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]
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