What.The.Frak?
I did not see that coming. At all.
Earth? Already? With an entire half-season left?
If you had told me yesterday that they get to Earth in this episode, I might have been disappointed that it was happening so soon. But it was executed so beautifully and then shockingly at the end, I am so excited about where we still have to go.
Instead of a major rundown of what happened, I’m going to give you the abbreviated version of the events, and then talk about the awesomeness of the episode.
(takes in deep breath)
Lee and Starbuck look at a book with the Temple of Aurora in it, the Basestar returns, Deanna holds Roslin, Baltar and the rest of the humans hostage until the Final FOUR are allowed to leave Galactica, Tory goes over and tells Roslin to frak off, the Watchtower music plays again for the Final Four, the Galactica and Lee work on a suicidal rescue mission, Tigh, Anders and Tyrol all meet at Starbucks’ brand new ship, Tigh tells Adama he’s a Cylon, Adama loses his mind and puts on a bathrobe, Lee takes control and threatens Deanna to airlock Tigh, Tigh spills the beans about Anders and Tyrol who are with Starbuck at the brand new ship, marines bring Tyrol and Anders to the airlock, Starbuck turns the ship on and realizes it’s a compass to Earth, she races to find Lee who is about to blow Tigh out of the hatch, they tell the Cylons about the compass, Deanna comes over with Tory and a Sharon, they agree with Lee to release all hostages and find Earth together in peace, Adama puts back on his uniform and says it’s time to get to Earth and NOW, everyone jumps to Earth, they hug and cry, they go down to the surface and find…devastation.
(exhales)
Whew.
If you thought that was bad, it actually almost felt that way in watching this episode. Everything that happened was at a breakneck pace. And I LOVED it.
Earth
In fact, it was so fast, that when Earth had been found and the emotional toll of their journey set in, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Which it did. Down onto the radioactive surface of what was left of the Temple of Aurora. Or New York. Or where was it? There is a big question surrounding that. At the start of the episode, Lee is looking at a picture of The Temple of Aurora in a book, and then at the end we see rubble and something that looks slightly dome-ish.
But we also see what might be a bridge, and an ocean with another bit of land over it, looking oddly like it could be Manhattan.
The picture of Aurora also had bridges in it, crossing over water. So did we see the Brooklyn Bridge, or were we supposed to be standing where the Temple of Aurora used to be?
Or are they one and the same? Well, check out this photo below for a side-by-side comparison between the Galactica shot and the Brooklyn Bridge (Thanks Richard). What do you think?
(Click on it for a larger version)
That question will have to wait for an answer.
Saul and Bill
This episode was awesome and full of fantastic moments that I wont soon forget.
The pillar of them was Colonel Tigh telling Admiral Adama that he was a Cylon. You gotta love Saul as a Cylon, because no matter how long he’s known he’s a skin job, he still hates it and wishes he was the same old guy he’s always been.
That came across so vividly when he tells Bill through the gritting of his teeth. He knew if he didn’t give himself up, the rescue mission will cost the human race its very existence. Instead of saving himself and going to the Cylons, he sticks to his human nature, the man he’s always been, and reveals himself Bill.
It was such a brutal, amazing scene. The pinnacle of Michael Hogan’s days on the show (well, aside from when he killed his wife - that one still resonates with me to this day).
“I should have told you when I first found out, but I didn’t have the guts.”
Damn, that was just an amazing line. It completely captures the man Saul Tigh is.
“If I’d have had the guts to airlock myself when I first found out, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
Adama can’t believe it. He thinks Tigh is joking. But once convinced, Adama goes into a tailspin in a matter of two scenes, first bashing in a mirror and then completely collapsing into uncontrollable tears and sobs.
“I AM ONE of the Final Five! Deanna would back down if you threatened to flush ME out of the airlock!”
I can’t imagine the betrayal and confusion that came over Adama. The man he’s known for 30 years is a Cylon.
Un-frakking-believeable.
Many, Many Moments
There were just so many scenes and exchanged that were awesome in Revelations:
Baltar thanking Roslin for not murdering him.
Baltar’s big moment trying to reason with Deanna to not making the same mistake a THIRD time.
Starbuck and Lee back together, talking about Earth, helping bring peace between the two sides.
Lee helping his father who is lying on the floor in utter agony.
I totally loved that the music came back to the Final Four to tell them about the ship. Was just a nice touch.
Starbuck listening to Anders about the ship, even though she had just found out he was a Cylon.
Tyrol not even surprised when the marines show up to take him and Anders to the airlock. In fact, I think he breathed a sigh of relief.
Starbuck realizing that everything had played out exactly like it should have: She disappears, comes back with a vision to find the Basestar, which turns to finding the Hybrid, who says the Three can uncover the Five, and then Roslin finds out the Five know the way to Earth, and then the Four we know figure out the ship is the key, and then Starbuck finishes it.
President Lee becoming the man he’s always wanted to be as he negotiates peace between the Cylons and Humans. And the handshake between him and Deanna.
Roslin and Lee getting Adama to put back on his uniform, and then his quick return to form:
“Frak it. This is the end of the line. We’ve got nowhere else to go. And if we give the alliance too much time, it will fall apart again. We gotta roll the hard six. We all go together…and as fast as we can.”
The episode was full of some awesome music again, with giant orchestra blasts and choirs. It helped build the tension early on during the stand-off. Make sure you check our Bear McCreary’s recap of the episode - it’s a MUST READ - because he talks about how this was the first time a full choir was used on the show.
The Jump to Earth
The ending moments when they are making the final jump to earth almost brought tears to my eyes. The only thing that prevented it was the obvious anticipation that it wasn’t going to end happily or the way it was playing out.
When they arrive, we get shots of everyone that has meant something (and is still alive) in the series. Gaetta, Dualla, Roslin…Lee jumping up on the table in the CIC and ripping his jacket off in totally jubilation, Baltar with his people, Athena with Helo and Hera.
But then we get the other side…Tyrol in his bunk with his child and no Callie, Tigh in his quarters with a bottle and wearing his wedding ring, Starbuck looking at a picture of Kat in the corridor of pictures saying:
“We made it Kid.”
The contrast was awesome and the memory of those who had been lost along the way still fixed in most people’s minds.
The Landing on Earth
The first shock of this episode was the fact that we slowly realized that Earth was going to happen RIGHT NOW, but that wasn’t as shocking as what they found once they landed on the surface.
Thunder in the background, gray, bleak, cold skies, a Geiger counter ticking after measuring some radiation in the soil.
I can’t tell you how amazing this final scene was. It was one SINGLE shot, and it included everyone in various groups:
Roslin and Adama standing together, Deanna looking shocked, Athena and Helo walking, Tory reaching for Anders who walks away, Lee by himself, Baltar sitting on a rock, a pregnant Caprica Six reaching for Tigh, Dualla alone, Leoben standing with Starbuck close by.
And then the big pan out to what looks to be the Temple in ruins, and across the river even more devastation.
The end.
Frak me.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Like I said at the top, I’d never have guessed we’d be at Earth already. I just figured it would end when they got there. I think most people did. But now that they are here, we still have all kinds of questions to answer in the final 10 episodes:
- Who is the Fifth Cylon? And more importantly, why did Deanna only ask for the FOUR who are in the fleet. Was that because Helo, Roslin, Baltar or Lee could possibly be the Final Cylon? She obviously knows who the Final one is, but she is reluctant to reveal it for some reason.
- I’m almost positive the Final one is the person Deanna talked to in the Temple of Five when she said “Forgive me. I didn’t know.“
- What is the deal with Hera? The shot with Helo and Athena hugging had an ominous angle of Hera who didn’t look too lovable.
- The opera house.
- Why did the Final Five leave Earth?
- What happened to Earth?
- Why do the Final Five age differently?
- How is it possible for Caprica Six to be pregnant with a Cylon father?
- Will Cavil and Boomer, along with the rest of the Cylons, show up?
- Will Roslin die?
- Will we learn why Baltar sees the Six in his head? Or is that over now since it hasn’t happened in ages?
Because I wasn’t expecting it, I just loved the way it ended. I am excited to find out what happened down on Earth and how this new, shaky alliance will play out. They are on a dead planet from what it looks like, so what the heck is going to happen in the next 10 episodes?
And just WHO is the Final Cylon?
What did you think of the episode? Are you blown away?
You know I'm with you about that *maybe* being the B'klyn Bridge or maybe being the Temple of Aurora. The dome in the ruins just doesn't belong. But this is a pretty compelling side-by-side.
I'm still waiting for Bear to update his blog tonight, because the music was *awesome* throughout. I played it over several times, but I couldn't tell if the choral piece they were playing for the final jump to Earth and then the celebrations was a re-worked version of “Gaeta's Lament”, or if it was something else entirely. If it was Gaeta's, that's a pretty interesting ironic commentary on the celebration.
Like a fool, for a few minutes I thought Starbuck's Viper was the fifth Cylon. I know I'm not the only one who thought that, but I still feel silly about it.
And now I'm going to punch a window and sob on the floor of my bathroom for the next several months while I wait for the return.
Yeah, I was one of those nut jobs who thought the Viper was the 5th…but only for a few minutes
Nice link to the side by side, although that bridge looks smaller…but nice. I think I'll toss a link to it in the recap.
And yeah, I've been waiting for Bear's recap too..
Best episode of the season and one of (if not) the best of the entire show. I was completely blown away that they found Earth at the end since I figured that would be the end of the show almost.
The ending definitely does away with some of the theories that they would find a prehistoric earth before our modern history started as well as some other theories. I have no idea what they're going to do now.
In case you missed it, check out the photo I just added in the recap, from Richard's link.
I don't know for sure, but wasn't there a prophecy that Roslin would lead them to Earth but never set foot on it herself or something to that effect? If that's the case then maybe they didn't find Earth after all? They never showed any distinguishing land masses or anything.
If Roslin's the dying leader. Maybe it was Natalie?
Forgot about that, but it seems familiar.
Wouldn't she have known the prophecies enough that they would have mentioned that?
Weird.
i loved it. going by how respectfull this new series has been towards the origional im gona guess that the earth we see is what will happen if cylon skins go to earth. Some force is decieving galactica for the good of the rac lol. Thats my guess. Just look at the origional gods episodes and episode 1 of 180 series.
As for the 5th cylon, i would love it to be the president but i feel baltar is the 5th. reasons are. first he survived a nuclear explosion by mearly being huged be skin job in first ever episode. Skin jobs dont have shields do they??? second the reason the cylon asked for the four remaining cylons i felt was because the 5th was already on the cylon ship, making baltar my favoured choice
The picture Lee and Kara were looking at the book was supposed to be a temple in Kobol, as it is exactly the SAME shot as in Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 1, where Roslin and the priest are reading together.
Yeah, I thought it looked a lot like that…but Lee also said it was the Temple of Aurora on Earth…maybe the one on Kobol was modeled after it?
I am with you with Baltar…it's either him or Roslin.
The final cylon is saul ties and caprica 6's baby.
A cylon born of two…a voice to unite the 12 models…the final model being the offspring of the remaining 11.
Hmm…interesting suggestion, but I just don't think so. Especially from the preview for the final 10 episodes.
I like the idea though!
what preview? i didn't know any where out
See, I would be more in the line of thinking Hera is the final one, not Tigh's kid.
I'll be posting it here soon, but this the link to the YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5WPM_obGic
I apologize for the duplicate comments guys, not sure what the frak is going on with Disqus, trying to get some help
Ya know he could be talking to his new born baby in his arms =p..it was just a thought lol
hahah, yeah, true
Holllllllllly Hell what an episode!!!!! Here are the answers…
Its Rosalin and they are not on earth. The Viper is from one of those big white crystal ship thingies (form the original seires), and the viper knew the way to that races home planet, and took them there.
There ya have it…
I think it's definitely Earth…I dunno, I just can't imagine it would be some fake place.
Unless it's just intended to be there to build some sort of unity between the Cylons and Humans, before they go to their final destination.
eh… nobody knows… that episode is leavin us guessin for sure!!!
Kobol came first, so the temple on Earth would be a copy, just like the Opera house on Caprica is a copy of the original on Kobol.
Duh, thanks…thinking too much about this stuff
Either way, I think the one on Earth is supposed to be modeled after the one on Kobol
What do you mean its rosalin?..moore has made it completely clear that no one at the “Last supper” table was the final cylon.
And I think that this great revelation is that they have to turn around and go back to the colonies because earth is uninhabitable. but the only way they can get back is if the cylons help them. (just a crazy thought)…around the end of season 3 they were playing a commercial on scifi ..where the words “Destiny isn't what it seems” flashed across the screen. *shrug* just another crazy thought…oh and it can't be hera btw…she's a hybrid, not a full cylon and her roll is to lead the first of “Gods” new generation.
Yeah, I know he's said that, but who knows…I think I'd like it to be her, but at the same time, now that she loves Adama, it would be better if they left her alone…I think he's had to much betrayal in his life to add one more to the plate.
Watch the final Cylon will be Tom Zerrick…now that would be something wouldnt it, and nobody is talkin about it could be him…
Well, I'm not now, but early on this season he was the one I chose.
But now…I mean, he just hasn't done much…Zarek is not around, they didn't even show him on the planet at the end.
I just don't know if it can be him.
R.A. Portyer - You're saying Kobol came first, but I think the whole point of them finding Earth in its current situation is the producer's way of reconciling the show with “our” universe.
Humans evolved on Earth, we screwed it up, left and went to Kobol, screwed that up too and forgot about our history, go to the twelve colonies, screw them up (the cylons did it, but it's our fault indirectly). We've been assuming the 13th tribe really does(did) exist. Maybe it was just how history was twisted (aka. “They went to Earth” instead of “We came from Earth”).
The Temple of Five might have been built by humans coming FROM Earth, not going to it. And everything on Kobol was a copy of what was built on Earth. BTW, it could be both New York City AND where the Temple of Aurora was located. We don't know when the destruction happened - I imagine they're still going to be building stuff in New York hundreds of years from now.
Your points may be right. I'm merely repeating the history they've given us. My one problem with thinking it went Earth -> Kobol -> 12 colonies is the polytheism of Kobol and the colonies. And not just polytheism, of which there are one or two million believers on Earth today, but the Hellenic pantheon.
It just doesn't make any sense to me how in our future we ruin the Earth, colonize another world, and bring along Hellenic religious beliefs.
My guess is, they loop indefinitely. Something like
Kobol -> Colonies -> Earth -> Colonies -> Kobol and repeat.
But we'll see in a few months…if I don't go crazy and need to be locked away from the waiting.
I would really like to see (and I wonder if they will do it) some sort of resolution with the “this has all happened before, and will happen again.”
Porter - I like your thinking, it's an awesome concept.
I guess it depends on what direction the writers want to take it. Considering the crazy stuff they've done so far I wouldn't be surprised if you were closer to the truth then me.
I just wonder if Earth is currently habitable as it is. If not they'll have to go to Kobol since the colonies are irradiated too.
Just like everyone else, once I think I know where the RDM and the writers are taking us, they make a sharp left turn and trick me. Never thought they'd show up at Earth so soon, for example.
Actually…this leads me to a new theory…
They passed Earth on that series of jumps and ended up at *another* planet instead. What happened was, they “should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque.”
I just think we'll learn what happened on Earth, we'll learn about the Cylons, we'll learn they've been around for a long time, and they'll all settle there and eventually the pattern will repeat, but it will be tribes leaving and finding new planets, and it will all start over again somehow.
The fifth being Tom Zarek would be funny, since Tigh, Tyrol, and Tori all have “T”s in their names.
The shot of the Brooklyn bridge next to the episode screen shot means nothing. You could go to almost ANY bridge over any river around the world near a city and find an angle that looks similar. Of course, I *did* think the ruins looked a bit like The Cloisters in NYC the very first time I watched the episode before seeing any blogs…maybe it's the G.W. bridge…
I'm pretty confident it's not the GW. Those were stone bridge supports, not steel. And that's about as definitive as I can be.
Yeah, it does look like ANY bridge, I agree, and if you looked at the art for the Temple of Aurora, there were bridges shown on it crossing over water.
it could have been those, it could be meant to indicate New York, who knows.
As far as Zarek, I was high on that choice awhile ago, because the final one is supposed to be:
“…the fifth is still is in shadow, drawn toward the light, hungering for redemption, that will only come in the howl of terrible suffering.”
I love that quote…but who will be hungering for redemption? Baltar? Zarek? Both seem like good choices, but Zarek is just so absent this year and pretty worthless.
can't be baltar, he's in the “Last supper” picture
Ya know what i find very odd…the fact that Tori isn't in the picture…but thats neither here nor there..
Wow, sitting here thinking about this.(sorry for multiple posts)…It fits…Tom Zarek…Fought the government all his life..Helped blow up a government building…he's been a constant political force in the gov't since he was freed….Adama would not recongnize him as president even after all he's done…he still has his own agenda….”The Fifth is still in shadow, Drawn toward the light.” he wants to be accepted…and regardless of where he's been this season the fact remains that as a story plot he's still there…swaying political power…Hungering for redemption from what he's done…and the only way it will ever happen for him is if he can do something in the wake of great destruction to earn the trust of everyone….
“Visible constellations are a match.”
That line alone disproves that this is Terra (from the original BSG), the false Earth. In the original series the colonial fleet finds a planet they thought was Earth, only to be disproving and thus continuing their journey.
HOWEVER, the only other known star to have matching constellations to ours would be Alpha Centauri, some light years away from Sol (our sun). If they indeed found Alpha Centauri, there is still hope that this will lead them to Earth. It's not out of the question that humans colonized this star system so since it is so close to our birth planet.
There are also hints in the prophecies that this can't be Earth:
The Final Five will show them the way to Earth (they haven't, a Viper did in this case).
The dying leader would never set foot on the planet (and Rosalyn clearly did land on this planet).
The planet Starbuck described was a paradise, and this is clearly no paradise.
Starbuck would lead humanity to its doom. So far they have followed her every lead (first with her planet hunting and now with her Viper coordinates), yet they are all fine and dandy.
Yes, they reached a Gaia type world, but not only does the geography not match, but NOTHING in the prophecy came to pass. We all know the show always delivers on prophecy, and such blatant discrepancies couldn't have been overlooked by the writers.
Can't wait to see what happens next.
Good points Marco, although I would venture to say that at least 3 of the 5 led the way to Earth, because they are the ones who found out about the Viper being the “compass”…so that could fulfill that.
But still, you are right about the dying leader.
BTW, the Hybrid never said Starbuck would lead HUMANITY to their doom, she just said this:
“…you are the harbinger of death Kara Thrace…you will lead them all to their end.”
THEM…who does that mean? I think it's purposely indifferent.
Something i'm not sure if you guys remember or not tho…in the miniseries Head Six told baltar that he had been chosen by god…”To what end”? ….Head Six: “To the end of the human race”
They have posted up a UHQ Ultra High Resolution panorama of the bridge scene over at the BS section here
http://www.jlaforums.com/viewforum.php?f=329
I am not so sure what it is supposed to be.
I took “…you are the harbinger of death Kara Thrace…you will lead them all to their end.”
to be a reference to the fact that Kara's finding of the Base Star leads to the destruction of the Resurrection hub ship which brings mortality to the Cylons.
[...] Revelations 04×10The shocking conclusion to the first half of the season. Un-frakking-believable.http://www.popcritics.com/2008/06/battlestar-galactica-recap-revelations-04×10/&39Battlestar Galactica&39: Dinner mishaps Show Tracker Los …May 22, 2008 … Get the latest news [...]
It can't be Roslin because after D'Anna got rescued from the Resurrection hub, she punked Roslin into thinking for a moment that Madame President was one of the Final Five. Roslin gets this shocked look on her face, and then D'Anna bursts out with a “Wow, you're a bigger idiot than I thought” kind of laugh.
My theory? The final Cylon is the planet itself. Not that improbably. Raiders are Cylons. Baseships are essentially Cylons. A Cylon planet would be the ultimate Cylon. Impossible? Think the Keeper of the Earth from Orson Scott Card's “Memory of Earth” series or even Cybertron from the Transformers.
The leap for the audience to accept the idea of a Cylon planet is no bigger than the leap the humans in BSG had to make when they first found out about Cylon skinjobs.
This theory would explain a lot, including “this has happened before, and will happen again” prophecy. The Cylon planet is essentially the Cylon God, tasked to provide a home for humanity. But at some point, the humans destroy themselves and so the Cylon planet sends the surviving humans out into space while it tries to heal itself. When enough time has passed, it send out the Cylons to initiate a plan to bring humanity back to itself to try again. And for a while, it succeeds and humanity reestablishes itself on “Earth.” But then, people blow themselves to bits again, and so the same process repeats, over and over again because, as you know, people never learn their lessons for long.
Nice theory, but it can't be Alpha Centauri. For one thing, Alpha Centauri is part of a trinary system - yep, there are 3 stars that are part of that system, and we clearly only saw one main star. Since the constellations match, this must be Earth.
It's can't be Tom Zarek - D'Anna already said only four of the Final Five are within the fleet.
For that reason, it's can't be Helo, Will Adama, Roslin, or anyone who is currently alive, including Baltar.
By the way, the chances that you have a solar system with 12 habitable Earth-like planets, all with oxygen-nitrogen atmospheres that are all in different orbits and have approximately all the same mass (and thus gravities) is, like, ZERO.
Unless the planets of the Twelve Colonies itself was constructed.
By the Cylon God, which is itself a planet-sized Cylon.
this is a bit of a loose theory and not even thought through but whos to say that humans arn't original cylon skins and jsut forgot they are as you can see with sol and six's kid cylons are starting to have kids maybe cylons just become a new skin job species evolve start to us the centurions as slaves… the centurions get p*ssed kick off war between skins and toasters round and round we go. like i said very loose and not thought through but is worth thinking about i'd say.
o and i forgot plus cylons can't respawn now so they are also mortal… like humans
I don't think it's the planet, I really feel that would just suck as a final revelation.
Besides, if you watched the preview for the final episodes, what you hear is something that would lead me to believe it's a person.
I agree it's probably not Roslin, but I just feel it HAS to be someone important for it to be meaningful.
Baltar, Adama, Roslin, etc.
I like your theory, but mine basically is that this whole Cylon thing…that perhaps everyone is a Cylon already, and they find that out later.
Yeah, I truly believe THIS is Earth, because the constellations matched from what they saw on Kobol.
I just don't get how it could be a “fake” Earth.
See, I like this theory. I think perhaps everyone could be Cylons, but that these new models, the Sixes, Athena, etc., are actually inferior to the Final Five, who are the most advanced because they are actually like everyone else.
I dunno…there is going to be something about that I think at the end.
See, I like this theory. I think perhaps everyone could be Cylons, but that these new models, the Sixes, Athena, etc., are actually inferior to the Final Five, who are the most advanced because they are actually like everyone else.
I dunno…there is going to be something about that I think at the end.
Yeah, I'm with Mike. I think this could be right in line with where the show is headed. It would make a lot of sense.
Yeah, I'm with Mike. I think this could be right in line with where the show is headed. It would make a lot of sense.
Well, that's not exactly try, they way she said it, she didn't seem to indicate that that NONE of them were the final Cylon, just not the ones on the fleet.
It could have meant that Helo, Bill, Roslin and Baltar were eligible to be the final one.
That's how I took it.
Well, that's not exactly try, they way she said it, she didn't seem to indicate that that NONE of them were the final Cylon, just not the ones on the fleet.
It could have meant that Helo, Bill, Roslin and Baltar were eligible to be the final one.
That's how I took it.
See, that's a good point Rich…doesn't mean the death to the humans, it just meant “the end of the Cylons”…mortality.
I like it.
See, that's a good point Rich…doesn't mean the death to the humans, it just meant “the end of the Cylons”…mortality.
I like it.