crew wanted…at least until you got to see the inevitable “but we’re not done yet” spinoffs like BSG: The Plan and Caprica.