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I finally caught up with the latest season of BSG. a brief review, CHOCK FULL OF SPOILERS. Since it's the whole post, I won't spoiler it, but seriously, if you haven't seen it, stop reading.
the last season of bsg sucked. i mean, really, it was bad. it was bad like the new mike myers movie was bad, except briefly during the last episode, and then it was kinda cool for a while. but mostly it was just bad.
Ok, I'm exaggerating a little bit. I guess I'm just disappointed. My problem is with all the deus ex machina. Sure, it's easy to come up with crazy plot twists when they don't have to follow any known law of human behavior or logical sense, and you don't care how many plot holes you leave in the process. examples: Why won't Deanna tell us who the last Cylon is? Why isn't the chief's daughter special, isn't she a hybrid too (ten bucks this will be explained away awkwardly next half-season in one or two lines of dialogue)? For god's sake, the main plot line is driven ENTIRELY by divine intervention. Doesn't that strike any of the BSG writers as a bad idea?
(also that next to last sentence was ironic)
And the awkward weird mystical-religious-inspirational speeches. They are really badly written and really uncomfortable. Especially that part where everybody starts cheering after Baltar's sermon? That was so weird. I mean really, he's practically the Osama Bin Laden of the entire human race for a while and now he's got a popular radio show? I'm not going to swallow that in a million years.
I'm beginning to think what makes Olmos' performance so amazing is because his character (Adama) has so tight lipped. He actually gets to act, and not vomit words at the audience.
Sorry if you loved this season. I'm not bashing the show... seriously, i love the shit out of BSG. I used to think it was the greatest shwo on earth, but no longer. Anyway, I'm open to hearing other perspectives on this. There were definitely some awesome parts this season, like the Cylon civil war, and the last two episodes. But otherwise, it was really meh. 
oh, and im also aware there was a thread in general about this. didn't feel like bumping it though.
 
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*points to big sign saying 'STAR TREK'*
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8748 Posts
although they've definitely implanted elements of mystery into the show, it's not in the genre of mystery and so it will lack the accurate and precise explanations that a good mystery eventually reveals. they're not presenting you with a puzzle that you can figure out if only you are aware of all the pieces and can use logic to its full extent.
i think the mysteries of the show need to be embraced by the viewer so you can share the perspective of the characters. do you expect your own life to be fully explained? every detail has a purpose? every "plot line" in your life to somehow contribute to the whole? no, you shouldnt, but you can at least try to learn something or gain something from everything. haven't you been in a situation where something has happened and you have no idea why that'd happen, and when you do find out why (if ever) then you're not satisfied with the answer? i think that shit happens all the time and it's all cuz of human nature and the way we interact with each other. so basically what im saying is that the mysteries and lack of explanations ground the show in reality rather than push it farther out from reality.
if you don't like a tv show that forces a huge question mark over your head with your only hope being in the divine, then you should have taken a bigger hint from the premise of being stuck in space searching for a home that only exists in divine texts. it seems incredibly odd to me that a BSG fan complains of these things
And i'm sorry if this is offensive, but with your questions:
Why won't Deanna tell us who the last Cylon is? Why isn't the chief's daughter special, isn't she a hybrid too (ten bucks this will be explained away awkwardly next half-season in one or two lines of dialogue)?
I don't think you're following the show closely enough so that even if the show was a tightly written mystery, you'd be just as dissatisfied. I think the obvious answers are..
1. Deanna stated she does not wish to reveal the identity of any of the cylons without getting something out of it. She stuck to this when she refused to identify the first four but they identified themselves. That didn't change her plan and she's clinging to the only unique knowledge she has left.
2. It hasn't been stated that the chief's daughter isn't special. How would she have come up thus far? The only interested parties, based off of Hera's experience, would be the Cylons and Roslin. Neither has had a chance to take the baby and they wouldn't if they had the chance because of the alliance and because that baby is not in the opera house visions. My speculation is that human/cylon children aren't that special in general. The first one was special because nobody had any idea how to make them and it's now caught up in the divine plan.
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8748 Posts
damn it someone else say something. BSG is awesome, has a million fans, gogogogo big discussion
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I think you're right on the plotholes. We'll see after the next half-season.
I still don't like when plot elements seem contrived. The deus ex machina just doesn't appeal to me. Like I said though, the first three seasons I thought were remarkable, because I felt like it was an accurate representation of how humans really would behave under these circumstances.
Anyway, I was just ranting. There was a big thread on this a while ago and I think people just don't wanna post the same stuff again.
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On June 21 2008 19:38 HamerD wrote:*points to big sign saying 'STAR TREK'*
lol, that's even worse. I used to watch voyager... expect for one or two really memorable episodes (crazy time travel spinning planet, for example) most of it was really corny and the themes were very cliche for sci-fi. BSG has a very realistic... gritty, HUMAN feel that Star Trek doesn't bother to capture.
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EPT
