Battlestar Galactica - Daybreak Part Two: The Series Finale

They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.

And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.

After a long and bloody struggle; an armistice was declared.

The Cylons left for another world to call their own.

This has all happened before; it will all happen again.

The recurring theme of a cycle in time repeating itself, over and over again is played out through the Scrolls of Pythia, the tales of the Thirteenth Tribe, the Exodus from Kobol, the Exodus from the Twelve Colonies and the Cylon civil war. So how does it end? Do you simply get off the cosmic merry-go-round as D'Anna elected on Earth? Do you blow your own head off as Dualla chose to do? Or does it end in the mitochondrial DNA of a little girl named Hera, the product of a love affair between Karl and Sharon or as they are better known: Helo and Athena.

What We Knew

Boomer stole Hera and took her to Cavil. Simon planned to experiment, test and basically use her as a guinea pig to discover how she could help them on their quest for survival since they no longer have resurrection technology. Adama drew a line in the sand metaphorically speaking by drawing a strip of red tape down the center of the bay. He asked for volunteers to rescue Hera. Many of the principals crossed over the tape to join the one-way rescue mission save for Baltar.

What We Learned

No recap can do justice to the allegorical tale that capped off some 84 hours of religious, political and human introspection and exploration. The story of each character is told to the fullest and yet left curiously undefined as many of these men and women were very much defined by the journey and not the destination.

The Fleet

Knowing that the mission could quite possibly be one-way, Adama promotes Lt. Hoshi to Admiral and gives him command of the Colonial flag as it transfers to the Base ship. It is a moment both touchingly sad and ironic as Lt. Hoshi accepts the promotion and the charge of keeping the truly ragtag, fugitive fleet safe in light of so many going on the mission.

Similarly, Lee turns the tables on Romo Lampkin, appointing him President of the Fleet and giving him the charge to see to the people's safety. It is an ironic twist of fate considering Lampkin's influence on Lee, but he accepts the charge gracefully, albeit with no small amount of sarcasm. (I for one, however, was very happy to see the dog we got to know on New Caprica still doing quite well. The dog survives and that's always a good twist).

Baltar's Choice

Baltar sits in the stripped bare, empty quarters he shared with his followers. He is still torn about leaving. Head Six tells him he is following God's plan by leading the remains of mankind to their end. Paula wants Gaius to hurry and come, because it's time to go. He asks her to give him a moment and he gazes at the Head Six wonderingly.

On the flight deck, the newly christened Admiral Hoshi and President Lampkin prepare to depart on the last raptor off Galactica. Aboard are Paula and a few others. The deck crew salutes. Gaius hands Paula the last crate and tells her he won't be going. When she protests that his people need him, he tells her, rather forcefully that he does not belong to her. She and the others appropriated him. But they are hers now. She must look after them. The sheep really do have a new shepherd; Gaius Baltar is staying with Galactica on her one way mission. As he starts to walk away from the raptor, Lee hands him a rifle, officially accepting Gaius as a volunteer.

The Jump

Every member of the crew prepares for the jump as the Cylon crewmembers set Anders up in the CIC. A touching, albeit humorous moment occurs between Tigh and Adama as the latter moves gooey cabling. Adama's grimace of distaste is visible and Tigh suggests they could airlock the whole lot of them. The men share a quick grin and a half-hearted laugh.

Everyone is ready. Everyone has a job. Despite her exhaustion and heartsickness in the previous episode, Athena shows some glimmer of life and forgiveness for her husband. Kara is braced and ready. Lee has his people ready. Gaius is armed. Roslin is pumped full of meds to keep her on her feet. Seshay is in charge of sickbay. They're ready to jump.

Note: Best touch of this whole sequence is Lee looking over his men and then the Centurion volunteers lining up. Each Centurion is sporting a red stripe so that the humans can tell them apart from the Colony centurions. It's a really fabulous moment.

The Rescue

The Galactica jumps in and the battle begins; the ship takes a tremendous pounding, but they get Anders plugged in and he shuts down the Hybrids. The vipers launch to engage the Raiders while the raptors FTL from their spot in the former gift shop on the Galactica (really nice touch that) to just behind the Colony. (Not sure why their jumps don't shred the Galactica, but maybe the damage she is taking at that point makes it no biggie).

When the Colony's guns stop firing, Galactica rams into it, creating a breach that Lee and his ground forces (human, Cylon and Centurion) can take advantage of. The Raptors are maneuvering to come in behind the Colony, unnoticed to breech in another spot.

Carousel's raptor gets hit first and they are gone. Shortly, and very painfully thereafter, we lose Racetrack, Skulls and their crew, but their weapons are armed which is important later (particularly if you've forgotten about halfway through the battle). The only Raptor to successfully land and breech is Athena's with Starbuck and Helo onboard.

Meanwhile, Simon is doing horrible things to Hera, drilling into her (looks like he was taking brain fluid samples and maybe bone marrow). Boomer breaks his neck. For all those hoping Boomer would find redemption in rescuing the little girl she helped to steal, she tries. She takes Hera away and encounters Athena and her team. She gives Hera to Athena and tells her to let the Old Man know she owed him one. Athena tells her flat out that handing over Hera doesn't make up for all she's done. Boomer accepts that. Athena then executes Boomer.

A flashback reveals that Boomer nearly got kicked off Galactica for not being able to land her Raptor. The Old Man is giving her a chance and she owes him. It's a sad, tragic fate for the Cylon sleeper agent who never wanted to be a Cylon, but Boomer made her choices and not all of them were good.

The Opera House

With Hera in hand, the ground forces withdraw to Galactica. Caprica and Baltar are guarding a passageway from incursion. Caprica tells Baltar she is proud of him. It was the only thing really missing in their relationship. She also teases him that she's actually been in more fights than he has. They share a significant moment and when they kiss, they both hear the voices of their Head Six and Head Baltar talking. Best moment in the finale is when Gaius and Caprica realize the other one can see them.

Interestingly, the Colony Centurions who fight are comprised of old style Centurions and new models. Back aboard Galactica, Athena, Helo, Caprica, Baltar, Kara, Lee and a handful of others are rushing back to CIC when Helo is shot in the leg. The fire fight continues for a moment and Hera runs off. Helo's bleeding bad from his leg wound (looks worse than the one he got on the Raptor with Boomer before he was left on Caprica, but in the same area). Helo tells Athena to go after Hera.

In sickbay, a covered in blood Roslin senses Hera and the vision of the Opera House plays out. Roslin finds Hera briefly and hides her from the invading Centurions, but Hera slips away again. Caprica and Baltar find Hera and suddenly realize they need to get her to the Opera House.

They are not seeing a Projection. They are seeing a memory. They have been there before. They've done all this before. Caprica and Baltar carry Hera into CIC where they look up and see the blazing images of the Final Five where the Five are standing in CIC. It's a bloody fight right there in CIC with many humans and Cylons dead. Cavil seizes Hera and now it's a standoff.

Interestingly, it's Baltar who gets Cavil's attention and as he speaks, with gentle, but utter conviction, you see the cynic in Cavil grasping for hope. Particularly when Baltar tells him that Hera is the future of both races. She is the survival of human and Cylon. He knows, because the angels are there (Head Six and Head Baltar are both watching the tableau play out).

Saul offers to give Cavil and his crew Resurrection technology if they swear to let Hera go and leave the human race alone forever. It's a deal. The fighting stops. Cavil releases Hera.

The Kicker

This is where it gets really interesting. Ellen is having the four of them place their hands in the tub that Hybrid Sam is in. This way their knowledge will mingle and each piece of the technology that the others carry will come together. Then it can be downloaded to the Colony computers. They are hesitant, particularly Tory, because there will be no secrets. Everything everyone there knows, the others will know. She's afraid of Galen's reaction because she murdered Cally.

To be perfectly blunt, Tory is not a likeable character and since her reveal as a member of the Final Five, she's been the weakest and least likeable link. Ellen commented that Tory never could stand to be alone, probably because she doesn't have much of a spine. Nevertheless, they agree to do their thing and they start the download process. They are seeing images from each other and it only takes seconds for Galen Tyrol to see Tory murder Cally. The download stops and he turns on Tory.

They Hybrids (Sam included) freak when Galen rips out of the download. Presumably the wireless is still somewhat connected because they continue to freak as Galen snaps her neck.

Yay Galen!

Although, it's tragic, all of the women Galen has loved are now dead. Tory, the woman he loved during his years as a Cylon on Earth and during his journey from Earth to the Colonies before Cavil wiped their memories; Boomer, the sleeper agent he could never forgive until it was too late and Cally, the human woman he settled for and loved, but never was in love with.

Cavil's crew flips out with Doral being the first to believe it's all a trick. He's killed, so is Simon. Cavil blows his own brains out. Oh and remember the armed nukes on Skulls and Racetrack's raptor? A bump drops Racetrack's dead hand on the trigger and their nukes fire at the Colony. In the chaos of the CIC, Athena hugs Hera to her and Adama hangs on to Roslin. He yells at Starbuck to jump them, but she has no coordinates. They have to get out of there now.

The Piano Man

The numbers she assigned to the musical notes that Hera gave her and the song her father taught her, provide Kara with the jump coordinates. She programs them into the nav computer amidst flashbacks to the musical notes, to her playing the Piano and to the memories of the Maelstrom and her own death.

They jump.

Galactica nearly shatters on the jump. Structural supports buckle, decompression is shown all over the place. Her back is broken. The Galactica, already a dying leader, uses her last jump to take them to a place that looks very familiar as the Galactica is seen flying past the moon with a vivid blue planet in the distance.

The Truth

A raptor fetches the rest of the fleet to the coordinates - a 1 million light years away from the Colonies, Kobol and the Cylon Earth. They are going to stay on this world, the 38,000 some odd human survivors plus the few hundred 2s, 6s and 8s that remain. It's Lee who suggests they give up all technology that they totally break with the past and head out to populate the world with just the clothes on their back. Their humanoid species on the planet, very pre-industrial, not quite Cro-Magnon or maybe just barely there and Doc Cottle believes they have compatible DNA.

It's agreed.

The Centurions are given the Base Ship and their freedom to do as they please. They jump the Base ship away. Sam is going to fly Galactica and the other empty fleet ships into the sun, to destroy their technology. Kara shares a very poignant goodbye with him and for a moment, Sam is himself and whispers "I'll see you on the other side."

On the new planet, christened Earth by Adama because Earth is a dream that they worked very hard to find, the remnants of the fleet are deposited in pocket communities all over the planet.

Bill and Lee Adama say goodbye for the last time as Bill carries Laura off to die. They fly for a while in a Raptor so she can get a good look at the wild life. She passes away quietly and Bill removes his wedding ring to place on her finger. He finds a quiet spot, buries her in a cairn and the last he is seen, he is telling her about the cabin he is building for the two of them.

Lee and Kara stand together to watch Bill's raptor fly off. Lee remembers that he used to wonder when his father would return when he was younger. He knows he's not coming back this time. Kara agrees, then she tells Lee that she isn't coming back either. That she completed her mission. She did what she set out to do and that feels good, but she's done. She gets Lee to tell her what he will do now and he says that he wants to explore, to climb mountains and as he enthuses, he glances away. When he looks back, she's gone. He's alone on the field.

He says quietly to the wind that he will never forget Kara Thrace.

Galen heads north to a lonely little isle with some highlands (sounds like Scotland) to be away from everyone: human and Cylon. He plans to live out the rest of his days as a hermit.

Ellen and Saul are together, at last. She no longer needs to share Saul with Bill and they set off to see what life they can make together.

Finally, we see Hera with her parents. Helo is alive and he, Athena and Hera are setting off to start a new life on the planet. They are laughing and teasing, Athena promises to teach Hera how to build a house, plant crops and to hunt. Finally, there is forgiveness, love and peace between the couple who struggled through so much and overcame all the odds to be together.

Caprica and Baltar watch them and wonder if Hera will be okay. Their Head Six and Head Baltar assure them that she will live. They saved her. Caprica wants to know if that's it. Head Six and Head Baltar tell them God always has a plan. But for now, their lives will be less eventful.

Left alone once more, Baltar points out a pair of mountains and says the land near there looked great for cultivation, he knows how to be a farmer after all. In that moment, it all seems to swamp him and Baltar begins to cry. Caprica comforts him and they set off to start their lives together.

The Leap of Faith

150,000 years later.

New York City

Head Six and Head Baltar read over a man's shoulder (Ronald D. Moore, for those that didn't recognize him) as the magazine talks about the find of the century, a girl's remains were found in Tanzania region of Africa. She possesses the mitochondrial DNA that makes her the ancestor of all living humans.

The Head Six and Head Baltar are amused that it was Hera, who lived in that valley with her human father and Cylon mother. They look around New York and start discussing the world; it reminds them of Kobol, the other Earth, and Caprica before the falls. It's all happened before, letting their technology get the best of them.

The question is, does it need to happen again?

They think not. Maybe not this time. When Head Baltar challenges Head Six on her optimistic viewpoint, she suggests that it's the law of numbers and pure physics, you play out the same numbers over and over again and something new is bound to happen.

The End

Thoughts

The series finale leaves plenty of room for speculation, philosophy and ideas. Some fans will love it because it was chalk full of answers, consequences, resolutions and it provided a solid ending for some and a soft ending for others.

What was Kara Thrace? Was she an Angel as Baltar suspected? Was she a physical incarnation, resurrected and sent to bring humanity to this world to start again? What was human and Cylon is ended, blended like Hera into the populations of the new world.

Were Head Six and Head Baltar manifestations of Angels?

Demons?

Some other higher power?

What did you think?

Life here began out there, far across the universe with tribes of humans who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians or the Toltec or the Mayans. Some believe that there may yet be, brothers of man, who even now fight to survive, far across the Universe.