The following column contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the Season 3 finale of "Battlestar Galactica."

That was a hell of a bombshell on the Season 3 finale of "Battlestar Galactica" -- and no, I dont mean learning the identities of four of the Final Five Cylons.

Sure, the unmasking of some of the Final Five sent shockwaves that will last well into Season 4. But the real shocker was Baltars acquittal. Or rather, how, precisely, Baltar (James Callis) got off.

Going in, I was certainly as ready as Adm. Adama (Edward James Olmos) said he was to see Baltars backside fly out of the business end of the nearest airlock. Not that I thought killing and writing out the series' top villain was seriously in the cards - I figured it more likely Baltar would find some way to slink back to the Cylon baseship - but just from the facts of the story, how, precisely, could he be found not guilty?

As a viewer, I had had an even broader perspective than that of the individual characters -- and I had seen Baltar sign the death warrants on New Caprica. I had seen him do it. Given that, what reasonable doubt could there be, after all?

It was Lee Adama (Jamie Bamber), strangely enough, who introduced that doubt. Lee took the stand and delivered what I think stands as the most significant speech of the entire series. Until he gave that speech, I couldnt really understand what Lee was doing working so adamantly on Baltars defense team - what was his real motivation? Obviously, he never had any personal friendship with Baltar, so just why would he risk his marriage - and being isolated and ostracized in general - to help the former president?

And in his speech at the witness table, Lee gave the answer. He had shot down the Olympic Carrier. He clearly still feels guilt over that - two years later. The Olympic Carrier had happened back in Season 1 - so long ago that when Lee mentioned it in Crossroads, I had to think a beat and remember, Oh yeah, thats right.

It says something about the quality of the series that its continuity is so good that an event at the beginning of the series can still be a great motivating factor so far into it, that the producers hadnt forgotten it as easily as I nearly did.

Lees speech became a generalized confessional - a real cathartic moment for the series because he was right, of course. Whether it was the destruction of the Olympic Carrier, his fathers coup d'etat against President Roslin, or any of the other sins Lee mentioned, they were soon forgotten and forgiven and the person in question given the benefit of the doubt.

As a Buddhist, I believe in karma, the law of cause and effect. Were taught that it may take a long time - lifetimes even - for the cause to ripen into the effect. That the Olympic Carrier incident still could be such a motivator for Lee after all of this time is a good reminder of that.

But why didnt they - or I - give Baltar the same benefit of the doubt? I suppose its because Baltar is, well, Baltar. Hes a prick and the villain. He doesnt seem particularly deserving of the benefit of the doubt.

But that was Lees point, after all: Justice should be blind - not based on whether the accused just seems like an awfully nice guy or not.

Adm. Adama may have been right about something else, too. Just because Baltar was found not guilty, its not the same as being innocent. And no one will be forced to forget - or forgive.

Baltar may be free, but as Season 4 unfolds, he may yet want to slink back to that Cylon baseship.

I think I will offer one small observation about the identities of the Final Five, and thats just that it must say something about the Cylon skin jobs, one way or another, that one of them could pluck out Tighs eyeball in a torture interrogation and never once realize Tigh was also a Cylon skin job. Just something that made me go, Hmmmm.

A former entertainment journalist, Scott Nance is a member of the USS Chesapeake, an independent science-fiction and Star Trek club in the Washington, DC, area. He is a columnist for Airlock Alpha, and can be reached at scottnance@airlockalpha.com.