Caprica - Pilot, S01E01

The import and impact of any science fiction series comes from the way it reflects the problems in our own society and forces us to think about them from different perspectives. Battlestar Galactica did this time and again, earning it great praise. Now, the hope is to do the same thing with Caprica.

Instead of being confronted with desperate people trying to make choices for survival, Caprica brings us a world that we can relate to more easily. These people have not lost their homes and everything they have ever known; they are not in danger of imminent death. Like us, their society has reached the point of decadence where self-destruction is all but inevitable. Did the Romans realize the trouble their empire was in? Do we?

And yet, the is not the focus of the new show, not the decadence or the destructive choices, not exactly anyway. Instead, religion is the issue of the day. Whereas in BSG, monotheists and polytheists were divided between Cylons and Humans, in Caprica, we learn that monotheism is being embraced by humans, some of whom are using the extreme measures of terrorism to get their point across. But unlike in BSG when the humans took up suicide bombing in their fight against the Cylons (taking humans with them, too), Caprica's suicide bombing did not make me feel that maybe there is a time and a place for that sort of action, or at least understand that way of thinking.

I did not like the little punk who blew up the train, and was quite annoyed with him for killing several characters with potential.

I want to like Caprica, and I will continue to watch it, but the premiere just happened too fast. We did not get enough of a sense of the characters before the bomb went off and changed all their lives. Who were these people who died? Did Zoe (Alessandra Torresani) ever had a good relationship with her parents, or is it only in her death that they begin to regret the distance? I'm not sure what the writers wanted us to think.

Again, comparing the show to BSG, I have the equal impression in this premiere that the writers don't know where exactly they are headed. Unfortunately, while that worked and made sense for a bunch of humans fleeing across the galaxy, it does not on a planet with established everything. I wanted to have a sense of the order that had once been and was beginning to fall into disorder, as the lack of the need to survive brings out more bizarre needs and urges.

Finally, the biggest problem for me is that I have no one to relate to. There are grown adults, with flourishing careers and young children, and there are confused teenagers. I am a confused adult, unsure of what career to follow, with the difficulties of finding a mate, rather than keeping that relationship alive.

So, Caprica is off to a rocky start, at least in my mind. Did it meet your expectations? Are you satisfied? Do you see a path that will take this show somewhere wonderful? Let me know!