TV Squad's Review of Crossroads 2

TV Squad has posted up their review of Crossroads, Part 2:

Battlestar Galactica: Crossroads, Part 2 (season finale)
Posted Mar 25th 2007 9:55PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Science Fiction, OpEd, Battlestar Galactica, TV Squad Chatcasts, Sci Fi

(S03E20) First of all I want to thank everyone who attended the chat tonight during the episode. The room's still open for anyone who wants to hop in and discuss what went on (if I'm there, I go by 'TVSKeith'). I'm pretty sure there's plenty to talk about.

As I was watching the show tonight, and having read so many comments on this show here at TV Squad throughout the season, I realized there are going to be two main schools of thought here. One one side we'll have those who felt the trial was the most important piece of the episode, while the other will find it to be the haunting music, those who were driven by it and surprise ending. But of course if you've got any sense about you, you'll realize they're all important pieces to the puzzle.

I'll admit that I read the spoilers going into this episode, and sure enough they turned out to be right. I'm rather desensitized to spoilers these days, as it was part of my job here for years. Though I will say that as the spoilers were written, I'm not so sure I agree with the assumptions made in their presentation.

For example, the members of the crew affected by the music immediately assume they are Cylons because what's happening to them cannot be explained. Yet are we really supposed to believe they are Cylons, too? I certainly don't think so, and in fact I'm thinking quite the opposite. In case you didn't know yet (and live under a rock), the music heard is Bob Dylan's 'All Along the Watchtower', though the version we hear is sung by someone I couldn't place. I'm thinking that these crew members are somehow related or connected to Earthlings, and perhaps only they are able to hear it as part of a safety measure for finding Earth.

It's actually reminiscent of a witch hunt, isn't it? Something that can't be explained or seems so completely out of place is automatically assumed to be witchcraft. I'd believe they were Cylons only if it was obvious that Six or Sharon also heard the music, but as far as I know they didn't.

As for the trial, I now wonder what effect Lee's speech will have on how others perceive him as a leader. He outwardly admitted to everyone that he wanted to leave everyone to die on New Caprica with the Cylons. Does that make him a fit leader in their eyes now?

Why did Gaeta lie on the stand like he did besides just not liking Baltar? Was he just looking to make himself seem better off or was he just looking for revenge for what Baltar whispered to him in an earlier episode and missed stabbing him with a pen over it ("butterfingers!")

There are too many ways one could explain how Starbuck came back from what seemed like death from a few episodes ago. One of my favorite theories mentioned in the chat (and one I believe mentioned in comments in a previous post) was that Kara was now in Lee's head much like Six and Baltar are in each other's, and that she is a Cylon, though not necessarily part of their "plan." I'd only say there's no coincidence that Starbuck shows up just as the Cylons show up and just as the music gets clearer for who we're supposed to believe are part of the final five Cylons.

While it's great to know we can look forward to a new full, geenlit season of this show, it's going to feel like a long wait. If rumors of the theme for the gap-bridging two-hour movie this summer are true, we're in for a great treat to help make that wait less painful.

I can't wait to read everyone's theories and thoughts on what went down in this episode. Until next season (or my next show review, if you read them)...