Daybreak Part 1

It seems fitting, in an odd way, that Battlestar Galactica is ending at about the same time as the Bush administration. The show - one of my personal favorites, most certainly one of the best ever produced for television - is the most successful commentary on the last 8 years in modern American art. From its uncertain beginnings in 2003 as a reboot of a television show from the 70's, BSG has been a running, real time reflection of the moral and philosophical complexities of our time. Our time goes on, but BSG's time has come. I can't help but wonder if it's too soon.

I've always felt that the show rushed through its stories. The Pegasus arc, specifically with Admiral Cain, felt truncated, as did the New Caprica arc. The occupation could have been an entire season - the writers blitzed through it so quickly they jumped an entire year forward in time at the end of season 2. And tonight's episode, the first part of the two part finale, felt very trucated; no doubt it will all feel more whole once viewed together, but the extended flashblack to Caprica - that gorgeous blue, that perfect white made think for a moment, Earth? - seems a bookend to something we will see next Friday, and sort of hangs there right now. Lee and the pigeon, for example, seemed completely random (unless he was the drunk that killed Laura's entire family...) as did Anders hot tub scene. I'm dying to know what Adama's one hour tour is, though. And Laura. The woman swims in tragedy. As if her cancer wasn't enough, the destruction of the colonies, her entire family is killed before the attack. Why show us this now? It seems all of the characters - Lee, Laura, Baltar (in a wonderful scene with his father, we see the essence of the man - a shit who hits his own father for fucking up his date), Kara - endure personal armageddon before the real one.

Next week promises more apocalypse. The Galactica, falling apart and on her last leg, is going to rescue Hera from the Cylon colony which just happens to orbit a black hole. No doubt the Galactica will not survive. Laura, either. Is the colony going down the hole? Are all of them, the way Kara dived into the swirl in season 3, and died? But came back as something other, after finding Earth?

In a show of so many amazing moments, there are still so many questions:

Will we find out who or what Kara is?

Will we find out who or what Hera is, and the meaning of the Opera House?

Is humanity doomed to endless wander, slowly dying off into oblivion, or is there a home for them, somewhere? Is there an earth yet out there? Why did we never see the continents of 'Earth' in the season opener? Was that Jupiter we saw last week?

Is head Six real or is she Memorex?

I can't wait, and yet, I'd be happy if it took just a little longer to get here.