Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Caprica - Gravedancing, S01E04

Although I still think that the opening credits are too cheesy for a show that is related to Battlestar Galactica (and I wonder when/if Caprica will ever earn the right to be know for itself and not just in the shadow of its future), I actually really liked this episode.

I'm still uncertain about the premise. Where is Caprica trying to go? What social commentary are they trying to make? It still feels unstructured, and while that worked for BSG, where the goal was unclear, but certainly survival in the face of constant danger the driving force, we are supposed to be in a world that is Rome during the fall. The structure should be there, fractured and unstable, but there.

Still, we are moving forward with the idea of the Soldiers of the One being terrorists who are trying to corrupt the children. And what does that make Clarice (Polly Walker)? She seems to care so much about everything, but does she care about the children, or are they just a means to an end? And what is that end?
And regardless of what anyone might think about the idea of a group marriage and how it might function, I think that 4 people in a bed that size cannot be comfortable.

On the other hand, I think that the Daniel (Eric Stoltz) and Amanda (Paula Malcomson) Greystone are the perfect couple. Okay, so they messed up with their daughter, but not as badly as they think. Zoey (Alessandra Torresani) never intended for that train to blow up. But the strength of their relationship through the most trying of circumstances shows a deep bond based in real love, and that is not something we often get to see on screen. Happy couples, sometimes, couples destroyed by disaster, frequently, but not perfectly matched people legitimately making it work against the odds.

Their appearance on international TV together brought forth another social comment. On Caprica, they removed the profit from drugs, making it a far safer pass time. Now the Greystones intend to do the same with the haulo band. Will that work? If we removed the profit from things, would that actually make them safer? I mean, certainly, if drugs were available and free, that would take a lot of power away from the mafia, but I don't know that that would make things any safer. I would expect them to fight the loss of profit, and that might end up being even more dangerous.

My final thought, though, are for the Adamas. Between Joseph (Esai Morales) fighting his conscious about whether or not Amanda should die, Sam (Sasha Roiz) allowing him to deal with the turmoil, certain that he couldn't go through with it, and Grandma Adama who is clearly insane, how poor William is going to grow up to be Bill Adama, I don't know.
And was it just me, or did Grandma seem normal until now, when she's chopping up chicken, talking about wringing people's necks and saying that you get the best things from your enemies because they are scared of you. I would not want to meet her in a dark alley.

So it seems to me like Caprica may be improving? What do you think?

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