What a disappointment. I was able to tolerate four seasons of major plot holes (such as why these all powerful aliens could pretty much obliterate the planet but not this rag tag fleet of individuals, whom they could not even find) only because I love post-apocalyptic stories.
The final season had no value at all. They could have advanced the storyline and built up to a compelling climax, but plot-wise each episode went down it’s own rabbit hole, only to have a rushed ending that looked like it was filmed in 30 minutes.
The final episode was the worst - a wholesale invasion of an entire planet due to … revenge? Poof go all the aliens when queen ant touches a magic elixir? Give me a break. For a show that much have spent a ton of money on set pieces and special effects, you’d think they could have invested in some creative writers.
I could overcome some incontinuity in Battlestar Galactica because that was getting renewed season by season; however FS was planned to end at four. It was a terrible, terrible waste of time.
Dear lord, what a shitty ending. Fitting for a shitty last season(s), though.
I think what happened was this - seasons 1 and 2 were solid. Season 3 was a bit less so, as the writers sorta wrote themselves in a corner with the President Tom Mason storyline. Then the showrunners leave, and get replaced with new guys, who clearly had some bold ideas for the show… problem was, they were terrible (Nazi aliens, complete with ghettos, re-education camps, spiffy uniforms and blonde-haired, dead-eyed leaders… mystical space baby/Daenerys wannabe… etc). So the higher-ups decide they can afford one more season to wrap things up, and slap the showrunners into just finishing it without anything crazy. Probably sliced the budget sharply, too… lots of human-centric episodes at the end. So we get this dull thud of an ending.
It’s disappointing because, when the show wanted to, the CGI/effects were pretty good. The queen looked great. But… they don’t do anything with it. The last episode should be a bonanza, and have characters sacrificing themselves left and right, build the tension… and instead we get three minor characters who die (all introduced this season, one a nameless biker guy this episode), plus Anne, who quickly gets resurrected. Okay. Tom basically just walks up to the Lincoln Memorial and cracks open Alien Ghost Dildo and that’s all she wrote for the Espheni. Oh, and then Pope gets a last chance to show up, only he doesn’t do anything except die. They really shoulda had him show up during the fight with the Queen and make a Heroic Sacrifice saving Tom, but the writers couldn’t even give him that. What a waste of the only interesting character on the show.
couldn’t agree more - total waste - no actaul sacrifices
“THe final battle didn’t go quite as planned, but …” - the opening monologue had great hope.
They should have ended it right there - with some shots of the battle, deaths of our real chars, the final ‘winning shot’ (magic elixer, fine) - then the rebuild starts.