QFL. QFT -- I would just like to say, I called it. Yeah, this seemed inconsistent to me as well. It's been done -- it was called "Bambi vs. Godzilla".
I'm with postjack -- the ending didn't suck. It was sufficiently open-ended to live up to the premise of the show, and sufficiently wrapping up that I didn't really feel there were too many loose ends. There were decisions I did not like -- I hated Baltar from the beginning, and I agree that in my mind, he gets eaten by a lion like 3 days after the last time you see him alive.
I have no idea what Starbuck is supposed to be -- a ghost with corporeal form? WTF? Oh, wait, I just remembered something. And this is funny, because I didn't pick it up when the President of the Colonies was smoking pot with the Admiral of the Fleet, I picked it up when they were abandoning Galactica, and amongst the extras a guy with a bongo drum walks by. This is a show by hippies, about hippies, for hippies. So yeah, there's going to be some mind-expanding philosophical horseshit.
Never did like that part, never will. Starbuck should have gotten together with Apollo, and fucked his brains out, they both deserve a little happiness as well. The only thing missing was the CGI fairy dust glow upon her disappearance. OH PLEASE.
But the whole thing about the cylons vs. humans, Galactica coming in right in front of the armature, guns blazing, Boomer giving one back to Adama when she owed him one, and then getting hers anyway; Chief strangling what's-her-name when he found out she killed Callie, ruining any chance of finishing the transmission, the stray nuke -- all of that wasn't climactic enough for you people? Jesus, what the hell do you want, blood? That (a) fucking rocked, ( was certainly climactic enough for me, and © certainly wrapped up a great many loose ends.
Also, the whole thing about Baltar's purpose being to delivering the child to the CIC, "that's it?!?!?" -- that was awesome. Better than killing him.
EDIT: I'm only just now going through this whole thread, so I'll just keep appending to this post, rather than multi-part respond.
EDIT: okay, I'm done.