There won’t be any liberation. There couldn’t be, with all those Basestars in orbit. Of course, the show has gotten ridiculous, so why not?
I’m gonna have to sleep on this before I say too much I’ll regret later, but I won’t change my mind on this: New Caprica, Beyond The Thunderdome was a real drag.
OK, one thing I did like: “We were a light year away when we detected a nuclear detonation.” That was cool. Shows they don’t have FTL sensors. I guess.
Preface: Sorry about my “spoiler” joke up in the third or fourth post upsetting a few people. I’m sure that now at least they know it was just a play on the previous joke.
And now…
What a horrible episode.
I mean, I give them credit for the good scene between Adama and Roslyn, and GinaSix’s self-destruction was good and all, but everything after the “One Year Later” BULLS**T was just godawful.
I kept holding out hope that it would stop sucking.
I’m supposed to buy that Adama & Son would just let the entire fleet become lazy and ill-prepared for any sort of action within 360 days? And they just let their crew abandon ship to start a new life? Please. Half the crew wouldn’t be mustering out in a year’s time even in peacetime, would they? Is the Colonial fleet an entirely discretionary service?
I’m supposed to believe that Zarek wouldn’t jump on Baltar’s sleazeball image and massive unpopularity to impeach his ass and get himself elected president? Or at least back Tyrol long before this point was reached?
They didn’t even bother to resolve anything. Did they throw the Stockwell twins out the airlock, or didn’t they? What happened to MamaBoomer? Nothing? Still in the brig?
Jesus Christ, what an incredible letdown.
I expected at the least to be eagerly awaiting Season 3. I’m sorry, Ron, but I like to watch Battlestar Galactica, not Cylon-Occupied Tent City.
I’m not sure I liked the “one year later” plot device, at least in the context of this episode, but I think it will turn out to be a smart move, come season three. Ron Moore gave his show a good shake, and I’m anxious to see how the pieces fall into place.
The writers now have a lot fertile new ground to cover. Let’s see: we’ve got a year’s worth of back stories to tell, we’ve got the fleet effectively split in two – I’m hazy on the exact numbers, but it looks like there’s roughly 35K on Cylon-occupied New Caprica and probably 10K up in Adama’s rag-tag little resistance fleet. I’m guessing we’ll get to delve further into the conditions on the planet (hopefully with some better sets). We’ll get to see how human-cylon relations play out, and we’ll probably see a human resistance movement on the ground, possibly with help from cylon sympathizers. And Baltar has finally reunited with the original Caprica Six – how will that relationship play out? Will Baltar join the cylons while Roslin leads the rebellion? We’ll definitely get to see Adama & son pull together and train new fighters to man the Pegasus and Galactica, possibly introducing some interesting new characters in the process. Maybe Starbuck won’t be the best Viper pilot in the fleet anymore. 
Plus with all those basestars in orbit around New Caprica, we’re bound to see some cool space battles.
I’m guessing we now have enough interesting material for an entire season, if the writers play their cards right. We’ll see.
In October. 
Worst. Episode. Ever.
What a lazy piece of crap. It’s like we’ve been following a series of lovingly detailed paintings, some better than the others but all still relatively consistent, and then the artist throws out a quick pencil sketch and says “No, here, care about this now.” At this point, I’m not really interested in what happens to the characters next. It took only a half hour for me to get un-involved with them. While I agree with MaddyStrut to an extent in that there wasn’t much to see in the intervening year, the transition to the current storyline was sloppy and uninteresting. Ron Moore might as well have just popped up at the “One Year Later” point and said “Who cares what happened? I sure don’t.” He could have made it a 2-hour episode and actually kept enough detail to keep the characters lifelike and interesting. Instead, the last half hour was a cartoon with human actors.
I might watch the first episode of season 3, but I doubt it.
Good point.
Which means she signaled the Cylons.
“I AM NOT A FRACKIN’ CYLON! … Oh. Okay.” 
Good to see Ed Olmos still has his Lieutenant Castillo mustache in storage somewhere.
I can’t have been the only one thinking “All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again” in the ending.
This was not necessarily a shark-jumper or even a Reset Button; it depends on where the next season’s plot arc goes. I’m not worried about it. Yet.
October? Guess we’ll have to learn to like the new Dr. Who remake in that time slot in the meanwhile.
I’m confused. What happened to the “You go your way, we’ll go our way, no harm, no foul” Cylon message? Halfway through the episode, the Cylon’s said that they’d lost interest in the humans. (Backed up by our knowledge of the 6 and 8 conversion and their abandonment of the attack on Caprica.)
Then they show up in overwhelming force to capture them. Doesn’t make sense.
Sure it does. The Cylons had lost track of the humans with the destruction of the resurrection ship, and couldn’t find them in the whatever-it-is that New Caprica is hidden in until Gina set off the signal nuke. The fake peace overture was a ruse to make the humans stay in one place and settle down until they could be found again.
I really liked it. The one year fast forward felt like a cheat, but at the same time I have no desire to watch an entire season watching the Colonists establish themselves on New Caprica. We know the Cylons would show up eventually, so I think Ron Moore did the right thing on the fast forward button.
Ok, no, strike that. I could have watched Baltar’s harem for a season. But anyway.
At least it kept me guessing and eager for October. Just think of what could have been avoided if Tighe had reached over and snapped Gaeta’s scrawny neck at that ballot box.
The cylons had to catch up with the humans sometime. I think this was a brave move on the part of the writers. Honestly, I’m not sure how much longer I could put up with the constant cat and mouse moves, and the skin-of-our-teeth escapes. Don’t get me wrong, it’s what made the show entertaining for the first two seasons, but with the cylons on Caprica, and with humans on the run, it made it hard for there to be any real movement plot-wise. Now we have it. I’m pumped about next season. The humans let their guard down, AGAIN. Now, it’s really on. I can’t think of a way they’re gonna get out of this one without some serious casualties. Also, I hope we get to see how the hybrid baby comes into play. Will she somehow become a gambit for the humans?
Wow, I’m surprised there are so many votes against this season finale!! I thought it was great. And for those of you who were disappointed there were so many “unanswered questions”, that’s the point of a season finale isn’t it?..to give you things to wonder about in the off season so you’ll watch the next episode!
I thought there would be some initial resistance to Baltar’s presidency by Roslin. Maybe her playing the “Baltar is working with the Cylons” card, etc. Or like some people said Tom Zarek playing more of a part. But really, she should have done that before the election to sway more votes her way rather than try to steal it.
That being said, I LOVED the direction the series turned with the move to New Caprica. The people got just what they asked for–Baltar and a move to a new planet–and it’s only human nature to turn complacent. (Was it me, or did Lee look like he put on a few pounds??)
I guess I’m more a fan of the human stories and the nature of the relationships on the show rather than the Viper fights and space battles with the Cylons. So I can see where the “shoot 'em up” fans might be disappointed. But to me, good scifi isn’t always about science.
And ElvisL1ves, you weren’t the only one thinking “All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again” in the ending. Prophecies do have a way of fulfulling themselves, don’t they?
Starbuck had a great line also: “Same thing we always do. Fight 'em until we can’t”
Sorry all you “shark jump” predictors, this show is nowhere close!!
I liked it. It’s an unexpected development and a different way for the writers to go woth the show. It’s showing that this isn’t Star Trek, there will be no reset button, and they’re not afraid to take established continuity and shake it up violently. What did you expect, another season of just barely escaping from the Cylons episode after episode while searching for (but never finding) Earth? Episodes like this are why I love this show.
Even I will admit that was a weakness in the episode. The previous cylon attack came after 40 years… so now the humans get complacent after one? Maybe Baltar cut funding and supplies to the military and they had no choice (Lee was hording medical supplies), but it did seem like even Adama was getting soft towards the end.
Speaking of that scene, when did Adama and Tigh start smoking? Baltar was sure puffing it up, but we knew he smoked. I’m just wondering where they get all the tobacco. They can’t be growing it on New Caprica–isn’t it a rather cold planet? And with few people and a small temperate zone, wouldn’t they concentrate on growing food first?
Stress from having Baltar as Commander and Chief.
They replicate it. Oh, wait…
Did Callie look pregers at the union rally?
I thought Sharon/Mom/Prisioner was going to redeem herself in some way … really she wasn’t being HONEST when she spewed all that in anger about her reasons for letting Dean Stockwell reach Galactica wasd she?
I think the Cheif knocking up Cally was a purposeful story arc set up because “his” Sharon is now back (and Co-Queen to boot).
I am OK where we are now – nervous about it - see potential sharks but I’m OK- but I say now that if Season 3 ends with Baltar as King of the Cylons chasing the last humans through space as (robot voice) Imperious Leader (/robot voice) I’m out.
Very pregnant! Like she could give birth any second now.
Toasters lie. Seemed pretty obvious that they were bullshitting in order to regain the upper hand. They had it planned out all the way back to when 6 got the nuke from Baltar. The humans were really stupid to fall for it. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice? Make me into a slave race. Great.
What surprised me is that Starbuck would have stopped being a pilot and settled on New Caprica. She must have had some serious falling out with Apollo that wasn’t shown to make that happen.
Even if I was thrown a couple of times, I thought it was absolutely brilliant (which seems to put me in a minority here).
How does one continueris like this, episode after episode? Well, we saw what happened when the action just muddles along - we get one shot things like ‘Blackmarket’ and ‘Scar’. I distinctly remember the bitching that went on here after those two.
So, if you’re a showrunner, you have to decide what type of show you want: Star Trek TNG, NCIS or CSI? Just about every episode works by itself and what little character development there iscan easily be brushed aside by the casual viewer who just happens to tune in. BSG can be like that- week after week of episodes like ‘Scar’ and ‘Blackmarket’. But I’m sure noone here wants that.
So what does Ronnie have to do? He has to keep the action, keep the character development and be careful not to resolve the conflict with the Cylons, lest there be no tension and no mystery.
He has to take BSG to a new place. Kobol is not an option and even though the titles sequence mentions that they are in search of a home called Earth, I’m sure he doesn’t want to go there yet. So what new place is there. Well, New Caprica solves a lot of problems for him as a showrunner. Clearly, Balthar was destined for the presidency all along. However, with him being a nútcase that’s talking too his own tie, Moore needed something that would create a situation where he could make Balthar winning the election believable.
New Caprica is of course the brand new setting, that he needs to throw around new plot twists, so of course that’s good. It also puts a lot of our main character in a brand new situation - what happpens after we won? When all our goals have been achieved, what do we do now? Someone was a big strappin’ hero during the war, but is now just another schmuck with no pull, no job and not a lot to do. And of course, making babies should be a priority, so Cally (and I think Starbuck) being pregnant makes a lot of sense.
And the new Prez did just what the Cylons wanted (but what do they want?) and got humanity to lower its guard, stand down and start thinking about other things than Cylons.
I’m soo glad we’re out of the endless cat and mouse games in space with Cylon raiders.
I’ll give this ep 9/10 and there are two really bad things that deduct a point:
My gripe isn’t with the direction they took with the story. The concept is fine. It’s the execution that I thought was absolutely horrible. It was cartoony and ham-handed. It makes me think of the old Far Side cartoon where the professor is writing a huge equation on the board and in the middle it says “and then a miracle occurs”. His colleague points to it and says something like “You might want to clarify this step here.” Ron Moore couldn’t be bothered to tell the story – he just gave us an outline.
Some people do very well when they play with time sequence and pacing in a story. Moore began to annoy me with the clumsy “xxx time units ago” episodes that were pretty poorly crafted. As of “one year later”, I no longer trust him to tell an interesting story.
I liked it. As others have said, the show needed a shakeup, and this did it in spades. We have about 5 seasons of plotlines set up, so the writers will have plenty to work with. Bravo, Ron! That took guts.
I, for one, am getting a bit tired of the obsession some of you have with “jumping the shark.” Such a point can only be judged in hindsight, from a bit of a distance for perspective. Give it a rest, huh?