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To an extent it still makes a bit of sense, but it is a slightly frustrating loose end.
Otherwise it really is a satisfying end. Actually I was thinking about how clever the finale is because it puts the main characters into real perspective. When you think about it, all of the main characters (actors in the opening credits) fulfill their main role either as part of the journey or as part of the destination. Kara, Adama and Roslin are the "journey" characters.
SPOILERS - to you people who haven't seen the whole show, but it's been over for a while so I won't spoiler tag it
Kara is obvious... from the beginning she's the gun pilot, making her literally out front of the fleet. In the season 1 finale she retrieves the Arrow of Apollo which is the first roadsign to Earth, and she painted the mandala which in season 3 becomes the second roadsign to Earth. In the episode of her death, she is compared to the Goddess Aurora, the goddess of the dawn and the figurehead for ships. When she returns from the dead as an angel, she facilitates the truce between human and Cylon, and then leads the fleet first to the old Earth and then to the new Earth. By the time humanity is settled on the new Earth, her task is done and she literally disappears.
Roslin and Adama were the leaders of the fleet on their journey and the safeguards of the human race. That's all they did throughout the entire show. They debated morality and they made tough decisions to keep the human race alive, even if sometimes they were proven wrong. If you strip all of their character episodes to the core, they're either about whether humanity is worth saving, or their own responsibility to humanity. People complain about Roslin not doing much in the finale, but by then her task was essentially over. Both of the characters are compared to the Galactica in the show, because just like the Galactica they are the vessel in which humanity travels to its new home in. By the time the Galactica is broken in the finale, there is no more need for them... they aren't in charge of how life is going to be on the new world and having completed their task are both free to lay down their burdens.
On the other hand, Gaius, Caprica-Six and Lee are the "destination". While all of them play an integral role in the journey of the show, what it seems to me is that all their development and influence is preparing them for restarting life on the new Earth. Consider Lee: it is only at the start of season 4, when he joins the government, that he says "I think I've finally found my place... it feels like destiny" etc. And then look at what he achieves. In "Revelations", he makes the truce that I doubt Roslin could have. That scene also contains to me one of the key lines of the whole show:
If you look at Lee's character episodes and development throughout the series, it boils down to him flailing between his father and Roslin... which side is he on? Who will he grow up to be? In season 4 he grows into his own person, taking another step towards throwing off the old cycles in 4.15 when he suggests not choosing another Quorum, because the old colonies mean nothing anymore. By the finale, he is able to recognise what no one else can: that repeating the old ways will lead into another cycle of retributive violence. Advocating integration into the natural evolution of the new Earth is what his character has been building up towards for the entire show (even if Ron Moore didn't know it yet 
). Add to that, his story is clearly not over - he expresses an unquenchable energy to explore, climb mountains, begin a completely new life.
Gaius and Caprica-Six throughout the show combined to have disastrous influence... their affair destroyed the twelve colonies, his desire to win the election and her desire to be with him brought on New Caprica, and so on... but everything they did served to bring human and Cylon closer together. Although Athena and Helo essentially started the show down that path, it was Gaius and Caprica-Six who brought the two races together. She started the Cylons down the path that led Deanna to obsess over the Final Five and thus cause the civil war, and his one God preaching and socialist propaganda changed the tone of the fleet to more easily accept Cylons and give up the old colonial constructs. What they were doing, and what their angel counterparts confirmed in the finale (by saying that they simply had to live) was preparing human and Cylon to live on the new Earth. Gaius and Caprica-Six represent the future of the two races blending together. Consider the Opera House visions, in which Roslin and Athena have protected Hera throughout her life, but it is Gaius and Caprica-Six who are there for her at the end. By holding Hera (the mitochondrial Eve, future of the two races) in their arms, they are holding the future.
Athena is harder to classify but I would say that she and Boomer are "journey" characters. Although Athena brings about Hera, who is the key to the destination, Athen and Boomer are essentially cogs in the story. They were the first to blend the line between human and Cylon and thus very important in the machinations of the story. Also, season 1 was the only time when they had large amounts of screentime.
The Final Five don't really belong in either category because they are prophets from another time. They're vital characters, certainly, but in a sense what they represent is the remnants from a finished cycle of violence. This is represented really clearly in the finale when the Opera House vision blurs with reality to show the Final Five standing motionless on the upper deck of the CIC... I found it really strange that none of them, not even Tigh, moved to help with the standoff happening below, but I suppose what it was was a visual representation of their separation and also their complicity in starting these events.
EDIT: that all makes sense to my personal understanding of the show, anyway.
To an extent it still makes a bit of sense, but it is a slightly frustrating loose end.Otherwise it really is a satisfying end. Actually I was thinking about how clever the finale is because it puts the main characters into real perspective. When you think about it, all of the main characters (actors in the opening credits) fulfill their main role either as part of the journey or as part of the destination. Kara, Adama and Roslin are the "journey" characters.
SPOILERS - to you people who haven't seen the whole show, but it's been over for a while so I won't spoiler tag it
Kara is obvious... from the beginning she's the gun pilot, making her literally out front of the fleet. In the season 1 finale she retrieves the Arrow of Apollo which is the first roadsign to Earth, and she painted the mandala which in season 3 becomes the second roadsign to Earth. In the episode of her death, she is compared to the Goddess Aurora, the goddess of the dawn and the figurehead for ships. When she returns from the dead as an angel, she facilitates the truce between human and Cylon, and then leads the fleet first to the old Earth and then to the new Earth. By the time humanity is settled on the new Earth, her task is done and she literally disappears.
Roslin and Adama were the leaders of the fleet on their journey and the safeguards of the human race. That's all they did throughout the entire show. They debated morality and they made tough decisions to keep the human race alive, even if sometimes they were proven wrong. If you strip all of their character episodes to the core, they're either about whether humanity is worth saving, or their own responsibility to humanity. People complain about Roslin not doing much in the finale, but by then her task was essentially over. Both of the characters are compared to the Galactica in the show, because just like the Galactica they are the vessel in which humanity travels to its new home in. By the time the Galactica is broken in the finale, there is no more need for them... they aren't in charge of how life is going to be on the new world and having completed their task are both free to lay down their burdens.
On the other hand, Gaius, Caprica-Six and Lee are the "destination". While all of them play an integral role in the journey of the show, what it seems to me is that all their development and influence is preparing them for restarting life on the new Earth. Consider Lee: it is only at the start of season 4, when he joins the government, that he says "I think I've finally found my place... it feels like destiny" etc. And then look at what he achieves. In "Revelations", he makes the truce that I doubt Roslin could have. That scene also contains to me one of the key lines of the whole show:
Deanna: All of this has happened before -
Lee: But it doesn't have to happen again.
Lee: But it doesn't have to happen again.
). Add to that, his story is clearly not over - he expresses an unquenchable energy to explore, climb mountains, begin a completely new life.Gaius and Caprica-Six throughout the show combined to have disastrous influence... their affair destroyed the twelve colonies, his desire to win the election and her desire to be with him brought on New Caprica, and so on... but everything they did served to bring human and Cylon closer together. Although Athena and Helo essentially started the show down that path, it was Gaius and Caprica-Six who brought the two races together. She started the Cylons down the path that led Deanna to obsess over the Final Five and thus cause the civil war, and his one God preaching and socialist propaganda changed the tone of the fleet to more easily accept Cylons and give up the old colonial constructs. What they were doing, and what their angel counterparts confirmed in the finale (by saying that they simply had to live) was preparing human and Cylon to live on the new Earth. Gaius and Caprica-Six represent the future of the two races blending together. Consider the Opera House visions, in which Roslin and Athena have protected Hera throughout her life, but it is Gaius and Caprica-Six who are there for her at the end. By holding Hera (the mitochondrial Eve, future of the two races) in their arms, they are holding the future.
Athena is harder to classify but I would say that she and Boomer are "journey" characters. Although Athena brings about Hera, who is the key to the destination, Athen and Boomer are essentially cogs in the story. They were the first to blend the line between human and Cylon and thus very important in the machinations of the story. Also, season 1 was the only time when they had large amounts of screentime.
The Final Five don't really belong in either category because they are prophets from another time. They're vital characters, certainly, but in a sense what they represent is the remnants from a finished cycle of violence. This is represented really clearly in the finale when the Opera House vision blurs with reality to show the Final Five standing motionless on the upper deck of the CIC... I found it really strange that none of them, not even Tigh, moved to help with the standoff happening below, but I suppose what it was was a visual representation of their separation and also their complicity in starting these events.
EDIT: that all makes sense to my personal understanding of the show, anyway.
I gotta say I kinda liked Lee (Apollo 
) for the first season, but slowly, you begin to hate him. He is really boring 
I finished watching the show like.....3 days ago, but I already miss it! 
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