Does anyone here watch BSG? **SPOILER ALERT**

[leetninja]

SERIES FINALE TONIGHT!!!! AHHHHH HOW WILL IT END!!!!!!!!!!!

[FTL_Ian]

***SPOILER TOWARDS THE END!***

What a lovely metaphysical message.  The finale was a great episode, perhaps the best finale I've ever seen.

What I took away:

Battlestar Galactica is a cautionary tale about evolution.  Mankind is not subject to evolution, but the creators of it within themselves.  The episode suggests that mankind has become very technologically advanced while not following suit on a spiritual and personal level.  As we are well aware, this is mostly because governments have kept people dumbed down and angry, making them easy to manipulate and extract wealth from.  All of the conflict in the world demonstrates that man is still having a tough time with being loving toward his fellow man enough so that each is allowed to be free.  That is precisely what we're changing.  We are part of the "something surprising" that Caprica Six mentions in the final scene. 

Is it really a surprise, though?  The Free State Project was born as an idea.  It has grown organically and has become and continues becoming reality, as all ideas have the power to do.  Like the unexpected rising and blooming of a flower, the FSP can seem like a surprise from a macro perspective, when really it was just a natural consequence of the idea of the state.  It's a simple matter to trace the cause to Jason Sorens having an idea about how to change things for the better.  Was his idea spontaneous?  Yes and no.  It was in that it probably popped into his head at some point, but it was not in that it was also the result of the conclusions he'd drawn about his life's experience so far.

Either way, it doesn't matter.  We are at choice in the matter of our evolution.  Battlestar suggests that if mankind doesn't advance spiritually and personally (I suggest at least to the point of allowing others to be free.) prior to the rise of robotics, that our creation will destroy us.  We are on the cusp of this stage in evolution and the choice lies with you. 

The only disappointing part of this episode was the chief's choice when the final five linked and truly knew each other.  His rage I empathized with but I was saddened by his choice.  His thoughts immediately manifested as a chain of violence erupted due to his refusal to forgive and his subsequent violent act.  I was hoping he'd forgive her - it's part of what we need to do. 

In the real world, the people calling themselves the state have destroyed many lives and it is easy for us to feel like the chief especially if those lives have been our own or those of loved ones.  Many lovers of liberty call for "justice" and want the statists punished.  They want revenge or restitution.  I think the truce option would better serve us all.  If they will stop hurting peaceful people, that's where it should end.  I am willing to forgive them.  I choose peace and love over continued conflict.  What about you?

It has happened before and shall again - or will it?  It's not too late to change ourselves and create a new story.  You just have to choose.

[FTL_Ian]

I've expanded my above post into an article:
http://freekeene.com/2009/03/24/what-battlestar-galactica-means-for-the-liberty-movement-and-you/

[leetninja]

horrible disappointment in the last episode.  complete and total cop out - if you have any questions after watching it lik 99.9% of the faithful audience did ... you can simply answer them with the following statement:  Oh, that?  It's God!  K thx Bai!

Ron Moore is a preachy bastard ... it has always been there in the background throughout the series but this last episode was just above and beyond over the top preaching ... eff him

i still love BSG though lol

[Friday]

My opinion is somewhere in between Ian's and leetninja's.  I had a few disappointments about the end, and some unanswered questions, but over all it left me with a good feeling.  And despite months of mental preparation, I still cried when Roslyn died. 

*** SPOILER SPACE ***
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Ian, regarding your disappointment with the Chief's decision, I never got the sense that Tory was the least bit sorry for what she'd done.  Personally, I was GLAD he throttled that be-yatch.  But I was disappointed that he was left so embittered that he wanted to be rid of both races.  He was one of my favorite characters, and was such a good person; I feel like he got a raw deal overall.

leetninja, while there was a lot of God-talk throughout the series, I felt that Baltar did a fantastic job of explaining it in his final monologue (I'm talking about the real Baltar, not angelic Baltar).  He described "God" as a force of nature, beyond "good" and "evil".  I consider that to be a very interesting concept, and not the same as "religion", because such a God sounds to me like he/she/it/them wouldn't give a rat's ass one way or the other if you prayed to it or not.  It does what It wants, and we go with the flow like ducks in the water.  We are driven by the current, but we also have legs, and even wings, and the power to propel ourselves against, or even out of, the current, if we so choose.

OK, did I just make a metaphysical analogy about DUCKS?!  Frak me.   

[FTL_Ian]

Whether Tory was sorry or not or how much of a cold bitch she was did not justify his violence in response.  He had the opportunity to break the cycle of violence and he chose to continue it.  It was the saddest moment of the series.

[Friday]

Whether Tory was sorry or not or how much of a cold bitch she was did not justify his violence in response.  He had the opportunity to break the cycle of violence and he chose to continue it.  It was the saddest moment of the series.

Have to disagree.  I can see calling it a "cycle of violence" if Tory had killed Callie in some sort of heated Cylon vs Human battle.  But that's not what it was.  It was a cold, calm, premeditated murder.  Tory got what was coming to her, from the one person with a fair claim to impose justice.

Then again, I never did grasp the whole "turn the other cheek" business, even when I was a churchgoer. 

[Friday]

Oh wait, I get what you mean.  You mean the Chief had a chance to break the race-wide cycle of violence, as opposed to his personal dispute with Tory.  Yes, in that sense, it was sad.

[FTL_Ian]

Whether Tory was sorry or not or how much of a cold bitch she was did not justify his violence in response.  He had the opportunity to break the cycle of violence and he chose to continue it.  It was the saddest moment of the series.

Have to disagree.  I can see calling it a "cycle of violence" if Tory had killed Callie in some sort of heated Cylon vs Human battle.  But that's not what it was.  It was a cold, calm, premeditated murder.  Tory got what was coming to her, from the one person with a fair claim to impose justice.

Then again, I never did grasp the whole "turn the other cheek" business, even when I was a churchgoer. 

Eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.  Tory's death was as cold blooded a killing, not "justice". 

[Friday]

Whether Tory was sorry or not or how much of a cold bitch she was did not justify his violence in response.  He had the opportunity to break the cycle of violence and he chose to continue it.  It was the saddest moment of the series.

Have to disagree.  I can see calling it a "cycle of violence" if Tory had killed Callie in some sort of heated Cylon vs Human battle.  But that's not what it was.  It was a cold, calm, premeditated murder.  Tory got what was coming to her, from the one person with a fair claim to impose justice.

Then again, I never did grasp the whole "turn the other cheek" business, even when I was a churchgoer. 

Eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.  Tory's death was as cold blooded a killing, not "justice". 

I disagree again.  You really see no difference, on the "cold-blooded" scale, between planning and executing a hit on someone to take something you want from them, vs. freaking out when you're suddenly confronted with the person who murdered Julia?

[FTL_Ian]

Oh wait, I get what you mean.  You mean the Chief had a chance to break the race-wide cycle of violence, as opposed to his personal dispute with Tory.  Yes, in that sense, it was sad.

Indeed.  

[FTL_Ian]

I disagree again.  You really see no difference, on the "cold-blooded" scale, between planning and executing a hit on someone to take something you want from them, vs. freaking out when you're suddenly confronted with the person who murdered Julia?

As I said, I empathized with him but disagreed with his choice.  I can't say for sure how I'd have reacted in his position, but I can say I hope I'd choose differently.

[dalebert]

I skimmed over most of the latest posts because I'm absolutely confused as all Hell. Everyone seems to be talking about the final episode and it seems it STILL has not been made available to view On Hulu. Are they making some special exception and being particularly rat-bastardly by not making it available yet? I thought they normally made the episodes available online after a day or something. Seems like it was seen by everyone else but me at this point. I've only seen part 1 of Daybreak thus far.

[dalebert]

Aw, phuck it. Screw Hulu and SciFi channel and their damned commercials. I'm going old school on their asses! I'm DLing the damned torrent. If they want me to watch it with their commercials, they can quit being so damned stingy.

[Friday]

Dale, someone posted earlier in this thread that Hulu recently changed the lag time on posting BSG episodes from 1 day to 8.  Then I posted that I paid a couple of bucks to download the one I missed from iTunes.  So there are options.