The Eye of Jupiter

For the artifact contained within The Temple of Five, see: Eye of Jupiter.

"The Eye of Jupiter" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No.	Season 3, Episode 11
Writer(s)	Mark Verheiden
Story by
Director	Michael Rymer
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.
Nielsen Rating
US airdate	December 15, 2006
CAN airdate	{{{CAN airdate}}}
UK airdate
DVD release
Population	41,402 survivors
Additional Info
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
The Passage	The Eye of Jupiter	Rapture
Related Information
Official Summary
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Listing of props for this episode
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Overview

The Fleet makes a stop at a planet and discovers the location of a religious artifact that may further lead the way to Earth—for both the Colonials and the Cylons.

Summary

• The Fleet is mending its wounds from its passage to the algae planet. The harvest proceeds well and is into its 14th day, and appears to be closing up shop.
• Starbuck flies from Galactica to the harvest camp in a Raptor, intentionally creating more noise than usual. Lee Adama is managing the harvest operations with his wife, Anastasia Dualla.
• When Major Adama leaves to greet Kara Thrace, Dualla's face barely hides her disappointment and frustration at Adama's hasty departure.
• Major Adama greets Thrace with an admonishment of her piloting, but his comments are very brief; the two pilots embrace and passionately kiss.
• Adama wants he and Thrace to stop hiding their feelings and divorce their respective spouses. Thrace reminds him that marriage in the eyes of the gods is a sacrament; she has made a vow she will not break. Adama reminds her that their repeated secret encounters would be frowned on by the gods as well. Adama becomes frustrated, Thrace holds her position, and the two are left trapped in their feelings.
• On a basestar, the little human/Cylon hybrid, Hera, is crying and is not well. Gaius Baltar is awakened by her cries and visits the child, who is attended by the Number Eight known once as Sharon Valerii.
• Galen Tyrol is part of the harvest team. He is repeatedly distracted by something which apparently only he can sense, and keeps looking out towards the unexplored hills beyond the harvest site. Samuel Anders, also working on the harvest, comments that the algae harvest tastes as badly as it smells. Tyrol jokes that the algae is "breakfast, lunch and dinner until we can find a hot-fudge planet."
• After sensing something strange one time too many, Tyrol leaves the harvest camp and begins a trek to a mountainous area. He discovers a door--not a naturally-carved one, but a rectangular door, apparently constructed by human hands.
• Tyrol enters the door and walks through a passageway into an immensely large domed room, carved from within the mountain. In the center of the room is a center spire that reaches high into the structure. The spire is surrounded by five pentagonal obelisks. The center spire has ancient tribal carvings at the bottom, as well as illuminated crystalline pillars atop it. Tyrol, the son of a priest and an oracle, has a fair idea of what he has discovered: The Temple of Five.
• Laura Roslin discusses what she knows with Tyrol over wireless about this special temple as it is told in the Sacred Scrolls in Admiral William Adama's quarters. But before they can digest the information further, they are alerted to four basestars that jump into orbit of the planet and move towards the Fleet.
• Admiral Adama orders the civilian Fleet to escape to emergency jump coordinates, but leaves Galactica behind; Adama does not want to repeat the situation on New Caprica, where he retreated with the remains of the Fleet and abandoned the colonists there. Adama chooses to stay to protect his harvest team until they can escape. He and Roslin also agree that, if the Temple of Five has a marker to Earth, they must not let the Cylons take it.
• However, very uncharacteristically, the Cylons do not attack. In fact, they request communications with Adama. The voice that Adama hears is not a welcome one: It is Gaius Baltar's.
• The Cylons request a meeting on Galactica to discuss the Eye of Jupiter. The Number Three copy that Baltar calls D'Anna, a copy of Cavil, Baltar, and the Number Eight copy once known as Sharon Valerii board the battlestar under heavy marine guard.
• The virtual Number Six in Baltar's mind warns him that, while he may feel like he has returned home, he cannot stay: The Colonials would "toss (him) into an airlock and have a party."
• On the way to the meeting, Sharon Agathon recognizes the Eight copy as the former "Boomer" Valerii. Colonel Saul Tigh denies her entry into the meeting. The two Eights are left outside the doorway, facing each other with mutual looks of contempt.
• The two sides meet. Baltar attempts to take the initiative in an attempt to serve as a mediator, but this infuriates Roslin that she leaves the meeting. Adama receives the Cylon's terms: Leave peacefully so that they can gather the Eye of Jupiter, and they will not attack. Cavil adds the surrender of Baltar to the terms as well, to the former president's and Three's shock.
• Boomer-Eight tells Sharon Agathon that Hera is alive, but unwell, on their basestar. Agathon refuses to believe her.
• Admiral Adama is not amused. He warns that Galactica will destroy the planet's treasures with his nuclear arsenal should the Cylons attempt to land on the planet. The two sides depart in a state of détente.
• Admiral Adama manages to get an order to his son of the situation and to destroy the site if the Cylons invade before the Cylons jam all wireless communications.
• Major Adama instructs Samuel Anders to organize fireteams to defend against a probable Cylon incursion. Anders, also realizing what Adama has been doing with Thrace, is very angry and initially refuses to oblige until Thrace asks him to comply.
• Cally and Galen Tyrol speak in the temple. He tells her of how he was annoyed at his parents and their worship. Cally Tyrol sees reverence on his face, despite his general mood of disbelief.
• Lieutenant Felix Gaeta has conducted some scans of the star system of the algae planet. He warns that the sun of this system is in danger of becoming a supernova very soon. Gaeta, who normally is as secular as his commander, finds it very strange how the Cylons and Colonials arrive at this one place at this time just before the planet's imminent destruction. Adama notes that the "higher powers" at work appear to have a strange sense of humor.
• The basestar command, with Caprica-Six and Baltar in attendance, discuss their plan to get the Eye. Cavil feels that annilihation of Galactica is the best option with the standoff (given that they are machines that can wait out humanity for years and find Earth eventually).
• D'Anna, without consulting the other Cylons, has solely initiated the jamming of Colonial communications, and has already sent a Heavy Raider with a squad of Centurions to the planet as the basestar fleet jumped in, successfully avoiding Colonial detection. This action infuriates the others, particularly Caprica-Six.
• D'Anna notes that, as soon as the Centurions recover the Eye, the other Cylons can destroy Galactica.
• The Colonials, with Anders at the lead, plan out their defense on the planet. One team will manage ammunition distribution, another team will create tylium mines.
• As the harvest team-turned-point defense teams leave the tent, Major Adama compliments Anders for his honest, to-the-point direction to the group, indicating that Anders would make a good officer. Anders scoffs at Adama's compliment, inferring that he knows what Adama and Thrace have been doing. When Adama tries to object, Anders tells Adama not to insult his intelligence, as he is aware that Adama is not that only one that Thrace has enjoyed sexual company with.
• On the basestar, in the Hybrid's room, D'Anna-Three is savoring the opportunity to see the faces of the final five Cylon agents--"maybe the face of God himself." The Hybrid notes, in her quizzical manner, that the "five lights of the apocalypse" and the "sins" will be revealed only to the "chosen one," lifting her head and staring directly at Baltar as she repeats, "the chosen one." D'Anna's eyes are closed and is not aware that the Hybrid is addressing Baltar.
• Caprica-Six enters and questions D'Anna's intentions. D'Anna dismisses their three-way relationship as she tells of her plan to leave with Baltar to discover the secrets of the Temple. Six is visibly hurt at being left behind.
• The planet team begin their final preparations, led by Dualla. With wireless jammed, she notes how hardwired observation points are to be created to warn of any Cylon advance, with Starbuck's Raptor taking point with directions to fly to the nearest observation point to relay any sightings. Thrace's annoyance at Dualla's precise direction leads to some catty replies by Thrace, that Dualla ignores.
• As the observation teams take their positions, Starbuck begins her recon flight. As she turns along a ravine, she spots the Centurion emplacement and is immediately fired upon by the Cylon's missile battery. Starbuck tries to evade and successfully manages to relay that she found Centurions before her Raptor is struck by a missile. With the controls on fire and visibility lost, Starbuck screams as she keeps her hands on the flight controls and fights for control of the Raptor. Starbuck being shot down is the first shot fired and the first material loss of the Battle of the Algae Planet.
• As President Roslin explores what little is known about the Temple of Five from a book of the Sacred Scrolls, Admiral Adama interrupts her. He tells her of Boomer's return and asks if the story of Hera's faked death was true. Roslin admits the truth. When she tries to explain the reasons why, Adama abruptly leaves in anger.
• Adama tells the Agathons of Hera's discovery, and neither are pleased. When Helo argues how painful it was for them and how Adama should know the pain of the moment, Adama reminds him that, unlike his son, their child is still alive, and that they should be grateful for that. Sharon Agathon wants to see her child.
• Adama reports to Anders that Starbuck's Raptor has gone down, but also tells him that a rescue mission is out of the question; they haven't enough manpower to rescue Thrace and defend their position.
• Six Heavy Raiders leave a basestar towards the planet.
• Galactica sees the Heavy Raiders on DRADIS immediately. Tigh feels that this is a test to see if the Colonials are bluffing. Roslin believes that they were bluffing until Adama orders Hoshi to arm of a series of missile tubes, each containing a nuclear missile.
• As Anders argues for Thrace's rescue, Adama explodes in defense of the mission, arguing the point that he has known and cared for Thrace for much longer than Anders, who tells Adama he is going after his wife. Adama's troops hold Anders at gunpoint.
• Tyrol reads the inscriptions in the Temple with his flashlight, trying to locate the actual resting place of the Eye.
• The basestar command detects the radiation signature of the missiles as Galactica targets the Temple.
• Adama authorizes the release of the missiles.

Questions

• Will Adama go through with his plan to nuke the planet?
• Did Starbuck survive the crash of her Raptor?
• What is the Eye of Jupiter and how does it point the way to Earth?
• How much truth is there to Ander's claim of Kara's chronic infidelity ("You think you're the first?")?
• How will Athena and Helo knowing their child is still alive affect their relationship with Adama?
• How will Adama finding out Hera is still alive affect his relationship with Roslin?
• Is there a connection between the Temple of the Five and the five missing Cylon models?
• Who or what is "The One Whose Name Cannot Be [Told(?)]" whom the Five supposedly follow? Is this a reference to the Jealous God, who may or may not be the "one true God" of the Cylons?
• What are the "sins" of the Five that the Hybrid speaks of?
• Who is the "Chosen One" that the Hybrid speaks of?
• What consequences will Number Three's actions have within the Cylon society?
• What is the Fleet doing without the presence of Galactica?
• Will there be further confrontations between the two "Sharon Valerii"-type Eight models, as seen in the passageway tirade between Boomer and Athena?
• Were the Cylons really willing to hand Baltar over to the Fleet?
• When did Boomer go over to the Cylons' way of thinking? In this episode she clearly doesn't seem to think of herself as human anymore like she did in "Downloaded."
• Was the Cylon that was pointed out to be Boomer the same one that has been seen amongst the Cylon baseship leadership? If so, then her turning over to the Cylon side was complete by the time the Cylons had abandoned New Caprica.
• Is there a connection between Athena & Helo's Hera and the Eye of Jupiter?
• Does Dualla know about the affair between Lee and Kara?
• Will Hera be rescued from the Cylon baseship and returned to Athena?
• Did Adama inform Athena and Helo that it was the President who ordered the secret adoption of Hera? From the dialog, it seems to indicate that Helo believes Adama was aware of the secret from the start.
• What, if anything, will happen when the shaft of light reaches the center of the symbol in the temple? Is this in some way related to the imminent supernova?
• If Adama does fire the nuclear weapons, will the Baseships destroy them before they reach the surface?

Analysis

• At least eighteen people perished as a result of navigating through the radiation field of the star cluster.
• This episode ends the debate whether Admiral Adama knew about President Roslin's secret plan to hide Hera ("Downloaded", "Exodus, Part I") -- he did not know.
• Caprica-Six and D'Anna's dialogue indicates that they have been intimate with each other as well as with Baltar.
• This is the first time the Cylons use "human" names on the basestar when not speaking to Baltar. D'Anna is named by Caprica-Six and another Number Three. Cavil's name is used by D'Anna.
• Coincidence (and destiny / predestination) seems to be a major theme with this episode: the humans & Cylons show up at the planet at the same time; the temple is discovered by Tyrol, son of a priest who revered this place; the planet is orbiting a star that will go nova within days.
• At an unknown point in time, Galactica acquired at least three more nuclear warheads, bringing the total to at least six; beginning the series with five and using one to destroy a basestar (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II) and another being detonated by Gina on Cloud 9 (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II). Pegasus may be the source, as these warheads may have been resupplied from Pegasus's arsenal, which likely occurred during the events of "Pegasus".
• When the Hybrid speaks of the Chosen One, she looks directly at Baltar, not D'Anna, who has her eyes closed.
• Kara Thrace's explanation of marriage as a sacrament is similar to the principles of the Roman Catholic Church. In this religion, a marriage between a baptized man and woman is one of the seven sacraments of the faith. A sacramental marriage cannot be dissolved, but only reviewed later to determine if the marriage was valid at all. If the marriage is invalid, an annulment is allowed. This suggests, by extension, that Thrace and Anders have had dedication ceremonies (the Colonial equivalent of baptism) if such as requirement is needed by the gods.

Notes

• Writer Jane Espenson revealed that this episode was originally titled "Eye of Zeus."
• This episode, whose teaser clocks in at just over 11 minutes, has the longest teaser of any episode thus far, narrowly beating out that of "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I".
• Outdoor sequences of the algae planet were filmed near Kamloops, British Columbia [1].

Noteworthy Dialogue

• Cylon baseship requests to speak with Admiral Adama

Adama: Put it through speaker. This is Admiral Adama.

Baltar: Admiral. I can't tell you what a genuine pleasure it is to hear your voice. This is Gaius Baltar.

• Baltar and Internal-Six discuss boarding the Galactica:

Six: Feels like old times, doesn't it?

Baltar: Can't believe how much I actually missed this place.

Six: You know you can't return. They'd toss you out the nearest airlock and then throw a party.

• Lee and Kara, discussing contingency plans:

Kara: Can I make a suggestion you won't like?

Lee: Do you make any other kind?

• The Hybrid, giving more obscure prophecy:

Hybrid: The five lights of the apocalypse rising, struggling towards the light... sins revealed only to those who enter the temple... only to the chosen one... the chosen one... the chosen one...

Three: The Five await me. Gaius, I'm so close to knowing the truth!

• During a meeting between Roslin and Adama with Baltar and the Cylons

Roslin: The less this man says, the better this will go.

Baltar: Wait a minute. If it wasn't for me the Cylons would've blown you out of the sky two seconds after we'd arrived.

Roslin: (Roslin to Adama) I think you can handle this without me. . . if you can stomach it.

Official Statements

Jane Espenson discusses the original name for "The Eye of Jupiter" and references to it in "The Passage:"

"When I wrote this episode, the upcoming episode was already well along, and it was called "Eye of Zeus." So all the dialogue in my episode reflected that. It got changed to Jupiter later, and I don't know why. It's always hard to get names to legally clear. All you need is one guy named Zeus who lives in North Hollywood and Standards and Practices is all over you to change the name. (deadpan) That's probably what happened."

Guest Stars

• Michael Hogan as Colonel Saul Tigh
• Tahmoh Penikett as Captain Karl Agathon
• Aaron Douglas as Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol
• Nicki Clyne as Cally Henderson Tyrol
• Kandyse McClure as Lieutenant Anastasia Dualla
• Alessandro Juliani as Lieutenant Felix Gaeta
• Brad Dryborough as Lieutenant Hoshi
• Michael Trucco as Samuel Anders
• Alisen Down as Jean Barolay
• Eileen Pedde as Gunnery Seargant Mathias
• Diego Diablo Del Mar as Hillard
• Lucy Lawless as D'Anna Biers (Number Three)
• Dean Stockwell as Cavil
• Callum Keith Rennie as Leoben Conoy
• Tiffany Lyndall-Knight as the Hybrid
• Aleks Paunovic as Sergeant Fischer