Of all the shows that are on the air right now, I would say that Battlestar Galactica is the most intelligent. It constantly challenges the way we think and presents us with interesting moral questions (for example, the good guys use suicide bombers and criminalize abortion.) The way themes religion and humanity are explored in program elevate it above almost anything else on TV, and it saddens me that so many people are turned of simply by the name. That being said, I was a little disappointed by this episode, which is the first of the final ten of the series.
When we last saw the human fleet just before the mid-season fleet, they had joined forces with the renegade cylon models and finally arrived at Earth, only to discover that it was a barren nuclear wasteland. The episode is by no means a bad one, but after the shocking reveal in the final moments before the mid season break, I expected this episode to be a bit more action packed. This episode dosn't move the story forward a whole lot; instead, it focuses on certain key characters and their reactions to their discovery. Obviously, spirits are low, and some characters are on the verge of giving up hope (and some just do).
This episode is extremely dark, but a lot of the moments seemed a bit recycled. I felt as though I had seen the confrontation between Tigh and Admiral Adama before, and there is a certain moment involving Dualla that I think was a very cheap stunt on behalf of the writers. The shocking discovery that Starbuck makes in this episode is very cool, but Katee Sackhoff in my opinion failed to deliver in the acting department. Aditionally, the scenes featuring a dispondent President Roslin felt extremely cliched, and to be honest I expected better from a show that I normally hold to such a high standard. Clearly the writers were trying to take the audience to a more dramatic place rather then give us another cool space battle, and I commend them for trying. Personally, I think it would have been wiser to start this season with a bit more of a bang. Still, I have complete faith that BSG will pick up again after what I think was a fairly weak episode.
Battlestar Galactica Season 4 will be airing on the Sci-Fi channel some time in 2009.
