I think that ‘Daybreak’ might well be one of the finest episodes of ‘Battlestar Galactica’. Whenever I wish to watch anything of that series, I usually end up with that — and I believe this works as a fair indicator of my appreciation. On Sunday I had a great urge to watch something interesting again and ‘Daybreak’ seemed like a suitable choice since it is intriguing enough. If I watched it on Sunday, why is this a post on this day? Well, that’s explained in the post where I mentioned why I took up scheduled posting but that is generally besides the point here.
“Look, you wanna know the truth? I don’t really care about the stats, or the cup, or the trophy, or anything like that. In fact even the games aren’t that important to me, not really. What matters to me is the perfect throw. Making the perfect catch. The perfect step and block. It’s perfection. That’s what it’s about. It’s about those moments when you… when you can feel the perfection of creation. The beauty of physics, the wonder of mathematics. You know the… the elation of action and reaction. And that is the kind of perfection that I want to be connected to.”
‘Daybreak’ is in general just such an all encompassing episode — we see life on Caprica, life on the Galactica, life in battle, and life on Earth as well. There is a bit of everything, and the flashbacks to what life on Caprica used to be make it extremely clear that there is more to every situation than meets the eye.
Maybe it is the flashbacks that I actually enjoy — it gives us a life that has been made to sound simple. And it might have been simple, compared to the life after the Cylon attack. However, that does not necessarily mean anything — people faced tough choices before that and bad things happened to everyone. There is that measure of tragedy and sadness that I could not really see in an average Battlestar episode — although a measure that I would certainly say was present in ‘Caprica’.
“Good hunting, sir!”
I wonder then… I know that the divisiveness of this episode has been a major talking point for Battlestar fans. A fair few seem to have not appreciated the ending that we got here — and I say this in the full knowledge that many would still disagree with me. I guess that the second half of the fourth season went more into the slow memory lane than more people would like.
And if I were to pick a scene, I would be hard pressed to choose one. But I would probably go with that moment where we send the Galactica to its death, where we hear an echo of the Colonial Anthem while the last Battlestar ever flies into the Sun. It is an amazing moment, although it is certainly not the only one.
One other moment I find really memorable is where Athena and Adama are talking to each other in a flashback, and Athena needs another chance. Adama grants her that chance she needs, and Athena responds by acknowledging that she owes the Admiral (then Commander) a favour.
“Make the trap tomorrow rook. Dismissed.”
— “Thank you, sir. I owe you one.”
“You and a lot of other people owe me one, but you know what, very few people ever pay you back. Especially the ones who owe you their lives.”
— “I’ll pay you back one day, sir, and it will really mean something.”
“You do that!”
Is that not something we should all keep in mind when in a similar situation? An expression of faith may change so much that we really need to observe what we say lest we be too cruel in our words.
And finally…
I laid out the cabin today. It’s gonna have an easterly view. You should see the light that we get here, when the sun comes from behind those mountains. It’s almost heavenly. It reminds me of you.
