Battlestar Galactica - The Eye of Jupiter / Rapture

I FRAKKIN  loved this mid-season two-parter, “The Eye of Jupiter” and “Rapture”, and I think I really needed some solid story-telling and further development of Battlestar Galactica’s “the trip to earth” story arc, even as the temple with the “eye”, the “five cylons with faces never seen”, and “Kara and D’Anna’s destinies” could perhaps stymie sci-fans not so attracted to the more religious aspects of the series. But, at the least, there is a story arc beyond just “humans and Cylons at war”. That alone couldn’t truly sustain a series. To give us something more complex and weighty beyond just the survival of the fleet against a mechanized foe looking to finish what they started can prolong a series past two seasons.

Having secured a food source on the planet (algae, that “smells as good as it tastes”) they had to endure loss of Colonial ships and fine pilots to achieve, the Cylons on Basestars arrive with plans to secure “the eye of Jupiter”, supposedly located on the surface somewhere. Obviously Admiral Adama and President Roslin aren’t just okay with their intrusion. Inexplicably (or perhaps predestined?), Tyrol is “drawn” to the temple, locating it within a cavern. He is tasked with trying to read the hieroglyphics, drawing from his childhood due to having a priest father and frequent discussions about the Gods growing up. Yet Tyrol seems to gradually grasp what the glyphics mean, but time is not on his side. As Apollo and Sam must prepare for a Cylon raid, limited in human bodies and weapons, cut off from Galactica due to Cylon interference, D’Anna persists she must find The Eye of Jupiter, believing The Final Five Cylons are available if she can just get to the temple. Wired for detonation if Tyrol can’t learn where the Eye is and what it entails (it is believed the Eye is a lead to earth), D’Anna and Baltar want to desperately find it. Baltar wants to know if he is a Cylon and D’Anna feels God has chosen her to see The Five. To defy the Cylons, Adama is willing to nuke the location of The Eye instead of them gaining access to it.

I didn’t even include Sharon Agathon and Helo finally learning about Hera, Sharon Boomer spilling the beans to her counterpart (this Sharon responsible for shooting Adama) out of spite, Six Caprica actually coming to the aid of Sharon Agathon (after she convinces Helo to shoot her in order to resurrect) by silencing Boomer with a good neck snap, and Six Caprica actually accompanying Sharon Agathon on a Cylon Raider to Galactica with Hera (nursing a “clogged” intestinal problem) in tow. Yes, this all gets wrapped up nice and conveniently but I think most fans expected the proud grieving parents to get their child back despite the baby being held in Cylon captivity. When D’Anna and Baltar distance themselves from Six Caprica, she feels betrayed and slighted, a love between the three officially disrupted.

This also reunites the Galactica with Baltar, and the tension is definitive. Admiral Adama, holding his resolve despite clearly wanting to wring Baltar’s neck, with Roslin so disgusted by his sight she has to leave the room. And at the end of “Rapture”, Tyrol drops Baltar with a blow to the noggin, bringing him back to Galactica. So we have Baltar returned to his own kind, a prisoner on Galactica, despised for his actions on New Caprica and for his time spent “with the enemy”, without the answer he so desired…D’Anna drops dead before she can tell him if his face was among one of The Five. Particularly interesting, also, is Six Caprica, the Cylon he left behind to go with D’Anna, now a prisoner on Galactica.

There’s plenty of action on the planet while in space a star is about to go nova, eventually creating an incredible Eye in the sky right above the cavernous dwelling of the temple, alerting to Tyrol the prophesy’s “fulfillment”. Indeed, D’Anna and Baltar are there to see the Eye as it is on a floor right as the nova is lighting up the sky, but only D’Anna is given “access” to see The Five. You do have Sam and trained civilians while Dee is tasked by Apollo to locate Starbucks’ Raptor, downed a distance with Cylon “toaster” stationed on the ground. The “firefight” action between Apollo, Sam, and those with them against the toasters on the planet gets plenty of time which I was actually pleasantly surprised to see. The toasters are scattered about, and the special effects for them aren’t that shabby…sure we have come a long way, but they could have been a lot worse. In the cover of the habitat on the planet, those not shot (the “red shirts” bit the dust, of course, as the principles escape unharmed) use what the environment gives them in order to avoid the Cylon ground attack.

My least favorite ongoing developments of Apollo and Starbuck (by this episode they are having an affair) with their spouses, Dee and Sam, undergoing tense relations is picked up in this episode. I’m hoping the hugs at the end indicate that perhaps the affair between Apollo and Starbuck hits a snag. I like the end with Helo confronting Starbuck about her picture drawing of the circle and how it is very similar (almost identical) to the circle at the temple on the planet. This ties in to Leoben’s insistence that Starbuck has a destiny and the picture overtly tells us he was right.

In the first part, it definitely set up some good suspense for the second part as Admiral Adama was prepared to fire four nukes at the temple as Cylon Raiders were heading towards the planet. Good bait as Roslin questions whether or not Adama realizes what that means for his son. And the reactions of Brother Cavill, Leoben, D'Anna (a replica), Six Caprica, and Sharon Boomer on their basestar, trying to determine how to respond...the strategies of both is what I truly enjoy. 

Good to see Stockwell returning as Cavill, the major antagonist among the Cylon "leadership counsel", totally vocally in support of annihilating the human race. He even informs D'Anna (once she resurrects after her spiritual experience on the planet, meeting The Five) that she is to be "put in cold storage", subjecting her to their form of abandonment in confinement. [4.5/5]