#3x11 the eye of jupiter

[leeandkaradaily]

“This is insane, you know” “That’s just the way I like it”

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA | 3x11 “The Eye of Jupiter”

[blue-mint-winter]

[3x11] The feeling is NOT mutual.

[hooryayy]

I'm gonna go off on this (deleted) scene because there's so much spaceparents going on in season 3 that begs to be talked about more and also we need new content in the fandom

Btw this scene is definitely canon because this was a conversation they for sure had, whether we saw it or not (as I think is the case with all bsg deleted scenes but that's a post for another day)

So the way this scene is cut to is somewhat abrupt and if yall remember its a continuation of the scene left in the ep.. but what kills me is that it's abrupt because they slip into personal intimate mode so fast, even though they are still doing the "fleet business" thing. And we get to see this slip a good amount between them, usually in public or semi-private spaces with other close working professionals around, but here it's just them in Bill's quarters and it's gentle and loving.. until its not

Bill is 100% on edge leaning in to hang on her reaction and laura is like "thank the gods" and then "ut oh" in a second because our girl can read a room and ever the stalwart starts spitting out short, affirmative facts. Our Easily Emotionally Overwhelmed Admiral sits just long enough to realize he is gonna lose his shit if he doesn't dip out when laura begins to tell him why he should just accept what she did. And he's already in his quarters so where tf will he go? Ah yes, the head but with door wide open, mood: "im overwhelmed and i need to shave Right Now so i can feel grounded in and distracted by something but since you are already here.. please come talk to me"

I think it's hard to say how much of which things he is feelsing about ranging from "i have a dead child" to "i have been lied to about a serious fleet security issue" to "laura hurt people i love in a way i have been hurt" to "laura didn't trust me/shut me out after all we'd been through" but i think i tend to side toward his nature to empathize with the Agathons more than anything, which is where he settles eventually even if the question of trust thing is at play because nothing matters more to him than family.

Okay but laura... knows she has to give him all of her reasons to make sure he knows it wasn't a matter of trust which is why she immediately gets up despite the "im upset" mode of bill. Oh, and she's stupid comfortable with hanging out at the door, having a conversation and making eye contact through the mirror while he is going about his private business, you know, like this happens often. No sense of feeling as if she is invading his space. She's also very physically presenting herself as open, not forceful, but very secure in her choices. It takes her a long time to fully face him which is a way of letting him know she unterstands his feelings in the matter.

She saves the main point of "why i didn't tell you" for last to make him hear her good. It also seems like she knows that's gonna be the big one that matters long term. and her reason was that she knows him sooo well and cared about him enough at the time to recognize how fucked up it would have been to drop this in his lap knowing he would not have been able to be part of or allow it to happen due to his tendency to let his personal relationships drown out his calculating mind (see: at least 6 eps in each season dealing with this exact problem).

BUT she legit spared him this personal turmoil in exchange for a potential bad fallout between them later on from it, like what a selfless babe!! She also knows she has to continue to inhabit that role of making the hard calls and cannot apologize for it, and the tough old bird comes around real quick once she says she's about to leave lol

But of course he's gotta have his say and he's gotta go right for the gut and really drive home the point that she is the cause of some fucked up trauma to really good people he considers family and ughhh they always tell it like it is no matter how harsh

Spaceparents really out here having a hard time at this point. They'd finally got a chance to explore the romance and then the four months of occupation and now they are back assuming power and trying to put the fleet back to "normal" living with the knowledge that things like this gotta pop up every week and it just reminds everyone of those certain responsibilities (which will be addressed a few eps from now) and not that this scene makes it seem impossible to balance bc they actually handle it very well, but it does illuminate the central complication to them more than other scenes or conflicts, particularly because of the intimate setting and their uncertainty about where they are at with each other and they really just kill me yall. 90% of their relationship makes me feel deep sadness at just their separateness and the unfairness of it all

So much of this scene is holding and pacing the energy and none of this would be possible without the absolute brilliance of mary and eddie tbh. They are playing a simple game of catch with each other while their characters are both having important emotional developments... nbd

[blue-mint-winter]

[3x11] Adama is preparing to nuke the planet

This scene speaks for itself, it’s really tense. Galactica is outnumbered by Cylon baseships, but Adama is completely determined that he will not allow Cylon get what they want - the directions to Earth from the Temple of Five. He and Cylons are playing chicken, but to win, he has to be willing to go all the way and make good on his threat to nuke the planet and his people down there.

This is also the second significant scene for A/R relationship in this episode. This time, it’s Roslin that sees the ruthless, terrifyng side of Adama. At first, she’s surpised at his orders, but she still doesn’t believe he would actually go through with this. She just thinks he’s trying to scare off the Cylons from approaching the planet. But then he orders the missiles into launch tubes and Tigh realizes right away that he’s dead serious. He’s known Adama for years.

Roslin has to ask, to confirm that this is happening for real, not a bluff. After his positive answer, she gets this narrowed look, she is plotting. She doesn’t want this to happen, finding the path to Earth takes priority for her.

In order to check his bluff, she reminds him that his son is on the planet. The stakes are very high. But Adama doesn’t waver. The thing is, that for Galactica to survive, he can’t show weakness to the Cylons. If they saw his threats were empty, there would be nothing stopping them from destroying his ship. The nuclear threat is the only card Adama can effectively use against them. Even if the results would be devastating - the loss of Earth and Lee. But, in the other scenario, with Galactica gone, humanity would have zero chance to survive. The Fleet wouldn’t last long, they’d be defenseless. They rely on Galactica for protection and guidance on their journey. Without Galactica, it’s game over for the Fleet. Roslin knows this too, which is why she is not openly opposing this decision as the president.

In this last scene of the episode, I think Roslin is scared. She sees this ruthless stone-faced Admiral Adama for the first time, she finds out he would go so far to sacrifice his own son for the mission - for survival of humanity. For her this side of him is unexpected, scary and opposite of the man she’s come to know since the fall of the Colonies.

[blue-mint-winter]

[3x11] Sharon meets Sharon.

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[3x11] Adama confronts Roslin about Hera

The Eye of Jupiter brings a pretty significant development in A/R relationship in my opinion. They’ve already seen each other screw up and be ashamed and guilty of it (stealing the election, Bulldog’s secret mission) and they supported each other through it. In this episode, it’s different and new, because they see the ruthless sides of each other that they don’t agree with.

First, Adama learns the truth about Roslin faking Hera’s death and essentially stealing the baby from her parents. She freely admits to it and you can see his change in expression. He is livid. He’s a parent himself and he empathizes with Agathons who became his close and trusted crew since that time. So he’s appalled with what Roslin did and what’s worse he can see she is not regretting it. She thinks she was right to kidnap Hera. This is a side of Roslin that shocks him in a bad way, so he has to sit down for a moment to process it. Then he leaves, refusing to listen to her justifications. For the moment he can’t deal with this and with her.

Another part of this is that he must hurt because she did not seek his counsel or approval when she made that decision. And back then he was already completely in her corner! He agreed with her on everything, he even argued for killing the child. I think later he must have realized that hypocrisy, because he does tell Agathons that they should appreciate that at least their child turned out alive. So he knows that the outcome of Roslin’s decision in the end is better than what he proposed back then. Still, she didn’t trust him with this information.

And then we have Roslin’s face after he leaves. She thought she could sway him to her side as always, but it didn’t work this time. She realizes that she has to reassess her approach to him, because this is an issue on which they will not see eye to eye and he’s truly upset with her.

[blue-mint-winter]

BSG 3x11 The Eye of Jupiter and 3x12 Rapture rewatch

How fortunate that the algae planet also contained the next directions to Earth. Of course this creates another confrontation between humans and Cylons.

Tyrol gets a hunch and starts climbing the mountain and completely by accident finds the hidden Temple of Five and the Eye of Jupiter. Yeah, right. It’s his subconscious that led him there.

The star close by is on the verge of becoming supernova. It can happen anytime, as Gaeta informs us. Classic Checkov’s gun there.

Cylons come te negotiate - the delegation of Gaius, Cavil, D’Anna and Boomer comes on board. Each of them have a specific importance in this chapter of the story.

Gaius gets a cold welcome but he’s happy to see other human beings again. Just their faces when they learned he’s alive said it all. Despite his hope and fear that he’s one of the Final Five, he’s still so craving human acceptance and approval. When he yells after Roslin that she owes him her life again, he’s just so desperate. This reunion with humans is the literal opposite of that dream he had of Roslin, Adama and Tigh forgiving him everything and accepting him back.

I really like the Boomer-Athena meeting face to face for the first time. They exchanged places they had in the start. And of course Boomer tells Athena everything about Hera.

Roslin’s lie is exposed, Helo and Athena are furious. Even Adama is unhappy with her about this. I like that Roslin doesn’t try to justify herself, she just accepts the blame. She takes the responsibility. She’s opposite of Baltar who when confronted with rightful accusation is defending himself with “But I did this good thing! You owe me!” like it’s going to balance his score or something. That’s not how it works.

So, Athena needs to get Hera back from Cylons, so she has Helo kill her. Damn. What a strong moment between them.

D’Anna and Gaius decide to go to the planet no matter what and Caprica Six feels left out of their secret plans. It’s something they can’t share with her (to protect her too) and she’s so hurt by it, because she loves them and she’s losing them. But it’s their decision and she lets them go.

Meanwhile, we have the love rectangle on the planet. Kara and Lee are having an affair, sort of, but there’s one problem - Kara doesn’t want to divorce Sam because of religion and Lee doesn’t want to cheat on Dee. So they’re stuck in this unsolvable quandary (well, if Dee and/or Sam died that would have been convenient). What’s worse, both Sam and Dee know what’s going on and they’re not happy.

I think Kara and Sam get fleshed out as a couple more in this. Their dynamic is based on similarities. They’re both free-spirited, flexible, share the sense of humour. In this episode their main similarity is being passive-aggressive to their love rivals lol. Also, turns out this isn’t the first time Kara’s had a guy on the side. So, do Kara and Sam have an open marriage or is it just Sam forgiving her everything and always taking her back no matter what? Something to think about. Anyway, no wonder Kara goes back to Sam. He’s safe for her.

Same can be said about Dee, she’s so loyal Lee, she’s similarly straight-laced. She even risks her own life to rescue Kara because Lee ordered her to. For Lee, she’s just as safe to come back to, because he knows she’ll take him back.

In this rectangle, the only one who is really confused and conflicted is Lee. He’s torn between what he wants and what he should do. He can’t discard his sense of right and wrong to be with Kara, so he’s bound to go back to Dee which is safe and right but doesn’t make him truly happy.

The Eye of Jupiter ends in some very well done stand off between Cylons and humans. Cylons send ships to the planet so Adama arms the nukes to destroy the Temple and everyone there, including his own son. Cylons don’t want to risk that (except Cavil, who argues that they have time to search for Earth for thousands of years and they should just take the chance to destroy Galactica) so they vote to withdraw, but Three overrides their decision. Ships withdraw but the one with the D’Anna and Gaius goes on. Three took the risk and she won because she was right and Adama didn’t send nukes over just one ship.

I like how at the same time Lee and Sam had another stand off over someone they both want - Kara. Sam wanted to go himself to rescue her and Lee forbid it. They also had to reach a compromise without shooting each other, so Lee sent Dee to the rescue.

And then it’s fun when Sam and Lee learn to work together as a team to defend the Temple from Centurions to give Tyrol time to interpret the symbols inside. Same happens with Kara and Dee who have to work together to get their Raptor off the planet.

And then in the end both couples are back in each other’s arms, with Lee and Kara just giving each other longing looks. They’re still torn apart by their choices.

On the baseship, Athena downloaded and meets Caprica Six, who takes her to Hera. Boomer has been taking care of Hera, but the ill child recognizes her real mother and calms down in her arms. And I think this was the last straw for Boomer. She took that as that final rejection. Now she believes that Cylons and humans should just go their separate ways. There’s no point to working for peace between their races.

Athena wants to take Hera to the human doctor, but Boomer threatens to snap Hera’s neck. This is the point of no return for her character, when she turns her back on humans like they turned on her. Now she’s willing to kill an innocent child. She became a true Cylon.

Caprica Six killing Boomer to save Hera is just so poetic. The series started with Caprica snapping a baby’s neck after all, now she stops another Cylon from doing that. Also, this is a second time she killed another Cylon to help humans.

On the planet Tyrol hesitates to destroy the Temple which gives time to D’Anna to take out the detonators. And then the star goes supernova.

D’Anna’s relationship with Gaius really went all the way from “He’s a little strange man” (in Final Cut) to them going on this quest together to find the truth about the Final Five. What’s funny is that they both think they are the Chosen One, not the other. Lol. But Gaius was a friend and a guide to D’Anna, helping her realize her destiny.

Unfortunately, they have Cavil with them and he figures out they’re not there for directions to Earth, but to find out the identities of Final Five. Gaius has to shoot him, but it gives him headstart on downloading.

D’Anna has a vision in the Temple, but when she downloads back on the baseship, Cavil pulls the plug. Cylons agreed to put entire model line of Threes into deep freeze because one of them defied their consensus. They decided Threes are defected. And Cavil doesn’t want D’Anna to share the secret of Final Five. It’s ironic that Three who introduced the idea of deep freeze in Downloaded because she wanted to put Caprica Six and Boomer there, is the one who gets ice-boxed in the end.

Gaius is taken prisoner by Tyrol, and Caprica Six, who came with Athena, gets the same treatment.

Supernova gives humans idea where to go look next for Earth - a nebula that formed from another supernova that happened when the 13th tribe went to Earth. Also, Helo remembers that Kara painted a mandala that looks just like Eye of Jupiter in her own apartment on Caprica. Kara’s special destiny is brought up again.

[blue-mint-winter]

[3x11] The meeting of delegations.

Gaeta makes this pained expression. It must have hurt him he didn’t get a single word of greeting from Gaius, just as Gaius is hurt from getting coldly ignored by Roslin.

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[3x11] You’d make a good officer.

Officer? Like you? Someone who swears an oath and knows how to keep it?

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[3x11] Gaeta’s explaining that the supernova can go off at any moment and Roslin’s just smiling behind him. She might like him. Or maybe she’s reminded of that time on New Caprica when he was boring them out of their minds with his droning. We’ll never know.

[blue-mint-winter]

[3x11] I loved you when everyone else wanted you dead.

Now, look, you mustn’t misunderstand. It’s not personal. It’s transcendent. It’s like what you said, it’s transcendent.

[blue-mint-winter]

[3x11] The OT3 break-up :(

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[3x11] Sam going STRAIGHT FOR THE JUGULAR.

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[3x11] Gaius feeling nostalgic on Galactica.

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[3x11] Distressed Lee