My Prediction for the End of BSG

Here's my prediction for tomorrow's big BSG finale:

The dream of the opera house says it all.

We know Adama's going to take a limping Galactica in for one last slugfest against Cavil's Cylons in their black hole-surfing (USS Cygnus anyone?), vaguely B5 Shadow vessel-looking, also vaguely naughty-looking colony to try to rescue Hera. He's got about half of his crew volunteering to go on this Charge of the Light Brigade with him. Dying President Laura Rosalin is among them, as is Karl "Helo" Agathon.

One notably absent face from the crowd of rescuers is Gaius Baltar. I'm betting that's going to change. For some reason, probably as a gesture of apparent faith and courage but in fact really in an effort to maintain control of his religeon, possibly also to enhance his group's status among the Fleet, but for some reason anyway, I think Baltar will change his mind and by hook or by crook remain aboard Galactica when she sails off to glory.

No sign of whether Sharon/Athena has made her choice - I didn't see her in the crowd, but maybe I missed her - but I figure she'll snap out of her depression enough to volunteer to come along, if for no other reason than for blood and revenge.

When the attack comes, there will no doubt be a boarding party. At this point, I think Sharon/Boomer will succumb to her new-found affection for Hera and spring the kid from wherever she's being held. I'm betting Galen Tyrol and the other Final Five will be among the boarding party, and it'll be the Chief that finds Boomer. At that point, my bet is the Chief, despite his love for her, will probably kill Boomer.

As to how Hera gets away from the fighting and back to the safety of the Fleet, I think this is where the opera house dream comes in. Remember that both Rosalin and Sharon/Athena were chasing after the girl in the dream, but neither was able to get to her? I bet this means that Rosalin, whether she stays at Adama's side aboard Galactica, or whether she stumbles after the boarding party wheezing her last breath, will not survive to reach the child. Sharon/Athena's thirst for revenge and belief that Hera is already dead will probably mean that she'll be in a Raptor in the thick of battle, or part of the boarding party and hunting for Sharon/Boomer. Either way, I think she'll get killed before she's able to escape with her daughter. That leaves us with the rest of the dream, where Caprica Six and Baltar take Hera into the theatre section of the opera house. We know that Six is among the volunteers, and I'm guessing she'll take part in the boarding party. My bet is that Baltar will be with her. Together they'll be the ones to find Hera and get her to safety.

And as for Adama, Galactica, and the rest of the crew? Death and glory. There's a part of me (and probably every other fan) that kind of wishes that the old ship will triumph one last time against incredible odds and jump battered but intact back to the Fleet. But Battlestar Galactica has never been about total victory for humanity. Nothing in that universe comes without a price.

The only question in my mind is will the show end with the Fleet find a new home, or just drift off into space and the credits and infinite, if unsympathetic, possibility? I seem to recall reading an interview with Ron Moore where he said they'd tie up the loose ends, so I'll go out on a limb and say the "Earth" discovered earlier in the season may have been the original home of the 13th Colony, but, in fact, is not our Earth. My bet is that the Fleet will discover another habitable planet, one settled by the 13th tribe after they left their devastated world, and one that they renamed "Earth" - one that became our Earth. There's certainly partial precedent: in the old series, which the new BSG does make nods towards from time to time, the Fleet did encounter a planet called "Terra", which they initially thought could be Earth, but later discovered it wasn't. Took them some time to find the real deal later on. And, in the new series, the Fleet's first attempt to rebuild their civilization was on New Caprica, named after one of their old worlds. It's certainly possible that refugee 13th colony folk, having left their Earth behind, would have settled another world and named it New Earth and, over time, just dropped the "New" from the name. Ultimately, I think while Galactica may perish, humanity - and the new Cylons - will live on. That's the trade: survival bought in blood.

But who knows? I could be wrong. My predictive track record hasn't been that accurate lately, as evidenced by the short lists for the Auroras and Hugos! At any rate, we'll find out tomorrow night in the last Battlestar.