I loves me some Battlestar Galactica. Julia and I watched the last two episodes of this the third season and they did not disappoint.

My three favorite things about the show are:

• Its embrace of the ability of science-fiction as a form to explore topics -- philosophical, moral, existential -- which are too abstract and heady for conventional drama.
• Its specific implementation of the above vis-a-vis issues of politics and governance.
• Its unrepentant postmodernism.

That and it's got a cast that looks good and can act. Not an easy thing to put together.

The show is at its finest when all three of the above are working in synergy. For instance, the opening of this season which re-purposed and inverted the conventional political language of the war in Iraq. Similarly, they managed to work in "serving at the pleasure of the president" in the last episode. That's some foresight.

My one quibble with the finale was that they made the Bob Dylan reference so damn obvious. There was a more subtle nod earlier, which I got and appreciated, but it sort of took the fun out of it when they made it all in-your-face.

Anyway, I'm glad that Zephyr bugged me about this enough to start watching it back in the dark days of December 2004. It's been a pleasure ever since.