#starbuck

"Revelation" is not a great episode, but it is a good one. Throughout the series, Humans and Cylons refuse to see the humanity (in broad strokes) of each other. Cylon were enslaved (I think, the show itself doesn't dwell on their backstory and I haven't seen Caprica) and rebelled through war and a surprise attack which killed billions of humans. Because of this, Cylons think the violence is core to human nature while human think Cylons are all programmed to be treacherous and that their feelings are fake. Both side distrust each other, and it's only in that episode that a comprise is found. Lee make a lame speech about the cycle of violence, both side accept an alliance and then...

... and then none of that mattered because the action of the past destroy any hope of the present. All of this had happened before, all this will happen again.

It would have been a bleak ending, very fitting for the show, and unfortunately very true to life. "The past is never dead. It's not even past." wrote William Faulkner. Something awful happened, and the world became worst. Nothing can be done.

Instead, the actual final, "Daybreak", embrace what Gaius Baltar has been saying all season: Only God can give a clean slate. By trusting a higher power, humans and Cylons are born anew and can start over. It is the miracles of the divines that made this ending possible (I guess that make Starbuck the Christ).