Battlestar Galactica / Revelations

 This show is always an emotional roller coaster. So many lows and the highs that seem to indicate that the survivors might eventually find some peace and tranquility so often is met with yet more challenges and struggle. So there is this standoff between D'Anna and the Cylons, holding Roslin, Baltar, and other humans hostage on their Basestar wanting President Apollo Adama to release the "final five" to her. Adama obviously wants his people back, not knowing who the secret Cylon "Skinjobs" are (D'Anna does). Eventually Saul Tigh confronts Admiral Adama and informs him that he "felt a signal" and that the "frakkin' music" bothering him was in fact the proof that he was a Cylon. This news tears Admiral Adama apart. You rarely see this Adama just let out such an outburst. You rarely see him scream out and throw his items off his desk, eventually gulping down a whole liquor bottle and collapsing into his son's arms in some emotionally crippled mess. Tigh agrees to be shot out of an airlock if D'Anna doesn't release the hostages. D'Anna heats up the nukes, preparing to fire upon the civilian fleet. So President Adama must decide whether or not to kill Tyrol and Anders along with Tigh (Tigh gives them up), as D'Anna seems committed to killing so many humans in retaliation. This is the episode where Tory Foster confronts Roslin, delivering her medicine seemingly for the last time, informing her that she is a Cylon...out of the four known Cylons, Tory comfortably joins D'Anna without a problem; in fact, she smiles as she arrives and is introduced by D'Anna as one of them. Gaius Baltar is sent by Roslin to try and talk sense into D'Anna. The whole episode is about building suspense to that conclusion. The four Cylons on Galactica were drawn to Starbuck's ship, the one she returned in, knowing that something about it was the key to Earth. Sure enough, Kara investigates and appeals to President Adama to not flush Tigh out of an airlock. D'Anna had sent a Colonialist hostage out their basestar airlock. The seriousness of this back and forth was epic. You'd think, with all the emphasis on reaching Earth, reaching home, the big arrival and all that, this would give the alliance Adama and D'Anna eventually decided to form for the betterment of them all some sort of reprieve. But they actually land on Earth and what they see isn't exactly the planet they were anticipating. Ruins of a civilization that reminds them of Caprica perhaps wasn't to be expected. This isn't some idyllic place to get a brand new start. They arrive and now what? 5/5

***the very last scene after such an exhilarated crew on Galactica celebrating their arrival to Earth just really puts everything in perspective. No matter the trials and tribulations, what you believe is destiny and fate for a life extraordinarily better--there has to be something better, right?--could still be just another reminder that paradise can be corrupted by human frailty.***