Maelstrom (317)

[mizzoueng]

Overall a great episode. I knew either Apollo or Starbuck were gonna bite the dust when they picked out their gravesites on "the wall". So I just braced myself from there. The whole thing about the mandalla showing up everywhere she looked is kinda crazy/unexplained. She has a destiny, but what did all that crap have to do with it?

I guess the more she denied the destiny and tried to repress it, the more it showed up. Kinda like a subconsious marker that only gets stronger the more you fight it.

Also, she had her hand on the eject lever. It is possible, and I mean extremly, remotely, 99.9% unlikely possible that the heavy raider that Kara saw managed to grab her as the viper exploded and she ejected. Then two things could happen, she awakens on a basestar or a long forgotten (and unknown) cylon base on the planet surface. The cylon base will be built atop another Temple left by the 13th and her destiny is to figure out the puzzle and be the guide to Earth.

[spunknugget]

umm, acutally IIRC, the woman was already preggers when he found her. and there was only room in the ship that he fixed for one person, or maybe two, so she &/or the kid got to go and starbuck stayed behind, sacrificing himself for the safety of the child and eventual future of the fleet

Actually to reply to the person you are replying to: Our Starbuck already did the crash and return in a cylon ship thing, remember? The gooey ooey dripping fleshy cylon raider?

[capt. moroni]

She had her hand on that ejection stick before the viper blew up. I bet she ejected, and was rescued by that raider, which is why Lee didn't see her parachute.

She's still out there. We'll see a "Return Of Starbuck" episode somewhere down the line.

[DeltaWhiskey]

Just going along with the "Swooped up by the Raider at the last minute" people for a sec, suppose she is...and she's taken to a Basestar.

She isn't a Cylon, but before she wakes up, the Cylons take her over to the resurrection ship, strip her, and place her in a vacant resurrection chamber, where she wakes up, aaannnnd.....

Too cruel, even for them?

[Oreo]

I'm glad someone brought up the Ship of Lights episode. Moore said before they were thinknig about doing that, but changed their mind because his BSG had a different religious feel to it. Of course he could change his mind. I think the SHip of Lights theory is probably the best one yet. That way she's not a Cylon but still can come back.

[BubblingOverWithIdeas]

I was personally hoping that this episode would have a finality to it, but I'm not miffed that it didn't. It's obvious that her special destiny was more than dying in a particular place and time. She's gone somewhere in a (probably) metaphysical sense and/or something is going to come out of this. But most likely it will be next season, as the next three episodes are supposed to focus on the trial of Baltar. If Kara reappears it won't be as a regular (especially if she doesn't make a physical reappearance), unless they're taking her off the main credits only temporarily while we don't know what's happened to her. Personally, I think she won't be a regular and that her reappearance is as likely to not be physical as it is to be physical.

[hoof]

I'm pretty sure she's dead for good. RDM has made a point in this series to not do stuff, then hit a "reset" button later on. Having Starbuck live, or turn out a cylon, would be a big cop-out that virtually every other show does, and that BSG makes a habit of not doing.

Any other show, I'd expect her to show up, to have ejected at the last minute, to be picked up by aliens (or the cylon raider), or to be one of the final five, just so we can have her back in the show. But BSG isn't like that, so I'd say the safe bet is she's out for the show.

A few more factors to consider is that they had to do the script for this before even knowing that there'd be a 4th season. Thus, we won't see her back until then even if they do bring her back. But how can they bring her back w/o having it spoiled bigtime by her showing up on the cast list? Even keeping her on the cast list as hush-hush would require too much work for very little payoff (everyone would expect them to bring her back, keeping her dead is much more of a surprise).

And I have to agree with several others in this thread. Having Starbuck go out in a mundane way is very BSG. Having her go out in a blaze of glory (Pegasus-style) would be a let-down. Sure it'd be dramatic, but that's how all the other shows kill off big characters, and life is rarely like that.

All that said, I'm sad to see her go. Personally I'd have liked to see a character go who would cause problems with the fleet (say, Adama, or Roslyn, but then again, we saw that already at the beginning of season 2). Starback was one of the few main characters that could die and not really affect the fleet (except for the loss of their best pilot, and best flight instructor).

[Oreo]

She will be back and I don't think it will be a reset button. A reset button is to bring them back and act like nothing happened. I call it the Daniel - Janeway" button.

If Starbuck comes back it will not be the same, it won't just be a button hit and everything is fine. The only reset button cop-out on BSG so far has been the president's cancer.

[ShadowMaat]

The magical cancer cure and the "one year later" thing were both cop-outs, IMO. I suppose it's entirely possible that Starbuck is gone for good and kudos to RDM & co if so, but I have a hard time believing we've seen the last of Starbuck.

Maybe she'll be a dream-vision to Apollo, telling him to follow the yellow brick road follow the road to Earth.

[capricacitygal]

Three words - Luke and Laura.

Holy Frak General Hospital is invading the thread.

[apollo123]

She will be back and I don't think it will be a reset button. A reset button is to bring them back and act like nothing happened. I call it the Daniel - Janeway" button.

If Starbuck comes back it will not be the same, it won't just be a button hit and everything is fine. The only reset button cop-out on BSG so far has been the president's cancer.

Yes I agree that bringing her back is not pushing the "reset button". If anything, it just makes this episode much more meaningful. If she's really dead, that would be more of a cop-out because what the hell did she die for? A "reset button" is when you build up a subplot or a character defining moment and then resolve it in a way that leaves no consequences for the future, basically pretending like it never really happened. If Starbuck were to come back, I'm sure that everything that happened in this episode will be taken into account and not simply "reset". For the sake of the show, she better come back. How can the hell can there be a Battlestar without Starbuck?? Regardless of what you think of the character, she is an integral part of the show and there will be great void without her.

[N2P agent]

how did that commercial go.. 1 will die, 1 will find earth and 1 will find out they are a cyclon. did the show cover that yet (any of the three?) if not maybe starbuck is all three.. there are still 3 episode left for this season maybe the season finally we see starbuck in a milk bath being downloaded.. if she is a cylon she would be one of the five. If she is one of the five, then she would know where earth is, well the other copies of her would know. like Boomer didnt know she was a cyclon.... just a though.

[mrbinky3000]

She's not dead. She's a Cylon. This is the episode where she learns how to die and resurrect in a pool of goo. It makes sense. Eventually, both the Cylons and Humans are going to reach Earth. They have to make peace at some point. Her destiny is to lead them to Earth and help the two sides bury the hatchet. Then, once they get to Earth, they will find it a shambles... people fighting over religion, resources, politics, etc. Both the Cylons and Humans decide to skip Earth and find a new home. That or they team up to conquer Earth :-P

[metabog]

Just going along with the "Swooped up by the Raider at the last minute" people for a sec, suppose she is...and she's taken to a Basestar.

She isn't a Cylon, but before she wakes up, the Cylons take her over to the resurrection ship, strip her, and place her in a vacant resurrection chamber, where she wakes up, aaannnnd.....

Too cruel, even for them?

Hahaha... lol. Yeah what a cruel joke. And then they go like "hahah, we got you good didn't we?"

[TheBigFlush]

The magical cancer cure and the "one year later" thing were both cop-outs, IMO.

I've seen several people say that about the One Year Later thing, but I don't get it... what's the beef here? Would you have preferred they wasted an entire year telling stories about boring life on New Caprica? How is it a cop-out to tell the stories they wanted to tell?