Battlestar Galactica Cast
© Sci Fi Channel

Mania Grade: B
Stars: Mary McDonnell, Edward James Olmos

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"Battlestar Galactica: Rapture"

Before I dig into what happened in the spring premiere I have to comment on the poor ad campaign running for the series.  The ads are like a schmaltzy Smallville rip off with some horrible pop balad that just makes the series appear flaccid and shallow.  These terrible ads just don’t do the series justice and that pop song is atrocious.  Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, let’s take a look at the spring premiere. 

When last we saw the crew of BSG, they were embroiled in a standoff with the Cylons over the Eye of Jupiter, an artifact that apparently has something to do with the way to Earth.  A few soldiers and several civilians are trapped down on a planet where they were harvesting algae that could be processed into food when the Chief found the temple that according to ancient religious text was to house the Eye of Jupiter.  Lee Adama, Starbuck, Sam, and Dee, were ordered to protect the temple as long as they could from a Cylon invasion while Chief and his crew searched for the Eye.  Meanwhile in orbit, Galactica was facing a standoff with the Cylons, if the Cylons sent ships to the planet’s surface Galactica would launch nukes destroying the temple and anything else on the surface of the planet. The Cylons did launch some ships and Adama prepared to launch his nukes.  On the planet, the Cylons had already sent an advanced force down on the planet and they shot Starbuck’s ship down and were moving in for the attack.  Oh, did I mention that all of this was happening in the shadow of a star that could go nova at any time destroying any nearby ships and ravaging the planet? 

The writers packed a ton of story into this one little episode and a few scenes do suffer for it but overall this was another exhilarating episode of BSG.  In order to keep Sam leading his people into battle on the planet’s surface Lee decides to send Dee and her red shirt partner on a mission to save Starbuck.  There’s very little cover between Dee and Starbuck’s crashed ship and right away Dee’s backup is killed.  She is shocked and hurt that her husband, Lee, would put her life on the line to save Starbuck but she does as she is ordered.  Meanwhile, Lee and Sam lead the few soldiers and the civilians into a plan to stop, or at least slow down the Cylons to give Chief time to find the eye.  With the battle not going well, Lee orders the destruction of the temple, so Chief and his people finish setting up the explosives and leave the temple. 

The Cylons had sent a group of ships headed for the surface of the planet and in response Galactica prepped its nukes.  The Cylons voted and outnumbered 3 and decided to pull the ships back.  She only partially complied by pulling back all of the ships but one, the one carrying D’Anna and Baltar.  Inside the temple, D’Anna is able to see the final five Cylons and she recognizes one of them before dying in Baltar’s arms.  When Chief realizes something is wrong and the bombs don’t go off they, along with Lee, re-enter the temple only to find Baltar and arrest him. 

While all of this is happening Sharon and Helo are still reeling from the news that their child is still alive and on the nearby base ship.  After some convincing, Helo agrees to shoot Sharon allowing her to be reborn on the base ship where she can retrieve her daughter.  On the ship, she’s met by Caprica who helps her get her daughter off the ship, believing that the baby is the future of the Cylon race and that she should survive at any cost. 

In the closing moments of the episode the star goes nova and all the ships just magically reappear on Galactica.  There are some scenes of the world getting pummeled by the exploding star but everything happens quick, easy, and clean.  Adama commands the rescue mission be launched and we cut to everyone exiting their ships on the hangar bay.  Starbuck and Dee, the people down on the planet, and Caprica and Sharon all land on Galactica.  These stories tie up way too easily for me.  It felt like we might be into a new story arc with Sharon on board the base ship, but no she and Caprica get away no problem.  While I’m complaining let me just say that the Dee/Lee Starbuck/Sam story arc is getting tiresome and for me it’s dragging the pace of the series down a bit.  They need to get this story over with ASAP.  There is light at the end of the tunnel because it looks as though a new story arc is kicking in for Starbuck when Helo discovers that Starbuck had painted an image back in her apartment on Caprica that matched an image from the temple.  Is she a religious prophet or a Cylon?  Who knows, but it’s sure to be interesting to find out.  She needs a deeper storyline to give her character more dimension and the writers seem to be right on top of it here. 

The creators recently revealed that they have no problem and in fact enjoy turning the series upside down and that we should buckle up for a wild ride and that we can expect to see main characters die.  Funny, I read that just before watching this episode only to see the number 3 line get “boxed” as it were.  When D’Anna is reborn with the knowledge of what the final 5 look like she is shut down and locked away.  This knowledge is one of the central themes to the story so we probably won’t be seeing Lucy Lawless again for quite a long time. 

Even with my complaints this episode of BSG offers up some great action in the form of the gunfights on the planet and solid drama between Sharon and Helo.  One of the better scenes in the episode is when Helo tells the President that he wouldn’t have had to shoot Sharon and put her, their baby, and the lives of every human in the colony in danger had she not lied to them and taken their baby.  The statement takes the President aback, and the second of silence before she replies to him speaks volumes.  Now we not only have Baltar back on Galactica but we have Caprica too.  Will Adama remember his previous encounter with a number 6?  This episode asks a lot of new questions and sets the stage for some fascinating storytelling.  Not the best episode of the series but still better than just about anything else on television.