Battlestar
Galactica is my favourite show of all time and over the past year I’ve
really made a lot of progress with this series. Having originally watched 33 without knowledge of the mini-series,
I was hooked and ended up watching most of season 1 on TV during a repeat
airing on Pick in the UK. However, I got Netflix shortly after I started
watching Season 1 so I was able to progress a lot quicker, often watching as up
to three episodes per day in my attempt to get through the series. However, Battlestar unfortunately suffered from
the case of increased episodes, originally starting out as only 13 episodes in
Season 1 but by Season 3 we have around 20. This led to increased attention to
series arcs, as opposed to full serialization, and as a result the individual
standalone episodes suffered as a result of this, not being as memorable or engrossing
as Season 1 and 2 were.
Season 3 takes place four
months into the Cylon occupation of New Caprica, and kick-starts with an epic
four-part arc that would have been a season finale in any other show, but Battlestar didn’t hold anything back,
with the two part-Exodus storyline
being the series at its best, following the resistance fighters on New Caprica
as they attempted to overthrow their Cylon oppressors. Because of the heights
of this opener, which put multiple characters through the wire and really
tested them to their limit, causing many to make unexpected choices as
loyalties were divided, the rest of the season didn’t really have a chance of
matching up with the sheer quality of this opening arc. It’s engrossing, captivating
and really enthralling, with plenty of excellent tension.
And then, unfortunately, Battlestar dropped slightly in quality in the episodes that followed. Whilst Collaborators
was a good epilogue that looked at the fates of those who co-opted with the
Cylons on Caprica, the various standalone episodes like Torn and Hero didn’t
really work as well as they should have despite being solid. I think I would
have preferred Battlestar to keep to
the thirteen episodes that made its first season running time to prevent the
weaker ones, even if we did get some more character focus drama in episodes
like these.
The pace didn’t really pick
up until the midseason finale episodes, The
Eye of Jupiter and Rapture, which
really explored the characters further and continued to add depth to the world.
These once again had some great tension and kept leaving the audience
breathless, but unfortunately it never really came close to matching the
heights of the opening episodes. Indeed, the quality wasn’t really matched
until Maelstrom, which provided a
backstory to one of the series’ most popular characters, Kara Thrace (Katee
Sackhoff), and laid the foundations for the awesome arc that followed that
looked at the trial of Gaius Baltar (James Callis) as the Fleet attempted to
punish him for his actions on New Caprica. Alliances kept changing and there
was a great arc for Lee Adama (Jamie Bamber) in The Son Also Rises, as we also got to see Mark Sheppard (who Supernatural fans will recognise as
Crowley) put in a great performance as Romo Lampkin. There’s too many great
actors in this show to single out individual performances, with everyone
involved really pulling out all the stops to make Battlestar a really incredible experience. It’s hard to imagine
that this series is on the same network that is currently giving us the likes
of Defiance (watchable but nowhere
near BSG level) and Helix (watchable at
best, terrible at worst), with episodes like the Exodus two parter capable
of beating even the likes of Breaking Bad
and Game of Thrones in regards to
sheer quality.
Once again, Season 3 ended
on an excellent cliff-hanger that topped even that of Season 2’s Cylon-landing
on New Caprica. It reveals the identities of four of the final five Cylons as
key members of the fleet and really upends everything that you’ve come to know
about these characters in the past, throwing them into question. Some
revelations may be more obvious than others but there’s some great twists and
turns that I can’t wait to see unfold in the show's final season, season 4, and it's safe to say it won't be long before I get stuck into that.
Even though Season 3 doesn’t
quite match Seasons 1 and 2 in terms of quality aside from a few notable
episodes, it continues its superb form that really continues to make it known as
one of the best shows on television ever.
Addictive, with some fascinating world building and some decent plots outside of the
standalone episodes (and even they episodes themselves aren’t bad, per say). The actors are great and
the characters will make decisions that you love and hate. Fan favourites will
no longer become favourites and those who you weren’t too keen on before will
start to grow on you. It’s an ever-changing show and everybody, by the end of
the season, is in a very different
place to where they started. Damn near essential viewing, and if you have
already seen the first two seasons but not the third, what are you waiting for?
It’s just that good.
VERDICT:
9/10
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