Battlestar Galactica Reviews: Rapture (Episode 3.11)

Reviews:
Episode Name: Rapture
Episode Number: 311
Written by: David Weddle & Bradley Thompson
Directed by: Michael Rymer
Original Air Date: 1/21/07 on SciFi Channel
Review Posted: 1/27/07

Synopsis:

In the conclusion to the mid-season cliffhanger, the Cylons avert Adama's nuking of the planet. Athena forces Helo into drastic measures so that she can get Hera back. Lee and Anders along with Kara and Dee spend some "quality" time together. The star goes nova. Tyrol figures out where the Eye of Jupiter is, but not before Baltar and Caprica beat him to it. D'Anna meets the Final Five Cylons and then dies leaving Baltar with his questions unanswered. Lastly, the fleet's population is increased by three, but none of them are ensured of surviving for long: Hera (sick), Baltar (traitor worthy of airlocking) and Caprica Six (THE Cylon who infiltrated the defense mainframe allowing the Cylon attacks).

Here's how it happened broken down by the story breaks:
- Teaser & Act 1
- Act 2 & Act 3
- Act 4

Summing It All Up:
All in all, the episode delivered as a more than suitable conclusion to the mid-season cliffhanger. It was full of action, but really didn't answer too many questions. We got another bread crumb on the path to Earth, but that can be kept up indefinitely by trotting out new prophesies or mythology. We actually don't even know what the temple purpose was, unless it was to be a gateway to the Final Five and Number Three wasn't the one who was supposed to pay a visit, but rather Baltar as his Inner Six suggested. Baltar didn't get any answers about his possibly being a Cylon, unless Number Three's cryptic "You were right" counts. The nova actually served to split up the Cylons and the fleet so the chase can continue.

The tease of a clue to Earth was "solved" in that briefing scene. Pulling together the nova, a previous nova and previously unspoken prophesies to produce a possible navigation bearing was a stretch. However, it did serve to lead Helo to pay a visit to Kara, who has now remembered what she was told about having a destiny. Hopefully, this is a sign that Kara's story will finally begin to shift away from the all-consuming relationship soap opera.

The Number Three arc was brought to an end with a single clue ("You. Forgive me. I ... I had no idea.") concerning the identity of the Final Five. Our guess is that originally only D'Anna might have been boxed, but with Lucy Lawless insisting on a limited run, the entire model had to be written out so their absence wouldn't be a big plot hole when the models all gather together. The single scene on the bridge of the basestar did an adequate job of achieving this. Even so, the boxing does leave open the possibility of a return, which we are rooting for since Lucy Lawless did a great job in her role. The boxing of the entire model also creates new dynamics within the Cylon race since there now can be an even split between the remaining six models.

We can't end the review without a comment on the SciFi Channel promo for the next episode that followed the original airing. The promo could have been made for a soap opera, or better yet, maybe they think they are drawing in the same crowd that watches Desperate Housewives. Unlike the Canadian promo, there is no sign of Baltar, who has a storyline in the episode as well. After a great episode where a lot of pieces were moved around, having a promo that indicates nothing but a return to the soap opera of Lee, Dee, Kara and Anders was a MAJOR turn-off.

Continue to Teaser and Act 1

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