Caprica 1x18

Well, this is the moment no one has been waiting for, the Grand Finale of Caprica... While Daniel and Amanda Graystone are still trying to secure their house with the help of a team of investigators, that STO sympathizer Global Defense Department Director Gara Singh storms in ordering their arrest on the trumped up accusation that they were behind the MagLev bombing that started off the entire series. Daniel’s trusted assistant Cyrus grabs a gun, points it at Singh, and tells Daniel and Amanda to find Clarice’s holoband and foil whatever plot she’s schemed. Flying off to Orpheus Park where Agent Duram was shot, the Graystone’s spot notices that they are now wanted as terrorists. Daniel finds the holoband in the park and learns of the plan to bomb the Atlas Arena during this season’s only home game of the Buccaneers, and he also gets to see the apotheotic virtual heaven Clarice has created for the martyred believers in the The One True God. Daniel and Adama quickly rush downtown in order to prevent the bombing. They get their hands on the program that controls the Cylons, break into the arena’s control room, and bring in two dozen troopers robots. Activating their sensors, the Cylons spot the STO bombers and take them out one by one, except for Clarice’s husband Olaf. He is able to detonate his sole bomb, but by that time the arena has already emptied out in the panic.

Meanwhile, after little Willie’s death, the Adamas find support among their Tauron neighbors in opposition to the Guattrau. Fidelia pays her respect and apparently had a change of heart. She is willing to negotiate so as to avoid a war among the Ha’latha. She agrees to arrange a virtual sit down between Joseph and her father, but during the meeting the Guattrau is being suffocated in real life. Fidelia takes over her father’s position, justice has supposedly been restored, and war averted. From a flashforward into the future we learn that Joseph will have another son, with his new wife, named William after his dead half-brother, but nicknamed Bill not Willie. Fans know that this is the Bill Adama who will command Battlestar Gallactica in the Cylon War another half century in the future. For her part, Zoe realizes Clarices apocalyptic schemes and confronts her in her virtual heaven. As the martyr’s avatars are uploaded into this sham Mount Olympus, Zoe rages and burns Clarice’s heaven down. The Sister returns to the real world, realizing she has sent innocent people to their death, and agrees to become high priestess for artificial intelligence. In another flashfoward we see that they Graystone’s have succeeded in creating a skin job for Zoe, and that Lacey Rand has become Great Mother on Geminon who approves of Clarice’s mission converting Cylons to The One. The End.

Caprica 1x17

The Damsels in Distress are still ensconced in their virtual fortress, but Sam Adama has agreed to join Amanda and Daniel Graystone to find them. The Cricket has no idea why the threesome needs to be dressed like Canadian ranchers, but let’s indulge. Sam, however, is not so much interested in finding his niece Tamara, but in killing her and ridding the world of this avatar travesty. Amanda is rightly worried that he may kill her daughter Zoe in the process. So she shoots him back to reality. Zoe senses her approaching parents and sends them some of her childhood’s favorite dragons as a warning. Amanda realizes that Zoe is as contrarian as her parents: if you chase her, she’ll run away; if you corner her, she’ll lash out. They need to invite her, so that she can make her own decision. They won’t have to wait long for the tearful reunion. Zoe concedes she will think about visiting them in their virtual home.

That fearsome Fidelia (we got suddenly introduced to in the previous episode) turns out to be the Guattrau’s daughter. When she informs him of the illicit shipments of Cylons to Tauron, he orders the death of the Adamas. “Quick and painless,” he adds. I doubt that strangulation fits that bill, but Joseph escapes death when his dead wife’s mother attacks his assailant first. Fresh out of V-World, Sam hears of the hit put on his family and rushes to their meeting point – to get money and fake papers so they can escape to Tauron. Two more hitmen reach them. Young William Adama causes a distraction, so that Joseph and Sam can deal with the assassins, but Willie is shot and bleeding profusely. (We are lead to believe he’ll live, since Bill Adama is one of the main characters in Battlestar Gallactica.)

Over on Geminon, Thunderlord Odin betrays Lacey, knowing she will be killed for her ability to control the Cylons. His STO commanders order him to kill her himself. Then the tables are turned as their classmates save Lacey and Odin, and shoot the commanders. Instead of rushing back to Caprica, Lacey takes her friends to the robots. The fight for the One True God is on. While Daniel and Amanda are still in V-World, Clarice and her husbands break into the Graystone house – to find the apotheotic holoband and finish the Graystones off. Zoe’s avatar won’t let that happen. She returns to the U-87 Cylon prototype conveniently lying in the room. The robot sweeps one killing stroke, Clarice and her one surviving husband dash off. Returning to their virtual home, Daniel offers his daughter a partnership to create a real life body for her, flesh and bone. “A skin job,” Zoe contemplates. Finally we are inches away from Battlestar Gallactica! One more episode and we’re done.

Caprica 1x16

Despite the build-up towards the series’ end and despite the fairly good previous episode, this installment was rather a dud. For instance, suddenly a new character is introduced, who threatens to unveil the whole scheme the Adamas are running, smuggling Cylons to the resistance on Tauron against the Guattrau’s wishes. This dangerously seductive dame just got out of prison, but what do you know, her name is Fidelia (“Loyalty”)! At the STO training camp on Geminon, Lacey Rand discovers that she can give orders to one particular Cylon that overrides authorized officers. She believes this is the U-87 in which Zoe’s avatar was once trapped, but we know that cannot be, because that specimen is lying at Daniel’s lab. Curious. Quite naturally, Lacey also commences a romantic affair with thundergod Odin, who likes to smoke weed through the barrel of a gun.

For their part, the Avenging Angels Zoe and Tamara have now become mediaeval damsels in distress in their virtual fortress far, far away from the vices of New Cap City. Daniel Graystone, however, is desperate to talk to his daughter – if only to understand better how his daughter can still be alive in virtual reality. He enters the holographic machine, somehow whisking Tamara to him, hoping that she can mediate with Zoe. Then Zoe bashes into their conversation and slashes her father with a knife. If Daniel and Amanda ever wish to see their virtual daughter again, they should need some hired muscle to restrain her. Sam Adama, at first, wants no part of it. Yet, when he finds his nephew sporting an Avenging Angels t-shirt, he is determined to join Daniel – if only to end the travesty once and for all.

Over at the Willows, meanwhile, Amanda has switched Clarice’s holoband for recently burned agent Duram. When the Willows find out, they realize Amanda has been the one spying on them, and they have killed their wife Marbeth for nothing. Oh, the betrayal. Mind you, they were plotting a major terrorist attack to make martyrs of the Soldiers of The One. Just when Amanda has handed Clarice’s holoband to Duram, he is shot and the holoband is stolen. But who now has all Clarice’s information about STO members and terrorist plots, the Avatar software, and Clarice’s delusional Apotheosis program? So many plotlines and so little that’s fascinating or entertaining. And all of this is somehow going to lead up to the circumstances that set off the entire Battlestar Gallactica series...

Caprica 1x15

There’s a Tauron tattoo ritual in honor of Sam and Joseph Adama’s promotion within the ranks of the Ha’latha crime syndicate. Then a flashback to the time their parents took a stand against the oppression on their home Colony. We see how Sam became a petty thief and Joseph the quiet observer. And we learn how they became orphans. But back in the future, the Guattrau would rather cell Cylons to the Soldiers of The One on Geminon than to the rebels on Tauron, and orders the death of Daniel Graystone after he has sold them the Avatar Resurrection program. Over in New Cap City, the Deathwalkers Zoe and Tamara are playing Avenging Angels cleaning out the trash. Too bad. I rather enjoyed the hedonistic sex and drugs and rock and roll. The ladies kill two wannabe virtual assassins, who in real life turn out to be two of Clarice’s husbands.

Following a hint by Joseph, Daniel realizes he will soon be killed if he delivers his “resurrection software” to the Guattrau. So, he approaches a disillusioned Sam with an offer he can’t refuse. Daniel will arrange Cylons for the Tauron rebels on the condition that Captain Sam will keep him alive. Hearing about the Avenging Angels hype, he returns to V-World to find his daughter, who wants nothing to do with him. Zoe and Tamara dream up some virtual impregnable fortress where no one will get to them. Meanwhile, Amanda Graystone’s position at the Willows residence becomes endangered when Agent Jordan Duram is removed from the Global Defense Department by his STO sympathizing superior Garra. For her part, Sister Clarice is soaring in megalomania over the prospect of implementing her Apotheosis program. Seriously, if all episodes were more like this one, Syfy would never have had to pull the show. For this was all quite entertaining!

Caprica 1x14

So, Syfy pulled the series off the air midway through the second half of the season last year, citing poor ratings – not too surprisingly, considering the tedious plot twists and lackluster performances. Now the final five episodes have been transmitted in one big burn-off marathon even though the whole show is already available on DVD. Here’s to commercial television at its worst! When we pick up the story, Sister Clarice sends Lacey Rand to Geminon to train with the Soldiers of the One together with a group of other students. However, things go awry when their space ship is overtaken by polytheistic zealot mercenaries. Their leader’s ramblings are difficult to follow, so his demands aren’t too clear, nor who he is negotiating with. What is clear is that they will kill the students one by one, unless his demands are met or they denounce their monotheism. The STO recruits try to calm each other and devise a plan. Lacey finally grabs a bar and wields it at the mercenaries’ leader. A fight ensues, until the STO leader steps in and explains it all has been their initial placement exercise to find out how they would function under stress, who would crumble and who would rise to the occasion. At the STO compound on Geminon Lacey is showered with praise for her courage. But there’s one doubting Thomas, aptly called Odin, who shows her an execution far off of several weaker recruits – by a Cylon no less.

Meanwhile, Amanda Graystone is still snitching at the Willows residence for Agent Jordan Duram of the Global Defense Department. Unbeknownst to them Clarice has a sympathizer on the inside, in the person of Duram’s superior Garra. For her part, before she left, Lacey told Clarice about a gold STO pin that may contain a backup of Zoe’s “Avatar” program. Clarice has Garra retrieve it from the Graystone evidence file and arrange a drop off. The missing evidence, however, tips Jordan off that there’s a leak in the force’s top brass. As a trap, he tells his superior that he has a confidential informant at the Willows, one of Clarice’s wives Marbeth. When Marbeth is murdered by Clarice, Jordan knows never to trust his superior again, but he is able to requisition a bugging device that Amanda can plant at the Willows. When Daniel Graystone confronts the Adama brothers that the Ha’latha is smuggling Cylons from his company, Joseph admits that the Guattrau is selling them for profit to the STO on Geminon. Sam is outraged that the Tauron syndicate isn’t sending Cylons to the resistance movement on their home Colony, while Daniel loathes the fact he might be charged for treason if the government finds out his exclusively-contracted military robots are sent to support a terrorist organization. The Guattrau gives Daniel no more than two weeks to finish his “Resurrection” program, but insinuates to the Adamas that whether Graysstone delivers or not, he must die. Of course, Daniel isn’t anywhere near completing the software – and the problem is that Clarice has just gotten her hands on it. Honestly, this episode wasn’t too bad – even if you have to suffer through some of the futuristic mumbo-jumbo.

Caprica 1x13

The Cricket asked for more about Zoe kicking ass in v-world – and what do we get? A whole episode without her or her various permutations, or Tamara, or Lacey... Instead the focus is on Daniel and Amanda Graystone. Daniel has created an avatar of his estranged wife in an attempt to be with his family. He puts her to the test, but keeps getting disappointed. He tells her about the lies he told her, he yells at her, he even smacks her, but all he gets are emotionless responses. She just wants to sleep with him. She’s the perfect wife, but not the real thing – which is better. This failure to get the avatar to access feelings also spells problems for his latest project, Grace by Graystone, promoting his avatar software as a means to let lost loved ones live on in virtual reality. Meanwhile Amanda is making a concerted effort ingratiating herself in the polygamous community of Sister Clarice Willow to learn more about the STO so that the police can finally arrest these terrorists that killed her daughter. For her part, Clarice is not making much headway getting her Apotheosis program up and running, but she is still devoutly confident that she is the chosen vessel of the One True God to unite the Twelve World under His worship. In other developments, Joseph Adama’s Ha’latha brother Sam is running into trouble dealing arms. To eliminate a rival gang he steals one of the Cylons to wreak some serious havoc. He suggests to the Guatrau they should use the robots in the Tauran rebellion against playboy dictator Andreas Phaulkon, apparently a pawn of the richer worlds – i.e., Caprica. All of this is vaguely interesting, but really all over the place.

Surprising as it was that Syfy aired this second half of the season earlier than initially scheduled, it is less surprising that the remaining five episodes will be put on hold until the first quarter of next year, after which the show will be canceled. It remains difficult to sympathize with most of the main characters. The plot is hardly compelling and meanders off time and again. The events are supposedly set half a century before the Battlestar Galactica series, when Bill Adama was a boy. No one later seems to remember any of the events taking place in Caprica, and there is frightfully little to gratify the BSG fans – except for the Cylons. Rather than intergalactic space fights, the viewer gets human drama – and that with barely an ounce of psychological depth. That the series failed to capture an audience is only to be expected. We’ll see if the Cricket can bring himself to watch the remaining episodes next year.

Caprica 1x12

We start off nicely in the sci-fi world of New Cap City, two Deathwalkers squaring off. (More of this, the Cricket chirps!) Not too surprisingly, Tamara Adama is a little resentful of the fact that Zoe Graystone killed her in the real world. “Remember the Maglev bombing?” “Oh, that.” “Yes, that!” (Alas, the dialog leaves something to be desired.) Quite a few other people are none too pleased they lost their friends or family on that train either. Zoe may not be able to die in v-world, but she sure can feel pain when they punch and kick, and shoot and stab her. Through flashbacks we learn that Zoe was responsible for creating the avatar program that is behind the holoband virtual reality. There was also some gibberish about virtual doppelgangers that doesn’t hold much water. At any rate, nothing brings girl closer than a good cat fight. So, in the end Tamara agrees to help Zoe find her higher purpose.

For her part, Sister Clarice Willow is holding Lacey hostage, not in her remote log cabin, but in the attic of her monotheist polygamous community home – and drugging her water. After letting her suffer for a bit, just enough to make her desperate, Clarice gets enough information to let the girl go – well she sends her away to the terrorist training camp on Gemenon. Meanwhile Amanda is ransacking the cabin for STO clues, but to no avail. In all their double-dealing, they manage to convince each other that it would be a good idea for Amanda to live with Clarice and her various husbands and wives.

Enough board members have been blackmailed into reinstating Daniel Graystone as executive officer of his own company. Quite naturally, Joseph Adama informs him that they now need to take care of Tomas Vergis. Daniel offers Tom a pact. As two powerful businessmen they can combine resources and drive Guatrau’s Ha’latha to the ground – and return them to the soil whence they came. But his Tauran stubbornness disallows him a good deal when he gets one. His enemy overcame him, and now he must die. He plunges the blade in his chest like Cato at Utica.

Caprica 1x11

Rogue commander Barnabas of the Caprican STO cell has ordered Lacey and some other foot soldiers to blow up the interplanetary spaceport, but she’s having second thoughts – there are too many people. Really? Who would have thought? It’s an act of terrorism, it’s supposed to kill as many people as possible. Yet things go amiss when a security agent asks to see inside Lacey’s bag. That didn’t just get her nearly arrested, it nearly got them killed. They end up in a fight and Lacey takes off into the pouring rain.

Daniel Graystone is donning a ridiculous beard. Why? (Supposedly, because he’s grieving over his wife, to whom he lied and blames for the death of Zoe?) Didn’t anyone tell him he’s a redhead? At any rate, to get back into business, he is blackmailing board members for support to get him in place at his former corporation – and if that won’t help there’s always Adama’s mobster brother to roughen things up. One of the executives blows his brains out. Ever faithful Cyrus brings the U-87 to Daniel, lying to Vergis he’d melted it down for scrap.

Clarice learns that the botched bombing was targeted to assassinate her. (Wait! She was already back from Gemenon last week. Continuation error?) She visits one of her former pupils who was there with Lacey. She forgives him – and then drops his tv in the bathtub with him. “It’s God you should be worried about,” she told him. Then one of her hoodlums takes out another one of the foot soldiers who was at the spaceport. That just leaves Lacey, who – unlike the other two – has the guts to face Barnabas. When he asks her to promise her loyalty, she swears she’s committed to God. (She’d better be committed, period, but that’s just the Cricket chirping.) Then Clarice barges in, kidnaps Lacey and blows Barnabas to smithereens.

The sole detective able to piece together that Sister Clarice must be the linchpin behind the STO terrorists, talks to Amanda Graystone hoping to convince her that Clarice is a monotheism spouting menace to society responsible for the death of her daughter Zoe. Amanda is puzzled by flashbacks of Zoe wearing the STO emblem, of Clarice talking about god in the singular. She can no longer deny the truth. Through flashbacks we also learn that Daniel visited Amanda in the hospital after her attempted suicide, but they had a fight.

Caprica 1x10

The Cricket is unsure why we should be watching frakkin’ Caprica, but suddenly it’s back on SyFy unexpectedly early. (To get you up to speed, you can check out the recap of the first half of the season, or you can go here to read all the episodes’ chirps.) Thus far, the story has hardly been compelling, the acting poor -- if not outright atrocious. Admittedly, this second half of the season started out dramatically: we witness how various “Soldiers of The One” carry bombs inside the Buccaneer stadium and blow it to smithereens. Alas, it was only Clarice’s indulgence in wish-fulfillment as she was demonstrating to the Conclave of Gemenon the apotheotic blessing of eternal life in virtual reality. That is, by using Graystone’s avatar-software Clarice is sure the religious leaders can unite the Twelve Worlds in the worship of the One True God with a promise of artificial heaven. Obviously, if that wasn’t clear, her “Apotheosis” delusion is utter blasphemy theologically – and terrorizing souls into converting to the One True God may not be the most charming form of proselytization either. Monk Obal, the head of the Conclave, informs the Blessed Mother Superior that Clarice suffers from a definite Messiah complex. But this latter-day Mother Teresa believes Clarice may prove useful in the fight against polytheism and allows an Ides of March inside the church as Clarice charms a foot-soldier into assassinating Obal while all other members of the Conclave stab their knives in turn. (The reference to Caesar is blatant, but the significance escapes me.)

Back on Caprica, Daniel Graystone has lost everything – his daughter, his wife, his company, his pyramid team. He turns to Joseph Adama’s Guatrau, the head of the Tauran mafia, hoping to sell his avatar-program as a cure for grief: give your loved ones artificial eternity and you can always be with them if you put on your holoband. Adama tests Daniel who backs out of the deal when he’s required to detonate a bomb inside his own mother’s car. Then his former assistant Cyrus informs him that Vergis is able to produce robots for the military, yet they still have been unable to reproduce the artificial intelligence of Graystone’s U-87 prototype. Somehow this prompts Daniel to return to the Guatrau, who somehow suddenly accepts his partnership. I thought that we had at least lost that wining Amanda Greystone to suicide, but after jumping to her death she is unfortunately still alive, hiding out in Clarice’s log cabin. Somehow Sister Willow has rescued her from her near-death experience. (Clearly, the Cricket wasn’t paying much attention.)

For her part, Zoe Graystone is now trapped inside New Cap City – without the U-87 to give her access to the real world. It is perhaps unsurprising that as a Deathwalker (an avatar that cannot die in v-world) she should try and find the other, Tamara Adama. Although Tamara didn’t want to see her father grieve over her death, she clearly wants to be found by someone, as she is leaving marks all over town. Even some Clockwork Orange droogs are bearing her mark. (Once more the significance of the reference escapes me.) Zoe, a babe in high heels and tight pants, gives them a nice display of martial arts. But with all of them flashing out of v-world and the last one standing pleading ignorance, she’s none the wiser about Tamara’s whereabouts.

Caprica - recap

I can actually not believe there’s a mid-season break in this Caprica series ... because, honestly, I don’t feel anything has really happened... As I had seen the entire Battlestar Galactica TV series, including the miniseries, movies, and web-episodes, I thought I might as well check out Caprica. The show is about humanity’s Twelve Colonies outside the solar system before the eventual fall: before the Cylons engage in genocidal, nuclear holocaust with the sole intention of annihilating the entire human race. Against this backdrop it could be interesting to see how the original Cylon Centurions were created, what kind of world gave rise to its own destruction. However, it’s not a show I would recommend to anyone.

In Caprica (we have to get this out of the way), there are obvious references to our own contemporary society. First and foremost the act of terrorism that sets off the series: the bombing of the skyline train which killed Zoe, Ben, and Tamara, among many others. Naturally the explosion is meant to remind us of 9/11 and other terrorist attacks worldwide. When the Graystones attend the memorial service for the victims of the attack, the scene practically bleeds “ground-zero.” There’s the memorial wall at the sight of the bombing. All too familiar. We get the same fear-mongering media pundits jabbering on and on with moral indignation twenty-four hours a day about conspiracy theories and other worthless baked air just because they have time to kill ... just as we did after 9/11 ... on and on ... after you’ve been pummeled long enough with the same mind numbing nonsense you’ll believe anything they say... And then we go on with our lives, with only the bitter aftertaste of a distant sadness.

Fortunately the monotheism espoused by the shadowy “Soldiers of the One” is more reminiscent of fundamentalist Christianity than Muslim extremism, so that their actions remain more ambiguous. The audience is seduced to try and understand their actions, rather than condemn them outright. In the science-fiction universe of Carpica, this cult appears alien enough not to be a stand in for al-Qaida theocracy. It helps that headmistress Sister Clarice Willow (Polly Walker) is one of those zealots converting souls, living in polyandrous as well as polygynous polygamy, corrupting young minds with religious dogma. It also helps that her chief rival over the cult’s leadership is some rogue terrorist called Barnabas. The real problem of the show, alas, is that the dialogue is hardly compelling and is moreover delivered by a fairly poor cast. I’m rather unsure if I’ll continue watching the show when it returns later this year.

Caprica 1x09

Damn if they didn’t jam in all the action in the mid-season break of Caprica! So far it’s all been rather ... blah ... Daniel Graystone is still racing to meet the military deadline of delivering one hundred thousand properly functioning Cylons, even though he can’t even figure out what happened to his prototype, how Zoe’s avatar got uploaded onto the meta-cognitive processing ship that he stole from the Vergis Corporation. Under pressure from his board members, he caves in to sell his sport team, to make quick money. Unable to find out more about the chip, Graystone simply wants to wipe it clean, mass produce it and have his army of robots working. But Zoe’s avatar trapped inside the U-87 prototype would be lost along the process! She’s scared to even lose this life of a ghost. Will the lab technician help her to escape?

Although he’s turned into a drug addict, Joseph Adama finally finds his daughter’s avatar in New Cap City of V-World. Too much talking later and she shoots herself in front of him ... (of course he doesn’t know she can’t die in V-World) ... right before she shoots him. Now he can finally let go and accept that she is gone. Sister Clarice is going head to head with rogue Barnabas over Caprican leadership of their monotheistic sect. Zoe’s friend Lacy is joining Barnabas’ cell so that he’ll help her ship the Cylon U-87 to Geminon (home of the Soldiers of One). Unfortunately, Lacy can’t help Zoe fast enough, so robot and all, she breaks out of her father’s laboratory. She is pursued with helicopters and road blocks, the lot. Her truck explodes! Amanda Graystone has been slowly slipping away in her depression – only confiding in Clarice, who is too busy with her trip to Geminon. Amanda walks out the house, ends up on a bridge ... and jumps off... Talk about a mid-season cliffhanger!

Caprica 1x08

At planet Caprica, Joseph Adama is still looking for his dead daughter Tamara in virtual reality ... He learns that she been spotted at this joint in V-World New Cap City, appropriately called “Mysteries.” The club offers some freak cabaret, strip-tease, game show that’s too tedious for words. But she had performed there, so Adama is on the right track. Daniel Graystone has become convinced that the “avatar” of his daughter Zoe is trapped inside the body of his U87 Cylon prototype. So, he tries provoking her to reveal herself, talking to her about teenage rebellion and childhood traumas, giving the robot commands to see if she snaps, yelling at her, ordering her to shoot her dog (except he gave her blanks). She doesn’t budge. Amanda Graystone seems to be going insane, seeing her long-dead brother everywhere, even when she revisits the scene of his death. When she confides in Sister Clarice, the sly fox tries to turn the conversation to Zoe and her avatar that she’s trying to steal.

Caprica 1x07

On planet Caprica, Sister Clarice is working hard to become fast friends with Amanda Graystone, because she desires to speak to Zoe, or at least the “avatar” that is left of her in V-World. But Amanda is having an emotional breakdown ... having nightmares and believing she is seeing her dead brother... actually chasing his ghost... popping pills to stay sane... Clarice believes that it makes Amanda a vessel of God that she is seeing people who aren’t there... So, she is feeding her liquor and drugs... and Amanda confesses she has once been admitted to a mental institute for two and a half years (three years after her brother died) when she couldn’t cope with reality ... and she’s afraid it’s happening all over again.

Zoe’s friend Lacy is having trouble shipping Zoe-the-Cylon to planet Geminon... Rogue Soldier of One Barnabas is unwilling to help unless she becomes a monotheist, too. Joseph Adama is still hoping to find his daughter’s “avatar” in V-World’s New Cap City. Pressure on Daniel Graystone continues to sell his team, so that he can save the financial downturn of his company... But he also learns that the chip he stole from Vergis’ lab was deficient ... and so he starts to put the pieces together ... through his lab assistant (with whom Zoe is communicating in V-World) he starts thinking that part of the Cylon’s chip isn’t digital ... but somehow analog through some generative process... He realizes that the “avatar” of his daughter Zoe must have been uploaded onto the chip... “Zoe?” he asked the robot...

Caprica 1x06

On Caprica, when Daniel Graystone was desperately trying to finish his Cylon prototype for a military contract, he instructed Joseph Adama to order the Tauron organized crime syndicate to steal a meta-cognitive processor, i.e., an artificial intelligence chip created by Graystone’s rival the Vergis Corporation. We briefly visit the capital of the planet Tauron, a beautiful, faux-classical city, where we learn that two people were killed in the theft. Now industrialist Tomas Vergis approaches Graystone to confront him about the theft and the double murder, offering a lot of money to purchase the famous Caprican sports team owned by Graystone, revealing in due course that he is set in ruining all of Graystone’s dreams and ambitions.

Meanwhile headmistress Clarice, facing competition from some rogue Soldier of the One, sets out to steal the “avatar” (virtual identity) of Zoe Graystone, who she believes to be some godsend with visions of an eternal (though virtual) afterlife. Zoe’s friend Lacy, however, has persuaded foot soldier Keon to arrange a meeting with this rogue Barnabas, because she has promised Zoe to take a package to the planet Geminon. For his part Joseph Adama is still trying to find his lost daughter Tamara in V-world. No doubt this doesn’t mean much to you. It’s not a show I would recommend to anyone (not that it’s bad, but it isn’t great either), but since I’ve seen the entire Battlestar Galactica, I might as well watch the last few episodes of this one...

Caprica 1x05

On Caprica, things are finally starting to get interesting. Tamara, the daughter of big-time lawyer Joseph Adama, died on the monorail bombing. Yet her “avatar” is trapped in the anarchic V-world, the virtual reality created by Daniel Graystone’s company as a form of teenage recreation. She has been wandering around hoping to find her way out and now approaches this woman Vesta for help, only to get shot in the stomach. (Normal V-gamers check out, take off their “holoband.”) But Tamara’s wound stops bleeding and heels. So, the Vestal priestess uses her to settle a score, break a heist, to empty the bank account of some fat man called Chiron. (Perhaps some people enjoy all these references to Greek and Roman Myths and Religion. It annoys the heck out of me!)

Meanwhile Joseph Adama realizes he’s losing touch with his son Willie, who is drifting towards the world of organized crime in which Sam Adama is an enforcer. Sam helps Joseph understand that what Willie needs is closure, that is, the traditional Tauron funerary rites to mark the death of his mother and sister. On his part Daniel Graystone has to face the consequences of his promise on Colonial TV to make the holoband technology available for free – or lose his own company through a vote of no confidence by the board. So, he barges in with his Cylon prototype – the one with the “avatar” of his daughter Zoe somehow uploaded into it (except he doesn’t know that).

Caprica 1x04

Another explosion rocks Caprica City! This time no terrorist act by the Soldiers of One, but a high school student... or was it? At least there were no victims. Police raid the Athena Academy of headmistress Clarice Willow in hopes of finding any clues, if not for this recent explosion, then for the bombing on the monorail that killed Zoe Graystone and some many others. Soon after, the same police ransack Zoe’s room. Meanwhile, Joseph Adama still wishes to even the score and have Zoe’s mother dead, but then wavers after seeing her on TV, finally his guilty conscious weighs against it.

Strangely, Daniel Graystone apparently has very poor security at his home office, because Cylon Zoe can roam about, use his computers, the “holoband” and enter her simulated virtual reality to communicate with her friend Lacy. For his part, Little William Adama is still trying to figure out his life without his mother and sister (both were also killed in that train bombing), in a society that is unappreciative of his Tauron background. (It’s like being Mexican, Italian mobster, and Muslim all wrapped into one...)

What I really found interesting and well done is the scene at Backtalk, a Jay Leno-type talk show everybody on the Twelve Colonies watches, hosted by Baxter Sarno (stand-up comedian Patton Oswalt). Daniel Graystone is supposed to go on to defend his company from all the scandal revolving around his daughter’s involvement with the Soldiers of One as well as the possible connection with the holoband and the virtual reality it offers. Unexpectedly Amanda Graystone joins in, and a great moment finally occurs. It felt very much off-the-cuff, impromptu, like we were actually watching a live talk show. Well done.

Caprica 1x03

On Caprica Joseph Adama wants Daniel Graystone to help him talk to his daughter’s “avatar,” but because Graystone, believing he lost the program containing his daughter’s “avatar,” no longer wants anything to do with the whole sordid business he refuses. So, now Adama employs the help of his gangster brother, who throws a few punches until Graystone’s nose bleeds. Then, when Graystone finally allows Adama to return to the holographic virtual reality with a “holoband,” the girl is nowhere to be found. Adama, turning grief into anger, orders his brother to even out the score: he (Joseph) lost his daughter and his wife on the train ... Graystone only lost his daughter... Meanwhile, young Will Adama is gravitating towards his mobster uncle, trying to act like a tough guy, cutting class and running errands. The twists in the plot are getting a little more interesting.

On their part, Zoe’s parents are drawing closer over their shared grief and the realization that their daughter was involved with this monotheistic cult the Soldiers of One. With her disembodied “avatar,” uploaded into a Cylon prototype, she overhears her parents arguing whether she was the terrorist responsible for actually detonating the bomb... Then she figures a way to connect her “avatar” to the virtual reality in which she was created, hooks up with her friend Lacy, and stumbles upon Adama’s daughter Tamara! Fortunately that also means we go back to the sweating kids dancing to the droning music, but alas no sex, drugs or violence for now... More religious talk from head mistress Clarice about apotheosis and prophecies about Zoe being the Beloved of the Lord who received the spark of life, etcetera. (BTW: zoë in Greek means “life, life force, strength”; it’s also the Greek translation of the Hebrew name Eve.) Still, I feel this sounds more interesting in writing than it actually is ... and if you were bored to tears just reading this, don’t bother watching, of course, but it’s getting a tad more bearable than last week’s episode...

Caprica 1x02

Probably unintentionally the sci-fi show Caprica picks up some of where Dollhouse left off... Last week I told you about Zoe, a young girl who died in a monotheist-fundamentalist act of terrorism, but whose “avatar” (a virtual representation) continues to live. Her father uploads her avatar onto a robot to create the first cybernetic lifeform node, that he calls a Cylon. “Boring,” I hear you say... maybe... but let’s see where this show may take us, okay, I mean, I’m willing to give it a shot. Zoe’s parents are each in their own way trying to deal with the death of their daughter. Her mother wonders if Zoe was running away from her family, and who this Ben was, who detonated the explosion and turns out to be Zoe’s boyfriend. Her father is doing his best avoiding thinking about his daughter by working on the military applications for his Cylon prototype.

Joseph Adama is similarly trying to deal with the loss of his daughter Tamara, while his son Will is struggling with family life and being from Tauron. Then we have Lacy, who was Zoe’s friend. She’s now approached by her dope-smoking head mistress, who happens to be a Soldier of the One, and a practicing polygamist (married to multiple husbands and wives). So, now this girl Zoe (or her “avatar”) is trapped inside the body of a robot... Slowly she’s learning how to use her body’s mechanical strength. She’s still dealing with an identity crisis: being Zoe, the avatar and the robot, all at once. She’s a trinity, Lacy explains – throwing in another religious reference for good measure: three faces of the same entity. Alas, the CGI’s are rather bad ... I still can’t appreciate that awkward mix of futuristic features and elements straight out of the here and now ... still that annoying dangling hand-held camera work ... oh, yeah, and the cheesiest opening sequence (like the main titles from some kiddie fantasy show)...

Caprica 1x01

Are all you sci-fi fiends watching Caprica? This is the “prequel” to the Battlestar Galactica saga, taking place some six decades earlier, when the first Cylons were designed to perform robotic labor, mainly military, for the extraterrestrial human colony. So, what was life like? Or, rather, what will life be like? Sex, drugs, violence, anarchy! We get droning electronic music, sweat and blood, bare breasts and ritualistic murder. Fuck, fight, kill, or get high. But then it turns out that’s just the holographic virtual world teenagers like to play in after boarding school and uniforms, entitlement and screaming, overbearing parents and gods called Mars and Athena. In real life a suicide bombing on the skyline takes the life of two girls (among others), namely Tamara, daughter of Yosef Adama (William Adama’s father), and Zoe, daughter of Daniel Graystone. The Graystones live in a house like the Cullens of Twilight. (I believe it also is where Gaius Baltar will live when the Cylons attack Caprica.) Daniel is the head of some artificial intelligence corporation. The Adamas are originally from the planet of Tauron. (All Twelve Colonies are named after a zodiac sign.) Yosef, a well respected defense attorney, goes by the name of Joseph Adams to hide his Tauran background. In their shared grief Graystone and Adama are able to download the virtual “avatar” Zoe had created of herself onto a meta-cognitive processor and insert it in a robot – thus creating the first cybernetic life-form node. (Apologies for the sci-fi nonsense.)

The show’s futurism on Caprica City mostly looks just like New York City, midtown Manhattan and the Upper East Side, with some L.A. and Portland, Oregon, thrown in for good measure. (Actually, the show is shot on location in Vancouver). This is supposed to make it more recognizable and easier to identify with... But there are gadgets: holographic spectacles (“holobands”), touch-screens as thin as parchment, and a Cylon prototype playing paintball. Also remarkably contemporary is the ethnic tension. Taurons especially are the outcasts, who speak a different language (sounding like ancient Greek to these ears). Then we have religious fanaticism in the form of terrorism by the dogmatic monotheistic group called the Soldiers of the One. We soon learn that this believe in the absolute truth, in good and evil, and one true god, is propagated by the headmistress of Zoe’s boarding school, Sister Clarice Willow (portrayed by the marvelous Polly Walker, who we all know and love as Rome’s Atia of the Julii). This monotheism is abstract enough to often resemble Christianity or Judaism, but reminiscent enough of Islamic fundamentalism to be highly appropriate in this day and age. Apart from that, it seems that just about everybody’s voice croaks like a hoarse toad. And unfortunately the camera keeps shaking like it was filmed on handheld... Anyway, it looks sufficiently interesting that I’ll be checking this out regularly and will keep you up-to-date.