Cinescape Review for Kobol's Last Gleaming Part 1

Cinescape has reviewed the first episode of the season finale:




© The Sci-Fi Channel

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: Kobol's Last Gleaming Part 1
GRADE: A-
Reviewed Format: TV Show
Network: Sci-Fi Channel
Original Airdate: 25 March 2005
Cast: Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackoff, Jamie Bamber, James Callis, Tricia Helfer, Grace Park
Creator: Glen A. Larson
Developer: Ronald D. Moore
Writers: Teleplay by Ronald D. Moore;
Story by David Eick
Director: Michael Rymer

Television ReviewBATTLESTAR GALACTICA: Kobol's Last Gleaming Part 1
The Lost Planet of the Gods... Revisited
Dateline: Monday, March 28, 2005
By: JASON DAVIS

After the three-hour epic premiere, "Saga of a Star World," writers Glen Larson and Donald Bellisario took the crew of the original BATTLESTAR GALACTICA to explore the mysteries of their ancestral home world of Kobol. On the long-lost planet, Commander Adama sought to find clues that would "lead the ragtag fugitive fleet" to that "shining planet known as Earth," while the treacherous Baltar schemed to steal the ancient planet's secrets for himself. In "Kobol's Last Gleaming", Ronald Moore once again cribs a concept from his predecessor but uses it to more mysterious and dramatic effect.
Opening with a masterful montage of scenes sans dialogue, the episode begins building the tension with a sensory overload of dramatic images designed to get the viewer's head quickly into the game. The Adamas box, Starbuck shags, Boomer aims a gun in her mouth while another Boomer pleads with Helo to give her a chance after discovering her true nature. That's all in the first few minutes of what will likely prove to be the calm before the storm when part two hits screens a week later.
Moore's skillful weaving of old and new continues apace with the unexpected discovery of Kobol and talk of an ancient artifact, the Arrow of Apollo, that will reveal its secrets…if only it wasn't located on Cylon-occupied Caprica. While the original series had Adama obsessed with finding Kobol, his desire has been shifted to President Laura Roslin in the new series. With the priest Elosha encouraging her use of a hallucinogenic drug to cure her terminal breast cancer, Roslin's messiah complex is becoming more pronounced and her possible discovery of Kobol is only likely to excite her prophetic streak to epic proportions.
Meanwhile, Vice President Gaius Baltar is proving more and more incapable of containing his own fantasies as Number Six continually harasses him in public forums where his erratic behavior is becoming more obvious. Where Baltar's ghosts will eventually lead him is anyone's guest, but the question audiences should be asking is how many more humans will die as his sanity slips down the drain?
The two Boomers are doing more for the Cylon cause than anyone can imagine. Whereas Number Six put a human face on the merciless robots, Boomer has put a Human face on the suffering an unknowing Cylon can feel when it learns its true nature. Will this flaw in the programming lead to Cylons who just want to live among humans ignorant of their heritage? Have some of the slaves settled for equality with their masters rather than eradication? Only time will tell, and a mission to Caprica to retrieve the arrow of Apollo may hasten the answer to these questions.
Once again, this series has probed the depths of soul with close studies of what Hemingway named the stuff of drama: "the human heart in conflict with itself." Each of these characters is hurting in their own special way, and secrets are beginning to slip out of the shadows where they've hidden all season long. How will these revelations affect the characters and, more importantly, what will they lead to in season two?