Battlestar Galactica: Season Three Finale

To date, I haven't written much here about Battlestar Galactica (or Lost, come to think of it), even though I regard it as one of the best two or three programmes currently on television. This is because the in-depth characterisation and multi-layered plotting deserves (and has earned) far more erudite study and webspace than I could ever give it.

However, the finale of Season Three (Crossroads) has just aired on Sky One, featuring a succession of stunning "twists": namely the trial of Gaius Baltar; the unmasking (to the audience) of four of the final five Cyclon human-replicants (although signposted from early in the two-part episode, their identities are still shocking and will have incredible implications for the future of the show); and the return of an old friend (again, something I'd expected, just not yet ... and not with that particular message).

I'm assuming a new series will air in the UK in 2008, but at the moment that seems like an eternity to wait... and speculate over what freaky, mutant rabbits the wizard writers will out of the hat in Season Four.

Mark Braxton's review in this week's Radio Times says it best: "It's tempting to hope that one day all dramas will be this good, but they never will be."

So say we all!