'Battlestar Galactica' Retro Recap: 'Maelstrom'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

​Facing death in any capacity is a difficult task for any human being. Because it involves a gamut of painful emotions that can cripple us in ways we never knew imaginable and it’s something we rarely think about or ponder upon for those exact reasons. But when the time does come to say goodbye, we often focus solely on our pain and our experiences when it comes to grief and loss simply due to the fact that we are never prepared to face losing someone we care for deeply. But because we are lost in our own gamut of emotions when that tough moment arrives, it’s rare for us to focus upon what the person who is preparing to pass is going through mentally and thankfully fiction is there to help us ponder upon those possibilities, as was the case in the next episode of Battlestar Galactica, ‘Maelstrom’.
 
Because in this tale, a foreboding sense of doom was beginning to surround Captain Kara Thrace, all of it stemming from the fact that the mandala seen in the temple on the Algae Planet was a dead ringer for the mandala she drew on her apartment wall. And it left her wondering more and more if by chance Leoben wasn’t kidding about her having a set destiny and what that destiny could be, to the point where she visits an Oracle down in Dogsville where she comes to find that apparently her dreams are related to her painful past, one where mother abused her on a regular basis and that Leoben might be right about her having a set purpose in life, and since those are answers are not at all what she wants to hear, she leaves the Oracle and buries the matter for another time. 
 
However, it doesn’t take long for the universe to bring the matter front and center once again when she spots a Cylon Raider in the clouds of the Gas Giant she is patrolling while the fleet performs refueling operations above, and the chase of this Raider leads her down a disturbing path wherein she sees a mandala cloud similar to the one she knows so well along with visions of her past and to make matters worse, the Raider was never there. It leads Starbuck to believe at first that she is losing her mind, but eventually, she comes to realize that likely, the end of her life is near and when she resumes patrol with Apollo, it seems as though her assumption is correct since another phantom chase leads to her getting knocked out…and having her life flash before her eyes.
 
It is here where we learned about how hard Starbuck’s mother was on her, and how that abuse drove them apart and that all these visions and strange moments were indeed related to the end. Because her impromptu guide, a being that looks like Leoben, tells her that he is with her now to prepare her for what lies ahead in the void between life and death and it would seem that Starbuck needed to face these final moments for closure and to serve as a reminder that she was meant for something more. Because back in the real world, her Viper dove too deep into the Gas Giant, and eventually cracked under the pressure, signaling the end of her life in stunning and unexpected fashion, and rattling the crew of the Galactica, since a member of their family…was gone…
 
If anything, I forgot how moving this episode turned out to be, and what a brilliant goodbye it was for Starbuck as a whole and well, even after re-watching this one years later and knowing full well what was coming…it still brought tears to my eyes when all is said and done. And bravo to Katee Sackhoff as well for turning in an incredible performance in this episode and really what made this story so special is that it did in fact give us powerful insight into what might cross a person’s mind when the end of their life is near, and in doing that, this story serves as a fine reminder to live a life without regret, and to celebrate our lives to the fullest and it was just lovely to find a bright spot such as that in a story filled with sorrow and despite the joy that comes out of that, it obviously will be more a touch more difficult for Starbuck’s surrogate family to embrace that message right away, for in the here and the now, their hearts are heavy, as they cope with her passing. Until next time. 

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