I had to rewatch the final? and skip all the bits that made want to punch Ron Moore in the face in order to get the emotional punch I sought. Oddly it came for me when Gaius simply says "I know something about farming.". Literally before I knew it, I was in floods of tears. It probably has something to do with the fact that my father is battling cancer at the moment and I find myself wondering if I've understood the lessons he's been teaching me throughout my upbringing. noone can ever know for sure, I suppose. At that moment, the tremendous sense of loss for my beloved BSG descended, and I was incosolable for quite some time. Laura actually dying from cancer was so expected that it really didn't have that much punch, but it was terribly, terribly sad.
Outside of that, I feel the final? was a travesty that stripped the show of it's credibility. It made literally no sense, at least the last hour or so. I'm rewatching the series now, having seen the Plan recently too. I'll rant at length about the pros and cons of The Plan, but aside from the brief emotional release the final? provided, the damage it has inflicted to the show is obscene. I can no longer watch it without thinking of that half-baked ending. That said, in the early days, BSG was the absolute business, so even with a train-wreck of an ending in mind, it's wonderful to see the glory days replayed.
I'll post again when I've read the rest of your views, but for now: BED!
