Wait, people actually believe Starbuck is dead?

Honestly, there is no way Ron Moore would kill off his favourite character and, let's admit it, the star of his show. Plus, there are all those loose threads hanging about and the talk about her destiny et al. OF COURSE she'll come back.

There is the possibility that whoever comes back may not quite be Starbuck, and that may be interesting. Her dynamic with Apollo has been played out, and there hasn't been much new about the character other than the nth reiteration about how fucked-up she is.

I'm with Vonnie on this one -- I'm dying (and completely unspoiled, for once) to find out HOW they bring Starbuck back, but I don't have any doubt that they will.

I did get a laugh out of Hotdog leering at Kara from the top bunker with "you SO did have a sex dream! You did!" smirk.

Ha! He had the best line reading of the episode: "What's UP??"

I was actually so exhausted that I fell asleep for most of the second half of the episode, but I did wake up in time to see Kara go boom -- but was so sleepy that I wasn't sure what was really happening. I definitely believe she'll be back, in one form or another (my first thought was "well, she must be one of the Five, then!"), because that's just no way for her to die for real.

I don't want her to be a Cylon - or a whole Cylon.

(Some folks are suggesting that Katee Sackhoff will come back as her own daughter.)

I wonder, (since everything that happened before is happening again) whether Kara isn't descended from some previous Cylon/Human hybrid and that's why the mandalla was in her subconscious.

Yeah, as much as I think it would make no sense for her to be a Cylon, with all her childhood history, I can't believe she's dead. She can't be! She's STARBUCK. And...she has a DESTINY. And blowing up for no discernible reason is no destiny at all.

Right.

Now, I have this thing, and I'm reminding myself not to buy into my own prejudging here -- so this is a rant, but I only mean it a teensy bit and hope to avoid marrying it, I just have to get it off my chest...

There are certain characters (and yes Whedon and Greenwalt, and less so, ~mere~, I'm looking straight the heck at you), whose appeal lies in their humanity -- broken, weak, flawed humanity. The "Birthday" episode of Angel permanently damaged my love of that series. Cordelia was important in the Buffyverse Because she was fully human with so many limitations that seem to come standard to the package. Now, because of the kind of human she was, turning her into a demon with powers made her lesser.

Starbuck is one such character. She's a mess, and can be mean, and unfaithful, and drunk, and self-destructive, and is the baddest ass pilot the Galactica will ever see, and is so brave she moves me to tears. If she's a skinjob, it's going to be really hard for me to care about her in the same way. Ditto if she's a goddess. I'm not saying it will be impossible, but I suspect if she's not human, she's going to matter to me far less. Far, far less.

Wait, people actually believe Starbuck is dead?

Yes. I mean, her plane exploded and Apollo said there was no parachute, and she was ready to die, so she's dead. I realize it's possible there was some sleight of hand and she isn't dead at all, or (even more likely) that she'll be back in another form, but for now I believe the story they've just told me.

I mean, I knew Buffy was coming back, after The Gift, but she was still dead to me. I don't know if I can explain my headspace because it's more emotional than rational. I just saw a story where Starbuck died, so the parts of my head where the story lives "know" she's dead, even though the parts of my head where the meta lives know you're likely to be right.

In conclusion: You killed Starbuck, you bastards.

I wonder, (since everything that happened before is happening again) whether Kara isn't descended from some previous Cylon/Human hybrid and that's why the mandalla was in her subconscious.

I think that's really likely. Something in me has strongly suspected that Hera isn't the only one, and that maybe the final five are all like that, too.

I thought Sackhoff just hit the episode out of the ballpark.

She's a mess, and can be mean, and unfaithful, and drunk, and self-destructive, and is the baddest ass pilot the Galactica will ever see, and is so brave she moves me to tears. If she's a skinjob, it's going to be really hard for me to care about her in the same way.

On the one hand, I agree with this (though I'm also liking the idea of her being a human/Cylon hybrid) -- but one of the most interesting things to me about this whole series is how much the Cylons want to be human, and how close they actually are to humanity. So in a way, I think it would be pretty cool for Starbuck, with all her painfully human characteristics and contradictions, to be a Cylon as well; it would prove that there really is no difference between the two. And that would change the dynamic of the show considerably, I think -- at least for me.

I'm with those saying there's no way she's dead. The shot of her hand on the eject lever wasn't an accident.

Anyway, great episode, and I'm glad of it after the last few weeks of suck. Actually, I didn't hate the previous episode, just the final 10-15 minutes of it. I loved everything before that, though.

I was too preoccupied by how nasty it must taste.

I was thinking that if they ingest the paint, they could die. Unless they're Cylons.