Caprica Episode Review
In which Zoe is a monster
What Happened
Greystone is worried when the demonstration robot is the only one who seems able to use the stolen chip. Unaware of Zoe A's presence, he orders the robot brought to his home lab.
Lacey is invited to have Saturday lunch with Sister Clarice, who lives with her husbands and wives in a loud but pleasant home. Her hottest husband Nestor makes a special effort to be nice to Lacey.
Zoe A calls Lacey from Greystone's lab, asking her to help figure out what has happened. Lacey is stunned to see Zoe A's robot form, but agrees to help.
Joseph Adama's son spends time with his brother Sam. Ordered to do a "job" with William in tow, Sam gets them both arrested when he smashes a shop window to intimidate the owner.
William does not give his father the details of his little field trip.
Joseph becomes worried that Tamara's avatar may be lost and alone in cyberspace and demands that Greystone give him another chance to speak with her. Still upset over what happened to Zoe A, Greystone pretends that he deleted the program.
Amanda Greystone becomes aware that Zoe had a boyfriend, Ben, and laments that she didn't know her own daughter. When Ben's mother gives her a pin in the shape of the STO infinity symbol, Amanda realizes that Zoe might have been involved in the bombing.
At a memorial service for the victims, Amanda impulsively announces that Zoe may have been a terrorist, causing the crowd to rush at her, screaming. Greystone hustles his wife into a car and away from the mob, while Adama looks on.
The Good
Good character development. They have resisted the urge to blow more things up just to see them go boom. We also got to see more of the secondary characters like Sam and Clarice. This really is more of a soap opera set in "space" than an adventure show. I am enjoying the slow build, but then I liked that about Flash Forward as well. And as I said, they are moving fast enough on the bits that matter. I appreciated them not dragging out the part where Amanda goes digging into her daughter's life.
Finally, the switching between Zoe A in her robot form to her in her human form was suprisingly effective. It builds a connection to the character. Although, they are getting a suprising amount of body language out of the CGI robot. There was also some humor with Tweedledee and Tweedledum interacting with Zoe A's robot form. It balanced the angst.
The Bad
The problem with the slow build structure is that the viewer has to have faith that their patience will pay off. Not an issue right now, but we don't want to wait too long before we roll out the big guns.
The Cliche
Lab rats always come in pairs. There's the one who says "Don't touch that" or "Be careful with that explosive device" or "Be nicer to that giant killer robot." And then there's the one that says "What could go wrong" or "I don't believe in curses" or "It's just a machine."
What Did I Think?
Early days yet, but I'm still interested.
