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.