Caprica

Caprica Episode Review

In which Clarice gets yanked around by a sixteen year old and Adama discovers that having a killer in the family can be convinient.

What Happened

Clarice tries to get Lacy to open up about Zoe's avatar, but Lacy is suspicious of Clarice and refuses to spill. Later, she and Zoe-A meet in cyberspace and try to figure out how to get Zoe-A and her giant killer robot body to Gemanon. While they do that, the pair stumbles over Tamara's avatar and let her out of Daniel's big black box.

Amanda's very public confession of Zoe's guilt has sent Greystone's stock plummeting. He is harassed to go on a talk show and plead for forgiveness, but resists dragging what is left of Zoe's memory through the mud.

Joseph insists that Daniel show him Tamara's avatar again, but when they go into cyberspace, she is gone. Returning home, Joseph talk to his brother Sam, pointing out that Adama lost a wife and daughter in the blast, but Greystone only lost a daughter.

Even the score, he demands.

The Good

Lacy can so tell Clarice is up to no good. I loved her routine of "Can I have...?" as Clarice is desperately trying to bond and gush and share. Lacy is going to turn out to be an interesting character, I think.

And it's always nice to see Peter Wingfield, who was Methos on Highlander, even if he is playing a standard issue Police boss. (I have this theory about actors on Highlander being automatically cool, but I'm pretty sure that's just me.)

The Bad

As much as I do like Lacy, she doesn't really think that she's going to steal a giant killer robot and mail it to another planet? Right?

The Cliche

Ugh. TV Show Host and PR Flack. They had better come up with something more interesting for Daniel's little on-air visit than him breaking down on live television and winning everyone's hearts with how "real" he is.

What Did I Think?

Joseph targeting Amanda is an interesting twist. He doesn't do things by half measures, does he? What I find unique about his character is that they aren't going for the lone voice of goodness in a family of criminals routine with him. Adama is outwardly respectable, but he just as deep as his brother when you get down to it. What he really complains about isn't the immorality of their life - it's that he's not respected enough by their criminal overlords. Guys like that Judge have no qualms about putting him in his poor little peon place and that really burns.

We'll have to see if he's willing to really take out Amanda, or if he's going to get a sudden case of the morals, fuss about for most of the episode, then change his mind at the last second and let her go with a lecture about how that makes him a better person. Either way, I hope it comes down to a real decision, not some convenient plot shrug simply because it's the end of the episode.

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.

Caprica Episode Review

In which killer robots are never a good idea. Especially ones piloted by angst-ridden teenagers. Dead angst-ridden teenagers.

What Happened

Scientist Daniel Greystone and attorney Joseph Adama meet after their daughters and Adama's wife are killed in a terrorist attack. Zoe's mother Amanda is horrified when investigators tell her that Zoe's boyfriend Ben was a follower of the "one true god," and a member of a terrorist organization.

Lacey, Zoe's best friend, is encouraged by Sister Clarice to make peace with what happened by continuing Zoe's work. Lacey knows that Zoe had programmed a virtual avatar of herself so life-like as to be an identical copy of her personality. Visiting "Zoe A," however, Lacey is followed by Daniel Greystone.

Meeting Zoe A, Greystone is initially skeptical, but she convinces him that she is - for all intents and purposes - his daughter. Wanting to download Zoe A into a robotic body he has been building for the government, Greystone asks Adama to use his criminal connections to steal a computer processor from his competitors.

Lured by the promise of resurrecting his own family, Adama asks a favor of the Tauron crime lord who fostered him and his brother. But when he meets the avatar of his daughter Tamara, she is so frightened and confused by what's happened that Adama concludes the entire experiment is a bad idea.

Greystone goes ahead with his plans for Zoe A, but the robot he places her in collapses under the strain and the data appears to be irreparably corrupted. Devastated, he locks Zoe A away and uses the stolen technology to perfect the next version of his mechanical soldiers.

Reviving, Zoe A calls Lacey for help.

The Good

Put it this way: the pilot is two hours long, but I didn't check the clock until an hour and half into it. That's how well this held my interest.

Enough time is spent both character- and world-building. There are some slow scenes as the beginning. Slow in the sense that not much is "happening," but the dialogue and acting are there to establish character. This is not going to be a show that shies away from characters talking in the false belief that the audience prefers big explosions.

The acting is solid. I am particularly surprised that while they played the poor little rich girl card with Zoe, I did not want to strangle her. Now, that's talented.

And the story does stand on its own. You don't have to have seen Battlestar Galactica in order to follow what's happening.

The Bad

The reason I quit BSG was the unrelenting bleakness. Caprica looks quit capable of following in the same vein. Dramatic is good. Melodramatic even, every once in a while. But leaven the dose with a bit of humor here and there, okay?

The Cliche

Dude.

Killer robots.

'Nuff said.

What Did I Think?

Interesting concepts. Well executed. We'll have to see what they do next.

The "prequel" to recent revamp of Battlestar Galatica, this series introduces us to two families as they mourn the deaths of their children.

One father, Daniel Greystone, will do anything to bring his daughter Zoe back to life - including trying to download her self-aware computer avatar into a mechanical body. The other, Joseph Adama, tries to figure out what he believes when offered the chance to resurrect his own family.

Created by Ronald D Moore. Starring Eric Stoltz and Esai Morales.