Battlestar Galactica - Final Cut

This episode had me smiling ear to ear because it is so clever. It has that wallop of a surprise at the end just jumps in the middle of the room out of the corner and yells, “Gotcha!” There was even use of the old BG theme and this patriotic video package put together by “intrepid, unbiased reporter”, D’Anna Biers (Lucy Lawless) in order to explain to The Fleet that those who serve on Commander Adama’s ship (and under his command) brave it all and sacrifice much as a protective military for what remains of humankind. With a brief threat from Cylons, D’Anna captures them intensely as Adama, Tigh, and his bridge crew (and those serving throughout) remains calm, cool, and collected. Her footage, as it is put together, pleases Adama and President Roslin, while Tigh is for the most part concerned about how they are portrayed—“warts and all”, Adama believes The Fleet should see what his men and women face and struggle through every day, such as beleaguered pilot, Kat (Luciana Carro), trying to keep herself upright and alert through a pill addiction, and Tigh, dealing with alcoholism and threats on his life, trying to keep his temper and anger in check. Only for the reveal to show the Cylon “leadership” back on Caprica in a dark theater room looking at the footage for themselves…including the birth of Sharon and Helo’s baby. Yes, D’Anna was a Cylon plant masquerading as a patriotic reporter looking for the genuine story on the BG after an escalation of violence led to civilians killed when Tigh was in command as Adama was still in coma due to an attempt to gain access to needed supplies held by one of the Colonial ships. The episode really pulls the wool over, as D’Anna gets full access to all the officers, even interviewing those on board, with Gaius trying to get in some airtime (and failing even though Six encourages him). Whether it is Starbuck hitting the punching bag with her sweet move set of martial arts or trying to wrangle up her pilots into keeping cool heads without surrendering their wits (Kat doesn’t handle Tyrol’s discovery of her ship’s bum fuel line or a routine flight mission that goes awry), as Apollo gets caught off-guard after a shower with nothing but a towel to hide his manly bits (revealing in an interview that his pilots should be respected after losing so much, knowing that no one will replacing or subbing for them); the interviews D’Anna conducts do indicate that despite the troubles they encounter and problems needing fixing they hold themselves together and do not quit. But all of this is not at all what D’Anna was after…she was there just to get footage of Sharon’s continued existence and birth of “their” child. Tigh having to talk down an officer sent to gather goods for the BG when civilians died during an unrest that got out of control does present a finale to a good little hook that served as an alternate sidebar to the D’Anna main plot. The “rah-rah” video package was merely window dressing, as Adama and Roslin were “moved” by the presentation…and the whole time the wolf was completely free to have reign amongst the placating sheep. 5/5