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I fully expected the Cylons to show up right at the end, since they have at the end of every season finale. What I didn’t expect was for Baltar’s verdict to be read halfway through the second part. I thought for sure they were going to end the show and leave us hanging right before they read the verdict, or that the reading of the verdict would be interrupted by an attack.

I should’ve known better. This series has shown me time and time again that they will continue to do the unexpected, and this two-parter was no exception. Oh, and before I go on:

MAJOR SPOILER WARNING—if you haven’t seen this episode yet, DON’T read the rest of this review!

It didn’t surprise me much that Baltar was found not guilty…and, as Adama said, “not guilty” is not the same thing as “innocent.” After all, the prosecution didn’t do a very good job, the defense destroyed most of its witnesses, and for some reason there were no closing arguments (although Apollo’s “testimony” definitely served as one). What did surprise me was that Adama voted not guilty, especially after his behavior at the end of Part 1.

The trial wasn’t the spectacle I expected it to be, and was kind of a let-down when it came to my expectations of Romo Lampkin. It certainly paled in comparison with the revelation of four of the “Final Five” Cylons. How many of you guessed who they were? I felt like it was starting to get obvious when Anders, Chief, Tigh, and Tory were the only ones hearing that music (“All Along the Watchtower” by Bob Dylan…yeah, I know you thought it was a Jimi Hendrix song because that’s the only version they ever play on the radio, but you were wrong).

But prior to that, it certainly wasn’t obvious who they were, especially since it hadn’t been decided until recently. This throws a major wrench into the works when it comes to the way fans have been attempting to figure out the Final Five, since the “rules” they had developed to figure out who were Cylons and who weren’t don’t apply to some of them, especially Tigh. For example, if the human-type Cylons are a fairly recent evolution, then how could Tigh have been in the service for forty years? Moore says these Final Five are fundamentally different than the rest, and we’ll find out how in the next season. Now that those rules are out the window, the last Cylon could literally be ANYONE. It also means that Chief and Cally’s child is another hybrid.

So Starbuck is either back, a hallucination, a ghost… or the final Cylon. Personally, I’m going with the last option, since she really did look like she disintegrated into a billion pieces along with her Viper. It would make sense if she downloaded into a new body and arrived along with the rest of the Cylon fleet. And now she claims she’s been to Earth, and can show them the way? Interesting.

Why was this season only 20 episodes, when most series are 22? The good news is there are two more episodes coming up in the fall—a 2-part prequel movie that will be released on DVD the next day. The bad news? The regular series won’t return until 2008. This means the questions that came up in this finale won’t be answered for nearly a year.

How can they do this? With ratings already low, I’m surprised they’re even getting a full fourth season order, but indications are next season will be the last. Executive Producer Ronald Moore says that they’ll know ahead of time whether that will be the case, and move toward a resolution so we’re not left hanging at the end of the series, like with Farscape.

But apparently leaving us hanging for a year is okay, huh?

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