"Yea!" for asskickery. Yes, I'd like to see her get back to being a badass.
...And Baltar needs to get his act together, too. I liked him when he was just smarmy and cowardly. Not so much into the whole religious, smarmy and cowardly thing he's doing now.

Personally, I have always thought that Starbuck was one of the weakest "reimagined" character overall. The character has always been portrayed as being not the most stable character on the show.

Baltar, on the other hand, has reached a "tune in to see just what the hell he is going to do next" level that keeps me coming back.

Overall, I am really going to miss the show after this final season, but at the same time I kind of want off the roller coaster before I barf.

I still think Starbuck is the "13th" Cylony/Earthy thingy that is yet to be revealed.

Still one more out there, but she is the one from the 13th colony that went to Earth long ago.

kind of like the little girl in "Waterworld" who had the tattoo on her back...ugh, I hope not.

I'm not thrilled by post-dead Starbuck's arc either, but I totally buy into the self-sabotaging, self-destruction angle of it. Thinking back objectively, the most ass she's kicked over the course of the entire series has been her own... usually right before she'd shoot her own foot off.

What would really turn this show around is if we get the old Starbuck back and then she beats the shit out of Baltar.

WHAT IS WITH THE SPOILERS IN THE HEADLINES NOW? SO STARBUCK IS STILL ALIVE IN SEASON FOUR? THANKS, IO9, I HAVEN'T WATCHED THAT FAR YET.

I'm kind of hoping you were making a plea to bring Dirk Benedict back to the show in some form. How awesome would it be if they land on earth or something and he's standing there to greet the other Starbuck.

@moff: There was a writers strike, and like a billion years before the show came back. You suck at TV.

@moff: "WHAT IS WITH THE SPOILERS IN THE HEADLINES NOW? SO STARBUCK IS STILL ALIVE IN SEASON FOUR? THANKS, IO9, I HAVEN'T WATCHED THAT FAR YET."

Please tell me you're kidding - just because you're way behind on the show doesn't mean everyone else should discuss it in hushes and whispers.

Does anyone else think that the BSG writers could have come up with a better name than "Heavy Raider"?

@InfiniTrent: If I had to tell you I was kidding, that would be a total insult to your intelligence, but I can if you really want me to.

@Log1c: I'm often a deliberately late adopter! But it keeps me from wasting my time on stuff that other people have figured out isn't any good.

@moff: Nicely played.

@moff: Fair enough, but you should stay away from RAMPANT FANS who eat up all spoiler info.

Didn't she hate all Cylons a few episodes ago? So much so that she told her waste-of-script-pages husband that she'd kill him if she thought he was one? And now she wants to team up with them?

@Rasselas: She doesn't just want to team up with them. She wants to PAINT with them. And DANCE with them. And keep them all cozy in her cabin.

@moff: OMG

Starbuck is no more. This is Kara Thrace, and I like that she has a mission that is all hers, that is so personal. The only other time she felt this strongly about a mission was when she insisted on going back to New Caprica to collect Anders. For far too long we saw this detached, soldier-just-following-orders Starbuck. I don't care if her character is off, because this is good-bye season anyway. I knew the end wouldn't be pretty.

@Log1c: You better not tell me who else is still alive in Season Four. Because until I watch the episodes myself, I'm assuming everyone else is dead.

@moff: Hah no, I'm not a dick, but Harry Potter comes back.

@Log1c: Harry who? I haven't even heard of that show.

@moff: adopt late, pay consequences. start watching every week like the rest of us.

@moff: What, like the end of Hamlet where everybody dies?

@Annalee Newitz:
Holy cats. Starbuck is turning into River Tam....that's gotta be it.

@Bruce_A: Stop! I'm halfway through Act IV! I'm just going to assume you're fucking with me.

@Annalee Newitz: And hug them and squeeze them and call them "George."

@Miranda Kali: I was thinking Rory Gilmore.

I resent the term Baltarization. Same old Gaiusism we typically see on IO9. I for one support hanging out en masse with promiscuous 20 year olds.

@InfiniTrent: Am I mistaken, or didn't she come back at the end of S3 anyway?

@moff: "If I had to tell you I was kidding, that would be a total insult to your intelligence, but I can if you really want me to."

I've seen so many comments like yours that I was honestly concerned that you were serious. Thank goodness you're not!

I'm also known to be gullible, and for that reason, I own a three legged horse named Gullible, and a nice bridge in Brooklyn.

@InfiniTrent: Hmmm. Y'know, I need someone to help me move a large sum of money from my homeland in Nigeria, and you might be just the person. I could make it worth your while... ;-)

I too thought this was going to be a plea
for the return of Dirk Benedict.

How disappointing.

@augie1: That is probably the best decision he has ever made. In fact, its probably the best decision any of us would ever make...

@moff: LOL, it was almost good enough to be confused with the real thing :D

@augie1: Yup, she did.

@moff: "mmm. Y'know, I need someone to help me move a large sum of money from my homeland in Nigeria, and you might be just the person. I could make it worth your while... ;-)"

I'm listening!

GUYS WTF STOP PUTTING SPOILERS IN HEADLINES!!! I HAD NO IDEA THEY REMADE BATTLESTAR GALACTICA AND STARBUCK'S A GIRL THANKS FOR RUINING IT JERKS!!!

yeah, starbuck is a little off right now, the painting with leoben was just kinda silly. that said, i'll take loony starbuck any day over paranoid self righteous roslin.

@extracrispy: Ha! She's not that annoying yet...but really borderline.

@Jesse Mrozowski
@bluebottle

You must not have seen the "Channeling Dirk Bennedict" moment in the opening of episode 1 of this season. Where our current Starbuck channeled the body language of the original Starbuck for a few seconds...

It was kinda scary yet beautiful at the same time.

@moff: Please note the following rules of spoilage:

[www.wired.com]

None of the characters have remained static, and most of them are weak-a$$, sentimental mothafrakkas even about the people (or whateva) who frakked them up.

I think the whole series was designed to frak with our heads, and to set up the next wave of viral marketing. "This is all it takes, folks! They'll eat from your hands!"

I think she turned out WACKY because she made it to EARTH and was forced to work in that old Battlestar Galactica Universal Studios Tour.

While I'm usually a proponent of "man-love" (a.k.a. adorable displays of man-to-man emotion) the hand-holding scene with Baltar and Chief was a little too sickly sweet.

Starbuck needs her edge back, but I'm ready to forgive her.

@steven522: You mean a tune in just to see WHO he's going to do next level don't you?

I bet Baltar and Adama have a go at it one of these days.

@moff: Yeah, dude, you seriously need to tone down these rants of yours.

Just because YOU haven't been keeping up, and are jumping the BSG bandwagon late doesn't mean the rest of the world needs to keep its mouth shut.

As for the old Starbuck, I'd agree: Dirk Benedict would be a welcome addition to my fleet.

@darcymcgee: Add me to that list too.

What!! Darth Vader is the muthaukin father of Luke,...no way!

Oh, and I actually like the arc of Starbuck even if the last episode was the weakest so far.

I see at least one other switch with her as we get nearer to Earth.

@InfiniTrent: Ha ha Heavy Raider. Sounds like a euphemism for menstruation.

Dude, I read "Bring Back The Old Starbuck" and thought this was gonna be about Benedict.

I WAS SOOOO CONFUUUUSSED.

Wait. Where am I again?

@ShreikNChips:

And Darth Vader did NOT have a father!

You're right! Dynamic characters suck! Yay, stagnation!

Several things about this episode were irritating....first she starts giving insane orders, leaving Helo no choice but to relieve her, then the minute that goes wrong and Sam shot Gaeta she suddenly starts being sensible again and comes up with a plan that was workable, if risky. Then of course they bring along Racetrack so she can mouth off to every Cylon she sees, including Athena, until one of them kills her. And what is with Athena going off on the other eights when they came to her and basically admitted she had been right all along?

@Rasselas: Waste-of-Script-Pages husband, indeed. I am a bit tired of seeing his lame arse around.Sure wish he'd do something interesting and cylon-y soon. But apparently Starbuck's still cool with the ever-fashionable "settle for using him for an angry quickie and then giving him sqwinty eyes until he leaves" move. Sigh.. Sorry.. Rant. Mutter Mutter.

Best part of the episode was the red-shirt homage. Let's go on a dangerous away mission to a basestar, Starbuck, Athena, Anders, annnd someone we've never seen before. I was grinning the moment she signed up.

To those who hate on Anders: he doesn't need to say anything. It's those cutaways to see his facial expression that makes his character interesting, like when he wanted to touch the command console. Ahhh dramatic irony.

@Signal: After watching it again, I remembered who that was...it wasn't Racetrack, but one of Sam's "resistance" buddies from both Caprica and New Caprica. She was the one who told the Cavil that got gutshot at the botched mass execution on New Caprica to have a nice trip to "Download City". Pretty much the last person you would want to take with you on a mission to bury the hatchet with a bitter enemy.

@Tibeerius: The 8s were asking Athena for help to stop the 6s. It seems that the 8s were not so sure they picked the right side in the civil war, and maybe having second thoughts. Athena just told them to pick a side and stick with it.