Battlestar Galactica; REVELATIONS (I originally saw this episode on it's original broadcast date. I'm writing this several years later after viewing it again).
In this - the first episode of the last ½ of the 4th season, (some of) the questions that had been asked, are answered.
From the profound devastation, of the irradiated Earth the Cylon/Human alliance finds, Revelations explores facets, of both of how this find impacts on individuals and the fleet as a whole.
There are several threads in this episode, three of which I want to discuss.
The first is Kara Trace - who finds her decimated remains in her shattered viper. THe question she asks - 'if that is me, what am I,' echoes both the whole idea of the series (what IS 'human,' as we've seen both the 'skin-jobs, and the 'final four' wonder - in different ways about that question.
But, in Kara's case, who has wanted to 'belong,' her own sense of self is now in doubt.
What is she, and why?
Another thread is also profoundly sad end of Dee - Anastasia Dualla's suicide.
In an early episode of Battlestar, she was sitting in Adama's quarters, and, she said she said the reason Adama asked her to 'talk,' is because he believed she was the 'quiet one,' and, though spare of words - when she did speak, she never wasted words.
She told Adama then, that he lost his foresight, and he needed to get it back - to help guide humanity.
At this point in time - when so much has been lost - both individually, and, for what seemed to be all of humanity - the spark that kept Dee going had burnt out.
It was a devastating moment - for the crew and the viewer.
The old (AA) saying about hitting 'rock bottom' is applicable here. You can't begin to rise until you hit that deepest low.
WIth the loss of Dee, the findings of Starbuck, and the general malaise that's begun to run throughout the fleet, the stirrings - ever slight - are beginning to happen.
These last 6 episodes show what's best about this series, and, in doing so, show us - humanity - what is our greatest strengths, and deepest weaknesses.