Battlestar Galactica Crashes and Burns

Over the course of watching the series finale of Battlestar Galactica, I’ve experienced a mixture of boredom and apathy. My theory is this season must have new writers because this show drove off the cliff about three episodes ago and is now burning comfortably on rocky shoals.

The entire problem is new plot threads that, for lack of a better adjective, suck. Apollo righteously defending public-gathering rights (for Baltar’s cult, no less)? Starbuck constantly frothing at the mouth? Adama comforting his crew one minute and then chewing their ass out the next? Baltar a religious figure-head, spouting metaphysical nonsense? Saul seeing flashes of his dead wife in Number 6? Chief wallowing in self-pity one moment and then ranting about the cabbage smell of his recently dead wife the next?

None of this is riveting TV.

What happened to the awesome fire fights between the Galactica and Cylons? Or watching a sole Galactican surviving alone on a Cylon-infested planet. Or the trash talking Starbuck. Or the trash talking Apollo? Or the stoic decision making of Adama? Or the edgy decision making of President Roslin? Or the wicked self-preservation of Baltar? Or the insightful flashbacks to Caprica before the Cylon attack?

All this is completely absent the present season and thus the show is adrift, a vacant shell compared to its preceding seasons. Battlestar Galactica has taken a 180 degree turn unlike any I’ve ever seen. Wifezilla doesn’t even want to watch it anymore. I’m quickly reaching that point myself.