What Would Joss Do?

***SPOILER ALERT. If you avoid Battlestar Galactica spoilers, and haven't yet seen the Season 3 finale, stop reading.***

Ronald D. Moore, the executive producer of Galactica (also a writer/producer on two more of my faves The Next Generation and Carnivale), disappointed me a bit recently. I'm not sure if it was in an interview or on his podcast, but he explained the process by which the season cliffhanger was developed. Four of the final five Cylons were revealed to be major characters, and RDM explained that this was a end-of-season decision made in the writers' room.

I may be naive, but I was distraught to find out that a major plot twist like this wasn't in the overall series outline. Moore has said multiple times that he has all three acts of the entire story arc already plotted out. Why, then, is he telling us that he and his writers assigned this earth shattering identity to major characters without some major premeditation?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not upset that these four people ARE Cylons. I can't wait until next season -- which we're all forced to wait until January for. I LOVE the show, and the direction I hope it's going. They've got me.

What disappoints me is that in such a great example of serial TV, this is just thrown in by the writers. WTF?? I had an idea of RDM sketching the entire 4 or 5 seasons out at the get-go, with his writing staff trusted to flesh out the hows and whys.

Of course, I could be way off base, and trusting him way too much here. RDM has a history of misleading his audience. Did I say misleading? I meant lying to. Two words - Serene Starbuck. Two more - She Lives.

This entire episode reminds me a bit of a story SLY B tells about the times she's met authors that she admires.

I'll take two things away from this: 1: I shouldn't listen to RDM's podcast. Hero-worship really doesn't suit me; and 2: Joss would never do us like this.