Don't read this thread if you have not seen the series through to the finale and don't want it ruined for you.

I really want to know what the other BSG fans here thought of the finale, the final season, and the show as a whole.

I'll go in reverse order:

The show as a whole: overall I loved it. Its highs were as high as any show I've ever seen (I still get chills when I remember how Adama saved the people on New Caprica). But there were quite a few filler episodes, and places where it dragged a bit. Still, there's enough here for me to recommend to anyone, even non-Sci-Fi fans.

The last season: well, the last half-season. I loved it. I mean, it frustrated the hell out of me, particularly the mutiny segment, but the episodes were packed with plot and character development, and I was never once bored. Even characters who usually get on my nerves (I'm sorry, but Starbuck annoys me at least half of the time) weren't as grating to me.

The finale: I'm still working out how I feel about the finale. They didn't answer every last thing, which I'm fine with, but what did get answered felt a little odd. Regardless, I was happy to see that the conclusion I was leaning to (that the survivors existed in a time before us) was the right one.

Okay, can someone explain to me the history of these people? I'm talking pre-colonies. I'm having a difficult time figuring out how the 13th tribe was all cylons. I thought the other 12 colonies created the cylons, didn't they? Or were the Centurians just the AI that the 12 created, and the cylons existed from the beginning? If so, who created them? I'm very confused.

Anyway, I thought it was a good finale. There was a bit of a harsh juxtaposition in the last two hours, with the first hour being such non-stop, massive, intense, action, and the last hour consisting of people walking around in fields, but I can't really think how else they could have done it.

On a side note, my mom works at National Geographic, and there was even a little bit of buzz there this week, because of the magazine's prominence in the finale. Apparently that is an actual story from the magazine, but published about three years ago. That makes me wonder if the idea for Hera's final role was in the creators' heads the whole time, or if it's something they thought up when reading that article.