The Working File

Update: My immediate reaction to the final episode is here.

With a single, two-hour episode of Battlestar Galactica remaining, I fear it is nearly inevitable that I’ll be left disappointed. Jimmy Akin provides the best explanation I’ve read of how the series got to this point, and how Ronald D. Moore’s writing process is responsible. I’ve listened to Moore’s podcasts and can vouch that Akin’s description matches what Moore does. It’s worth reading in full. My take on the process is that it is more fun for the writers, and can work in a more episodic series, but it does not serve either the material or the fans of a continuous long-form ongoing story series.
I’m disappointed because I don’t see how they can wrap this up in a way that satisfies the open issues that I still see. I’m disappointed because, no matter what happens Friday night, or what happens in the follow-up movie “The Plan,” it’s pretty clear that the Cylons never had a plan, and the opening credits for every episode until a little while ago were a lie. Apparently Moore has admitted as such, and claims he never like the idea of mentioning the plan in the credits.
NOTE, latter link has some spoilers.
Nobody had a plan but Cavil, and his plan was just to be a petulant jerk and manipulate the other Cylons into murdering all the humans. That’s not a plan, that’s a goal.

When we thought there was a plan, and the writers actually let people be happy sometimes.

I’m also disappointed because most of the answers we have received so far, in the episode No Exit, were provided through exposition. I didn’t complain about that at the time (follow link in previous sentence), because I didn’t think they would want to do an episode filled with flashbacks, and if you don’t do flashbacks, you’re pretty much left with exposition to describe past events. But the next to last episode (actually Part 1 of the finale), was filled with flashbacks that didn’t advance the story at all. There were some interesting character moments, especially from Baltar and his dad, but with so little time left we know the characters and need information.
Finally, I’m worried because as we’ve gotten deeper into the series, it appears from Moore’s podcasts and the direction the series has taken, that Moore confuses darkness with depth. They are different — art that is dark simply for the sake of being dark is wasteful. This could be much more.

So, what’s left, and what needs to be done in the last episode:

Less central to to main storyline, but still important:
explain how the original Starbuck got to Earth — I think many people have overlooked this. Even if we learn the nature of the “resurrected” Starbuck, we need an explanation of how the first one got to Earth. When we last saw her she was flying her Viper into a vortex in which her ship blew to pieces. You cannot just explain who the new Starbuck is, and fail to explain how the first one’s ship managed to get from that vortex to the surface of Earth.

Maybe they will do all of this in the last episode, or maybe they will do enough — in a way I cannot foresee — that I will be satisfied with a partial resolution to these issues. It just doesn’t seem that way this side of Friday night. We’ll see.