If you haven’t yet seen last night’s episode of Battlestar Galactica, “Maelstrom,” you might want to skip this blog posting, which is rife with spoilers. I, for one, am totally floored. Like: WTF just happened?! Yeah, I know, there have been rumors for months about the demise of Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff), but somehow I didn’t think it would actually go down the way it did. Last night’s episode revealed a lot about Starbuck’s backstory, particularly her relationship with her abusive mother, who insisted that Starbuck had a “destiny” — something that the Cylon who imprisoned her earlier this season, Leoben (Callum Rennie), also told her.
This “destiny” apparently has something to do with the image of the mandala she had painted on her wall in her apartment in Caprica — the mandala looks a lot like the Eye of Jupiter, an exploding supernova, and the storm that she ultimately flies straight into in “Maelstrom.” Symbolically, Starbuck is apparently dealing with a lot of issues about life and death — something that isn’t unexpected given her job as a pilot — but there is also a Cylon connection that makes me really want to believe those other internet rumors: that Starbuck might come back as a Cylon.
Executive producer Ron Moore has said the following about the episode: “It’s a culmination of several things that we’ve been setting up over the course of three years. We always talked about the fact that she had a destiny, she’s not like everyone else.” So what is this destiny, anyway? It can’t be death (can it?) because ultimately all humans experience that — at least, that’s what I’m hoping. A Starbuck-free BSG just doesn’t feel right to me.
Katee Sackhoff hasn’t been talking about whether she will return to BSG, but at this time she is working on other projects, including a Lifetime movie called Be Careful What You Wish For about a high school student who suddenly turns 35 and is married to her high school crush. Uh, I’m not sure I’m gonna be watching that one.
She told the Boston Globe recently: “I don’t want to be famous. I just want to be able to keep acting until I’m old and gray.” Sorry ladies, that was “gRay,” not “gay.”
What’s your take on the possible end of Starbuck? Here’s what EW.com and the LA Times think, and a link to some light spoilers for the rest of the season to get you started.
