BSG Season 2 Finale (Spoilers)

Just watched the finale at long last myself. And then I read this whole thread. A few thoughts:

1) I definitely think the blonde Cylon's nuclear suicide was part of a greater plan to summon the Cylons. If you recall, she was plotting with terrorists after she assimilated into the fleet, and I seem to recall her behaving in a very capable, scheming way - not like a little scared rabbit who had been traumatized to the point of suicide. I mean, if that were the case, why wait? And why have to have a nuke?

2) As far as I'm concerned, it's still a big mystery as to why Baltar sees the blonde Cylon in his head - and I'm ABSOLUTELY baffled as to the source of the Baltar in Caprica blondie's.

3) Reading this thread has reaffirmed my notion that you CAN NOT miss an episode of this show. I noticed a lot of questions about things that were shown in (presumably) missed shows. The iTunes store (or bitTorrent) is your friend.

4) The Battlestar is indeed a naval vessel, but the pilots would no more be trained in SWAT tactics (normally) than, say, Air Force pilots. But in fairness to the suspension of disbelief, that was on Earth, which at this point in continuity is actually pre-historic times.

5) I went back on my laptop and watched the Gaeta and Tigh seen again, determined to say with conviction that there was no smirk...but there was.

6) DO NOT ARGUE with Gaald! It only encourages him to dominate you with his superior fanboy knowledge! (I spoke once on TheWalt's Ventrilo server to Gaald...nice guy though, that guy's cool)

Fedaykin98 wrote:

2) As far as I'm concerned, it's still a big mystery as to why Baltar sees the blonde Cylon in his head - and I'm ABSOLUTELY baffled as to the source of the Baltar in Caprica blondie's.

Both the wife and I have discussed this, and we think that there just might be some type of divine influence at work here. The Cylons obviously believe in some type of god, and the many humans are Lords of Kobol followers. So what if there just might be some type of higher power at work? It could explain how Baltar ends up in Caprica Six's head and how she ends up in his, without any mutual knowledge of each others connection.

6) DO NOT ARGUE with Gaald! It only encourages him to dominate you with his superior fanboy knowledge! (I spoke once on TheWalt's Ventrilo server to Gaald...nice guy though, that guy's cool)

Oh shucks, now i'm blushing!

Fedaykin98 wrote:

1) I definitely think the blonde Cylon's nuclear suicide was part of a greater plan to summon the Cylons. If you recall, she was plotting with terrorists after she assimilated into the fleet, and I seem to recall her behaving in a very capable, scheming way - not like a little scared rabbit who had been traumatized to the point of suicide. I mean, if that were the case, why wait? And why have to have a nuke?

I doubt it was part of a greater plan. She had had that nuke for a while, and the Cylons seemed to have given up after "Downloaded". She committed suicide in the most extravagant manner possible, plain and simple. She was emotionally shattered after her experience on Pegasus. She had at most 3 reasons to live: 1) God wills it, suicide isn't an option. Except she was so damaged, she had decided "f* that". 2) The Cylon plan to wipe out the humans. She wasn't in on the whole "we'll leave them alone for a bit" decision, not being on Caprica. 3) The love and humanity of Giaus Baltar. Who more or less insisted on sex despite her reluctance to being touched that way again. She had the nuke, but nothing else. No God, no Gaius, no purpose but killing humans, and a desire to end her life.... BOOM! She might have seen the bigger picture in blowing up that ship, but it is fairly pointless after the election. The Cloud Nine was a big greenhouse, and the recreation center for the fleet. If the humans hadn't found a planet to live on, there is a good chance they would face an even harder future in their space travels after losing that ship. The other Cylons seeing the explosion was just gravy for the Cylons, in my mind.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

2) As far as I'm concerned, it's still a big mystery as to why Baltar sees the blonde Cylon in his head - and I'm ABSOLUTELY baffled as to the source of the Baltar in Caprica blondie's.

I think the premise there is that they *both* suffered a psychic breakdown when they lost each other on Caprica. We have been seeing Gaius interacting with Six, "foretelling" the future, literally beating himself up, and getting some action in the process. Only the foretelling is a reach with the nervous breakdown explanation, and even that could be explained by the fact that Baltar is a genius. Most of the foretellings he got from Six were educated guesses, or wrong. When we see that Six also sees Gaius, we have our first real point of reference to these ghosts. Watch "Downloaded" again, and note the difference in the Gaius in Six's head in relation to the Gaius we know and love/loathe. It is not Gaius Baltar, but Six's version of Gaius Baltar. There is the same subtle differences in the real Six on Caprica and the one in Baltar's head. All of Baltar's weaknesses and indecision is missing in Six's imaginary one, and Baltar's Six is an angel of sexuality and confidence, without any of the complications of ambiguity.

That's my take anyway.

Atras wrote:

I think the premise there is that they *both* suffered a psychic breakdown when they lost each other on Caprica. We have been seeing Gaius interacting with Six, "foretelling" the future, literally beating himself up, and getting some action in the process. Only the foretelling is a reach with the nervous breakdown explanation, and even that could be explained by the fact that Baltar is a genius. Most of the foretellings he got from Six were educated guesses, or wrong. When we see that Six also sees Gaius, we have our first real point of reference to these ghosts. Watch "Downloaded" again, and note the difference in the Gaius in Six's head in relation to the Gaius we know and love/loathe. It is not Gaius Baltar, but Six's version of Gaius Baltar. There is the same subtle differences in the real Six on Caprica and the one in Baltar's head. All of Baltar's weaknesses and indecision is missing in Six's imaginary one, and Baltar's Six is an angel of sexuality and confidence, without any of the complications of ambiguity.

That's my take anyway.

And I agree. Also remember, there was a single episode where Baltar questioned the Six in his head, suggesting that she was nothing more than a figment of his imagination. I need to go back and rewatch that one, because I recall his Six acting very differently than any episodes that came before or after.

Ok Im trumping both Kat and Fed's belated OMGzors here. I only got the chance to catch a few episodes 'live' and watched both seasons front to back on dvd and torrent the past couple weeks. Wow.

A couple of notes:

-You've all heard of the announcement of a 'The Story So Far' episode which will be on the 360 and probably aired on Sci-Fi 100 times before the start of Season 3. I wonder if any of the deleted footage from New Caprica will see light of day in it.

-I believe the actions of both Baltar and Caprica 6 are being heavilly manipulated by a 3rd party. Someone is behind their hallucinations and are driving them to extreme actions they wouldn't otherwise take. The manipulator has done everything for Gaius except get him on the Raptor out of Caprica. His every living moment since then has been nearly entirely influenced by 'the being'. The manipulator pushed for the destruction of the Olympic Carrier, got the nuke for him, gave it away, identified the Ressurection Ship, put him in politics and made him the president (I think they were annoyed that he saved Rosalin from cancer, he quickly regretted it himself. After reading Ros' letter to him, he sent the nuke to the terrorists). They wanted him there, they wanted the nuke to go off.

In the same way, Cap6's hallucinations are similar. I think seeing Baltar in her head made clear that the Cap6 in his head is not exactly Cap6. Both act the same way to their 'host', abusive and manipulative, yet caring. They made sure that she and Sharon became what they came to do whatever it is exactly that those two have done. Something, whether it's divine or some cylon overlords, is making sure things happen in a certain way. "All of this has happened before, and it will happen again."

Anyways, Season 3 is getting closer. I can't wait.

Here's some info regarding the web-episodes I just found out, from a reliable source...

"As most of you may already know, Battlestar Galactica recently delved into the digital world with the announcement of a series of original webisodes, to be produced by SCI FI Channel, and to eventually debut on the network's new "SCI FI Pulse" online broadband network.

One of the early installments was to be titled "Crossroads."

Part of the rationale behind the concept is to keep fervor and interest alive in network properties in-between seasons, but it now appears that the concept has hit a snag.

NBC Universal has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging labor law violations by the Writers Guild of America.

According to TV Week, the complaint claims the WGA has asked writers and producers on programs such as Battlestar Galactica to cease working on Web-only episodes. The complaint claims the webisodes are already covered under current guild contract and urges the NLRB to compel staffers to resume work. NBCU claims webisode production has been at a standstill since June.

Networks often spend about $5,000 or less to produce a webisode that typically has a running time of two to four minutes. With little to no advertising revenue generated by the content, networks are reluctant to pay writers for Internet reuse, instead arguing the content is strictly promotional.

That the WGA has also rallied producers, who are not represented by the WGA, is unusual. The affected shows also include NBC's Crossing Jordan, The Office and Heroes."

Well, that sucks.

'The Story So Far' is up on Xbox Live Marketplace now. I imagine its in other places too.

Edit: And so is the trailer for the new season and... wow.

Yeah, last Friday commercials for the new season were playing during the SG shows and it looked exceptional!

The 'Story Thus Far' show wasnt too thrilling, but I had watched the entire 2 seasons in the last month so I guess I didnt really need a refresher. It pretty much just focuses on the pilot/miniseries, the seasons 1/2 finale/premier and the last episode. The overall video and audio quality is piss poor too. Very shabbily done, Sci-fi.

More season 3 goodness, now for some very high res S3 promo pics

Though, I don't see how those pics actually relate to season 3, high resolution pictures is always good!

lethial wrote:

More season 3 goodness, now for some very high res S3 promo pics

Though, I don't see how those pics actually relate to season 3, high resolution pictures is always good! ;)

Yay! Starbuck back to short hair! But isn't it funny that there aren't any pictures of Chief, Cally, or Ellen Tigh? Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but there has been that rumor that they're planning on killing off a relatively important character in the first three episodes; maybe it's one of them?

/end rampant speculation

KaterinLHC wrote:

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but there has been that rumor that they're planning on killing off a relatively important character in the first three episodes; maybe it's one of them?
/end rampant speculation

By the looks of it, I think Adama's 'stache's days are numbered.

As long as the baby doesn't touch my 'stash!

I hope it's Ellen

A bunch of shots from the teaser trailer showed aged characters. Adama much greyer, looking almost like the Metal Gear Solid 4 shots of Snake. Tigh had a full white beard and looked like a grizzled mercenary general... The makeup and wardrobe people must hate the writers if they're going to be doing a bunch of flashback-flashforwards this season.

Edit: but I think its going to be Dualla and/or Samuel and theyll have some angsty Starbuck/Apollo reconnection