Wow, that was a great show! I can see why everyone raves about the writing, the dialogue and character development truly is excellent. With that being said I'll delve into some more specifics. Apologies if this post ends up being incredibly long, I feel like I have a lot to say!

Characters:

• Admiral Adama - The superglue of the show. I feel like without Adama the whole series would fall apart. After he was shot and Tigh took over, you could see how discordant everything was. While at times I was frustrated with what Adama did (e.g. his refusal to allow due process or follow the president's commands), he always had the future of humanity in mind.

• XO Tigh - Saul is a brilliantly written character in the way that he has numerous flaws, his biggest being his alcoholism. I didn't like how they made him one of the F5, but more on that later. His comedic relief through his many quips (frakkin' toasters!) added life to the series.

• Lee Adama - Another well-written character who, like his dad, wants what's best for humanity. I admired Lee's dedication to doing what's right and upholding the law. His speech during Baltar's trial was probably the greatest speech I've ever seen in a TV show. Absolutely amazing writing! In terms of Lee's relationships, I think he was a piece of shit to poor Dee, who loved him so much she was willing to marry him even though she knew he loved Kara more.

• Kara Thrace/Angel (?) Kara - Kara was another character who I admired for her resolve and bending the rules, but also I was frustrated how she played Sam and Lee and was a total bitch in season 3 for no good reason. I liked her ambiguous ending, although personally I don't think it's that ambiguous as she said her role was done then she just vanished. It was clear that Kara was actually dead on the other Earth and this one was sent by "god" or whatever force.

• President Laura Roslin - Great character development. You can see how at first she's not fit to lead having the mantle thrust upon her, but through many catastrophes she becomes a competent leader. I found her icy attitude in later seasons to be unnecessary. I think she became too used to the power of the presidency.

• VP Tom Zarek - A really weird character arc. From terrorist in prison to quorum member to VP to executed for starting a coup. Honestly I think that Zarek was right that the gov't was an Adama-Roslin cabal (especially considering their personal relationship), but he didn't need to start an uprising and kill the entire quorum. He deserved to be executed for treason.

• Dr. Gaius Baltar - Man even after all that, I still hate the guy. Another well-written character in that regard. Everything he did was for his own personal benefit except at the very end of the show. I'm glad he got stuck becoming a farmer again lmao.

• Caprica Six - Confusing as to her development. It seems like she went from being a badass baby-killer (man that was messed up) to a scared softie. Kinda lame.

• Chief Tyrol - I just feel bad for the guy. His first love turns out to be a cylon, gets shot by his second love, then he turns out to be a cylon too! And then his cylon compatriot kills his wife, who knows he's a cylon! But wait we're not done, his ex comes back, betrays his trust and finally he learns how his wife was murdered! Poor guy couldn't catch a break, no wonder he just wanted to disappear into the mountains forever.

• Boomer - Like Gaeta and Baltar, realized what she was doing was wrong and tried to make up for it at the very end. Props to her I guess.

• Athena - I was waiting for her to betray everyone, but she never did. Honestly amazing that she proved herself as worthy of being a "human".

• Helo - At first I was confused where the plot was going with Helo since he was stuck on Caprica, but ultimately it was worth watching. I really enjoyed the ep where he stuck up for the people who claimed the Dr was killing them. Helo from the get-go defended those whom others looked down upon, like the Cylons.

• Dee - Pretty much what I said under Lee. Really tragic she killed herself as well.

• Lt. Gaeta - Wow what a character! I can sympathize with Gaeta's misguided attempt to "rescue" the fleet from Adama, but ultimately he realized what he did was wrong. Maybe one of the most "noble" characters on the show, beside Lee. I think you could say Gaeta is Lee's foil - Lee is diplomatic in his quest to aid humanity, while Gaeta does so either by force (the coup) or furtively (when he gave info to the rebels on New Caprica).

• Tory - Never liked her. Glad Tyrol got his revenge.

• Sam - Not much to say except it was weird that he became a hybrid. Idk why the writers did that.

• Billy - RIP.

• Cavil - great villan. Loved his dialogue about wanting to be a machine. Was funny when he offed himself after realizing he wouldn't win.

Favorite side characters: Hotdog, Kat and Ishay

Questions I'm left with:

• Why did the hybrids keep calling Kara the "harbinger of death"? Doesn't seem like she made anyone die after they told her that

• The whole opera house ordeal - what was the point of that? They mentioned that so many times and ultimately it felt like a nothing burger.

• Since there's an "old" radioactive earth and a "new" earth (our earth), it's implied that the events occurred 3 times in total? One on Kobol, one on earth, and one in the Colonies? Is that correct? Now "new" earth ends the cycle of destruction.

• How did the colonies have such advanced tech??

• Still don't get how Hera knew the song or what her importance was. Don't get how Kara's dad knew it either.

Things that bothered me:

• All the orphaned etymologies that occurred in the show

• Usage of the Greco-Roman pantheon with no real explanation as to how that arose

• Usage of All Along the Watchtower... was there something I missed about that? How could that song have existed 150,000 years before Hendrix was alive? Is it implied that time is a loop?

• How could human society develop exactly as it did on Caprica/the other colonies.... that seems incredibly unlikely. Caprican society was basically America. I mean they had fuckin strip clubs for christ's sake.

• The survivors just abandoned all their tech and decided to live like hunter-gatherers. I get they didn't want cylon war part 4 but it still seemed like a waste of all that cool technology, especially FTL.

• It seems statistically improbable that out of ~39,000 people the Final Five end up being major characters. I get the point of it, you wouldn't just want to introduce a random person for such a big role, but it still seemed weak.

Thanks for reading all this lol. I told you it would be long. You can tell how much I enjoyed the show!