Surfing Through "Battlestar: Galactica"

MAJOR SPOILERS -- I didn't think they could top last week, where Apollo morphed from a Boy Scout to a "realist." But this week's episode -- focusing on Starbuck -- was even better. This show isn't really about sci-fi at all. The story of an aging veteran (Starbuck) with eager young guns snapping at their heels is as old as they come. And the details make it all so believable: members of the Viper Squad studying footage of past battles, hand-made memorials to the people who have died, hard drinking, bitterness, and the battle scenes themselves awash in past memories. (I also like the show's recent fondness for beginning an episode with a climactic moment and then jumping back and forth in time -- no linear wimpiness for this series.) And of course the moment we've been waiting for -- Starbuck and Apollo (almost) getting it on. How appropriate that Starbuck made the first move. And how typical for this smart show that they confound expectations while staying true to these characters. Terrific television, all wrapped up with a sentimental finale that's well earned.