I'd like to think I'm pretty good at figuring out "Battlestar Galactica". I've been a die-hard since the mini-series and I'll gladly admit to pouring over every season several times in order to concoct long-winded theories on internet message boards without even a hint of irony. I just honestly love this show. The characters, the writing, the intelligence, the way they choose to tell stories, the edginess, that "anything can happen" feeling that so many shows try to capture but usually fail miserably at. If someone were to utter the words "chill, dude, it's just a TV show" to me, I might actually take offense to it. That's just the kind of geek I am.

But even I didn't see this coming. "Daybreak Pt. 1" was a really surprising episode. Not because some character got killed when you least expected or because a ship exploded apart in spectacular fashion, but because Ronald D. Moore did what he does best - take what's expected, toss it out the window and do what the material deserves. It's the mentality that made this "reboot" work when so many others didn't and what we're left with is a beautifully poetic ending to one of the most poetic shows ever to appear on television.

For the first fifteen minutes of the episode we flashed back to life on Caprica before the Cylon attack on the colonies. There were no shocking reveals in these flashbacks, nobody was seen to be scheming or touting around with Cylons (other than Baltar, that is) - what we
saw were little snippets of who these people really were. Roslin throwing a baby shower for her sister, Starbuck having a family dinner with Zack and Lee in her apartment, Adama caught up in the military bureaucracy, Baltar dealing with an elderly father that he's ashamed of.

In my eyes, this was a masterful stroke of storytelling. We've gone the whole series learning about who these characters were, what made them tick, why they made the choices they made and at the very end, just as they're about to leave us forever and we think we've got them pegged, we get that last little piece filled in and suddenly we understand them more clearly that we ever have. We see what they've lost, what they've gained, how they've grown. It's easy to forget, with everything that's happened throughout the series, that these characters had lives before we first met them and it was a great thing for Ron Moore to remind us of before the end.

It's hard to comment on the story of the episode as a whole because SciFi Channel was kind enough to cut the 3-hour finale into two parts, so we only really saw a third of the story. Which is to say, right as things were about to start happening, we were bitch-slapped with a "to be continued" and left wondering how anybody could be so damn cruel. The pacing of the story was based on the full 3-hour runtime, so it really was like having someone unplug your TV twenty minutes into the episode. Suffice it to say that the basic story is that Adama finds the location of "The Colony" from Hybrid-Anders and decides to recruit any and all willing to join him on a risky rescue mission that will have them jumping dangerously close to a black hole in order to infiltrate the Cylon base and rescue Hera. Most of which we'll have to wait until next Friday to see happen.

What Worked

The flashbacks; they weren't essential to the plot, but they were essential in completing the stories of the characters we've come to know over the years. I like that Ron Moore didn't try to spring some huge revelation on us out of nowhere, like such and such was really frakking a Cylon back on Caprica and "Gasp! That explains everything!" Instead he showed us intimate character moments that reminded us exactly what these people were trying to hold onto or forget through all the pain, hardship and horrors of what their lives had become.

The structure. Ron Moore knows what this show needs, he knows what makes BSG work and he was able to deliver the kind of variety and indirect storytelling that a few of the previous episodes were lacking. We got to see a little bit of everybody instead of just following one or two characters around and forgetting about the rest for episodes at a time. This is one of the techniques that "Battlestar" uses best and it's great to see it back in the mix. It makes for a more rounded story when we can see it through all the different perspectives.

Lee Adama. The me of two or three years ago would be shocked at myself for suggesting that what "Galactica" needed was more Apollo, but dammit, as soon as he was gone I realized how important he was to the success of the story. Yea, he's kind of a lame, goodie-two-shoes square that dresses like an Abercrombie model when left to his own devices, but his character did a lot for the story. His struggle to find his purpose and his feelings of being trapped playing a role he didn't ask for nor had any interest in filling brought a realism to the plight of the Galactica crew and helped to give them a real psyche behind the stern military face they were forced to wear at all times. His journey to get out from beneath his father's shadow was a long and complicated one and in the end I think he's coming to realize that by trying to differentiate himself from The Old Man, he's denying a huge part of who he is just as he was when he was going through the motions as a military man. His scene with Baltar was particularly strong.

Baltar's dad. We heard about Baltar's humble roots when he recounted his life earlier in the series, so it was an interesting layer to his character that we finally got to see what his family life was really like. The character was great and the actor who played him was a pleasure to watch on screen. This also provided us with a detail we'd been missing up until now - what made 6 stand out to Baltar amongst all his other female playthings.

The black hole. Oh yeah, I kinda sorta forgot we were in space there for a minute. Nice reminder!

What Didn't Work

There were a few moments that were definitely a little heavy handed. Ellen Tigh isn't quite falling into her newly found character traits perfectly - she's still used mainly to explain complicated "big picture" type stuff in a casual, conversational manner. It's not quite
gelling for me. The scene where the news of Adama's announcement in the hanger bay travels through the various gossip avenues throughout the ship was a little forced, but I did enjoy that it recalled the opening scene of the mini-series where we're following Adama through the halls of the ship and jumping from character to character
as he's walking along. These are definitely not major complaints though.

Adama's flashback. Maybe it's because we haven't seen it resolved yet due to the break in the episode or maybe it had to be cut for time, but Adama's brief scene on Caprica was never fully explained. We don't know what he was talking to the man about, what hour-long obligation he was trying to weasel out of or what aspect of his character this
scene was meant to illuminate.

The split. I mentioned it before, but the SciFi Channel really is the biggest hindrance to the success of "Battlestar Galactica". They seem to treat their network's flagship show like a prized whore rather than a queen deserving of a pedestal. I understand there might have been logistical problems fitting a 3-hour episode into their time slots, but I gotta be honest - what the hell else do they have that's more important? Who cares if a "Stargate" rerun gets booted from the lineup? Anybody? It's another in a long string of obvious ploys to milk the show for everything they possibly can, even if doing so is detrimental to the shows quality and its reception by fans and critics.

Giving Credit Where It's Due

"Battlestar Galactica" stars Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Michael Hogan, James Callis, Katee Sackhoff and Jamie Bamber. "Daybreak Part 1" was written by Ronald D. Moore and directed by Michael Rymer. The 2-hour series finale of "Battlestar Galactica" airs on SciFi Channel on Friday March 20th at 9 p.m.