Thanks for your guesses on "The Last Citadel."

Happy ending or not? Hmmm.

I'm not saying anything, but I will note that Starbuck doesn't seem to think it's totally hopeless. And maybe the answer boils down to this question: Who is it a defensive position, or refuge, for?

And to go one step further, what might it mean to them?

I'd take it a step further, in that Athena and Boomer were really interesting in seasons 1 and 2 due to the contrast they presented. When Athena's parallel story to Boomer ended with her acceptance as a colonial officer, both of them became, frankly, a little boring. With Boomer wiped off the face of the narrative and Athena's complimentary story arc finished, there wasn't much interesting to say about either character.

I respectfully disagree. For starters, Boomer was the perfect vehicle to explore Cylon society with. She would be learning things new just like the audience and her reactions could've been a proxy for our own. The writers did a little of that w/ Baltar, for example with the projections. Similarly Athena could've been used to explore aspects of human nature we all take for granted and so never talk about.

Or what about the relationsip between parent and child. Athena has to be a mother, but she never had one of her own to serve as a model. The cylons killed most everones parents & friends, but Boomer already had to deal w/ that trauma when she awoke to learn all her family and childhood friends had been killed on Troy. What they did to Boomer was even worse: they destroyed evven the memory of her parents. It is hard to imagine discovering that your parents never loved you because they were not even real. My God, that has got to be terrible. Again, they just touched on that in Downloaded when she talked about the elephant statues her mother gave her, but Boomer tryung to deal with that could easiily be a whole episodes B-plot right there.

Okay, I misspoke. It's not there weren't interesting directions they could have taken them, but that once their parallel story arcs both panned out the SHOW failed to say anything more about them. You're absolutely right that Boomer would have been the perfect human POV into Cylon society, and that the issues with parenthood alone are a huge kick in the nuts for both characters. But since the show failed to really pick up on any issues but their respective rise and fall within Colonial society, they became pretty boring characters for the majority of S3/4.

The Last Citadel is the house and family that Boomer never had but projected, in Midnight Courage.

What is it in this story? I don't know yet. At first I thought it was someplace physical (based on Athena's nightmare) but now I'm not sure... Is it Petersburg, Virginia?

I would echo that you shouldn't apologize for time between. This is very good and worth the wait. We can see the care that goes in to it.

I wouldn't dream of guessing "the Last Citadel." So much in this has surprised me already. I just have confidence it will pleasantly surprise me like so much else.

I don't mind the magical aspects, either. You didn't create that, were stuck with it and made something out of it. Actually, you have even made it non-magical with the explanation of God and math. I think that deserves a lot of leeway.

I conyinue to be amazed at how many layers there are to this. So many moving parts that come together. Can't wait to see Boomer vs. Chief, either. I will guess that no matter how bad it gets, true love somehow wins out (maybe with bruises ). It just feels like that kind of story. A story with this much heart wouldnt give us all that Boomer/Chief history just to whack them again.

I want to see if Roslin and Adama somehow connect. That would be good.

I just remembered Cavil's thing about stars (and the Colony, in the end) being "castles burning". Maybe that has something to do with the last citadel?

Could it be the Sun?

Yes it would! It'd just whack them for a REASON.

That's funny.

At the very least, a better reason than "Because God said so."

Hmmm...

Well, we could just have God decide to whack them for no real reason, but that's probably not what you're looking for.

There is a Roslin/Adama moment to come. And, for the record, nobody will get whacked just because God said so.

...Because that narrows it down a ton.

Point taken.

I'm still betting on a happy ending of sorts.

This is the Roslin/Adama moment I want:

Plugging away.

Getting there.

Hard work.

Final proof-reading.

Should go up tomorrow, with a caveat.

I've been reluctant to guess, 'cuz I always get these things wrong.

I think this is on the right track. Maybe the Last Citadel isn't a real place. Maybe its a symbol or a metaphor. Or maybe I'm just wrong as always.

Still think this is great. And as a Starbuck fan, let me add that I like this Boomer. She gets stuck with horrible boy friends, her job is a mess, her family beyond dysfunctional, but she still keeps showing up. Even keeps trying to do the right thing.

She's okay in my book. Tyrol so doesn't deserve her. He better do something pretty impressive for her in the finale. Something downright Heloesque. Otherwise, I say let Pierre have a shot.