Battlestar Galactica "Rapture" TV episode Written by David Weddle & Bradley Thompson Directed by Michael Rymer Original air date: January 21, 2007

The humans and Cylons race to decipher the clue of the Eye of Jupiter, pointing the way to Earth.

Read the summary of the episode at the Battlestar Wiki site

Didja Know?

The opening titles show the fleet population at 41,401, down one from the previous episode "The Eye of Jupiter". I guess this total must be taking the death of Sergeant Fisher in Act 1 of this episode (even though deaths in an episode are usually not tallied until the start of the next one). The next episode, "Taking a Break From All Your Worries" begins at population count of 41,403, up two, presumably to account for the addition of Hera and Baltar in our current episode, though marine Hillard also dies near the end of our current episode, so the next episode's population count should be one less, 41,402 (unless, of course, there was a birth in the fleet to offset Hillard's death).

Admiral Adama

President Roslin

Lt. Gaeta

Colonel Tigh

Number Two

Number Three

Caprica Six

Number One

Boomer

Sergeant Mathias

Apollo

Sam Anders

Starbuck

Private Sykes

Dee

Sergeant Fisher (dies in this episode)

Athena

Helo

Hera

Chief Tyrol

Cally

Baltar

the Hybrid (mentioned only)

Hillard (dies in this episode)

Jean Barolay

Lt. Hoshi

Didja Notice?

At 13:04 on the Blu-ray, Apollo refers to Cylon Centurions as "chrome jobs". At 17:14, he calls them clankers.

After she and Fisher are shot at by Cylon Centurions, at 13:58 on the Blu-ray, Dee reaches for her rifle sitting on the ridge, but pulls her hand away as more gunfire strikes around the rifle and she flees without the weapon. But she could easily have recovered the rifle simply by yanking on the rifle's shoulder strap which was resting against the slope of the ridge where the Cylon gunfire couldn't reach it! I guess you'd have to chalk the mistake up to panic and fear on her part.

On the algae planet, Apollo and his team carry Heckler & Koch MP7A1 submachine guns with an ELCAN optical sight (at 17:55 the ELCAN logo is visible on Anders' sight!).

The case of syringes that Starbuck opens at 20:19 on the Blu-ray is labeled as morpha. This has been previously seen in the series as a drug very similar to our own painkiller, morphine.

Boomer states in this episode that she is done with that part of her life when she cared about Tyrol and Adama, saying, "I learned that on New Caprica. Humans and Cylons, we're not meant to be together. We should just go our separate ways." Subsequent episodes seem to show that she has, indeed, fully embraced the Cylon side.

As Boomer is refusing to allow Hera to be taken back to Galactica to be treated for her condition by a human doctor, she says angrily to the baby, "Maybe it'd be better for you if I just snapped your little neck!" Caprica Six hears this and it helps to convince her that Hera must be sent back to the human fleet and she kills Boomer (temporarily, of course). Caprica Six had previously snapped the neck of a human baby on Caprica in "Humanity's Children".

At 32:59 on the Blu-ray, Number Three seems to recognize the face of one of the Final Five in her vision, saying, "You...forgive me I...I had no idea." It's not revealed here nor in any later episode whose face she saw. The D'anna Biers version of Number Three must have been familiar with all of the Final Five in their human identities at this point, as they were all significant members of the human fleet during her time as a reporter their before the colonization of New Caprica. (Show runner Ron Moore has reportedly said much later that the figure Number Three saw was Ellen Tigh.)

Here, the Final Five are dressed in white robes with hoods, reminiscent of the Beings of Light from BSG70 (and as seen in Number Three's prophetic sketches in "The Passage").

The mandala in the Temple of Five on the algae planet reveals itself to be the Eye of Jupiter, a foretelling of the local sun going nova, which itself resembles the gaseous remains of another nova 13 light years away called the Ionian Nebula, the next sign post on the road to Earth.

The cigar box holding Starbuck's old photographs is the same one seen in her apartment on Caprica in flashback in "Valley of Darkness".

Helo points out to Starbuck that the mandala found in the temple is very similar to the image she once painted on the wall of her old apartment on Caprica. She is unable to explain how the two could be such a close match, but she tells him the image is something she's been doodling since she was a kid.

At the end of this episode, the decision is made by the rest of the known Cylons to box all the Number Three models due to their erratic actions in regards to learning about the Final Five and the face of God.

Notes from the audio commentary by Ron Moore on the Blu-ray release

Ron Moore says the mandala image in the temple came from the painting actress Katee Sackhoff did on the wall of Starbuck's apartment back during the production of "Valley of Darkness".