She sees images of herself as a child, and the bad memories come flooding back. Is there truth to Leoben's assertions? Does she have a special destiny that's in the master plan of the universe? The oracle is disturbingly omniscient, and it throws Kara for a loop. This prompts Kara to visit an oracle in the fleet, who has information she absolutely should not have about Kara's encounter with Leoben, and what he said (in " Flesh and Bone") about Kara, her mother, and her destiny. The question by the end is this: Is Kara's death pointless? Meta-question: Who is defining "pointless"?Īs we join Kara already in progress, she's having strange nightmares involving the image of the Eye of Jupiter painted on her apartment walls, and bizarre sex involving Leoben and lots of paint. We know the reasons why, even as the characters closest to her do not. Only the audience has the whole picture, and that's the beauty of the narrative. The other is through the people close to Kara, who are privy to her behavior but not her thoughts. But, yes, in that the story the whole time points to where it's headed and arrives at the only place that it can and should - and yet arriving there is still shocking on some level.īut, really, the shock value is not even the true point of "Maelstrom." This story is about reading the telegraphed clues of Kara's behavior, and how the story's destination will be viewed through two different prisms. ![]() ![]() Is it "satisfying"? Well, maybe not if you were expecting her to go out with a conventional hero's bang. The writers have constructed an appropriate exit for Kara Thrace that feels right given what we know about her and particularly what she's been going through this season. But I prefer it that way, because I have "Maelstrom" to examine and I'd like to look at it for what it is.Īnd you know what? "Maelstrom" is a terrific, absorbing hour of drama. I have no idea if there were external, non-story reasons that led to this decision, or whether Sackhoff might come back next year, or what it means that the writers have left some sci-fi wriggle room surrounding her character's death. Online speculation runs rampant: Why was Katee Sackhoff written out? Was the actress unhappy on the show? Is Ron Moore overly obsessed with shock value? Is Starbuck not "really" dead and coming back next season in some twist? Is she one of the Final Five Cylons? And so on. This episode is, simply put, the story of the death of Kara "Starbuck" Thrace. But any problems with this episode have nothing to do with its storytelling and everything to do with the unavoidable external hoopla that surrounds the departure of a major cast member - which, if you don't want to be spoiled about exactly what that means, you should stop reading right now. Meanwhile, its outcome will, frankly, piss some people off. It observes its characters with a striking attentiveness that's, at times, hypnotic. ![]() "Maelstrom" is an episode with pitch-perfect tone and stellar performances. In short, it's the way it should be, and not the way we might somehow want it to be. What happens here, however, is personal, introspective, and often quiet. There's a tendency with an episode that has an outcome like "Maelstrom's" to expect something slam-bang, heroic, and extraordinary. Written by Bradley Thompson & David Weddle
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