Best of the 00s: Odds and Ends

Okay, so this has gotten a little out of hand, and obviously is going to have to bleed over into the new year. I'm sure you don't care, but: I forgive myself for being completely unable to adhere to any sort of posting timetable. Cue the last minute and a half of "A Quick One While He's Away."

I think this is probably my favorite individual television scene of the decade - this was the first new episode I watched after catching up on the show, and after purchasing it on iTunes, I kept returning to this scene and watching it over again. The third season of Battlestar Galactica was wildly uneven quality-wise, but it contains some of my favorite episodes and moments of the entire series. I was sort of baffled by the people who criticized BSG for getting too religious in the final season - from the very beginning, the show featured its characters attempting to explain and contend with circumstances beyond their control in a manner that always seemed to be at least partially rooted in religious faith (not to mention the LDS-referencing touches left over from Glen Larson's original series.) This scene highlights that sense of faith, viewed through the prism of the show's unique mythology. I don't know that the decade in television had any other couple put through the grinder quite like Helo and Athena, but Tahmoh Penikett and Grace Park's ability in playing the highs and lows made them one of my favorite things about a very good show.