Battlestar Galactica Razor: Review and thoughts

*Spoilers ahead in this thread, most to do with the movie, some to do with the last season*

First off, let’s just be thankful to SciFi for making sure this was shown in high-definition and 5.1 surround sound. There were some great visuals and cinematography in this movie/episode, plus some nice sound effects.

I’m going to talk about the movie itself first in this review, but towards the end, I plan on delving into how it relates to season 4 that is coming in March. This basically means if you haven’t seen season 3 all the way through yet, you probably will want to stop reading.

I like to discuss things that happen in TV shows, instead of just writing a review without revealing spoilers. So you read at your own risk. Movies I treat differently, writing standard reviews without giving stuff away. But Razor wasn’t a movie in my opinion, more like a side-episode in the series.

So here we go.

Razor spoilers continue from here. Don’t read ahead if you haven’t seen the movie

The movie. Where to begin.

My initial reaction was that it was everything Battlestar Galactica has ever been about. There were the topics that it deals with on a regular basis: Politics, warfare, moral decisions and love. The only ideal really missing from this episode was the religious aspect that dominates the series.

Kendra Shaw is the star of this movie and it’s a damn shame we’ll never see her again. Granted, it would have been strange for her to pop up in season 4, but with the way Razor was ending, I thought perhaps she wasn’t going to pull that trigger to detonate the nuke. But alas, she did and she’s lost forever.

A strong force and militant XO, Shaw was just awesome. Strong, just like Admiral Cain, whom she followed to the letter, even executing civilians in the heat of war.

I liked how Bill and Lee Adama talked about those choices made by Cain before they met up with Galactica and how they themselves could have made the same ones had circumstances been different. If the President hadn’t been a part of the civilians rescued, Adama may have chosen more of a military path, instead of the one they ended up on.

The episode also showed what a great leader Lee is, in knowing how to choose Shaw as his XO. Knowing enough to help appease the Cain crew by putting her as his number two was a genius move.

Maybe it was a shocker, and maybe I just forgot, but one of the big “surprises” in this episode was Cain being lovers with Gina, or Number 6, the blonde Cylon. It showed how easily and deeply the Cylons penetrated the humans defenses and lives, to get close to their sensitive areas. We saw how it was discovered that she was a Cylon and then how the interrogation began. Shaw even trusted her enough to give up the password to their network, thus compromising the mission later on.

Razor was perfect in how it gave us a back story that made all the actions of Cain during season 2 that much more believable and explainable. We truly can understand more of the how and why when it came to her actions.

The story involving the Pegasus, Cain, Gina and Shaw was exactly what it should have been and was highly enjoyable I thought. It’s worth seeing again and I likely will be buying the DVD when it’s released in a week or so.

But I tend to look for those little tidbits in these things, hoping to discover secrets for upcoming episodes. Well, it wasn’t too hard to discover that this movie was going to reveal something big for the final season. Or at least, make us think about it.

Season 3 and 4 spoilers and thoughts. Do NOT read ahead if you haven’t seen season 3 yet or want to know any tidbits for season 4

The one thing that I always struggle with from season to season in a lot of shows, Lost, BSG, Heroes, etc., is remembering all the dang little plot points along the way. I tend to forget things if I haven’t watched the show for awhile.

That being said, the big “surprise” here, which came at the very end of Razor, was the revelation to Kendra Shaw and to the viewing audience, that Starbuck, Kara Thrace, is the “harbinger of death” and will “lead the human race to its end.”

The Hybrid they discover tells them this, and that they must not follow her.

At the end of season 3, we find out who 4 out of 5 of the Cylons are and we see Kara return from the dead, flying a Viper and telling Lee that she’s seen Earth and knows the way there.

And that she’s taking them to it.

Okay, so much to swallow here and so much of it is confusing to me.

First off, why is the Hybrid warning the humans? Why help? What is the frakking Hybrid anyways?

His words “As my own existence comes to a close, only to begin anew in ways uncertain.”

“All this has happened before, and will happen again.”

Obviously the Hybrid isn’t going to resurrect like the 12 Cylons there are now, so in what way will it begin anew? And all this has happened before…is this a repeating history, sort of like The Matrix?

I hope not…but the words and phrase are cryptic to say the least.

My opinion on the Hybrid is this: He was human once and the successful link between the old Cylons and the new ones. His human side is warning Shaw about Kara, to save them all.

So do we actually know the 5th and final Cylon? Is it indeed Kara Thrace?

The sad thing is, we got a big preview of things to come in season 4, and in one of the scenes, you see Kara’s husband talking to her saying she was a Cylon from the very beginning.

It would make sense, since the final one has to be someone huge, someone important. Kara would be the right choice in my book, but who knows at this point.

It’s really too bad the season is so far off and the WGA strike could influence it starting. The final episodes will likely be awesome and provide an amazing conclusion to an amazing series.

What did you think of it? Good, bad? And what of the upcoming season? Do you know more than I do about the Hybrid and what it means?