I am excited for the return of Battlestar Galactica next Friday, despite a rather ho-hum season 3. I am told that the writers recognize that their project to do more standalone episodes did not work with the show’s story and characters. Consequently, I am hoping that we see a return to the broad story-arcs of seasons 1 and 2.
Michael Heilemann of Binary Bonsai reminded me of this excellent moment from season 3:
I don’t think the standalone episodes were that bad. There was so much focus on the Starbuck-Anders-Lee-Dee conflict, that it was good to get back to seeing the Chief and Helo, who are the “heart” of the crew, and back to the ordinary people in the fleet. Ron Moore had planned on a broad arc involving Sagittaron discrimination, but all that material was cut, so that’s why those episodes became standalone.