Battlestar Galactica Finale Leaves Many Questions


The Battlestar Galactica season finale answered little and left fans waiting nine months for answers to most of the mysteries. Baltar was acquitted, but that was hardly a surprise. They weren’t going to toss such an interesting character out of an airlock. Besides, the almost religious fever of Baltar’s supporters probably foreshadows his role for next season. We still don’t know why Gaeta hates Baltar to the point where he would even lie in his testimony.

While we were led to believe that we would find out that a member of the cast was a Cylon before the end of the season, this remains uncertain. The four crew members who hear the music believe they are Cylons, but to believe this and actually be Cylons are two different things. There isn’t much significance to this yet as they wound up returning to work as usual. We are left with many possible explanations of why they hear that music. Perhaps they are members of the final five, with Starbucks being the fifth. I doubt that they would make so many of the Cylons unless the point is to have something in between the humans and the Cylons we knew to create new situations. I also question if Tyrol is a Cylon as this would give us a second human-Cylon hybrid baby, reducing Hera’s significance.

There are many other possibilities. Perhaps they received some type of implant while on New Caparica. I have a suspicion they might turn out to be humans but with a different background which makes them different from the others. One reason that I suspect this is that Ron Moore has revealed that the move before the start of Season 4 will involve the Pegasus. In an interview in Salon, which I’ll post more on later, Moore said, “The story will be set on the Battleship Pegasus and will take place in the past, relative to where we are in Season 3. But the events set up in that story will then pay off in Season 4.” As the Pegasus has been destroyed, this leaves questions as to how a back story on the Pegasus would relate to Season 4. It’s just a hunch, but I wonder if the existence of humans who are somehow different from the others will be a factor in the Pegasus story to lead into Season 4.

As anticipated, we saw Katee Sackhoff back, but is she really Starbuck? Even if she ejected or was somehow saved, how is she flying in the viper that we saw destroyed? Maybe she isn’t even real, but is now Lee’s equivalent of Six in his head. That’s possible, but this wouldn’t satisfy the early talk of her having a significant destiny. Maybe she’s a Cylon trying to trick the humans with promises to take them to Earth. We know that they aren’t going to have them reach Earth at the start of next season. If a Cylon, was Starbuck a Cylon all along who was resurrected or did the Cylons recreate something new that looks like her (along with the viper) after her death? I also wonder if they aren’t introducing yet another life form that Kara Thrace was chasing before her apparent death that is responsible for her return.

Nine months is a long time to wait for answers to these and other questions. Sometimes cliff hangers are over done. It was a novelty when we wondered who shot JR. The third season cliff hanger of Star Trek: The Next Generation created tremendous buzz and help establish the show as fans wondered what would happen with the Borg. Now we have cliff hangers on multiple shows per year. I’d prefer that shows work to get their viewers to return by providing a satisfactory ending to the season rather than relying on such cliff hangers. A memorable conclusion which tied up the loose ends from this season would also have led to discussion of the show and given us reason to look forward to the next season.

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