Endings

I spent Spring Break at the beach with my family and, on Friday night, watched the final episode of Battlestar Galactica with my dad. When the final scene faded away into the credits (yeah, Ronald D. Moore!), I laid my head down and said, "That show was the closest to perfect of any in my life." To which my dad replied, "You must have never seen Bonanza." ................

Galactica split off from the fleet with a group of volunteers to go on a mission to rescue Hera from the Cylon Colony. A firefight ensued. Apollo, Starbuck, Helo, Athena, and a group of Rebel Cylon Centurions went to find Hera. Boomer made another monumental decision and brought Hera to them (she owed the Old Man), and then Athena shot her. Hera got away from her parents and started running, bringing the dreams of the Opera House

into play for the final time, with Roslin, Athena, Caprica Six, and Baltar all playing their roles. Baltar and Six brought her into the CIC of Galactica, where Admiral Adama and the Final Five were waiting. Cavil got hold of her and put a gun to her head, until Tigh offered to give him the secret to Cylon resurrection if he would release Hera and stop chasing the humans forever. It was Baltar's speech about angels and divine power that finally got Cavil to agree. To download the information about resurrection, Tigh, Ellen, Tory, Tyrol, and Anders each had to contribute part of the equation. They stuck their hands into the hybrid pool that Anders was hooked up to

and saw flashes of each other's memories. Including Tory's murder of Cally. Tyrol stopped the process when he pulled his hand out of the water and strangled Tory. The Cylons called "foul" and started attacking again. Admiral Adama told Starbuck to jump them out of there. They all knew that Galactica was collapsing in on herself and had one jump left, so wherever they went was where they would stay. Starbuck played the magic song, "All Along the Watchtower," on the FTL keyboard, and away they went. She had brought them to a planet. The new "Earth." The human fleet joined them there, and settlement began. The happiest endings went to the family- Helo, Athena, and Hera- and, surprisingly but beautifully, Baltar and Caprica Six, and Ellen and Tigh. They went off on their own to build their homes. Tyrol, fittingly, said that he had found an uninhabited area of Highlands where he was going live. Admiral Adama knew that Laura was fading away, so he said goodbye to his son, Apollo, and his honorary daughter, Starbuck, and took Laura away in a Raptor to find a place to build the cabin they had talked about back on New Caprica. She died while they were flying over a lake. He found a place on a hilltop and buried her. Presumably, he was going to build a cabin there and live out the rest of his days. Apollo decided that, now that the fighting and the search for a home had ended, he wasn't just going to settle down. He would explore the planet- climb mountains, swim oceans. And Starbuck disappeared. She said her destiny was complete, and she was just gone. This is open to interpretation, but I like to think that Baltar and Leoben were right about her when they said she was an angel. Flash forward 150,000 years, and this primitive Earth has become our Earth. Modern-day New York City. Head-Caprica Six and Head-Baltar are walking the streets, discussing the discovery of "Mitochondrial Eve" (aka, Hera), and the advancements in robotics. This has all happened before, but it doesn't necessarily have to happen the same

way.

My other shows are entering the home stretch now. I am really excited to see what they have in store. Desperate Housewives is nearing the big finish and the conclusion of the Dave Williams storyline. Edie found out everything last week but she got electrocuted before she could tell anyone. Hmmm...a bit contrived. I'm not loving it right now, but last season's finale was pleasantly surprising so maybe the same could be said for this one. Chuck is seriously starting to escalate. Getting the Intersect out of his head is now a real possibility for Chuck, and he is working hard to find out how. Also, Ellie and Awesome's wedding will be soon which means MORE BRUCE BOXLEITNER!! LOST is, as always, full of shocking twists every week, and with only 7 episodes left, I hope my mind will continue to be blown as we approach the finale, entitled "The Incident." Dollhouse just hit the halfway mark for Season 1, with 6 episodes remaining. Several mysteries have been established while new ones are constantly being introduced (just how I like it, shows that get me hooked and don't let go), and basically everyone should be watching this show because it's awesome.

P.S.- I went back and watched the episode of The Office that I missed for Grey's Anatomy. It ended up being my favorite episode of the season, go figure. They have had a run of good episodes over the past month or so, but this one really stood out to me. The title of the episode was "New Boss," and Michael was having some issues adjusting to the guy who took the position that Jan and Ryan previously held. Played by Idris Elba of The Wire (Seriously, I've got to watch The Wire. I think I'll start this week.), Charles Miner does not stand for Michael's antics, he thinks Jim is a slacker, and he has a powerful effect on Kelly and Angela- "I could see our kids facing obstacles being half-black and half-Indian, but it's so worth it, you guys."

This is non-tv-related, but I just finished watching The Parent Trap. It was the best way I could think of to honor Natasha Richardson, to return to the first thing I saw her in, back when I was 10-years old. I teared up when she comes gliding down the stairs at the beginning to hug Lindsay Lohan. It really made me think about how much we value actors. They become part of our lives when we watch them in movies and television and on the stage- we relate to the characters they portray, they evoke emotions within us, and we hold onto the experience of watching them just as we do our own memories. We may not know the actors personally, but how to explain our feelings of sadness when one of them passes away? A fundamental part of this life is connecting with people, and of the best actors, it can certainly be said that we connect to them in a powerful way. We love them, as much as we can, for simply doing what they do, for showing us truths that make us think about life and the world. For Liam Neeson and his sons, and all of Natasha's family and friends, I pray that they would have comfort and peace.