Galactica Station's Review of Caprica 1.11 - Retribution

Happy Sunday!  This is Captain Kickass, bringing you a late review of Caprica Episode 1.11 “Retribution.”

The episode opens with Lacey and a few others from Barnabus’s STO cell.  They are planning to bomb a Caprican Space Port.  Lacey looks doubtful, and at the last moment tries to back out (a shadow of Lacey in Episode 1.1).  However, in doing so, she looks guilty, and a security guard realizes that something is going on.  As he moves toward Lacey, shots ring out.  Lacey’s STO group member starts shooting in order to get them out of there.  They escape barely, but as one of them attempt to remotely activate the bomb as they escape, Lacey admits that she still has the bomb.  They scramble to get rid of it and then leave Lacey by the side of the road to walk home.

Later, Clarice actively targets Barnabus’s STO cell, upset that her students deserted her.  One of the STO members is watching news coverage of the bomb attempt as he sits in the bathtub.  Clarice walks in and asks why he left her.  His response is not enough for her so she throws the TV into the tub and walks away.  The student is electrocuted in the bath.  Next, Clarice goes to visit a second STO member, Hippolyta.  Hippolyta greets her nervously, but then starts to run after seeing the look in Clarice’s eyes. Clarice shots her in cold blood.

I wonder about Clarice’s idea of Mercy.  Before killing the first STO member, she tells him that she forgives him.  What is her idea of forgiveness, and mercy, really?  Why was she so angry with her students?  Why didn’t she try to talk them back to her side?  Clarice is complex-creepy, cold and unfeeling.

In the meantime, Lacey confronts Barnabus about sending the STO cell to the risky Caprican Space Port.  Barnabus angrily asks her where the other two members are.  They continue to fight as Keon watches on.  Barnabus asks Lacey if she is loyal to him or to Clarice and Lacey responds that she is loyal to the one true God.  I wonder if Lacey actually believes in the One True God or if she is just professing a belief in order to gain the trust of the STO and achieve her own goal of helping Zoe A. Lacey has grown a lot during the course of the season.  At the beginning of Caprica, Lacey was a scared teenager who backed out of a deal with her best friends an unwittingly escaped death by bombing.  Now Lacey is a spy, an agent for herself and Zoe A.  She is scared and uncertain but determined to reach her goal.

As Lacey and Barnabus continue to argue, Keon jumps in.  They fight and Keon threatens to walk out.  Keon tries to make good on his threat and Barnabus shoots Keon in the head.  Lacey screams and runs to his side.  Just that minute, Clarice walks in and confronts Barnabus.  She ends up shooting him and taking Lacey with her (likely this is something to do with Zoe). 

 Again, Clarice shows no mercy toward Barnabus, but this is unsurprising given that Barnabus was her biggest rival among the Caprica STO leaders.  I always felt that Barnabus and Clarice were very similar.  Barnabus had a tendency toward an uncontrollable rage and looked nastier on the outside, but he would do anything to reach his STO goals.  Clarice has more of a cold, quiet, but just-as-deadly rage and the same level of determination.  I am not happy that Barnabus is gone.  I would have preferred for Barnabus to have been displaced by Clarice and worked secretly to undo her.  Plus, James Marsters is always fun to watch.  Oh well.

Joseph and Daniel force a Greystone Industries board member, Cornell, into Daniel’s living room. They ask Cornell to vote in Daniel’s favor at the upcoming board meeting. Cornell vehemently refuses. Daniel gives him a look and threatens to expose Cornell's past drug addiction and propensity for young girls. He further threatens to tell Cornell's family. Cornell still refuses and is ushered out.  Daniel and Joseph later review other members they can “persuade” to Daniel’s side.  Daniel reveals a big secret about one member he used to count as a friend, and looks regretful for a moment but forges ahead.  Later in the episode, Cornell shoots himself rather than bend to Daniel’s wishes.  Cornell’s wife runs after Daniel’s car blaming him for her husband’s death.  Daniel again looks regretful but does not stop.

Come to think of it, I am not sure how different Daniel and Clarice are from one another.  It’s true that from what we’ve seen, Daniel does not do his own killing, but he definitely allows it to happen to suit his own needs.  Daniel Greystone also shows more remorse than Clarice does, however, the end result, death and destruction, is the same.  He does not learn from his choices, own his mistakes, or alter his course.  He and Clarice both get what they want no matter what.

The scene shifts to Amanda in the shower thinking about her fall and the aftermath.  Daniel rushed to visit her afterwards but she refused to see him at first.  When she did see him, she confronted her husband about the MCP and the death of Vergis’s men.  Daniel refused to take responsibility saying that he did not know what would happen.  He then retorts that he didn’t blame her for Zoe.  Amanda is taken aback and asks how Zoe hating her would be the equivalent to being a bad mother.  Daniel attempts to stammer his way out of it, but Amanda says that he is not the man she married.

Agent Tom is suspicious of Clarice.  He realizes that the STO teens that just died went to the same school as Zoe and Ben Stark.  He asks Clarice some questions and she manages to give him convoluted answers.  He voices his suspicions to his partner who dismisses them.  He finally goes to Amanda Greystone, explains his suspicions, and asks her to spy on Clarice for him.  Amanda is conflicted but refuses to do it.

After Agent Tom leaves, Amanda remembers Clarice’s obsession with Zoe and that a few nights ago, Clarice had a holoband on and was saying Zoe’s name.  The last scene showed us that Amanda planned to kill Clarice for her lies, but decided to spy on her instead.

Amanda is an interesting individual when compared to Daniel and Clarice.  Amanda is weaker, sweeter, and more moral than either of them, but she is also more gullible than them and not as forgiving as she seems.  As discussed earlier, she refused to admit Daniel because she could not come to terms with what he had allowed to happen.  Her anger with Daniel was further fueled by his unwitting accusation of her part in Zoe’s scandal.  It’s evident that his comments affected her not only because they were naturally offensive, but also because she has had her own regrets about her rocky relationship with her late daughter.  She can’t take his actions or accusations and can’t handle her own guilt over Zoe and her own brother, so she runs away to Clarice.  Now she has realized that Clarice is somehow involved in the Zoe and STO mess and is in a bind.  Amanda has no idea who to trust or what to really do, but at least she’s finally getting out of bed and taking matters into her own hands.  I’m waiting to see what she does next.

All in all, I feel that this episode was a 7/10.  It had some interesting elements, but each element felt rushed and deserved more time to develop.  I myself still haven’t seen episode 1.12, but I am looking forward to it with anxious curiosity.

That’s it for now.  Watch out for GoobyRastor’s review of “Things We Lock Away” coming soon.

Galactica Station's Review of Caprica 1.10 - Unvanquished

Hi Everyone!  This is Captain Kickass and it is my pleasure to bring you a review of the Caprica episode Unvanquished.  We at GS are excited that reviews will be starting again and I personally apologize that we are a bit behind with season 1.5.  Hopefully things will calm down soon.  On to the review!

I really enjoyed some of the parallels in the season 1.5 opener to key events in Season 1.0.  The episode begins with a shot of a drunk Daniel Greystone nearly passed out on the couch.  Distressed, he flips channels on the TV.  Every channel is discussing Vergis’s takeover of the C-Bucks, Greystone Industries, or Amanda’s fall three weeks earlier.  Daniel stares miserably at the screen.   The scene largely paralleled the situation Daniel and Amanda found themselves in after they found out Zoe was connected to the STO.  They were already miserable but sunk to a terrified despair.  They flipped channels and watched Sarno make fun of them on his show.   Daniel Greystone has always been depicted as a steely, ruthless businessman, suave, collected, often with a drink in his hand. In contrast, the current Daniel is a slovenly mess. He has quite obviously lost everything and makes me think back to what he used to be.

But Daniel has a streak of determination and ruthlessness that surpasses all of his emotions.  Back when Amanda announced Zoe’s possible involvement in the attacks, Daniel fought against the backlash by going on Sarno himself and throwing himself into his work.  He became even more ruthless, eventually going as far as torturing Cylon-Zoe while he thought that his daughter’s avatar was inhibiting the machine.  How much more callous could a man get? 

Now, Daniel musters up that old determination again.  He somehow pulls himself to his feet and manages to go meet with the Tauron mob boss.  Sam and Joseph Adama are in attendance as Daniel tells the mob boss about the potential of the avatars to bring loved ones back and of the eventual possibility of finding them bodies.  The mob boss asks Daniel why it would work this time.  Daniel argues his point passionately and in return, asks the Tauron mob for their help in retrieving Greystone Industries from Vergis.  The mob boss considers his proposal and talks to a seemingly reluctant Joseph Adama.  He ends up appointing Joseph as his advocate in the matter.

We don’t know exactly what Daniel has up his sleeve this time.  I don’t believe that Daniel quite believes that the avatars can be brought back, but at this point, he is willing to do anything to retrieve a piece of all he lost – his company.  Daniel is well aware that the deal he’s striking is dangerous, but really what has he left to lose?  He doesn't care. We also don’t know what Joseph’s motives are.  Before Daniel commits to their deal, Joseph asks him to make a call that will kill Daniel’s mother.  Daniel appears to actually consider doing it, but cannot go through with it.  The scene is chillingly similar to one earlier in the season in which Sam bluffs Joseph regarding killing Amanda Greystone.

It should be hard to feel sympathy for poor, pathetic Daniel Greystone.  He has engaged in countless cruel actions in the name of business and power.  He {indirectly} allowed for the death of one of Vergis’s men, tortured the Zoe-Cylon endlessly, and considered killing his own mother just to name a few.  But oddly, it isn’t hard to feel sympathy for him.  Rich, powerful, smug, morally deficient and whatever else he may be,  Daniel Greystone feels emotions and is conflicted over the immoral choices he makes.  His mad craze to bring Zoe’s avatar to life in avatar form was a direct result of the loss of the daughter he loved.  Similarly, it could be argued that his actions toward Vergis and Cylon-Zoe were also a result of that loss.  He’s a man in deep pain that was probably a bit morally grey anyhow, and Zoe’s death started a spiral that Daniel (and Amanda) never recovered from.  So I suppose I should despise him, or love to hate him, but honestly, I love watching him and trying to figure out what he’ll do next.  He’s psychologically complex and completely damaged.

Meanwhile, on Gemenon...  

A teenage girl with the coloring of Zoe hugs her mother with a sad knowing look in her eye.  She walks into the C-Bucks stadium.  The camera pans to several other people, including Clarice, and they all walk into the stadium and activate black devices.  The stadium blows up.  Whoa - another parallel to the very beginning – the bombing that started it all.

Clarice removes the holoband and looks at the Priest (no, I don’t remember his name)  triumphantly.  He doesn’t understand, and she puts the holoband back on to show the specific people from the stadium rematerializing in a sort of paradise.  She takes the holoband off and explains that that is her idea of Apotheosis, or “artificial heaven.”  She argues that Apotheosis is The One True God’s plan for humanity.  The Priest does not agree with her.  Clarice then asks for an audience with someone called “Mother,” and the Priest looks surprised.

The Priest meets with a robed woman who looks like a female Pope (no offense to my Catholic friends).  “Mother” as she is called, listens quietly as the Priest describes Clarice’s “crazy” idea of Apotheosis.  It’s not clear if Mother agrees with the Priest, but she agrees to let him eliminate Clarice.  Clarice is of course one step ahead of the Priest and seduces a guard named Diego.  When the Priest appears to supposedly take Clarice to meet Mother, she and the guard turn on him, brutally killing him.  Clarice then introduces herself to Mother and tells her that the Priest is dead.  The Mother doesn’t say that she agrees outright with Clarice either, but she astounds Clarice by allowing her control over the STO cells in Caprica and anything else she wants.

Clarice is an incredibly complex character as well.  Everything in me shouts “Villain!” when the character appears on screen, but I question myself on that.  Why do I think she’s a villain?  If she orchestrated the bombings at the beginning of Caprica, well then, surely she would be a villain.  But, there was some indication that she was as surprised by the bombings as everyone else was.  So, what actually makes me think of her as a villain?  Is it her creepiness?  Her cold manipulation of others?  Her polygamy (which is societally accepted)?  I don’t know.  She IS a terrorist/spy.  But is she any more evil than Daniel, Joseph or Sam Adama?  Maybe?  Maybe not.  Why/how did she become who she is now?  What brought her down this road? She sure is thrilling to watch in any case.

What about Mother?  What are her real thoughts and motives?  How will she fit in the show?  I get the feeling she is VERY dangerous, but I don’t quite have a reason for that yet.

Oh, and Amanda’s alive!  YES!  Why is she living with Clarice?  I guess we’ll find out.

All in all, this was a terrific episode, rated 9/10.  Some questions I’d like to leave you with:

1. Why is Clarice obsessed with Zoe in particular?  Was Zoe close to making Apotheosis possible?  Hmm.  Is the idea if Apotheosis a precursor to cylon resurrection?  What does Mother really think?
2. What is Daniel up to?  What about Joseph?
3. What will the Tauron mob do to Daniel?
4. Will Zoe find Tamara?

So many questions!  I can’t wait to see more of Caprica.  I found Season 1.0 rocky in some places, but I find myself not wanting to blink in this half.  Here’s hoping Caprica has found its feet at last!  

Be sure to look for a review of episode two in a day or two!

-Captain K