I’ve got a few highlights to go over for this episode, but before I do that I need to address the issue of the unlikableness of the characters in Caprica. Deb watches this show with me — kinda-sorta — and one thing she’s noted for the past few weeks is how there are no likable characters on this show. I didn’t believe her, so I kept a close eye out to prove her wrong. And you know something? I can’t. I cannot find anyone I want to root for or who I consider the “hero.” I don’t really care about what happens to any of the characters, except that I want some of them to just go away.
You could argue that we should be rooting for Lacey, but so far she seems like such a minor character in the scheme of things that I can’t make that leap. You could also argue that it’s Joseph Adama we should be rooting for, but I can’t say I feel that way about him, at least not yet. I actually kinda cared about Philomon … until he died.
Is there someone you’re pulling for in this show? If it’s Tamara, can you really pull for a virtual being? This is where I’m going to have a tough time going forward. If it’s “about the characters, stupid,” then I guess Moore’s point is that it’s about not liking any one of them in this case, and I’m not sure how that translates to a good series.
Alrighty then, onto some things from this episode:
So much for the theory that Nicky Casino was Tamara in disguise, though her almost de-rezzing last week pretty much took that theory out of the running. With Evelyn showing yet more involvement in Joseph’s life, it’s sure looking like she might become future Mrs. Adama, doesn’t it?
Did you notice the DRADIS on the ships chasing Zoe? Probably my one true “squee!” moment of this series.
Come on, how big was the collective cheer from Caprica viewers at Amanda Graystone taking that leap? Alright, so we don’t really know if she actually took that final step, but I’m hopeful — sorry if that makes me all evil. I have a feeling, though, that they’ll pull a fast one on us and she was distracted from that explosion and never jumped. That will just piss me off.
With what appears to be a good chunk of episodes left in the can, why are they delaying showing us more until the Fall? I’m not honestly sure I’ll be back reviewing it when it does return, which I know those of you who like this show will be happy to hear. Of course I really wish it was a show I could fully stand behind, but even through this finale I’m underwhelmed. Maybe my tune will change in a few months.
Clacked by Keith McDuffee 
on Mar 26, 2010 @ 22:29 EST5EDT
It’s not coming back until the fall because it’s on Syfy and they are the stupidest network in the world and have never heard of momentum. By the time this comes back I will have completely lost what little interest I had left and won’t bother tuning in. Just like I lost interest in SGU and won’t be watching that next week. I have nearly forgotten that Eureka even exists! Way to go Syfy programming!
I can’t watch this show, I don’t like it, and you summed up why. Everyone’s annoying/a jerk/boring, and I don’t like any of them enough to watch. Ugh. How come everyone else loves it?
I have moments when I root for Joseph, Daniel or Zoe, but it goes away as quick as it comes. The rest, hardly a care at all. I would like most of them to get gone. Yes, I smiled when I thought for one brief shining moment that Amanda was going to do that for me.
I suppose I’ll give the next episode a shot.
Spoiler much, dude?
I know you want to jump right on it and be the first one to post a recap, but couldn’t you at least wait until the west coast people have seen it?
Zoe is now a murderess. Hard to love that. That’s a big step for Cylons. She was the one I WAS rooting for. Evelyn seems nice enough.
Assuming Vergis takes it all away from Graystone, perhaps Graystone and Adama can team up and take on a more unselfish and possibly a more heroic mantle.
I still like the show, but honestly I was expecting much more from this episode. I’ll be watching when it returns, for sure.
I started half-watching the marathon this afternoon, while multitasking on a school report, and now I’ve seen all the episodes since episode four. I found the show intriguing enough that i went online to seek more details about the stuff I didn’t know. But wow, I agree, I found no character to root for. They are all very unlikable.
The episode where Daniel was trying to force Zoe to admit that she was in the cylon was so sadistic that I found myself wondering why he was the protagonist. With all the psychological terror and physical abuse he did to the robot he thought was his daughter (okay, her avatar, but still, it’s her.) Seriously, what kind of father, other than a abusive one, would do that. He was so awful that I found no redeemable value in his character after that, and I wonder why the writers wrote that for someone I assume we should at least find approachable.
The only plot I really enjoyed was Philomon and Zoe’s little cyber affair, but I knew he was gonna be killed out (with all the Syfy promos that promised someone dying tonight, he’s probably the most expendable.) Although I think Zoe killed him accidentally, not exactly murderous, because she didn’t know how powerful her physical force is. But now, that’s over, a bit disappointing.
With all the characters unlikable, the show does run slow, and the other plots don’t help either. The whole Clarice and STO business seem to go nowhere, so is Amanda’s haunted vision, and Joseph’s tragic pursue of Tamara seem to finally comes to a conclusion tonight (although I did enjoyed the side plot with Tamara’s journey in holoband world.) The finale is underwhelming, and I don’t like the cliffhangers when I don’t exactly care about what happen to the characters who might not survive. They should have give up a shocking reveal, rather than keep us guessing who died. There’s definitely not enough excitement for me to become a regular viewer, oh well, at least it was entertaining enough to accompany me when I’m typing paper right before the deadline.
I think Caprica has generally been excellent, but I certainly can understand why it’s not to the taste of others. As everyone seems to agree, there’s no one character with significant rooting value. I’m not sure why there would be such a character in a series about the downfall of civilization – generally such a story wouldn’t call for the presence of much heroism, And the series has focused a lot more on character than plot so far.
If this was an adventure show or a copy show, it would need people to root for. I don’t think a straight drama needs, but the lack of them is certainly going to limit the potential viewership. I was surprised SyFy went ahead with the series for that reason. In tone, it probably has more in common with FX series like Damages than anything else SyFy airs.
I was under the self imposed impression that the show would take the route of humans oppressing cylons, not knowing that they were sentient. In my mind, the hero would be Zoe (not now, she’s a murderess) and her ilk (perhaps Tamara and Amanda).
So far, I have been wrong.
bsgfan2003
I do not believe Zoe meant to actually kill that fellow. So technically, that would not make her a murderer (just my take). I just thought that may give you back your favorite character to hope for.
Yeah, I can see that too. But even allowing for murder by accident, she comes off as self serving.
I also did not like it when she talked about shooting her dad, even though he horrible with the battery of psych tests.
“Caprica lacks likeable characters.”
Yes.
It’s the reason why that world is broken, and why what has happened before will happen again. Too much pettiness, religious hypocrisy, drug use, killing and violence.
None of the characters are particular sympathetic; all of them are complete heels. As such, that’s why most of the buggers will die when the Cylons rise up – and if they last to the Fall of the Colonies, well the rest of them will go, as we know.
It’s like watching Eastenders. Only slightly more fun. I’m actually enjoying it.
Actually enjoying the series far more than I ever thought I would. I don’t have a problem with not having a specific character to root for, gives you more room to think and reflect, and less room for there to be a clearcut message or moralizing going on from the creators.
What I’m enjoying the most is the unexpectedness of it all, the unorthodoxy in the series — it’s not really something I’ve seen before, doesn’t really follow a formula I recognize, which makes it more interesting. Almost like watching a deep theatre piece rather than a TV show or film, there’s a depth that may drown many casual TV viewers, but give a lake for viewers who are looking for something more to swim in.
I don’t know why I like Zoe, but I’m really drawn to her. Considering we’re probably not supposed to, I can’t help but agree with Keith’s point here (I won’t miss Amanda either, but I doubt the character’s done for just yet).
I also can’t disagree with TVJunkie…. This episode just felt underwhelming. Or, at the very least, just whelming.
Was the procurement Colonel played by Jill Teed, who played Sgt. Hadrian in the first season of BSG? (Or am I just coo coo).
I really am liking Marsters’ turn as Barnabus, but:
I don’t know where the show is going, or, frankly, what the purpose of the show is. Keith (and Deb) are so right that the characters are impossible to like or identify with, and I just don’t know why I should come back in the fall.
What’s not to like about Zoe? Her whole story is that there’s this scared young girl trapped inside a robot body. I think her killing someone was more the result of not knowing her strength and freaking out, not maliciousness. I think her flashes and her reactions showed that she was deeply upset by it.
Sometimes she can do the wrong things, but it’s all linked up to immaturity and fear. I think she’s had good intentions the whole way through.
When she shot the dog, she did so knowing the precise weight of the bullets, and that the bullets were blank. So, surely with that kind of sensory data available to her, she would know full well her own strength? When she pulls Philo out of the way, she should have known exactly how much strength to use just to get him out of the way / knock him unconscious / kill him.
I don’t mind the fact that none of the characters are easy to identify with as all out heroes or all out villains. That’s always been the nature of BSG. Think for example of Laura Roslin, on the surface the good matriarch, the dying leader who helps save humanity, but also someone who attempted to commit infanticide (murder of Hera) genocide (virus attack to wipe out the cylon race) murder (attempted murder of Baltar) advising Adama to assassinate Kane, cheating the election to defeat Baltar, having an affair with the married President Adar on Caprica. So, I don’t really have a problem with Caprica’s morally ambiguous characters. What I think we need though, are more situations where that morality of character is really put to the test.
if I have a problem with Caprica, it’s that the actress who plays Zoe Graystone, Alessandra Torresina, is good, but only just. She doesn’t seem to be able to convey much in the way of emotion. When she first encountered v-Tamara, when she was forced to shoot her dog, when she was being burned alive and tortured by her father, she just had a slightly dumb-teenager look on her face. To me this wasn’t deliberate, but simply a lack of emotional or life experience in a young actress, perhaps coupled with a limited amount of acting skill / experience. I mean, compare any of those examples with say BSG, when Baltar is asked to question Kane’s raped and physically abused cylon prisoner, who turns out to be a six. That was an emotionally devastating episode, as were many others.
This is added to by the music for Caprica, which deliberately, has used a more traditional orchestra, and classical sound. Though I love the music, and Bear McCreary is a genius, taking this approach to the music doesn’t help to convey a sense of Caprica being a burgeoning metropolis, since metropolises such as ancient Rome, or modern London and New York were and are very multi-cultural, with all sorts of cultural influences mixing and fusing together. Ancient Rome had a Greek quarter, Jewish quarter etc just as modern London, New York etc have a little China and little Italy. The music needs to convey that cultural variety, which so far, it’s only hinted at once or twice.
Another thing: Caprica city itself seems too small, or too sparsely populated to be like ancient Rome. In season 4 of BSG though, there was an amazing scene that showed Caprica before the fall, at night time, with the neon lit buildings, and an amazing piece of music by Bear McCreary that was haunting, amabient, but with a darkness. A city at night time, I think, is much denser looking than a city in broad daylight. But then again, Caprica is a planet and city with people living every day lives, not quite at the level of Los Angeles 2019 Blade Runner yet, with almost eternal darkness and rain.
But shooting the dog was a very premeditated act, with plenty of time to consider all the consequences. It was obvious that Zoe was panicking when she hit Philomon, and it seems to me from her reaction that she didn’t really intend to injure, much less kill, him.
True…maybe it’ll become clearer how much of a moral compass Zoe really has, and whether killing Philomon was a pure accident? I was thinking that perhaps Zoe’s lack of emotion in certain situations might stem from the fact that however much she might look like Zoe, she isn’t. She’s a digital representation, and despite their similarity, she might not have the full suite of emotional responses that real Zoe would have had. Reminds of the Voight Kamph test in Blade Runner, which distinguished between human and replicant by their emotional responses to various scenarios.