Readers– okay readers of a certain type — keep asking me why the Battlestar Galactica commentary has dried up. No, the answer doesn’t have anything to do with Cosmo being held captive in K-Lo’s basement. The simple answer, other than busy-ness, is that the last two episodes have essentially been action episodes. I’m trying to stay economical here and I worry that if I do a lot of posting on that stuff, I will invite wrath from K-Lo and others. But since it’s early Saturday morning, maybe I can get away with some observations, large and small (spoilder warning).

First, thank goodness Admiral Adama shaved that mustache.

Second, it’s odd. Lee Adama’s acting abilities seem to have suffered mightily from the weight gain. Maybe it’s because his wobbliness isn’t really in keeping with his character.

Third, I loved last night’s plot twist with Starbuck’s “daughter.” It seemed to contradict everything we were led to believe about the hybrid baby.

Fourth, the changes for Tighe are all welcome (and good riddance to the missus). I think making him the grizzled death squad guy is a great change for the Andy Sipowicz of BSG.

Fifth, One of the things that still really bothers me — and which is relevant to the debate about New Iraqica — is whether or not the writers really do have a plan for the Cylon’s “plan.” Recall that in the first and second season the Cylons knew exactly what they were doing, or so we were led to believe. The opening sequence of every episode ends with the words “they have a plan” after all.

Well, at the end of last season the Cylons seemed to have thrown out their entire theology and their strategic mission viz a viz the human race. Is the plan still intact? It’s hard to see how. Except, of course, for the obvious human-cylon hybrid plotline. Perhaps the Cylons plan to breed both humans and Cylons out of existence. Or something like that (I have other theories).

One of the appeals of what I may start calling The New TV (wait for a column on that) is that good TV shows have become more akin to very, very, very long movies with character arcs and storylines which stretch across TV seasons and an end goal in mind. “Lost” is one example. NYPD Blue turned Dennis Franz into the Job (as in book of) of primetime TV. Joss Whedon’s work always stuck to a certain plan. The new (problematic) show “The Nine” as well as the sleeper hit “Heroes” fit this mold. And what has recently become on of my favorite shows, “Deadwood” (created by NYPD Blue co-creator David Milch), is clearly one giant movie in X number of parts.

In the begining BSG seemed like the gold standard of this new style. The Cylons had a plan, the humans had a goal (earth!). But what scares me a little is the possibility that the producers have become so enchanted with their “brave” topicality that they’re sacrificing the long arc of BSG to score short-term points. It’s too soon to tell. But one certainly doesn’t get the sense that the events of the last three or four shows were ever part of the producers’ original plan, never mind the cylons’.