Battlestar Galactica: Season 2 Blog
October 26, 2009
Season 2. Episodes 19 & 20. Season Finale.
“Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I & Part II”
“On behalf of the people of the Twelve Colonies, I surrender…”
PART I
49,579 survivors. Admiral Adama green lights Starbuck’s mission to rescue Samuel Anders and his team of rebels on Caprica. The Presidential elections are nearing, and a debate between the two candidates, Roslin and Baltar, is about to take place. Starbuck’s mission is to take a bunch of Marines into several Raptors and make numerous jumps to Caprica. In the process, however, Racetrack jumps the wrong coordinates and gets lost from Starbuck’s party. Miraculously, Racetrack finds a new habitable planet.
Meanwhile, Chief Tyrol is sleeping and dreaming on Galactica‘s hangar deck. Cally sees him twitching, and she wakes him. Tyrol wakes up in frenzy and beats Cally to a bloody mess. Tyrol is shocked at his unconscious act and quickly brings Cally to Cottle. Tyrol, deeply troubled, visits a priest by the name of Brother Cavil. They talk about his guilt of beating Cally. Cavil sees that Tyrol has been having suicidal dreams, and that this is based upon Tyrol questioning whether or not he himself is a Cylon. Cavil’s sarcastically assures that Tyrol is not a Cylon because he has not seen him at any of the meetings. Cavil jokingly says this, and assures Tyrol that Cally loves him.
Now that a new planet has been found, Zarek suggests to Baltar that he use this as an edge to debate against Roslin, who says that the fleet should not inhabit the planet and should instead continue finding Earth. During the debate, Baltar takes Zarek’s advice and uses the argument against her. Baltar’s argument is that the new planet is hidden inside gas clouds, which interfere with detection devices, and that the Cylons will never find them. He also says that the fleet is tired of running and that they should begin their lives as soon as possible. The people agree with Baltar, and he wins the debate. Starbuck and her team arrive on Caprica, she finds Anders and his rebels. The Cylons find their location, and they begin to bomb the area…
PART II
49,550 survivors. The rebels and Starbuck’s team fight their way off of Caprica and go back to Galactica. Admiral Adama is thrilled to see them all, but along with the rebels is Brother Cavil. Chief Tyrol instantly recognizes him and pins him down–declaring that he is a Cylon. Caprica-Cavil admits it and says that he comes bearing an important message. Caprica-Cavil is thrown into the brig, along with Galactica-Cavil. They both say that the Cylons are willing to go about their separate ways and stop chasing down humanity. Adama and Roslin don’t buy it.
Election Day has arrived and Roslin is falling behind in the votes. Tory asks Roslin whether or not she should go with her plan. Roslin nods, and Tory phones Galactica. It turns out that Colonel Tigh and several more co-conspirators aboard Galactica are turning the tables by discarding the real votes from the remaining five ships, and in their place are forged votes. Lt. Gaeta notices a discrepancy on the papers on which the votes were written on. He confronts Tigh about a possible conspiracy. Tigh later admits to Adama that he participated in planning the fraudulent votes. Roslin admits to Adama, as well, and Adama informs Baltar that he is the new president. Baltar doesn’t believe it was a miscount and reluctantly agrees not to investigate further into it. Baltar meets up with Gina Inviere for the last time on Cloud 9. Later on, Cloud 9 is destroyed by a nuclear blast along with three other ships. Gina has activated the nuclear warhead Baltar gave her before. Baltar as the President-elect orders the fleet to colonize the planet now known as “New Caprica”.
One Year Later…
In the cold, bleak atmosphere of New Caprica, people are walking around tents and markets and dilapidated fixtures. President Baltar’s administration is littered with whores, drugs, and booze. Gaeta, now the President’s aide, informs Baltar of the growing unrest the worker’s union, led by Tyrol. Meanwhile, aboard Galactica, Admiral Adama walks the empty corridors of his ship and orders Tigh to go down to New Caprica so he can enjoy some time off. Lee has gained weight, and Dualla is his XO aboard Pegasus. Dualla notices something on DRADIS: it is the Cylon fleet. Admiral Adama and Lee reluctantly jump away, since if they too are destroyed, then there would be no hope for rescuing the people on New Caprica. Copies of Aaron Doral, Sharon Valerii, and Number Six walk up to President Baltar. They agree not to kill the humans if they are willing to surrender. Baltar says one of the most heart-wrenching things ever: “On behalf of the people of the Twelve Colonies, I surrender.” An army of Cylon Centurions march through the market place of New Caprica…
My Review
The greatest writers in sci-fi television convene to create this monument of a season finale. Ronald D. Moore, Mark Verheiden, and Anne Cofell Saunders! Breathe…okay, now let’s get to reviewing.
In “Lay Your Burdens Down, Part I”, the fleet find a new planet. What a great way to end the season. I felt that the writers really did an excellent job leading Gaius Frakkin’ Baltar to the presidency. The brilliance of introducing New Caprica as an edge for Baltar is awesome. And I love how Baltar sees an opportunity in using the hopes of the people to his political advantage. Damn, I love the politics in all this. And I really admire the way James Callis portrays Baltar. He acts so natural and believable that you can actually generate an understanding of Baltar’s character. He is the man who unwillingly leads disaster to himself and his people. Greek tragedy.
The production team deserves something, too. The nicely paced editing makes all the scenes believable, and there is no rough scene patching anywhere. Director of Photography Stephen McNutt shoots some of the most groundbreaking scenes I have ever encountered. Many shows now are emulating his style of shooting, e.g. Stargate: Universe. His shots are brilliantly shot in HD format with a gritty, grainy style that is excellently paired with the nature of Galactica’s story. Bear McCreary, the main composer, makes some of the most unconventionally awesome music ever! His extensive use of the duduk, key instruments, effect-laden guitars, orchestras, Tibetan singing bowls, female vocals, and driving percussions create the tone and atmosphere of this show. Most of the time his music is mysterious, but it is always optimistic in some way.
Throughout the two-part season finale, the best scenes are the ones between Roslin and Baltar. Their heated political battle inevitably leads Roslin defeated and Baltar in office. The fraudulent votes and Roslin’s desperation to keep Baltar out of the presidency shows how she believes Baltar will lead the people to disaster. She is right, and I am happy. Good mixture.
My favorite part by far is the one where most of the fleet goes down to live on New Caprica, and then the “One Year Later” title appears, and everything looks absolutely gloomy. And then the scene cuts to Admiral Adama walking the empty halls of Galactica—really powerful scene, emotionally. This scene was a bit haunting because it really shows how desperate the fleet wants to settle down. Military personnel are slacking, such as Apollo gaining weight. But the greatest scene, and I keep mentioning this, is when the Cylons show up and force President Baltar to utter those powerful words of surrender.
President Baltar surrenders.
And following this, is the most impressive season ending I have seen so far: Cylon Centurions march through the markets with civilians standing on the side, and Galactica and Pegasus light years away from the rest of humanity.
Centurions march through New Caprica
My rating for the season finale: five out of five!
It’s been a great season of awesome television, and I thank you (the blog viewer) for all your time. Battlestar Galactica is the best show on television! SO SAY WE ALL!
Location Viewed: My room
Source: Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series (Blu-Ray)
Time viewed: 9:00PM-9:50 PM
