Two points:
I thought Sean’s analysis about life before the Fall and after was interesting. However, I think for a number of the people we actually saw that their inner/emotional lives had improved since the Cylon attack. In particular I’m thinking about Lee, Bill and Laura. Each was either living a) the life they didn’t want, b) becoming rudderless because their job/mission was being pulled out from under them, c) saddled by the difficult loss of loved ones. In each case, they have become more comfortable with themselves and taken on their natural roles as leaders. It could also be argued that Caprica 6 and maybe even Starbuck have grown since their prior lives before the Fall. The only that hasn’t is Baltar, and its interesting that he is the only one to not volunteer (step across the line) for thei final mission.
The second point is that the fountain that Laura takes her cathartic bath in looks to be the same fountain where she met with the leader of the teacher’s union and saw Baltar and Caprica 6 together. On a practical level it could be the same location because that site of UBC has become such our basic view of Caprica. But on a more cinematic note its interesting that at the same fountain where she was able to grieve for her lost loved ones, she also chose to meet with the union rep to persuade him to hold off the strike. Remember that Adar wanted the strike to occur so he could crush the union despite the fact that a confrontation would had lead to the loss of life. I assume Laura would be reminded at how painful such a loss is at the fountain and thus worked that much harder to avoid the strike. Interestingly, disappointing Adar was her last official act prior to being sent off as the government representative to the decommissioning of Galacatica.
