What once was one of Battlestar’s greatest assets — its kaleidoscope of rich characters — is starting to feel like its biggest liability. As the final season slogs along, the writers are stuck trying to usher every character’s dramatic arc to a neat resolution. Is there any other explanation for this episode, where Gaeta wouldn’t stop singing? He's is a solid supporting player with important roles in several memorable episodes, but did we really need a subplot where he tries to recover from the loss of his partly amputated right leg by warbling mournful arias while resting in sickbay? Between dealing with the location of Earth, the mystery of the Final Five, and the fallout from the Cylon civil war, the show is wastin’ time, and the red herrings are getting annoying.

They Have a Plan
There won’t be a new episode for two weeks, and the writers decided to end Friday’s installment with some shockers — one cool, one meh.

The high point was Roslin’s discovery that once she and Baltar reactivated the Cylon Hybrid to get answers about her “opera house” dream, the Almighty Albino Chick would not, in fact, thank her for being so kind and gladly explain the vision’s meaning. Instead, the Hybrid jumped the basestar, kidnapping Roslin and Baltar in the process — not to mention wrecking the fragile alliance between the fleet and the rebel Cylons.

But then Sharon shot Number Six rebel leader Natalie after discovering that her runaway robo-baby, Hera, was having visions of the Cylon hottie. (Is anyone on this show not having visions?) Natalie’s apparent death would have been a lot more startling if this wasn't the third episode this season that ended with a person threatening someone’s life at gunpoint. Lately, the show has resorted to dramatic gimmicks: Chief shaving his head to prove he’s unhinged; Starbuck obsessively painting large-scale canvases of her Earth visions; and Tigh shooting Adama in the head — except, oh, wait, he only imagined it!

We’re still willing to give Battlestar the benefit of the doubt, but the more the show features singing amputees and unhinged women trying to blow each other away, the more we worry about getting the great finale we deserve. —Tim Grierson