Battlestar Galactica Recap: “Rapture”

Title: “Rapture”
Original Airdate: January 21, 2007

Previously, the Fleet decided to get some algae to go, but the nearby star is on the verge of nova. The Cylons show up to the party. Starbuck goes down and Athena finds out the truth about Hera. Adama threatens to nuke the planet if the Cylons so much as sneeze in that direction. D’Anna is determined to see the final five Cylons.

Adama goes through the entire motion of getting nukes ready to launch. All of the Cylons agree to turn around their Raiders. Except for the one carrying D’Anna and Baltar. The Cylons don’t like her maverick style and start to discuss their options. On the surface, Baltar musters some religious babble to encourage D’Anna, proving he can fluff his way through any conversation if it means getting his way.

Anders and Apollo are still sweaty and dirty and I’d like to personally thank Ronald D. Moore for that. Apollo orders Dualla to go after Kara. Oh, Apollo, you’re so far in the dog house even the fleas feel betrayed.

Athena and Helo discuss their options of getting Hera back. But Athena insists on the only way. Helo can’t stand the thought, but Athena talks him into shooting her. He kills his Cylon wife, so she can download and rescue their kid.

41,401. Adama and Roslin confront Helo as they carry off Athena’s body. Maybe her new body will come with a build in camera/phone/mp3 player. Just a little toaster joke for you. Adama doesn’t believe Athena would willingly betray the Fleet, but she could by accident. Helo’s not in the mood for Roslin’s lecture and flips the blame to her lies and cover-up.

Athena downloads and is greeted by Caprica Six. Hera can recognize her mother over Boomer. Boomer’s a little bitter about that and about her former life that Athena’s now living. Hera needs to see a human doctor. Boomer starts to kill the baby when Caprica Six sucker punches her to the floor and then snaps her neck. They grab the baby and run out.

Apollo’s orders are to hold the Centurions back until the Chief can figure out what the Eye of Jupiter is exactly. They decide to take control of a narrow pass to ambush them. As the Toasters creep through the pass, Anders chucks a grenade. A gunfight erupts and a dayplayer is killed. A second gun battle kills another, so Apollo orders the fall back. He tells the Chief to blow the temple.

Kara’s gloves are melted onto her hands. NASTY. I’m not easily grossed out but this is the most disgusting I’ve seen on tv in a while. Dee finds her and gives her some morphine for the pain. “I’m going to bring Starbuck back to Apollo”, Dee says, breaking my heart a little. Dee’s a cool cucumber under pressure but she’s not hiding her deserved bitterness. Kara tries to tell her that Apollo won’t cheat. In the middle of her heart to heart, Kara starts to lose consciousness, so Dee slaps her. Hee.

Right as the Chief is about to blow the temple, D’Anna, Baltar and Cavil arrive. They diffuse the explosives. The nearby star begins its nova destruction. D’Anna steps into the Eye and receives a vision. She sees the Final Five and even recognizes one of them. Baltar pulls her out. She tries to revel in her profound religious experience and all Baltar can say is “What about me?” He’s so narcissistic, I actually find him hilarious for the first time. The Chief answers him with a gun whip to the head.

The star goes nova and everyone gets out in time. They haul Baltar to the brig. Helo, Athena and Hera run off to their quarters, as Caprica Six, who stowed along, also gets taken into custody. Anders runs to greet his wife in a great embrace. Apollo just stares and then remembers Dee, so he goes to hug her. But he’s sure to catch Kara’s eye from afar.

Gaeta and the scoobies decide the Nova was the Eye. Helo grabs a photo from the temple and goes to talk to Starbuck. He asks if she has pictures from her old apartment on Caprica. A painting of hers is identical to the marking in the Temple. Kara’s not excited about her destiny that has been written.

D’Anna downloads and is greeted by Cavil. He informs her that she’s being boxed- put in permanent cold storage. See ya Xena.

Jo works a boring job in a small Texas town and reserves the right to spell it “ya’ll”. One day she’ll be a novelist, but until then you can read her sarcastic thoughts about TV at http://brickstorm.blogspot.com.